What I Learned in December

Tomorrow is the last day of 2016 {WHAT?!?!?!!?} and I'll be Saturday Sixing, so I thought I'd tell you today all the things I learned this fine month! So, without further ado, I present to you...

1. Christmas trees {at least around here} are much more affordable from a grocery store lot than a tree lot.

This is the first year of our marriage that Ryan and I did not go to a Christmas tree lot to cut down our own live tree. We had planned to, but weather changed our plans and we had to come up with an alternative at that point, because of time constraints. We went to the grocery store, where all the trees in the lot were the same price and ended up getting the biggest, nicest tree we've ever had...for the least amount of money we've ever spent!

2. You can buy cream cheese in big box bricks - like Velveeta cheese!

Did you know that?? Ryan and I were meandering through the Sam's Club samples earlier this month, and one of the ladies was in the middle of assembling this croissant/prosciutto/cream cheese thing, and I have no idea what sales pitch she gave, because all I could see was this GIANT brick of cream cheese. I spent the next five minutes hunting the refrigerated section for it. If you're making a bunch of frosted cookies, it is way more cost-effective than buying a bunch of little boxes at the regular store.  

3. I. Am. So. Over. The. Endless. Colds.

I got sick in September. Then, over six weeks later, I got well. Then I got sick again on Thanksgiving. Then I got well. Then Ryan got it. Then he gave it back to me. We're tired of being sick. {And yes, we're eating well, drinking lots of water, washing our hands, getting rest, taking vitamins, swimming in oils, and doing all the stuff. It's just a rough germ year.} I do think we are officially on the mend now. And fortunately, I don't think we managed to RE-get it at any of the Christmases where others had it!

4. Ryan wishes the yule log channel played year round.

Do you guys watch this channel at Christmas? The yule log and the music? Ryan LOVES it and if it played all year - even if it played CHRISTMAS music all year, I think - he would watch it! I fear for the day it goes away and he has to resume watching regular programming!

5. I am terrified of sledding.

Even if sledding is done on ice down a short driveway. This photo proves why. I'm sorry, Ryan, that the toboggan run is never happening.

6. The cookie scoop has revolutionized my baking experience.

I've developed a fond affinity for cookie baking, and I mentioned in passing that I would really love to have a cookie scoop to make it go faster. My award winning husband showed up later that same day with said scoop and gifted it to me. First of all: swoon. Second of all: cookie scoop FOR THE WIN!!!!! {He also got me that spatula that removes cookies from the pan four at a time. BONUS!}

7. When at a loss for a gift idea for your husband, check Twitter.

 I needed one good gift to kick Ryan's stocking gifts out of lame and into cool, and I was STUMPED. To take a break, I scrolled through Twitter and found that Beth Moore was having a similar issue finding a gift for her husband. She asked Twitter what she should get, so I popped right in and read every answer. And that's where I found the idea for a drone. I have seriously never seen Ryan so excited about a gift in his whole life. Thanks, Twitterverse!

8. Creatures with eyes should not be on buffets.

 No. Just no. 

9. I should just accept help on building websites.

Last month I reported that website building was not for the faint of heart or the technology challenged, and I'm both. Well, one of my friends happens to have gifts and skills in that area, and after she learned I was struggling, she reached out and offered to help me. I drove a couple of hours to her house and spent the entire day with her, accepting her help and trying to learn a bit of the trade. Made. All. The. Difference. In. The. World. Julie, you are a rock star!!!

That's it! I'm as smart as I"m going to get for 2016! We'll see what kinds of things I can learn next year! :) 

"Tree Farms" and Other Adventures

Sunday morning, we had to check out of our hotel and come home from our fun anniversary getaway. Sadness.

Our plan for the day was to leave French Lick, drive up to the south side of Indianapolis, visit a Christmas tree farm I'd scoped out online, get our tree for the year, swing by my sister's house to say hi to her, and then come home.

The best laid plans, though, right?

We left French Lick and headed north, past this one quick detour:

Details. :)

And shortly after we left Sonic, it began to rain. We'd read that there was, you know, a 100% chance of rain, but reports can be wrong, right?

Wrong.

It wasn't raining very hard, and there was ANOTHER tree farm on the north side of Indianapolis {that we went to on our first anniversary, actually} so I thought maybe after we stopped and talked to my sister for a while, it would all have evaporated, and we could go to that farm on the way home.

Well, it only started raining harder, so we went for plan B:

And then the day {weather-wise} just went downhill from there, all the way home:

Apparently the weather report actually was wrong, but not in the way I hoped. Rather than being wrong in rain = no rain, it was wrong in that rain = SNOW.

So we came home, unloaded the car, unpacked, and tried to formulate a plan for what we should do about our tree.

Interesting tree farm fact: most are only open on the weekends. I didn't want to wait a whole extra week for a tree. Interesting central Indiana tree farm fact: There aren't many. In our county and several surrounding counties there are absolutely no tree farms. {Guess we should start one!!} So the closest farm open during the week was 45 minutes away. Ryan did have Monday off work, so we considered going that afternoon when it opened, but I told Ryan I couldn't justify driving 45 minutes each way and spending the extra time on the farm to pay more than we could afford for a tree. {I remembered that particular farm was pretty pricey. We got our first live tree there right after our wedding.}

Soooooooooooooooooo...

...NEW TRADITION!!!!

Why, yes! That is a supermarket behind us!

We decided to head to a grocery store and scope out their live trees, lined up against the building, under the protection of an awning.

Now if you even THINK for one minute that sacrificing a trip to a real tree farm for our tree meant we were going to sacrifice a photo shoot, you have another thing coming. I don't care if I am at the grocery store. We are making memories here, people, and I am taking pictures.

Apparently some shoppers gave me some strange looks. Guess who does not even care? ME!

 Some trees were out where you could see them and some were bound up in netting. And another fun fact about buying trees at this store was that all trees were the same price, regardless of size. So as I'm sure you can imagine, Ryan decided if we had the pick of the litter, we were getting the biggest tree there. {We have vaulted ceilings in our living area, so we could handle a much bigger tree than we've ever been able to before.}

His choice.

I guarded it while he went inside to pay:

 NO ONE was getting that tree on my watch. Not happening.

And then it was time to load 'er up!

Next week I'll show you the decorating festivities.

But in the meantime, this tree, y'all. It is HUGE. It looks like a nice skinny tree in that netting, but when we unloaded it, that thing is crazy huge. 8 1/2 feet tall, full and wide, and we named it Griswold, for obvious reasons.

Ole' Grizzy is a good fit in our new living room. In our old house, he would have taken up the WHOLE house! Ha!

But what we learned is that while going to a tree farm is fun and exciting, grocery stores are more our budget, and clearly I can make the adventure just as much fun! I think that was the lesson I loved the most out of the whole thing. Traditions are traditions because they are yours, not because they match Pinterest suggestions. We like choosing a live tree and decorating it together. We did that. So we didn't drive a long way and pay twice the price this year. We still made memories and had fun! Win!!!!!

92 County Tour: Allen County

We decided to merge our anniversary getaway trip with our 92 county tour and knock out Allen County while we were at it! It was challenging, actually, for two reasons. First {and foremost}, Allen County is the biggest county in the state, and it's no joke - 660 square miles! That's a lot of ground to cover! Secondly, Allen County is where I worked for four years, so Ryan and I have already traveled over a lot of it already, and I wanted to find things that were new and different to try for our trip!

Your history lesson for the day is that Allen County is named after Colonel John Allen, who was killed in the War of 1812. {Before our time.}

There is SO MUCH to do in this county, so please know this is certainly not an exhaustive list of options.

It's kind of hard to see, but my chalkboard really says Allen. :)

I told you about it already here, but we did a lot of shopping! Fort Wayne has a great mall {at least it's great in the eyes of this Grant County girl}. Actually it has two great malls. The indoor, traditional kind of mall and an outdoor shopping center. We went to both!

And of course, you can't go to Allen County without stopping at DeBrand for some chocolates. Oh my goodness. So good. DeBrand has been around since 1987 and has established quite a reputation of delicious chocolates and desserts. They have multiple locations in Fort Wayne, and at one, you can take a tour of the place, but we visited a different one, so we didn't take a tour. We did, however, eat up, and it was completely delicious!

And as you also already read, we took a trip through the Fantasy of Lights, which was delightful as well! We have a similar light display here in Marion, but it's always fun to see what other places have to offer.

The last day of our weekend in Allen County, we visited a coffee shop, just like we always do in every county! I wanted to find a shop I'd not been to before, and this was the winner: Mocha Lounge!

It was a coffee shop in a strip mall - but you guys, look what it has???

A food truck!! {Smitten.}

The inside was adorable - and much bigger than we envisioned. Our drinks came in enormous mugs that are pretty much the size mugs should be.

Delicious!! And my favorite thing was that they had a TRUCK!!!!

Once we were sufficiently caffeinated, we headed to the  St. Joe Christmas tree farm I told you about:

We didn't cover all 600 some square miles of the county with this tour, but we sure did have a blast seeing some new pieces of the land that we'd not seen before. Thanks, Allen County, for being great hosts!!

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday, we woke up in our hotel room in Fort Wayne, looking ahead to the last day of our anniversary getaway. We had a leisurely day that included a visit to a coffee shop, and a trip to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree, which we named Firby. It was a great, fun day! {And when we came home, we not only had luggage and a naked Christmas tree, but we started ripping apart our house to rearrange some rooms. Because why not?}

* I devoted all of Monday to unpacking from our trip, doing massive amounts of laundry, and arranging the living room so at least one room was complete and put together. And while I edited pictures, someone decided out of the blue that my lap is her new favorite place to be. No idea why she suddenly loves me, but I'll take it!

* Tuesday was December 1, so we pulled out my Advent book and started reading it again; I love that tradition I get to share with Ryan! Speaking of Ryan, though he was officially sicker than a dog {how sick is that, anyway?} with a cold, he volunteered to ring Salvation Arm bells with his boss. Isn't he the cutest bell ringer? And that night, you know, just for funsies, we moved a couch up the stairs. That was interesting!! {Don't miss Ryan at the top of the picture, right under the 12!

* Wednesday was our anniversary {YAY!!!} and Ryan took the day off work to spend it with me! We got to rest and do a little shopping, and we had our pictures taken before going out to dinner. We watched our wedding video while we ate cupcakes and just had such a lovely day remembering THE lovely day of our wedding!

* Thursday morning I got to do my devos by the light of the Christmas tree, which was lovely in every way. Ryan and I had put the lights and ornaments on it the day before, but it still needed some finishing up, so I worked hard on that - and on decorating the rest of the house that day. I'll give you a better view of all that later, but here's a sneak peek. I went low-key this year, but I like how it turned out!

* Friday I decorated the outside of our house {also low-key this year} and we hung up our mistletoe {YAY!}. That night, after Ryan got home from work, we went to his mom's house to pick up a dining room table he'd had in storage for something like a decade or more. Much more on this to come, but basically our table was just too small, so now we have one {for free!} that was certainly MUCH larger.

 * Yesterday Ryan worked, so I sent a little tree with him for his office. No ornaments, just a tree with lights. {Didn't want him to lose his man card ENTIRELY by having a fully decorated tree.} And last night, we went to our brother-in-law's 40th {surprise} birthday party, which was really a lot of fun! I took pictures all night and am always happiest when I have a job and a purpose, so it was a great time. Ryan's sister rocked it with the preparation!

Anniversary Celebrations Part 3

Last Sunday was our last day of our little anniversary getaway, and we had so much fun!

We decided to make it a leisurely morning and just stay at the hotel until the last possible moment. It was so nice to NOT rush around. That is what vacation is all about, right??

Our first order of business was to visit a coffee shop, because this outing actually doubled as our Allen County tour, but I'm going to do a separate post on that, so I'll wait to show you that part later.

Our NEXT order of business was to visit a Christmas tree farm to get this year's tree! I found one on the North side of Fort Wayne called St. Joe Christmas Tree Farm, and it was charming!

It was busier than any tree farm we'd been to yet, but maybe that's because we have always gone on a weekday before. Anyway, they were so nice, and this sign just cracked me up!

I did think it was really great that you could bring your pets! {We didn't have Braeya with us. Rudolph probably would reject her anyway.}

We went in search of the perfect tree...I thought maybe this one?

Ryan thought maybe this one:

So we went with his choice!

We thought it was safer if he did the cutting and I did the photography.

And then he had to just go and show off.

Shout out to my five pound free weights!!!

{Yes, he really carried it like that all the way from the lot up to the front.}

We got him all tied up and ready to go...and we named him Firby!

We love our Firby!!

Before we came home, we took another gift card and went out for lunch:

There was a Colts game underway at that time, so lunch looked a lot like this:

That just cracks me right up.

It was delicious, that lunch! Even if I was a TV widow. {I LOVE YOU, RYAN!!!!!}

And it was a perfect end to the time away. We so enjoyed our getaway, but I promise I have more stories to come!! :) Come back!!!!