One of my favorite hobbies!

Well, the holiday season is in full swing!  That means shopping (thankfully, I got mine done a couple of weeks ago), eating and parties!  I love parties.  I love planning parties, I love hosting parties, I love attending parties.  Mastering the art of being a charming hostess is a trade Southern women excel at. It's in our blood.  And nothing makes me more excited than planning a good party!

My good friend, Monica, and I even tried to start a party planning business as a little side thing.  We named it Southern Soirees.  We planned a baby shower and it was wonderful!  But neither of us feels comfortable charging people and it just never took off.  Maybe someday.... :)

Now on the horizon, I have Monica's gender reveal party coming up that I'm helping her plan.  She is having her third child and it is so exciting!  She already has one girl and one boy, and this third one will be so loved!  Jared thinks it's a boy.  I think he just didn't want to wear pink to the party!  I think it's a girl based on some recent mythbusting.

Then I have my annual cookie swap party!  It's the 3rd year and I could not be more excited!  The first year, it was all super organized.  I had little plastic totes, printed up recipe books before-hand and had a milk station.  Last year, I was pregnant and tired and was lucky to even bake mine!  But this year, OCD party planner is back!  And we are going to have a hot chocolate beverage bar with homemade hot chocolate!

Our sweet friends Justin and Carrie are having their first baby in March, a boy named William!  So I get to plan my favorite kind of party-a baby shower!   Have some sweet ladies as co-hostesses, so it will definitely be a fun time!  With Pinterest out there now, the possibilities are endless for baby showers!

And then we have the big one......Jared's 30th birthday party.  When did we get this old?!?  I was trying to think of things that were Jared's style.  He is super laid back, dry sense of humor and wouldn't want a big to-do.  So I decided on a party focused on chili and beer!  He loves both and I think a chili bar in January/February sounds wonderful! 

I haven't forgotten about my RAK Experiment!  I just have been out of town and unable to really sit down and focus on blogging about the various days!  I still did RAK's, just while traveling and throughout the state, and need to get caught up on them!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

RAK Experiment: Day 4

Ahh, Day 4's RAK.  Probably one of my very favorite so far!  I saw online where you could put together a shoe box, or similar small container, for Operation Christmas Child.  You get a box, decide if it will be a boy or girl box and which age group.  They have 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14. I decided a 5-9 year old girl would be pretty fun to shop for and went with it!

Target was an ideal place to shop because of the kids craft supplies section and their dollar section with toys that would be small enough to fit in the container.  I got a coloring book, markers, crayons, colored pencils, a yo-yo, Slinky, bracelets, squishy ball, toothbrush, toothpaste, pencil bag, socks, stationery set, watercolors!  It was so much fun!  I put it together, filled out the label, rubber banded it and tomorrow will drop it off at a local church for distribution.  You can even go online and track your package around the globe!

After doing this, I told Jared this is definitely going to be a Simpkins family tradition!  When Tucker is older, I can't wait to go shopping for what we can put in the box for the child to receive!  I'll keep you posted on where our box ends up, I can't wait to see!

RAK Experiment: Day 3

I am thoroughly enjoying my RAK experiment!  I hope it inspires others to do the same and inspires me to continue it every single day, not just for 30 days.  The feeling you get when you help someone else, especially around the holidays, is amazing.  I wish I could bottle that feeling and sell it.  (Or maybe give it away since that's the whole purpose!)  I'm pretty sure it would be similar to hot chocolate. :)

RAK Day 3 consisted of paying for someone else's coffee in the Starbucks line.  When I went through the drive thru today to get my venti iced caramel brulee latte, I was ready for some caffeine and energy!  Tucker decided 3am would be a fun time to start the day and of course, he picked one of my designated nights to do so.  So by 6pm, I was more than ready for some shots of espresso!  When the cashier told me the total and asked for my money, I gave him my $20 bill and said "oh and please add the person behind me".  Can I just admit that I was hoping it wasn't like a mini-van full of church ladies or a traveling Greyhound bus or something?  I mean, it was dark outside so I couldn't see into the car behind me and all I had on me was that $20!

I hope it brought joy to the person behind me and maybe they paid it forward right then by paying for the person's coffee behind them in line! 

RAK Experiment: Day 2

It's Thanksgiving week!!  Usually, my parents come to our house for most of the week and we prepare a feast much too large for 4 people.  This year, they weren't able to take much time off work, so we decided to do Thanksgiving the weekend before. 

The one dessert they request every year is pumpkin cheesecake.  It's award winning, and my dad will not hesitate to tell you so!  I won 2nd place a couple of years ago in the Benton Old Fashioned Day Festival Cake Contest.  I have the little mini trophy in a drawer in my kitchen as proof!  It's the little things in life.....

The cheesecake itself is not difficult, but takes alot of time since it's made from scratch.  You have to cook it for a little over an hour, then transfer it (roasting pan and all) to a rack for 45 minutes, then take it out of the springform pan and let sit for 3 hours, and so on and so on! 

Thursday night was my night with the baby since Jared and I alternate so that it's fair since we both work full-time.  Luckily, Tucker has slept straight through the night since about 6 weeks old, so really it just involves getting up a little earlier than usual since he seems to be quite the morning person!  So I had been up since 4:15 am.  Had gone to work all day, gone to pick up Tuck from daycare and then come home and made dinner while I "single-mom"ed it until about 8pm when Jared made it home from work and my parents arrived from out of town.  So naturally, what do I do then?  Go to sleep, take a hot bath, relax?  Nope! RAK #2-make my parents their favorite Thanksgiving dessert for our huge feast! 

I missed today since we were home cooking, preparing, eating and cleaning!  So tomorrow is two RAK's in one day!  Stay tuned!

RAK Experiment: Day 1

What is a RAK?  It's a Random Act of Kindness.  Through Junior Auxiliary, I met a friend named Karla.  She has three little ones (and another on the way) and would always post things on Facebook showing her and the kiddos doing RAK's.  It is amazing!  What a powerful lesson to teach your children: giving back.  It's a lesson I want Tucker to learn 100%!  When he gets old enough, I'm going to have him go with me when I volunteer at various places.  I want him to not only help others, but be excited to do so and seek out ways of doing so. 

So Karla inspired me!  I thought, "I need to do more RAK's for people".  Just simple ways to brighten someone's day.  So today I began 30 Days of RAK's!  I will do one each day and post them on the blog for you to enjoy!

Each month, we have a department head meeting at work.  It's bright and early at 8am and for alot of people, it means rushing to work a couple of minutes early to get in there before it starts, maybe not grabbing breakfast before you leave for work.  So today, I picked up two dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to take! 

Trashy Update

Whew, looks like it's about time for an update! 

Our sweet baby boy, Tucker Stewart Simpkins, arrived on June 12, 2012 via c-section.  20 1/2 inches long and 8 lbs 7 ounces of perfection!  He is our everything!  He is amazing and watching him grow and change each day is awesome.  He is constantly smiling and laughing and is just a generally happy baby.  When Jared and I aren't with him, we are talking about him or sharing pictures of him or wondering what he is doing at the moment.  We are obsessed with this sweet boy!

And all in all, life is really and honestly awesome right now.  Work is going great for the both of us, we have seen our families tons since June since now they have a super cute reason to come visit!, and we are still active and try to stay involved as much as possible. 

This blog got put on the back burner almost a year ago, so I'll try to do better!  :)