Merry Christmas

Hey guys! I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas Eve with your families and friends. Will had to work tonight so I've been keeping myself occupied watching HGTV and Food Network! He'll be off at 10:00 though and we've got plans to drive to the Town Square (which really is only 2 blocks away but it's too cold to walk!) and take some pictures of the pretty lights and the snow.

Yesterday morning after Will came home from work and caught a cat nap, we got up and headed to the DQ for some lunch and then drove up to Grand Teton park. It was deserted and simply amazing. I cannot believe how much more beautiful the park is in the winter than in the summer. I mean I thought it was absolutely breathtaking in August, but that was nothing compared to yesterday. Everything was coated in thick, powdery snow and it was just so pretty. I almost thought I'd cry! I was really hoping we'd see lots of wildlife but no such luck! We saw this guy right before we left the park though.



After the trip to the park, we came back into town and tried to find our missing package that is being held hostage at the local post office but that was pointless! After standing in line for half an hour, we got the same answer we received on Monday. Basically, our package is here at the post office, it was marked undeliverable to our hotel (this is after we called before ordering and confirmed w/ the hotel that we could have something shipped and checking to see if we had the right address!!) but the Post Office has told us that our package sits among approximately 1000 others that have been marked undeliverable and that they don't have the time to search for it. UUUUUUGH!! I hope they make time to search for it before we leave!!

Anyhow, after the Post Office fiasco, we came back to the room and rested for a while before heading to another one of our favorite restaurants, Teton Steakhouse. Our plans were to eat dinner and then head over to the Snow King tubing place but we ate so much that the snow tubing didn't happen! Our dinner was fabulous though and we'll go snow tubing later this week!

We had a nice breakfast here at the hotel this morning and then went walking around downtown. The stores are all having fabulous sales which is nice but there weren't many people out shopping. Will had to go to work at 2, so we didn't have much time to hang out downtown but in that short time we were out walking around, my face managed to get wind burned and I look like a big old lobster now! Take a look at the friend we made today down at the Town Square:



Here are a few other pictures from the Grand Teton Park that we took yesterday.

A couple of pictures!

Hey y'all! Will and I had a wonderful day here in snowy Wyoming. After breakfast and running a couple of errands, we headed out to the Gros Ventre Road that we loved traveling on last summer. It's the area we saw the most buffalo and the charming little barn on Mormon Row. We drove down the road for a couple of miles before we hit a little buffalo-jam and had to turn around! We drove down the road a couple more miles and stopped into the Grand Teton Visitor Center and took some pictures and threw some snowballs at each other! We came back to town and headed to Bubba's BBQ for a late lunch and then came back to the room and took a nap! Will is working an 8 hour shift tonight and the weather is still cold & snowy but it's so beautiful! I read earlier that another huge storm is coming this way and should arrive on Christmas Eve and stick around through Christmas Day and that night too and they're expecting a lot more snow than this storm produced! Eeeeeeeek! I am so in love!! Anyhow, here's a few pictures I was able to take today. They aren't the best quality but I hope you enjoy them anyway!!

Greetings from snowy Jackson Hole!

Hey y'all! I made it safely out here and I am having a great time. I've come to realize that I could definitely move here, even without Target and good thrift stores because it is just so beautiful here that I'd gladly sacrifice those things in exchange for seeing these views every day!

My flights were both on time yesterday, which is a miracle and I arrived out here about 12:30. Will and I went and grabbed a late lunch at one of our favorite restaurants here, Sidewinders, and then we came back to the room so I could take a much needed nap. At that point I had been awake for 30-something hours!! We ran to the grocery store last night and came back and sat in front of the fireplace and watched the snow fall.

Speaking of snow, we're supposed to get another 10-18 inches today and I am so in love! I've never seen so much snow before in my life and this place looks like a total winter wonderland. This is the best Christmas EVER!! We're heading out in a bit to run some errands and then we may drive up to the Grand Teton Park today and do a little sight seeing. I'm hoping to see a lot of animals and have lots of photos to share tonight! Here's a picture from our hotel room window yesterday of the slopes over at Snow King Resort. Add another foot (yes, foot!!) of snow and that's what it looks like today!



Hope you all had a great weekend, full of holiday festivities and time with your families!

Y'all! I leave in 2 days...

and I haven't even started packing. Keep in mind all of my bags have to be packed no later than tonight since Will is taking them with him tomorrow morning. Did I mention that I haven't even started packing? Yeah, it's going to be a busy, busy day!!

Oh, and I haven't really even started Christmas shopping either. I mean it's a little late now and I didn't want to have to take all our gifts out there and then bring them back here so I'm guessing we'll just do Christmas sometime in January. I've picked Will up a few things that I'll take with me and I'm taking some pre-lit garland and stockings to hang up so it'll feel a little more like Christmas while we're there.

I'm trying to not stress out about all of the stuff I need to get done today but I feel like I just don't have enough time. And it's my fault really, seeing how I've had ALL week to get my stuff packed. I was talking with my sister about this yesterday though and we agreed that it's just too hard to pack a week out. Especially considering that if I packed all of my clothing on Monday I wouldn't have had anything to wear all week. I'm sure it'll all work out though. In the end, I'll survive if I forget something and it it's something really important, I can buy it when I get out there.

I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that I'm going back to Wyoming and I'm finally going to see REAL SNOW on Christmas!! Wheeeee I'm really looking forward to taking the sleigh ride through the elk refuge too! I should be able to get online regularly while I'm out there and I'll have tons of pictures to share with you all too!

Winter Wonderland

So, things here in Maryland have been insanely busy the last few days. The day I booked my flight I finally heard from my best friend (the one that is kind of MIA a lot) and she ended up coming over and spending a few nights here. It was hard breaking the news to her that I was indeed leaving and I felt a bit guilty because we had talked about spending Christmas together since our husbands would be away. Then I didn't hear from her for a couple of weeks and I thought about it and decided that I couldn't base my holiday's and plans around her because although I love her, she's a bit unpredictable! It very well could've come down to me staying home and her deciding to leave at the last minute. I'm trying to not feel guilty about her being here alone for the holidays, but she does know other people here and I don't so she'll be fine.

Will and I had his work Christmas party Saturday night. That was a huge, huge disaster and a pointless waste of time. I'm not sure what the planning commission was thinking while planning this but, um, yeah...I just can't even describe how bad it sucked! I mean who, WHO thought it was going to be a good idea to start off the party playing Rock Band on a projector screen in front of 300 ADULTS? I'm sorry, but the last thing that should happen FIRST at a Holiday Party is a Rock Band competition.

And if that weren't bad enough, *someone* thought it would be a good idea to skip having table numbers and instead make each table sing a Christmas Carol before getting in the line for the food. Our table only had 6 people and 5 of us were boycotting this whole singing idea when this lady whose a Captain in the Army and has been in the service for 22 years, stood up and said "I'm a grown ass woman and I paid for a ticket to this party, I'm not singing ANYTHING" and then walked to the buffet line. The rest of us followed her!

Oh, and then after dinner, someone thought it a good idea to play a little game we'll call "Frozen T-Shirt Contest". And the point of this game was to see which guy could crack open a block of ice first and put the frozen t-shirt on. When the whole Scavenger Hunt began, I told the husband it was time to get the heck outta there. Needless to say, unless I'm part of the planning commission next year and can ensure this nonsense won't be happening, we aren't going to the next party!

Anyway, I've spent the last couple of days buying some last minute stuff for my trip out to Wyoming. I did take an hour and go to the VV yesterday for 25% off day. Can you believe I didn't buy anything for my Etsy shop? I just didn't see anything I really wanted to spend money on! So, my trip to Wyoming is fast approaching and I am getting SO excited! I cannot wait to see the mountains and the snow and the wildlife. I cannot wait to get back to the place that holds a piece of my heart. And I am really looking forward to eating at the Village Inn and getting a huge piece of pie! I have to start packing tomorrow as Will is taking all of my luggage with him on Saturday but he has to pack the truck Friday night since he's leaving here at 5:00am Saturday. Do you think he'll look funny carrying my pink polka dot luggage? lol

Did I mention we're doggy-sitting my best friend's puppy? She's a big ol Golden Doodle and a huge goofball. She's only 6 months old but already 55+ pounds. She and my doggies get along so well and they just love when she comes over. She's been here since Friday night and her mom (the bf) has been here every night too but the friend is having some issues and needed to leave the doggy here tonight while she went home. I'm totally okay with doggy sitting because Charlie (the dog) usually sleeps in our room with my dogs whenever she's here anyway! For some reason she behaves better for us than her own mother! And since my friend is watching our dogs while we're gone, I don't think watching her puppy one night is too much to ask!

Anyhow, lemme leave you with a picture that I stole off of the webcam out in Jackson. This is the view of the Town Square at night. Look at all of that snow. I swear I'd move in a heartbeat if there were more thrift stores and a Target!!

I Bought the Dresser!! Oh, and I'm heading to Jackson for Christmas!

Amazingly enough, the dresser was still there! And I bought it with my 25% discount so I only paid $23 including tax. Man I love a good bargain. I've already started loading it up with all of my stuff and I took my work table out of the room because I don't really use it. I mean the top is always full of junk but I needed the storage from the dresser and I can still use the top for crafting or wrapping up purchases!

And I finally broke down and bought my ticket out to Wyoming today too! I'm glad I waited because I found an even cheaper flight out there. I double checked a few things and found out that for $28 dollars more I could stay a day longer and fly home the same day as Will!

So, I haven't even started my Christmas shopping and it doesn't look like I'll get much done before we leave. Just as well. We can do Christmas when we get back in January. I do need to go pick up a few things before I get out there. Like good quality thermals and some appropriate footwear for cold and snowy weather.

I think I'm done listing Christmas items in my Etsy shop. I hope I can find some time next week to do a little thrifting before I head to Wyoming. I need to find some new stuff to list when I get home. I would say I could do some thrifting while I was in Wyoming but I know how those stores are in Jackson so that's not looking promising at all!

Our Foyer Tree

Usually, our "main" tree is the one I call "Will's tree" because it's the one with all of the mismatched, hodge podge ornaments. It has our special ornaments I buy us and the doggies each year, all of the old non-shiny brites, the bubble lights. That's normally our main tree but this year I decided I wanted a more formal looking tree to sit in our foyer. This is what I came up with:



Please overlook the fact that I've yet to add a tree topper! I haven't found one I liked. And I've just noticed that really bright aqua ornament and it's driving me crazy so I'll be removing that ASAP! Otherwise, I really like the bronze-y/copper ornaments along with the blue. Our drapes have those same colors in them so it looks really nice I think.

Will's trip ended early last night thanks to some extremely bad weather in Georgia with torrential flooding which cause the plane to divert to Florida where they picked up more fuel, spent a couple of hours consulting with people back here at Andrews AFB which resulted in them flying home at 11:00! So, he's home today and we're going to try to get some things done around the house. I may go back to the thrift store and see if that dresser is still there too!