Tagged: The 10 Days of Christmas

1. What do you love the most about Christmas time?
Mostly being with family.  It's the one time each year I get to see EVERYONE I love.  I always get super depressed when it's all over, haha.  I also love all of the food that comes with Christmastime (hot chocolate, cookies, casseroles, pies, etc.), the music, the energy, the mood, the cold-ish weather, decorating the house, all of the beautiful twinkle lights that take over neighborhoods and city streets and of course, all of my favorite Christmas stories and movies (Love Actually, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Family Stone, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas, etc.)!

2. Do you celebrate the holiday in style or is Bah-Humbug for you?
I'd say I celebrate in style.  I'm all about the glittery, festive nail polish and makeup.  I attend every holiday party that I possibly can, and I definitely go all out with the decor.

3. Are you leaving anything out for Santa Claus this year so he remembers to leave your presents?
I used to leave cookies and milk as a child, but I haven't done that in quite some time.  Probably won't until I have kids of my own.

4. What is the one gift you are most looking forward to GIVING? {It can be to your kids, another family member, etc – remember to be discreet if they read your blog}
Welllll, I got some really cute (if I may say so myself) gifties for my best friends, and a couple of awesome things for Jason that I know he'll love.

5. What is your all-time favorite Christmas movie? Either Meet Me In St. Louis or The Family Stone

6. What is your all-time favorite Christmas song?
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Judy Garland & "Blue Christmas" by Elvis

7. If given the opportunity, would you participate in an “Ugly Sweater” party and what sweater would you wear? Peruse one on the Internet or even if your own closet and show us!
Been there, done that. 

8. Have you started any Christmas traditions this year that you plan on carrying forward? Not this year really, but last year, Jason and I decided that we would eat at 24 Diner and then celebrate Christmas together early because I typically journey to Houston for Christmas, and he has to stay here in Austin and work like a crazy person.  So we pick a day before I leave to open each others' gifts and eat at one of our favorite places.

9. It’s Christmas morning… what does it look like outside where you live?  Last year it was fairly warm, but I hope it will be ice cold this time around!

10. You just found yourself standing under the mistletoe… who comes up to give you a kiss first?
A handsome gent named Jason.  :)

I'm a little late in the game, so I tag anyone and everyone who wants to do this!

Happy Holidays!

xoxo

Photography Friday Link-Up

I'm pretty excited to be participating in my first Photography Friday Blog Hop hosted by Jessica of This Analog Adventure and co-hosted by Sarah of Sarrrahgirl.  I am by no means whatsoever a self-proclaimed "photographer."  I'm just a lady who likes to take pictures occasionally, but Sarah encouraged me to try this out, and I'm glad I did.  I'm always searching for new ways to get to know myself and one of the best ways to do that is to express yourself artistically as much as you can.  I surprise myself on the daily when I let my freak flag truly go wild.

I like to call this series of photographs Procedural Beauty.

+ + +

Christmas Traditions

With Christmas drawing near, I've been doing a lot of thinking and remembering.  I miss being a kid, so overwhelmed by the magic of this time of year.  I miss believing in Santa, baking and decorating sugar cookies with my mom, going to the Galleria and seeing the tallest Christmas tree I'd ever seen in my life and sitting by the fire while opening my stocking and presents.  

When my mom was a kid, she and her sisters would put together a huge jigsaw puzzle over the holidays, so she carried that tradition to our family.  It was fun for a while, but to be completely honest with you, I would always get either bored or frustrated with it the first day we opened it up, so my step-dad was usually the one to finish it.

When I would celebrate with my dad's side of the family, I loved decorating the tree with my Meme and playing the role of Santa by passing out everyone's gifts to be opened.

Remembering all of these special moments make me a little sad, but also make me excited for when I have kids of my own.  We can continue these traditions and make new ones for our little family.  

Thanksgiving 2013

Sadly, I had to work another Thanksgiving so I was unable to travel to Houston to celebrate with family, and I was scheduled to work the evening shift so I didn't get to join Jason at his parents' house.  In light of everything, we decided to have our own Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days early.  Jason made the turkey and candied sweet potatoes, and I happily made some of my family's traditional holiday dishes.  It was my first time to make my Nana's cornbread stuffing, and it was really much easier than I was expecting.  I remember her always talking about how difficult it was to make perfectly because it was passed down from her mother, "MeeMaw Hatcher", and she never wrote down specific measurements, just "a pinch of this" and "a dash of that."  I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the recipe was to follow and pleased that it came out not only edible, but quite delicious.  I also mastered MeeMaw's slow-cooked green beans and a copycat recipe for Black Eyed Pea's baked squash casserole (one of my all-time favorite dishes).  For dessert, I made a buttermilk pie, which I've made a few times before.  Everything turned out really scrumptious, and we made so much food that we couldn't even fit everything on the table!  On the plus side, we've had amazing leftovers all week.  

Currently

HBO.com

Watching: Six Feet Under, my hands-down all-time favorite show.  I've been slowly re-watching the entire series (five seasons) over the past year, and it is still just as moving and overwhelming as the first go around.  Seriously... THE best show ever.  If you haven't watched it, I strongly suggest you do so as soon as humanly possible.  As naive and teenager-y as Claire is for most of the show, I can't get over how many remarkable ideas she comes up with.  I could quote her for ages.  To sum it up, the show is a beautifully written depiction of family dysfunction, birth, death, love, the ups and downs of relationships, the search for beauty and truth, self-actualization and growth, survival and impending finality.

Anticipating: the release of Catching Fire this coming weekend.  I probably won't be able to see it until sometime next week because I have to work Friday and Saturday.  I remember really liking the book, but I think Mockingjay is still my favorite, and I am really excited to see how it translates to film.  Also anticipating Thanksgiving and Christmas, of course.  Casseroles, pies and rolls, oh my!  I would like to get all of my Christmas shopping out of the way early this year.  I did pretty good last year, but I always leave a few things for the last minute, like those impossible-to-buy-for family members.

Eating: lots of rice.  I've never been a huge rice-eater, but lately I've been making a couple of different rice recipes as a starch for meals.  This Mexican rice recipe and this orzo-white rice blend are both really delicious components in any weeknight feast.  Last night I baked some chicken, spinach & feta sausages and served them with carrots, broccoli and the orzo-rice mix.  It was pretty delicious and very filling.  Tonight, I'm probably going to make chicken and dumplings in my Crock Pot!  It's a little chilly outside today, so why not whip up something that is sure to warm our bellies?

Wondering: if it's lame to give homemade Christmas gifts when you're an adult?  I've had the crafting bug as of late, and I have a few ideas that would make good gifts, but I'm not sure if that's something that people still do in their twenties?  I don't want anyone to think I'm being cheap and thoughtless!

Listening to: the new Arcade Fire album, Beck, Michale Graves, Warpaint, Interpol (always), Daughter, the Arctic Monkeys new album, Cults and Chris Isaak.  I'll post a playlist sometime this week with my favorite songs from these artists so you can check them out for yourself.

As always, many thanks to Danielle for providing the inspiration for these Currently posts.

xoxo

Dreaming Of Winter

I had a great time this past weekend playing host to Miss Emily.  Once again, she beat me to the punch

and posted a sweet little recap over on her blog.  You can read all about our shenanigans here.  

Well, I had a nice three-day break from work, but in approximately two hours, that break is over, and one of the most stressful work weeks of the year will be smothering me.  Buuuut, that hasn't happened yet, so I can still be happy and dreamy and floating around outside of my head.  This morning, as this cold front is blowing in at 30 mph, all I can seem to think about is how much I wish Texas experienced full blown seasons.  The summers are much too long and the winters are nearly nonexistent.  I know people that live in the northeast and other places that have long, treacherous winters despise the snow and want to wish it away at all cost, but I am not one of those people, and I really want some snow down here!  However, I am not a brainless human, so I know my dream will most likely not come true, but I will continue to dream my little beating heart to pieces because that is what I seem to be best at these days.  

Here are some pictures I have been drooling over this morning thanks to Pinterest:

25th Birthday Week

As I mentioned in my last post, October wasn't very good to us, but we're trying our best to stay positive and move forward with painful lessons learned.  I had to work the late afternoon/evening shift on my birthday, but Jason and I made plans to go out to lunch beforehand to celebrate.  I had been looking forward to a delicious birthday lunch at Roll On Sushi Diner, but when we got there we were informed they were closed in preparation for a large private event.  I was pretty disappointed, but they made up for it by giving us a couple of coupons for free rolls next time we make it out there.  Instead we ended up going to a place I'd been wanting to try after driving by it a few weeks ago - Clark's Oyster Bar.  Jason and I both love raw oysters, so this place was right up our alley.  We shared a few different selections of oysters from both the east and west coasts.  For our main entrees, I ordered the clam chowder and Jason chose the burger.  We were both happily full, but not before dessert - a cherry cake and a chocolate butterscotch cake with banana ice cream.  Mmm mmm mmm.  I'm sure we'll be back at some point in the future.

As for Halloween, I had to work again, but it was pretty fun getting to see everyone all dressed up headed to Sixth Street.  I'm glad I don't work the overnight shift because I'm sure last night was a challenge for those guys when all the guests returned inebriated.

Gifts-wise, I did pretty well.  Jason got me two of my favorite albums on vinyl - Tame Impala and FIDLAR.  My mom sent me a birthday "care package" with a really sweet card from her and one from my sister, lots of candy, Michael Kors Gold perfume I'd requested, a Target gift card from my mom's friend Randy and she even threw in a little beer flight glass for Jason, the "brew master", haha.  I felt really special opening everything she sent me.  When I got to work on my birthday, my coworkers surprised me with a birthday cake and a balloon!  It was the sweetest thing ever!  My boss even brought me some cupcakes from my favorite south Austin bakery, Sugar Mama's.

Tomorrow, my dad and my grandparents are coming up for a late birthday celebration lunch before I go to work.  I'm looking forward to spending some time with them!

Overall, it was a pretty decent birthday week.  I'm a lucky lady to have all of this love and support from friends and family!  Even the last minute Facebook birthday wishes meant a lot to me.  It's nice to know people are thinking of you, even if for a split second.