Happy Holidays!

A few minutes ago, the Christmas Spirit suddenly entered my heart with gusto, so I decided I must blog about it. I've been listening to my holiday mix for a few days now, but this morning, I created a Pandora station off of Sarah McClachlan's Wintersong, and low and behold, that new station did it! I am filled with peace and joy and hope. Thanks Sarah.

It could also be due to the fact that Thanksgiving is exactly one week away! In case you haven't heard, Bryan and I are hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner ever, and all the Penses and some of the Baucoms are joining us in the festivities. We are having a huge antipasto platter, frying a turkey, and along with our guests, whipping out enough sides and desserts to feed an army! I have held off on decorating for Christmas, though, at my father-in-law's request. He feels that our Thanksgiving feast needs appropriate fall decor, and I find myself agreeing with him. The day after, though- I'm going to town!

I am relieved and pleased to be feeling the Christmas spirit so strongly today. The past few weeks have been unusually stressful. I think if I allowed myself to, I would be consumed by stress and worry for the entire season! But, with the Lord's help, I'm not going to let that happen. I will concentrate on His grace, peace and love, and that (plus an awesome Pandora station) will be enough to carry me through. Happy Holidays!

Halloween weekend is going to be a busy one for me! Having just wrapped up our production here in OKC, I'll go to Tulsa tomorrow to help work our shows there. Then on Saturday, I'm judging a dance competition all day. Luckily for me, I get to attend Beth's Halloween party when I'm finished. I tried on last year's Snow White costume last night, and it was exciting to see how differently it fit!

In the spirit of the holiday, I want to share my very favorite pumpkin recipe:
Chocolate Glazed Pumpkin Cookies. Use a full teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice instead of a half and fold in a cup of chocolate mini-morsels before you bake instead of drizzling chocolate on top and you'll have a quick, delicious Halloween treat. These cookies are soft and fluffy, almost like a muffin. Any time I make them, people always ask for the recipe. Thanks, Martha!

Have a safe and happy weekend, everyone!

An Update!

So, I've given some thought to closing down the old blog lately. It seems a lot of us out here haven't been doing much updating! But then this week, two of my friends told me they miss knowing what's going on with me, and I realized I miss seeing pictures and hearing lengthier updates about them too! So here's a big, long update about what's been going on with me the last month:

1. Work has been wild. My job has changed a lot this year so that I'm doing the development and most of the marketing of our season here. I have been really busy getting ready for our first show of the season, which open last week. I'm thrilled to share that it was a huge financial and artistic success, and that took a huge weight off my shoulders. Things should calm down just a bit for the next few months, but I'm excited to see what the rest of the year holds.
2. My weight loss journey has reached the maintenance phase. Since January of this year, I've lost over 35lbs! I've tried to make good, permanent changes to my diet, but I still have to make a concerted effort every day to choose healthy foods and not overeat. Or almost every day! The weight loss journey has taken a while, but I'm so much happier with my body and the way I look than I was a year ago at this time. Next year, my goal is to try some new things and commit myself to an exercise regimen that I will actually enjoy and stick to!
3. Hard to believe that we moved into our house almost a year ago! And Bryan has only two classes left until he finishes his MBA! I'm so proud of him for his commitment to school. The graduation celebration is already being planned.

And those are all the major updates! I'm really looking forward to the holidays this year. We're hosting Thanksgiving, so I'm sure that will give me plenty to blog about. Thanks for reading!