Top 5 Things About the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl

1. Friends

2. Awesome pre-game B-52 flyover.
This happened right after a prayer was said
to OUR FATHER in JESUS NAME. AMEN.

3. The incomparable Fightin' Texas Aggie Band.

4. Opposing Team's Band had a fire twirler/juggler
who at one point actually set the turf on fire.

5. My first taste of McDonald's hot chocolate--but not my last.

Obvious omissions from the list: the football game itself, the cadet from Va Tech who hurled drunken obscenities to anyone within earshot until his friends dragged him (since he could not walk) out of the stadium, and any fan from Shreveport in our general vicinity during the game.

That currently ranks up there as the worst football venue I've ever visited. And I've been to Lubbock TWICE!

Hi Mom!

Gentry Family Christmas 2009

Could he be any cuter?

It was a different kind of Christmas for us this year. Because I am on call over the holiday, we stayed in FW until lunchtime on Christmas day. We had no choice since we were iced in. We tried going to the Christmas Eve service at our church and slipped and slid all over the road. After aborting that plan, we went back to the house where I whipped up a candlelit dinner of puffed pancakes (originally we had planned on eating out with friends.) The first attempt at leaving for Corsicana the next morning was at 9, but when we tried going up the hill to get out of our 'hood, the car slid straight back down. Hands down one of the scariest experiences of my life.

In the meantime, we played a lot of Rockband.

I don't have any pictures of me, but Brad got me some awesome boots. When I wore them to lunch on Christmas Day, my dad informed me that he had a pair like them in the 70s. He says they are called dingos. So even more awesome--I got dingos for Christmas.

My dingos are pictured below. When I started to get dressed for the photos Hailey made of us recently, I whined and complained casually mentioned that the boots I wanted for Christmas would be so much more amazing and fabulous much cuter with my outfit than those I was planning on wearing. Much to my surprise, B had already bought them and pulled them out to let me wear them. That's a good husband right there. After the shoot, he immediately hid them, and I hadn't seen them until now.

Yay, husband!

McCary Family Christmas 2009 in Pictures

Christmas Day after lunch





Typical Drew, smelling his presents

Before Mom broke the Wii (then bought a new part)

Handmade by Yours Truly

The easiest/best time waster ever.

I don't have pics of us playing because I've been too busy shredding the plastic guitar.

Warmest Wishes

Merry Christmas!

On My Wishlist Today

Every girl should enjoy her morning tea from
a cup inscribed with Mr. Darcy's proposal, no?



via the fabulous Brookish on Etsy.

{She tells me that she hopes to have these
back in stock by the end of the week.}

Brad ♥'s Christmas lights.

So I had the bright idea for us to drive around and look at Christmas lights tonight. Brad did some googling, and this is what we came up with. What you are watching below is a house in Fort Worth, and It. Is. Awesome.

The Surprise Mix 2008 from chapelcreeklights on Vimeo.

Above is the 2008 Surprise Mix. This year it's the Black Eyed Peas, and you will NOT be disappointed. Seriously we watched it for 25 minutes, and the neighbor across the street has his own show going as well. Call if you want the address!

And So They Fell in Love, Over Processed Sugar.

This time of year is so fun for me because these were the first months of dating for us back in good 'ol 2003. On one of our first times to hang out, we went to Wal-mart (the glamorous life!) and ended up purchasing white chocolate covered oreos. My husband LOVES these, and so every year we are very happy when we find them in store. It's become our family tradition to consume them at Christmas.



First you bite a hole in the shield that is the white chocolate.

Then you dunk.

The white chocolate holds all the milk in and your fingers don't get mushy chocolate cookie on them--a very clean and delicious way to eat oreos.

I Met The Pioneer Woman

For any unfamiliar, The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond) is a lovely house/ranch wife from our neighbor to the north, Oklahoma. She has a beautiful blog that has morphed from simple to a serious work of technology. Her posts vary from life on the ranch to makeup, and she is a HOOT. My description sells her blog short because I know you would love it.

{And she has awesome giveaways, but that's just a bonus.}

She has a fabulous new cookbook out that any lady on your list would enjoy receiving for Christmas with beautiful photography and great home-cooked recipes. If you've been following her Griswold Family-style book tour, you know that last night was the much anticipated booksigning at Borders in Dallas. From what I gathered from the the Borders staff, they anticipated anywhere from 400-500 people showing up. Instead, they got EIGHT HUNDRED.

Ashley and her mom were there for a little while, but the line just got way too long. They finally called our color group to line up for the signing (behind 5 other color groups of 100 people), and I decided that I'd give it 30 minutes and leave if the line wasn't moving.

What happened next was something I did not anticipate.

After about 15 minutes of waiting in line, the girl behind me asked about my Aggie ring, which in turn led me to forming a line friendship with 7 other ladies waiting it out. The line friendship morphed into facebook friendship, and then facebook friendship started us talking about starting a P-Dub Supper Club. We had so much fun, and it made the time pass a lot faster!

Ashley and me. We are like 10 feet from PW.

Crazy line ladies amusing themselves
before they became the P-Dub Supper Club.

This was taken at 12:30 AM.
She had been signing books for 5 1/2 hours at this point
and was still so gracious and smiley. I have to imagine that
3 years ago she never imagined her blog would turn into this.

{I'll update soon with a picture of the charter members of the P-Dub Supper Club along with P-Dub herself. It was so nice to meet you ladies!}