2013: What a Year!!

This year has brought a lot of excitement and change! I think we have been busier this year than any other year....combined! It has flown by in a whirlwind!

2013 in a Nutshell: 

• AW Insurance became a live operation in January

• We began attending Trailhead Church and have developed several awesome relationships and are now official members. 

• We began training for a half marathon and loved it. We ran the Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon on Alex's birthday in October through St. Louis. 

• We began helping lead Trailhead Students

• We traveled to New York City with my (Abby's) parents and had an awesome time.

• We finished our basement which was quite the process (I promise I'll take pictures soon).

• We spent a week in Northern California exploring wine country and the hills of San Fransisco. 

• We hosted a murder mystery dinner party which was a very fun evening and will become an annual event!

• We welcomed our newest niece, Jansen into the world in October!

• I quit my hygiene job and got licensed to sell insurance to work with Alex!

• AW Insurance has opened a store in downtown Edwardsville! 

I'm sure that there is so much more that I have left off, but it's been a great year and I'm very excited to see what 2014 has in store for us! We are truly blessed with our family and friend's love and support! I am unbelievably grateful for all that God has blessed us with and provided for us and I look forward to continuing serving Him with Alex in the New Year!

Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas Week

Christmas time is synonymous with spending time with friends, family and a whole lot of merriment. I'll recap our Christmas week, because I know you were dying to know what's been happening around here:

 I worked my last day on Monday the 23rd and then we headed east to spend Christmas Eve with Alex's family. I neglected to pack my camera, so there are no pictures, just these words and some great memories. Alex's Mom made a wonderful dinner (taco's- my favorite!) and we played games and of course, exchanged gifts. I spent the better half of the evening doting on my youngest niece and snuggling with her. We had a great evening and I love that I get to be part of such a great family.

On Christmas we woke up and enjoyed a low key morning with my parent's and aunt & uncle. We ate our sticky buns and sausage twirls and enjoyed a quite day. I managed to spend the whole day in my pajamas and loved every second of it! Alex and I got a mini foosball table for Christmas so we played with it and also mapped out our trip to Ikea. The new office will need furniture so, it seemed natural that we would make an Ikea trip. We woke up at 4am on the 26th and drove to Bolingbrook's Ikea. We got some desks, rugs, shelves, etc. etc. etc... We then drove back to Edwardsville, dropped everything off and headed back to my parent's house. Needless to say, it was a loooong day!

Yesterday, my brother and his family, sister and her family, Grandpa and my aunt and uncle and their son (from Virginia) all arrived. There are now 17 people and four dogs under one roof. It's loud, crowded and fun. We love this season and are very blessed. We have one more Christmas celebration- the 4th(?) annual Squibb/Blair/Puricelli rob your neighbor exchange! Wish us luck!

Eat, Drink & be Ugly

On saturday we hosted an Ugly Christmas Sweater party and had a lot of fun. Somehow I managed to only get a picture of Alex, Moose and myself. But we had fun eating and playing games! I walked away from our white elephant with a yummy can of Spam...don't worry I'll share. We are grateful to have a great group of friends and love celebrating this season with them.

Can you believe it's Christmas Eve already?!? 

Tis the Season

The most wonderful time of year is upon us! With the wonderment comes busyness and lots of it! We're twenty three days into December and our callender has been full. We are almost finished with our shopping, our Christmas cards are addressed, stamped and delivered. We have attended and hosted parties and our ornaments are sparkling in our tree. Christmas is quite possilby the best time of year.  I realize that I am a little late in posting any Christmas decoration pictures, but it's better late than never right?! It's hard to give a good glimpse, but here are some snippits!

Enjoy & we wish you a very merry Christmas!

Basement project!

We have a 90% complete basement!! Alex and his Mom, Dad and brother (Greg) have been working on finishing our basement since October and we are almost complete!! We have dry wall, paint, a pocket door, a closet and new floors. I am beyond excited for this project and am very impressed with how great it looks!

Alex spearheaded this project all by himdelf, with my reluctance, and he has done a wonderful job. He painted the ceiling white to brighten the space, he waterproofed every surface in the basement, twice. He hung drywall with his dad, built a closet, finished the drywall, and painted all by himself! The basement has far surpassed my expectations and I could not be more proud of him. I will upload pictures soon, but there is still a bit to be done, so this is just the build up to heighten the anticipation!

Have a happy Wednesday! 

What a whirlwind!

My blogging hiatus has not been for lack of things to write. On the contrary, it has been a very, very busy month in the Williams' household! We've decorated, celebrated, baked, shopped and studied! Yes, I did say write study. 

Effective December 23, I will no longer be an employed Dental Hygienist. I am leaving my current position to jump into the insrance world with Alex at AW Insurance. I have taken the required classroom courses and have taken and passed (wooohooo) the property and casulty insurance licensing exam! We are very excited for this change and also a tad bit nervous (praryers are always welcome).

We are opening our storefront in a historic neighborhood of Edwardsville in January. Alex has painted the office and is tirelessly laying floors (again, more on that later). We will make a mad dash to Ikea to pick up some office furniture and then all the hard work and effort will pay off and we will have an awesome little office! 

At some point this month we will celebrate Christmas with our families and continue to enjoy this season of our lives. God has richly blessed us and we could not be more thankful or gratful.  

a day to be thankful

Alex and I have so much to be thankful for. We have been blessed with wonderful friends and families that love and care for us. We have a beautiful home, crazy puppy dog and we have a thriving business. God has provided so much more for us than we could ever deserve. We are blessed beyond belief and very thankful for all that we have been given.
A special thank you to our service men and women who are unable to celebrate at home, thank you for defending our freedom. (Selfishly, I'm very glad that my brother gets to be home this year! We love you Jim and are especially thankful for your service!)

Happy Thanksgiving, we hope you have a great (and safe) holiday enjoying time with family and friends.

To tree or not to tree, that is the question...

...and the answer is yes! I'm sure that there are no original ideas anymore with the development of Pinterest and the blogosphere but, I try.  I made a trek to Michael's and gathered some supplies.

All you need are some little cardboard cones aka: Christmas trees, felt, a glue stick and scizzors. Begin cutting & glueing and eventually you will have some cute little Christmas trees for your Christmas decor!

Enjoy Crafting!

Eleven Twelve Thirteen

Next year is our last consecutive number year this century! I have no plans to make this one exciting but the news people said a lot of people are getting married and having babies. I will go to the grocery store and to work...that's about as much excitement as I can handle. 

We don't have any notable plans this week, but it's a welcomed relief from our crazy/hectic October. I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving festivities at the end of the month, but for now I will enjoy our slower pace. Maybe I'll have pictures of our finished basement soon! It's almost complete. By almost I mean that we've almost finished the drywall and we've purchased flooring...slow and steady wins the race. :) 

HappyTuesday! 

Things that make me laugh

It's been awhile since I last shared some of the things that make me laugh. I've searched high and low for some good ones, Enjoy!

Yes, this video is 5 ish minutes, but it's 5 very worthwhile minutes!
I hope you laughed, Happy Friday!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas! Not really, it's been rainy and mildly cool but not Christmas-y. However, that doesn't stop this girl from getting excited! I've made our Christmas cards and they are somewhere in the interwebs on their way to a printer, soon to be in a mailbox near you. 

Snapfish is fantastic for sending coupons and giving away freebies. Today I had to choose between 40% off and free shipping (FS40CARDS ending on Nov. 13) or 20 free Christmas cards and paying shipping. Don't worry, I used my calculator and determined that the six bucks to ship was a better deal. Good luck getting into the holiday spirit, you'll embrace it soon enough!

Happy Thursday!

(Thanksgiving is only three weeks away!)

Hap-hap-happy Birthday!!!

Today my sister is a year older, but that never stops people from asking if we're twins. She is seven whopping years older than I am but she is the best friend I've ever had! She is my role model and my biggest influence. As any little sister does, I look up to her and want to be just like her when I grow up (for the most part...I don't want to drive a mini van). Happy birthday Becky B! Have your best birthday of the whole year! 

This magnet was part of her birthday gift from Alex and me. 

Goodbye October, Hello November

We completed the photo-a-day challange!! We didn't miss any days and took 31 pictures. I'm not too sure we'll do it again but, it did force me to take a lot of pictures! Happy November!

Photo of the day: carving pumpkins

This year is our 8th Halloween together. Almost every year we carve pumpkins together, I think last year was our exception :(. This year, we didn't try to do anything too fancy, just a traditional Jack-O-Lantern.

Photo of the day: Halloween costumes

Tonight is Trick-or-Treat night! This town takes Halloween very seriously, there was a costume contest last weekend, tonight is trick-or-treat and tomorrow is the big Halloween parade. We met for community group and we had chili,  apple cider, we watched the game and of course passed out some candy to trick-or-treaters. I wore my tried and true Minnie ears and Alex went as an insurance agent (he's clever, isn't he?).

Happy (almost) Halloween!

 Lambie is Mallory, Princess Sophia is Kaitlyn, random TMNT and Kaitlyn and Minnie Mouse (aka Me)

Photo of the day: youth group

Alex and I are youth leaders at our church for high school students. We grew up with some amazing leaders and hope to be a fraction as good as they were. We love our students and love getting to be a part of their lives. We love getting to talk with them, pray for them and hangout with them. It may seem cliché but I'm pretty sure we get as much or more out of it than they do. 

Photo of the day: baking

Alex's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated....by running 13.1 miles. On Friday at our murder mystery party, I made apple crisp for dessert. Alex got a candle and of course we sang Happy Birthday. I know that this isn't technically a photo from this day, but it's a photo and I baked something.

The recipe can be found here.

Photo of the day: half marathon medals

Today is the day! We've trained, sweated and worked very hard to be ready for the St. Louis Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon! Yesterday we went to the health expo to pick up our packets, t shirt's and to get some general information about the race. When we got home, we got our clothes and shoes all ready and after a very exciting Cardinals game, we went to bed.

I set four alarms to wake up at around 4:15 am to give us plenty of time to get up, dressed and ready. I also set an alarm at 5 am so we could leave in plenty of time (they were going to begin shutting down the roads at about 6 am).  Unfortunately, I have developed a habit to snooze my alarms quickly,so Alex doesn't wake up....today was no exception. When the 5 o'clock "leave" alarm went off, we both sat up straight and began racing around to get ready to leave.

We made it downtown just fine, parked and walked to our corral to stand in the cold until race time.

When the race started,  it was crowded....I don't know why I thought it wouldn't be, but it was very congested. In an effort to get around the walkers and slowpokes, we set our pace quick....too quick to sustain for 13.1 miles. We ran the first 9 miles at about a 9:30 ish (I know it's not fast to everyone but it is for Alex and I). Somewhere between 9 and 10 miles my calves turned into rocks and Alex hit a wall. The last few miles were slower than we were anticipating, but we've learned our lesson for next time.

 We I had a great time and I can't wait to register for our next race. Alex is currently looking into the expense of a scooter, he's a bit sore to say the least. But, we made it across the finish line together in 2 hours and 35 minutes. I'm very proud of the Birthday Boy! He did great and stuck with me the whole way. Running was never something that Alex would describe as fun, but he trained hard, was determined and rocked the Rock 'n Roll!

We did it and have the medals to prove it! 

Whodunnit?!

Who doesn't love a good murder mystery?! Last year Alex and I went to the Lemp Mansion for a murder mystery dinner theater and we had a great time. So good in fact, that we decided we could host our own party! We set the tone of the party with invitations requesting "a meeting of the suspects in the conservatory," in full character to boot!

We cleared out our living room, brought in an extra dining table and chairs. Alex wrote the plot and set up the murder and I cooked a fabulous meal: salad, pork loin, green beans, dinner rolls and followed with a tasty dessert of apple crisp and ice cream. 

First, our suspects include (from left to right): 

Ms. Peacock and Colonel Mustard (aka Emily and Lee), Professor Plum (aka Alaina), Mr. Green, Ms. Scarlet and baby Scarlet (aka Kyle, Lori and baby Anna), Mr. and Mrs. White (aka David and Maggie) and last but not least the Butler and Maid (yours truly).    

Alex wrote our mystery and incorporated a little drama, love triangle, comedy and of course a (completely fictitious) murder. Captain Black was murdered at the Williams' Estate. Alex wrote the story so each of us would read our background of who we were, how we were related to the Captain and give details of how the murder occurred. He also added some "rules" that we were to keep to ourselves. For instance, anytime Mrs. White would speak, I would look at her disgustedly and tell her to be quiet. Mr. White was to flirt with all the women in the room, except his wife. Colonel Mustard was to give everyone off the wall advice with no truth or validity...etc. We read our backgrounds between courses to spread the game out so we could narrow in on the real suspect. Everyone stuck to their rules/roles and did a fantastic job. It was hilarious and very fun! I believe this may become an annual event! 

But, back to the drama...whodunnit?! and how?! and where?!  It would be easy to think that it was Ms. Scarlet, the soon to be ex-wife with the most to gain, or the Maid who loved him. It could be Mr. Green, who wasn't very fond of his personality. But, you would all be wrong. It was the quiet and oh, so jealous Mrs. White (married to the not so quiet, very flirtatious Mr. White) in the guest bedroom with a wrench! You see, the Maid and Mrs. White both loved Captain Black, but Mrs. White couldn't handle the love triangle any longer and took matters into her own hands....

Doesn't she just look guilty? I'll leave you with some candid's of dinner. We had a great time and are looking forward to the next party! 

Photo of the day: cute fall outfit

My daily wardrobe is either scrubs or sweatpants. So to have a day were I'm wearing something remotely cute is exciting and rare. Usually on the weekends I wear cute(ish) clothes but until late, fall attire hasn't been necessary. Today I'm rocking a cute 'foxy' sweater, wide leg trousers and some ankle booties. It's nothing to put on a runway, but it's not too shabby. Happy Saturday!

ps- what does the fox say?

Photo of the day: Friday night lights

When I put Friday night lights on our photo challenge I thought we would go to a football game. Unfortunately we have yet to see the Tigers in action. But, tonight we have some fancy Friday night lights. We are hosting a murder mystery dinner party! I'll have more details tomorrow, but for now, our Friday Night Lights. 

Photo of the day: halloween candy

I have a sweet tooth or two. I have discovered a new favorite candy but, don't worry Milk Duds are still my #1. I recently discovered peanut butter Snickers and they're quite tasty! May the season of fun sized candy begin. But please, brush and floss your teeth after your sweets :)

Photo of the day: frisbee in the park

This picture is supposed to be of us playing frisbee in the park, but we broke our frisbee. So instead it's of Moose playing fetch with a tennis ball. Moose hasn't quite grasped the fetch and release method. So, he eagerly fetches the ball and runs around making us chase him for it. He has fun and gets to run around without a leash and we like to watch him be cute and puppy-like.  

Photo of the day: lunch

I don't go to work on Tuesday's until 2pm so Alex and I usually get to eat lunch together. Today we had a hot date at the Golden Arches. Not fancy or exciting, but my fries were hot!

Photo of the day: sunshine/Weekend Update

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. We were busy (surprise!). I had a continuing education course Friday in Carbondale, Saturday we went to a beautiful wedding and Sunday was our nephew, Eli's 4th birthday party, as well as lunch with my parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. By the time we got home on Sunday afternoon, I had mounds of laundry to do and to top off our whirlwind weekend- we had no milk or shampoo! Meaning, I got to go to the grocery store...yay. With all that being said, we had a fantastic weekend and we are incredibly blessed by our family and friends....and with a close by Target! Enjoy some sunshine! 

Photo of the day: changing colors

Fall has been a little reluctant to make an appearance this year, but I think it's finally here to stay. Nothing is more fall like (to me) than when the corn is dried out and ready for harvest with a backdrop of yellow trees. Happy crunch leaf season! 

Photo of day: wedding festivities

Today one of my good friends, Paige (and her now husband Daniel) got married!! She and I grew up together and have remained good friends. I am very excited for her and the new adventures that lie before her. She was an absolutely beautiful bride! I pray that they have many, many years of happiness. Married life isn't always easy, but I pray that God will guide their marriage and that they will honor Him. Congratulations and best wishes! We are very excited for you both! 

Photo of the day: road trip

Today I got to go on a little road trip to Carbondale with my coworker/friend Anna for a continuing education course. We had a good time and the course was very good and informative. 

Photo of the day: apple tree

So this picture is supposed to be of an apple tree...but let's face it, the last time I saw an actual apple tree was the kindergarten field trip (I think). So, I took a picture of some apples. 

Photo of the day: community group

On Wednesday nights we have community (small) group for church. We get together and share life in community with others on mission for Chirst. Our community group has become our close group of friends and people we can truly share life with. It's refreshing to have a group of ladies, for me (guys for Alex) who I can talk to and share my life with and know that there is no judgement or gossip. Group has given me the opportunity to have strong, confident, bold Christian women to have as role models and close friends. I love our group and I love that God has blessed Alex and I to be a part of this group. 

Photo of the day: something I love

I have a love hate relationship with budgeting. I really enjoy knowing exactly what we spend and where our money goes. But, after making our monthly  budget, we have to stick to it. Unfortunately it rarely includes shopping sprees at Target.

We use the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University method to budget. Alex and I both have commission based jobs, which makes planning very difficult (our paychecks are rarely the same month to month). Which means we have to update and change our budget monthly- yes, the mortgage and typical bills stay the same, but we allow for fluctuations in our envelopes. We have cash envelopes that we use for all of our day to day spending and we budget down to the last penny. We've been doing it for about 8 months and we've paid off Alex's student loan (woohoo!!) and are working on the car now.

That being said, we have made sacrifices and have to be pretty creative. We have given up Direct TV and replaced it with Hulu and Netflix which saves a lot. We don't eat out often and we (try) to plan everything (weekends, holidays, gifts, etc.) down to the last detail. There are still some surprises we can't plan for and that's part of life, but this budget has been really great for us. There are a lot of different programs and ways to budget and this may not be the best way to budget and plan for everyone, but it works really well for us.  

Today's picture is our table on budget day, "Something I love."

Photo of the day: birthday cake

I originally put "birthday cake" on the photo list because Alex's birthday is the 27th, but we celebrate about 10 other birthdays this month too. So, this picture is of the "cake" I took to work for a coworkers birthday. She requested a cake with strawberries, so I made a Strawberry Shortcake Trifle. It was very good and very easy. 

My loose interpretation of a birthday cake. Happy birthday to all of our October born friends and family!! 

House Update: Master Bedroom

We have almost lived here for a year and we've done a lot of updates and still have quite the list to do. Apparently that's home ownership. We're working on finishing the basement now (pictures to come). But, I realized that I've not updated pictures of our bedroom since we painted and rearranged. We took our head and foot boards off and flipped the bed around beneath the window. We added a bench at the foot of the bed and now the room feels a lot bigger.  

The paint is a shade of gray (surprise!) called "Cinder Block" by Valspar. The green side table is from a garage sale, spruced up with a coat of spray paint. The lamp, wooden side table, plum curtains and grey quilt are all from Target. I made the throw pillows, the chair in the corner is from my parents basement and... 

Viola! our bedroom is complete (for now)!

Photo of the day: lazy Sunday

Happy lazy Sunday afternoon...for me and Moose at least. Alex is painting while Moose and I are watching old Gossip Girl episodes and playing on the iPad. Happy Sunday! 

Photo of the day: post season baseball

There is nothing sweeter than post season Cardinals baseball. It makes everyone proud to be part of Cardinals nation. We're at game 2 of the NLCS. Let's go Red Birds!!!!

Photo of the day: breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day or so I'm told. In fact, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day we often have it for dinner too! A few months ago I decided I was going to try to make pancakes every Saturday and start a new  tradition. It lasted two Saturdays.... 

However, this morning I woke up and decided it felt like a pancake kind of day. I am not anywhere near as good of a pancake chef as my Noni was or close to as good as my Mom and aunt Linda, but I try. They're either burnt and crispy or gooey in the middle. Today's pancakes did not fall short of crispy or gooey, luckily there were some nearly perfect ones we could eat. Alex is pretty kind about my pancakes and compliments them...as he's picking the scorched parts off....anywho. With no further ado, I present: breakfast. 

(I hid the burnt pancakes at the bottom of the pile. Aren't I clever?!) 

Photo of the day: lunch with friends

This picture is supposed to be "lunch with friends" but in reality it's dinner with friend. Alaina came over to a hangout with me while Alex is shunned to the basement working. 

We reheated left over chicken and noodles and opened a bottle of wine to enjoy. Happy Thursday! 

Photo of the day: walk with Moose

When I get home from work I usually (try) to take Moose on a walk around the block. That way Alex gets a small break from his 24/7 Moose-care. Tonight our walk was interrupted by a pack of taunting squirrels and a neighbor dog. It was a case of who's walking who....

Photo of the day :cup of chai

My work schedule is very inconsistent and weird, to say the least. So, I try to enjoy the mornings of my later days (today I work from 2-8pm) and get some work done. I run errands, blog and today I get to enjoy a nice, hot cup of chai. For Christmas my parents gave us a milk frother and it has really improved my lattes, I recommend everyone add one to their coffee bar. Just look at that fluffy milk!

Happy Tuesday.

half marathon training update

The race is in 19 days! Today we ran 10 miles and it felt (mostly) good. Fall has decided to make an appearance, so it was cool, but we still managed to get sweaty. After our vacation we fell off the training band wagon, so this was our first long run....we skipped 8 and 9 miles. We're doing well for the most part, no injuries (knock on wood), I need new shoes, mine are wearing out and I'm pretty sure Alex is beginning to like running. He hasn't threatened to push me down any hills lately. We have 2 more long runs and then it'll be time for the race. Wish us luck!

photo of the day: fall decor

Today I took a picture of some of our fall decor...there are too many options of fall decor in our society, so I just took advantage of my collection. It's not super fall-y but, there's a pumpkin involved. The candle was at my Grandparent's house for as long as I can remember and now I get to enjoy it here. The crocheted 'Williams' was a wedding gift and the pumpkin was a Hobby Lobby find. Oh, and Alex's Dad made the shelf (he's quite handy)! What kind of fall decorations do you have? 

Photo of the day: morning jog

Sunday mornings before church Alex and I tend to do our own thing. He wakes up early to drink his coffee, read the news and to catch up on his sports teams. I like to lay in bed and snuggle with Moose until its time for our Sunday morning jog. Moose isn't necessarily the best runner with two people, but with me he does great. So, Sunday is our running day. This morning the weather was perfect: brisk, breezy and sunny.

Happy Sunday!

Photo of the day: sleepy puppy

Today Moose and I have been lazy while Alex is painting our basement....#15 Sleeping Pup.