Early Christmas

Since the world is apparently ending tomorrow, R and I decided to go ahead and exchange Christmas gifts today.  Just kidding, we did exchange gifts, but only because Richard didn't feel like wrapping his and I was excited to see what he'd gotten me. :)

Gift giving is HUGE in the Bromby family.  My mother makes a big deal about gift giving holidays (birthdays and Christmas) and it has rubbed off on all of us.  We used to have a special routine every Christmas.  We always had 3 gifts under the tree and all of our other gifts were given to us on Christmas Day from "Santa" (or Santa for the believers).  We were each allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Then, Christmas morning my brother and I would wake up early and sneak into my parents room to wake them up.  My dad would always go into the living to "make coffee" while we sat and talked with my mom.  When Dad was ready, we would scurry into the living room only to discover a pile of presents had magically appeared!  We spent the morning taking turns opening presents and Dad made his famous cinnamon scones.  Those are truly some of my favorite memories.

Things are a little different this year.  This is mine and R's first Christmas together as a married couple, so of course things are going to change.  I will admit that this was hard for me.  I even cried the night we decided our final plans for Christmas because we wouldn't be able to continue the traditions I'd grown up with.  But now that I've gotten past the thought that this is a sacrifice, I'm truly excited to share this season with my husband.  It is not a sacrifice, but a blessing to enjoy not one but TWO Christmases this year!  I'm excited to see how his family does Christmas.  I'm excited for him to see how my family does Christmas.

On a whim, we decided to exchange gifts tonight and he did an outstanding job!

These are my Christmas treasures.

He got me a cocktail shaker and a mini cocktail shaker (he knows I love anything miniature), a paisley iPhone case from J.Crew, and two pairs of beautiful earrings (along with a few other things that are not pictured).  I'm super impressed with his Christmas shopping skills.  A few things I got him included The Gentlemen's Guide to Cocktails, a pretty tie, some Old Navy shirts, and a Carhartt jacket for his outdoor adventures.

All in all, this was a great first Christmas.  I am so excited to spend time with both of our families and I can't wait for the many Christmases to come!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was pretty great.  After a few low key weekends and a busy week, R and I were ready to have some fun!  I got lucky and got the entire weekend off.  This never happens, unless I request off for some sort of trip.  So it was nice to spend the whole weekend hanging around Hendo.

Saturday morning, R had to work.  So I spent the morning tidying up the house and baking cookies.  At 12:00, we went to Main Street to wrap Christmas presents with our church.  We recently began attending a church plant that meets on Sunday nights.  It's prefect for me because I normally work Sunday mornings.  A couple that we met in our Financial Peace University class pastors the church and invited us to visit.  They haven't officially launched their services yet, so they are still in the planning mode.  We've had a lot of fun getting to know the couples that attend.

So, anyway, we met up on Main Street and wrapped presents for people who were shopping that day.  We used the opportunity to invite them to our Christmas service.  Hopefully, we will see some of them on the 23rd!

The group of volunteers from Rise Fellowship.  Such great people!

Saturday evening, R and I relaxed around the house.  Pretty standard.

Sunday, we went into Brevard (a nearby town) and spent some time shopping.  We brought Orvis along and he kept us company in the car.  Sunday night, we attended the Rise Fellowship Christmas party.  We played Christmas games and did a White Elephant (Dirty Santa, etc.) Christmas swap.  Richard and I gave away a Glee snuggie.  Thank the Lord that thing is out of our house.

Anyway, it was a great weekend with great people!  We both have a pretty chill week leading up to the holidays.  How was your weekend?

PS- Anyone wanting more information on Rise Fellowship can visit their website here.  Our Christmas service is on December 23rd at The Hendersonville Little Theater.  It starts at 5:00.  We hope to see you there!

Recipe Box: Pumpkin Bread

At the beginning of the fall, I bought a can of pumpkin.  One can.  I planned to scour the internet for THE BEST pumpkin recipe of all time.  I knew I had to make it good since I only had one can of pumpkin to use.  I know, I could always buy another can, but we're on a budget people.  So, I looked and looked.   And I kept coming back to good, old fashioned pumpkin bread.  You really can't beat it.  So, today, I took my one can of pumpkin and put it to the best use I know.  Pumpkin bread deliciousness.  Also, I have now written the work pumpkin so many times, it's starting to look weird.  You how that happens sometimes? Pumpkin.  Pump-kin. Punk-pin.  Pumpkin.

Anywho, I digress.  Here is the delicious pumpkin bread recipe from the Streaming Gourmet blog.  Below is the same recipe with a few alterations.  I made muffins instead of bread so that I could freeze half of them.  I also cut the recipe in half so that's why there are lots of fractioned measurements.

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white APF
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 baking soda
1/4 baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (softened to the point of almost melting)
1 large egg
1 egg white
8 oz. pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a muffin tin with PAM-a-lam-a-ding-dong.  Mix together the flours, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.  Set aside.
Whisk together the butter, sugar, and eggs until fluffy.  Add the pumpkin and stir until well combined.  Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Batter should be fluffy and not runny.
Fill 12 muffins cups and bake for 20 minutes of until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Now, settle down with a muffin, some butter, and a big glass of milk.  Enjoy your hard work.  You deserve it.

High Five for Friday!

I'm linking with up with Lauren at the From My Grey Desk blog for this fun "High Five for Friday!" post.  Unfortunately, I don't have any fun pictures to put up.  I'll work on that for next time...   Here are five of the highlights from my week:

1.  I got 75% of my Christmas shopping done this week.  Yay!  Now, I just have wrap them all.  I love wrapping gifts, but I need to set aside a good hour or two to really enjoy it.  Maybe with a little Charlie Brown Christmas...

2.  I took Orvis to the dog park this week and he had a BLAST.  Up until now, he's been terrified every time we take him.  But this week he made some friends and ran circles around the park.  He's kind of the weird loner kid at recess that spends his time sniffing rocks and trying to get other kids to play.  But, that's okay, he's having fun and that's all that matters.

3.  I got to spend all day yesterday at McFarlan Bake Shop in downtown Hendersonville.  We got to make cookies for an event we have at the Inn.  We made 1,000 cookies in two hours.  Not too shabby! I also got to sample about 6, so that was great too.

4.  We sent out our first Campbell family Christmas cards today.  We used TinyPrints (a smaller company belonging to Shutterfly) and they turned out great!  I'm so excited for my family members to receive theirs!

5.  Today, I got to spend the entire day with my fabulous parents in Asheville.  I met up with them at the Grand Bohemian Hotel, where they stayed the night.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and I got to see their fantastic room.  I love the way the Grand Bohemian is decorated.  Very clean, but rustic.  Then, we ventured around two different malls in Asheville.  One was superb and one was ghet-to.  Then, Dad fixed my sweet little Scout.  He got banged up a few weeks ago on my way back from Asheville and has been riding around with a busted lip.  Dad got him all fixed up!  We finished up with dinner at Haus Heidelberg, a local German restaurant.  It was delish!

What are your favorite things from this past week?  Link up with the From My Grey Desk blog with your High Five for Friday!

Throwback Thursday

Today, I'm going to participate in a little Throwback Thursday action.  I have this beautiful picture from some class in high school.

I'm thinking it was junior year- Environmental Science.  Lori and I somehow managed to have a class together and sit at the same table.  There are many elements of this picture that I love.  For of all, I actually look like I'm working, even though I remember that this picture was blatantly staged.  In fact, that pen is in my left hand and I am a true righty.  This was also a one of my Myspace profile pictures and the caption was "This is not staged."  I was hilarious.  Last, I love the ferocity with which Lori is writing, so much that her pencil is blurred.  She was always the studious one...

Pinterest Party! Home Edition

Lately, I've seen some pretty beautiful homes on Pinterest.  I think I've got the home bug right now.  Sometimes I wish we owned our house so that we could do more decorating and make some changes.  But, for now I'll just have to admire from afar...

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First of all, I LOVE the color of this front door.  And the wall color.  That is an amazing combo, and such a statement!

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This precious little cottage kitchen is so cozy.  While it's small, it's still very clean.  I love the little shelf in the corner for fun flour and sugar pots.

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As a lover of all things coffee, this would be perfect in my home.  I like the idea of having a coffee bar similar to a liquor cart.  But a liquor cart isn't bad either...

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This rustic bedroom is so neat and clean.  I love all the white and calm colors.  I believe that the bedroom should be decorated in soft blues and greens in order to be soothing and relaxing.  I also love the exposed beams.

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This is definitely a favorite.  I have always wanted to use fairy lights year round.  They are so cozy!  These are great ideas for places to use them.

What are some of your favorite home pins?

Critter Babies

I have decided that when R and I decide to have babies, they will spend the first year of their life in some sort of fleece critter outfit.  Have you seen those?  They are one pieces with a hood and little ears. They are the most adorable things I have ever seen.  I mean look at these...

It's a sherpa bear!  

Baby lamb...

LOOK at that little nugget.  Presh.  I just want to squeeze him!

How could you not love a little munchkin in a bear suit?  I combines my love of animals with my tolerance for children and makes them mildly bearable.  Haha, bear-able.

PS- the first two outfits can be found at Old Navy and the last image is from The DayBook blog.

Monday Sweet Tooth

Normally, on a Monday, I would do a super exciting weekend recap.  However, my weekend was super boring.  Also, I may have had one glass of wine too many and now I'm too sleepy to write anything exciting.

BUT, I will tell you this- I have been hankering for something sweet for the past couple of days.  Normally, I keep sweets around the house (cookies, Christmas tree cakes, pumpkin muffins, etc.) for an after dinner snack.  I always have to have something sweet after dinner.  But, I've been trying to eat healthier lately, so I purposely have not brought any sweets home.  Not an easy task considering I work one block away from an amazing bakery.

ANYWAY, the other day I saw these on Pinterest and knew I needed to make them soon.  Today, I cracked.  And let me tell you, I didn't regret it for a second.