Trip to Dallas

 Last weekend I spent two nights in Dallas, Texas for work.  I was so tired from my flights that I almost stayed in the hotel room the whole time, but I am so glad I ventured out and explored the city.  I took the DART (the Dallas light-rail system) downtown and stopped at the West End.  The first place I wanted to check out was the place where JFK was assassinated.  It was weird standing right in the spot where the former President was killed and looking up at the Book Depository (now the Dallas County Administration Building) where he was shot from.  In the picture you can see the window that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the shots (allegedly).  It is the second window down, on the far right of the building, with the window partially open.

In one of the other pictures you can see the grassy knoll, where a second gunman may have fired one of the shots.  I thought it was kind of funny how it had a big yellow sign that said "Grassy Knoll".

I then walked all the way across downtown Dallas and came to a burger place called Twisted Root Burger Company.  It was featured on the show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" and was highly rated on Trip Advisor, so I figured I would try it out.  It didn't disappoint! Although on the pricey side, this was an awesome burger.  I didn't try the fries, but I did have some of their signature root beer and even tried some cinnamon flavored root beer, which was surprisingly delicious!  I highly recommend this restaurant if you are ever in the Dallas area.

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

I have been very busy the past week. My parents and sister visited for an early Christmas. I even cooked a ham dinner with all the fixings! We had a really good time. I sure wish I got to see them more often, but I am so blessed to have a job that allows me to visit more than I would normally be able to.
I am working on a new project...a picture frame wall! I will post pics as soon as I am finished, which should be in the next couple days before I leave for my work trip. I get to spend two nights in Dallas, so I am going to explore the city a little bit!

Lunch of champions

Something tells me the diet coke isn't going to make up for those donut calories...

Black Friday!

So this is the first year in a very long time that I have not braved the crowds and the cold for the biggest shopping day of the year. I really considered it, but there wasn't anything I was just dying to get. Plus, most everything can be found online for the same prices. However, it is a fun experience and if I would've had someone to go with I may have gone just for the heck of it. There were people camping out at Best Buy the day before Thanksgiving and probably earlier than that at some stores. We ran into the Best Buy in Logan on the 23rd to see Emery's best friend Josh and I just had to take a picture of these crazy people!

Last night, about 20 hours after Target had opened for it's Black Friday sale, I went in just to grab some lights for our Christmas tree and figured I would see if anything I wanted happened to be left. I quickly realized everything was long gone, but then I went down the toy aisles looking at the very top shelf and what did I find? Exactly what Morgan wanted for Christmas, which happened to be one of the doorbuster sales! I think I actually squealed with delight and another lady who was shopping laughed at me and said Congratulations! Morgan did see that I was shoving something Barbie related under the cart, but she doesn't know exactly what it was and it's not like I could take her home and come back to get it. She will still be surprised come Christmas morning. I still have some shopping to do, but I have made a dent. I am hoping that Cyber Monday will have some good deals, so I can finish soon.

I guess we are not going to New York City now, which I am super bummed about. I totally forgot my daughter has her dance recital that weekend! But I am excited for that and my mom will probably fly down to watch. Maybe we will be able to go next year at Christmas time.

We got a real Christmas tree this year and it smells so good in my house! The last few years I had a peacock theme, but this year I decided to go more classic with a burgundy red, light green and gold. I am also going to start giving the kids an ornament each year. Morgan is going to get a Disney ornament and Cam is going to get an animal ornament. I found the cutest animal ornaments at Macy's. I wanted to buy all of them, but I just got three.  The lion below is one of them...I also got a bear and a fox.  I am really regretting not buying more now!  But, I want Cam to have a variety of ornaments, not all the same style...so hopefully they will come out with more cute animal ornaments next year!

 I also decided I am going to start getting an ornament from everywhere we go on vacation. I need to find a cute eiffel tower ornament from when we went to Paris and something from when we went to Mexico. Those are the only big vacations Emery and I have been on together. I think traditions are so fun and really create good memories that your children will always remember.

No longer on call!

My schedule for next month came out and...No Reserve Days! It will be nice to not be on call next month. However, they gave me 3 four day trips and one of those trips is over Christmas, which is not going to work. So hopefully I can drop that trip or I don't know what I will do. Last year I had to work Christmas day, but it wasn't until late in the afternoon, so I didn't miss all the festivities at home. Oh the joys of the airline industry. I will figure it out though.

I am excited for Thanksgiving (although my waist is not). We are going to spend it with Emery's parents this year, so I need to figure out what to bring. I have seen so many good recipes lately! I am hoping my parents will be able to come to our house for Christmas and maybe even my sister. It all depends on how the standby flights are looking. Either way, I have a lot of cleaning to do so I can get the house all ready for Christmas. We are going to get a real tree this year, which we haven't had since the first year we were married...so 6 years ago! I love the smell of pine trees, it makes the house smell like Christmas. I think we will go on the day after Thanksgiving. Will it last all the way to Christmas if I get it then?

Gumdrop Wreath!

 I recently came across an image on Pinterest of a wreath by Martha Stewart that was made out of gumdrops.  I thought it was beautiful and I also thought 'Hey, I can make that!'   Her wreath used all white gumdrops, which was lovely but I don't know where I could find gumdrops in one color.  Plus the multi-colored ones are fun!  So all I needed for this project were gumdrops and a styrofoam wreath form, as well as a hot glue gun. 

 At first I started gluing the gumdrops around the inner circle of the wreath.  They looked great at first, but doing it this way made too big of gaps between the candy for my liking. 

 So, I took them off and tried again, this time gluing them more randomly so I could lessen the amount of space between the gumdrops.  I didn't have a pattern, just grabbed them randomly while trying to keep the colors as even as possible.

 After the wreath was finished I made a red bow and hung it on my mirror.  At first I was worried it would looked to Easter-ish, but with the red bow it feels Christmas enough for me!

Here is the final product, what do you think?  One thing I learned is that gumdrops are kinda expensive!  I didn't check the dollar store, so that may have been a better option.  I ended up spending $3 on the wreath form, $8 for the candy and maybe $1 worth of ribbon.  $12 is more than I would have liked to spend, but this is something I made myself and that I will use again, so I think it was worth it.  I love Christmas!

Linking up to the following:

Forgive me, I was bored.

New York City? I think so!

So the hubby and I have decided to go to New York City next month and I couldn't be more excited!  I have never been to New York before and it has always been a dream of mine to go during Christmas.  We want to go ice skating and see the tree at Rockefeller Center, eat some pizza, window shop (ok that one is probably just me), and whatever else we can squeeze in to the two days we will have there.  My parents are going to watch the kids, which I am so thankful for...it will be nice to have a getaway by ourselves.  I still have to book a hotel...and boy are they expensive, but it will be worth it! 

I am still sitting here on reserve.  I wasn't called out the last 4 days, which is awesome!  I think I might get called today, but maybe I will get lucky.  I have been working on a wreath for Christmas, which I am excited to share.  I will finish it tonight if I don't have to work and I will post pictures tomorrow hopefully! 

Ah, the life of a Reserve Flight Attendant

Right now I am sitting on reserve at home.  This is the flight attendant term for being on call, and I have to say it is not fun.  The nice thing is that I am one of the most senior flight attendants on reserve today so hopefully (fingers crossed) I won't get called out.  I have the dreaded p.m. shift, which means I am on call from 9am until 9pm, so basically I get to be stressed out all day, can't go anywhere and nearly have a heart attack every time the phone rings, but at least I get paid for it.  For anyone wondering, as a flight attendant on reserve you are given a two hour callout, which means as soon as they notify you of a trip you have two hours to be checked in at the airport.  This can be difficult for me sometimes, because I have to get dressed in my uniform, drop the kids off at the babysitter, drive 40 minutes to get to the employee parking lot, take the employee shuttle, go through security and then check in at the computer.  But the good news is that next month I should have my line back! A line is just another word for a real schedule, with no reserve days...yay! 

I guess reserve isn't all bad.  Sometimes it allows me to spend more time at home with my kiddos and time to get things done around the house.  It has also given me time to feed my new obsession...Pinterest!  There are so many awesome ideas on this website, from crafts to home decor to style, almost everything you can think of really.  It lets you organize photos with links to tutorials, recipes, websites, etc.  I have a few different pin boards so far: places I want to travel, home decor, home projects, fashion, and Christmas decorating ideas.  If you want an invite, just let me know and I will send one.  Here is just one of the ideas I have gotten off of Pinterest.  It is a painted garbage can turned laundry basket!  I love the colors, but better yet I love the size and the fact that it has a lid, cause I hate people walking by the laundry room and seeing all the dirty clothes! If you want more details on this project you can head over to http://rebekahmerkle.blogspot.com.

Back to it!

It has been almost a year since I have posted anything!  I can't believe it.  Well, I think it is time for a fresh start.  I have a fresh look for my blog and a fresh attitude about blogging.  There are so many amazing blogs that have given me a ton of inspiration and I feel like I need to get back to sharing my own thoughts, ideas and experiences!  I need to write more about my travels because I really do have such an amazing job that allows me to explore places I never would have been otherwise.  I need to start doing more crafts and home projects.  Christmas will be the perfect time for that, so I hope to start a couple projects in the next week or so.  I also have plans to make a coffee table and if that goes well then I plan to make a dining room table, thanks to easy plans from the amazing Ana White.  If you haven't visited her website you are missing out.  This is the farmhouse dining table I want to build...it is so beautiful!

Getting Organized

So... the diet didn't work out. Going to Portland always ruins that for me. But am going to try eating healthier again and more importantly I want to start exercising on a regular basis.

Now on to my next New Years Resolution...getting organized. I was starting to get fed up with tripping over toys every time I walked through the living room. The kids have way too much stuff for their own good and there wasn't really anywhere to put it all. We just had a couple Rubbermaid containers we threw stuff in, which wasn't ideal since all the different toys got mixed together...and it certainly didn't look good. I decided that the toys needed to be moved upstairs, because we have a loft area that doesn't get used for anything, so why not turn it into a play room?

If I had the choice/money the playroom would look something like this:
But since I am not a millionaire, I had to see what kind of budget design I could come up with. I drove on over to Target, one of the best stores ever, and came up with some good stuff! Granted I could have spent less, especially if I would have built some items myself, but I needed this done now. If I put something like this off it most likely will not get done in the near future.

First, I found this cubby unit, that was on sale for $40. The pink and green containers were $6 each, So $24 total. I may have been able to find these cheaper elsewhere, but once again I didn't have the time. The unit took me about a half hour to put together by myself, but it was really easy. Forgive the poor picture quality, I just took these on my phone. The containers hold mostly books and some other random toys.


Next I found these adorable little storage ottomans! I love how they fulfill two purposes and look so cute. I sorted out the kids toys and they each hold different types (legos, barbies, etc.). They were $20 each, so I spent $80 total. I already had the table that wasn't being used.


Here is how the room looks now. I still have to clean up the back wall, which is why I am not showing the whole room. I think I will add a cute chandelier or some type of cute lighting. The total cost of this project was $144. Worth every penny to finally feel a little bit organized!


Cameron likes it too! I would love feedback, so feel free to give me ideas or critiques!

On my way to a healthier me

Well, it is that time of the year again...time to start eating better, exercising and losing some weight! Emery is competing in a biggest loser contest at his work, so I am going to compete against just him at home. It is always easier to lose weight when you have someone doing it with you! So, hopefully I can stick with it and get some of this fat off. I was eating really bad for the last few months, so I have packed on a few pounds.

Today is the first day and so far I have eaten some healthy cereal for breakfast. I plan on having plain yogurt with fresh blackberries mixed in for a snack, a tuna sandwich for lunch, and chicken with vegetables for dinner. When Emery gets home we are going to do our workout on the XBox Kinect (that we got for Christmas) and I will probably hop on the elliptical for a bit.

The first day is always the easiest...wish me luck!