National Gingerbread House Competition

Jeremy and I went home to NC this weekend and we decided to make a little detour to Asheville before heading back to Lynchburg. 

Every year Grove Park Inn hosts the National Gingerbread Competition in November and the houses are displayed until January.  During the week, the public is welcome to come and look at all the gingerbread houses!  They are spread throughout the Inn so it is always fun to go and see the houses as well as explore the Inn.

Yesterday it was snowing in Asheville and made for a beautiful day to be in the mountains! 

Doesn't that just look beautiful?  I thought it was quite romantic :)

Here are some of my favorite gingerbread houses:

This was in the children's division!  I think it is so pretty!

This was the first prize winner of the children's division

Look at all those gingerbread houses!

This was 2nd place for teen division.  I love white churches!

First place for teen division was this adorable gingerbread house made like the movie Up!

My second favorite gingerbread house.  One of the top ten in the adult category

I think this Noah' Ark was second place in the adult category

This was a cute "reindeer spa"

This was by far my favorite gingerbread house! It is so beautiful!!  It was one of the top ten in the adult category.

They had so many beautiful Christmas trees!  I loved this one because they used hydrangeas to decorate it.

This was a pretty bluish silver tree

And a rustic country tree

We had a wonderful day together!

Christmas Tour of Homes

Welcome!  I'm joining in with The Nester's Holiday tour of homes and if you're visiting I hope you enjoy your look around! 

Just a little about me- I'm engaged and my fiance and I are planning to be married in June of next year. This is my last Christmas with my family before I get married. Although it is an exciting time, it is also a little sad to think about.

While I am very much looking forward to next year when I can decorate mine and Jeremy’s own place for Christmas, I will miss being able to help decorate with my mom at home.

So instead of showing you my apartment decorated for Christmas, I’m going to show you my beautiful home that my family decorated for Christmas! Although I don't live there anymore, its still my home, especially at Christmas!

Here is our house all decked out-it is hard to to get good pictures in the dark but you get the idea.

This is the living room.  My mama has some really great Christmas pillows!

Another view of the living room.  My parents put hardwood floors down this year- I think they look great!

Our pretty Christmas tree!  My mom's ornaments are a collection of all kinds of ornaments that we have collected through out the years.   It is always fun when we go through the box of ornaments to put up the tree- it's like a walk down memory lane.  

Here is the tree with more light.  We don't have presents wrapped yet but that's ok :)

The nativity and our favorite picture of my brother.  He is catching snowflakes on his tongue in that picture- so cute!

I love the pine branch with ribbon on the window!

Our second tree in the sunroom is my favorite!  

The ornaments on this tree are very symbolic.  My mom has tons of pomegranate ornaments on the tree as well as the olive wood ornaments that we got when we went to Israel!  Pomegranates are symbolic of the country of Israel. 

And the star on the top represents the star that led the magi to Jesus.

Here is the tree with more light- isn't it so beautiful?

Oh, and I had to show a picture of my mom's antique sled since I mentioned it here.

Hope you enjoyed the mini tour of my parents' home! 

Memory Verse

This week's memory verse is one that I learned in high school but think I need to review again.  This verse is a great reminder of our need to be continually in prayer!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

Closet Office

I was visiting My Painted Hive the other day and saw these incredible inspiration photos for an office closet.  Not what you would normally think of for an office space, but how cute are these?  This would be great if you didn't have an extra room for an office.  But then again, I would probably need the closet space for storage.  But then yet again, you can't have it all I guess.

I must mention that when Jeremy lived on campus as an RA, him and his roommate had what they affectionately called their "cloffice".  They made the walk in closet on east campus their office.  I thought they were kind of crazy and now look- I'm wanting a "cloffice" too!

50 Free Photos

Snapfish, HP's online photo printing site, has a coupon code out for 50 free photo prints with free shipping!  This is an awesome deal- usually you don't get free shipping even with a coupon.  This is for new and existing customers, and if your a new customer they usually give you a credit for some free prints as well.  I've used them several times and the quality is always good and they ship really fast! 

The coupon code is:  HPINK50

I'm not sure when this coupon code expires so hurry before its gone!  You will still need to enter your credit/debit card info but the total will just show free.  Just go to http://www.snapfish.com/

I just ordered mine and am getting some prints of wedding projects and planning as well as Jeremy's proposal.  So excited to get them!

Christmas Party

My roommate and I had a great Christmas party with some close friends last night.  We don't get to hang out as often as we use to with everyone, so it is always so much fun to get together with everyone.  We had yummy won ton wrappers, homemade potato chips, cookies, and a fondue fountain with fruit and crackers.  And I was so busy having fun that I didn't even think about taking pictures.  If I'm going to be a blogger, I've got to get better about getting pictures!

Thankful for the wonderful friends I have!

Oh and here's a peek at our pretty Christmas tree. Sorry its not very clear- it was taken on my phone

Happy Birthday Heather!

Today is my best friend's birthday!  Heather has been with me through thick and thin!  Heather and I met in kindergarten and have been friends ever since.  She is my matron of honor and I was her maid of honor when she got married a year and a half ago.  She is a first grade teacher, a loving wife, and a woman of God.  I am blessed to call her my friend.

Happy Birthday Heather- I love you girl!

Memory Verse

I haven't done well the past two weeks keeping up with my memory verses.  But, I'm catching up!  Here is my memory verse for this week.  I love this verse because it is when David is crying out to God after he has been with Bathseba. 

Psalm 51:12

"Restore to me the joy of my salvation,

and sustain me with a willing spirit"

It is comforting to know that even David, a man after God's own heart, messed up sometimes and had to ask God to give him a willing spirit that can sustain him with joy because of the salvation God has lavished upon him and us.

Healthy Living

Jeremy and I often talk about how we want to live healthy lives and make sure that we are eating healthy.  After watching the documentaries Food Inc.and Supersize Me, I want to start eating more organic and whole foods.  It will be hard, as well as more expensive, but we think it is important.  Too often I just put things in my body without even considering what it is or where it is from.  It is scary that when you walk into a grocery store, we have no idea where any of the food has been or what processing it has gone through before hitting those shelves.

We are going to shop more at farmer's markets and try and find local raised meat.  Just this past weekend we went to the Community Market in Lynchburg and got a few veggies to make a roast.  We also got a little something special at the fresh bakery at the community market.  Jeremy got a fresh croissant and I had a pumpkin muffin.  They were wonderful!

Tomorrow we are going to go to the Bedford Avenue Meat Shop which sells local grass fed beef, free range chicken, etc.  I'll hopefully snap a few pictures and share with you soon!

 

Free Christmas Gift Tags

I was excited when I saw an e-mail in my inbox this morning from one of my favorite blogs, Jones Design Company.  She has made some adorable gift tags for Christmas and they are free to download!  Download your own here.

All photos from Jones Design Company