The Most Magical Time of Year

Bonjour! I have not died! I am alive and well, though rather exhausted. The past few days have been non-stop go go go and while I've loved seeing everyone and exchanging gifts and eat way too much yummy food, I'm ready to take a break! How about you?

The short little break from the blog felt nice, I won't lie. And it might extend just a wee bit more [or at least be a little lighter] due to the fact I have to drop my trusty ol' MBP off at the Apple store tomorrow to have a new keyboard installed. The traffic will be a nightmare... I know. Hopefully it'll just take a few days though. Please let me have it by the new year! I'll be working anyhow, so it might not matter, but still. I'll have Mike's macbook but I can't do too much on it!

I have so many blogs to catch up on! I don't know when I'll ever find the time! Don't worry, I'll be dropping around you're little slice of the blogosphere soon! Hohenwald doesn't even have 3G phone service so I didn't read much Twitter or post anything via Instagram. Sheesh! I felt so disconnected!



Excuse the crazy lighting. Even Photoshop couldn't help the bright yellow cast lighting from my Nana's house! Haha I really love the Christmas season. I love the hustle and bustle, the endless pondering of thoughtful presents, the hot chocolate and full breakfasts, the family you can't really stand any other time of the year [kidding! Sort of!], etc. It's a great way to cap off the year. Then a week later you get to vow to never drink soda again or never run through the drive-thru, etc... Perfect timing!

I spent Friday baking and crafting, so when Mike got home from work around 5 we could load up the car and girls then head to my parents'. Of course we didn't leave until 6:30 but that was fine. We snuggled in, watched Love Actually, slept and woke up to presents. We had breakfast, opened our goodies, and then went back to sleep for two hours. Then we woke up, went to my Nana's, stayed for quite some time, ate a late lunch, opened presents, went home, Mom cooked, stepdad's family came over, ate again, exchanged presents! Phew! Oh did I mention we had a white Christmas for the first time in 17 years?! Yes! That never happens in Tennessee! Well it was great until Christmas night when we were supposed to drive the 2 hours north to pick up Toby. The interstate was shut down, parties being a little less than cooperative, etc. Luckily at 8:30pm we had the "OK" to go. The roads were okay until the Franklin area. Then they were awful. We managed to pick up Toby and head back south for the 2 hour drive [again] when we got stuck on an overpass while asking if a stuck car needed our help [but we worked our way out], then in front of our house in Spring Hill we hit ice on a bridge and went all over the road. Luckily Mike regained control and we managed home without incident. But it was scary!

We put Toby to bed and we slept. Then we woke up this morning, opened his presents with my parents, had breakfast and headed south to Mike's parents'. We opened presents there then ate a late lunch, rested around, and finally headed home. Here we are! I hate throwing so much into just one little post but honestly, I wouldn't have time otherwise to even update about it!

We're keeping Toby for a few days and I'm so excited! Lots of toys to play with! I love having him around!

Now a ton of photos! [I'll put most after the jump!]

Me & my little cousin Kaylie

Lacey Lou Anne

Toby and Grammy Terri

Pip and Baby G

My two favorite boys ever!

Tuckered out. Presents take a lot out of a kid!

We got Mike's dad an assortment of Bulldog presents this year

Terri and Mike's sister Laine

Miss Abby

Toby and Mike's dad

Overall, Christmas 2010 was a success! I'll definitely share more about what I snagged for Mike this year and what I got, too. But for now, we'll focus on what the holidays are all about: family! xo

How was your holiday?!

My Milk Toof Christmas

Merry Merry Christmas Eve! Do any of you follow the adventures of Ickle and Lardee at My Milk Toof? If not, you should! I love this sweet little picture of them and I've never been more taken with clay figures! Their stories are the cutest things ever and remind me so much of my little Baby G and Pipkin!

I'm baking up a storm right now and have so many presents to wrap before we venture down to my parents' house for the holiday, but I hope I can squeeze in a post or two! [Silly me didn't schedule anything! Oops! Bet you'll all be too busy loving on relatives and eating yummies to even notice! I will! ;)]

MIXTAPE MONDAY: an indie christmas.

I won't lie, I had to solicit the genius of my Tumblr followers for suggestions on what to use for this week's mix. Sadly my holiday selection of music is oh so limited. But they really pulled through! Here are some great tunes [a lot from the Target mixtape!] and I hope you love them as much as I do! I've found so many new favorites! Hooray!

PS; Sorry the player is so ugly! I chose a different one which was super cute and matched my layout but I'm having difficulties with it so I didn't want to change the colors in case I can fix it! Oof! Wish me luck!

What are some of your favorite indie Christmas covers?!

A Lil' Kick O' Khaki

This outfit was actually from Saturday, but the dress was so wrinkled I was far too embarrassed to shoot it. Instead we snapped a few photos yesterday before heading out for the day [and I changed]. On Saturday we headed to Cool Springs to try and finish [read: start] our Christmas shopping but we are so far from done. We battled the most ridiculous traffic, met up with my parents [twice!], grabbed a yummy dinner with them while they were in town and then headed to work. Sunday we ran around Spring Hill like crazy people and still accomplished very little. I do this every year... and I always swear that next year will be different! Ahh!

♥ dress: forever 21, belt: forever 21, tights: hue, flats: target, cardigan: target, bag: forever 21, coat: h&m, scarf: forever 21, headband: c/o sunshine & carousels ♥

Wish Upon A Star - Wishy Wishlist!

I typically don't ask for things for Christmas anymore. I guess I've just found myself in a place the past few years that if I want something, I'll try to work really hard to acquire it myself. There's a true sense of satisfaction that comes with finally acquiring something you worked so hard for. Of course, who will deny that they love gifts? I definitely do, but there's less room for disappointment or anything like that. Plus, I really just love going home and waking up at my Mom's house on Christmas day. Drinking a huge huge cup [read: bowl] of coffee from my favorite mug and sitting around in pajamas watching the Macy's Parade. I honestly, truly love that. But for the sake of entertainment, let's just say I had lots and lots and lots of money or all of this stuff was readily available at my fingertips [I also hate shopping online for clothes!]. If it were, this would be on my list (though I could definitely live with just the dresses!):

Cath Kidston Messenger Bag 

Cath Kidston Spray Flowers MakeUp Set

Fred Flare Goodies: 1 // 2 // 3

ModCloth Dresses: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

ModCloth Dresses: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

ModCloth Dresses: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

Mod Cloth Dresses: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

ModCloth Items: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 

And of course random giftcards for places like Amazon, Target, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, etc etc etc. But who's being picky? :P haha 

That was fun. And tiresome! And really makes me wanna go dress up! By the way, Outfit Posts will resume next week! Huzzah! I will finally have some breathing room and they shall return! Looking forward to it. I feel like I've been living very blah during the last couple weeks of school! xo

What's on your holiday wishlist?

PS; I'll be drawing a winner for the Miss Violet Lace giveaway later today! Stay tuned or submit a last minute entry if you haven't yet!

DIY WEEK BEGINS! with Instax Ornaments!

This is going to be the most simple and ridiculous DIY ever. In fact, it's simplicity barely warrants it to boast the title of a DIY. But it still does and it's a fabulous one at that. 

Basically, alll you need is: Instax Photos [or any instant photo], Ornament Hooks [purchased at Target for $2 per 100 count], and Scotch Tape!

Guess what you do now? Yep. You lay those bad boys [photos] face down, take a hook and tape that sucker right to the top center of the photo! Then you hang on your tree. and voila! The perfect use of Instax photos if you're like us [and by us I mean we have more than we know what to do with], and it's a great way to make your Christmas tree that much more special. We're in love with ours.

Told you it was simple! 

Btw, this is our first Christmas tree together! We're starting a tradition where we buy one ornament every year which represents the year in review. Perfect considering our anniversary is at the beginning of December! I'm so very excited! [And I'll share it once we finally pick it out!]

Also- Show me your Christmas trees if you've got them up! Or any other awesome holiday decor regardless of your religion! I can't wait to see! [link me to a post in your blog below, or leave image links!]

Stay tuned this week for more fun and easy DIYs to add to your holiday cheer! xo

weekend recap! (image heavy!)

so ill start off on wednesday... that night i went to my parents' house back in hohenwald. kicking off the christmas visit and all that jazz. here i am in the bathroom. thrilling, no?

i spent most of the evening just hanging out with baby G, watching tv/movies and things that i dont get to do while i'm at my own house. i especially love You've Got Mail and i watched it from start to finish without looking away. (here's fat baby G just ~chillin on the ottoman with Lacey...) Lacey is mom's shih-tzu... she pretty much hates Georgia haha


i proceeded to take a TON of photos of G while she was sleeping. she slept the entire time basically. well, when she WASN'T sleeping, she was running around like a mad woman. serious polar opposites.



this is her camping out in front of the christmas tree and waiting on santa.


her tongue will NOT stay in her mouth while she sleeps. its quite funny how it just pokes out. it gets all dry and crispy from the air... kind of like my mouth when i sleep with it open. too much info? probably. ha moving on! heres what i wore on christmas with my family.... heyyyy jessica mcclintock! i seriously love this dress. so so so so much.

outfit details:
dress: jessica mcclintock ($140)
cardigan: forever 21 ($30)
headband: same dang headband i wear in EVERY post!

we went out to my nana's house and who would've known... santa showed up! haha the little kids lovedddd it. mom played santa's little helper (sorry for the less-than-flattering photo, mom!) thats my sweet nana in the background.

every grandchild had to sit on santa's lap. it was quite humorous. this is my cousin amy. she's 8 months pregnant. crazy! look how different we are.


mike came over to my grandmother's from his parents' house about an hour away. i introduced him to everyone and he actually already knew one of my aunts and my cousin. i had totally forgotten we had gone out on the boat 3 years ago with them! crazy! we all played dirty santa (i snagged a fantastttttic cranberry candle, and mike got chutes & ladders but gave it to my little cousin kaylie) and then we headed home. my parents' went to robert's family christmas and i stayed home with mike so we could hang out, he had to leave soon anyway. he gave me my present and it was a fantastic ipod/iphone dock/charger/alarm deal. the sound is INCREDIBLE and i've been using it nonstop. after he left i turned my music up on it and i cleaned my parents' entire house. just to show a little gratitude for me staying there (i didnt get out of my pajamas at all on christmas eve so i didnt want to take advantage of their hospiality, etc). i slept and headed back to franklin saturday morning.

and some more candids of Georgia on the drive home. what can i say, i'm a proud mama!

mike met me at the house shortly after and he sat up my new computer screen/tv! look how tiny it makes my 17" macbook pro look! im in love!

after this we ate some yummy vegan spring rolls and lo mein, hung around for a bit, watched Glee and then i went to work. work was okay.. nothing major. i came home and of course mike was up in bed playing xbox haha.

and more sleeping beast...


yesterday we got up and got dressed and took G to the dog park. it was FREEZING. we had slush drinks from Sonic and i didnt even take a coat. luckily Mike had a hoodie in my car. bleh!

my new york city taxicab and my sailboat came in the mail! yay! my charm bracelet is almost full!

we ran errands, got zero some mice to eat (my snake), had a yummy italian lunch at Carrabba's, went to walmart, did all that jazz, then we came home to just kick it for a while. watched silly youtube videos, took a superrrr relaxing bubblebath and afterwards we cooked dinner. actually, mike cooked. i supervised. (read: sat on the cabinets and ate pickle sickles). we had spicy veggie blackbean burgers and some cooked veggies. my plate is on the left, his on the right. hahaha i even left like 3 veggies and he ate them. i'd call him a fat kid if they weren't all vegetables :P but it was definitely good. i'm glad he likes to cook... because i definitely dont.


then we do what we normally do.... get a bowl of dry cereal, crawl in bed and watch a movie. last night we watched the new Harry Potter. I saw it in theaters so i fell asleep after about an hour and 45 minutes. he stayed up for the remaining 45 mins and before i knew it, i woke up at 4am and it was pitch black and i didnt really know what had happened haha


so here it is, a new day, a new week. its 1:30pm and i'm still in my pjs, even though i've been awake for over 4 hours. i've tidied up my room just a little but nothing to write home about. i need to be productive but i got out my Felicity dvds and i'm thinking about watching an episode or two. mike left to go take care of some business and i didnt want to tag along. just waiting on him to get back so we can go to whole foods.

he's decided to go vegan for new years! so excited to have him on board and maybe now it'll be easier. its so hard to be vegan solo because cooking requires so much time, effort, money, etc. i'm stoked for sure :)

happy monday! hope everyone had a lovely weekend! hopefully ill have a mixtape for you tonight!

xo