Christmas was a Success

The Miller's had a really great Christmas this year. The weekend before Christmas Max came to visit. We exchanged gifts and he got me DIAMOND earrings!! Yes I could hardly believe it. We also went and saw the "Magic Tree" in Columbia. These pictures don't even do it justice. It is a tree covered in LED lights and they also change colors. It was really awesome to see in person.

I know I've posted about a Cooler I made for my brother and now I can finally post pictures for it. I hand painted the whole thing and it turned out a lot better than I expected.

Front

 Back

Sides

Shh It's a Secret

So I know I have said I'm painting my brother a cooler for Christmas and I've really been wanting to put up photos of it butttttt I was afraid he would find out.
I painted the top part of this weekend and am just way too thrilled with how it turned out so I have to show you.

Shhhhhh now keep it a secret because I don't think he gets on this and I don't want him to find out.

It's beginning to feel and look like Christmas

I can tell the Holiday are near because I have been very busy getting everything done. First of all I put up my Christmas Tree and hung up some decorations on the mirror in the kitchen.

Max's fraternity has a Christmas party and at their dinner they announce who their Sweetheart is. I can't believe it but it was ME!! They gave me roses and all got down on one knee and sang to me. It was one of the coolest things ever! I am completely honored that they would choose me.

I have actually been doing a lot of crafting recently but since they are Christmas gift I can't post them yet :(
Sorry, but I will tell you I am painting my brother a cooler for Christmas. It has turned out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be but I think he is going to be completely thrilled with it. I'll post it after Christmas when I give it to him.

November is almost Over

My Thanksgiving was absolutely great!
I took off work a few hours early on Wednesday and went home. Then on Thanksgiving day I went with my family to Springfield, IL to celebrate with family.
Thursday night my mother and I did the unthinkable. We went black friday shopping! We just went to Target and I have to say I was pretty impressed with how smooth it all went. Target had it all down to a science and knew what they were doing.
After getting home late I had to turn around and get up early on Friday morning to drive to Arkansas. I spent the weekend with Max and his family. I went deer hunting (just for a few minutes, too cold and boring), bottle fed baby calves (wish I would have gotten a picture), went bowling, and had a huge bonfire. It was a pretty great weekend.

Now it's time for Christmas decorating. I haven't gotten my tree up at my apt yet, that will come soon. But I brought my Charlie Brown Christmas tree to work and drew some "lights" on my white board.

Linus Van Pelt: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.

Giving Thanks 15, 16, 17, & 18

15. Thankful for the beautiful fall weather

The weather has been one thing this year...crazy. The Summer started off with 100 degree weather in May but then we would have 80 degree days. The fall has kinda been the same way. It went from being a high of 40 to 70. This weekend it was in the high 60's and the weather was beatiful. I got to spend some time outside and soak in some sun.

16. Thankful for my Job

I know I already posted about this but I really am thankful for it. There are so many companies that are struggling with the recession and 18,000 people are about to lose their jobs with Hostess shutting down right before the holidays. I'm thankful that I don't have to worry about this. It may be hard to get up and come to work everyday and sometimes it's very stressful but at least I have a paying job that I enjoy coming to.

17.Thankful for New Friends

I'm thankful for all the new friends I have made over the last year and a half. When I started dating Max I got to know a lot of his friends. Some of his friends that are girls have become some of my really good friends. I'm thankful that I had the oppportunity to meet them and become so close. It's great that we can hang out all together. One of his friends even lives in Columbia and I usually end up meeting up with her like once a month to catch up.

18. Thankful for 20 months.

Yesterday Max and I celebrated our 20 month anniversary. I know it doesn't seem like much but it's pretty nice when we are actually together on the 18th of the month. I'm also thankful for long breaks because Max came for the whole weekend and didn't leave until this morning. We had a really lazy weekend that involved a whole lot of nothing and it was perfect. Yesterday he made tacos for dinner and we had ice cream afterwards. We went golfing and by that I mean played 2 holes before we lost all the golf balls and Max carried the pink clubs.

I know it doesn't seem like much but it really is the little things that add up. I'm thankful to have had Max in my life for 20 months and I can't wait for the many months ahead.

Giving Thanks 12, 13, & 14

12.  Thankful for my brother, Clark

Clark and I used to not see eye to eye at all. That has DRASTICALLY changed since August. He started going to the college I went to, Missouri S&T and joined a fraternity Kappa Alpha Order.

KA was one of the fraternity's I always hung out at in college and became really good friends with the guys. I'm completely honored that he chose the school I went to as well as joined one of my favorite fraternities. He recently got initiated and got Honor Pledge which is like number 1 in his pledge class. That's a huge honor for him. My family and I went down this past weekend for family weekend and spent some time with him.  I'm thankful that the only brother I have and I now get along. I'm thankful that he has really turned his life around and has a very bright future ahead.

13. Thankful for my new hobby, Painting

I have really gotten into painting over the last year. And when I say painting I mean like buying something and painting it, not drawing and painting.

I've posted quite a few paint projects on my blog and I have a few coming up. I painted some shoes and mode podged them with glitter, don't worry I'll blog it later. I'm painting my brother a color for Christmas. I think this project is really going to test my patience because it's turned out to be very time consuming but it should look awesome in the end. I'll post it once I'm done.

14. Thankful for Online shopping

Thanks to be able to shop online I have gotten a good portion of my Christmas shopping already done. I don't have to worry about fighting crowds at stores or shopping around for the best deals. I've been able to do it all online and for that I'm thankful.

Giving Thanks 8, 9, 10, & 11

These are starting to be hard to keep up with.

8. Thankful that I like to bake. I have to admit I am a sucker for any kind of sweet. I have really gotten into cooking and baking recently. I find a 1,000 recipes on pinterest that look amazing and every once in a while I try a few.
I decided to make so very easy sweets to take with me to Rolla this weekend. It's like a chocolate covered pretzel but with about 1/4 the work.

You need hugs (hershey kisses) and the square pretzels.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Place the pretzels spread out on a pan.
Unwrap a kiss and put one on each pretzel.
Place the pan in the oven for 2 minutes, yes only 2 minutes.
Take the pan out and let it sit for 1 minute.
Then take another pretzel and put it on top.

They may not look the prettiest but they sure are good.


9. Thankful for being healthy. I think too many people take for granted their health. If you are healthy everyday it's easy to forget how valued that should be. I'm thankful that I am healthy. I rarely visit the doctor except for allergies.

10. Thankful for the beautiful weather. It was 74 degrees on Saturday which is very uncommon for November. I even had to break out a pair of short. It was family weekend at KA so my parents were in Rolla and so was I. We spent our Saturday afternoon at the winery. They have this really nice patio by the vineyard out in the country. It was a great way to spend some time with my family and friends.

11. Thankful for my apartment. I really lucked out when it came to finding a place to live in Columbia on short notice. I have a roommate but we are hardly ever there at the same time, so it's kinda like I live by myself for half the price. I'm thankful I can afford to live in the nice apartment that I do. I live on a golf course (even though I don't golf) and there is a pool right outside my door.

Giving Thanks 6 and 7

6. I'm thankful for having Freedom

I'm thankful for the fact that I can vote and be free in this country. It's a priviledge many people in the World don't have. I'm glad I can speak my mind and not get in trouble. (If you've seen my Twitter lately I've been speaking my mind A LOT)

7. I'm thankful for my Lake House

I have so many childhood memories that involve the lake. I think I was born a Lake Baby. My parents took me right after I was born! I remember going for over a week at a time in June, July, and August. We have some great family friends who always join us each year. I'm thankful that I have a lake house that has created some amazing memories with some great lifelong friends.

I can't ever pick a favorite time or weekend at the lake so I will tell you about a few of them.

I love that every year in July the Downey's come to visit. They have a son my age and another son my brother's age. They are so much fun and it's nice to see them every year.

I also love that we have started a tradition of going every Labor Day Weekend. My parent's come down and I bring my friends. The best part is my friends have also made it a tradition to come every year and look forward to it. It's a great way to end the Summer. I love that my brother took part in the tradition this year and will carry it on with his friends. The karaoke may not always be good but its promised for great entertainment.

This year I got the priviledge of going for a weekend in March for fishing. The lake is a whole different world in the Spring but the fishing was awesome!

King me!

Giving Thanks 5

5. My new car

Just a few weeks ago I posted about how I was looking for a new car and then later I posted the new car that I got.
Well ladies and gentlemen we are on to Car Number 16!

It's a 2005 Mercury Mariner. The last few cars I had were small SUVs. Then when I got the Civic I thought I would like it but turns out not so much. It had a bad smoke small and I just really missed driving an SUV.

So I went home this weekend and came back with this....and the best part is I got money back. I don't know how my dad does these things but I like it!

I did splurge a bit and put a really nice bluetooth radio in it. It also allows me to answer my phone and talk through the radio system.

So for the 5th of November I'm thankful for my new car. That will keep me safer in the snow and ice this Winter, help me travel to see my friends and family, and gets me to and from work.

Giving Thanks 3 &4

3. My Best Friend Ashley

Everyone has a best friend that as soon as you meet them you know you are going to be best friends for Life. I know it sounds cheesy but think about it, it's true. I met mine 4 years ago when I moved into my dorm room at Rolla. She was my suite mate and little did I know them the absolutely crazy fun times we were going to have together. We are so much alike but then so different. We can finish each other sentences which just gets weird to our other friends. She gives my boyfriend just as much crap as I do and it's hilarious. She is pretty much another child in my parent's eyes.

I'm thankful for having Ashley as a best friend because she has always been there for me no matter what. She can be states away and we still manage to text or talk almost every day. She is about graduate from college and I don't think I could be more excited for her. I know we probably won't end up in the same town or even state but also know that won't change anything.

4. My boyfriend Max

We started dating a year and a half ago. If there is one thing I have learned in this relationship it's to value the time you have together. We were officially dating for a little over a month when I graduated from college and ever since then we have been making it work long distance. It's more like short distance because we aren't that far away but we aren't in the same town so it counts.

He is always supporting me and encouraging me. He puts up with my family and friends. He gives me just as much of a hard time as I give him.

Even though we don't agree on baseball teams I couldn't be happier to have him in my life.

Giving Thanks 1 & 2

I've decided to post things I am Thankful for this Month. A lot of people are doing it on Facebook and instead of doing it on Facebook I've decided to do it here:

1. I'm thankful for my Job

I honestly do love my job and the people I work with. I get along with coworkers and boss great. Although I worker in a little bit of a larger company it doesn't feel that way at all. People are always saying hi and will chat with you even if they don't know you. I've been working here for a year and have come to know quite a few people.

2. I'm thankful for my Goofball parents.

The older I get the more I think my parents have become like friends because I don't feel they have as much parenting to do since I'm on my own. They are the greatest support system for anything and everything I do. They are so welcoming towards my friends who just become part of the family. They both crack me up constantly with the things they say and do. Now that they have an empty nest they have become quite the travelers and busy bodies.
I swear my dad is the happiest retired person there is. He gets to buy and sell cars whenever he wants. He got to spend a good portion of his Summer and the lake (who wouldn't love that). He plays cards with his friends.  My mom works but don't let that fool you. She is always having Bunco parties with her friends or visiting family. But she is also very compassionate about Breast Cancer Awareness and does so much year around to spread the word and give back.
My parents are my idols and 2 people I really look up to. I really do hope to be more like that them as I grow up.

Why did the Chicken cross the road?

It doesn't matter because my Aunt Cris doesn't want them crossing roads.
My aunt made a request to me a while back about making a sign for her.
She doesn't eat chicken so of course the slogan on the sign was appropriate for her.
I started off by buying a wood plank from Michaels. I think it was around $7. I painted it black.

I then printed off the slogan on a piece of computer paper. I taped the paper edges to the wood and started to trace.

I had to actually trace the letters kind of hard so the imprint would show up on the black board.

Once I was done tracing (which seemed to take forever), I painted the letters white.



I also need to make sure I document a craft project that my aunt HELPED with. They took maps from Denver and (hodge) modge podged them onto frames.

Car #15

Yes you read that header right. I just got a new car and it's my 15th car! I'm only 23. This is straight ridiculous but at the same time I don't mind it. Let me show you this new beauty...

It's a 2007 Honda Civic.
I drove a 2 door Honda Civic way back when (car 8) and loved it!
I'm really excited about this one. That may be because I actually paid for this one. This is the first car. I finally feel like an adult.

Painted Cooler

Painting coolers has become quite a trend, and considering how much I use my cooler I knew I had to paint mine. I read a lot of other blog posts about people painting their coolers and the do's and dont's.
I have a really cute pink cooler with a ribbon for breast cancer awareness on the front.

I started by sanding the top of my cooler really well. Then I drew on my design.
I traced a cup for the circle. Then took a stencil and drew on the letter A.

I free handed the zebra print. Once I had everything drawn on. I got out a paint pen and started painting. Since my cooler lid is white I just filled in the circle with black going around the lettter. Then painted the zebra stripes black.
I added 2 coats of paint. Then let that dry for an hour.
I then added 2 coats of mod podge letting each coat dry for an hour.

This is only the lid of my cooler. I plan on painting the whole thing.

Pink Pumpkin

October is one of my favorite months for 2 reasons.
It's breast cancer awareness month and this year it's a RED October, which means the Cardinals are still playing baseball!

Since my mom is such a huge believer in Breast Cancer Awareness because of her job I decided to make her something I saw on Pinterest that she can put in her office.

I bought a plastic craft pumpking, some pink ribbon stickers, and pink ribbon from Michaels.

I started by painting the pumpkin pink and the stem white.

Then added the ribbon down the sides of the pumpkin. Glued on the stickers with modge podge. Then mod podged the whole pumpkin to give it the glossy look.

I love the way it turned out and I think my mom will too!



Happy Fall

I have been in such a Fall mood lately. If there is one thing I love about Fall it's pumpkin everything...drink, food, deserts, decorations.
Every month we have a Goody day at work which is just where everyone brings a dish and we eat all day. With it now being fall I had to make something pumpkin so I turned to pinterest and found a dessert.
It's a pumpkin dip that turned out to be a hit! I got the recipe from here.....http://northcarolinacharm.blogspot.com/

This lady made it and put it in a carved pumpkin which looked really cute but I did not get the crafy with mine.

What you need:
15 oz can of pumpkin
5oz box of instant vanilla pudding
16oz container of cool whip
1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Mix all the powders together. Then add your pumpkin and cool whip.
Chill for an hour and serve with vanilla wafers, apple slices, or whatever your heart desires.

It's really good!
Other things I love about fall....

A lady at work brought homemade caramel apples....amazing

Pumpkin beer....they should make this year round

It's a Car obsession you wouldn't understand

For any of you who know my dad, you know how much of a wheeler and dealer he is. I have had more cars at the age of 23 than most people have their lifetime.

Well it's coming to the time to get a new car because mine is getting close to 150,000 miles and we sell cars before they hit 150,000 in the Miller household.

The only thing is I now live on my own so I don't have my dad to call me to the computer to tell me about a car he found for me. I have to do most of it on my own this time.

What I'm also realizing is that the saying "More money, More problems" is VERY true. Being the saver that I am and not having any student loans to pay off (Thanks parents!!) I have a decent amount of money saved up to purchase a car. The bad part, that gives me more options which means more decisions on choosing the right car for me. Ahhhh it's stressful.

Let's take a look back on all the cars that I have because somehow I seem to remember them all except the years of the cars. That was way to much to keep up with.

1) Black Nissan Altima
2) Black Ford Escort zx2
3) Red Ford Escort zx2
4) Silver Nissan Altima
5) Chrysler Sebring
6) Cream Nissan Altima
7) Cream Nissan Altima
8) Silver Honda Civic
9) Red Honda Accord
10) Black Honda Accord
11) White Toyota Rav4
12) Tan Toyota Rav4
13) White Jeep
14) White 2002 Toyota Rav4 - Current Vehicle

Yes, that is 14 cars in 7 years. Blame my dad, he has a problem. I wish I would have taken a picture with all my cars. That would make an interesting scrap book to look back on.

I'm thinking I might go back to more of the sports type of car because I'm still young and can get away with it. Plus it's just me so I don't have to worry about it being 4 door or anything. It also has to be a 4 cylindar because I drive way too much and gas prices would eat me alive if it didn't get good gas mileage.
So if you have any suggestions, let me know. Until then I'll try to pick up some of my dads car shopping habits and let you know what I end up with.

Picture Frames

Lately I've been making quite a few Birthday gifts for friends. I know I posted the zebra peace sign painting I made a while back. But another gift I made for the same friend was a picture frame.
I have recently become obsessed with these picture frames. They are just way too easy to use and you can do almost anything with them.
They are only $1 at michaels and come just plain. I have only painted them but I know there is so much more you can do. For this one I painted it gray. Then glued on some scrapbook stickers and added so sequince ribbon to the top and bottom and I have to say I love it.

 

Then I made another one for my desk at work. Since the Summer is ending I started to look back on how great my Summer really was. I have so many pictures that involve being at the lake or doing something at the lake. So of course I love this picture frame. I just painted the frame and painted on the letters.

With labor day just a few days away I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend, and of course I will be spending it at the lake!

My Stache

I know I posted a while back about wanting to make this jar and I finally did it. I have to say I am pretty impressed with the results considering how little effort this actually took.
I just bought a jar from Micheals. They have a TON of options.
Printed off a nice pattern online and taped it on the inside of the jar.



I then just took a black paint pen and started tracing my design on the outside of the glass. This was pretty easy and really only took one coat.

I ended up actually doing another design on the other side to make it a little more personal. Then the best part....fill the jar! I chose chocolate because you can never go wrong with chocolate!



A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

I've been so busy this Summer traveling anywhere and everywhere, but mostly to the lake of course.
I wanted to share some pictures from my Summer since I haven't done much crafting lately.

My dad invested in a Lily Pad. Is this not the coolest thing you have seen? You can fit a ton of people on it and won't sink. Probably the best thing that has made it's way to our lake house since the water trampoline of course.

My mom and her friends always have a Girl's Weekend at the lake. They rent a condo in Osage Beach. I had the opportunity to go this year since I am so close and had to work Saturday which meant I couldn't go far for the weekend. I had so much fun. The view was amazing, the pool olympics were hilarious, and the beer was cold.



I've been spending a lot of time in Arkansas over the Summer since my boyfriend actually has Saturday's off. That means one thing, we go out on the lake ALL day Saturday and most of the day Sunday. Needless to say I have had a very relaxing Summer so far.

One last picture to share, while driving to work this morning I was greeted with this. How awesome right? It's the little things in life that just make you smile.