it's not what it looks like

because it looks like something you've seen on a episode of Hoarders, but really it's just the contents of my bedroom closet.

why is it on the bed? well, i have the week off and decided to paint the inside of the closet.



and this is the inside of my very first Coach purse:



isn't it pretty? wouldn't it be lovely inside a closet? fortunately, we had painted a wide purple stripe around cassie's bedroom a while back, and i had paint leftover from that.

here's the "Before" picture:


ta da! purple!


and here's the "After" picture:

a free closet makeover, and it was all done in one day! whoot!

Harry Christmas!

Arnold is home from Camp Pendleton and hadn't seen the final Harry Potter movie yet, so we decided to have a movie marathon. We added up the times for all eight movies (19 hours 40 minutes) and decided to watch the first one on Friday night. Saturday morning we started early (by kid standards -- it was 8:15) and watched them all!

Originally we thought we'd play a drinking game -- taking a drink of butterbeer each time someone in the movie said "Harry," but after the first two glasses of butterbeer (about 30 minutes into the first movie) we were all feeling a bit queasy so we stopped that.

For dinner: shepherd's pie and roasted garlic and rosemary turkey breast.

This afternoon we'll celebrate Christmas dinner with friends. I'm taking a red velvet cake, a pecan chicken casserole, and homemade rolls. We'll play "Pictionary Man" and "Pit" after dinner like we did on Thanksgiving at their house. Can't wait!

We'll take family photos this week and hope to get some cards in the mail early next year. Merry Christmas!

magical

It was time for our Third Annual Pilgrimage to Disneyland. This time, since Arnold is stationed at Camp Pendleton, we started by picking him up before heading to our hotel.

Saturday morning we headed to La Brea Bakery in Downtown Disney before entering the park. First stop in Disneyland? Star Tours! A couple of times!



We soon learned that we had stalkers!

Stalkers? In Disneyland?

Why, yes! It's Josh and Leona! Woot! If you're gonna have stalkers, these are the ones you want to have!


So we rode some rides and basically had a fantastic time. The lines weren't too long, but it doesn't matter if you're standing in line with people you love! More time to visit!


And then there was the screaming.

Tower of Terror. LOVE IT! Three times in a row before we decided to move on to something else.

It was a magical week! Cassie and I spent six days in the parks. We're already looking forward to next time.