It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Joneses!!!

Our first Christmas tree!!!!
Thankfully one of our wedding gifts was a bag full of ornaments so we didnt have to buy anything except for the tree, the topper and the lights!!! The topper is actually an over sized ornament we got at Target because the real toppers were way to expensive! And sweet Nathan figured out a way to make it stay up there! hahaha

Also, luckily my momma has given me a bell for every Christmas of my life = 25 bells. Which really helped fill the tree too! Woop woop! Don't you love mommas.

And now for my craftiness...
Over Thanksgiving, I was feeling pretty cheap. So I figured I would use some of our burlap left over from the wedding and I made some stockings! I used my mom's sowing machine and one of my mom's stocking's as a pattern. Then I went to Hobby Lobby to figure out how I wanted to put the initials on... and we ran into KatieMac (my fav) who talked me into cross-stitching the initials on. I think they turned out pretty good...

They aren't totally finished yet. I think I'm going to put a stripe above and below the initials. Or maybe I can figure out how to cross-stitch a snowflake or something...

AHH!!!! Christmas time!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

Happy Birthday Mama Jones!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MS. ROBIN!!!!

We love you and we hope you have a GREAT B-day!

On the road to employment...

So, for those of you that don't already know... I am going to be working at the Doctors Care on Forest Drive. And for those of you that dont know what Doctors Care is... it is an urgent care center. I'm super excited about having a job so that I can support the fam (aka nathan and me).

Today I had to go around to ~6 Doctors Cares in the Columbia area to get signatures. It was crazy but now I am finished with my PA license application and I got to turn it in today!!!! Woop woop!!! So, hopefully I will have my temporary license within the next 2-3 weeks and then I can start working hard for the money! YAY!

Who knew getting a job was so much work?

My housewife life.

So... as many of you know, I have not started a job yet.
AKA I am a housewife for the time being.

Here are some of my daily activities...

Watch the Today show and Morning Joe.
Look at pinterest.
Watch Hoda and Kathy Lee/ maybe even Regis and Kelly sometimes...
look at pinterst.
Write a few thank you notes.
look at pinterest.
Make a few paper ornaments that look like snowflakes out of shredded paper. (weird, I know... but dont be alarmed if you receive one of my handmade creations for Christmas. ha.)
Make felt flowers to create a wreath that looks like one that I saw a pinterest. (since im not making any money I can only do activities that cost almost nothing!)
Maybe go to the gym.
Read some BSF or the Help (which BTW, is super funny)

I know all of this sounds amazing to those of you that have jobs... and right now it is pretty amazing because I am watching Sleepless in Seattle at 1:30 in the afternoon, but lets be honest. I'm pretty bored and I'm ready to have a job!


Now for some examples of my housewife work...

JOSIAH!!!!

Wednesday Nathan had to drive to Jacksonville for an interview and was going to be gone for a few days and I was left at home... SO... as I was talking to Brittany on the phone I had the best idea! Instead of both of us being at our respective homes being bored writing thank you notes we could do it together!!!! 30 mins later I was on my way to Charleston!

The next day we went over to Jamie and Matthew's house to eat dinner and to see the new BABY!!! Josiah was awesome and beautiful. It was so good to see them.

Here are some photos...


Look at that sweet big brother!






Josiah, chillin on the couch.

Jamie and her handsome little fella.

The skies display his craftmanship!

Today's BSF study told us to read Psalm 19 which has been one of my favorite verses from when I first became a believer. I thought I might share it with you...

Psalm 19...
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.

² Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.

³ They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.

⁴ Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
God has made a home in the heavens for the sun.

⁵ It bursts forth like a radiant bridegroom after his wedding.
It rejoices like a great athlete eager to run the race.

⁶ The sun rises at one end of the heavens
and follows its course to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.

(I took this picture while on a picnic at Versailles in 2009... I remember thinking how it was such a beautiful display of God's glory and craftsmanship!)

Pumpkin Carving!

On our way back to my parents house after church we stopped by Wal-mart to get some pumpkins.
Nathan carved the GAMECOCK and I carved the PALMETTO TREE and MOON...
It took a while, but it was fun. AND... I baked the pumpkin seeds! (Nathan said the seeds where chewy, but I thought they were pretty good.)

Then we got to play a round of boche ball with Bev and George in the yard.

All this = a pretty good Sunday afternoon.

Fat ties >>> to >>> skinny ties.

My man is a money saving DIY machine!!! WOOP WOOP!!

Nathan likes to wear skinny ties these days but we have a problem. Pretty much all of his ties are fat and it would be WAY TOO EXPENSIVE to replace his whole tie collection...

so...

I saw a blog about turning old fat ties into skinny ties...

( http://www.designmom.com/2010/08/diy-skinny-ties/ )

Then I showed it to Nathan... and he got to work. Needle, thread, and all!

Before...



After...


He has already done 2 ties.

What a man!

Say hello to our little friend: the OWL

So... I was driving up to the house after BSF tonight and I saw Nathan already outside in the dark. He walked up to my car and told me to look up at the edge of the house and to be super quiet.

And this is what I saw...



It's eyes followed us to whole way into the house! It was AWESOME/kinda scary!!!

this weekend = busy but awesome.

So.. on friday I did another one of my DIY projects that Nathan is probably getting really sick of...

I got the idea from Meredith Nielsen... It is a earring holder. I used a doily that I got from K-mart for less than 3 bucks and a frame we had around the house... then I screwed in hooks at the top corners for necklaces. I thought it turned out pretty good.

Then on Satuday Nathan and I went to my sister's friend's house for a "surprise" party for Lauren's 30th Birthday and we watched the gamecock game...




Then... Saturday night we went to Sleize and Katie's mustache party! It was super fun. I was pretty serious about the stache.




On Sunday the parentals came into town to take Lauren to brunch for her B-day. It was really good! If you haven't been to Mo Mo's for brunch you should definitely check it out. Nathan got the breakfast burrito and it was AWESOME!





Then Spencer and Brittany, Thomas and Alicia, & Cole and Ashley came up to Cola town for the FAIR!!! And Sleize came too! It was FAIR-tastic!

We watched the cows get judged... (maybe my favorite part). It was very interesting. They are judged on utter size and teat placement. The cow below had such a big utter it seemed like it had a hard walking. CRAZY.

AND!!! The newly engaged couple was there and they were SOOO CUTE and SO IN LOVE!!! YAY!@#%^&&^%$#@!@#$%^&!!!


So... as you can see we had a pretty long exhausting weekend... Nathan was super tired to say the least.

BUT NOW.... KTMac is here to stay with us for the rest of the week!!! WOOP WOOP! Which means there will be so much fun stuff to write about! YAY!!!

Jenning's is getting married REAL soon!!! WOOP WOOP!

So... some mommas threw a shower for Jenning's at my mom's house this past weekend...

It was pretty fun.

Jenning's got to open tons of presents...

She had good friends all around...

Katie, Jennings, and my first grade teacher was there. Mrs. Goldman. (little does she know I still hold me pencil the wrong way!!!)

And, since Caroline wasn't there to make the bow bouquet... I had to step in. And I thought it didnt turn out too bad if I must say so my self!

My man's got a GREEN THUMB!

Nathan surprised me today and planted pansy's in our planter!

I love pansy's because it reminds me of my Yiayia. (Pansy Psomas)

House Project #2: dining room transformation and old maps...

Project #1 = Dining room makeover.

Before...

After...


Project #2 = Framing old maps we got with Anna at Eastern Market in DC. ( I think they turned out pretty good).


Greece.

Indiana 1897.

South Carolina 1895.