Birthday Luck

I must be one lucky girl because I am realizing that my birthdays are pretty awesome.

{get over yourself I am sure you are saying}

BUT here me out–because it is on New Years Day we are always are looking to do something fun and with people on New Years Eve and so we normally are bringing in the new year with a bunch of people and it is normally not in the state we live in.  It is a time of celebration and my husband makes sure that whatever we are doing it is above all else-FUN! Seriously he is the best when it comes to traveling to have a little fun for my birfday {and don’t you worry I try and make his birthday just as awesome}.

Here is a little trip down my birthday extravaganza’s memory lane since I turned 20…

2002~ Buffalo, NY

2003~Rents threw me an awesome 21st new years eve party!

2004~I was in Miami {without the hubs though}

2005~Washington DC hotel party!

2006~ Connecticut house party in a blizzard!

2007~ Upstate NY!

2008~ Neighbor’s place  for a par-ta-tay of 5 {the one time we slept in our own bed for new years eve!}

2009~Vermont!

2010~Northern Cali

Looking back on this list and remembering the good times had at each one of these birthdays makes me feel so blessed to be surrounded by such great friends and family.  They do know how to show a girl a fabulous time!  For each year I wrote down I had to laugh about something! Here are some of things that made me laugh: having to drink a glass of every alcoholic beverage on the bar in one cup before it turned midnight {and I turned 21}, the hotel awesome party we almost didn’t go to because someone {who will remain nameless} forgot their license in another STATE, the trek to the blizzard party and every 5 minutes thinking about turning back, celebrating wedding year with good friends, good beer and good laughs, keeping it low key for a year but still having a blast playing games, drinking champagne and rubbing balloons on their poor child’s head, and of course Vermont where we fell in love and where we became best friends with the Rite Aid in the tiny Vermont town. 

I can’t wait to see what is in store for us this year and I just know that it will be filled with love, laughter, and a retreat for the hectic crazy life we lead.  I am excited to see what this year has in store for us and I feel very blessed and very happy for the future {even if that means turns 30 in the future..lol}

Happy {almost} 2011!!!

Think Fast!

{not me i swear}

I have started the tradition of doing a photo book of the pictures and memories of that year.  Last year I made the 2003-2009 memory book to catch up and this year I am excited to make one just for 2010.  As 2010 is fast approaching the end I want to make sure I don’t forget some of the fond memories of this year…

bringing in the new year in our new city we call home

dinners with the sis {and mommacita}

the vegas experience

getting stuck in the elevator and getting rescued

trying new beaches around the area

romantic dinners in Boston

cutting hair the shortest its been in a really long time {and this time not regretting it}

moving to a new apartment

getting two nightstands and not having to hop over the husband to get out of bed

having one of my good friends become preganant and have a beautiful baby boy

volleyball picnics

nachos and football season

luau adventures at my folks place

thanksgiving surrounding dance central fun

girls weekend

girls day with my niece

crafting crowns for each holiday with my niece

wine excursion in upstate NY

dinner and gossip with the biff

surprises and adventures

our 1 year anniversary and celebrating with nasty 1 year old cake

record breaking heat over the summer

never being home in september

being spontaneous

dear friend’s bachelorette and wedding

NYC during the holiday season

The year goes by so fast that it is sometimes hard to remember all the memories, but this blog is a great documentation of the year that was had and the memories that have been created.  Here is to {almost} 2011 memories…

oh and I can’t forget my number one saying this year and many laughs after saying…

Free Font!

looking for a new font that is FREE to add to your collection of font-goodies?? Perhaps a thank you card? A crafting session?

How about this one from Lemon Chicken??? I think it adds a little whimsy and it is defiantely readable which is a must on my qualifications of a good font!

Leaving on a jet plane…

leaving on a jet plane

don’t know when i’ll be back again

{okay that last part is a lie I will be back in the new year}

So what did I end up giving as gifts??

I am writing this prior to Christmas actually being over but posting after Christmas as I don’t know if someone on my Christmas list reads my little ole’ blog…

I love the holidays and surprises {as it is my love language} and so my heart just bursts around the holiday season and watching my family open up their gifts.  It gives me so much joy and I really try to think of each person and give them a gift they would truly enjoy for themselves–it is like my personal mission in gift giving.  So after all is said and done with the holiday season what did I end up purchasing my loved ones for the holiday??  {with the best gift being that we got to see all our family on the Christams day}

Couple Gift {hubs & me}: Wasn’t suppose to be a joint holiday gift but we loved playing the Kinect on the XBox 360 and it was a must have for us…So out we went prior to even Black Friday and picked one up with games of course.  We ended up doing stockings instead on Christmas morning.

Hubs Stocking Stuffers: In his stocking: his OWN chapstick since he uses mine always, XBOX live for 3 months, A leisure book for vacation, beer jerky, snickers bar, and headphones as his are torn to bits, Wallstreet 2, Itunes GiftCard.

My mommacita: candles from Yankee Candle and a necklace with a purple gem in the middle that caught my eye at the mall.    A picture frame with a picture in it from over the summer of her and my step-dad and the dog.And a joint gift for her and my step-dad cobblestone for their Christmas village.

My Step-dad: jerky maker and some jerky sauce powder for it. {hubs thought of this gift not I}

Hubs Mom: bird feeder, nutcracker and some godiva dark chocolate

Hubs Dad: Outside work gloves, a life is good cap, and wine kit add ons {cleaning supplies, stirring wisk, thermometer, and corks}

My Sister: Well I normally go overboard and stress over this gift like Whoa but this year was easy because next semester she will be studying abroad in Italy!!! So naturally I bought her maps and info on the area {because she is more concerned with what accessories she will be bringing) plus some cash {how do they say that in italian???}

Hubs Sister: So she was tricky.  She sent an email giving us a money limit, which we were okay with until she then said “oh but don’t get for me because what you get your niece (her daughter) will be used by me too and so don’t get me a gift.” Wait,  Ummmm don’t get you a gift dear sister??? hahaha no. And how is something for a 3 1/2 year old okay for you too???  So we were tricky right back and found a tiny loop hole in her “sharing” her gift with her daughter mumbo jumbo.  So what did we get her? AN ITOUCH!!! {with an itunes GC for the stocking stuffer}.  So it isn’t the 4th generation one? So what if it is refurbished? They will both jointly LOVE this gift!!!  Also got her a frame for a picture I took her and her daughter in front of the tree with their christmas aprons on. the cutest!

Our Niece:  ITOUCH!!! Okay yes she is 31/2 years olda and yes she got an Itouch but there is a reason.  So I have had the Iphone for about a year(ish) and she has used it from day one.  First it was just having no clue and loving the touch screen–but now she actually knows how to use it. FOR REAL.  She knows how to swipe it open. She knows how to open music, play her favorite games on it, check a compass, use the calculator.   Plus hub’s sister will be able to use it all the time–BONUS!!! And she loves it and every time she sees me she has to play with it for at least an hour and so I feel justified for spoiling her with her own “Iphone.” We will be calling it an Iphone and I even bought the same case for the Itouch.  it was a brilliant plan {i hope}.   We also got her lots o’ crafts {i introduced her to the world of scrapbooking and stickers in October–look out!} and 2 sweatshirts so she didn’t just open one gift because she is still at the age that quanity over quality still rocks!

Grams: Slippers that my mom loved for a gift from Red Envelope.  You feel like you are walking on air and she deserves to feel like she is walking on air!

Gramps B.: A 4 in 1 Old Western Movie DVDs.  Normally he is the hardest to buy for and I was just browsing in Walmart and found this and knew it would be a killer gift!! It was actually the first Christmas I purchased this year.

Gramps V: My last gift I need to purchase and he is so hard to buy for!! He wouldn’t want anything extravagant and uses things until they are so used even goodwill doesn’t want it.  I am thinking something tool related from Home Depot.

Godchild: Money Money Money.  She lives far away and is at that age where money is like gold.  As her godmother I really need to be the cool one and give her what she wants!

Auntie: We don’t give gifts to cousins (approximately 20ish cousins between the two of us) and aunts/uncles as we have about a billion (each parent except for hubs’ dad has 4 siblings)–so yea we would be broke.  Instead we give them a christmas card and our love each and every year.  We do have an exception to this rule as one of my cousins is my godchild (see gift above), and one of hub’s aunts we give her something every year as we spend each Christmas with her.  We wish we could give to all, but we are thankful we can give to her.  This year we got her some natural food goodies that she can never splurge on herself (like organic cashews)

Grab bag X2: I was involved with two: chocolate covered pretzel sticks and for the second one the person loved peguins so I got wall art of penguins and a coloring book so during finals they could destress by coloring penguins. The hubs had a grab bag and he chose an itunes gift card and two nips of vodka (he goes drinking with his secret snowflake..lol)

As for what I recieved??? I am writing this prior to Christmas and so I have no clue!! This will be a post for when I get back from vacation for sure! But I was very good this year so lets hope a couple goodies!

I hope everyone had a joyous holiday season and had tons of laugher and cheer and delicious food!!

Merry Christmas

{source}

i think this snowman represents exactly how I feel in this moment

merry christmas everyone

IT IS HERE!!!

{source}

the holiday I wait all year for is here.

in a big way

as we are celebrating with both families all weekend

{i am already curled on the couch with a fire and coffee cup in my hand}

then we will be on vacation for 2 weeks

headed for the west coast

{blog posts have been scheduled}

i hope everyone has a merry merry holiday

filled with love, family, friends, food, and pretty lights

see ya’ll in 2011!

Choked up.

if you don’t believe in the power of blogging, in the power of giving, or in the power of community…

then this article just may change all of that. 

such an inspiration and I am choked up by the generosity of people {especially bloggers and blog readers}.

via emphasisadded and carolinek

From our family to yours…

 

 

For everyone who has shared this past year with me through my blog I want to say thank you.  Thank you for being a part of my life and I wish you all the very best this holiday season can offer.  I hope you hug a little longer, sip your tea a little slower, and laugh a little harder during this festive time of year.

Not only is it Christmas time for our family but it is also vacation time in our household!!! We are beyond excited and after the craziness of the past few months we are excited for some much needed R&R! We are going West and seeing some friends {and new baby-EEKKKK}, some site-seeing, and a lot of laughter and cheer!

I have scheduled posts over the next 2 weeks–but my recap of the holidays will not be happening for a bit as we go directly into our next adventure–VACATION!

I hope everyone not only has a lovely holiday season, but also a fantastic New Year!! It has been so wonderful spending a year with all my blogging friends and can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

Until we meet again…

 

Holiday Traditions

One of the holiday traditions that I have been looking forward to was actually introduced through my in-laws.  We would get together on a weekend and cut down a tree and dry it out and then decorate it the next day with Christmas music, cookie making, and other holiday items to have the magic of Christmas all around us.

This year was no different except when you have a small child involved in the activities everything becomes a little bit better. a little bit more joyous. a little bit more funner. {yes I said funner}

So when my niece had chocolate all over her face rather than in the mixing bowl for cookie making we all laughed.  When she wanted to put 100+ bulbs only on the bottom half of the tree because that is only where she could reach we laughed harder.  When she sang the same verse of the same song over and over the entire day it didn’t matter what music was really on we just wanted to hear her sing and laugh even harder.  It was a day full of laughter and joy and fun and something I look forward to each and every year.

 

 

This year we had a new tradition arrive in small packages for us ladies–Christmas aprons from my mother in law!! And so it is a terrible picture but I wanted to show everyone our Christmas aprons in the bottom picture. {mine said kiss the cook with mistletoe all around it–super fun with the hubs around!}

Speaking of mistletoe my in-laws put up two points in the house where there is mistletoe and every so often my niece will make her way to the mistletoe and stand there until someone kisses her {sometimes its awhile since we forget it is hanging!} but we normally get the picture and give her lots of kisses and then she runs to the next mistletoe and does the same exact thing.  She is so freaking cute I can’t stand it! HAHA!

I hope everyone will enjoy traditions with family and friends this holiday season and maybe bring in a new tradition to your family holiday festivities!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!