ba-humbug

I've been feeling a little scrooge-y lately. Not that I haven't enjoyed crafting for Christmas and thinking of fun gifts to give my friends & family (and coming up with items I want to add to my list too), but I just haven't really been looking forward to actual Christmas.

Why, you ask?

Because we run around like crazy people on Christmas day.

We jump back and forth from family to family, fitting in breakfast at one set of parents' house, lunch with my Mema, dinner here, presents there... it is exhausting.

But then I remind myself... what an amazing "problem" to have.

We might have to pull our little man away from his fresh toys that he is so excited to open mere minutes after he has unwrapped them so we can hit the road to make sure we spend an equal amount with both sides of the family, leaving our house around 7am and getting home around 9pm. But at least we have family to visit.

We are surrounded by so much love and are so gracious to live within 20 minutes of our family.

We both have both of our parents.

We have grandparents, we might not have a full set between us, but we love the ones we have.

We have cousins, man do we have cousins.

I have no reason to be a scrooge, grinch, or cranky person.

What a blessing to have this "problem".

lit rag garland (aka most time-consuming craft, ever)

I saw a cute burlap and red "rag" garland on Pinterest from this blog and decided I had to make one this year since I am re-doing my Christmas decorations.

via

...however I did not realize how time consuming and long it would take to make! Sure, I chose an extra long string of lights since I am going to use it on my tree and yes I am OCD and therefore measured out each little rag I cut, but still woof did it take forever. But, I am so pleased with how it turned out!

2.5 yards of red fabric

2.5 yards of burlap

scissors

string of lights

patience

1. If you are like me and are more than a little obsessive about things being all the same lengths and widths, measure out how long and wide you want your strips. I decided I wanted mine to be 3.75 inches thick and about 8 inches long (there's a that's what she said in there somewhere). So I got to cutting. 

2. Once I cut my rags (I cut a TON, the picture above is from just the first strip of fabric), I started tying them onto my string of lights. I alternated the colors as I went and would stop every once in awhile to cut some more so it wouldn't get so boring.

side effect of using burlap? Your pants and couch and everything else around you gets covered in little frayed pieces

3. Plug in your garland and enjoy the effect! I plan on putting mine on my Christmas tree, but I think they would be gorgeous elsewhere too!

I dip, you dip, we dip.

I love to shake my booty (and also wiggle, grind and all those other fun "dance" verbs). And there are days when I ponder what it would be like to dress up in my slutty best and go downtown to shake it like I just don't care. But now most dancing I get to do is limited to good wedding receptions or bachelorette parties. I am usually the bridesmaid that can't be found for important things like pictures and such because she is wiggling too hard on the dance floor. Exhibit A:

Or sometimes the bride who has barely noticed that her flowers (and guests) are wilting in the 102 degree heat because she is busy expressing herself on the dance floor... even with a knee brace.  

by Fresh Photography

Thankfully, I enjoy finding an excuse to dance. Good tailgate music, spontaneous concerts in the living room with Sawyer, and even "hey we *insert some sort of task here* let's go celebrate that we survived that" girls nights (which totally needs to happen soon). 

also, apparently my  signature "dance face" involves my mouth being wide open....

Which makes me wonder, where did this love for grooving come from? Maybe middle school dances when I realized, oh hey, I got rhythm.  My favorite song of choice to dance to in middle school?

If me and my friends only realized how dirty this song was back then....

I am linking up for #backthatazzup Friday!