Home for the Holidays

Well we have had a wonderful Christmas. I got lots of great presents & I am sad it's over already. Wonderful food, family, friends and great times. Let me preface the fact that there are a lot of pictures here, I didn't put all of them up but here are some cute ones..

My best friend Kali. A bunch of my old highschool buddies & I went out for dinner on Tuesday night. I love you Kali & miss you so much!! Don't get mad, I know this is a bad picture of both of us!

Jack, Maggie & I...

My Mom got me this platter. One of the best presents I have to say. My alma mater! I can't wait to use it!

Maggie, Paul, and Aunt Ann..(Below)

Nana & I...I love you Nana & miss you so much!

Mil & Paul and myself. Aren't they so cute!

Dad & Wade....

Mags & Dixie. Dixie loves being at home with all of the Whitfield family during the holidays....

Mom & I...I love both my parents so much! I love you guys!

I'm getting old

Gosh, I'm getting old! I turned 25 yesterday. I enjoyed turning 21, 22, & even 23 but now I just feel old to say the least. One of my best friends, Brittany, has a birthday on the 15th & since mine is the 14th we decided to have a joint party together. It was a long night to say the least. We started the pre-party around 4pm on Saturday at my house & after dinner we hit up the bars. We had a great time! Here are a couple pictures, my other girlfriends have much better pictures, I will have to wait until they upload those on facebook to post. Mine are pretty rough!

My favorite Kentucky boys, Craig & Tim...

Brittany, Natalie & I...


Libby Lou Who...Melissa brought her over during the pre-party. She & Dixie had a blast playing together!

Tim & I...This picture is pretty rough, a long night but so fun!

Another Picture..

One of my best friends down here, Melissa, is a photographer so she took some pictures on Tuesday night. They were great but I looked awful in most of them! My hair is so dead it's driving me crazy!! Anyway, here is one of the spread. All her photos are up on facebook but I wanted to share. Here's another picture of the spread....

Courtesy: Melissa Prosser Photography

Christmas Cookie Swap

Last night I hosted a cookie swap for all my girlfriends. It was fabulous & we had a wonderful time! We had such good food & the cookies were great too. I ended up taking a half day at work yesterday because I have so much PTO time left. I was able to make another batch of cookies (I made Peanut Butter Kisses cookies) for the party and another batch for our Vet office. I know they will enjoy having some yummy cookies! They turned out quite well as you can see below.

The recipe made a ton of cookies...

Dixie really enjoyed everyone being over as well..She took out all of her toys in her toy box to take around to everyone.

Natalie, Brittany, Lauren & Kristi

Lauren made fondue--it was so yummy!

The spread....

Christin's cookie's are the candy canes. They were so adorable & delicious!

Natalie's sugar cookies were decorated so cute!

On a side note, here is my Christmas tree in my bedroom. Isn't it cute?

Help Murphy the Shepherd

Yesterday one of my friends at work, Kim, asked me if I had heard the news about the shepherd that was brutally beaten by a sledgehammer. I had not and when I turned the news on last night I saw the story. It literally made me sick. The animal abuser, Joseph Waters (48), beat Murphy with a sledgehammer to the point of death & left him in a park here in Atlanta. A passerby, Robert Kennedy was walking his dog when he found poor Murphy near death and took the sweet baby into VCA Pets Are People Too Veterinary Hospital.

I read this morning that Murphy made it through surgery & is recovering slowly. Dr. Stephen Pope said that Murphy may not suffer permanent brain damage and even though he lost his left eye, he is hopeful about his recovery. The sadistic individual who did this is in court today facing felony charges for animal cruelty.

I immediately sent in an article to the paper about this individual. I've never seen so many animal abusers in this city! It's horrifying! I cannot wait to get back in school so that I can help fight animal cruelty.

If you are interested in donating to Murphy's recovery you can contact the Vet Hospital at (770) 452-1001. Here is a link to the slide show of Murphy's progress.

Thankfully Kennedy found Murphy in time..

Great Thanksgiving, Busy It's the Holidays..

Well I just realized that I have not made a post since we went home to Kentucky for Thanksgiving. I took the entire week of Thanksgiving off since I have a surplus of PTO days. I had a great time visiting with my family & seeing old college friends! I also headed to Louisville to see one of my favorite aunts, Mary Leslie. We had a great time catching up!

It's still hard to believe that little Miss Maggie is a SENIOR this year & will be graduating in May. I enjoyed raiding her closet & she enjoyed going through my suitcase as well. Dixie enjoyed being home with her canine cousins & chasing Casey our cat. Poor Casey was constantly running away from Dixie who kept trying to befriend her! It was sad to leave on Sunday but I missed Lily & Daisy so I was happy to get home to my girls.

I feel like December is flying by already, there is just so much to do. Between tests, parties & birthdays I have so much to do. I am very excited about giving our veterinarian her Christmas gift next week when I have to take Lily in for her annual checkup. I ordered Dr. Abercrombie a mug from Louisville Stoneware (it's a Kentucky tradition & I love love love their patterns. I'm still collecting the Bachelor's Button pattern) that reads the following: on the front it says "Our Favorite Vet" and on the back it lists her name. It's so cute & I really think she will like it.

Next week I'm hosting a Cookie Swap for all my girlfriends, so I've got so much to do for that and I've also got to put my Christmas tree up soon but I think I'm going to wait until Sunday afternoon. Lily & Daisy love to climb the tree & swat at the ornaments. So I usually end up taking all the ornaments off because they break when they fall. The tree starts off decorated beautifully but then I have to take everything off. The girls think the tree is a great big toy!

Plus, I've got to head to Athens at some point next week to get Jack's Columbia UGA jacket that he's requested. Okay isn't Mom's tree in the living room pretty? I wish mine could stay looking like that. I'm not going to bore you with all my pictures, so here's Mom's tree. Haha....

Dixie enjoying a sleepy afternoon..

I'd love it if mine could stay looking like this.