Photos from My Phone - January 2015 Edition

It's been a long while since I've done a "Photos from my Phone" post and since there's a whole lotta nothing going on right now, I figured this would be as good a time as any to post a few. 

I'm going to start with some photos from New Year's Eve. I set up a "photo booth" of sorts for the New Year's Eve party my parents and I hosted. The booth was basically just a large frame wrapped in Christmas lights and I had some props to go along with it. Truth be told, I think I should have gotten a larger frame, but hindsight is 20/20 they say. So, without further adieu, here are some photos from the New Year's Eve Photos Booth. 

Me and Brooke

 Me and my Grandmamma

My parents 

 Brooke and Bennett

 My Grandmamma and Naaman

My Grandmamma and my dad

This past year's New Year's Eve party was a return to the parties of my youth when my parents hosted their friends. We brought back all the old traditions which included a door prizes winner each hour. The midnight prize of a homemade sweatshirt made it's triumphant return. My mom used to make these each year and this year was my first shot. Sadly, I put an apostrophe where one need not be, but I suppose that just gives the shirt character. My friend Leah was the lucky winner of this shirt. I'm hoping she'll drag it for the next party and keep the tradition alive. 

Christmas to me just isn't the same without a Red Velvet Cake. When I was a kid, my Aunt Juanita made Red Velvet Cake at Christmas and I would often call her to be sure she was bringing it. It was probably one of my favorite things about the holidays. Now that I've taken over most of the cooking, I always make sure we have a Red Velvet Cake to enjoy - this is more for my benefit than any one else. This year, it had been raining and raining and raining and was still raining on Christmas Eve. If you're a baker, then you know that baking on a rainy day can sometimes be disastrous and that was certainly the case this past Christmas Eve when I tried to turn my cakes out of the pan. I ended up with a big ole pile of Red Velvet mess. Most of it was still eaten though and it did taste good which I suppose was the main point anyway. 

This next picture was taken on Christmas day as my dad was trying to pose for a picture with Pip. Clearly Pippa wasn't having it and the look on my dad' face cracks me up. Maybe we'll have better luck next time. 

The night of my knee surgery, I ended up with a house full of people, an impromptu party of sorts which was super nice and loads of fun. At one point, we put Pippa in the bedroom so we could all eat dinner. Up until this point, she had never bothered the Christmas tree and so it was a little surprising (and then again not) when she trampled under the tree and over presents to try and get back to us in the main room. I think my dad got a better picture than I did, but this is the one I have on my phone. Thankfully no presents were broken and all trees remained upright throughout the excitement. 

The last photo for today is of a Nothing Bundt Cake that some co-workers gave me a couple of days before my surgery. I'm really blessed to have such a great group of friends no matter where I go in life. 

That's it for this month's edition of "Photos from my Phone". I'm sure I have a lot more I can share, but I'll save those for another time.