tiny tots with their eyes all aglow, will find it hard to sleep tonight

happy christmas eve to all of you.  we will be on our way to tulsa soon, hopefully with quiet roads and clear weather.  remember all the anticipation of this night from when we were little?? i still get kind of giddy, not gonna lie...maybe we'll see santa and his sleigh on our drive! sweet dreams of sugarplums to all of you :)

xoxo

(photo)

where the love light gleams

getting everything in order ready to go to tulsa and visit friends and family. it's always hard to have to split the holidays between mine and stephen's families, and so far it hasn't gotten easier, so hopefully this is something that gets better in time.  i'll be missing my family (especially seeing my nieces faces light up when they see what santa brought them!) but luckily have some super in-laws and our t-town friends who are pretty much my family anyway so it's far from being a lonely holiday but you catch my drift :)

i hope you all will be having a lovely christmas surrounded by loved ones.

"i'll be home for christmas, if only in my dreams..."

(photo)

oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet niece kaitlin! she is the wonderful age of 6 today :)

good tidings we bring for you and your kin

well it's pretty quiet around the office, so  roxy is up here being a good little helper to those who have stuck around this week :)

i'm so ready for our little adventure to tulsa...what are you doing for christmas? going anywhere fun to see family or just staying home for a quiet celebration?? one day...one day stephen and i will have a quiet celebration of christmas all to ourselves...one day ;)

(photo)

all the stockings you will find hanging in a row. mine will be the shortest one, you'll be sure to know.

our little stockings (that's roxy's on the left, of course) and a cute little wreath i threw together with some old garland + ribbon + a coat hanger.

just a bit more christmas spirit for you today :)

(title lyrics from jolly old st. nicholas)

a very dallas weekend

did everyone have a good weekend? i had quite the fun weekend and feel very 'dallas' today...on friday night we had our girls' night at the mavs game (we beat the suns, woo hoo!) that's us with our reindeer antlers :)

then on saturday some friends came in town from las vegas, we ate at the Y.O. ranch steakhouse, which was so delicious (highly recommend the sea bass, yum!!). on our way out, while passing the neiman marcus downtown, we saw an insane amount of santa clauses. come to find out it was the dallas santacon! here's a photo of the scene we saw, found on their flickr account.

it was hilarious and crazy, i've never seen so many santas!!

after our fun night out at cameo, stephen and i got to go with our friends to the cowboys game! it was our first time to see them play and they beat the redskins so a good time was had by all. however, i felt like a little bit of a traitor cheering for the 'boys since i'm such a huge saints fan...and my saints lost...oh my. here is a view from our awesome seats:

so that was our dallas whirlwind adventure weekend :) kinda made me fall in love with this city all over again...

looking forward to an easy week at work and CHRISTMAS this weekend!! eeeeeep!

where did the week go?

kinda flew by, didn't it?? my mom came in town yesterday so i took the day off to spend with her.  i had to share this photo of the display inside barney's at northpark.

i'm a big daft punk fan so i found it extra entertaining, and especially love the crowdsurfing guy and his cool plaid tie. i love to go in there even though i can't afford anything because they always have the coolest displays!

anyhoo mom and i had a great day shopping and eating and catching up...i truly cherish these moments we get to spend together :)

i hope your week was fabulous and you have a great weekend!!

xoxo

traditions

being from louisiana, on christmas eve our family typically eats gumbo and reads "cajun night before christmas." i love it, and it's a tradition that i hope to bring into our family for years to come. (now, only if i can get my gumbo to be even close to as good as mom's!) since we'll be with stephen's family this year, i'll miss out on the delicious treats but hopefully i can read the book to anyone who will listen...complete with authentic cajun accent ;)

what kind of holiday traditions do you have? are you making any new ones?

oh and if you haven't read the book, this is the best reading i've found so far :)

wish list

in aubergine, pretty please :)

something for after the long workdays 

and a little indulgence reading.

what's on your wishlist?

friday funnies

just thought we could all use some funnies this lovely friday...

• roxy in antlers
• how to gift-wrap your cat
• a hilarious hamster commentary
• the funnest mittens i've ever seen
• a clever & cute print
• the perfect funny (and useful!) gift for your gal pals
• an adorable, guilty dog
• and a christmas ninja

hope you all have a fun-filled weekend!

xoxo

a typical conversation

stephen dropped me off this morning and we were talking about christmas gifts among other things and it went something like this:

stephen: i want to do something nice...
me: well i'm going to make them each a mini cheesecake so if you want to do something extra that's fine as well.
stephen: i'll make you into a cheesecake.
me: oh yeah?
stephen: (raises his hand like he has a wand) EXPELLIO-CHEESECAKE! wait no...EXPECTO-CHEESECAKE!

and we are nerds. the end.

(photo of my mini cheesecake)

dreamer

remembering john lennon today, 30 years after his death.

(photo)

and my dedication to the song that is most meaningful to me

"you may say that i'm a dreamer, but i'm not the only one. i hope someday you'll join us...and the world will be as one."

RIP john

"a dream you dream alone is only a dream. a dream you dream together is reality." - john lennon

it hasn't snowed a single flurry, but santa dear we're in a hurry

just a few pics of the decor...starting with our little tree

1. the tree (which we put on a table to make it seem bigger)

2. the beautiful antique gold ornaments from my great aunt

3. my first ornaments i bought when stephen & i got married were 6 of these beautiful red balls

4. roxy all tuckered out after a hard day of cleaning & decorating.  (doggie pj's from target)

blue christmas

well, not really...but factor in my blue tights, roxy's blue sweater, and the christmas trees (complete with hanging snowflakes!) and you get the title :)

i cannot wait to clean our apartment and decorate the living daylights out of it with chrismas cheer! it's been dismal at home since we got back from colorado since stephen has a million final project things to work on and there's no time to tidy up and make our home a little bit more joyful...so i'm taking time tomorrow for a decorating day! what about you, have you/do you plan to decorate? or is your house all cozy with winter wonderfulness? ahhhh i'm longing to be back in the snow and out of this 60+ degree december in texas...but pretend snowflakes will have to suffice for now!

hope you all have a fabulously awesome weekend

xoxo

in colorado we...

 rode in a two horse open sleigh

 made snow angels

 skied with the fam

 robbed a bank...kidding! we rode in a gondola

hung out with honest abe

and marveled in nature's beauty.

also, not pictured above, we: 

• drank loads of hot chocolate (with various delicious liqueurs)
• watched a shameful amount of football
• got lost on what we dubbed "the trail of tears" (while we were skiing, if that tells you anything)
• watched my nieces in the cutest of cute ski lessons
• missed roxy to pieces (how could we not?!)

so that's that! we had such an amazing time in steamboat...probably my favorite trip to the mountains ever. a lot of family bonding, eating too much, and pushing our physical limits too far :) who could ask for more?! 

i hope this gets to you

just a sweet video to brighten your day :)

first things first

here are some pics from stephen's birthday party last weekend...it was saturday night live themed!

 we were the coneheads (obv)

 here i am with the continental and stuart smalley

 and what would an SNL party be without matt foley?!

and this was our amazing "friendsgiving" dinner table...complete with salley o'malley, the welshley arms lovers and a gilda radner favorite, tracey (and another continental! ha!).

it was such a fun celebration for stephen and we are so grateful for our awesome friends who love to play along :)