Happy New Year

For New Year's Eve J and I are spending the day unpacking our stuff from England. Hubby has been looking forward to this like it's Christmas and his birthday wrapped into one. He has been dying to have all his things so that we can finish putting our home together the way we like it. We don't even have a working t.v. For the past couple of weeks we have been watching movies on my laptop. We do plan on taking a break this evening to go out for dinner and "maybe" find somewhere to be for midnight celebration.

 As for resolutions I honestly haven't been making one for a long time and this year is no different. If anything I just want to work on keeping myself healthy physically, mentally, and spiritually.


Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Surprises

For those of you who didn't know, I have lied about going to Nashville for Christmas. Instead, my baby brother and I surprised my mother by showing up at her place for Christmas. The only person in on it was my dad. She was utterly shocked and cried like a baby. Unfortunately no one took a video of this occasion.

This meant a lot to her because this was the first Christmas in three years that she has both her kids in one spot. This Christmas is one of the best I had in a long time and it was so nice to see my little brother (who is in the Army and stationed in Korea), all my grandparents and cousins I haven't spoken to in God knows how long. Plus, this was an opportunity for my husband to get to know my side of the family more since he only met the majority of them on our wedding day.

Now, I'm looking forward to getting all of our things tomorrow along with celebrating my first New Years with my husband.

Happy New Year everybody!

Merry Christmas!

For Christmas J and I are going to be visiting family in Nashville. It's about ten hours away so we are going to be taking off today. That means I will not be able to blog for the rest of the week so I will just say merry Christmas and hope you have a wonderful week!

My First Food Truck Experience

I think from now on I'm going to change future Friday posts to be about food and call it Foodie Friday instead of doing it Thursdays. What do you think? For this week's "Foodie Friday" I am sharing with you my first food truck experience.

 I searched around last week for any food trucks that are usually parked up in the area so that I don't have to drive all the way down to Dallas; that's a forty-five minute drive from home. I discovered Fort Worth's Food Park. It's a small picnic area where a couple of trucks park there every Thursday-Sunday. You can go to their website and you can check the calendar to see which trucks are parking on what days. For example if you're looking for a truck in particular you can find out what day they'll pop in.

 

The best part is that it's a ten minute drive from my house. At the same time it's tucked away in an area that hides it a bit but it's not too terribly hard to look for. Just look for the sign above and/or the delicious smells.

 

 

 

When I saw this bull skull I knew I had to get something from the Smoke Wagon. These guys have been mentioned by the Food Network and Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I didn't get their infamous bbq; I was in the mood for their burgers instead. 



 

I ordered a 'Truck' burger with cheddar cheese and bacon with sweet potato fries on the side. 

Then I saw the Good Karma Kitchen and got a strawberry basil lemonade from them.

 

I paid a little extra for the sweet potato fries but it was worth it. They were crispy and sweet but also got that tang from the balsamic reduction drizzled all over it. The lemonade was outstanding and I love that I can taste the basil. If you are in the area I urge you to find these truck or drop by the food park. In fact, I am heading there today for lunch so I will be talking about today's experience next week.

 

Have a blessed weekend everyone!



I Really Love My Husband

Every time I see him interact with kids, our nieces and nephews in particular, my heart swells up and I'm reminded why I love my husband.

One of the last days when J and I were visiting my folks my niece stayed the night to spend time with us. Of course we had to do smores by fire.

Hubby started the fire.

Look at that man! He sure lights up my fire.

Taylar waits anxiously for her marshmallow to burn. She likes it super crispy like her grandpa does.

This photo gets me every time

 

The little one is baby Rayven. She has a special place in our hearts and I enjoyed every moment (even the bad days) I had with her.

Book Worm Wednesday

Every December I read The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn. I have read this book three years in a row and I still enjoy it. If you are one of those people that really get into the Christmas spirit this is the book for you. This novel talks about how Santa Claus came to be what everyone knows him now. The story starts off talking about his parents who were too old to have a child when they had Nicholas. His parents left him a large fortune when they died and since he was still quite young he was left in the care of the town monks. As time passes by he began to realize that some people were not as fortunate as he was. So with a help of a friend he started the idea of leaving gifts to those who are in need. The story goes on and Nicholas meets his future wife, Layla, and some historical characters like Attila the Hun and Teddy Roosevelt.


What I love about this novel is that it has twenty-four chapters. The idea is to read one chapter a day, starting December 1st, until it is Christmas Eve when you are at the peak of the holiday spirit. It's a great story for the whole family and I recommend it next year. Here is an excerpt for today's chapter.

"...'What did you call my husband?' Layla asked, tilting her head to the side as she sometimes did when she heard something that surprised her. 'Santa', Felix answered. 'We've told you in our letters about the Sinta Klass mispronunciation, and how some children around New York expect Santa Claus to bring their presents. It's a good nickname for Nicholas, don't you think?' 'Santa,' Layla repeated thoughtfully. 'Yes, it really suits him. I suppose we all ought to call him that from now on.'..."

Hashtag

Last night I finally caught up with the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show of 2013 and one of the themes were Pink Network. They talked about how the girls use social media like Twitter and Instagram to promote VS and to stay connected with fans.

I realized how much I missed instagraming with my sorority sisters and I always enjoyed scrolling through the beautiful and creative photos. So I decided to get back on it.

If you want to follow me or you want me to follow you my username is katcampbell09. I only ask that you be polite and no rude remarks. There's no reason for negative comments. In return I will do the same.

#haveaniceday

I Have Terrible Anxieties

 I will have to apologize ahead of time if this post gets you down. This is something I wanted to talk about that I hope people can relate and share. I would love to hear advice and words of wisdom.

I was talking to my mom yesterday about my wedding photos when suddenly I wanted to talk to her about something I heard in the news about a week ago. It was something so horrible I don't want to tell you what it was about and ruin your day (or the next three days of your life). As I was telling my mother about it I starting to sob and saying, "Who would do that to an infant?!" Her and I talked some more about it and I've realized that I'm becoming more sensitive on things, in particularly about children.

My mother, who is an amazing and wise woman, said, "Honey, you are getting to that stage in your life where you are thinking about kids and babies and because of that you'll start to feel emotions like you've never felt before."

She's right. I am thinking about children-but I don't want to have one right away but the feelings are still there- and I start to think and brood. Now when I sit and brood to myself, I start to play the "what if" game. I start to come up with scenarios that just makes my mood worse. Sometimes I talk to J about these feelings but generally I just keep to myself so I don't scare him off.

We've talked about a scenario that my child is, well, to put it delicately, special. Please don't get me wrong; I have made friends with one or two kids with disabilities as a teenager. I remember during my sophomore year in high school I skipped half of the day to attend the Special Olympics in Oklahoma with a sweet girl to cheer for her. I know in my heart I will love that baby. I think a lot of parents with special children would understand when I say that I would grieve for my baby because they will never get to experience things that normal children would. It kills me the thought that my child would be made fun of because other kids don't understand. I mean we live in a cruel, mean world where anyone who is different ends up being isolated from the rest.

Does anyone get these anxieties too? Is this something that new mommies face as well?

Weekend Fun

Early Friday morning we drove out to Nashville to surprise J's family. I always get excited about Nashville because there is so much to do. There's the usual karaoke bars and line dancing clubs but there's much more than country part of Nashville that is familiar to everyone.

Friday evening we surprised the family, almost made my mother-in-law cry. That evening the Campbell clan (my in-laws and my brother-in-law) visited the Gaylord to see the Christmas lights and walked in the Atrium. It was decorated in Christmas lights, poinsettias, and more lights. It was truly a magical evening.

 

The two photos above are in the lobby of the Gaylord. I'm in LOVE with the poinsettia tree!

Sorry for the terrible quality of the photos. This was taken on my phone as I was walking around.

I think this was a camel.

zebra

and the kingly lion

 

 Saturday morning we participated in an Ugly Sweater 5K run. It was super cold and barely snowing but it was so much fun to be a part of something big like that, when hundreds of people are involved. We took a photo together as a "Christmas card".

From the left: Kyle's sweetheart Callie, Kyle, J, Me, and the in-laws

Saturday afternoon, still in our ugly sweater garb, we went to Opry Mills to shop around and be silly together. My husband and I got separated for a bit and when we met up he told me that at least five people wanted to take a photo with him (his outfit is quite tacky). Then Saturday evening we had a belated Thanksgiving dinner. It was a wonderful evening of eating, drinking, and being merry.

Sunday was our final day with the family. My brother-in-law had a concert that night and we all attended to support him. It was an amazing experience to see him doing the thing he loves most. Kyle is a wizard when it comes to creating lyrics. Please don't think I'm biased because he's family; I'm telling the truth when I say he is just simply amazing. My favorite songs were Diamond Ring and Two Kinds of People. Look him up people!

 

Sorry again for the poor quality of the photos

Monday morning we were packed up and ready to head out. Until someone brought out the remote controlled helicopters.

 A half hour later J and I headed home. We had to pass through snow and ice to get home but we made it safely.

 

Snowed-In Essentials

Depending on where you're living some of you are probably already expecting snow. Where I'm at, we are expecting a big snow storm. It got me thinking of my essentials to get me through being snowed-in (if such a thing were to happen).


1. Burt's Bees Lip Balm


2. my starbucks mug


3.afghan throw (or homemade fleece blanket)


4.Aveeno Moisturizer  hand lotion


5. a good movie or a marathon of my favorite t.v. show


6. lit fireplace or heater

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

After settling in J and I decided to put up our little Christmas tree. My mother has five trees and since we didn't have a single one she offered to give us one of her baby trees.



 

 

 

Yesterday we got ornaments and a star topper and decked it out. Unfortunately we didn't have eggnog (it's a tradition).

 

See...tiny tree!

 

 

In other news, the second day we moved into Fort Worth we had to turn in the U-Haul. On the way my husband took me to In-n-Out Burger for a Double-Double.

 

 

I'm converted. So yummy! In-n-Out Burger is the master of few! Forget McDonalds and Burger King!!!

Have a lovely weekend!

New Nest

Houston, we have internet!

We finally moved into our apartment. It was stressful and we were grumpy with each other but all of my things are in their "spots" and we have all the essentials we need until J's stuff comes in (which will be about a month...maybe).


I'm not going to be working yet; I'm planning on waiting until after the holidays to find a job. For now I'm going to try to weave my way around Fort Worth and get my bearings. Explore my surroundings.

I'll try to get back in schedule here but please be patient with me.