Adieu, 2008.

A Year in Pictures

January

black seniors

February

Valentine's dinner

March

Go Mavs!

April

bridal shower...all my lovely BMs

May

Wedding trumps gradutation but I'm proud of myself so I posted both :)

June

cohabitation.

July

twenty-four

August

twenty-two

September

Prost!

October

spooktacular!

November

Baylor homecoming

December

*snow*

xo, Lynds

my poor, sick puppy

Toula baby is having a rough day. Since about 4am she has thrown up three times. Will and I figured it was just an overdose on rawhide, but then I saw blood when she went to the bathroom. I called Will immediately and he is calling his uncle (who is also our vet) to see if we should bring her in this afternoon or if it can wait until tomorrow. And now she has to stay shut up in the bathroom because I really don't want to clean anymore throw up/diarrhea from the carpet...poor puppy :(

Christmas Day Recap

5:30 am: Will's alarm goes off because it's Thursday and it is automatically set to go off on weekdays for work. Will turns it off.

6:00 am: I can no longer attempt to go back to sleep as I am still five years old and force Will to get out of bed because...IT'S CHRISTMAS!

6-7:30 am-ish: open our gifts/stockings from each other and for Toula. Sadly, I have zero pictures of us on Christmas morning because my camera crapped out on us not too long ago. We do have it on video but it's probably not that entertaining to anyone but us. Except one part...which we later deleted. I did howevere go back and take pics of our surprise gifts to each other....

Merry Christmas to Will!

Bull and Bear cufflinks from Tiffany's. He knew I got him something from Tiffany's, courtesy of the lovely little blue box, but did not know exactly what. Lucky for me, these were exactly what he was hoping for! :)

Merry Christmas to me!

A David Yurman bracelet! I had NO idea!

We had gone into David Yurman back in November because I wanted to try on a ring. I've been really needing another ring to "balance out my hands" and was hinting at this ring for our first anniversary next May. Coincidentally, the gemstones on this bracelet match the gemstones on the ring! *wink wink*

I also got Will a couple DVD's and some courds from J. Crew. He got me a DVD, boots --that I had to take back, boo :( -- and a Burberry coat, which I thought was my big gift, but Santa obviously had bigger plans.

Toula enjoyed her doggie cookies, candy cane rawhides, and reindeer ball/rope thing.

9:30 am: Arrive at Will's parent's house. Wake up his sister. Chat. Open gifts. Chat. Lunch. Chat. Nap. Chat. All good fun!

Mrs. Lofland made all of these, very impressive!

digging in

family portrait!

Will's parents loved the wine rack we got them which they were able to almost completely fill up immediately! Jennifer loved her scarf (note her wearing it already in the pic) and her clothes as well. Will and I were very blessed by the Loflands and we got many many wonderful gifts. Our "joint" gift was a GPS system that Will is absolutely over the moon for. We used it on the way to my parents house even though they live a whopping 45 min away and we drive that route weekly. I just want it to tell me where to go with a British accent. So cool.

3:00 pm: Arrive at my parent's house. Greet Mom, Dad, Nate, Melinda, Mamaw and Papaw! We pretty much open gifts immediately because Nathan and Melinda have to leave at 5pm and then spend the rest of the afternoon visiting.

3-4pm: Get greatly spoiled again by my parents and watch with joy as they open their presents (both complete surprises) and love them!

Dad's first iPod!

Serving bowl from Williams' Sonoma

They have a new line of chicken/rooster tableware and I'm going to collect all the pieces for her to put in her log cabin. She commented once that they seemd "log cabiny." I agree.

Kid's stockings (Melinda's and Will's are nameless but that's okay)

These were ordered from the same place, but mine and Nathan's are from the 80's. Note the increase in size over the years. That's kind of sad...

Joint gift from my parents: New Camera!

The Nikon S60, the one with the touchscreen! Eat your heart out Ashton.

SO excited about my Holiday Barbie!

Yes, I still collect them. Don't you?

After Nathan and Melinda and my grandparents left, we ate dinner and me and Will and my parents went to see Marley and Me. O.M.G. I do not remember the last time I cried that much during a movie, honestly. My mom and I were boohooing pretty much the entire last half hour. My dad and Will even admitted to tearing up! It was the greatest movie that I will probably never watch again because my heart can't take it.

Our first Christmas was, dare I say it, PERFECT. We got to spend copious amounts of time with both our families, everyone was in great spirits, the weather was great, the food was great, the gifts were great. I really can't think of anything I would change. I am just so blessed to have a loving husband and two amazing families to share it with, and I CANNOT wait for next year!

HO-HO-HO!

xo, Lynds

'Tis The Season To Be Tacky!

The tacky sweater party was a hit! Will and I squeezed 15 tacky-clad family members into our apartment along with about a million christmas gifts and every side item and dessert you can think of! Along with the 20 lb. turkey my mom and I had been cooking since 6am :)

For our your embarassment enjoyment...

oh my, mom and dad!

"prom pose" Nate and Melinda

Thumbs up for Christmas!

Mamaw and Papaw getting in the spirit!

All the grandchildren and great-grandchildren

Nathan and his turtleneck won first prize!

Quick story: In this picture my mom and I are wearing matching aprons a friend of hers made for us when I was four. Still fits like a glove (ha!). Avery (left) and Sydney (right) just got their aprons from my mom to wear while they cook with their easybake oven and she got them personalized. While they were modeling them, my dad looks at Avery's and says, "Why does it say A Very Lil' Chef?!?" Oh, dad!

After the festivites ended, we all relaxed for a bit and then headed off to church (in normal clothes, I promise). Mom, Dad, Nathan and Melinda all stayed at our apartment and went with us to our church's Christmas Eve service. Even thought we arrived a few minutes late (Will and I could have sworn the service was at 7:30 but lo and behold, it was at 7...oops), the service was beautiful and it had a great Christmas message....to see is not to believe, but to BELIEVE is to see...

Before heading off to Christmas Eve Service

Afterwards Will and I watched A Christmas Story, filled each other's stockings, and snuggled up in bed to wait for Santa! :)

Christmas day to follow as soon as I get pics!

xo, Lynds

to see is not to believe,

to BELIEVE is to see

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xo, The Loflands

My Husband, The Rockstar

Let me take a minute and brag about my husband, the rockstar.

We are all aware the market has seen better days, and during this time, many many people with jobs in the financial arena have been laid off.

William just started his job as a Financial Advisor with Merril Lynch about six months ago. Out of all the new hirees (?) Will has been one of the only ones in his office to pass all of his tests (Series 7, 66, etc) and with flying colors I might add. About a month into his job is when the market began to turn. Then not too long ago, Merril was bought out by Bank of America and they decided it was time to clean house. Last week alone, 14 people were laid off at Will's office! Many of whom had been there longer than Will but were simply not able to make their quota due to people not wanting to invest at the moment (who can blame them?). Will has been lucky enough to obtain the accounts of his family and some family friends which has significantly moved him up the totem pole. But there was still that what if in the back of our minds because he's so new.

Well, he called me today with AMAZING news! He has been invited by some of the senior FA's to form a partnership. He will get a small percentage of their shares and from there they will split all new clients. The greatest blessing is that this partnership will practically guarantee job security for William! They chose him from all the new people because they say he has the most potential for longterm success. I am sooo proud of him!!

This will all take place Jan 1, 2009 and I can't tell you how relieved and excited we are about the new year! And the market really has no where to go but up, so I'm thinking 2009 is looking pretty good for us!

Congratulations baby!

All this and he's still home by five everyday and helps me cook dinner :)

xo, Lynds

Biker Chick

My cousin Taylor is two years younger than me and has been trying to get me to go for a ride on his motorcycle for months. And I have declined every time with a very polite, "No, thanks. I'm too young to die." Well, yesterday I finally broke down and agreed to go for a short, slow ride around the block.

And I survived.

And it was kind of fun.

But I don't think I'll be doing it again so we made sure to document.

Taylor explaining how to get on while I continue to decide how important my life is to me...

Already gripping on for dear life

I did it!

My next fear to face:

Getting this apartment spick and span for our party guests!

Countdown to D-day...2 days!

Countdown to C-day...3 days!

xo, Lynds

Cookie Love

For Will's office Christmas Party last night, guests were asked to bring either an appetizer or dessert. Naturally, I went with dessert. I'd been eyeing these cookies online for a while (yes, I browse Christmas cookies online, don't you?) and this was the perfect excuse to bake my little heart out! Of course I needed assistance so my mom came over Wed. morning and we got to work. Approximately 6 hours and 6 dozen cookies later...


BEHOLD!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ok, they didn't actually take 6 hours to make, but rather 3 hours were spent "chilling" in the fridge while mom and I shopped :)

Now I'm not a huge fan of chocolate cookies, but I think they just look cute. (Yes, I judge cookies by their cover.) But it works out for me because then I eat less. And everyone else gets fat. MUAHAHAHA. Um, jk. I love the black/white contrast, and I'm not sure if they're a traditional Christmas cookie but for some reason to me they scream Christmas. My mom said they were a staple in our house when I was little so maybe its subconciously engrained in my head but the memory of those cookies at Christmas definitely is NOT. Snickerdoodles are...but only because we have a home video of us making them.

My childhood memories consist mainly of the memories I've created from the home videos I've seen. My memory truly is THAT bad. It's sad. Hence the need for the blog.

Totally unrelated, I'm officially on Christmas break! Not that it's a major change in my schedule seeing as how I only worked three days this entire month. I KNOW. I swear I tried, but teachers were just not taking off. But the point is that even if I wanted to work, I can't. Because I'm on Christmas break! For the next two weeks I won't have to worry about getting that 6am call to sub that same day. Not that I got any this month anyways. But I hate them nonetheless.

Ok, I'm off to bed because I have a busy day tomorrow. Not working = cleaning all of the dust/dog hair/clutter that has accumulated while I was working. And you would think I wouldn't have much since I haven't been working. But I've also been shopping. And baking. And watching The Office. Pretty much everything EXCEPT cleaning.

Must rectify hellhole apartment before my entire family comes in 6 DAYS! ( Christmas Eve- I haven't miscalculated :) )

xo, Lynds

Yesterday was so gorgeous outside, we had to take our little one out to enjoy it! It was probably the last time this year the weather would be warm enough for us her to stand being outside for too long so we definitely made the most of it and headed out to our local dog park.

daddy and toula attemping playing fetch!

her fave toy- sticks!

two king charles cavaliers! toula on the right, male toula on the left

exploring

exhausted after a long day of FUN!

Sometime overnight the temperature dropped from a glorious 77 degrees to *32*! And for some reason, I am about to willingly venture out into no mans land to pick up some Christmas surprises for my babe. Here's to hoping I don't freeze to death!

BTW....TEN days til Christmas!!

xo, Lynds

13 days until CHRISTMAS! Let the countdown begin...

It's Friday night and Will and I are sitting on the couch in our sweats watching "Get Smart." And I'm okay with that. We're married. It's our right.

I am so in love with the Christmas season. I love decorating the house/tree, wrapping presents, baking goodies, etc...and one of my absolute favorite things is when all my favorite TV shows have their "Christmas episode." For example, The Office last night = hilarity. And I love how all the dramas like House take a break from all the death and destruction for a good old fashion Christmas miracle. Christmas always makes everything better, even on TV :) Yay Cuddy for finally getting her baby!!

I love all the classic Christmas movies as well and even though we own most of them, it's always better when they come on TV. I don't know what it is, I can pop them in the DVD player whenever I feel like it, but when you're scanning the tv guide and you see Christmas Vacation or Home Alone coming on, it makes everything better! And I can promise you this -- A Christmas Story will most definitely be playing on our television for the entire 24 hours come Christmas Eve/Day. I love everything about that movie and have vowed never to buy it so that when the 24 hour marathon rolls around I can enjoy every minute!

Speaking of tacky sweaters, sort of, Will and I spent the afternoon driving around Dallas to various thrift stores, etc. trying to find him an appropiate ensemble for our party. We (I) have decided that since we are hosting my family's Christmas Eve festivities this year, we would spice things up a bit and make it a Very Merry TACKY Christmas! We weren't sure if the rest of my fam would be up for it, but I have received very enthusiatic responses from everyone so we're really looking forward to it! I found a FABULOUS lime-green sweater with Santa heads all over it from Burlington Coat Factory -- it's pretty amazing. We didn't find anything for Will yet, but we are going to a few more places tomorrow and are keeping an eye on a sweater-vest on Ebay :)

Ok, I'm going to get back to my book (because I'm a huge book nerd and proud of it). I just started book 4 (thank you Aunt Mary for the Barnes and Noble gift card!) of the Pemberly Chronicles and it is so delicious! I HIGHLY recommend this series for anyone who even remotely likes Pride and Prejudice (or is just a sucker for a classic romance). Rebecca Ann Collins does a wonderful job of continuing the story of the Bennett sisters and I mean, honestly, who doesn't want to know what happens next??? By book 4, the story revolves mainly around the children and grandchildren of Jane and Bingley, and I am dying to find out if Anne-Marie Bingley is going to fall in love with Colin Elliot! Until then...

Oh yea, Will and I ARE going to be featured in the February 2009 issue of The Nest magazine! WoOoO!

xo, Lynds

Our Claim to Fame!

Check out this email I got today....

Hi Ladies,

Was the photo you sent us from your wedding professionally taken? If so,would you mind sending us his/her name so we can properly credit them in themagazine?

Please do so at your earliest convenience!

Thanks so much,
Caitlin E. Losey
Online Editorial Assistant
The Knot The Nest

Will and I are going to be published in a MAGAZINE!!! (hopefully!)

I am a member of thenest.com which is a fun site for newlyweds with fun decorating ideas, recipes, chatboards, etc. I sent in a variety of pics of me and Will a few months back because they have a section of their website dedicated to "real couples" and I thought it might be fun to be on it. WELL, apparently if they like your pics enough you can be published in their (small) magazine! Yay us! There weren't any more details so I guess its not a for sure thing, but I'm excited anyways!

I don't even remember what pics I sent in -- gosh I hope my hair looks good for my close-up :)

Happy Wednesday!

xo, Lynds

That Crazy Texas Weather

When I woke up this morning, it was in the sixties and I went out in a t-shirt.

By 7:30pm...it. WAS. SNOWING!

Look at that blizzard!

It was coming down so fast it totally kind of stuck!

It is now almost 8:30 and the snow has officially ended. And almost completely melted away. It was fun while it lasted. Maybe we'll get some more. Probably not. This is Texas.

p.s. Toula is NOT a fan of snow.

xo, Lynds

My new BFF

UGH...