Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011 was a great year for us and we ended it with a bang! I wish I could say that every new year we get all dressed up, get together with friends, and hit the town but to tell you the truth, most of the time Drew and I are trying to make some kind of new years plan ON new years' eve. This year, however; we actually made a plan several weeks in advance to get together with 4 other couples and head to Clarksdale, Mississippi. I know it sounds random, but Morgan Freeman has a five star restaurant in Clarksdale, Madidis, and a blues club down the street called Ground Zero where regional blues bands/artists come to perform. If you know the Delta, you know blues!!

We all met at our friend Trey's parents house Saturday night. If you remember from a past post, Trey and Liz got married in Chicago this past summer. We love this couple!

Trey's house is about half an hour to Clarksdale so we decided to get a limo to take us around for the evening. The limo ride was really fun...a tight fit...but fun!

Dinner was fantastic! The courses went a little like this: First course: black eyed peas and corn bread, Second course: caramelized onion soup, Third course: salad, Main course: choice of steak or sea bass (wish I would have gotten the steak - it was SO good), Dessert: choice of pumpkin roll or pecan pie. Needless to say, I think dinner was around 2 1/2 hours!

After dinner, we headed down the street to Ground Zero. This place is really cool because it is in this run down building that has graffiti all over the outside and inside. From the outside, you would think this place was probably a little shady and suspicious looking.

You can barely see me from all the graffiti on the walls...

I love this guy... :)

The girls (minus Rebekah..I am not sure where she was when we took this picture).

We managed to get a picture with the lead guy of the band. I think his group was called Super Chicken haha. He was really cool, well funny to watch because he would be up on stage just singin', playin', and there may or may not have been some pelvic thrusting and showing of his belly button :-/ Crazy guy but really entertaining!!

Drew actually introduced me to blues music when we first started dating and I absolutely LOVE it. Mostly because it is so dang fun to dance to! Plus, drew took dance lessons when he was younger (thanks Mom Simmons!) so he knows all the cool dance moves. We usually do swing dancing when we hear blues music...ahh, so fun!

Well, goodbye 2011 and welcome 2012. I pray this coming year is as eventful and blessed as this past year!

Christmas 2011

This Christmas was unlike any other Drew and I have had, primarily because we got to wake up on Christmas morning in our own home and have some time to ourselves before all the fun and craziness of Christmas day. It has become a tradition for Drew to make his sausage pinwheels for our family to eat on Christmas morning so Christmas Eve, Drew got to work. They are so easy to make:

1. mix up Bisquick as directed on the box

2. Lay out some wax paper and add PLENTY of flour covering the wax paper

3. Roll out the Bisquick mixture and crumble 1 lb. of your favorite sausage (Drew and I like to mix half a roll of mild and half a roll of hot)

4. Carefully roll into a big pinwheel, wrap in fresh wax paper and foil, and stick in the freezer or frig (depending on when you plan to eat it).

5. When ready to eat, cut into about 1 inch wide pinwheels and heat at 450 or so for about 10 minutes. They are SO good and SO easy!

Christmas Eve, we went to mass with Larissa and my parents and enjoyed some holiday drinks and dinner afterwards. Here is Drew and I before leaving for church.

The plan was to meet back up at my parents around 10 Christmas morning so Drew and I got up about 7:30 to have Christmas, just the two of us...well and Lucy and Avery :)

Christmas at my parents was amazing as usual! My sweet parents always put so much into Christmas day and the spirit of Christmas is definitely still alive in the Ewing household.

Drew and I headed to the Delta around 3:00 Christmas day and met up for dinner at Mamaw's. After dinner and visiting with the family, we went over to Stevee and Scott's house to have Christmas and open presents. Now that Eli is 2, it is especially fun watching him open presents.

Drew got this cool Razorback nutcracker! Go Hogs!

Probably one of the coolest things I received this Christmas was this T-shirt Drew's parents had made. Helena is host to Blues Fest (Also Know as the King Biscuit Festival) which is one of the largest blues festivals in the country believe it or not. Each year posters and t-shirts are made with the year's design. When drew was in grade school, the festival decided to hold a contest for the poster/t-shirt designs. Drew won!

One of the most exciting things to happen this Christmas was that my sister got ENGAGED!!! We had all known that Chris was going to pop the question so it felt so good not to have to keep such a big secret anymore :) My parents gave Larissa and Chris a celebration dinner last week for the newly engaged couple!

Christmas Festivities

This December has been a really fun month full of not only the usual Christmas preparations, but some great times with family AND friends. Drew and I had a blast getting the house ready for Christmas and it seemed like we were both able to do the things we enjoy this time of year. For Drew, that means hunting and for me, it means putting out Christmas decorations, making holiday shopping trips with Larissa, and attending some holiday parties.

This December...

My sweet friend Brittany hosted a wine glass exchange party. It was a really fun time and I actually got to see some people I hadn't seen in ages. It is crazy to see who knows who when you get several circles of friends together. I wish I had taken some pictures but we were too busy sipping on wine and playing dirty Santa with the wine glasses we had all brought.

This December...

Drew and I attended a 'tacky holiday sweater' party hosted by my two friends from high school, Alisha and Lauren. I can't believe I actually got Drew in this sweater vest I found at K-Mart!! And yes, we match! :)

This December...

My mom, sister, and me got together and had a HUGE bake day! It is no secret that I didn't get the cooking genes in the family, but I can take good directions and had a blast making some delicious treats for our family, friends, and co-workers. Larissa and I went shopping for all the ingredients on Friday night, we all baked a full 6 hours on Saturday, and then another 3 hours on Sunday!

I think Larissa calls these, "Chocolate-Peanut Butter Messies" haha! So So good!

My dad even got in on the action and made a TON of his homemade chocolate chip and pecan cookies. The funny thing is that I think we gave him the smallest counter space to work on, but he made due...with a smile on his face :)

I made my fireside cocoa mix to give out. I love this stuff on a cold winter afternoon!

We also made over 200 rolo-pretzel treats. Not sure what there official name is but they are fantastic! These are perfect when you are craving a salty and sweet snack.

We also made spritz cookies. This was the first time for me to make these and they were actually really fun. We made all sorts of shapes including wreaths, Christmas trees, and ornaments, all of which had sprinkles to make them extra cute.

This December...

Drew and I made a visit to Garvin Woodland Gardens. It was our first trip there during Christmas and we really enjoyed all the lights. We made it a date night and went and ate at Blue Monkey in Hot Springs afterwards. After all the family/group events going on, it was nice for just the two of us to get away for a little QT.

Love how Drew decides not to smile :-/

This December...

Drew and I headed to Christmas Eve mass at Christ the King with my parents and sister. For some reason, this is one of my favorite things about Christmas. There is just something about getting all dressed up and spending a few hours with the family at church before the fun, yet crazy Christmas day. I snapped a quick picture on our way to mass.

Thanksgiving Vacation

I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off work and it couldn't have come quick enough! Drew and I headed to Helena on Wednesday evening for the holiday but I was able to have the first few days of the week to myself for a little 'me' time. A.K.A. shopping with my sister, Larissa :) I have to rewind a few days, however; because Drew and I had such a wonderful time at the Razorback game in LR. Before the game, we pre-gamed by attending a Razorback tailgate wedding shower for our good friends Blair and Kris. We had such a wonderful time with some friends I hadn't seen in a long time!

WPS!!!

I actually had some crazy sinuses going on over the course of the week so I did a bad job of taking any pictures over Thanksgiving but we did have a wonderful time with the family. Mamaw made a great Thanksgiving dinner and it is always nice spending time with everyone, especially longer than just a weekend. Saturday before we headed home, Drew and I stopped by to see my favorite nephew one last time before we left! I think Eli is the sweetest right when he wakes up from his nap so we got there just in time! I mean, really, look at that sweet face and crazy bed head :)

We had a really great play time. Eli just ran and giggled and jumped in my lap, over, and over, and over, and over. I LOVED IT!!! We also had time for a tractor book too!

Sunday was one of those days where you recover from being out of town, get the house clean, and decorate the Christmas tree, duh ;) Special shout out to Larissa for helping me put together my first adult size Christmas tree. Up to this point, Drew and I have just had a small tree in our townhouse but this year, I am able to really get into the Christmas spirit and decorate the house. I am definitely biased but I think my tree is absolutely beautiful! I know it isn't even December yet, but Merry Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from Mr. Clean and his housewife!!!

October 1, 2011 - Arkansas vs. A&M

October 1, 2011

This weekend has been a highlight of the year for sure. For one, who doesn't love going to see the Hogs play on a fall Saturday. And I can't think of what makes for a better time when you have all of your favorite people in one place for an entire weekend! I know I have mentioned this before but me and my college girlfriends are all spread out so weekends like this are very exciting. This particular weekend had been in the works for months!

The Arkansas vs. A&M game is held at the Cowboys Stadium (AKA: Jerry's World). This year the game was at 11 in the morning so we had a long day ahead of us. We of course had planned on going to bed at a decent time on Friday night but with all of us together, that didn't work out so well. I think we all went to bed at 1:30 and were up taking showers at 6:00 in the morning... We had tailgating to do before the game :)

I could go on and on about how fun this weekend was but I am going to let the pictures tell the story. I will make sure to point out a few funny things here and there though!

I absolutely love that Larissa and Chris came for the game!

Look at the size of that jumbo tron! You definitely had to make yourself watch the actual field but it did come in handy for replays like this touchdown made by the Hogs!

Ok, so we are all going for the 'we are #1' thyme picture here and for some weird reason, Drew is holding up #4...what!?!... things that make you go 'Humm.' haha!

Here is a picture of the group. Although if you didn't' know who went with who, you may have the couples off because if you look closely everyone is snuggled up to the wrong person haha. For example, Drew and I are a couple, but I am hugged up with Chris, Larissa's boyfriend. We all got a good laugh at this one!

Can't wait until next year when we get to do this all over again!