Today has been a good day. Or I should say a "feeling normal" day. It should be… it is my birthday. I’m now a quarter of a century old. Eeeek.
Well, Ryan let me sleep in this morning… until 9:30. My dad called and wished me Happy Birthday, and then my mom and grandma stopped by. After Porter woke up from his morning nap (he slept from 9-11:30!!!), Ryan and I planned to clean the house. That was what I had wanted to do today… clean the house and get it back into order.
I started with the tree… I figured if I was going to have a tree up I had better do it right. So, I took down the ornaments Ryan put up and threw on a couple of strands of lights, and busted out my red and gold tree-get-up. This is the second year in a row I’ve done red and gold, and I can’t wait until after the holidays to go buy a new theme for next year… once everything is 75% off that is. Ryan put on some Christmas music, we decorated the tree, did dishes and hung out for a bit. Then Leslie called and asked me to go to Target with her, and Ryan said "GO! I’ll clean the house today" and I went. And he cleaned. And the house was spotless when I got home. It was nice to have a relaxing day and feel somewhat normal again. Les and I went to Target (where I managed to spend $47 on WHAT???? I swear, if I’d just stay away from Target we’d probably actually have a lot of money) and then we went to Sears, Kohls, TJ Maxx, and this store that sells bookshelves, desks, entertainment centers etc… really cheap. And I bought a tall (71") 5-shelf bookshelf for the playroom. It was only $19.99! Ryan is going to pick it up tomorrow and we’ll have to anchor it to the wall (because I can soooo see Porter trying to climb up on it).
On the way home I picked up pizza and breadsticks from Jet’s Pizza (we got deep dish… I was craving some pseudo-Chicago pizza) and my aunt and cousin were over when I got home. A bit later, my mom and brother came over to finish up the pizza and we watched some tv together.
Good day. Good evening. I hope its the start of a good week.
Ok… here are some pictures of the tree…. (ugh.. I suck at indoor pictures… especially with looow light)
And some pictures of my presents… I love to wrap presents. This years colors were red/burgundy stripes and a sage green color and touch of gold…
Here’s Mr. Porter by the tree… he is really good with it…doesn’t bother it at all. I could hardly get him to pay attention to the tree to get his picture near it…
And he’s off… faster than I can get my cameras focus on him… (and he thinks its sooo funny)
New Banner!!
BTW.. the new banner… is our Christmas card this year. The original design of it was from Jeannette . I hope I didn’t ruin it for anyone who hasn’t recieved theirs yet.**
nicolebarczak.com 
LOVE the new look of the blog! I got my card this past week & I think it’s adorable!! Glad you had a good birthday! Hope you have a better week! :o)
Happy Birthday Nicole! Very Beautiful Tree & Wrapping!! Any time you are ready you can go into the tree decorating & wrapping business!! You are hired-Ha!! My tree looks like Charlie Brown Christmas compared to yours.
Hey Nicole,
Just wanted to say Happy Birthday!! 🙂 And I LOVE the new header! Too cute.
Happy Birthday, Nic!! Glad you had a better day…your tree and new banner are gorgeous!!
Ps I have been in a bit of a blogging funk lately too. No worries, but please don’t shut this baby down!!
Nic, Your new banner looks great. Your tree looks wonderful. Porter looks more and more like Ryan everytime I see a new picture of him.
I love those shots of your tree!! The coloring of them looks so magazine-ish!
P.S. Your gifts are gorgeous! I tell myself every year that I’m going to make mine pretty, and then I realize how horrible I am at wrapping, get sick of it, slather on some tape, and call it a day! LOL!
LOve your gorgeous tree and presents. That sage green is the same color as my business color! good choice! 🙂
Merry Christmas