My weekend in pictures: holiday edition

At the risk of sounding like a total scrouge, I will confess that Christmas isn't exactly my thing. I don't even have a Christmas tree this year, however I did manage to send out Christmas cards and my friends have done a pretty good job of trying to get me into the spirit.

This weekend was full of holiday parties: my best friends work party at a local brewery, a tacky Christmas sweater party, a gift exchange/brunch with some of my favorite girlfriends, and a 'fabulous' party at my friend Micheal's gallery. My body is seriously paying for the endless consumption of wine I indulged in over the weekend, and water has never tasted so gooooood.

[01] eating dinner on my counter top, because i sold my kitchen table and bar stools without really thinking that whole thing through. [02] i spent the whole day in bed Saturday with this handsome guy. [03] my tacky sweater... i like it because Santa's black. [04] all of the pretty gifts at our Christmas brunch. [05] a glass blowing demonstration at Micheal's party last night -- I got the be the volunteer and even got to help blow the glass! [06] at Michael's with some of my favorite neighbors!

Are you in the holiday spirit yet? I can't believe Christmas is Sunday -- are you kidding me?

happy christmas!

If I can just make it until 4 o'clock. . .

[link.]

. . . I will be *officially* on VACATION until January 4, 2011!

[From one Christmas Vacation obsessed watcher to, hopefully, another...]

Have the hap, hap, happiest (hopefully snow-filled) Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f-ing Kaye!

tacky christmas sweaters

I love this time of year mostly for one reason: Themed Parties. And this weekend we hosted our very own Tacky Christmas Sweater Party, which was a huge success [if I do say so myself!]. We were able to squeeze nearly thirty people into our little loft, and the sweaters people showed up in were epic!

I also managed to do a little baking for the party. We had M&M Cookies, Brownies, Wings, Homemade meat balls [Sean is the master of these!], chicken fingers, and my personal favorite... roasted pecans -- I am pretty sure these are a new Christmas staple in our house! {Special thanks to my bff Brittany for bringing reeses peanut butter cookies and pepermint bark -- YUM!!!!!}



...and of course I had to make red & green jello shooters.... close to fifty of them! Don't you just love a good jello shot?

Yesterday we spent out Sunday relaxing. Sean was basically super-husband of the year and cleaned up the entire loft [about 10 garbage bags full of trash] while I snuggled on the couch and watched television. I did go pick us up subs though, and we loooove subs in this family! He also made homemade chicken vegetable soup, which I kid you not is to-die-for.

The pups partied hard... they did not move an inch the entire day...

Best of all, I woke up this morning to a winter wonderland! [well, almost]. Such a great way to end an amazing weekend with some of my very best friends in all of Richmond, VA.

can you believe i can usually see the city scape from this angle! it's too cloudy to see past the river... love it!

This week I am looking forward to four holiday parties...... can you believe Christmas is right around the corner?

getting into the christmas spirit:

It takes me a while to really get into the ''Christmas Spirit''. The only good thing that comes from this is that I'm constantly trying to find creative ways to prepare myself for the big day. This usually means watching Home Alone and Christmas Vacation 34901275189750894 times a day, which who can really complain about that?

So this weekend I decided to go into Christmas-Spirit-Over-Load and started the second I left work on Friday. I spent the night cutting out paper snow flakes, baking cookies, cleaning, and putting up our decorations. Then Saturday we had our very first snow of the season!!! Sunday was the best, though... we had lunch with Sean's parents and then went to pick out our Christmas tree! [We always get a real tree, because the smell its a sure fire way to feel all warm and fuzzy inside] We decorated while listening to Christmas music & sipping beers, had dinner, then watched more Christmas movies. Oh, did I mention the puppies relazed on the couch in their Christmas Pajama's while we hung ornaments and lights? Yes. They love this holiday, too!

Our tree... and of course our Charlie Brown tree &

lots of candles...

Sean hanging lights...

Stockings for Me, Sean, Samson, Pete & Imogen...

do you have stockings for your pets??

Abird in our tree, for good luck...

The official 2008 White House ornament...

Sean is really proud of this one :)

Vintage ninja turtle decoration... from when Sean was little...

What gets you in the

holiday spirit??

i love holidays

This week has been awesome. Normally, the Christmas-stuff-out-the-moment-Halloween-ends really annoys me... but this year, I am already full of the Christmas spirit. My husband and I spent our entire Sunday making cookies, watching Christmas Movies and drinking eggnog {which, in case you were wondering, is the nastiest thing that has ever passed my lips!}. This morning, I sat here at my desk and completed my Christmas List -- I totally know what I'm getting almost everyone and I'm so lucky to be able to afford awesome gifts this year!

{Sean, if you're reading this.... get ready to pee your pants this year!!}

Usually, not gonna lie.... I'm a bit of a scrooge. Family gatherings make me nervous and spending large quantities of cash on gifts makes my heart race in an i'm-gonna-have-a-heart-attack kind of way. But this year is gonna be different! I can feel it!

Here are some things I am absolutely looking forward to:

[1.] Blue Christmas Lights

[2.] Snow {please, please, please let us get snowed in again this year!!!}

[3.] Knitted Socks and Mittens

[4.] Cookies + Milk, in large quantities

[5.] Silent, Cold Air {the kind where you feel like you're the only one around for milesssss}

[6.] Tacky Decorations... everywhere you turn!

[7.] Dressing my doggies up in ridiculously themed costumes

[8.] Snuggling on the couch watching movies

[9.] Tacky Sweaters

[10.] Starbucks Lattes....every. single. day. {ok... this ones sort of a fantasy....maybe not every day...}



Oh yeah, I'm also looking forward to Thanksgiving! This is the first time in 6 years that I get to eat a real, actual turkey! No more crazy looks for bringing out my tofurkey!



Are you in the holiday spirit yet?!