Work of Art

Months ago, we found this tandem bike artwork piece in the Pottery Barn catalog. And instantly fell in love w/it ... but did not fall in love w/the price. Joe assured me that he could do one that was far better and far cheaper.

AND HE DID!

Merry Christmas. Sretan Bozic.

Boy. What a whirlwind of a Christmas Vacation. I feel like I've been to the moon and back. And it all started with a blizzard in Pennsylvania that blanketed the ground with a whopping two feet of snow! I hadn't seen white stuff like that since I was in high school.

Then I had a White Wedding Winterland to go to. My cousin, Aaron, married his sweetheart Bekah the weekend before Christmas. He flew back from Japan where he's stationed as a Marine. It was so beautiful and well worth the 8 hour drive. Congrats you lovebirds!

Then it was off to Wolfeboro on Christmas Eve. Just another little 9 hour drive. Holy Moly. But again well worth it. They had a ton of snow there too. Joe, Craig, and I took advantage of it by going snowmobiling. I had to borrow some snow gear circa 1980 from Vlado.

THEN it was off to Nikki's (Joe's sister) house on Christmas Day. Here's Vlado in his brand new Snuggie complete with a Croatian patch.

Finally I got some snuggle time in with Cody before our 17 hour drive back to Wilmington. What an adventure! But so good to be home.

Disney World

This year Joe & I really lucked out. My parents gave us an all-expense-paid trip to DISNEY WORLD for Christmas! Gosh, it was such a blast. Definitely one of the best vacations Joe & I have ever done. And as you can imagine we came home with about a million great memories and our camera's memory card packed full. So here are just a few of my faves!

Me with the Lego Family in LegoLand, Downtown Disney

Cooper got his portrait done in France, Epcot

Ssssssnake and Tiger Eyes, Animal Kingdom

The Whole Gang in front of the Tower of Terror, Hollywood Studios

Cooper D, Joe, and Me in front of Cinderella's Castle, Magic Kingdom

James Bond Jr.

Joe was heading out to do a presentation at one of his night classes. So he was in his Sunday Best. With camera in hand I said, 'Give me James Bond.' This is what I got.

MMM...Chicken Pot Pie

One of the nicest bridal shower gifts I received was a beautiful Longaberger pie plate from my old babysitter, Barb. She is by far one of the nicest women I have ever known. She watched me from the age of 6 months to 12 years. She is definitely one of the biggest influences in my life that have made me into the person I am today. So this pie plate meant even more to me coming from her. Last night I decided to use it for the first time with a chicken pot pie recipe that Robin gave to me. And as usual I had one slice ... and Joe ate the rest.

SNUGGIE

Months ago while Joe and I were roaming the aisles of Target looking for the perfect items to put on the wedding registry, Joe got a little trigger happy with the laser gun. He laser-ed a SNUGGIE.
I'm like, "REALLY?!"

And he's like, "Why not?!"

And I'm like, "We're gonna be real pissed when someone gets us a freakin' snuggie instead of a blender or something we need."
Joe reluctantly deleted the SNUGGIE from the laser and we moved on to the bed & bath section.
I was telling Nana Dearborn about this almost catastrophic mistake a few days later and I guess Nana really felt Joe on this one. So when we arrived in PA for (my) the bridal shower, Joe had a nice, neatly wrapped gift all for himself to open from Nana. I'm sure you can guess what it was.

Bridal Shower

So the best mom in the world (mine!) threw me a very elegant, very swanky bridal shower the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since I was up north, it was the perfect opportunity to have all the "northerners" get together for a celebration of my new bride-to-be status.
All catering was provided by The Country Inn except these delectable cupcakes that my mom made from an "old Dearborn recipe." Well at least that's what we thought until we found the icing recipe on the back of the JELLO instant pudding box. Hilarious.
And Mr. Cooper D (brother/groomsman/artist) created two masterpieces in Joe & I's honor. 1 of 2, entitled "Happily Ever After", can be seen below. It's complete with a mini-mailbox that says "MADZAR." We've got this one and "Bicycle Built For Two" hanging in our house right now!

He's A Keeper

This is what I normally find lying around after Joe leaves a room.

This is what I found yesterday.

Joe must be taking this whole husband thing pretty seriously. He's totally a keeper.