Christmas!

This post was very unorganized, I apologize for that - my legs have been hurting so badly so the last thing on my mind is to make this perfect lol

Christmas was wonderful this year! We spent the weekend before Christmas at Matt’s family’s house and spent Christmas night with my family. The next day we drove to Austin and then took a carpool to Crested Butte, Colorado!

First off, I got these wonderful gifts from Matt! I also got a birch box subscription!!

What is a birch box??

What is Birchbox?

Birchbox delivers the best products and the best insider secrets, without any fuss. Every month Birchbox members will receive a curated box of luxe beauty samples. Each box will span beauty categories and deliver exciting products that fit into both your day-to-day routine, and into those days when you want to turn up the drama a notch.

Co-founders Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp met at Harvard Business School. They created Birchbox to help women cut through the clutter of the beauty world to find products that really work for them.

I also got these wonderful gifts for my office space!

Chick Fil A Calendar with coupons!

pug a day calendar!

this is shifted odd but I got a pug umbrella, pug mug, lotion, Vera Bradley mug

cute little frame

I got this sucker after Christmas. Wicked bruise from my ski boots

I got these wonderful pug things from my husband!

See that Harry Potter book?

Beautiful! It is a massive book! All about Harry Potter!

Characters!

absolutely pooped

awesome pcture and frame! Looks just like Presley!

all 8 films!

The massive HP book I got!

Presley pooped once again

too much fun on Christmas

I got HARRY POTTER CLUE for Christmas! It was played a lot!

We got the pugs a sock monkey bed...along with two other beds...couldn't pass this one up! Gabby adores it!

sleeping beauty

 another desk accessory!

Here is of my new outfits that I got for Christmas...well the Blazer! Got it from Forever 21!

I got a lot of wonderful stuff, I just didn't take pictures of all of it! Thanks for all my wonderful gifts :)

Preview from our Crested Butte Vacation!!!!

btw: Finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...the last pages of the book made me cry...the pictures made me want to bawl...but I held it in...review coming soon!

Yay Books! and Resolutions!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! I had a few resolutions....

1. to blog 5/7 days - here we go!
2. to eat healthier and take more vitamins (this includes Matt!)
3. save more!

Please stick to this blog, I will not be posting on facebook and no pictures will be posted on facebook. This is the Hestilow family blog for family and friends to read!


Books I have read since I last updated!

Matched
Warm Bodies
Beautiful Disaster
The Death Cure

Currently Reading: Wicked I posted and saved this 12/21 - it is now 1/3/12 and I have finished Wicked, The Woman in Black, Pretty Little Liars #1 and am now currently reading Son of A Witch, Pretty Little Liars #2, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close!


Thoughts?

Matched was not bad - like a really tame dystopian novel. ALL about love.
Warm Bodies - FANTASTIC book- can't wait until it is a movie!
Beautiful Disaster - really no plot. just wrote about these two people who are both disasters and their love life.
The Death Cure - A great ending to the trilogy. I am so sad it is done.

Better reviews:

Matched

Beautiful Disaster - only $2.99 on the Kindle!

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn't drink or swear, and she has the appropriate percentage of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance between her and the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend America, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University's Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby needs--and wants--to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the charming college co-ed. Intrigued by Abby's resistance to his charms, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis' apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match. 

Warm Bodies

Summary (from the book jacket)

'R' is a zombie. He has no name, no memories, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Amongst the ruins of an abandoned city, R meets a girl. Her name is Julie and she is the opposite of everything he knows - warm and bright and very much alive, she is a blast of colour in a dreary grey landscape. For reasons he can't understand, R chooses to save Julie instead of eating her, and a tense yet strangely tender relationship begins.
This has never happened before. It breaks the rules and defies logic, but R is no longer content with life in the grave. He wants to breathe again, he wants to live, and Julie wants to help him. But their grim, rotting world won't be changed without a fight...

The Death Cure

Thomas knows that Wicked can't be trusted, but they say the time for lies is over, that they've collected all they can from the Trials and now must rely on the Gladers, with full memories restored, to help them with their ultimate mission. It's up to the Gladers to complete the blueprint for the cure to the Flare with a final voluntary test.

What Wicked doesn't know is that something's happened that no Trial or Variable could have foreseen. Thomas has remembered far more than they think. And he knows that he can't believe a word of what Wicked says.

The time for lies is over. But the truth is more dangerous than Thomas could ever imagine.
Will anyone survive the Death Cure?

Previous books that were part of the series

The Maze Runner

The Scorch Trials

I did not write any of these reviews. I could have...but really don't want to...these reviews explain everything so much better than I could.

Books I am currently reading:

Wicked

The Woman In Black -Susan Hill

...yes I am reading this book because the movie comes out in January.

WHY yes I am reading this book because Daniel Radcliffe stars in it ;)

Will update soon on PLL#1, Wicked, and The Woman in Black!!!

What to look forward to:
Wednesday - Christmas
Thursday - Ski Trip
Friday - Book Reviews
Saturday -TBD

quick update

So I think that 2012 is going to be an amazing year. Since I believe this one of my New Years Resolution will be to work hard at blogging atleast once every day. Even if it is HI!

Not much going on. Just gave blood - I am seriously becoming a pro at this!

I have been staring at these shoes since they made their appearance this fall. I love Michael Kors but never splurge on anything. I got these $150 for $75 in the clearance rack. I am in love.

Matt sent me flowers at work the other week - our 3 anniversary from the day he proposed to me. He is wonderful! He also remembered that Tulips are my favorite!!

off to go eat a hearty meal - HEY I was ordered by those who took my blood!

Pictures I took Wednesday!

I attended a luncheon the other day. Fancy Schmancy!

don't mind my odd look! One of my new GAP dresses!

I had to file all those suckers at work the other day.

I made pumpkin pie from an actual pie pumpkin. I really am not a fan of pumpkin pie but my family members absolutely loved it!

really? This is news?

See Title...

First: Who cares about Demi Lovato going to speak

Second: Brinkley is on there twice

Third: REALLY...REALLY....KATE GOSSELIN BEING SORE IS NEWS!?

way to go KTRK!

I miss being a foodie blogger. I really loved the people who I blogged with. I don’t miss the attitude I had during the whole time. I was in a crappy place and was just unhappy. I am so happy now and want to blog about food and get back to talking with my food blogger friends again. So I will start back up!

Unfortunately today I ate nothing good. I don’t think I actually had a meal today. I snacked. Now a days...I don't care for food much.... have lost around 8ish lbs since July. I never want to eat anything…don’t feel like making any food for me….and don’t really think about food. That was COMPLETELY not me in 2010.

I’ve been trying to decide what to eat tonight….tacos or this chicken I got from Tarjey. We have a friend staying the night with us so if he is going to be here for dinner it will be tacos.

BTW: TRADER JOE’S IS COMING TO THE HOUSTON AREA. I almost peed my pants when I heard this. Oh all my money will be going to this store!! COME ON SPRING 2012!!!

I always loved writing in a blog. I wrote in one back in high school – so sad that I deleted it – and throughout college. I recently read my blog from 2010 and realized how stressed out I was, how depressing I wrote. I was lame to be around.

Flash forward a year and I feel a lot better. I won’t go into what we worked on (with me) but I feel better and I am a lot happier!

My husband and I are in such a good place! We paid of a lot of our debt and are finally thinking about houses (not anytime soon) and so much other stuff.

I have a brand new job and I love going to work!

I am finally in grad school and am enjoying it! I currently have 100s in both of my classes. KNOCK ON WOOD _ LET’S KEEP IT THAT WAY!

I am taking a 4 day class on Introduction to Petroleum Management in January and just decided to take on 9 hours of grad school in the spring. This means I will full time. One class is online, another is one day a week in The Woodlands and the other will TBD – my professor is working with me since I work fulltime. She told me there are two other students who are fulltime and are working with her. So I will be taking 9 hours which means by the end of May I will have completely 15 hours towards my 36 hour Grad Degree!! I hope to be able to take some summer classes (which will be difficult considering I have an odd major) but this could mean I could graduate in 2.5 years!

Funny thing….I have been off of facebook for about a week. I’ve gotten on one time in the past week only because I was so bored. I was on for about a minute and got off. I received this in my email today.

Creepy. They know I haven’t been on facebook…AND they are trying to lure me in. NO! If someone wanted me to know something important they would have texted/emailed/called me if they wanted to. Or probably not – no one does that anymore.