A Very Good Year: 2010 Edition

It's hard to count your blessings with a year full of trips, weddings, baby announcements, birthday parties, reunions, holidays, new relationships, sporting events, concerts and everything else in between. Last year I took a look through my photos and realized that things had been good to me. Fast forward to another year recap and you'll find me thinking the same thing. God is good in all things and I never want to underestimate that. Praises for 2010 and all the hope for a joyful 2011.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

love,

Kristen

Merry Christmas Week!

I hope that wherever you are you're gearing up for a wonderful holiday full of family, food, and the birth of Christ Jesus. Whether you're sitting on a patio enjoying this Indian Summer or ice scraping your way our of your driveway, I wish you the merriest.

dreamy holiday decor at The Ritz-Carlton Dallas

Glenwick Trimmings

Things are festive over in the halls of Glenwick. You walk in the door and get greeted by the smell of fresh pine and that's when you are reminded of the time of year when the fireplace hasn't cooled in over a month and the cider is waiting to be warmed in the kitchen. Megan even got crafty over the weekend and found a cute place for all of our Christmas cards. So far, our cozy little home has been graced by a few festive events and now we're just waiting for you to come over...

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches!

Bucket List

I cannot tell you how eventful this past week has been. For one, I turned 26. It finally happened, I hit the ripe old age of 2-6 and it feels good. In all of my days, I have never felt so loved. My friends, co-workers, family and boyfriend spared nothing in making me feel like the most blessed girl ever and I cannot get over how thankful I am to have each of them in my life. Anyway, I will save all of those special celebrations for another post... but for now, I want to share with you the biggest news of my 26th year (so far) and that is my completion of the MetroPCS 2010 Dallas White Rock 1/2 marathon. For those of you that know me well...yes, I am serious.

You heard me – I completed, ran every step, finished, a 13.1-mile course. Because, hey, nothing says "26" like running half of your age...

This, coming from the girl that as of June 1st could not successfully run one mile without stopping and/or whining. My two crazy friends and I started training in the earlier part of September and have wrestled with training fatigue, ailing bodies and all-around frustration. We have each held each other up when the other didn’t want to be prodded along and have let other “helpers” encourage us along the way. I, personally, sought special treatment from a certain someone (read: Brad) that slowed down their pace by 3 minutes per mile, listened to me complain (specifically, "I hate this.") and continued to feed me positive encouragement in spite of it. I mean, I wouldn’t even deal with myself!

All of this to say, the three of us embraced the "race culture," worked through the cold and ran home to victory. I think we all felt a sense of accomplishment that was bigger than imagined and agreed that it was well worth it. I've never taken the chance to push myself to a point where I could actually take pride in it and yesterday, when I laid my head on my pillow, I felt like I had earned it. I had earned a small bit of affirmation and an even larger belief in the fact that I can really do anything if I set my mind to it. So much of this goal was a mental hurdle and it feels good to have scaled it. To those of you that helped, cheered, and encouraged – thank you! I couldn’t have done this without any of you and my heart swells when I think of yesterday and all of your sweetness...

And so here we are - a few pics* to prove it!

The ladies of the O Chorral - Alyssa, me, Amy and Rebecca

The best of our amazing cheering section!

(Dave, Brad, Michelle, Bailey, Katie, Kate, Leah** & Sidney** - we love you!)

(such a great sign)

*Please note, this will be the last (and only) time that I am featured in Spandex on this site. That is all.
**Not pictured.

Who What Wear

Who What Wear is a fashion website that sends out daily emails of style boards featuring current trends, must-haves, and the latest celeb looks. I always enjoy popping them open and taking a look at what they deem "worthy" of today's trends. Typically, it's a compilation of outfits that I could never afford and/or pull off without looking like a confused version of my everyday self. Anyway, all of this to say that I opened today's email to discover that I actually love their suggestion, however, should I be concerned that I most closely identify with the "Alpha Mom" style?

Oh, hi 26...nice to meet you.

This is the life

Well hello, December! I decided to take an unintentional November hiatus and now I'm back. Today has been such a wonderful day! I have been showered with love from all corners of my life on my 26th day of birth and I couldn't be happier. The Lord has blessed me with some nearest and dearest and if today is any indication of how the rest of my year will turn out then I'll take it.

Things have been great lately. Thanksgiving was as restful as I need it to be, work has been steady and everyone is healthy - praise the Lord. I get so excited on the 1st of December (for obvious reasons) because it marks the beginning of Christmas. Lights, trees, cheer, music - it's all so wonderful. So in an effort to kickoff the holidays right here on K&Co., I have decided to share with you this incredible video. There is no other place in the world that displays Christmas cheer like my beloved NYC (you like how I just took ownership there?) and this perfectly captures just one of the elements. If you haven't gotten yourself in front of a window display at Bergdorf Goodman then you need to. Visually, they are the most incredible things you've ever seen. The talent, creativity and execution can truly make you marvel. Anyway, I've often wondered how much goes into one single display and this little video captures how it's done. True to fashion - it doesn't disappoint.

Can anyone say - dream job?