Ha! Ok, I haven't been gone THAT long. But yes, I've been a slacker & by golly, I'm making a New Year's resolution to start blogging regularly. Well, and to never say "by golly" again. Hmmm.. where to start, bloggy friends of mine? So much has happened in the past few weeks. That's all it's been right? I can't get back to my last post without coming out of the composing screen, so I'm taking a wild guess. Anyhoo.. Christmas has come and gone and it was splendid. <-- another word for the "never to say again" list. It was exciting on so many levels.. but first and foremost was the fact that it was our very first Christmas in our very first home. We went all out decorating of course, not too crazy, (like the woman next door who has EVERY freakin' blow up decoration you can think of).. but we did a nice job. Lights, blow molds,(see previous post for the story on those).. we have our Mr and Mrs Claus in the bow window with candles and our tree, of course, is up and is just beautiful. And yes, we will not take it down until January 6th. Jeff says it's coming down sooner but we'll see. I'm pretty traditional. (Except when it comes to weddings, evidently). On Christmas of course, we headed to my (future) in laws' for our customary get together with them, but first we had breakfast at my dad and stepmom's. After we were done running for the day, we headed back home to host our own little get together with my family since my sister worked til 7:30. We had some light fare here and opened gifts with my brother and sister and of course, my niece! I will upload pics if I ever get around to it. Gift wise, we did pretty well. "Santa" left me a WII Fit plus & a new mountain bike! S-weet! It's really nice and I can't wait for the warm weather so I can ride it. I'm gonna get in shape, I tell ya. Between the WII Fit and the bike, I may be getting a new wedding gown! Is that good or bad? Considering it's a few months away! Yikes! Ok, no wedding talk on this blog. The new year is almost upon us and I'm so excited to have a fresh new start of a year that promises to be filled with lots of happiness, new memories and love. We're going to spend some time at a friend's house tonight and I plan to come home before the clock strikes midnight so that we can be here in our home..(well, that, and I secretly want to ring in the new year with our doggie). My sister and I have spent all but maybe 2 New Year's Eves together in almost 10 years so it's a little tough there too, knowing that we both are going to be in totally different places, but we always call each other so it won't be that hard.
I'll catch up and post a better, longer entry tomorrow.. I've got to go get ready. I'm making a stop at the hospital to see my friend who just had her bouncing baby girl this morning!! And then we're off to celebrate with friends. Have a safe & Happy New Year's Eve ... look around you tonight and see all of your blessings in front of you. Thank God for them and remember to hold them near.

The find

So last Friday my sister & I went on quite-the-adventure. We ventured to a little town just outside Ocean City, NJ to pick up the pictured items! Funny story, funny story. HaHa
On our travels in the past few weeks (or more), Jeff’s expressed an interest in these vintage Christmas decorations. He really wanted one and just didn’t know where to find them.
Everywhere we went, we’d see a house that had one or two or many on their lawn or around their home. We knew that they were SUPER old and thus, hard to find. The stores no longer sell them, that I know of.. so it was off to Craigslist I went. I checked for a few days and actually was able to find various ones on there. Turns out they’re called Blow Molds. Glad I can actually call them something besides “those old plastic Christmas decorations”. {I’m impressed that April knew what they were.. being so young and all. HAHA} Even though I have no idea what a pizookie is still.. But… back to the subject at hand…
Many people on Craigslist that were selling these things, wanted a MINT! I guess since they’re considered vintage at this point, they knew they could get good money for them, but I wasn’t prepared to pay a lot of money for any of them. Most of the sellers who had them at a reasonable price had already sold them by the time I’d seen the ad and inquired about them. But then on Thursday, there was a woman who was selling them at $7 each or all 5 for $25! I was sure they’d been sold for a couple of reasons… 1.) they were SO CHEAP and 2.) the ad was already about 3 or 4 days old. But I reluctantly emailed the seller and said “Please tell me you still have these available”…. Well, she did and I was stoked!! So when Friday came, my sister and I set out to go pick up my awesome find! It was a road trip and a half! Of course, it wouldn’t be a “road trip with Dawn” unless we got lost a few times. We didn’t really get lost, per sé, but there was a couple times that we started to take a wrong road and quickly recovered. But, alas, we found the house & the blow molds & it was so worth it. It was a surprise – Jeff had no idea where I went or what I was getting. We came home & scattered them on the lawn while he was in the bedroom getting changed… and then I brought him outside & let him see them. He was really surprised and excited. He immediately started testing them and configuring where he’d put them all. Turns out that there were 3 Santas but they were all a little different so it was ok. There was also a toy soldier and a snowman.. my favorite! I have to take some more pictures of them all set up, but for now this will have to do.