Christmas Dates

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. We like to spread out the celebrations, so the Mister and I actually did our Christmas stuff together on the evening of the 22nd. The 23rd we drove up to Portland and hung out with my brother and his family. On Christmas Eve we headed to my in-laws for Christmas Eve dinner and some puzzle making. We spent the night and spent Christmas morning there. The Mister's Grandma made some AMAZING Mexican hot chocolate. Which I had a giant mugful after dinner and another in the morning.The Mister wasn't feeling great so we headed home around 1:00 and spent the rest of the day lounging around in our jammies. A perfect Christmas if you ask me. :) Oh yeah, did I mention that the Mister baked me cupcakes for my birthday? He was so cute to when he was doing it. I am pretty sure this is the first time he has ever baked anything.

Today I am heading out for my annual birthday lunch with the BFF. Bonus, she has a babysitter :) I also have some returns to do. I actually love returning gifts. Is that weird? The Mister thinks it is. I don't know why I like it, but I do.

I wanted to share one more Christmas tradition with you all (and to remember it for my future self). Every year that the Mister and I have been together, we have gone on a Christmas Date.

2008
We drove through a local neighborhood that goes all out for Christmas. They take donations for the food bank. For the life of me I cannot find any pictures.

2009
Our date this year was actually after Christmas. We flew down to Riverside, California for my Grandma's 90th birthday party. Her party was right next to the Mission Inn in Riverside, which is always one of the top 10 places in the US for Christmas light displays. It was awesome.

2010
We went and saw The Nutcracker together. I have always loved this ballet, and I loved seeing it again.

2011
Last year we stayed up in Portland and went and saw Zoolights at the Portland Zoo. It was cold. Like really cold. I think in the 20's or so.

2012
This year I was looking for something to do for our annual Christmas date, when Groupon stepped up. They had a 2 tickets to Magic at the Mill for just $4. Salem was an old wool mill that you can tour and is also used for events like weddings and such. They also do a huge light display. I don't know how long this has been going on, but for $4 we were in.

It was a pretty fun little evening :)

Do you have any Christmas date traditions?

Christmas cards

Here is our 2012 Christmas card. I looked forever for a picture for our card, but gave up. I was already to go buy a couple boxes of cards off the shelf when I decided to check Vistaprint. I found this option to create personalized caricatures of us. The Mister should be a little darker, but other than that, this is pretty much what we look like. I was really happy with the quality of the cards when we got them. It's even printed on both sides.

Merry Christmas!

Do you do personalized cards? What company did you use?

Vistaprint gave me nothing for this post.

My Christmas Decorations 2012

I am taking a quick break from all the last minute stuff... I'll be honest with y'all, I just did my shopping yesterday (besides for my online stuff) and I started wrapping it yesterday. I always want to be one of those ladies that have it all together and all done by October. Sigh. Maybe someday. I did want to give you a little tour of our Christmas decorations. Those have pretty much been up since the end of November.
First up... The mantle

Not much has changed since last year. I did add my glitter canvas. I have a quick tutorial up here. (There is also a Pinterest fail, and those are always entertaining.) I also added those yarn trees.

Do you see Santa's boot? So cute!

I am pretty happy with those. I used this tutorial, and let me tell you, those were super messy to make.

Here is my card holder. I love Christmas cards. We never really sent them out as a family, so its all kind of new to me.

This is a frame without the glass. I wrapped the cardboard backing with wrapping paper and I hot glued ribbon. I use the cutest little clothes pins to hang my cards with.

Our tree:

This is our newest ornament. We got it in Kauai this summer.

This is the first Christmas since my mom passed. It also makes this the 19th Christmas without my dad. After mom passed away I went through my childhood decorations and took the most important ones to me. The first was the angel tree topper.

The Mister and I have used a star for the last couple of years, but he said we should use the angel from now on.

Another thing I took were two of my mom's Christmas bears... er mouses.

I made those pillows last year and the blanket a few years ago.

I also set up a small tree in our kitchen with these other decorations.

Every year my mom would get the M&Ms with the little plastic toppers that made a train. I took a small set of them to remind me of her. I also took the set of small wooden ornaments that I used to LOVE putting on the tree. These things are at least 30 years old. The little drummer monkey is even missing an arm. The story behind the wise man is one that we would tell every year. Before I was born, my dad was out shopping for Christmas stuff and he came home with this. My mom asked him where the rest of the wise men were. He said "it's a wise man? I thought he was just a cool looking hippie dude."

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas/holiday. This year is going to be a tough one, but having my mom's decorations up makes me smile.

Sunday Social: Holiday Edition!

I LOVE this week's questions!

1. What is your favorite holiday season tradition?
Ever since I was little, my favorite tradition has always been decorating the tree. I love going through the ornaments and thinking back to where they came from and why we got them. When I got into high school I would tell my mom that I wanted to have a fancy tree like in the magazines, with a theme/color scheme. My first couple of trees when I was on my own were like that, but since the Mister and I have been together, I have loved starting our family tree. One thing that we have done is to buy an ornament for every vacation that we have been on.

Disneyworld 2009, Kauai 2011, Honeymoon/Disneyland 2010, Kauai 2012

2. Do you have a certain holiday movie you watch more than others? If so what is it?

My mom and I would always watch these two. But they have to be the originals and in black and white.

I also try to watch these every year:

3. Show us your favorite decoration or pinterest decoration you wish you could have:
Yesterday I realized we don't have a Nativity set. I have a single wise man (maybe I will share that story later), but I really want a whole set.

I love the Willow Tree collection, and I think this Nativity set is lovely.

4. What is your favorite holiday song?

It's not a very well known song, but hands down it is Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Christmas Song.  I legit listen to this year round. 

5. What is your favorite holiday dessert?

6. What is on your wish list this year?

These are things I won't be getting:

1. A fancy pants camera

2. A housekeeper (this is literally on my wish list every year)

3. Frye Riding Boots- aren't they pretty?

4. A trip to Australia

5. This $150,000 Tailgate Trailer from Neiman Marcus. It comes complete with leather furnishings and a flat screen TV. Glamping anyone???

I am posting a more realistic look at my Christmas list tomorrow, but I thought I would have a little fun with this one :)

Christmas Wishes

For show and tell, Becky is having us share our Christmas lists today. I love seeing everyone else's Christmas lists. It helps me get ideas :)

Yesterday I showed you my list of stuff I won't be getting this year. That is more like my lottery winning list. Sort of. I don't think I could ever spend $150,000 on a camping accessory. Here are some things that are actually on my Christmas list this year. 

• Nail Polish. I love the Essie Winter Collection, but I always like to add new colors to my mix.
• TOMS. These are the cutest hand painted pair from etsy. 
• Fiestaware accessories. This stuff is always on my list. How cute is the creamer set? And the egg plate? Too much. 
• Foamy soap from Bath and Body Works. I love this stuff. Now I don't know for sure, but I am guessing this candy apple scent for the holidays will smell similar to the 4th of July American Apple Pie scent. (Which was yummy)
• Microwave safe travel coffee mug. I like hot coffee. When I get to work, my coffee isn't hot. Solution?
• Rotary cutter/cutting mat. I want to start quilting and these are two must haves. Plus, it would just be easier to have these things when I am crafting and sewing like I do now.

The Mister also has access to my Amazon Wishlist that has a few movies and books on it that I want.

What's on your list??

My Halloween Mantle

Today the lovely ladies hosting Sunday Social have asked us to post about fall. I thought I would show you my Halloween-y themed mantle. It will get changed on November 1 and become more neutral until the big guns come out for Christmas.

Most of this stuff I made last year. I redid my mummy pumpkin this year with a fake pumpkin I bought in January last year for 90% off at Michael's. The post on the giant candy corn is here. The tray they are sitting in is a Goodwill find. I just replace the fabric for each season so you don't see the hot pink inside. Last year I also had some of that spider web stuff inside the tray, but it looked a lot like snow, so I took it out and used it in my Christmas decorations instead. New this year is the mason jars of candy corn. Totally stole that idea from here.

I also switched up my seasonal printable to this one:

Source
This is not my mantle, its just a picture from the eighteen25 blog
where they have TONS of super cute FREE printables

There are a few more things that I would love to add to my decorations:

Pinned

Isn't this wreath so fun?

Here is another wreath that I love:

Pinned

This one seems a little to fancy for me and my current mantle, but if I ever get rid of the candy and class things up a bit this would be at the top of my list.

Pinned

This would fit nicely in with my current decorations. And, I do have a 3 day weekend coming up...

Honestly, fall was always on the bottom of my favorite seasons list when I was younger, but now that I have matured (and you be mature you have to pronounce it ma-tour) I have really started to enjoy it.

How about you, do you decorate for Halloween? I don't have kids so it seems kind of silly, but every time I look at my mantle I smile.

Fourth of July Adventures

Yikes! It is already the end of the 6th, and I have yet to share the my Fourth of July holiday with you all. First off, you have to realize that I live in a town called Independence, therefore, Independence Day is a big deal around here. Every year, my town (and the neighboring town) host two festivals, a parade and a "mini-marathon" for the holiday. We take this holiday very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that people set up their chairs for the parade at least 24 hours in advance.

This is a shaded spot, but there were chairs lined up on both sides of the road.

Right before the parade is the mini-marathon, a 2.6 mile run along the parade route. People are already in their chairs cheering for us, and cooling us off with squirt guns, hoses and sprinklers. I don't have any pictures of the run, but here is what I wore to run in.

In true fashion blogger style, I am not looking at the camera. My friend Kim and I made these matching tutus a couple weeks ago for the run, but like a dummy, I don't have a picture of us together. Boo! 

If you haven't had the pleasure of attending a small town parade, these pictures will give you a glimpse into the big event. Please remember, people put their chairs out a full 24 hours in advance for this.

There were plenty of tractors.// And a giant stretch truck thing. (Complete with a man singing on the top)//This was a float by one of the churches. It made the Mister uncomfortable.//Mini pony inside a van.

Carpet Hero is at every parade//Lots of horses. The mayors and city managers of the two towns act as a "clean up crew" at the end of the parade.// These are local violin students. One year a kid fell off the float. I laughed. Then felt bad.// See, we have some fancy floats.

The trike bikes//A tricked out lawn mower. My guess it will be used at the lawn mower races in September.//Yes, that is a man in a motorized wheelchair pulling a trailer.// Landscapers have floats too.

There were also the Shriners, a bunch of tricked out cars and classic cars, the cable company van, the towing company's trucks and more, but this was the highlight of the parade for me:

She wasn't part of a business, or a church or a club or anything. Just an old lady wearing red, white and blue, riding on her motorized wheelchair, with a curly cue horn. 

After the parade we walked down to the festival to eat a healthy lunch:

Tacos al pastor, hand dipped corn dog and apple pie fries. Yummy!

Gus wanted to get in on the Fourth of July festivities. And really, I wanted to do this to him since I made it:

That was pretty much it. The heat(all 78 degrees of it!) combined with the crummy food and not enough water was enough to trigger a migraine. Boo. After a nap and some Advil, I was still kind of out of it. Since the Mister had to work the next day, we opted out of the fireworks and watched some on TV like 70 year olds.

Does your town do anything for Independence Day? Do you dress your pets up? I can't be the only one!

The Ghost of Valentine's Past

I've never been anti- or pro Valentine's Day, but it happens to be a day when not so good things happen. In high school and in college, I usually had a sweetie to spend Valentine's with so it wasn't a big deal to me. But after college, I had a string of Valentines that for the most part, sucked.

Please, travel back with me to February 13, 2007

I am sitting in my bathroom (in my first floor apartment). Yes, "sitting," and I feel a drip on my head from above. I look up and around and see that the floor is covered with water and there is more dripping from the ceiling. I call my landlords and maintenance comes right over and they "fix it." The next day (Valentine's Day) I am sitting on my couch and I hear the bathroom faucet turn on. Allison Kitten just learned how to turn on the sink, so I am not concerned. A couple minutes later, I get up to save the environment (by turning off the water) and see water streaming out of my ceiling. I run upstairs tell my neighbors to stop doing whatever they are doing in the bathroom, and call the landlords again.


While I am waiting, I decide to investigate. I go into my bathroom and look up. The ceiling has developed a bubble, and I have one overwhelming feeling: POKE IT!!! So I climb up on my toilet and extend my index finger. As I touch the bubble, my finger goes through the ceiling and water comes pouring out. I scream, grab a towel and press it to the ceiling. CRAP! My hand goes through the ceiling! Over the next few weeks that hole grows in size as it is in various stages of "fixing."

February 14th, 2008. I am on my way home from work, and I am running late to cheer practice so I don't stop to fill my cars tank with gas. Big freaking mistake. I turn left onto High Street and my car just stops going. Are you kidding me? I freaking ran out of gas! Who does that? Fortunately, it is a nice afternoon, and I am only 3 blocks from a gas station. I put the hazards on and go for a walk. After the boys at the Arco got a good laugh at my expense, they let me borrow their gas can and walk back. On a side note, the entire time I am walking to my car, I can't help but think, "If I get hit by a car, will I explode?" I wasn't hit by a car, I went back to the station, filled my tank and survived. However, one of my students did see me walking with a gas can down Mission Street and brought it up in class the next day.

***On a side note, The Mister and I had been emailing back and forth for about 2 weeks at this time.***


Since the Mister and I have been together, here is a run down of what our Valentine's has had in store for us:

2009: Cheerleading competition: He went with me because he felt like he had to.

2010: Moving into our house (I believe we had pizza on the floor of our house for dinner)

2011: I was recovering from wrist surgery. My recovery was a bit more involved than I thought it would be, so I was pretty much in pain and had to bring a pillow to sit my hand on during dinner.

Who knows what this year will bring. We already had our date, so I am expecting a laid back evening at home.

How has Valentine's treated you in the past?

Egg Nog Coffee Cake

Hey all! (sheepish wave)

It's been awhile, but the end of school, our Vegas trip and the holidays took all my time and sucked it up into a black hole. I have a ton of posts I need to write, including my final 30 before 30 update because yup the big 3-0 happened.

I wanted to share a recipe with you, in case you have a New Year's brunch or (like us) still have another Christmas gathering to go to. When I made this, I completely forgot to take pictures, but I managed to get one picture of the last piece. My 13 year old nephew called it incredible. This is a Betty Crocker recipe, and Betty did not disappoint! The best part is that you can make it the night before and have just pop it in the oven in the morning!

Overnight Eggnog Streusel Coffeecake

Streusel Topping
1/3 cup sugar
1 T flour
1T softened butter
1/2 t nutmeg

Coffee Cake
1 cup  sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup egg nog
8 ounces sour cream (1 small container)
1 t vanilla extract (Betty asked for rum extract, I had vanilla)
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Eggnog Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2ish T eggnog

Mix the streussel topping in a small bowl and set it aside.

With an electric mixer beat1 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup butter, or mix with spoon and get your work out in. Beat in 1 cup eggnog, the sour cream, vanilla and eggs until blended. Stir in 2 1/2 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Spread in  a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle Streusel Topping over batter. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.


Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. (If you don't want to keep it in the fridge, just reduce bake time to 30-35 minutes) Let it cool and drizzle the egg nog glaze over the top.

Mine looks nothing like Betty's pictures. But it was delish!!!

Did you try out any new holiday foods this year?

My weekend: a little Christmas, a LOT of Running

This weekend the Mister and I headed up to Portland for an overnight adventure. Even though Portland is only about an hour away, we rarely go up there outside of holidays with my family, so this was a fun little treat for us.

Saturday we started by dropping the dog off at his hotel- or the local kennel. This time he seemed happy to be there, which is good I guess. Usually he pulls and tries to leave with us when we drop him off. I guess our little boy is growing up.

Then we headed up to Portland to pick up my packet for the half-marathon I signed up for on Sunday. The running store is in a cute little neighborhood so we walked around and found a yummy Hawaiian place for lunch/early dinner. I didn't take any pictures but this pretty much sums up our meals.

Source

Then we checked into our hotel. Portland has a great mass transit system, and neither of us really like to drive, especially in traffic that is more than 5 cars, so we decided to hop on the MAX train and head down to the zoo. WAIT just a minute, it is December and it was well after lunch time so what is the point in going down to the zoo at night? ZOOLIGHTS!

Every year the Portland Zoo decorates for the holidays with tons of lights. The pathways are lit up, the trees are covered in lights, they have wintery themed decorations and they have tons of lit up animals (not the real ones). It is so fantastic. I have only been a couple times, and this was the first year that the Mister had ever been. He liked it well enough, except the wait to get on the zoo train. We waited over an hour. Boo.

So, our photography could use some help, but I think you get the idea.

The next morning we headed over to the Adidas campus and I got ready to go.

There were over 1900 runners signed up for this race. 1900 cold runners! The high while we were running was somewhere between 30 and 32 degrees. But, it was such a fun race! There were tons of costumes and tinsel and jingle bells and elves and Santas. So much fun!

Much like my Zombie Zumba outfit, I went for a Christmas shirt with my running clothes.

This was after mile 13, when the Mister found me. Yes I am smiling, because I was actually having fun!

The back of my shirt says "believe." I hope it gave some inspiration to runners behind me. (I just read that sentence again and I am not trying to say I was the fastest or even close to the fastest person in the race. I just think we all need some inspiration in a 13.1 mile run!)

I was running near a group of 6 people who might or might not have been 3 married couples. They were older than me, and it looked like they were having the best time. They were in Christmas-y outfits and I would see them stop in different places (like a bar, with a spectator holding a sign that said "you are all Kenyans" a group of carolers etc) and pose for pictures.

One of my favorite parts of big runs like this happens at the finish line. When I crossed the line, the announcer said my name. It just makes you feel like you won the race (even though I was well over an hour and a half behind the winner). It's just such an amazing feeling!

This is me after the race. (Cute right? ha!) Instead of medals, they gave us these silver bells commemorating the race. It was so cool to hear all the finishers ringing their bells at the finish line and at the after party!

The stats for this race (because you are dying to know):
Overall finish time and average per mile time- 2 hours 49 minutes (12:59 mile)
Overall place- 1705/1948
Age group place (females 25-29 my last race in this age group!) 177/196

There was a 72 year old man and a 70 year old woman that both beat me. You know what I say to that- you go old people. I hope I can still be doing these half-marathons when I am in my 70's!

One of the best parts of these races are the different inspirational shirts people make to run in. One that really kept me going was a woman's vest that had this phrase (or something really close to this) on it: "There will be days you don't think you can run a marathon. But there will be a lifetime of knowing that you have." So true.Two years ago I wouldn't have considered myself a runner, and it's still hard for me to say I am a runner, but I set a goal to finish a 5K and then I did it. Next up, I did a half marathon and a full marathon (NEVER AGAIN!!). Crossing the finish line is such a great feeling!

Are you a runner? Have you ever wanted to run a race? What is stopping you?