Morning Surprise

Unfortunately, my darling had to leave me alone here in the south to head up north to be with his family during the holidays. It breaks my heart every time he leaves for a long period of time like this, but I know how much he enjoys his time with his family. I just wish we could spend the holidays together. Maybe one year, when we are married! HA! We'll see, he says.
Luckily, he will return to the good ol' south on Tuesday after Christmas. I wouldn't be able to handle it if it was any longer than that. Is it sad that six days apart breaks my heart?

I woke up at 6:30AM Wednesday morning to try to start getting ready for work. Wednesday was my last day of work before my Christmas break actually started. The college is going to be closed from Thursday, December 22 until Tuesday, January 3, and then I head back to work! I am very thankful for this long break that they are giving us as workers. As a student, classes don't start back until January 9th, so I still have a little time to rest my brain from the stressful last semester. Only three more semesters to go before I graduate! I cannot wait.
Anyway, I got dressed and ready to head out the door, but then I noticed something differently on my apartment door. It was covered with some Post It notes with messages from the boy that he left after he tucked me into bed. It instantly made the day better, and it had barely started!

He is too sweet to me! I am so blessed to have someone like him in my life who makes me the happiest person I have ever been.

Much Love,
Jill

Weekend Family Gifting

This weekend was full of family, family, family time.
Saturday morning/afternoon we went to his little brother's basketball game. He barely played unfortunately, but when he did, he shot a three pointer, and he could not contain his excitement. He has a nice shot too, but we don't want to tell him that all the time or his little head will get bigger than it already is! Then his family took us out to lunch at Chickfila before we headed out to go visit my family a little over an hour away.

We were halfway there when my dad called with a weird request. He wanted us to find a glass dome that has a wooden bottom where he can display some shark tooth. What a dork! So, we backtracked a little to go to Hobby Lobby, where I know I could find something similar to that. I forget how huge that store is until I step foot into it. It is the size of a Walmart but full of arts & crafts and home goods stuff. I wanted to just walk around and look at everything, but of course I was rushed by the boy who hates to spend money not on food! He ended up finding the dome structure, and we took a picture and sent it to dad, who loved it. It was only $14 for both the glass and wooden bottom when Michael's had something similar for $100. Craziness.

When we finally arrived at my family's house, it was 5:00ish. Dad was already making dinner, and it smelled so good since he was making my favorite: mashed potatoes, especially his mashed potatoes. So good! The night was full of catching up with stories, grades, the upcoming semester, etc. Then my step mom brought out the gifts they got for my boyfriend, which was so sweet. They ended up getting his a really nice button up shirt and a long sleeve shirt from Ralph Lauren. He loves that store, so they did good!

Sunday morning we went to church which is luckily five seconds from my apartment, so I love being able to sleep in a little and take my time. After the service, we decided to take his little brother out with us to lunch at the mall food court. We both were craving some delicious Chinese/Japanese food court yummyness. We headed to his family's house afterwards, and then waited anxiously while his mom wrapped the rest of the gifts she had to wrap. Once she finished that, we all gathered together to give out the gifts we got for one another.
His little brother got me some adorable Christmas pajamas as well as some foam soap from Bath & Body Works. It was so sweet! His mom and dad got me a vacuum! Oh gosh, I needed one so bad. Some people would be offended by that, but I absolutely love it. Him and I together bought his mom a COACH purse, his dad an old man hat, and his brother's gift was...something interesting. He is such a country boy, so we decided to make him a basket full of hillbilly stuff he would love: camo belt, camo duct tape, beef jerky in a tobacco can, Browning camo hat, camo knife, a raccoon hat with raccoon tail, a Swamp People tshirt...all in a camo bucket. He loved it! He was so surprised. I am glad we went with that adorable idea instead of just a silly video game or something.

Him and I also decided to give each other our last gift in front of his family. I opened mine first, and it was the Ray Ban Sunglasses I have been wanting. They are so beautiful in person! They are wayfarers and also the tortoise shell pattern instead of just plain black. I wish it was summer right now so I could look super cool wearing them on my face or the top of my head every day.
 


He then opened his last gift from me, which was the Guess Watch he has been wanting for a long time. He hopes to get a job after we graduate, and he has been starting to dress so professional, I guess to get used to it?! Haha, who knows. I love it though, he is so adorable. He also loved how big the face of the watch was, it covers his entire wrist. That's my favorite part about it. It looks like a watch that a millionaire would wear. Thank god it didn't cost as much as a millionaire would pay for a watch!

Sunday night was the candlelight service at his church, which I was super excited about all day because the boyfriend was going to sing up on stage with just him and his guitar. It was beautiful. I made his little brother video it on my phone, which came out well, but I wanna see if I can adjust the volume somehow with my computer. He sang Silent Night, but a different version than the usual slow, sleepy one. It was a little more upbeat since he played it on his acoustic guitar. Once I figure out how to fix the video, I will upload it and show it to every one! I am so proud, can you tell?

Don't forget what Christmas is all about,
Jill

Gift Day #4

 
Another day of work, but it being Friday always makes it better! I only had to work until noon today, but then had a lunch date with some work girlies at Olive Garden. I love their soup, salad, and breadsticks. Afterwards, the boyfriend and I met at the school's gift shop to maybe scope out the Christmas deals we had been hearing about, but with our luck, the lady was closing as we pulled up. Dang! I guess it was a blessing in disguise because we need to save money as much as we can, but I cannot help myself during this amazing time of the year.

When we pulled up to the gift shop and saw the lady leaving, we just decided to sit there and wait a bit. I don't think we were really waiting for maybe her to return, but we just enjoyed one another's company. It started raining, but then he reached back in his car and grabbed a wrapped gift for me. It was my gift day, but it was only the afternoon! He insisted that I opened it right then. He kept saying the entire time I was unwrapping it that it is something small, and something that he just stubbled upon and knew I always wanted one.

It was a Ralph Lauren Polo Hat. It was this pretty light blue with a neon looking yellow color for the man horsey logo. It was so cute. He joked that he never likes girls wearing hats, but he said that he knew I always wanted one. I love that he remembers little things like that.

Hope every one is having a good month of December,

Jill

Gift Day #3

Today was full day of work at the school, and then spent the evening with the boy, of course. Tonight was his gift night, and he could not contain his excitement. He kept texting me throughout the day about it. He is so adorable.
His gift tonight was the cologne he has been dying to have ever since he was messing with the fancy cologne samples in Macys one day a long, long time ago. He has tried other cheap brands of cologne, even some cheap imitation versions that they sell at Walgreens, but nothing has ever come close to the one he fell in love with that one day at Macys.
I wrapped it in a Sephora box, so he was a bit confused when he saw the side of the box. He thought I bought him some makeup! Ha! Yeah right.

Trust me, this little bottle was so worth the price. It is the best smelling man scent ever!

Sincerely,
Jill

Gift Day #2

All today I was very excited for work to hurry up and end because tonight was my night to receive a Christmas gift! It was definitely the longest day ever at work.
When I came home from work, the boyfriend had dinner all made and set at the table. It was adorable and so nice to not have to worry about anything. We enjoyed the yummy dinner together, but then I was rushed at the end because he wanted me to open my gift for the night. He was more excited than I was! He took my plate and put the dishes away, and then ran to grab the gift.

I took pictures as a play-by-play for you all to join in with the excitement of unwrapping! 

There was two gifts inside the little blue bag. The first one I opened was a handmade ring with the word "love" in cursive.

It is so adorable! I like how the back of the ring isn't fully closed, so that way my stumby finger can easily fit in it. I rarely wear rings because I have never found one I felt comfortable with or enjoyed enough to wear it all day. Now I have! I cannot wait to wear it to work tomorrow.
The other gift inside was another handmade piece, a necklace with my name in cursive. It is perfect! I have always wanted a monogram necklace, but this is definitely better because it is more permanent since my initials could change one day... soon, maybe? ;)

  

I really love the fact that he bought it from a lady on Etsy who personally makes each piece. That makes it that much more special. Is it tacky that I want to wear both pieces tomorrow to work just to show it off?

Hope everyone is enjoying Christmas season with their loved ones! 

Jill

Gift Every Day #1

Tonight started the night of gifts that my boyfriend and I like to do with each other every Christmas. We are not able to spend Christmas together since my family is down south and his is up north, so we exchange gifts with one another before he leaves to visit his family. Each day only one gift is unwrapped, but we take turns each day. Tonight is the first night we are starting, and I am too excited for him to open his gifts, so I graciously let him open one of his first tonight. I can definitely wait for my first one tomorrow!

His gift tonight was the shoes he has been wanting for a couple months now. I actually scored a pretty awesome deal on them during Black Friday craziness, or I would not have gotten them.

They look like these I found online, but the ones he wanted were a brown suede. He is a size 13, and they had only one box left at the store; it was definitely mean to be.

Since we were then in the Christmas spirit, we made some Pillsbury Christmas cookies.

Hope every one is having a month full of Christmas spirit!

Now to finish watching Glee,
Jill

Crescent Rolls

FINALLY! Moved in. Thank the lord above that we were only moving to the neighboring complex, or this move would have taken two days. The apartment I relocated to is the complete opposite of the former apartment, so it took a while to get used to it. At first, even though the main things were put in the same place, it didn't look the same. It also made it look much smaller than the other place. I did not know that the opposite aspect would mess with me this bad!

As soon as the slow poke (me) made the last trip from the old place to the new place, I put away the ice packs and the pizza pan I almost forgot, and then took the initial pictures of the destruction. Boxes everywhere, and things in places that I did not even know I owned. There was even a little surprise left in the fridge, one package of crescent rolls. So kind!

Now organizing every thing back to normal is the next step, and it's my favorite part. I cannot wait to start on my new to-do list tomorrow morning.

After a day full of heavy lifting followed with a nice sit-down dinner, my exhausted darling is fast asleep. He is knocked out on the couch, and his snores are actually kind of cute right now. He definitely deserves a foot massage later!

Ready for a goodnight sleep,
Jill

Week of Stress

This week has been absolutely crazy, and it is not even over. I have a total of five finals this week as well as trying to work 40 hours this week at work. During the semester, we are only allowed to work 16 hours a week because of school, but during the breaks and finals weeks, we can work up to 40 hours. Every one I work with think I am crazy for trying to actually do it, but I need the money badly right now. Every little bit helps!

And on top of all this craziness, I am unexpectedly moving out of my apartment this weekend. Circumstances with a downstairs neighbor have reached to a point where I do not feel safe. Ever since I moved in this past May, things have been difficult and strange, but now it has reached to an uncomfortable level.

I am trying to be optimistic about all of the new changes coming up. Christmas season is definitely putting a smile on my face; it is my favorite time of the year!

Sweet Dreams,
Jill