Just a little bit longer..

So its just a few days before Christmas and I am already feeling depressed - I HATE that Christmas is already almost here - I want at least another two weeks! Every year I get like this-  I am really trying hard to just take in as much as possible and savor every single second of the season. Every year I have so many plans that I want to accomplish (go to the symphony, throw a Christmas party, decorate my house like crazy, watch tons of Christmas movies,bake lots of goodies,etc...) and every year only a few of those plans gets done. I did have my parents and grandparents over for dinner last night - that was so nice :) I am just about done with my Christmas shopping - I plan to finish up tomorrow. Tomorrow night starts round one of Christmas - its Wilson Christmas - then Friday night is my family Christmas at my parents and then Saturday is Christmas with my mawmaw and pawpaw and all of my moms side of the family. I love the busy-ness of this time of year, just sad its almost over! ha But I am really excited to see what 2011 holds :) I hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS - and remember the true meaning of this time of year.

Much love friends :)

X0

Steph

Christmas Time is here!

I could NEVER convey to you how much I LOVE Christmas - I seriously think about the season all year long. I don't know why I am so obsessed with it - even as a little girl I remember it being so magical - most all of my favorite childhood memories come from the Holidays. My parents always did a great job of incorporating Christmas traditions and fun family memories...things that we still do to this day. I long so bad for day that I have a baby and can start passing down these traditions and making these precious memories. I am giddy with excitement about Christmas this year - I just adore spending time with my family - I savor every single second of it. I know this sounds extremely crazy but I'm already beginning to feel sad that there is only 12 more days til Christmas - I just feel like this month goes way to fast and hate the idea of it being over! Here are a few pics I took a few weeks ago when I was decorating the house - I would love to get to the point where I have a Christmas tree in every room - I'm hoping to buy some more decor this year after Christmas! :)

Here are a few things I have sitting around - 

 

Bathroom decor

This is in the downstairs hallway

The Mantle (Zoey, Alexx, Gizzy, Me and Chase)

And lastly my tree - I love sitting at night just enjoying the beautiful glow of my Christmas tree - anyone else find it just as peaceful?

Merry Christmas friends!

x0

Steph

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

Ok so the holiday madness has me all sort of behind. Between Christmas shopping, family gatherings, friends, photoshoots and editing I.am.swamped! I am so ready to get caught up so I can just sit back and enjoy the holidays! We did have a wonderful Thanksgiving - we went to Mawmaw and Pawpaws house for lunch and then Alexxs familys for dinner. It worked out great - then later that evening Lesley Chelsea and Mike came over and hung out for a bit before we started our Black Friday shopping at midnight! Lesley actually went home but the rest of us stayed up all night shopping. Alexx got his Christmas gift (a 50 in TV) and I got some of my shopping done for the kids and family. We finally called it a night at about 8:30am. I always enjoy Black Friday and love that I get to share that tradition with my sister :) Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving.

Such a classic "Lesley & Stephanie" picture - pay no attention to lesleys "costume" he was pretending to be a Indian in honor of Thanksgiving....

I have so very much to be thankful for this year - but the main thing I am always most thankful for is my family - I am beyond blessed.

xo

Steph

Bon Voyage! (well actually im back now)

Wow I  didn't realize how long Ive been gone - sorry :( The holiday rush is upon me and let me tell ya its pure madness! If you would like to see whats been keeping me so busy go take a looksy here

So I went on my cruise. Oh it was glorious! It was not near long enough, but it was so much fun and so relaxing. I got so much sleep - one afternoon there was a storm brewing in the distance so you could hear the distant thunder and lightening - my mom and I went to the back of the ship got a lounger and I went straight to sleep - best two hour nap I have had in YEARS (no exaggeration) ha! It was so special to get to go with my family on this trip - especially my parents and grand parents. It was just super special and a memory I will cherish forever. Unfortunately, not all of the family could make it - but that's ok - there is always next year. :)
I've posted a collection of photos taken from me, Lesley and Chelsea :)

Here's a group picture:

It ended up being me, my parents, my sister Chelsea, my brother in law Mike, my grandparents, my cousin Lesley and my Aunt and Uncle (Danielle and David).

We had two stops - Progresso and Cozumel - in Progresso me, Les, Chels, Mike, Danielle and David did a little shopping and then went to the beach - it was actually nicer than I remember several years ago. The water and sand was so pretty - I could seriously live on the beach.

In Cozumel, me, my mom, Chels, Mike and Les went to a beach party at a local resort. We got there plenty early so we got chairs/umbrellas right up against the beautiful water. There was no swimming right in front of us so I had this amazing view the entire day.

We did lots of swimming and pina colada drinking :) It was perfection.

During the day we did alot of laying out, sleeping, eating, swimming and card playing :)

Then we would all meet for dinner :)

And dinner always included loud laughter, dancing and impromptu photo shoots ;)

In the evening we would go to shows, karaoke and late night comedy hours. But my favorite was being out on the ship late at night - it would be empty and you could see the stars perfectly. Staring out into the blackness it was always a reminder how small my problems are and how big God is :)

As you can see we had a great time - I can not wait to go again! :)

x0
Steph

Happy Friday!

Finally a slow day at the office - well its only 10am, but so far so good! I do have a ton of editing to catch up on though. I think Alexx and I are going to spend most of the weekend resting and doing home projects - ill let you know how much we actually get done! ha I have so many ideas for my house, but just never sure how to make them happen - its overwhelming!  Tuesday, is my State Fair Mini Sessions and I am SO excited - be watching for a sneak peek of those images next week :)

Oh and only 17 more days until my CRUISE! I haven't been to excited about it until this week - I guess I just haven't thought about it to much - but now I am READY!

Have a great weekend!

x0
Stephanie

Head Above Water

I was planning on saving this entry for another day, but it has been consuming my brain lately and then today I was reading up on my "Brave Girl" emails (I was a little behind) and the one from Friday just seemed to describe my feelings so well. Last night I sat on my back patio for almost an hour just thinking about the last several months and thanking God for all of his blessings. I can honestly say 2010 has been the first year in over 4 years that I feel like my head is above water. 2006 was the final year of my marriage and even though it was GREAT financially/work wise - it was very difficult marriage wise - my now ex husband had a severe gambling problem and it seemed that no matter how much money I made we never had enough. Every time I tried to question where the money was going it turned into a huge argument that I eventually just became numb to it all and didn't even ask - it wasn't until my divorce that I even realized how awful it was - when I was faced with the realization that the bills I was told he had been paying were never paid. Since then, I have spent the last several years feeling like I was drowning and trying every.single.day. to stay afloat. I was hurt with his affair and our nasty divorce, I was trying to recover from a drastic pay decrease (thanks to the economy) along with paying my bills, keeping my house, and desperately needing a newer car. I made a decision that 2010 was going to be my year - to work on myself, to work on my finances and to build on my dreams. I can honestly say the last several months I feel a little bit closer to that goal....

So as I was saying I received this email and wanted to share - I still have hurts and insecurities and fears beyond reason, but it does get easier. I could never thank God enough for the lessons he has taught me and continues to teach me. Hope you are encouraged by the words below as much as I was ;)


x0x0
Steph

October is finally here!

Can I just tell you how excited I am that Fall is finally here! I wait all year for October, November and December - now I just want it to go into slow motion from here until the end of the year ;)

Yesterday I was able to open all the windows and just use my screen door and it stayed plenty cool in my house (that is a BIG deal for Texas!ha) What is it about this weather that just gives me lots of energy?

The incredible State Fair of Texas is here! YEA!!! Sadly, my beloved Longhorns didnt win this weekend - but thats ok - we will come fighting next year! Next Tuesday I am hosting mini photo shoots at the fair - im so excited - I will post pics as soon as possible. If you would like to keep up with my other stuff then you can go to my photography blog: stephanie wilson photography

I hope to get lots of stuff caught up this week and then hopefully I can get back to blogging on a regular basis - plus I have a list a mile long of blogs I need to read! Miss yall!

Steph

Show Us Your Life: Master Bedroom

Its Friday (woot woot)! Today I am linking up with Kellys Korner (sorry im having to put her link like this - for some reason my link button is giving me issues today) http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/09/show-us-your-life-master-bedrooms.html   - please go check out her blog for lots of other master bedroom links! I absolutely love looking at peoples homes - I enjoy seeing where they live and their design style. I get so excited at night when I'm driving and I can see into someones house! ha I promise I'm not a stalker! lol

 I really love my head board - I had looked and looked for something similar and could never find anything - but then I came across this outdoor folding wall hanging thing and I knew it would work perfect! So I had the headboard and footboard sawed off my bed to where it was just the base, hung the new screen on the wall and pushed my bed up against it and there you have a new headboard that I love!

You may notice in the picture above that I had a lamp on this table instead of this tree - the picture above was taken a few weeks ago - I now have this tree :) My mom made a bunch of these for my sisters wedding and I snagged one up right after the reception ha!

This is the view from my bathroom doorway - I would like to do something with that wall but not sure what - I am also not a huige fan of that bookcase. The door in the picture goes to my closet witch is the entire length of that wall! I would show a pic - but um its really messy...

This is across from my bed - to the right is my door. I LOVE this couch - its so comfy - This is where I do alot of reading. The collage of pictures is a work in progress - so far I have pictures of my grandpa's hands - there is something about peoples hands that I love. My grandpa's hands represent so many different things to me - I would eventually like to have a wall of photos that represent different people or things in my life that are extra special to me.

I thought I would throw in a pic of my master bathroom since it is attached to my bedroom - Its hard to tell because of the lighting but the walls are yellow, with lots of browns, deep reds and greens as accents colors.

Thanks for visiting - hope to see you again soon!

-Stephanie