New Christmas Decor

This year I got into the sewing spirit and made some fun stuff. I sewed the tree skirt and also these two stockings. The stockings still need some embellishment and tree skirt needs more fabric, but it was fun to make things which will be used for years to come.

Peacock Lane Adventure

I have been to Peacock lane once in my life and I was to young or to tired to remember it. So last Saturday night, Matthew and I went and faced the crowds. It was fun and the houses were decorated very nicely. The best house, however, was not found on Peacock lane. We saw it while wandering around in the neighborhood around Peacock lane. We took a picture to show everyone.

Matthew and I under the mistletoe

There was one sad event which happened while we were there. A young family was walking right in front of us. They had two little boys around 8 and 4. When we got to this house, the older boy pointed to the nativity and said, " Mommy, that isn't Christmas decorations. What is it doing here?" The mother didn't say anythings. How sad.

The best house not in Peacock lane. Notice it is decked out in multiple Nativity scenes!!!!

TRUFFLES!!!!

It has been a couple years, but we finally had some time to make and dip truffles this year. One of the doctors that I work with has three chocolate melting machines ( not the technical term). He gives us bar chocolate and we get to melt them down and mix it with cream and then add any type of flavor we want. Then we go over to his place and create them into beautiful and oh so yummy truffles!!! This year we did three flavors. Plain dark chocolate, Bailey's Irish cream, and peanut butter and chocolate. We had a blast and will plan on doing it next year. Anyone is welcome to dip at his house, so let me know if you are interested and I can get you some chocolate and set up a date for you to go dip!!!

Our peanut butter and chocolate balls before they are dipped

The finished product

Matthew

The chocolate melting machine!!!

Thumbs Up for Chocolate!!!

Happy Truffle dippers :-)

Athey Creek Ladies Christmas Dinner

The Ladies Christmas Dinner was a blast. Yummy food, great music, fellowship with friends and family and a great message from Judy Slaughter.

Michele and I

Me and my Mom

Lindsay and Michele

Schmitt Family Christmas Party 2009

Last Sunday the Schmitt Family ( My mom's side) got together for our annual Christmas Party and edible gift exchange. Everyone had a blast as usual. It was great seeing everyone!!!

Me and my lil' sis

Cousin Katy and her son Jacob, Ansu looking over her shoulder

Satta and the BIG cookie she made. She even decorated it to look like her. So cute!!!

Aunt Bonnie and Katy

BFF cousins

Sister pic. Becca and Katy

Cousin love (Nathan and Mindy)

Enjoying the delicious food!!!

Birthday Food!!!

I celebrated my 27th Birthday on December 8th. It was a wonderful day filled with time spent with family and of course, eating yummy food. I love Macaroni and Cheese with hotdogs. I have since I was a little kid. Matthew really isn't a fan, so since I haven't had it in a really long time, I decided to make it for my Birthday lunch. Boy was it scrumptious!!!

For dinner Matthew took me to Famous Dave's and I ordered a full rack of ribs and a root beer. Ribs has got to be in my top three favorite foods category. It was soooo good and I have officially decided that Famous Dave's is the best ribs place I have tried!!!

The Bench

This bench might look very ordinary but it has very special meaning to Matthew and I. I grew up in Portland a couple blocks away from Mt. Park. Matthew and I would walk up to the top of Mt. Park and sit on this bench and look out over the city of Portland. Mt. Park has a 360 degree view of the city. This bench has seen many first for us. Many conversations about life and love have been discussed while sitting on this bench. Our first kiss was on this bench and this is where my wonderful husband got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It had been a while since we visited our bench, so the other night we stopped on our way home from the OR Christmas Party. It was terribly cold up there so we shared a quick kiss and viewed the city and then headed back to the car. We love this bench!!!

Sitting on our bench

Operating room Christmas Party

Meridian Park Hospital Operating Room Staff Christmas Party was a blast this year. We went to the Lucky Labrador Pub in Multnomah Village and feasted on yummy pizza, salad and cake. We had a DJ and Karaoke and enjoyed hanging out with those I work with outside of work.

Me and my handsome man!!!

Antra, Jessica and Jess

The yummy cake :-)

Good friends Pete and Sherri

Wanna save some money?

My parents both recently become apart of a new company. The company is called ACN and they deal primarily with telecommunications. Their representatives work directly with the big name media companies and can ultimately get you a much better rate on the things you use everyday.
Here is a list of the companies they work with:

Verizon
Nextel
AT&T
Sprint
T-Mobile
Alltel
Direct TV
Dish Network
ADT

When your current contract is up or you decide you want to switch or add service, you can give my parents a call or shoot them an email and see how much money they can save you. The average family will usually save about $50.00 dollars a month just by using an ACN representative to get their service. I don't know about you, but $50 extra dollars in the bank is always a nice thing, especially in this economy.

Go ahead and check out how much money you could save by contacting my Mom.
Jean McGonigal
971-506-5413
jeanmcacn@aol.com
jeanmcgonigal.acnrep.com

New Home Projects

Well before work started this past Monday, there were a few projects I wanted to get done. My Mom came over and helped me complete my couch project and we were also able to save the leather chair. So I got a leather couch and chair for $20 bucks!!! I also decided to paint the family room. I love the neutral color and it is so nice to have some color on the walls!!!

Before

Before

After

After

Arm of the leather chair being completed

What the arm used to look like

My wonderful Mom helping out.

A date with Dad

My little sister and I gave Dad a Fathers Day Present. We would take him out for lunch. Well 6 months later we were all finally able to find some time to follow through on our present. Tonya and I took Dad to Famous Dave's BBQ. It is now my favorite restaurant and Dad really liked it too!!! We had a great time. It was so nice to celebrate my Dad. We truly have the best Dad in the world!!!!!! We love you Daddy.