Birthday & Nutcracker!

Boy oh boy have I had a crazy weekend. Non-stop action I tell ya. (More on that later.)

Thursday was Ben's 20th birthday! WOOHOO! No more teenage years! Due to him working at UPS & this being their busiest time of year, he slept most of his birthday, but it's okay because I stopped by after I got off work & brought him a loooot of chocolate that I got from the kiddos in my class that I don't like.
Little known fact about Ben: he almost died when he was born. I believe it had something to do with his heart not working correctly or something to that effect. His parents & the doctors literally didn't know if he would make it passed his first few days...but he did! Praise God!
Now I'm not saying that to make you sad or feel sympathetic or anything. It just got me thinking of how grateful I am that God saved that precious little boy's life on that December day 20 years ago. He's such a beautiful friend, man of God, musician, brother, son, & boyfriend. God truly blessed me with that one (:
Another little known fact about Ben: he was the most darling, adorable little boy EVER.

There is no way you could possibly look at that picture & honestly tell me that's not the cutest thing you've ever seen. Look at those cheeks & those wide eyes!

Anyway, back to this weekend. Friday night was our Nutcracker date night! I have been waiting for this for a looong time. I have never been before & it has been something I have wanted to do for a few months now. A month or so back I told Ben it would be fun to go see the Nutcracker some time, mostly referring to a cheaper showing at some other theater since the Pacific Northwest Ballet is pretty fancy-shmancy. I even gave him a link to a Groupon discount on tickets.

This is how he replied: "That's a great idea but how about we go to the real deal?" Haha, okay Babe, if you say so!

He then proceeded to buy pretty much the best seats in the house (as my Christmas present) - so pretty much he's the best! Given that he had spent a lot on the tickets, I offered to pay for dinner...& parking...& drinks at the theater...but he wouldn't give in. He completely spoiled me (sorry, had to brag just a little on this one).

Needless to say dinner was delicious, The Nutcracker was beautiful, the company was perfect, & it was just an overall great night. I love my man (:

So here's some pics from the night for your viewing pleasure:

 

Shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, & smothered in BBQ sauce. I don't even like shrimp & I thought this was heavenly.

This chandelier was made out of random household items like ladders, bird cages, measuring tapes, &  zipties.

 He looks excited doesn't he? (;

 I'm starting to think he's not capable of taking a normal picture...

I don't have any pictures but on Saturday I went up to Victoria BC with my dad, stepmom, her brother, step brother, & sisters. It was fun & they had snow on the ground!

And finally on Sunday I spent the day with my sisters & mom driving up to Mount Vernon to visit her dad & stepmom. 

It has certainly been quite an exciting weekend & I am so ready for the rest of the Christmas week!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Hobbit Review

So for Ben's birthday this year, I got us tickets to go see The Hobbit on opening day.
*Not midnight might I add, just opening day. We're not that crazy.*

Ben was so cute on Friday - he was soo excited. And this is not something to be taken lightly - Ben never gets excited. It takes a lot to get him excited, & even when he does get excited, he doesn't really express it. I have only heard him say the words "I'm excited" a handful of times. It's weird, I know, but it's alright; I'm usually more than excited for the both of us.

I knew he was excited though on Friday because this is the very first text he sent me that morning: "Good morning to you too my wonderful beautiful girlfriend. Are you ready for some awesome Hobbit action?" Haha, that's Ben code for "I'm super excited for the movie tonight babe." He also continued to hint & talk about it throughout the rest of the day.

So anyway, it was quite the night. Ben had worship band practice from 8-10, & the movie started at 10:50. This was a problem because I knew there were going to be people there waaay too early (we ended up getting the best seats because I'm awesome - top/back row, very center:) & I was worried that if we got there too late we wouldn't get to sit next to each other & then I wouldn't even want to stay because I wouldn't know what was going on & yeah, you get the point.

That being said, I went down to the theater at like 9 o'clock to wait in line by myself like a loner (girlfriend of the year award?)...for no reason. There wasn't even a line, but at that point I was already there so I just sat around & waited for an hour & then I went in to get in line. I was the third party in line baby - hence the awesome seats (:

I don't have a picture because Ben didn't show up until I was already in the theater & then we had to get snacks & drinks & use the restrooms before hand, etc. etc.

Now on to the good stuff: the movie was AWESOME. Now let me just say, that that is coming from an average joe, typical, non-obsessed LOTR fan. I never even had a desire to watch the trilogy until Ben made me but after watching them I had to admit that they were pretty great. Very well made & interesting; kinda hard to follow along - we wore out the pause button watching those movies - but still very good.

The Hobbit was so incredible! Very easy to follow along, even without having read the book, good animation, great acting, just all around epically awesome.

So go see it ASAP! Seriously, like now. Even if you're like me & not that into fantasy lands & dwarves & goblins & wizards, just go, you won't be disappointed. I promise.

The movie was sooo good that it inspired me to read the book (& if that goes well, the LOTR trilogy - but we'll have to see how The Hobbit goes first.)

So this is me committing to you all that I am embarking on the journey of reading the Hobbit. I shall let you know how it goes (: I'm actually going to go get started as soon as I publish this!

Wish me luck!

Best Gift Ever!

Tonight we had our annual Christmas program at my school where the little kiddos come all dressed up in their Christmas shirts & dresses & they sing Christmas songs for their families & then we all have juice & punch afterwards - it's super adorable & super fun.

When I got to my classroom two of our kids were already there & there was this big book sitting on the teacher's desk.

The little boy whose mom put this all together came over & explained to me that they had given all the kids in the class (without our knowledge) a piece of paper with room for them to draw a picture & then at the bottom it says "Ms. Dani is great because:" & the kids filled it out. Some of the responses were so sweet they made me want to cry, & others were just plain funny

Some of the artwork that these kids can do is pretty astounding - better than I can do for sure. Keep in mind, these are 4-5 year olds my friends

I guess this is what I look like to a 5 year old?

 Look at all that detail!

This is definately by far the sweetest, most special & thoughtful gift I have recieved. Reminds me why I love my job so much & why I chose this field.

Second Chances

Last night I was reading my daily devotional (because I pressed that snooze button one too many times yesterday morning). The devotional was titled God of Second Chances. It made me realize how extremely blessed we are to have a God that is so forgiving.

The devo. gave the example of Jonah. Even after Jonah defied God's calling of preaching in Ninevah, God still forgave him & gave him a second chance to go there & preach.
God didn't have to give Jonah the opportunity to go back & try again...but He did.
Because He loved Jonah & believed in him.

That's incredible.

HE'S incredible.

I love the quote in the top box in orange:

It is so true, I have seen it proven true in my life for sure.

I thank God that He is faithful even when we falter, fail, & fall.

Have a wonderful week!

Weekend Catchup

Christmas season is upon us! I have had quite the busy (but good) weekend, & it is only just the beginning of many busy weekends to come for the next few weeks.

My busy weekend started on Thursday. I met a friend of mine for a quick coffee date, then I drove home, was home for 10 minutes, & got picked up my another friend of mine. She had an extra ticket for Elf the Musical & asked if I wanted to go (of course I said yes)

I'll be honest...It was AWESOME. They adapted a few things but stuck pretty close to the story & to the script also. If it ever comes to your area I would highly recommend seeing it.

On Friday the boy & I had a little date night. We started by going to Target (my home away from home) & then we went to the concert & jazz choir holiday show at our school. My favorite part though was getting to hang out with this handsome guy the whole time (:

I was blessed with a lazy Saturday morning/afternoon this weekend. It was amazing. I even gave myself a Christmas manicure (:

Later than evening, we had our staff Christmas party. It was sooo much fun.
*Ben had a lot more fun than one might think by looking at this bottom left picture

The food was amazing - our director is the best cook & always makes the most amazing food.
We also had a gift exchange & I fought hard for this beautiful reindeer candle holder:

Ben made my name tag for me: "Ben's Beautiful Girlfriend" ♥
And for your amusement - this is how Ben & his little brother clean apparently? I don't even know...

And finally, to wrap my weekend up, we had a Christmas party for our college group at my church. I spent the whole day at the church baking & prepping the desserts.
It was a great night of delicious food, fellowship, & fun games.

My Christmas shirt that I picked up at Value Village because I couldn't find any ugly Christmas sweaters (Isn't that where all ugly sweaters go when they die??)

One of the best hams I have ever had:

The Eggnog Cupcakes that I made- they have no eggnog in them & they taste just like eggnog!

We topped the Polar Express Hot Chocolate that I made with these too beauties: Peppermint Whipped Cream & Marshmallow Whipped Cream (waaaay too good)

So that was my busy but fun & exciting weekend. Hope yours was just as wonderful!

Good & Bad

Good News:
I am FINALLY & OFFICIALLY done with fall quarter! Woohoo! Can you tell I'm just slightly excited? Cause I am. 
Goodbye homework, tests, assignments, studying, & projects...Hello Christmas break!

Goals for my Christmas break this year:
   1. Work on my recipe book. It has been sitting on my shelf, half done, for a while now. It's starting to look pretty sad.
   2. Find my passport for when I head up to Canada at the end of the month. CHECK.
   3. Go to the Pacific Northwest Ballet Nutcracker for the first time ever with my incredibly giving & wonderful boyfriend. (he spent waay too much on our tickets. He likes to spoil me sometimes:)
   4. Go on some double dates with our couple friends (ice skating maybe? Zoo Lights?)
   5. Find a dress for Christmas/my best friend's wedding in January.
   6. Holiday crafts! (refere to Bad News below)
   7. Take my car in to get checked out. It's been making this awful-dying-cat sort of noise for a while & I fear it might drive me to the end of my sanity leash.
   8. Head to the gun range for a double date with Ben & his sister & brother-in-law. Ben & I went with my dad & stepmom over the summer & I'm hooked now!
   9. See the Hobbit/have a Lord of the Rings marathon. *IMPORTANT: this is not for me. This is for Ben. He's a fan (not the obsessive-weird kind, just the normal he-enjoys-it-cause-its-cool kind of way.) And the marathon is just because he told me that he thought I couldn't sit for 12 hours to watch all 3 extended editions in one day - so clearly I have to prove him wrong.
   10. Make a list of 100 Things I Am Thankful For. Starting last Saturday, I've been writing 4 things a day that I am thankful for, going until Christmas day (:
   11. Bake Bake Bake! Peppermint bark, gingerbread, sugar cookies, pies...
   12. Drive/walk around & look at Christmas lights with a giant mug of hot cocoa
   13. Snuggle up on the couch with my Ben & watch lots of Christmas movies

Bad News:

This is the extent of the Christmas decorations that I currently possess. Super depressing. 

That is why doing some holiday crafts is on my to-do list for the next month (:

I've already started by making these cute tags for my homemade hot cocoa & chai tea jars.

You can kind of tell if you look hard enough, but the back of the Hot Cocoa tag has these two cute embossed mini Christmas trees on it. 

*Please excuse the poor picture quality. Ben has my fancy camera so I had to resort to the good ol' iPhone.

Have a great week!