Christmas time for our family

Here's a look at the Christmas season for the Brittells...

December 1st

It is offically December 1st and I can not be more happy!!!


This is by far one of the most special times of year, people are getting in the holiday spirit, the lights, the deorations, the absolute joy that comes this time of year is spectacular. Here is wishing you all a joyful and special Holiday Season, may you spend it with those you love!!!

To leave it off one spectacular quote from a hilarious Christmas movie, I hope to watch tonight to kick off the season:

Clark: Since this is Aunt Bethany's 80th Christmas, I think she should lead us in the saying of Grace.
Aunt Bethany:  What, dear?
Nora Griswold: Grace!
Aunt Bethany: Grace? She passed away thirty years ago.
Uncle Lewis: They want you to say Grace.
Uncle Lewis: The BLESSING!
Aunt Bethany: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands/ One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Clark: Amen

thanksgiving

I must say the day after Thanksgiving means it time to decorate for Christmas in the Brittell family home... Before I get all Christmas; I must say a few things about Thanksgiving this year, We spent it with Justins parents and family who live a whopping 3/4 mile from us... It was our newphews first Thanksgiving and he was trooper with all the people and hoopla going on around him. We were able to see Justins mothers' parents, Ryan and Julie (brother and GF), and Jasmine and Camron (niece and nephew married in). It was a great day filled with hustle, bustle, drinks, and good food! and of course we ended thanksgiving with a traditional turkey walk and some amazing pie (I dislike pie but must eat pumpkin on Thanksgiving). Here are a few photos :)

Friday is here

Today is Friday!!! ****Que happy dance and singing****

In the NEK we are bracing for a possible Hurricane Sandy hit, and it brings back many memories of Irene which hit the day after my beautiful wedding :( However today the weather girls have said its going to be sunny with a high of 70; music to my ears that means another day of wearing shorts!!!

I love these shorts from the GAP, they are actually to big but I love the design and feel of them. Plus its late October and VT especially the NEK has snow....

So here is to a Happy Friday, and a weekend of picking up the yard and buckling down in case of Sandy...

Deacon bench

So a few weeks ago Justin was cruising around the web, specifically craigslist, looking for fencing and other various things for projects we have to do around the house. Well he found an awesome Deacons Bench for our Mudroom in our almost finished basement. The pictures looked great on craigslist, very solid piece that is super old; the seller was asking 150 dollars. My husband thought he could dicker around with the price, but he was wrong and the sellers husband won out in the end.

 

Above is the before picture, its solid oak and someone used polyurethane on it (yuck)

I spent most of a rainy Sunday sanding it down, and it took a long time to get poly off.

 So after I was done sanding it, I chose to re stain it with a Walnut finish to bring out the grains and so it was darker then our molding which is pine and stained natural. Justin would have preferred it lighter but I love a darker stain.

The above picture is nothing to special but it is our bench in a Walnut stain and all ready to get placed into the mudroom :)

 

Dinner with friends

Our girlie drinks

The Girls; Ann, Erin, Kate and I

The boys; Mike, Eric, Justin, and Pete

This past weekend we got together with some amazing friends! We went to eat at Kotos and ate at the Hibatchi grill lots of fun :-) here are some of my instagram photos....

October use to mean dressing up

Its the 8th of October, I find myself cringing the fact that this means Halloween is around the corner and that Snow is coming. Since living in VT almost all of my life, I have rarely seen a Halloween that it hasnt snowed or been around 20 degrees. Who really wants to go trick-or-treating dressed up with your snow suit underneath. I for one am not that person, I hate the cold anyways and Halloween is just not that the holiday I love. Granted that may change once I have kids and I hope it does, but I just wish we were somewhere warmer. Here are some fun pictures from Halloween pasts.

Kate and I, Goose and Senorita

Walk of Shame girls flanking a Home Wrecker

Harry Potter and a Fairy

I am not even sure

Columbus Day

Today I have the day off. Its Columbus day! and Canadas Thanksgiving!
I am hoping to get things done like a crock pot dinner, some muffins in my awesome new Kitchen Aid Deluxe, yes Justin and I got our Christmas gift early while we were shopping in Tilton NH yesterday. Justin and I are also spending dough on a Decons Bench for our Mudroom, I am super excited and I only hope we can get out mudroom done soon, its been almost a year on the basement project but hopefully it will be coming to a close soon :)

Well, Happy Columbus Day!



Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadiens out there!

The leaves are a turning

So first let me say... Living in the Northeast Kingdom during the fall is so beautiful, but man it sure makes me depressed to know that winter is around the corner.

In the mean time I am enjoying the beautiful leaves turning and the fact that I recently took my almost 2 year old niece Skyla apple picking for the First Time. She is such a joy and loves apples and animals. We took a 40 minute trip to go to Windy Ridge Apple Orchard http://windyridgeorchard.com/ <-- Check it out! We had such a great time with Skylas Parents who are two of our closest friends Aaron and Terri. See the pics below:





ME

Justin



The Cole Family; Skyla, Aaron, and Terri

We love Apple picking and all the great treats!