Best of 2011

So we've been off in Christmas Wonderland for the past few weeks. We shopped (me online, of course), wrapped, drank lots and lots of hot chocolate, baked cookies, and visited the relatives for two wonderful Christmases. We truly are blessed by the Lord and or families. Special thanks to my sister and brother and their chauffeur Drew ;) for driving in to make a Kingsley Christmas on New Year's weekend possible, and to my brother of course for Skyping in even though he was out of town.

This weekend I went down memory lane while cleaning out my childhood bedroom of all the stuff I've collected over the year... movie tickets, school notebooks from every class I've ever taken, and the likes.

So I figured we'd take a recap of the blog this past year (because I'm still figuring out my MY favorite moments of the year were). We had visitors from mostly the US, but also Brazil quote frequently (Hello Brazil!), Dominica, Canada, and the UK.

Our Top Five Cities for Visitors in 2011:
1. Shreveport
2. Lake Charles
3. Baton Rouge
4. Dallas
5. Lindale
Probably not a coincidence that most of these are places I've lived. And don't worry, I can't actually see who's reading, it's not that creepy. Feel free, read as much as you like.

I also looked back to see which post were the most popular, most visited this year, and hopefully your favorites. Interesting really.

So here they are the Top Five Hint of Hess blog posts of 2011.

Number Five:
Colorado-ness in June
Where we finally got some pics and posts up from our wonderful summer home at Sky Ranch Ute Trail in Colorado. Oh how we love Colorado!

Number Four:
Wedding Wedding! in July
It's just fun to read and write about weddings. This one here was about Kyle's sister's wedding and the party we had that weekend celebrating!

Number Three:
Buying the Hess House! in August
Which is when we announced the beginning of our hunt for a new home. Oh was that an adventure!

Number Two:
Valentine's Extravaganza in February
As we spilled the details of our incredible fun and incredible wife-y Valentine's Day dinner that me and my friends Becca, Jenn, and Katie planned for our husbands. Those boys showed up in style too!

And finally Number One:
Summer List of Wonders in June
Probably because I talked about it so much. Maybe this next summer we'll tackle a few more after the thesis is done... Until then I'm sure we'll come up with a few New Year's resolutions or something...

PS - Completed that goal... met my new niece Kinsey, twice actually!

So,

I've got a few things up my sleeve for 2012. Watch out, lol. What about you? What were your favorite moments of 2011, or you're favorite posts on the blog??

Cookies!

So I love cookies. Making them and eating them and eating them and even, eating them.

We had a few friends over this weekend for our Christmas season cookie decorating. I somehow forgot to take pictures of the actual people, but lucky you I snagged some pictures of the cookies.

{Robert Rund}

{Madison O'Connor}

And then as we all snuggled in for a viewing of the Santa Clause... the fire alarm went off. Smoky haze all in the back room and kitchen and then we found these. In the oven.

Funny how hard it is to see smoke in the dark, or even smell it when you're not paying attention... or when you set the 6 minutes on the timer but forget to press the start button.

No damage to the house. We're airing out the smell. And the pan survived without a scratch.

Merry Christmas. Now go bake some cookies... the gingerbread cookie mix goes fast on the supermarket shelves!

Buffet Table of my Dreams

Literally, the buffet of my dreams. (Not the Golden Corral kind, like the furniture kind.)

Like I literally dream about the furniture I want to buy/find/make.

And I've been thinking about our really large wall in the living room. With the placement of the couches and TV and the shape of the room... it leaves a large flat blank wall.

I wanna put a buffet on one side to give that a little 'area' and then a photo collage wall on the other side to break it up. Some new frames from Black Friday and some old frames from garage sale Saturdays... I'm thinking frames like these? (Ignore the table and chairs.)

{320 Sycamore Blog}

But I'm getting carried away... back to the furniture.

So when I sketched this wall in my head, and on paper I always come back to the banquet table.

So this morning we headed out to the garage sales as every other normal Saturday morning. We headed down a very very long windy country road. We stepped out of the truck and I saw it! I could not take my eyes off of it. This was the one.

It came as a "set" which means usually that you have to buy all the pieces and the seller won't let you take just one. So we bought the buffet, the side table thing, and a daybed headboard, frame, and never been slept on still in the wrapper mattress.

For a steal, really! Thank goodness for the small decorating fund I had set aside... because how else do you buy yourself furniture during Christmas?!

So here it is. I love the solid wood, I love the door, I love the hardware and the color and the distressing and the fact that it is actually on hidden wheels...All ready to go, actually on the wall right behind it. (Where the desk currently is because of the Christmas tree asking us if it could stand in the desk's place for the month.)

My only recommendation. Go to a Garage sale sometime soon. It's wonderful.

More to come on getting this thing into place and all setup, oh and that office area I was talking about that'll have to wait til after Christmas...

Santa's in Lindale.

Who knew that Santa made appearances in Lindale on random Monday nights in December?

Who knew that he'd be parked in our front yard?

We didn't.

We heard a siren and Christmas tunes blaring from a truck that was announcing, "Come students, kids! Santa is here! Mobile Santa is Here!"

...so that's what the pre-printed sign that says "Santa Stops Here," was talking about.

...secretly wish we had kids so we could go over and check it out. Who knows what we'd find in there...?

#loveoursmalltown

Note: I did some research, and it's a great ministry! Check it out here!