christmas 2013!

i'm very overdue for my christmas wrap up post, but i have been laying in my bed for the past 5 days with a nasty combo of viral bronchitis and an ear infection. one would think this would leave me plenty of time to update my blog, but i literally felt so bad that the thought of typing exahusted me. but i am happy to report that i feel like a normal human again as of this morning!

christmas came & went quickly but was awesome none the less. work was kind enough to give us monday off too, making it a 5 day weekend.

saturday night i went to a party that my friend jackie hosted at her condo for all of us from work! there was lots of yummy food, awesome drinks, and a surprise visit from my sweet friend brett!

 

{the whole gang!}

{view from jackie's condo in noda}

sunday afternoon we watched the panthers beat the saints in the pouring down rain to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2008! sunday evening we did christmas with my mom. normally this is a christmas eve tradition, but mom & b headed to new jersery early this year. we had a huge & delicious brunch for dinner, opened presents, and drank lots of champagne! santa was oh so good to me and brought me a new patagonia, a pair of duck boots, earrings, and some new running gear!

i can't remember what i did on monday... how sad. 

on christmas eve, i headed down to my dad's house around 1pm. we double churched it - we went to our church, new charlotte, at 3pm. it was an absolutely incredible service - probably the best christmas eve service i've ever attended. then we went to calvary at 6pm with my grandparents - i don't think i've missed this service since i was 3 years old! after church, we headed to del frisco's for dinner. while the service was pretty slow, i enjoyed the extra time with our family, and the food was amazing as usual!

christmas morning we opened presents which consisted of the most beautiful frye boots i have ever laid on and an ALASKAN CRUISE!! we set sail on july 4th, 2014! 

we enjoyed a day with family & a ridiculous amount of food celebrating the greatest gift we have ever received. i hope you had a wonderful christmas!

i went back to work for one day before spending the last 5 with these guys. i am very thankful to be feeling well again today!

thanksgiving weekend recap.

after a wednesday night at selwyn, and lounging around thursday morning, court and i finally headed to our parents' house around noon on thanksgiving. we helped get the reminder of the set-up done and i made the mashed potatoes, a thanksgiving tradition! it was a "small" crowd this year with only about 20 people in attendance. after consuming an insane amount of food, i literally could not keep my eyes open. i snuck upstairs and fell asleep for a solid 2 hours before derrick woke me up to begin drinksgiving!

 

 

the night ended how it always does at the fowlkes house on holidays - with an awesome bonfire & a glass of wine! i could sum up all i'm thankful for, but i'll spare you since i know you don't care anymore after reading facebook posts for the last 30 days.

 

friday morning we woke up to chickfila, courtesy of my sister. we hung around, watched the hunger games, and finally made it out of our pjs and back to our side of town around 5pm. derrick, leigh, and i met up with my mom & brian at painting with a twist for my mom's thanksgiving celebration. we did a lot of drinking and a lot of painting and had a great time.

 

 

 

saturday morning i woke up in total football mode! rivalry saturday finally arrived and boy oh boy, it did not disappoint. after lsu/arkansas on friday, i knew we were in for a treat this year. we watched the noon & 3:30pm game over at brad's and had burgers and beer. around half time of the bama/auburn game, i headed to icehouse to meet my parents. we watched the gamecocks kick some tiger tail for the 5th year in a row & i enjoyed every moment of it. after the game, i met back up with the boys to take on montford. it was a fun night celebrating a huge gamecock win!

 

 

{fireball & gamecocks}

sunday was a lazy day of catching up on sleep & working for a few hours. my liver needs a break after the last few days weeks!

christmas 2012.

somehow christmas already came & went. between working a gagillion hours in the month of december (well really, all the months of the year) and several parties, christmas was here before i knew it! i love christmas time because i have a distinct routine every year. when your parents have been divorced for most of your life, holidays can be stressful. but with christmas and christmas eve, we always have the same plan and i am very thankful for that.

i spent the night at momma & b's on the 23rd and woke up on christmas eve for our annual christmas eve brunch. i'm not sure i even got off the couch before momma was pouring champagne. we stay in our pjs, eat too much, and exchange gifts. speaking of gifts, my mom & b got me a new michael kors watch and A TAILGATING GRILL! they know me well.

{mom's famous french toast; hash brown casserole; the full spread}

{my new grill!}

after brunch my mom and b took off for new jersey to spend christmas with brian's family. i headed back to my house to shower and then headed to my dad's. every year i've been alive, we've gone to christmas eve service at my grandparent's church, calvary. it's a giant church here in charlotte, and the service draws about 5,000 people. there's something magical about singing silent night in the candlelight with 5,000 of your closest friends. it may just be my favorite part of christmas.

after church we headed to ruth's chris - another (newer) annual tradition! i had the delicious lobster soup, the filet topped with crab meat, and way too much wine. after dinner we headed to the best decorated house in charlotte and took our annual picture with santa... this never fails to be the most hilarious part of christmas.

christmas morning we woke up early and opened gifts so leigh & derrick could get on the road. poor leigh and derrick are a real life version of "four christmases," so we didn't get to spend christmas day with them. every showed up around 1pm and we had lunch around 2pm. my betty crocker step mom & her sister prepared us a delicious meal yet again!

{pap pap fed lola scrap the entire time he was carving - bully heaven.}

it was another wonderful holiday to celebrate the greatest gift we have ever received!