125/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

Christmas tree bought, lights put up, going to wrap presents later – today is a fruitful day.

I’ll get some more pictures of the holiday goodness later in the week. <3

124/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

SOOC.

Went to an Ugly Sweater party tonight and had a blast!

Thanks Joe and Jamie for a wonderful evening!

Hubby and I were hangin’ outside (38 degrees!) near the firepit roasting marshmallows. I prefer mine smoldering and black, like my heart BWHAHAHAHAHHA!

123/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

This was the extent of the snow we received in Austin today. A few flurries – but very cherished flurries.

It doesn’t snow here so when it does it gets a big turn out of kids outside and people staying home. <3

I was really hoping for a snow day. The weathermen are teases.

122/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

I’m waiting. And worrying.

I hate waiting. I’m already a chronic worrier. Hubby and sister-in-law have gone out to check to see if the tenants we evicted have actually moved out. I want to make sure that my family is safe – and at home – In my arms and careful watch.

What can I say? They call me Mama Bear for a reason.

I have such mixed emotions right now. We evicted tenants right before the holidays. Crappy. But what were we supposed to do? We let them make payments due to the crappy economy and they stopped paying MONTHS ago. And now my husband is confronting them if they are still at the house – a week after they were supposed to be gone.

So I sit here. Waiting. Hoping for some good news that the tenants did leave and left the place in great condition (yeah right).

121/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

My new haircut! My most awesome friend Jamie is a hairdresser at this badass place called Urban Betty.

One of the weird things about taking self portraits is being able to be very up close and personal with… yourself lol. I am by no means "old" but I find it interesting that I can definitely tell that I am taking part in the circle of life and part of that being blemishes, laugh lines, freckles, etc.

I have laugh lines – signs that I am happy and enjoy myself daily. There is nothing better than a good hearty laugh! Another day passed in my 6 day week this week droning along in my cubicle (I may work at a video game company but it is no less cubicle-y than other places and yes, we have coffee and a watercooler). Glad to be home and about to head out to one of my bestfriend’s birthdays.

Happy birthday Devin!

Bokeh brought to you by pareeerica!

120/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

SOOC.

BRRR!

It is quite cold for Central Texas right now. Going to take a nice warm bath and settle in for the night. I have a hair appointment tomorrow and I plan on making it a day (before work lol)!

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Hey guys – if you are looking for some awesome, unique, presents for the holidays, check out my friend Kim. She does stuff like Henna, henna parties, hoops, hoop and poi lessons. Email her at kim@hennakim.com and photos here.

She is a dear friend of mine and her work is amazing. Support local!

119/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

Here I go again with the obsessive photoshopping (even though I love how this turned out).

This just makes me think of Peter Pan. "Think happy thoughts!" and BOY do I need a million of them right now!

The background was provided by D Sharon Pruitt.

Textures are can be found by Pareerica here and here.

Brushes by Obsidian Dawn, thiselectricheart, miss69-stock, bbs-brushes, and falln-stock.

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118/365, originally uploaded by Piratepenpen.

Time to vent!

And I apologize ahead of time.

Life right now is incredibly way too stressful. I’ve found myself saying, “I am way too young to be handling stuff like this.” with the afterthought of, “No. You ARE the age to be handling these things. Welcome to life.”

My husband and I are currently living in hubby’s parents old house (they moved to Delaware and unfortunately, due to the economy, had a snowball’s chance in hell with selling this house) with hubby’s sister, her husband, and her two kids. Its a 5 bedroom house. There is room to spare. THAT is not the stressful part believe it or not.

The stressful thing is that the family has several rental properties not making payments of their rent (and have not for the past few months) which may force hubby’s parents into bankruptcy and all of us out on our ass and homeless soon. This, alongside with her bah-humbug husband, things have been a bit stressful. Thinking about the fact that we are about to evict 2 people within a week and my weekends will be spent cleaning up after these terrible tenants that should have had CPS called on them is NOT an exciting thought. However, family is family and we all need to pitch in during these tough times.

So hubby and I went shopping today for some of the most annoying and obnoxious Christmas decorations we could find. The house needs it. It is too damn depressing and even though I am not remotely religious, we needed some damn Christmas cheer. So after candystriping all the pillars in the house, adding lighted garland to the banisters, I feel a little better about being at home and I think the kids were positive about it as well.

It is a good distraction.

The song of the night. LOVE IT.