A Wonderful Life, Indeed.

Here are my beautiful sisters, including Chase, who took these amazing pictures.

And this picture pretty much sums up how amazing my Christmas was.

We got to spend time with Austin's family and my own in San Antonio and it was a blast. I love both families so very much and am so thankful that we're all in the same city this year. Life is truly good and I have no complaints.

We're about to go take more photos with my sister so get ready for it!

Love,

Ani "Zuzu" B.

{Dress: Target ($5.00), Cardigan: Thrifted [Gap] ($3.99), Tights: Target ($5.00), Shoes: Citi Trends ($7.50), Hair Flower: F21 ($3.50)}

Winter Wonderland

Well my dear friends, this is the longest hiatus from blogging that I've took since I started back up, so I feel just awful. However, I had an excuse that I'm pretty sure most people will understand. You see, I was skiing in the beautiful mountains of Colorado for the very first time, so I was busy falling down, flipping out when I realized the trail we were on was SO steep that I thought I couldn't make it, and eventually enjoyed myself on this new adventure. It was, by far, one of the most fun and exciting trips I've had in a long time.

Here are some pictures.

That is me under there.

That's the husband, Austin, his sister, Brett and I.

Our last night we went to the hot tub while was snowing. It was amazing.

Here's a picture of the whole group.

(All pictures taken by Chase)

So all in all, it was a great trip and I'm bummed that I couldn't get any outfit pics, but the truth is, we were in ski clothes or pj's most of the time. It is pretty cool to note that my sister in law, Chase, who took these pictures, got her brown bib and aqua ski jacket from Goodwill. I only got my stuff at the Columbia outlet for WAY more expensive so she is definitely my hero.

Hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas break.

Love,

Ani "Pro-Skiier" B.

The Autumn Tree

Please excuse my sagging belt. I promptly took it off after this shoot cause I realized it didn't do its job very well.

Not much to say today except that I'm happy to be alive and ready to be in the mountains.

These pictures were taken at yet another church. They just have such pretty trees around them. This one got my attention quickly and I decided to show it some love by making it the focus of my photo blog today. Texas is so delayed with seasons...I mean I don't think we really even get seasons the way other parts of the country do, but this tree is so much what I envision during fall.

Anyhow, I love my John Mark McMillan shirt that I got at the Crowder tour in October. I had to cut the shirt myself on the neckline and at the bottom because it was so frumpy looking. I just did my best to make it slightly girlier. Also, my favorite bow was made by the lovely, Vanessa, who sells lots of darling items on Etsy.

Don't tell anyone, but I think Gungor and John Mark pretty much stole the show for me. I had seen them already at the Crowder conference the year before, but man, they are just so talented. For me, seeing Crowder once was worth it and incredible and I'd be fine with seeing them that one time, but I could watch Gungor perform every night and never get bored. Oh well, it's just preferences, but I do love DCB...just not as much as John Mark and Gungor. I could go on about this forever, so I'll just stop there.

No need to dress up today since all I did was sit around the house packing and watching tv. Like I said, life is so very good.

Love,

Ani

{Shirt: John Mark McMillan ($20.00), Jeans: F21 ($9.99), Shoes: H&M ($12.95), Cardigan: Gap (old?), Bow: Nessavendetta ($12.95), Sunglasses: Target ($16.99)}

Red, White, and Bows

Wow, I look just like my mother in this picture.

This whole space behind the church reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia.

O beautiful for spacious skies and having Christmas break. Yeah, I just sang that aloud. It feels amazing to finally have Austin on break with me and today was the first day this week, that I didn't have anything to do, so talk about feeling liberated. I worked out, did laundry, watched Mad Men, tried on a whole bunch of clothes in my closet, starting packing for our ski trip next week and got outside in the perfect, sunshiney, cool weather to take some pictures at a church.

I tried on stuff in my closet to remind myself how much clothing I have and that I have no need to go shopping, even though I'd love to go thrift just to thrift. I’m glad I did, too, because I found this dress that I’ve only worn once (thrifted: $3.50) and the jacket, which I’ve never worn (thrifted: $7.50) AND the shoes which i’ve never worn (thrifted: $2.50). Needless to say, it was a successful shopping trip in my own wardrobe and despite having nowhere to go, I felt like being girly..because I can be..cause I'm a girl.

Anyhow, I'm ready to be in the mountains. I can't wait to take pictures there and maybe just set up a shack on a portion of the mountain to live it. That sounds nice, right?

Ok, hopefully we'll be out celebrating for the rest of the night after we finish watching the Stars game...or maybe I'll just finish doing laundry. I don't care either way cause it's the weekend of Christmas break and I can do what I want. That, my friends, feels amazing.

Love,

Ani "I'm way too excited about Christmas now" B.

{Dress: Thrifted [F21] ($3.50), Jacket: Thrifted [H&M] ($7.50), Tights: Payless ($5.99), Shoes: Thrifted ($2.50), Earrings: Thrifted ($1.99), Sunglasses: Target ($12.99), Belt: Thrifted ($1.99)}

All is Full of Love

All is full of love today. My outfit says so. Well my outfit is full of hearts and hearts mean love so there.

These last few days have been full of bad weather. We've had straight up gloomy, depressing days that make me want to watch entire seasons of shows on Netflix and never get out of bed, but I've done my best to work against that. Hopefully tomorrow will be bright and beautiful. Oh and did I mention I'll be in COLORADO soon? I cannot wait.

We had a great team meeting today for church and I really felt like we laid great groundwork for next year. I feel like I can say this publicly, but I am so grateful for the team that I work with and for their heart for ministry. It's just incredible.

So I love this skirt for many reasons. 1) It's got cheesy hearts on it. 2) It fits me perfectly 3) the second button is missing so the person who gave it away just pinned it with a safety pin. I was so cheap that the first time I saw it at the thrift store, I went on a a day that the women's clothing didn't have an additional discount so I left it thinking, "surely no one else will want this ridiculous skirt" Sure enough, no on else wanted this ridiculous skirt. I went back on 50% off women's clothing day and got this skirt for $1.50. Now I know what you're thinking...The skirt was only $3! But it is seriously, it's so difficult for me to buy clothes on a normal day. I'm addicted to the additional discount days. I know, I'm crazy.

It's been a great day AND the Stars just won against the Islanders so, I'm a happy gal. Can't wait for Austin to be done with school so we can officially start our Christmas break!

Love,

Ani "I love wearing hearts" B.

{Shirt: Thrifted [h&m] ($1.59), Skirt: Thrifted ($1.50), Cardigan: F21 (?), Jacket: Target similar ($19.99), Tights: ?, Shoes: h&m ($12.95), Beanie: F21 ($4.99), Belt: Thrifted ($1.99)}

What I See

I took my pictures early today and it turned out to be a good thing because after I was done, it was a dreary, misty mess outside. I went to the gym and as the mist was swirling all around me, I felt like Austin was gleaking on me, not like a gleek (of the show Glee, of course), but like when one sprays you with their spit in a showery mist. He does it often and that's what mist feels like to me so I'm glad I got my pictures out of the way.

Can I just say that I am watching the "Threat Level Midnight" episode of The Office and it may be one of my favorite Office episodes EVER?! Well except for, The Dundies, Benjamin Franklin and Traveling Salesmen. Seriously though, I love this show.

Today was a splendid day. We filmed a New Year's resolution video for church which should be pretty funny. I went to a Lasik appointment and was told my eyes are perfect. I don't think I've ever heard those words come out of a doctor's mouth. Especially considering I've been a nerdy, four-eyed gal since I was in 1st grade. My vision was terrible and the laser surgery was such a good call for me. Austin did it too so we're feeling pretty cool with our laser eyes.

Band rehearsal was perfect tonight too. We're doing mostly Christmas songs this week and honestly, despite hearing variations of absolutely TERRIBLE renditions of Christmas songs this year, (Are they getting worse or is it just me?), I am so excited about singing Christmas carols. Last year, we had to have Christmas in Dallas with my family and Paul and I got to lead some Christmas carols. It was just so fun. The year before Paul and my sister led some at our annual Christmas eve party. There's just something so incredible about getting together and singing songs that everyone knows and that have such a precious message.

I guess I'm finally getting in the Christmas spirit. I told Austin I didn't even want to bother with the Christmas tree since we weren't actually going to be here on Christmas or the entire week before. So he called me "Scrooge." I suppose being in Colorado next week will help that quite a bit cause we'll be in 20 degree weather and wintery paradise. I can't wait!! So, here's to getting in the Christmas spirit.

Love,

Ani Scrooge

{Shirt: F21 ($5.00), Cardigan: Plato's Closet ($6.00), Jeans: Thrifted [GAP] ($5.00), Belt: F21 (came with a dress), Flats: Roxy old, Earrings: Target: ($7.99), Sunglasses: Target ($16.99)}