Last year was my first Christmas with Michael's family. We drove down to Illinois in the morning, started the day with shots of whiskey, and each family proceeded to perform Christmas carols, complete with funny hats and instruments. All newcomers to the family must perform a song by themselves. It's like initiation into their crazy Polish family! Luckily Michael had warned me about this so I had a few weeks to decide on a performance. I was in choir and the school musicals throughout high school, so I contemplated singing a classic song like "Oh Holy Night." Given my sometimes awkward and nervous tendencies, I decided to go with a humorous route instead.
If you've seen the movie, A Christmas Story, please refer to their Christmas dinner at the Chinese restaurant when the staff dazzled them with Christmas carols...
Thankfully, their family is tons of fun and the song was a hit, and this year I can sit on the sidelines!
What are your family traditions? Do you take shots and sing like a goof!? I'd love to hear about it!
Two days until Christmas. Two years (!!) to celebrate Michael and I being together, and too many smiles to even count.
Unfortunately we can't spend the night together, but the Christmas festivities begin as my parents open their home to 50 of our old dear friends. I can't wait to see everyone but I am slightly partial to crawling into bed and locking the door behind me.
Luckily Pinterest (and Elizabeth Taylor) gave me just the pep talk I need...
Sadly, I lost the sweater competition to a man in a very similar sweater. Why are boys naturally funnier than girls? It's the sad truth. But I suppose I can't win the prize when I coordinate the party, so I accepted defeat with my head held high. (nerd alert, I know).
On a higher note, I did discover a wonderful gift for my favorite bookworms. Anthropologie(I promise I'm not typically so obsessed with the store to write about them every day, they just have awesome Christmas gifts and decor!) has an awesome collection of classics that look hand-stitched! One of my girlfriends is the queen bee of books, so I couldn't resist buying them (on sale!) to give her shelf a little glam!
Three more days! I am absolutely ecstatic that today is my last day of work before a nice long holiday weekend! I can't wait to kick this illness, get some rest, and then overindulge in time with family and friends.
In an effort to bring some Christmas cheer to the office, I organized an ugly sweater party for today. This festive little number has made me the winner of two consecutive ugly sweater contests, so I hope to come home victorious! In my experience, the more 3D the sweater is, the more successful you'll be, so I hope to make you proud. 3rd time is a charm today! Please also note the reindeer turtle neck. Resale shops are a riot this time of year!
Four days until Christmas! Are you in a frenzy, yet? Somehow I've managed to get myself into Christmas stress mode this year. My squeaky voice and feverish head are dragging through the work day and then scrambling around town to find the perfect finishing touches to my gifts. Why I'm choosing to torture myself this year, I'm not sure, but I definitely feel like this:
Then I drive, listen to this, and remember what this season is really about..
(Please humor the screenshots that will follow in the next few days!)
*****
J.Crew highlighted their pajama line in an email blast and I suddenly want to call in sick for the rest of the week and lounge in their flannel and cashmere.
Leave it to J.Crew to make sick days, sweatpants and sleepwear look glam. I love the black and white shot!
In college my roommates and I would always go out for breakfast at an amazing hole-in-the-wall diner and "rehash" the events from the night before.
I'm sorry for the lack of pancakes, eggs and greasy bacon, but here's my weekend rehash.
Double carpal tunnel (I swear I'm in my twenties), a blown-out tire with Michael to the rescue (forever filed in the "man-work" category. I'll say no thank you to that skill), Christmas shopping and decor, Christmas parties, losing my voice from the cold flu, baking cookies (dog eats half the cookies-can you say Marley?), more Christmas parties....
The weekend turned out to be anything but relaxing, still wonderful nonetheless.
Since my sister came home, the schedule has been jam-packed, the laughter has been endless, and the sleep has been minimal. So naturally, my tiny immune system acquired the cold flu.
This morning I went to work without putting on deodorant (sorry, coworkers), and I wore blank ankle socks with my flats and slacks. My exposed ankles looked pretty cool when I sat down!
Needless to say, my brain is no longer functioning, but is floating somewhere outside of my body.
Luckily, Michael and I planned to lay low and make Christmas cookies tonight, so you will find me dressed like this:
Happy weekend!
ps. like everyone else, I'm on Pinterest, you can find me here :)
