Monday, December 31, 2012

Best of 2012

Here are just a few blessings of 2012!!  Can't wait to see what happens in 2013!!
Happy New Year! :) :)

1. Was baptized by my husband on Easter Sunday
2. My husband and I became members of our church home
3. Got a tatoo
4. Was the maid of honor in my sisters wedding 
5. Threw a surprise birthday party for my mother in law
6. Watched my sister graduate from college
7. Started singing with the praise team at church
8. Joined a bible study group on Wednesday nights
9. Hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner
10. Passed my Occupational Therapy License Exam
11. Saw the Radio City Rockettes
12. Visited Jon's Papa in Marshall, Texas
13. Gained a closer friendship with a special person
14. Started babysitting for two sweet families
15. Got my dream job at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas
16. Celebrated one year of marriage with my Husband :) 

I hope everyone had an amazing year! Have fun tonight and be safe! :) Happy New Year Friends!

Here are a few of my favorite posts from 2012!!

* Fabric Button Earrings
* God is my Anchor
*Finding Comfort in Him
*Bucket List
*DIY Engagement Picture Coasters
*Confident Heart
*Facing the Giant
*My Secret Addiction
*Oreo Pops
*Sending Sunshine Your Way

Friday, December 28, 2012


I'm a little late, but I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!! :)

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Thrifty Christmas Treasures

It's time for another Thrifty Treasure post! Hunting for Christmas treasures is by far my favorite when it comes to thrifting! Many of these treasures were found last year when I was in Florida for a period of time. Goodwill usually starts putting out their Christmas items right before Halloween, so get there fast and go often!


 I love this LENOX ornament! I found this last week at Goodwill for only 50 cents! I couldn't believe it!! It looked like someone had picked it up and then put it back down! I, of course, snatched it up!

This is a "LI BIEN" Ornament I found at a thrift store in Florida. I bought it for $3! I have a few more of these ornaments on the tree that were given to me.


I found this beautiful sled at a Goodwill in Florida for only $3 and I just had to have it! There are so many things I can do with it! I think next year I'm going to wrap little presents to put inside!


I love milk glass vases and I have 7 now and neither of them were purchased for over a $1. I went to an antique store over the weekend and they were selling them for $6 a piece! I have them all over the house like this and some have flowers.




I had mentioned in my Christmas Mantel Reveal post that my mantel decor only cost me $13 dollars this year! Well the only thing I bought this year was actually the pre-lit garland you see on the mantel from Walmart.


This is one of my most favorites! My mom found this at a Thrift Store in Houston a few years ago.









These Christmas place settings were found at a Goodwill in Florida. The dishes didn't cost more than $2 a piece. In the picture I matched the salad plate to the dinner plate, but I also like mixing them up! I found the red place mats at the Dollar Store and the pre-lit garland came from Walmart!

When the Christmas plates aren't being used, I display them on my gold plate stand I found for $2.


 These were shown to you in a previous thrifty treasure post and this is what I did with them....


The tree was a find from last year at Goodwill too!!



 This is on my coffee/tea bar which is now temporarily my hot chocolate bar!! You can see my post about the other thrifty treasures in this photo here!!




Aren't these penguin salt and pepper shakers the cutest!! I found these at Goodwill along with the candle holder that matched the napkin holder I already had!!

There is a look at my Christmas Thrifty Treasures!! I hope you have a great day and good luck with your finds!! Remember, going often is the key!!

Kristen :)








Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Pinspiration: Christmas Wish List Edition

Come October, my mom always asked us for our Christmas List growing up! She liked to get her shopping done early and I can't say I blame her! I'm sure I will be the same way when I have kids. Here is my pretend Christmas list, Pinterest edition!



Dooney and Bourke
Tory Burch
David Yurman
Corgi love

Kate Spade
t
This is beautiful! I wouldn't have a place to wear it though!
Source: stylemetv.com via Aki on Pinterest
Sailboat
Perfect!

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Christmas Mantel

I can FINALLY say that my Christmas mantel is complete and I only spent $13! I have loans to pay off and I just couldn't see spending a lot on Christmas decorations this year. So...here it is...





I just made the flowers out of some scrap fabric I had and glued them on! I also used the same burlap garland I made for my Fall Mantel!!
Sorry about the upside down picture! I can't flip it for some reason!! Anyway, this is what the wreath used to look like that is above the fireplace! I believe it needed a makeover!


I flipped the red sign over and painted wooden letters I already had. I also ripped some things off I didn't like and added the 3 silver wrapped presents! 

Don't forget to stop by Thursday to see all of my Christmas thrifty treasures! There might be some in these pics ;)  Have a great day!

Friday, December 7, 2012

High Five for Friday!

Link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for High Five for Friday!
Photobucket
I had a pretty exciting week that went by way too fast!!

1. I had two interviews this week!! One of the hospitals I interviewed at has been a dream of mine to work at since I moved to Dallas! Eeek! I don't want to tell you in fear of jink-sing it! LOL, silly I know ;)

2. Had a few babysitting jobs this week! I love these little kids!

3. My husband and I spent all day Tuesday in Ft. Worth. We first went to observe an auction that was going on that we would like to partiicpate in the future and then walked around Sundance Square. We also walked around the Stockyards and ate at Cattleman's Steak House!

4. I received a "Congratulations" card in the mail this week from some of the Texas Blogger Gals! There was a meet up last weekend that I could not go to, but they all signed a card for me! It meant the world! :)
5. We finally got all the Christmas decorations out! I will have my Christmas Mantel Reveal sometime next week!! :) I love it and can't stop looking at it!

Hope all of you had a great week! Enjoy your weekend :)

-Kristen

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

It's InstaTuesday!!

 I have been a little MIA lately and I have missed participating in one of my favorite linkups!! This is what I have been up to lately through pictures!! You can find me at Kris10_favoritethingsblog on instagram if you would like to follow along!


The weather has been beautiful here in Texas! We were all just hanging out on the back patio!

Every Sunday for the last month and a half we have gone to McDonald's around 530 AM to have breakfast together before he goes into work for a few hours before church! I love their apple cinnamon oatmeal!



Making Thanksgiving centerpieces! 



Jon and I on Thanksgiving!

My sister in law, Caity!! We were totally wearing the same shirt!!
My family and I went to Dickens of a Christmas in Downtown McKinney!
It's beginning to look like Christmas at the McKee's!!

Went to see the Radio City Rocketts with Jon's family!!
The beautiful sunrise on the way to Canton with my mother in law and sister in law and the day I found out I passed my exam!!
Blog post from Monday! It was an exciting one to write!
This picture is going on our Christmas Card this year!!
My interview outfit yesterday!!
Hope everyone has a great day!! -Kristen

Monday, December 3, 2012

Facing The Giant



As some of you may know from Friday's post, It's Official!!, I have passed my board exam for Occupational Therapy! It has been a long journey, but worth it! Some of you have read about my struggle with this test from my post, Confident Heart. 

To give you a brief over view, I graduated with my Master's Degree last December and have sat for the exam five different times, failing four of the times and once "failing" it by one point. I have struggled with test taking anxiety all of my life. After months of studying, I finally took many of my friends and family members advice in seeing a doctor. I was against taking anti-anxiety medicine (I don’t see anything wrong with anxiety meds if you need it, but I just felt very conflicted about it), but I went to the doctor anyway and to make a long story short, my blood work came back and I have HYPOTHYROIDISM. TA-DA! That explains all of it!! For the past several months I have been feeling anxious, depressed, sluggish, moody, having no appetite, and experiencing weight gain and I literally thought I was going crazy! The doctor immediately put me on medication for it because two days later I was scheduled to take the exam. When exam day came, I felt like “me” again. There was no extreme heart pounding in my chest, sweaty palms, and negative thoughts. I was confident and believing in myself again! Once I completed the four hour exam, I went home and “tried” to forget about it for the long, agonizing two weeks to get the results! The first week went by quickly since my family came into town for almost a week to celebrate Thanksgiving, but once they left, it became really hard. 

Here are a few of my favorite scripture verses I read to stay in close communication with God.
 
- "I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born." Isaiah 66:9
- "Do not fear, I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
- "Any my God with supply all [my] needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:19
- "Don't be worried and bothered by so many things; they don't matter. Instead listen to what God is telling you." Luke 10:38-42
- "We exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perserverance and perserverance, proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:3-5
- "For I am the Lord your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13
- "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28
 
I am not saying that my thyroid was the complete reason why I didn’t pass the first four times, but I think it played a big part. I do fully believe God brought me through this! I relied more on God during this time of my life than I ever have before and I feel it taught me so much about Him and myself. I now have a much great relationship with God and thank Him for all the lessons I have learned through this journey in my life! I can’t wait to see what else he has in store for me! 

I also can’t go without thanking my family and friends! You never gave up on me and continued to encourage me to keep going! And my husband Jon, he has been a great supporter through it all! He supported me in moving to Florida to complete an internship of my dreams after we first got married and when the days came when I wanted to give up and come back home to him, he would push me to just keep going! He was there through the tears, mood swings and the days that I just wanted to give up! I love you JON! 

I can’t wait to start working with the gifts God has blessed me with! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful day and remember to always have faith in yourself!
-Kristen

Friday, November 30, 2012

It's Official!!!

I am an OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST!!!!! I PASSED my exam!!!!!! I am super excited!! This is one of the main reasons I have taken a break from blogging. It has been a very long journey to this point, but it has been worth it! I have missed all of my blogging friends and look forward to catching up on your blogs soon. So many of you have encouraged me through this journey the last several months and I thank you all so much! Never give up on your dreams and always believe in yourself!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!!!
-Kristen

      I just love this!!!