Happy Tuesday (Not Tasty Tuesday)

I made no exciting recipes in the last week.  Sorry.  But I have happy news!

I am exactly 50% finished my masters degree!  Woot!  I will graduate a year from now :-)

This past weekend may have been the best weekend of my life.  We bought a Christmas tree, decorated it together, decorated the house, cleaned, caught up with life, had friends over for dinner, and relaxed.  It was amazing.  I can't wait to share our Christmas-y house with you.  And I am continuing to do new stuff every day!

My Second Annual "In-Your-Dreams" Christmas List

I am not a huge fan of posting my real Christmas list.  A lot of people do it and it's fine. And of course there are realistic things that I want for Christmas.  If you want to know what they are, call me.  I don't feel like reliving my wedding registry days and posting my wish list online for all to see :-)

But I am happy to share some stuff that I really want.  Stuff that would be first on the list if I won the lottery.  Stuff that is too expensive for anything but dreams.

Yep, still want that stinkin' thing.  It was on last year's list as well.  I will only accept it in these colors.  And no stripes, please.  I might go for checkerboard mirrors.  Maybe.

A gift card worth $20,000 to IKEA.  I have an ENORMOUS wish list on hand in case I ever get to go there.  With order numbers and everything.  Yep.  I'm serious.  And yes, I have never been there.  I just know I am going to love it and want everything.

An outdoor oasis/swimming pool/maybe hot tub type of area.  We have a huge yard that would be perfect for a pool, but Josh is very against that idea.  He doesn't want to maintain a pool.  I understand that, sure.  But I want one sooo bad!

Okay.  So I don't want to attend St. Francis Xavier University (what is that anyway?).  And I'm not Thomas Roy Ignatius Robles.  But I liked the look of this diploma a lot.  And the basic point I'm trying to make is that I would like my Masters degree to be finished.  If I could buy my diploma without doing the rest of the work, I totally would.  If I had the money.

Yes, a chandelier.  Again.  We have a beautiful space at the top of our stairs which overlooks our foyer.  It's pretty cool because the two floors of our home are open.  Josh can have a conversation with me from the kitchen when I am in the home office.  It's pretty sweet.  But from outside, there is a nice window of that area and at night is is lit up beautifully and I am dying for a hang-y type chandelier like this to go there:

There are two problems with this chandelier thing.  1) All of the ones I love (and I am picky) are too expensive.  2) The current light fixture at the top of the stairs would have to be moved over about 4 feet to put the chandelier in the right place.  Not sure how we would go about doing that.  But, if you have $500-900 you would like to blow, you can buy this for me.

That's it.  I don't need too much stuff.  But there are things I love and want.  Maybe when we win the lottery.  Maybe when we start buying lottery tickets and then win the lottery.

Question:

Does anyone know what this bush/tree is?  It's the one in the back behind the hydrangeas.  It's really hard to see in this pic.  But we have lived here since June and I can't figure out.  Until recently, it has just been leaves.

 

But about a month ago, it started sprouting these buds:

 

And ever since, more and more buds are showing up!  There are probably hundreds on each bush (I have two of them).  But nothing will open!  It's been over a month.  And what kind of thing blooms in late fall/early winter?  Any ideas?  I can't figure it out.