Bella Tres Chic: What's On My Happy List?

I’m a 52 year old mother of five amazing daughters and wife to a caring, sensitive AND sexy husband. I adore my family. I’m dedicated to my faith. I enjoy a good laugh. I'm nostalgic and love to reminisce. "Remember" is my favorite word in the English language. I love life! I’m passionate about music, food and {dreams of} traveling the world. I wanna be a castle and waterfall chaser. I’m fascinated with anything European. {PARIS! Hello!} I love celebrating anything and everything! I love to read, especially a good biography, mystery, Regency Era Romance or Historical fiction novel. I love thoughtful gift giving. To me the gift wrap is almost as important as the gift itself. I have a bit of an obsession with gift boxes and gift bags. As well as old world maps & globes, apothecary bottles and jars! I love being creative…bolts of ribbon, coordinating scrapbook papers, producing a table scape, or planning décor for a themed party puts a smile on my face. I love the details! I’m a freak for anything theme oriented. I enjoy event planning, but oddly enough do not like to host or entertain. I enjoy fashion, but have to really be in the mood to clothes shop. I love purses and funky costume jewelry. Especially big rings! I’d rather wear wedges or heels any day than flats. I enjoy decorating and searching for the perfect decorative pillow or picture. However, you’ll never see me frequent high-end stores. I'm more of a Ross, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning kind of gal. My favorite decor style is an old world rustic Italian chateau/Spanish Villa look with a hint of bohemian! OR a vintage shabby chic French country cottage/English cobblestone farmhouse. My #1 cookie-Molasses! Autumn is my favorite season. I’d go through childbirth a million times. I enjoy biking with my man, Pilates, and power walking. You’ll never find me in a gym working out. I love movies, whether watching them in the theatre or cuddled up on the couch with my family. I enjoy a good chick flick or real life drama! I'm a sucker for movies on the Hallmark & Great American Family Channel. I have a tender heart for the elderly. I adore Disneyland. I enjoy being in the canyon on a summer or fall evening at dusk. I love my friends. While I have some extroverted characteristics. I’m a self proclaimed introvert. I’m generally quiet, calm, reserved and pretty darn private. Why in the heck do I blog? It’s a creative way to record family history. I enjoy photography. I really don’t like to write, although I write in my journal often. My journals, patriarchal blessing, scriptures, quote book, and beloved Christmas tree filled with ornaments of family memories are among my prized possessions. I love the beach. I enjoy WWII history. I love a clean, orderly house, but ours usually looks lived in. ;) PBS Masterpiece is my friend. I adore Jane Austen films. They transport me to another time and place. If I had to choose another time period in which to live, early 19th Century England would be my pick. "Sense and Sensibility" is my all time favorite movie. My 3 favorite TV series are...BBC's Larkrise to Candleford, the 1950's Spanish Drama "Velvet," and the travel/food show "Somebody Feed Phil." My biggest pet peeve is people who blow their noses in public. So gross! {Take it to the bathroom people.} I’d go on a wine tasting vacation if it wasn’t against my religion. I’ve always wanted to adopt a baby from a foreign country. I’m an avid BYU football fan. I'm a Educational Support Professional. I tutor elementary kids in phonemic awareness, phonics, reading, fluency and comprehension. I love our campfires at Scofield Lake. I have a 'thing' for fairy gardens, Gallic French roosters, fresh flowers in a vase, pretty bowls & plates, yummy smelling candles & soap. I love summer rainstorms and warm baths. I'm a scripture podcast fanatic. I'm also a fan of several Fox News shows; Hannity and Dave Ramsey Talk Radio. I very much miss Rush Limbaugh! I hate when my kids have homework. I'd rather clean 20 toilets than give a talk or prayer in church. I have quite a collection of Madame Alexander Dolls, children's books, Disney pins, and quotes. My favorite quote is "Don't underestimate me. I know more than I say, think more than I speak & notice more than you realize." True True LOL! I always prefer sitting in a back row versus the front. {I'm sort of a seat snob..yikes} I also have high expectations for my lemonade, salsa, and french fries too. HA! I work well behind the scenes. I love a good Dateline, 20/20 or 48 Hour Mystery. I’m a night owl. I'd rather be cold than hot. I love to budget our finances! I enjoy being a chauffeur to my children. I'm not a huge fan of social media. I don't snap, pin or tweet. All I want for Christmas every year is a ticket to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert. It's my FAVORITE. I’m an Anglophile…a royal watcher who loves anything English! Especially tea parties! I would like to serve a church mission to England with Jaren someday. I'm queen of paper towel, used kitchen dishrags and sponges kinda make me squirm. You’ll rarely find me out of the house not ready for the day, except when driving the kids to school on the days I don't work. I feel naked without lipstick or lip gloss. Mismatched socks, chipped fingernail polish, chapped lips and brownie crumbs on the floor drive me nuts! I like to organize and BE organized..but not saying I always am. ;) I enjoy hiking to waterfalls, ATV’ing with my family and snowshoeing with the hubs. Although I enjoy collecting recipes and occasionally watch cooking shows... (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade, Paula Deen, Jamie Oliver, and the Pioneer Woman are my favorites) I’d rather not cook. Eating out is so much more fun. I'm a foodie. I live to EAT! LOL Trying new foods and restaurants is a favorite past-time, and believe it or not so is intermittent fasting. I'm not good at a lot of things... but gosh, if you need help with a themed celebration or someone to enjoy good food with, I'm your girl. I love the joy of anticipation and the celebration of holidays. Family traditions are important to me. I'm a memory preserver. I'm a pathological picture taker ;) a visual storyteller, and a lover of happy lists!

Monday, December 23, 2024

What's On My Happy List?

A month of Christmas festivities....

In early Dec the girls and I love to attend

the Christmas German Market...

Christkindlmarkt

at This is the Place Heritage Park.

{Brady tagged along with us this year 😉}

It's such a delightful, festive atmosphere

with all the

sights, sounds and smells of Christmas.

Oh goodness me...the toffee from

Condie's Candies...😍

************************

Emmsie and I SAW THIS in the theatre!

The Dutch violinist, Andre Rieu,

known as the The King of Waltz,

puts on such a spectacular show.

He's one of my favorite music artists.

{My mom's and Lilly Belle's too.}

😌

It's my dreeeeeam to be at one of his

concerts someday.

It was 2 1/2 hours of heavenly bliss music

to my ears...

**************************

We celebrated a Scandinavian holiday

on the 13th of Dec called St. Lucia Day.

A celebration of light!

Traditionally the eldest daughter

dresses in white and wears a crown of

candles and serves baked goods.

Miss Lilly Belle did the honors...

The fam went to see the Christmas in Color

"lights"

that night!

It was so cute when Lilly Belle

could see her Aunties

in the car behind us...

my girls were hanging out

the windows and sun roof...

It was also the start of

the "12 Days of Christmas"

that day too!

Found the cutest chocolate advent

on Amazon.

I crock-potted some really yummy hot cocoa

to have when

we got back from seeing the lights.

**************************

We attended our ward Christmas

breakfast...

I made a gluten-free breakfast casserole...

magic ingredient...

***************************

Some of us were able to attend the

Eclipse 6 Christmas Concert!

They are an acapella group that will

knock your socks off!

SO GOOD!

*************************************

We held our annual family sugar party!

I put up Lilly Belle's tree for the occasion.

This year the party was Gingerbread-themed!

I wrapped everyone's favorite sugar cereal

and the table was full of

other sugary goodies...

thanks to Buddy the Elf and friends!

😜

We played Christmas song/movie Pictionary

and this fun card game...

*****************************
The girls and I went on our annual

December downtown excursion...

Cuz of icky traffic our favorite bakery

closed before we could get there.

Boo!

BUT...

after Lighting the World...

we came across this new French bakery

in City Creek...

I was instantly taken by the ambience...

so charming!

😌

We saw some beautiful lights

on the Temple grounds...

then we walked to JDawg's on West Temple...

yay for gluten-free buns!

***************

I helped organize our neighborhood charity gathering...

We are doing this in lieu of

giving neighbor gifts!

Yay!

We raised money for the Murray Education Foundation

Sub for Santa Campaign.

********************

Back downtown for my all-time FAVORITE

Christmas event...

We scored 4 tickets to the Tabernacle Choir

Christmas Concert! BLESS!

🙌 🙏

Had such a lovely evening with Emmsie

and two of my dear friends...

****************************

In more outings...lol

I've had a couple of temple trips

with the hubs this month....

An outing to Jolley's

to see Santa

with Lilly Belle!

She wanted nothing to do with it...hahaha

***************

cemetery outing with sisters

to visit my dad's grave...

***********************

In food news ....

A crepe, and a couple of sushi night-outs

with childhood friends....

A beginning of winter break treat with Kate...

🙌

Bahama Bucks Frozen Hot Koko

Dinner Group for brunch...

ANOTHER quaint French Cafe find...

A Monte Cristo crepe...

on a side note...cute Kate decorated her

tree for her room

has a bit of a French vibe...

💗

back to the FOOD...

Emmsie made her yummy hot fudge

for the girl's annual

Pearl Harbor movie watching night!

She and Hannie made delicious

gluten free brownies...

Even with all the yummy meals out

this homemade seafood pasta dish

was one of my favorite meals of the month!!!!

Compliments to the hubs....

************

Gift giving...

Co-worker & ministering gifts....

for my mama's nurse and CNA...

Emmsie gave me an early Christmas gift..

my tree ornament for the year!

Gifts for the Primary kiddos...

JESUS!

Primary teacher gifts....

After church pics with the babies...

Only 2 more sleeps til the

big guy in red comes....

CAN'T WAIT!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)