Coffee Talk...

Is it dressing or stuffing?? Talk amongst yourselves....

For the record....it's DRESSING to me. :)

Turkey Turkey Gobble and Turkey Turkey Giggle...

I wish turkey only cost a nickle...

I'm telling you, Adam Sandler - The Thanksgiving Song never gets old! I am looking forward to Thanksgiving! My Grandma gets into town today, my sister, uncle and family friends get in tomorrow and then the festivities begin!

I broke the news last year that we're not a turkey family...I am unapologetic in my request for chicken and dressing and an overload of carbohydrates. But I do feel slightly sorry for my hubby who remembered, as we were driving down the road yesterday, that he would not have turkey this year. He let out a slight agonizing sound and moaned that my family is denying him the ability to eat "turkey sandwich leftovers". I told him that I will make it my personal responsibility to go to Rudy's and get him some turkey. No one wants to sit next to pouty pants crying in the giblet gravy!

We have a wonderful (and generally chaotic and funhouse) time together over the holidays and I cannot wait to see what Papa says at our pre-Thanksgiving Mexican food dinner tomorrow night...in case you missed it last year, familiarize yourself! This is the same guy who wore a snuggie last week for a photo-shoot...don't be surprised!

In honor of Thanksgiving I wanted to list a few things I'm most thankful for. Some serious, some silly, all complete blessings and I could never express enough gratitude. I'm thankful for:

• The joy in knowing that I am saved by the blood of Christ and can rest in the peace that I will spend eternity in Heaven because of His sacrifice. Thank you, Jesus!
• My wonderful husband and family. I've said it a million times, but I am so lucky. My family is so close and if there is one thing we know for certain, it's that we are loved abundantly. We have fun together, laugh together, and pray together and I honestly could not have asked for more.
• My crazy Rookie Bear! Who would have thought that a mis-guided Christmas gift could be so fabulous! Ha! Oh how I love that dog.
• I have a roof over my head, clothes to keep me warm and food to keep me fed. I know this is not something to take for granted, but I feel that lately I have been more reminded of what a privilege this really is.
• Friends who love dance parties, queso, Glee, SYTYCD and dessert...and me.
• Super sales at Bath and Body Works because they bubble bath is some of the best foaming bubble bath...and when it's on sale it is CHEAP!
• Delilah playing Christmas music starting Thursday night!
• Dave helping me with the dishes and many other household chores. He just digs in and helps and doesn't expect that any one thing will just be done by me....except for putting up the Christmas decorations....
• Yoga pants...the best moments of my life are the ones where I take off my heels and dress clothes after work and put on my "stretchy pants". :)
• Diet Coke, Iced Tea, all things chocolate, potatoes, and a good steak....
• Sunny, 70 degree Texas days!

I could truly go on and on, but in the event of time and your sanity I'll just say "Thank you". Thank you for reading about my life and getting to know me through the blog world. I hope and your family have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

XOXO,

Tiffany

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words...

Thank goodness, because for once in my life I'm going to let my words be few and let the pictures do the talkin'. :)

Friday night Dave and I had a fun, fabulous and exciting dinner with friends. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture! I do count it as one of many blessings that we have really great couple friends that we can have fun with. Bradley and Lynch (yes, it sounds like locker room chatter but they are both Allison's) are two of my best friends and I am so glad that our husbands hang out and get along so well. Golf, cookouts, football games...it's always fun. Friday night was no exception!

Saturday we got up and decided to take breakfast over to my parent's and hear about my brother's trip to San Fransisco and his "story time" with THE Willie Mays. I'm so proud of him and what he is doing and it is so fun to hear of his experiences. Here is a picture he sent me during his week.

After breakfast bonding with the fam I started on this project....

And I am so excited to say that I have a couple of my trees up and I only have one more to go!! (But it's the grandaddy of them all and it's going to take me forever. Anyone a lover of stringing lights and a giver of your time and energy??) I am definitely getting into the holiday spirit! I can't wait until everything is out and my house doesn't look like a tornado blew threw it!!

Yesterday we celebrated Nana's birthday! We ended up bailing on Moonshine because there were 120 people in front of us on the wait list!!!!!!!! Are you kidding me?? We wouldn't have eaten until 2:00pm and as my dad says, "That dog ain't gonna hunt!" We had hungry bellies and not even green chile cheese grits were worth that kind of a wait. Our mulligan was Pappadeux's and it was great. Happiest of Birthday's to my Nana! It's always fun when you can milk it for a week, right Teeny? ;)

Finally, last night we went to see The Blindside. I.LOVED.IT. I had no idea of Michael Oher's story until the movie came out. And I didn't know the details until I saw the movie. What an amazing man he is! And thank God for bringing him into the lives of a family willing to give him a home, a hope and a change to succeed. He surely did that. What a truly wonderful and inspiring story! Take your entire family to see this movie over the Thanksgiving holiday! It certainly opened my eyes to the abundance of things I have to be thankful for and the opportunity I have to show Christ's love to others. Go see it! (Ps...this is a photo they showed at the end of the movie of the real Michael Oher and his adoptive mother and father)

UM...I STILL used too many words!! Sorry. :)

Fabulous Find Friday!

I hope you've been nice because you are not going to want Santa to skip your house when you see what he's packin'! I was introduced to some amazing pottery years ago by my in-laws and it's time I share it with you!

Buck Pottery is located in Gruene, TX and they have some of the most beautiful pieces you will see. I feel certain you will want a few of these items for your kitchen! I've pulled a few of my favorites from their website, but each piece is handmade and unique. But don't worry! If you find something you like the Buck's will help get you something to match your needs.

Here are a few of my current obsessions...

Isn't it all gorgeous?? Imagine my joy when the Bucks gave David and I a beautiful bowl as a wedding present! I love it and use it often! The best part is, it is totally dishwasher safe...tried and true! Visit their website (http://www.buckpottery.com ) to browse their other pieces and make your holiday wish list!

And while you're web-browsing, browse on over and check out my Rookie Bear in this old school post! Today is "Show us your Pet" over at Kelly's Korner. We all know Rookie loves an audience! HAPPY FRIDAY!!

As Seen on TV!

Yesterday was my precious Nana's birthday. We had already decided to celebrate on Sunday because my mom and I are in a bible study (that my mom leads) on Wednesday nights. Such calendar conflicts could not be avoided, so we opted to celebrate her fully this weekend. Teeny made her Sunday birthday brunch decision based on such culinary delicacies as corn flake chicken tenders, green chile cheese grits and sweet potato casserole. We're pretty fired up about it!

Although we will celebrate this weekend, we wanted to recognize the big day a little bit, so we went over to their house after bible study with a few cupcakes and presents in hand. We sang and had a cupcake and were sitting talking when the topic somehow changed to the Snuggie. Next thing you know Nana and Papa are exchanging glances and Papa pulls out all the stops. Oh.Yes.He.Does. have a SNUGGIE! I have documented this for my brother and sister to see him in all of his warm and snugly glory.

I cease to be amazed by these two. Don't think for a second we didn't laugh and point fingers. And we may or may not have told him he looks like a Monk.

Pa-pa, pa-pa-razzi!

Y'all probably know by now that I love pictures. I document (or try to) everything! And for this very reason, I'm loving my new favorite photo tool...I know it's not new, but it's new to me! Thanks to my sister for introducing me to the polaroid photo editor. I LOVE it! Here are a few of my quick creations...

I Wanna be Famous...

As a little girl I always thought I should be an actress! I LOVED Alyssa Milano in "Who's the Boss" and If I could have been anyone it would have been DJ Tanner. I always dreamed of the amazing life of a celebrity and thought it would be so cool to sign autographs and be in BOP Magazine or Teen People. It was pretty much my mom's fault because she didn't put me in acting lessons or send me to auditions. I had all the goods to be a full fledged STAR!

The life of the rich and famous can seem so glamorous. We get caught up in their lives and find everything they do so entertaining. I mean, I watched Kloe Kardashian and Lamar Odum's wedding for 1 hour yesterday and I DVR'd it in case I want to watch it again! I don't know why I care, but I continue to watch the Bachelor and Bachelorette and tune in to see if they find love....and they NEVER DO! They continue to tout Trista and Ryan as the one single success story among the baker's dozen that haven't worked out. How's that for odds??

It was so interesting yesterday when my pastor began his message with a story of one of his former youth (he was a youth minister) who he is friends with on Facebook. She was at the memorial at Fort Hood and her first status message was asking for prayers and support for the families of the victims of the terrible Fort Hood massacre. Her very next status update was informing friends that "OH MY GOSH! Do you see me on TV?? I'm standing right next to the guy with the red flag!!" Because yes, she had managed to get in the camera view and was so excited for her 15 seconds of fame.

It's only one example of how we, as humans, often crave attention, importance, fame, notoriety. We want to be good at what we do whether it is being great at our job, raising the most well mannered/well behaved children, being the best baseball player, the list goes on and on. But in the end, what does it get us? Will anyone really remember us anyway??

For most of us, the answer is no. Will anyone remember me and say, "My goodness that Tiffany M! She sure had an impact on the world!" At this point I wouldn't think so, but the interesting part of the entire sermon was when Dr. Myers (SEM and Z....that feels so weird and formal....) asked us if anyone knew who Ed Kimball was. Not.One.Person did. Ed Kimball was simply a man who loved people and took it upon himself to take the time to speak to a young man in a shoe store one day selling him his shoes. During the time he spent with him while buying his shoes he got to know him and led the young man to Christ. That young man was D.L. Moody who was an evangelist who spoke to Frederick B. Meyer and he was saved. Meyer became a preacher of the Word and J. Wilbur Chapman heard the Good news and was saved. So the story goes Chapman was so moved he went into ministry and preached the word that Billy Sunday heard and was saved. The Lord used Billy Sunday to speak to Mordecai Ham and can you guess where it goes from here?? Mordecai Ham preached a revival and only one person was saved....and it was....drumroll please...Billy Graham.

Because of Ed Kimball's humble obedience and willingness to show Jesus to others, look at the lives that have been saved!! And did any of us know his name?? Well, a few of us do now because it was used in a sermon, but it is certainly not a household name. But boy is he famous in the Kingdom! And if I can be famous anywhere I would sure rather it be in the Kingdom than in People Magazine and Perez Hilton.

I love the thought that God is going to open windows of opportunity as He sees fit, and whatever I do in my life I should do it all for God's glory. I find it fitting that the title of my blog is "Life is Glamorous and Fabulous". And while it might not be glamorous to others that I get up, go to work, come home, walk my dog, make dinner, do laundry and watch some form of reality TV it is fairly glamorous to me. It's glamorous that I have an amazing husband, family and friends that God has blessed me with. And He has saved me from the unholy version of myself and made me completely fabulous in His eyes, and He is giving me every opportunity to live a life of impact for the Kingdom.

I'd say there is nothing more glamorous than knowing I'm a princess because my father is the King!

"Don't wanna be famous in life,
I don't wanna be famous in the World,
Just wanna be famous, famous,
I wanna be famous in your eyes..." ~ "Famous" Vertical Horizon

Fabulous Find Friday!

Merry Merry, Gobble Gobble! Who can believe we are halfway through November and Christmas is knocking on our door?? I know I can't! I love Thanksgiving, but I have to be honest and tell you that I literally cannot wait to start putting up my Christmas trees and it's only a matter of time before my house is filled with Faith Hill is belting out "A Baby Changes Everything" (seriously, click the links to get hyped) and Josh Groban moves me to tears with "Little Drummer Boy". It makes me kind of giddy just thinking about it!

With the impending Christmas season one of the first things on my to-do list is to order my Christmas cards. I hope you send Christmas cards! And I hope you send a card with a picture of you and your hubby, or your children, or even your dog because there is nothing I love more than Christmas photo cards. Don't get me wrong, I love straight up text Christmas cards too, but I just love to see your mug smiling at me the entire holiday season!

This weekend I'm going to pick out my favorite branches and let Dave trim away so I can get started on this again, and then as soon as that first card hits my mailbox it will be displayed for all the world to see! Or at least for anyone in the world who happens to come to my home. :)

I have been on the lookout for for my family's Christmas card and while I think I've found the one my heart desires, I have seen a ton that are just as cute as can be! I've even thought to myself, "That looks like Courtney!" Or, "I could totally see L-Merc's freaking cute kids on that card!" So it would be my pleasure to share a few of these talented designs with you in your quest for Christmas card perfection. (Ps...most of these sellers have fabulous party invitations as well.)

This one is from Birdie's Custom Cards on Etsy

And how about this precious birth announcement from Sugar Tree Studios just because I couldn't pass it up?? And this non-tradition Christmas card in great Fall colors.

Last but not least, there is old faithful....Tiny Prints. They are running FREE shipping and $10 off orders of $75 or more....AND...They have some great new cards for 2009. Here a couple that caught my eye...

I can't wait until your card is hanging on my tree! Merry Merry...Gobble Gobble!

Add a Little Spice to Your Life!

I'm not a fan of pumpkin. Maybe it's my refined pallet, but normally my favorite part of Thanksgiving is the macaroni and cheese, the honey baked ham and my Nana's dressing capped off with a nice piece of chocolate pie. I can't even remember having pumpkin pie let alone liking it!

You can imagine my surprise when I tried some of my mother-in-law's delicious bread which I thought was "spice bread" only to find out it was pumpkin spice bread! I had unknowingly eaten a version of pumpkin bread....and liked it!! It might have had something to do with the surprise goodies baked inside, but I'll get to that later...

She was kind enough to share the recipe and I whipped up a batch just the other night. I have had it for breakfast the last 2 days and I now feel it is my duty to share the goodness with you. I'm pretty sure I'll be serving it to my family on Thanksgiving morning!

Pumpkin Spice Bread- yields 2 large loaves
3 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1 cup pecans
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1 16oz. can pumpkin
*The special ingredient is optional....

Bake at 375 for 1 hour

Mix all of the ingredients together and then add a bag of chocolate chips! (Because my mother in law is the bomb.com like that...) I used Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate, but I know she uses the Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips and she only uses 1/2 the bag...I like mine with more chocolate.

And wha-la! Yummy goodness even non-pumpkin lovers will love! If you don't tell they really won't even know!

Walk 'til you drop!

I can't wait to share all of the details of our 3-Day journey with you all! It was amazing, emotional, exhausting, inspiring, sometimes painful, but totally worth every.single step.

The Dallas 3-Day raised over 7.5 MILLION dollars for breast cancer research and had approximately 3,000 walkers. I laughed...a lot, I cried when I saw the son walking with the flag for his mother and crying tears as he started his journey in her honor, I "Whooped" when I passed a cheering station and saw 3 girls wearing Aggie Pi Phi shirts, and they flipped out when I told them I was also an Aggie Pi Phi class of '03! I cried when I went to bed Saturday night saying a prayer of utter thanksgiving for my sweet friend Liz who gave of her time, energy and resources to be by my side and show me how much she cares about me. She really won't even know what it felt like to cross the finish line with her by my side. For my other friends who sent me cards and e-mails to tell me how much it meant to them that I was walking. For my friends who came to celebrate "40 down 20 to go" on Saturday night. I can't say I was the life of the party but I can say I was ALIVE! Ha! Thank you. It will NEVER be enough, but thank you.

And Dave...it was so nice for him to support me and tell me how proud he was of me for commiting to the journey, training, and finishing. It was so nice to share the joy at the end of the journey with him. And with all of our friends and family that were there.

I promise to outline the 3-Days in more detail, but for now, I wanted to share my heart. And it's full of gratitude. Click here to see all the pictures I took (the others will come later). And a warning that you will probably see some of them again! :)

The whole crew at opening ceremonies! Coleen, Kristen, mom and me

Kristen getting some love from some of the kids at one of the elementary schools we passed. They were so precious! Signs, noise makers, the whole bit.

Our cheering crew at the last cheer station on Day 1! Don't think for one second the Loj wasn't there! She was just taking this picture....She got her own photo below!

Friends and family at dinner after Day 2

Kristen, dad and mom...Dad cheering us on with only about 5 miles to go on DAY 3!!

WE DID IT!!! Just passed the finish line! (You'll see we wasted NO time getting into the flip flops)

My amazing family...Dave, me, Taylor, dad, mom and Kristen

Love and thanks!

Tiffany

Well, well, well...

We finished! We walked the entire 60 miles and lives to tell about it. :) Lots of wonderful stories and pictures to follow, but for now I JUST walked in the door and I am going to B-E-D!

One thing I wanted to share is that I am an idiot and I left you the wrong Twitter account to follow for all of our updates!! I left you my Glam and Fab Twitter account and while I'd love you to follow me, all of our team updates were updated to www.twitter.com/oursolepurpose . So head over there for a sneak peak and a few photos from the weekend!!

XOXO, can't wait to share my weekend with you!!

Let the journey begin!!

As you read this....I am walking....and walking....and walking....

Today marks the beginning of the Komen 3-Day and I could not be more excited! Be sure to check out our blog: www.oursolepurpose.blogspot.com for updates! And you can follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/glamandfab

Have a great weekend and if you think about it, say a little prayer for us and a prayer for a cure!

XOXO,
Tiffany

I have COMPLETE lost my mind. (Among other things...)

As a general rule, I am an organized person. I'm a meeting planner. I get paid for the details. This is not to say things are never chaotic...I am a firm believer in organized chaos, but I don't generally leave huge things out. But lately....lately I've had some problems.

It all started with my phone charger. As I told you, we've been here, there and everywhere lately. And when we were on our way home from Dallas a couple of weekends ago I remembered that I left my phone charger at my sister's house. I called her, let her know, and it was a done deal. I'm usually a bit more on the ball but nobody got hurt.

Then there was last weekend...we left my in-laws and we got about 15 minutes down the road and my father-in-law called to tell us that I had left my makeup bag in the bathroom. Where was my head?? I always do a final sweep of the bedroom, closets, bathroom, etc. How did I miss this? Then I remembered that when I went to look in the bathroom, Dave was in there and I forgot to go back through before we left. We had to turn around and meet my FIL to pick up said make-up bag. That was on Sunday.....

On Monday I was getting ready for work and I realized that I was missing one of my bracelets. Let me insert here that I really don't have "good" jewelry except for a few pieces. I have my engagement ring and wedding band (obvi), my pearl earrings and necklace given to me by Dave as a wedding gift, a watch given to me from Dave, a diamond drop necklace given to me by my mom when I got engaged...it's the diamond from her first wedding band (before the big upgrade...she's so spoiled:), and then a Tiffany bracelet given to me by my mom and dad for my 21st birthday. That final item is the item I was missing. I didn't think much of it because we have been traveling so much, I knew it was just in a jewelry bag or makeup bag somewhere. When I got home from work I began to look. And look. And look. Then I began to panic. It was NOWHERE to be found. I literally tore our house apart. I looked in cars, purses, drawers, suitcases, in bathroom cabinets, called my sister to see if I had left it in Dallas....then I totally hit the panic button. I must have left it in Tennessee. I called the hotel but of course no one could help me at 10pm. I hardly slept a wink...my mind racing through where else it could possibly be. Then it hit me. When we went to Tennessee I put all of my jewelry in a grey/transparent jewelry bag and I had it in my purse when we went through security. I remember what I wore with each outfit and when we came home I was wearing my cheap/fake gold jewelry. Leaving me completely open to have possibly left all of my good jewelry in the Hampton Inn in Tennessee. Oh my lanta.

Tuesday at 7:30am I called the general manager and gave him my story. He contacted housekeeping...they scoured the room...no dice. I was honestly so upset. Then....then....I went to get my purse out my "messy" drawer at work where I store my purse each day and when I pulled out my purse look what I saw.....

UNDERNEATH my stationary was the tiny corner of my missing jewelry bag!!!!! Could it be?? YES! Praise the Lord. I am an idiot. It must have fallen out of my purse and somehow gotten lodged under my box of stationary.

I've got my jewelry back...now if I can only get my act together!

Disbelief...

Sometimes (not often enough) I stop long enough take a look around me and reflect, and I find myself shaking my head in disbelief. Today I was driving to work and I just turned off the radio so I could hear myself think and spend a little time in prayer. It was so crazy the things that caught my attention...I am in disbelief that...

It's November and in 3 weeks I'll be putting up Christmas trees!!
It's November and the high today is 85!! Although no complaints from this girl! That is an answered prayer with our walk being this weekend!
After months and months of training our hard work comes to fruition this weekend!
My friends and family have supported me, my mom, my sister and Coleen and we have raised $10,280 for breast cancer research and development!!
My co-worker came in my office talking about how great the Biggest Loser was last night and then informed me that she brought DONUTS. Maybe more ironic than unbelievable...
I'm also in disbelief that Jake is the new bachelor. Really ABC?
And finally...Delilah will be playing Christmas music in T-10 days...and those that know me know it's never too soon. :)

Is There a Doctor In the House?

The Doctor will see you now.