Resolutes...

Plant some fun flowers.

Read at least one book a month.

Invest in classic staples for my wardrobe.

Get up earlier each morning.
Go to bed earlier each evening.

Continue our yearly trip to someplace awesome.

Write more handwritten notes.

Have picnics in the park.

Continue decorating our little home.

Drink more water.

Tell my family and friends how much I love them (I ADORE YOU!).

Learn how to cook something.

Take a strength training class.

And last but certainly not least…

Be a Goddess of Adventure!
(like Alex Puccio. oh yeah, i went there)

2011....here I come!!

pic via we heart it

Happy New Year!!

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness.

I hope you read some fine books

and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful,

and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.

And i hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."

- Neil Gaiman

Krew of Roccus

The Better Than Ezra guys rocked our socks off last night at the House of Blues

last night.

Kevin Griffin was his usual goofy self and made us laugh constantly

Our friends Audrey and Andrew were also at the concert.

This was our 3rd time to see BTE but Audrey made my jaw drop

when she said this was her 6th time to see them in concert.

My cousin Colin got to join us for the fun night and his first House of Blues concert!

Mr. Griffin is truly hilarious...and a little scary at times which I'm positive he is proud of!

What a rockin' Wednesday night!

We even scored a guitar pick that Kevin tossed out!!

It was totally worth the exhaustion today at work!

Visiting the Little House

We finally got to see our bestest friends', Kati and Adam's,

little log cottage in the big woods!

Check out her blog, she is the funniest gal with brown hair I know.

I am truly so envious of her quaint little home, picturesque pond and beautiful old trees.

Actually, I'm really happy they have such an awesome place to call home!

We have some of the greatest friends in the world.

Sweet, Sweetness

Sure is nice to be home again!

We love the hustle and bustle of Christmas time but it is so nice

to be home in your own bed.

Praise God for so many answered prayers this past week:

travel mercies in abundance

peaceful family togetherness

laughing with the bestest of friends

 healthy (and brisk) jogs in new places

my husband showing me grace when negative emotions surfaced

What a wonderful Christmas!

Gluhwein

I got to enjoy some spiced German mulled wine on Christmas Eve.

It's served hot and is especially delicious with gingerbread men!

Yum!

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

Two Wolves

TWO WOLVES

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other is God - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

"most wonderful time of year"...

Watching this wonderful classic...

Vera-Ellen is so tiny and beautiful!

With my main pup...

Life Lessons from Elf

(Mr. Tobis in his holiday collar)

Lesson #1: Spread cheer (Christmas and otherwise).   

“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.”

Lesson #2: Make smiling your favorite. 
“I just like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite.”

Lesson #3: Be yourself, even when it’s hard to know who you are. 
“Actually, I’m a human, but I was raised by elves.”

Lesson #4: Give out compliments freely.
“Deb, you have such a pretty face. You should be on a Christmas card!” 

Lesson #5: Take risks.
“Papa says my real father lives in a magical place far away… but the thing is, I’ve never left the North Pole.”

Lesson #6: Don’t give up.
“I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.”

Lesson #7: Speak your mind.
“If you can sing alone, you can sing in front of other people. There’s no difference.”

Lesson #8: Let life excite you. 
“Good news! I saw a dog today!”

Lesson #9: Show affection. 

“Does somebody need a hug?”

Lesson #10: Do what you love. 
“First we’ll make snow angels for a two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough as fast as we can, and then we’ll snuggle.”

(Cat and I lovin' on our fur babies!)

I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

There is no danger of being cold here in Alexandria, Louisiana.

It's a balmy 75 degrees.

The first thing we did once we arrived was break out the Frisbee to play with the cousins.

After being cooped up in the car for 5 hours we were ready to run and play!

I am so grateful for having all of the present business...

making, wrapping and tagging.

As I finished up last night I watched another holiday favorite

(actually I've been known to watch this one any 'ol time)

It's A Wonderful Life.

Here is a cool revamped holiday song and a beautiful favorite scene from the movie

Today is the Day!

“You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You're on your own.
And you know what you know.

You are the gal who'll decide where to go.”



I love this girl more than cupcakes!

She's my sister and she is turning 36 today!

She is beautiful and such an inspiration for me.
Here are 36 reasons why i love her...

1. we're 10 years apart, so she always looked after me.

2. she likes to dance in the rain as much as I do

3. She is still my best friend even though i said and did mean things growing up.

4. she was my rock during the crazy times.

5. she is a beautiful person inside out.
6. she brought me a pretty necklace for my first high school dance
7. she understands me better than anyone
8. we have silly "inside-joke-songs" that we sing
9. She let me stay in her dorm room with her at UT when I would come to visit
10. She's a great cook
11. She's an amazing mom
12. I love learning from her
13. We had midnight parties when I was in middle school and we drank sprite from champagne glasses
14. She gave me her favorite baby doll, Samantha.
15. She loves me when when I'm contrary
16. She's really, really funny
17. She danced with me during a random rain shower (in our front yard)
18. We've helped each other move in and out of our college homes
19. We see movies together no one else would see with us
20. We were each others' maid-of-honors
21. She's very wise
22. and gives good advice
23. I love her style
24. She lets me borrow her stuff
25. We rescued a goose from our neighborhood together.
26. She would bring me back to bed when I would sleep walk
27. and try to pack her suitcase
28. She is an avid reader 
29.  and gives great book suggestions
30. She was the first person to take me to La Madeline
31. She convinced my parents to let me get my ears pierced (not an easy feat)
32.  and to let me shave my legs (this was very important to me at one time) in 5th grade
33.  She enjoys "laying out" in the sunshine as much as I do
34. We usually can read each other's mind
35. She is a great actress
36. She is my sister and she is fabulous!

She's the best...one of the biggest inspirations in my life, and one of the most important people in it.
She's the most beautiful person and I feel so fortunate we are so close!
So here's to Kelley, the best sister and friend a girl could ever ask for.
I love you Kell!

Thought of You

So i know I have been posting alot of videos lately but there's just so much great stuff out there that I want to share with you!

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

If you love this song as much as I did it's by the Weepies.
Charlie said it sounded pretty weepie :-(

And you can even see how the whole thing was created here:

Thought of You - Behind the Scenes Preview - ROUGH CUT from Cambell Christensen on Vimeo.

I think it is so beautiful and have been watching it over and over.
Enjoy!

Remember My Name!!

Trip and Nate came over to spend a few hours with us today.

They got such a kick out of our Fast Bellz video and wanted to try their hand

at some humorous holiday tunes.

With them being so cute'n all, we couldn't help but oblige

(we were pretty curious too)

Nate decided to opt out of the sining and just Emcee our little carol.
They are hiliarious and I had no idea Trip was making funny faces the whole time.
Charlie experimented with speeding up the singing and slowing down Nate's hilarious comments.
We're not sure why Nate-the-Great kept saying,
"Remember my name!"
but the end result is pretty knee slappin' funny

Mr. Tur Tell

We sent ourselves a postcard from C.R.

and it just came in the mail!

(many of you dear readers will be receiving yours shortly.)

Charlie wrote this one for us from the turtle's perspective.

I didn't read the card until it arrived today and wanted to share my husband's hilarity with you:

"Crush the turtle here, just dropping you guys a line...

I enjoyed bumping into you guys on the street the other night.

Texas sounds so rad, I hope I can visit someday.

It's a bummer you guys had to leave so soon.

The sun is shining bright and the surf is totally killer.

Stay cool and give me a shout next time you're down my way.

Peace, love, and turtles,

Crush"

The Chronic(what?)cles of Narnia

Ssooo funny thing:

Charlie and I are driving to see the new Narnia movie at Studio Movie Grill which is always packed on opening night, especially on the weekends.

(this is the preferred theater because we have coupons...)

We're hurrying to get to Jason's Deli so we can eat and

still get to the theater with plenty-o time to get good seats.

...as a side note...I like to set my clocks about 10 min ahead of the actual time so I

trick myself into arriving at places on time.

Charlie says it doesn't help anything if I already know the clock is fast to begin with...

BUT, I digress.

(it's pertinent to the story I promise)

We get in the car and begin driving to our destination, Charlie looks to the dash and asks me,

"how fast is this thing?"

him referencing the clock and me thinking:

he wants to know how fast the Subaru can go so we can get to the movie quicker.

 Along this train of thought, I reply,

"About 150 mph."

It was a good night.

Night Light

Charlie and I started this couples' devotional from Focus on the Family ministry

this Sunday and have enjoyed reading the sweet stories each night.

The book contains six months of daily devotions written from the Dobsons' 40 years of marriage experience.

Each week begins with a story addressing a life theme (communication, money, forgiveness, etc.) and then that weeks’ reads takes us deeper into that topic.  I had been feeling us falling into a bit of spiritual laziness lately.  Not in the church sense, we always manage to get to church even when we aren’t in Houston but I was missing that day-to-day connection.

When we took a bunch of books to Half Price this weekend I started to drop the Night Light book into the box to sell and Charlie scooped it out, asking what it was.  I told him I had bought us each a copy to read when we were apart from each other but never felt like it was the right time to start.  He surprised me by suggesting we start that day.  It’s funny how prayers somehow seem to be answered when you weren’t even expecting it.

Movie Night Again

I try to hold out on this movie for as long as I can during the holidays

and althought the husband cannot stand this movie (for Diane Keaton reasons) it's one of my favorites.

For all of her character's awkwardness, I can't help but love SJP in this romantic/family comedy.

"You've got a freak flag.  You just don't fly it."

~ Luke Wilson

"I'm just as good as any of you!"

"Of course you are.  Better, probably."

 

"What's so great about you guys?"

"Nothing!  It's just we're all we've got!"

And it starts...

Last night I stayed home to work on some Christmas projects

and started the marathon of watching my favorite holiday movies:

"Smiling's my favorite!"

I could watch this movie every day of my life

"Aunt Clara had for years labored under the delusion that

I was not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl."

~ Ralphie as an adult referring to his bunny pajamas

So great, I love Christmas time!

I’ll Take Coal! Just Let Me GO!

It's that time of year for holiday cheer, pretty lights and....

Sketchy Santas!!

These guys put the "NO in Noel"...

Jingle Bells aka. Fast Bellz

So Charlie is learning how to use the Video editing software he bought earlier this year. After we finished decorating the Christmas tree, we decided to have some fun with it...

France Never Invades Anywhere

Charlie and I ate lunch at our current favorite burger joint.

 On our last visit we had the pleasure of overhearing a converstation between an interestingly/strange lady and her husband.

The whole time we were there she was blabbering on about all things French.

So when we sat down today Charlie began to talk about France since she wasn't there to do it this time.

It took me a second to catch on... 

Charlie: Did you hear that France reestablished their monarchy last night and they invaded Sicily this morning?

Me: WHAT?!? Who's their king?

Charlie: Jean Reno (as in Steve Martin's sidekick in Pink Panther, pictured below).

Me: Well now I know you're kidding.

Charlie: Yea the French don't invade anything, they get invaded.

LOL

Creepy Neighbor

Charlie: Jonathan looks a little different since we got back.

Me:  Different...as in a woman?

Charlie: No, as in his head's a different shape

Here's to starting the month off with a smile!

{via}

Pura Vida - Thanks and Gig 'Em

We hit the beach EARLY this morning so we could have a full last day in CR.

I teased Charlie that the "surf wax" that came with his board rental was just a huge block of bubbalicious gum.

Here's our little Yaris rental all loaded up.

There was a whole lotta this going down today and I am happy as a clam!

Bodies in the sand...

Tropical drinks melting in your hand...

{via Beach Boys}

{pedicure, it make look nice, it's so sexy, it's better for you}
These two macaws flew out of a palm tree right next to me. 

Aren’t they beautiful?

So crazy to see these animals in the wild and not just at the zoo.

After "beachin'" it up we came back home to watch the sunset from our balcony.

Not a bad spot to be blogging at!

We finished off the night with our usual ice cream stop.

Here is our lovely "helado barista" Monica who is originally from Washington D.C.
She runs the TCBY here in Jaco and is awesome!
We love making new friends!

Adios Costa Rica, Pura Vida!

or as we Texas Aggies say, Thanks and Gig 'Em!

Flying in the rainforest and chillin' at Hermosa

Our canopy zip line tour of the rainforest was fantastic…and a little scary.
Apparently the zip lines (how you get from tree to tree on the wire) could be up to 300 feet in the air.
 

I tried not to think about that part.

Notice the high tech green matresses they have set up to keep us from crashing into the trees at 60 mph.
More on that later...

  The guides had fun telling us how it was their first day on the job, etc.

 I guess people who work in possibly dangerous professions think it’s funny to freak out their clientele.

Luckily I’d heard that song and dance from the skydive instruction before and that was a significantly more frightening experience.

Remember those green mattresses?  Check out what likes to live behind them…

Our guides said their names are Lupita, Wilson and Mike.  There are over 100 species of bats in Costa Rica and 3 of them are the vampire kind.

This is a fruit loving white-nosed coati from the raccoon family. 
The staff at the zip line place leave fruit rines to lure him out and work the tourist crowds.Sweet lookin’ but most of them have rabies L

We wrapped up the day watching the surfers and the sunset at our favorite place, The Backyard Bar.

On our way to dinner (which turned into us just getting groceries and eating at the condo since the place we wanted to go was closed on Sunday) we saw this big tortoise crossing the road.  
He must have been in a hurry because I’ve never seen a turtle move that fast!  Well relatively speaking…I was worried that he might get hit out in the road like that but he turned himself around and made his way back to the beach.