Girls Day and Catching Fire

Saturday morning, my mother, sisters, nieces, and sister's mother-in-law grabbed lunch at a 50's diner and then headed to the Arlington Heights Racetrack Craft Show!

 

I purposely didn't bring a lot of cash with me because I wasn't planning on buying much...

Boy, was I wrong!

 

Our first stop, my sister and I fell in love with these signs!

They only had one left, so my sister snatched it.

Good thing, because I didn't have enough cash and their credit card machine was down.

Well...  Then the clerk told me that they can sell me the display one.

My sister stepped up and offered to lend me the money so I can get it, too!

 

(I love her so much!)

 

So, here we are with our poles! ;)

(What would have made this photo more awesome is if I stuck with my original outfit of the day... My sister and I would have matched to a "T"!   I had the same sweater on, in navy, my fleece leggings on and my boots... But I became too warm!  Great minds, nonetheless!  And my niece and I rocked the braided pigtails!  All unplanned!)

During our trips down each aisle, we stumbled across this sweet, old man.  He is the author of this book, The Christmas Santa had No Beard.  He was selling the books and signing them, too.  He went on to sell us his spool, but I already told him I was sold. ;)  He was just too darn cute!

When he found out he was making the book out to my husband and I, he laughed and was so happy to see some "big kids".  I haven't read the book yet, but I cannot wait!

[H M Bricker stated that he was inspired to write this story when his grandson saw a Mall Santa without his beard and screamed, "Santa's a fake!".  Later that day, when they returned home, they turned on the television and there were a bunch of Santas selling things with no beard... H M Bricker, aka Gramps, had no explanation on why...  Well, now he does!]

 

 

I think I told him here that I liked older men, too.. He he!

 

Random items that made me smile:

 

Some other purchases we made that day:

My sister's snitch necklace!

 

My pocket watch necklace:

(Kind of reminds me of Catching Fire)

 

 

Later that evening, as we parted ways, my niece wanted me to come to Kohls with her.  So, I tagged along with my sister and her family to the mall.

At this point, my sister and I were exhausted!  But we kept trucking away!

 

I was glad, though.  I had so much fun with my nephew and niece.

 

This handsome fellow always wanted to hold my hand and stay by my side.  We talked about cutting paper (his newest hobby), and we giggled and joked and blew kisses in the food court as we caught them and slapped them on our cheeks.

 

My niece and I squealed over all the cute things we saw in Claire's, and Brayden was right there with us saying the same thing!  Te-hehehehe.

 

By the time we got back to their place, it was way past MY bedtime.

 

I do have to smile though, at our last stop, Target (of course!), when us girls continued shopping, the boys stayed and waited in the car.  While they waited, this cutie exclaimed to Daddy that when we got home, he was going to cut paper with me!  Shortly after he stated that, he was zonked out. :)

I had the pleasure of tucking him in when we returned home.  He melts my heart!

 

Sunday came along and I actually slept in for once!  And by sleeping in, I mean by getting out of bed at 8:30 a.m.  (I'm an early riser.)

 

I enjoyed my morning, listening to Christmas music, drinking my coffee,

and doing some daily chores.

 

Finally, I became inpatient and woke the husband up.

We had plans to go see Catching Fire, and this would have been the third attempt! 

I didn't want to miss my chance!

 

We scurried out the door and headed to the theaters.  We bought our tickets and then planned to do a little shopping, but we ended up staying in the theaters for the hour before the show started since the roads were slippery yesterday.

 

The movie was absolutely amazing!  And during the previews, I saw Divergent!  I have yet to read that series, but my niece asked me last week if we can have a book club, starting with that book.  So, I'm pretty stoked!  I have till March 2014!  I got this!

 

Anyway, Catching Fire...

Wow...

I wanted to return right back into the theaters and watch it again!

But, this time, I will bring tissues...

I must have held my tears back five times!

Some were unsuccessful and the tears fell.

Sigh...

Well played, Catching Fire, well played!

It was amazing!

 

(No spoilers here!  My niece hasn't even finished the book yet!  Shhh!)

 

After the movie, my husband and I trucked through the beautiful snow and headed to a few shops to complete our Christmas shopping.

 

 

We are so close to finishing, it would be nice just to be done already!

 

 

Rocked my adorable beret my mother-in-law bought me a few years back:

 

 

We had a wonderful day...  I held him close, and though he thought it was out of love, it was so I didn't slip, HA HA!  (I slipped so many times!)

 

Oh, I love that man...

 

As Ellen said to Garth Brooks, he's the one my soul wants to be with and I'm extremely

lucky for that!