Cardy surprised me tonight with an early Christmas present. I couldn't be happier...she's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!

Now we just have to pick a name! Any suggestions??? She's a spunky little thing but sweet as can be.

Holiday Parties

I absolutely love the holiday season and I especially love holiday parties. Every other year, Cardy's sisters plan a Godina family Christmas party. It's a huge get together for Cardy's massive extended family. Both sides of the family are invited and friends are always included. If you know Cardy's family or have had the chance to attend a Godina family function you know that they are a riot. This family loves each other and they will jump at the chance to celebrate any event together.

We also recently celebrated Beermas with our friends. Beermas is a holiday party hosted by Marcus in which everyone comes dressed in their most fantastic...or ugliest...Christmas garb and drinks beer to celebrate the holidays. Last year Cardy and I struggled to find actual sweaters with any sort of Christmas motif but we did our best with our last minute planning. This year I was little more prepared and I knew where to shop. Lucky for us, we were able to find matching sweaters (well, they were actually sweatshirts) and I thought we looked adorable. I was actually quite impressed with several of the Christmas sweaters at the party - people really out did themselves this year.

Last week my Bunco group met at Ann's house for some Christmas bunco. I love getting together with friends before the holidays

Stick a fork in me.

So far this holiday season has started out quite marvelously. A few weeks before Thanksgiving we celebrated "Fakesgiving" dinner with several of our friends. Fakesgiving, as it's named, is the precursor to Thanksgiving and is always amongst good friends. We've been lucky enough to attend this event the last 2 years. Marcus organized the evening and we all signed up for our best dish to share.  This year John & Katie were our gracious hosts. Katie did a fabulous job seating 20+ people in her house, beautiful table settings and all. I was impressed to see how many amazing dishes were prepared by everyone. We had everything from a charcoal grilled, bacon wrapped turkey (thanks Mike & Cameron) to homemade macaroni & cheese to a pumpkin trifle. Everybody truly brought it!

Our actual Thanksgiving dinner took place at my mom & dad's (sorry, no pictures). We had fun celebrating in the new house, it makes me excited for Christmas! My mom is a great cook and I always love when she offers Thanksgiving at her house. We had a great dinner (of course) and I brought a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. After dinner, I napped (thankfully!) and then we went home and watched the Broncos...yay for a win (also thankful)!

I will not have a breakdown. I won't, I won't, I won't.

No, I'm not going to go all Britney Spears on everyone. No breakdowns for me, I don't have time. As many of you know, I'm working three jobs right now and am finding myself busier than I've ever been. Why three jobs, you ask? Actually this is the most FAQ I've been getting lately and honestly my best response is, "i don't know?" People think I'm crazy. My friend Alex says I'm the only person in America right now with the dilema of having too many jobs. Very true. While the unemployment rate continues to climb, I'm juggling three work schedules and keeping my hours in check. My other friend, Ashley, says she's just waiting for me to have a breakdown. I know she doesn't mean this rudely but more out of concern for my well being. My mom feels the same way. She keeps asking if I'm okay and what she can do to help me out. I'm fortunate to have so many friends who care about me.

For those of you who don't understand why I work three jobs or just think I'm plain old crazy - I'm going to break it down for you.

Job #1: Rheumatology Research Coordinator. This is job #1 because it's my first priority. It's the big cheese, my career, my "real" job. This is my full time job at the University of Utah and it's where the majority of my income comes from. I love this job and find it so rewarding.

Job #2: Pottery Barn. I call this job #2 because I've worked for PB part time for the last 6 years. It's a great little job & it's my "fun" job. The reason I can actually work 3 jobs is because of my very lenient PB schedule. I typically work only 1-2 days a week (and sometimes not at all). My shifts are short and I have a fun time while I'm there. Plus, let's not forget my incredible discount which at the end of the day, makes it TOTALLY worth it!

Job #3: Givenchy. My newest job. I started fragrence modeling this summer when a friend of mine hooked me up with this sweet little job. I'm a vendor for the line and we are contracted with Dillards and Macys to have our product in their department stores. My job is make sure the store has the products and the tools they need to sell the fragrence. I also spend several hours in the store luring customers to buy my product over others. Yes, I'm the girl spritzing the cards and handing them to you as you walk by. You may be annoyed with me but you may also find a new perfume for your collection. This is a very easy job for the money and who couldn't use extra income these days?

Honestly, I think I'm doing okay. Pottery Barn would like me to increase my hours for the holidays and my boss from Givenchy pulled a fast one on me and scheduled me 40 hours a week during December (which I politely refused). Luckily I know how to take care of myself. I know when enough is enough. I'm having to rely more on Cardy than ever. I don't think he loves his "honey do" lists I leave him but he's pretty good about completing them. Lately he's even been doing a few extras around the house which I appreciate (now if I could only get him to cook).  I find if I do small things for myself and recognize when I need a break - whether it's a one hour nap, a pedicure with a friend, or dinner with Cardy - I think I'll get through this holiday season unscathed.

Home Improvement

We love the newness of our townhouse but even being brand new comes the home improvements that make a house a home.

This week we added cabinets in our laundry room, hung directly over our washer and dryer. We have high ceilings so cabinets were a perfect option to take up some of the crazy wall space. It also helped alleviate a huge storage problem we seem to have in that room. Our laundry room also doubles as a pantry and as fun as it is to have your Bounce sheets and Clorox next to the flour & sugar...well, you get the idea. I'm so excited about the new cabinets and Cardy did a fantastic job building and hanging (thank you Ikea for the millions of tiny parts), I'm pretty sure we can hang from these babies.

Getting close!

Finished product

Bunco!

This months Bunco party was extra special. With the date so close to Halloween - why not dress up? Marissa & Heather hosted our Halloween Bunco Party in a really cool barn. When I first heard we would be playing in a barn, I was thinking we would be sitting on hay bales, rolling dice next to cows and sheep. Not so. This barn was more like special venue with a slight barn motif - it was such a neat building. I would have taken more pictures of it but it was huge (and it was pitch black outside).

Everyones costumes were great - pregnant rocker chick, Mrs. Peacock, vampires, witches and a whoopee cushion, just to name a few. Ashley and I had been planning our costume for quite some time. After Halloween last year, I came up with the idea of going as dice (bunco...dice game...get it?). So I could not wait for Halloween this year to make our costumes. Ashley and I were black dice with pink dots and although our dice did not show a bunco when we stood together, we still looked pretty cool.

Marissa & Heather, fabulous job!