Reason for the Season #2

Honestly, nothing makes me happier than making our house our home and being there; this especially applies this time of year. Home means Chris and two loving dogs. Home means curling up by the real wood burning fireplace. Home means cooking and inventing in the kitchen. Home means wrapping gifts by mixing and matching paper with sparkly wired ribbon. Home means cleaning for guests to arrive. Home means potted pansies by the door. Home means chocolate after dinner. Home means a relaxing bubble bath. Home means saying prayers with my husband. Home is just, well, good.

At home the other day, I realized that there's one small and seemingly simple part of wrapping gifts that, subliminally, is a much bigger deal. You know when you get to the bow-tying process and you need someone to push down on the ribbon with their finger to tie the knot? Yeah, that's actually not necessary. If you had to, you could just do it yourself. I think there's something more to it. I started thinking about how ridiculous it was that I actually called Chris in from the other room and had him put down everything he was doing just to press down the ribbon for me to tie a knot. In actuality, I just wanted to see him for a minute and know that, in a way, he helped me complete that gift. To give and to be with those you love. Both a tangible part of Christmas and the season among so many crucial intangibles. In that moment, I had both and my heart was very happy.

Please Come Home for Christmas

by Charles Brown

Bells will be ringing, the glad, glad news;
Oh, what a Christmas, to have the blues;
My baby's gone;
I have no friends;
To wish me greetings, once again;
Choirs will be singing, Silent Night
Oh, Christmas Carols, by candlelight;

Please come home for Christmas;
Please come home for Christmas;
If not for Christmas, by New Year's Night;

Friends and relations;
Send salutations;
Just as sure as the stars shine above;

This is Christmas, Christmas my dear;
The time of year to be with the one that you love;
Then will you tell me, you'll never more roam;
Christmas and New Year will find you home;
There'll be no more sorrow;
No grief or pain;
'Cause I'll be happy that it's Christmas once again

 

If you have anyone to spend the holiday with, be joyful! Be thankful. Give, love, and be loved.


Merry Christmas,

L. Winchester

Pages in the Next Chapter

It's a great feeling to be truly happy. I think sometimes something that seems so simple- happiness- can be taken for granted. Things in the Winchester household are really going great. I feel so blessed. Since I last wrote, we have been given even more open doors and new opportunities! I now work at the Westin Poinsett Hotel as the Catering Sales Manager and couldn't be more excited to go to work each day! I am actually using my degree in Travel and Tourism and loving the sales aspect of it. Chris is working very hard and is extremely enthusiastic about his career as a Financial Advisor. I continue to be SO proud of him for pursuing this and finding his passion to serve others in such an important way.

I have added a little more to my plate after getting situated at the Westin. Recently, I (alongside one of my best friends, Lindsay) have embarked on another adventure of sorts. I became a Stylist for Stella & Dot. This company is truly unreal and they continue to impress me every day. Stella & Dot offers up a gorgeous high-quality jewelry line (and what's even better is that half the line is under $50)! Designers working for S&D come from careers at Marc Jacobs, Coach, Cartier, Banana Republic, etc. I had my launch party last week with my family and friends and it was truly a great time. Here are some pictures from that party! :)

 

Here I am with some of the jewels! :)

These two statement necklaces are so fun!

 

 Lindsay and I are planning a fun Fall fashion show event on August 25th at the Woman's Club complete with a fashion show, dj, cocktails, and giveaways! Let me know if you're interested and in town for it.

 

I know I need to get on the ball and not write in this blog once every 5 months, but life kinda gets in the way. I hope y'all are doing great.

 

Cheers!

 

L. Winchester

Opportunity Knocks

We have been loving our new married life! Between fixing up the house one light fixture at a time, working, hanging out with friends/family, cooking together, Netflix-ing, and church shopping, it's been a wonderful year so far.

Last week marked one full year with Erwin-Penland for me; what's even more crazy is that last week also marked my last day on the Verizon account. The opportunity arose for me to join the newest account at EP, Lennar Homes. I am very excited about this new adventure! It's like I have a brand new job altogether because I now sit in a new building and have a new team. There is truly never a dull moment in advertising.

Interestingly enough, Chris got a new job and gave his two weeks the same day I found out I was moving accounts. I am so incredibly proud of him! He started his new career today with Merrill Lynch in their training program for Financial Advising. Over the course of the next few months, he will be studying all day everyday to pass a series of exams. (Basically, getting paid to go to graduate school!) Once he has passed his exams, he will be "in production." This means that he's free to start advising! For all of you who know Chris, you know this is such a blessing and awesome opportunity. He LOVES researching markets, economies, and all that other stuff that makes the financial world tick.

On other fronts, we have been visiting churches together to find where we belong as a "family" and keep going back to 1st Pres. We have been going to a study on Wednesday nights called The Alpha Course. This is a course taught across the globe and gets down to the nitty gritty as far as Christianity is concerned. It is very informative and gives so much insight to everyone taking it: believers, non-believers and everyone in between. We have loved every minute of it and highly suggest this course if you have the chance to take it.

As far as home-making goes, we have been re-landscaping the front and back yard. It looks so different already! It's truly unreal what a little bit of mulching, transplanting, and TLC can do. I have to give Chris (and his dad, Jeff) most of the credit. He has done such a great job. I can't wait to start planting flowers in a month or so and get the garden planted again. I think I am going to do tomatoes mainly with a full herb garden. I didn't have much luck with squash or cucumber last year. Once all the plants are in, we are really looking forward to hosting parties and get-togethers this Spring and Summer. :)

That about covers most of what we have going on these days. Please pray for Chris as he goes through his training/testing. It is going to be quite a challenging process but I have all the confidence in the world that he will do great in this career. Thank you all for the support! :)

'til next time, Much LOVE!

Lauren

Oreo Snowballs

Since things are starting to wind down a bit, I guess I will finally update this thing. Here's a little recipe that I made for Christmas. These things are ridiculously good and bake free! I have to thank the mother-in-law for the recipe. We have deemed these sweet morsels "Oreo Snowballs."

Here are the ingredients you need: 1 Cream Cheese (8oz), 1 Pack of Oreos, Vanilla/White Chocolate candy block, Bakers Dark Chocolate Candy

Step 1:

With a food processor, chop and grind the entire package of Oreos completely.

Step 2:

With a handmixer, blend the cream cheese block into the processed Oreos. You will want to cover the bowl with your other hand to avoid a mess. After you have blended as much as possible with the hand mixer, use your (clean) hands to mix even more so that the mixture is like dough.

Step 3:

Over low heat in a sauce pan, heat vanilla/white chocolate candy until melted. Be careful not to get this too hot which may cause clumping or burning. Set aside once melted.

Step 4:

Roll Oreo mixture into balls and place on non stick surface. Make them small enough to be bite-sized. Use a toothpick to twirl Oreo ball into white candy. Coat entire ball with candy and place back on non-stick surface to cool. *If a hole is left from the toothpick, you can fill in the hole by dipping a clean toothpick in candy and letting it drip into the unsightly hole ;) Let these cool. You can place in the fridge for about 10 minutes or until hard.

Step 5:

Pull Oreo Snowballs out of fridge. This last step is optional but makes them even more amazing! Melt down the Bakers dipping chocolate into saucepan on low heat. Once melted, spoon chocolate into a small sandwich Ziplock bag. Use your hands to move all the chocolate into one corner of the bag. Using scissors, cut a tiny part off the corner of the bag and squeeze corner of bag to decorate the Oreo Snowballs with chocolate designs. When you are finished, let them cool again. Remove after 10 minutes or so. Here is the FINAL product!

To the left of the Oreo Snowballs, you will see I also made some Dark Chocolate Peppermint Butter Toffee (courtesy of Pioneer Woman's blog). We also added Chris' amazing Peanut Butter cookies to these tins for our neighbors and family! It was really awesome having my own kitchen this year and a fun husband to bake with.

Happy Non-Baking! :)

-L. Winchester