When blogging falls short...

Obvs I'm referring to when blogging falls short

in comparison to my Instagram obsession...

whew...girlfriend needs a 12 step program!! Yikes!

I haven't even read any blogs, much less attempted to write 

a post in atleast 2 weeks, maybe 3. The last time I sat down to write a post

was the day of the SandyHook massacre. I just sat

there reading posts that people had so eloquently written

and I just couldn't put any words together.

I've always said the blogs I most enjoy and admire are

the blogs that are written with gut-wrenching and

no-holds-barred honesty...but turns out that

reading those blogs and writing one of those blogs are two

totally different things.  For 1 in takes much more thought and 

blatant talent but for 2, you have to consider the fact that

any Yahoo you work with might read your blog and all your

blogging business....not cool.

But anyways, the holidays are over, 

(THANK YOU GOD-I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER)

and I'm ready to get on with the new year.

I was already feeling scrooge-tastic heading into the holiday

season and then Christmas turned into a nightmare.

(oh yes....second year in a row) 

So while I grumble under my breath looking at everyone's

posts with their idyllic Christmas trees and family

festivities I try to remind myself not to compare my

behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reels...

Words to live by....

I saw that on Instagram, go figure.

So here's my uber lame attempt at catching up...

I'm going to go the route of posting random pictures with 

brief explanations below them.

Bonfires at mom and dad's

Playing with goats at Kelly's

Halloween!

I really don't care much about Halloween, but I 

do love to dress up and I'm down for any opportunity to

wear a wig!!!

Annual Halloween Wig-out at work

Such a great turn-out!!

I attended a co-workers baby shower where we

donned moustaches of course!!!

These make me laugh so hard...

Alicia...your moustache is falling off...

Charlie Chapman??

Welcome James Jr.!!

Thanksgiving was at my sisters house this year....

Roy and I went to his cousins house initially but then I left

and headed to my sisters to spend the rest of the day with 

my mom & dad.  It was just the four of us which seemed

strange, but we made the best of it and managed to

get some family pictures.

Note to future self: do not wear billowy blouse to family photos...

 My favorite shot of the day

I ate pizza with friends....

I've been watching a lot of The Walking Dead lately, and

Alicia frighteningly resembles one of the zombies in this picture...

 Post-work breakfast at McDonalds with Rach

Roy turned 31...

pardon me while I freak out cause I still can't get 

over the fact that he's 31 and I'm 28!!!

I went to first fridays where I found a helpful little

kitten who kindly held my coffee for me...

Roy even said I could keep him,

but alas he was $5 so he got left behind...

sorry kitty!

I celebrated with Alicia for her 30th birthday....

we failed to get a decent picture...Rachael you're reminding

me of a turtle pulling into his shell in this picture...

we sampled the whipped cream off of fancy martinis

I don't even know what was happening here...

but I love it!!!

Alicia the rat

I swear we weren't trashed, don't let the bloodshot 

eyes fool you!

Christmas Shopping at the legends with mom & Kelly

And the few pictures I took at Christmas were from
Christmas Eve at my  Uncles House. I had to work Christmas Eve
so I was dressed in my AMAZING ugly sweater...

what you can't tell from this picture is the fact that it had bells

all over it that jingled when I walked---perfect!!

Kelly & I

Cousins!!

Sarah, Brianna, myself and Kelly

So that was my lame catch-up post.

I'm going to try to do a post revisiting my New Years resolutions from 

last year, however after some examination I'll probably

realize that I fell short of most of my goals...Eeek!

Oh well, theres always 2013!!

A Very Maney Christmas 2011

Ahhh....

Christmas has come and gone once again.

Usually I feel a sense of post-Christmas let down...

can't really say that I'm minding this year.

This was the first (and maybe last) annual Christmas at the Maneys.
Ok, Ok that may be a little dramatic..

Overall, things went well...

Of course we had our fair share of family drama...

but I suppose that's sometimes just unavoidable.

Hopefully the next 363 days will be long enough for me to 

forget about it...kind of like forgetting about the

pains of childbirth!!

Anyhoo..I'll go ahead give myself props for pulling it off.

The menu turned out great...there was more than

enough food and drinks to go around.

Everyone said the house looked pretty,

(not that they would tell me if it didn't...) and we 

got to have several family members over that hadn't been

to our house since we'd moved in.

Christmas Eve we stuck to our annual

tradition of heading over to my Aunt and Uncles house

to have Christmas with them..

I was really excited that we got to spend some

time with both of my cousins. There's only 

4 of us girls that are first cousins, and it's really

a shame that we don't see each other more often..

Kelly and I have made a pact to try and 

be better about staying in touch and reaching out..

Someday we'll be the ones organizing these

things-so we need to stick together!!

Here's a few pictures from Christmas Eve..

Kelly, mom, Ladonna, Uncle Steve and Sarah

pullin' out the old family photos...

Kel

My nuclear family

Undersheriff Jackson

Cousin Brianna...

15 years old and standing 5'10"!!

Uncle Steve and Aunt Barbara

Sisters....

I think we can finally settle the debate on who's

head is bigger....

Christmas Eve night

Mom, Dad and my Uncle Jeff all decided

to stay the night at our house instead of

driving back to Mound City.

Who wants to drive an hour only to turn

around and come back in the morning??

Better yet, who wants to live in

Mound City??

This remains a mystery....

Christmas morning we woke up and I

got busy working on breakfast.

Fortunately, I was able to prepare

most of my dishes in advance-so all I

really had to do was pop everything in the oven..

sometimes it really pays to be Type A..

The Christmas breakfast table!

You never think when you're buying your 

first dining table that you will ever need

anything that seats more than six people...

and then you host Christmas...

After breakfast we opened presents and then

spent the afternoon snacking, visiting and

watching movies while waiting until

it was time to eat again!

Passing out gifts

Clark Griswold in the flesh..

I do believe someone was about to be assaulted

with a shovel...

Dinner is served!!

And now, because I can...

some self indulgent pictures of my

favorite Christmas decorations and 

the tree I worked so hard on...

My little tree with nursing ornaments

...cheesy, right? I just can't help myself..

Our tree!

Definitely the most 'grown up' tree we've

ever had and quite the labor of love...

One of my new favorite ornaments...

my best friend made me this sweet 

ornament with a little gold "R" 

on it for my Grammy.

I will treasure this forever!

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas

with your families and friends!!