MMXI

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to wish everyone a healthy, blessed new year since this is my last chance to post in 2010! =D This has been an amazing year for me. I graduated from the Florida State University with my Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education, I experienced seeing Travis graduate from the Florida State University with a Master's of Science in Finance, I celebrated our first anniversary with Travis (awww), lost some weight (after gaining some, of course), started a new way of eating (trying to glorify the Lord with eating and not being gluttonous- AKA "Fatty McFatster"), began a wonderful connection with Hudson Valley Christian Academy, spent some time with family, got Aladdin and Jasmine (our poofy little lovefluffs...or more popularly known as sugar gliders- take your pick), got a new (certified pre-owned) Honda C-RV (lovingly and tackily named "the Boogenator" due to its green color- I know, we're gross- STOP WITH THE JUDGING!!!!), moved to New York (Oops! Almost forgot!!), became a brunette (again), experienced Travis beginning a new career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, experienced the Seminoles win a game against the Gators (Mmm, I like me some speared gator!), grew in my relationship with the Lord (Praise Jesus! This is the most important and wonderful...erm..."thing" of 2010 for me.) etc., etc., etc.! The Lord has truly blessed us this year.

How has He blessed you? Share some of your wonderful experiences from 2010! It is always nice to look forward to the new year, but I believe this is also a time to look back and appreciate the Lord's handiwork and blessings in our lives. Please comment and share some of your memorable 2010 moments! Thanks to all my blog followers for...well...following (duh!)! Thank you as well to those of you who have been keeping up with the blog but may not be "officially" following! And, of course (yes, I started with a conjunction...mindblowing.), thank you to those of you who have commented or shared some love via "like"/"dislike" buttons. Oh...well, I guess it wouldn't be necessarily sharing love if you clicked "dislike"...but... thank you then for your honesty! Truth be told, I haven't seen any "dislikes" as of yet, so I really don't know why I am rambling on about this.

Okay! I'm done! Please share your experiences, and have a wonderful 2011! May Christ bless you! Happy New Year!

God Jul!

Merry Christmas everybody! I know I haven't written on here since THANKSGIVING, but I think pretty much everyone can empathize with me about having an extremely busy December. If not, how on earth did you do it?!!?!?!? I simply must know your secret!

Before I get started, let's go over the who, what, where, when, and why:

Who? Because we spent Thanksgiving with the Engebretsens, Travis and I spent Christmas with my parents, Frank and Marilou Johns, as well as with my sister and her husband- Lindsey and Ivan Portugal.

What? Christmas vacation, of course!

Where? My parents' cabin-like home in Roan Mountain, Tennessee. Simply blissful!

When? We drove down to Hagerstown, Maryland from Somers, New York at around 5:00pm on the 22nd. We woke up early the next morning and finished up the trip to Roan Mountain, arriving at around 2:30pm on the 23rd.

Why? For... Christmas... okay, maybe this whole "who, what, where, when, why" thing wasn't as good of an idea as I thought. Some of the answers are quite lame and repetitive. Oh well, we'll live.

Now that you know the setting, I will continue my Christmas post by discussing a fun Christmas money-saver. Not only will it save you money, but it also makes your gifts more personalized. I really enjoyed making mine this year: I saved money, had fun, and was able to give each couple a card that I thought would fit them and their personalities= 3 for 3 win for sure! (Pictures to come!)

Best Christmas Gift: Jesus! What else?! He IS the reason for the season, after all! Truly though, He is the best gift I could NEVER deserve. I love Him and want to live for Him. He died for me and my horrible sins. He has taken away everything I have ever done wrong. Not only that... He has FORGOTTEN all of my sins! I don't know about you, but when someone wrongs me, I can forgive, but forgetting is wayyyy more difficult. I love Jesus, and hope that if you have not accepted His gift of love, eternity with Him, and an abundant life here on Earth, you will decide to open the greatest gift of all time today.

Best Tactile Christmas Gift: Since I have already discussed the greatest gift ever given to mankind (as well as my personal favorite), I will now discuss the best gifts Travis and I received for Christmas. Because we were on a budget this year with gifts, our actual Christmas gifts to each other weren't amazingly spectacular. However, I am considering some other purchases made this year to be our best "Christmas gifts": 1) The sugar gliders: Aladdin and Jasmine! We love our adorable, sweet marsupials! =D 2) Our new, certified pre-owned Honda C-RV. We needed this baby to get up to Roan Mountain and to drive around New York when snow really begins to fall!

Fun Stocking Stuffer Idea: Because of our small Christmas budget this year, I decided I would make something for Travis's stocking. Nothing is more fun than receiving and/or making a gift that was homemade. Therefore, I made him a coupon book for 2011! This is a fun idea for couples especially because you can do "cutesy" things such as a "10 kisses" coupon! However, this can be a fun gift idea for anyone depending on what types of coupons you make. (Pictures to come!)

Blog Shout Out: One gift that I bought for Travis was the book entitled One Red Paperclip. I found this awhile ago when someone posted something on facebook. Well, one link led to another, and boom! I found this blog: http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com. I don't want to spoil the amazing story for you, so I encourage you to check it out for yourself! What I will say is that the blogger made a book that has the complete, detailed story. When I read the story, the first person who came to mind was Travis, of course. Therefore, I ordered him the book for Christmas. He LOVES it! The story is unique and interesting... something most likely never done before. Travis is eating it up! Please check out the blog and be amazed!

Current Event (AKA an event from today!): Travis and I went on a "Snow Shoe Adventure" today! We bundled up, slipped on my parents' snow shoes, and trudged up the highest part of the hill that we could find! We dug the shoes into the side of the mountain, dug our ski poles into the mountain, and boosted ourselves up to the top! We continued our journey into the woods because...well...we were having fun! (Pictures to come!)

Well, there was a quick summary of Christmas and our fun, snow-shoeing expedition today! My followup post will be the corresponding pictures for today's post. Can't wait to share them with you! I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please let me know by leaving me a comment or (if you want to show some love anonymously without words) by clicking "like"! You know I love feedback! =] Merry CHRISTmas!

P.S. "God Jul"? This is how you say Merry Christmas in Norwegian! Travis received a language-learning software from my parents for Christmas so that we can learn Norwegian. For those of you who don't know, Travis is biologically 1/8 Norwegian, but his heart is 100% Norwegian! We are hoping to learn the beautiful language- fun fun! Ha det bra (goodbye)!