'Tis the Season

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday! We opened our gifts to each other at our house in the morning, then headed over to my parents for brunch to exchange with them, my sister and her boyfriend. Nothing feels more like Christmas than being at your parents house. However, My hubby and I were busy busy this year, we hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner at our house this year. We usually spend it at my parents house, but my Mum's oven died a couple of weeks ago so she couldn't get any cooking done there. My Mum helped me by prepared the side dishes - sweet potatoes souffle and sweet corn casserole - and we got the turkey and the desserts ready. It was so much fun, and what a great excuse to get our new fine china out!

I got some great gifts from my hubby and my family. Just to name a few of my favorites, my hubby got me this cute shawl collar fleece sweatshirt from J.Crew. It is so comfortable.



J.Crew's Rivington leather boots. I can never find any that fit my freakishly small calves, but these really worked. And its a nice comfortable, low kitten heel.



My Mum and Dad got us our Kitchenaid mixer. I love it, and can't wait to start using it. Well, actually, after the holidays, I can wait a little while. :)

Our Christmas night was spent playing Wii and then the guys staying up until 2 a.m. playing Playstation 3. What is it with guys and their games? It doesn't matter how old they are. I must admit, I do love the Wii. It's a work out too!

While the boys were playing, I was obsessively reading my new book. I am a huge fan of the author Emily Giffin. It started with my love for Something Borrowed, followed by Something Blue. But on Christmas Eve I bought myself an early present, Giffin's 3rd book, Baby Proof. I am really enjoying it. I really feel like Giffin knows me because she writes just like I think. I understand that she is in the middle of writing her fourth book. How great would that be to work for someone as fabulous as Emily Giffin? She lives here in Atlanta, so if anyone knows her, I've got a resume ready. :)

I've decided that since the writer's strike has taken away all of my favorite shows, I am going to stock up on some cute, fun books. If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

3 Months Down, a Gazillion to Go.....

Today is my 3 month wedding anniversary. Cheesy, and a little premature to celebrate an anniversary I know, but what a great time to reflect and be thankful. So we've made it a quarter of a year, and here's to the rest!

Cheers, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Chuck Norris is my Homeboy

Last weekend was a crazy, whirlwind of holiday parties, but the big event was my sister's graduation. We are so proud. The ceremony was LONG, but fun, since our whole family was there.

My husband has decided to grow out his facial hair since it is finally starting to get cold in Georgia. I kept thinking that he reminded me of someone and then, it hit me. Chuck Norris! Ah!
Now all I can think of are those Chuck Norris facts . The resemblance is kind of scary.

Me and my sis at her graduation

My hubby (AKA Chuck Norris), my sis and her beau at graduation.

My poor Mum's oven died (only 2 years old-ridiculous) on Thursday just in time for the graduation party on Sunday! It was horrible timing. So my hubby and I helped out by making the desserts. I made a 3 layer Mandarin Orange Cake (recipe still to come my first layered cake) and owl cup cake that I found on Tres Poshe Preppy's blog a few months ago. Since my sister's university's mascot are the fighting owls, I made fighting owl cupcakes! They were a HUGE hit. Thanks TPP!

Image of the owl cupcake's from Land o Lakes website

Happy Friday!

I don't know about anyone else, but this has been a really long work week. It's like senioritis in high school, the weeks before Christmas break seem to last forever. So to pass the time, I of course, have been shopping online!

While checking out Etsy this week, I fell in love with the doggie-inspired gifts at Art4Milkbones. The artist creates ornaments, door hangings you name it in a variety of dog breeds. But if you don't see your breed, they will do their best to create a gift to match your own pup!

I am starting out with the dog leash holder below to look like my German Short-haired Pointer, Trico. (Although I do have two dogs, I figured Trico is 10, has paid her dues and deserves her own personalized doggie leash holder!)

I have also asked that they make 2 ornaments for my tree for next year, one lab and one pointer:

I love this sign:

The artist is so easy to work with, she asked that I send her pictures so that she can recreate the look of my dogs in the leash holder and the ornaments. I can't wait to see them!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and gets all their shopping done! 11 days til Christmas day....but it's still 70 degrees here.....

MyAgenda Update Part Deux

I got my new agenda in the mail last night! I changed the color since I thought that the blue was a little too sparkly for my taste. So I ordered the brown, which I love because it's really a copper color. But I did receive some interesting information. I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that the MyAgenda was designed for.....duh, duh, duh.....teenagers!! I was perusing their website when I read here that it actually was designed for teenagers. "As you search for internships, fill out college applications, hang with your girls and dream of that perfect prom date, support to keep it all straight is essential. But what's a teenage girl, too old for a diary, too young for a Blackberry, to do?"

I couldn't help but giggle at myself.

But I really love it. It really does have a page for everything that I need. And I may not be too young for a blackberry, but I am too broke for one, so MyAgenda will work for now. :)

Night at the Symphony

On Friday, my hubby and I went to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with my great friend D to see the annual Christmas performance. D's boyfriend sings for the ASO so they were sweet enough to get us tickets. It was amazing and so much fun. Music has been a huge part of my life - singing in church choirs, school choir and all-state chorus. I really miss singing all of my favorite Christmas classics. The Morehouse College Glee Club guest sang with the ASO singers and were so moving that I had goose bumps. You can really tell that they put their heart into their singing which is so refreshing to see. Even my hubby, who I knew was ready to go when we walked in the door, was getting into it. He was a good sport though.

We did have an interesting experience while we were there. The man sitting next to us, I don't know if he has a sinus problem or what, but I swear it sounded like he was snoring while he was awake! It was so distracting! And when I looked in his direction to find out WHAT THAT HORRIBLE NOISE was coming from his direction, he looked at me like, what is your problem? Someone needs to get their deviated septum fixed. Anyone had a similar experience?

After the symphony we went to Murphy's for dinner. I got the grouper with mashed potatoes. The grouper was delicious, but my potatoes tasted like something out of a box. I find that really frustrating when your meal isn't cheap to begin with. But the ambiance and my glass of wine was fantastic as usual. :)

More importantly (haha), I loved what I wore! I wore my sort-of new J.Crew Sarah Keyhole dress. I got it in August, but had never had the right opportunity to wear it. I got it in black, and it looks very classic. I also wore my gorgeous champagne colored silk wrap from Ann Taylor. It was so mild, we didn't even need a jacket. I can't believe it's December and 70 degrees here. Crazy.

And thank you so much to Allie at Chic for helping me find a picture of the back! This is the wrong color, again I have in black, but just so everyone has an idea.

The front:



And my favorite part, the back:


Sarah Keyhole Silk Faille Dress

MyAgenda Update

I called MomAgenda and they are sending me a brand new one - and this time in brown. They were so nice, and accomodating, I almost bought more from them.

So, I got my agenda.....

And I love it, but I got it personalized and they spelled my first name wrong! I am so sad. I couldn't wait to get started. But, the actually agenda is really cute and looks very useful. I also got the sapphire and it's kind of juvenile looking in real life. But again, I really love the inside, it has a section for everything - birthdays, finances, expenses - you name it MyAgenda's got it. Hopefully the next go around will work out better. Fingers crossed......

One Christmas Task Down......

Yesterday, I was reading my usual blogs when I found myself at The Preppy Wedding blog. I have to give her full credit for helping me find my Christmas cards for this year! One of my husbands passions is his fly fishing, so I saw that Mrs. Preppy Wedding had posted some Christmas cards by LookyLoo on Etsy with fly fishing on it. So I kept looking around at all of Lookyloo's letterpress and found this adorable pointer holiday card! Now that is one thing that my husband loves more than his fly fishing, it's his german short-haired pointer, Trico, also recognized at our house as the first born. Thanks again, Mrs. Preppy Wedding and thank you Lookyloo!

I Now Feel Ready for 2008

I have just purchased my calendar for 2008! Well actually, I bought it, but my hubby is going to give it to me for Christmas (this is the only time I am doing that I promise). I read on some one's blog a while ago how much they loved their MomAgenda calendar. Since I am a newly wed and not a Mommy just yet, I kind of threw that idea out. Until I discovered that they make one for not-quite-yet Mom's, the MyAgenda. Since I love to personalize everything, I got it embossed with my name at the bottom. The website shows it in brown, but I got it in sapphire. And even better, it was 15% off. It doesn't matter how much it costs, there is something about a discount that makes the purchase that much sweeter. I can't wait until its delivered!




Oh, and thank you to Tres Poshe Preppy for teaching me how to link! ha ha :)