Dear Santa...

Each of the four Christmases I worked for Club Libby Lu we sold an adorable t-shirt that had this quote on it. I just loved it! We could hardly keep them in stock, especially the smallest sizes. I went searching for an image with that shirt, but couldn't find one. I still terribly miss this company and all of the people that worked there. Just typing that made me choke up a little. I guess today I'm still carrying out their mission statement, just in a different way...

Their mission statement was, "To make every little girl feel special." How can you not just melt at something like that?

Anyway, I came across that quote and just had to post it. I hope you all have done your "explaining to Santa" and he understands! May all your wishes be granted this holiday season! :)

Merry Christmas!
xoxo

Beer challenge + way too much food = how we celebrate Chritmas!

In my group of friends we take two things very seriously ... Christmas and birthdays. If someone in the group cannot make either of the two events we are immediately concerned.

Luckily, this year everyone made it to our Christmas party, hosted by our good friend Kristi and her husband Matt!

In the past years we have tended to be pretty creative with gifts and have given each other some amazing handmade birthday gifts and Christmas gifts, but this year we decided to start something new...

Pandora bracelets! Pandora is a jewelry company that carries mainly silver jewelry and their most popular item is the charm bracelet. We bought the basic silver rope bracelet and one inital charm for everyone. Instead of scrambling to figure out a "creative" gift for each birthday or Christmas, we now plan on adding a charm!

At first I thought the bracelets looked kind of gaudy, but now that I have been wearing it for almost a week, I've realized that you can make it as simple or as outrageous as you want. I can't wait to add more charms, but I don't want mine to have a bunch of things dangling off of it or a bunch of different colors.

I cannot wait to see what it looks like in a few years after I've accumulated more charms. Hopefully I have charms under the tree this year! ;)

A party with us isn't a party without drinks and food either! We all brought something for everyone to snack on, and we had plenty to go around! Lisa sent me an awesome recipe for artichoke dip and it was a huge hit!

Here's the recipe:

1 6.5 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
1 c. mayonnaise
1 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 8oz oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 4oz can of green chile peppers

1. Preheat over to 350
2. In a medium bowl, mix the artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, 1 c. of parmesan cheese, cream cheese, and green chili peppers. Scoop mixture into a baking dish (I use an 8x8 pan). Top with remaining 1/2 c. of parmesan cheese.
3. Bake for 25 min or until bubbly & slightly browned. Serve warm.

**I made a couple of small modifications to this recipe. I added an extra package of cream cheese (I used one low fat, one full fat) to add volume, and then I added chopped spinach and for the parmesan cheese, I used the Kraft three cheese blend, that came in the regular jar but seemed a bit fancier? I didn't think it would make that big of a difference but I think it did!

After eating and chatting upstairs, we headed down to the basement to drink and play our annual beer challenge. Kristi and Matt had quite the assortment of beers in their basement that needed to be consumed so we took care of that!

Here's the deal for our Beer Challenge (I should make that a proper noun), one person - the bartender - see me below - pours beers into plastic cups and the participant has to taste each one and guess what they are. Usually, we have just four or five beers, but this year we had SEVEN!

Here were the options:

Bud Lite
Budweiser
Miller Lite
Busch Lite
Miller High Life (heavy)
Michelob Ultra
Bud Lite Lime

Sound hard? It really is!

Those walls are orange and blue - anyone guess why?? Hint: We live about five hours from one of the biggest cities in the US and Iowa doesn't have an NFL team...

I got four out of seven beers - which was shocking! Usually I do the worst! I think the winner got five out of seven? This one was really hard! The only easy one was really Bud Lite Lime.

Overall it was a great time! You know that feeling when you want something to get here faster, but at the same time you don't want it to get here, because that means it will be over soon? That's how I am feeling right now with Christmas and this break in general!

Merry Christmas! Hope your week is going well!

It's not Christmas without Alvin, Simon and Theodore

My favorite song around the holidays has always been the Chipmunks Christmas song - I can still remember my mom playing the record (yes, the record from the 60s) when we were kids. My parents had a turntable and always played records. (I wonder where all those records are now? I'm going to find out...)

Does anybody else remember this record? Please tell me I'm not the only one.




Another Christmas favorite? This calendar.

For as long as I can remember my mom put this calendar out in December and every. single. morning. before school there would be a fight over "who got to move the mouse."

Today there is an intense fight over who GETS this calendar passed down to them.

My mom has recently released the information that ... the daughter that gives her the first grandchild will get it.

And grand-dogs don't count.

Talk about pressure! Sneaky, Mom. Reeeaaaal sneaky. Also? Not the reason you want your children to procreate I assume. (I kid, I kid).

(sort of).

What is something random about the holidays that you love?

All I want for Christmas...

It's Black Friday, are you shopping today? This post is scheduled to go up at 5:30am, I'm sure many of you will still be going strong at that time. Me? No. I will not.

My mom and I are going to Jordan Creek (the popular mall in our area) to laugh at see the 35,000+ people rush into the mall at midnight. For the past seven years I spent my holidays working in a mall.

For the past seven years I spent this weekend irritable from lack of sleep, yet pumped up from all the excitement and caffeine. Before CLL closed, I was usually traveling around this holiday. In 2006 I spent an entire month in Columbus, OH. Then got stuck in Chicago, trying to get home from that same trip. The past two years I spent it opening a top volume store at midnight for those crazy Iowan's that want to shop at the mall in the middle of the night. But... not this year. This year, I had a glorious SIX day vacation, and, it kind of feels ... wrong.

But, not thaaat wrong. ;)

Anyway, I am positive I have some readers that I know 'in real life' lurking on this ol' blog, so today, I thought I'd help you out...

...with my Christmas List! (Yes, that is a proper noun that needed to be capitalized).

My mom has been bugging me for my list for quite awhile, I knew I had some time though because she cough,cough -doesherChristmasshoppingtheweekbefore-cough, cough.

Hehe, you know I love you, Mom!

Anyway, here are the things I just can't live without anymore.

An Erin Condren iPhone case, if I was practical, I would ask for an Otterbox phone cover, but ... I really want one of these, because I enjoy things with my name on them. Duh.


Various books...
My Year With Eleanor by Noelle Hancock
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Then Again by Diane Keaton
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Peas and Thank You by Sarah Matheny
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay (I've read this book, but borrowed it from the library and loved it)
A Secret Kept, also by Tatiana de Rosnay
Educating Esme: Diary of a First Year Teacher by Esme Raji Codell
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Of course I want all of these (and many, many, many more), but the bolded ones are must haves :)

Boot socks
I love wearing boots, with tights/leggings and some chunky socks with a sweater dress. So far this season, it has been my go-to outfit. Now, I just need more boot socks!

Speaking of boots... I need more sweater dresses!

Yes, I know. You have probably seen me shopping many times on Twitter, and have bought several sweater dresses this season, but some I have had to return! (Plus, I am cheap, and love searching for a deal. So I don't feel bad. ;) )

This particular dress is from Target and is the perfect example of what I like. Plus, it's only $23.99, can't beat that! I can dress this up with bright tights and fun socks, a scarf or a belt. I'm a big fan of keeping the actual top/bottom/dress simple, but dressing everything up with accessories! Your wardrobe will last you so much longer if you do that.

Travel coffee mugs.


I am in desperate need of some more travel mugs and I really, really like this cute ceramic mug with a sweater (a SWEATER! Ahh, the cuteness!) from Caribou. How adorable, no? :)

A food processor

This has been on my list for way too long. I don't know why I don't own one. I don't even know what to look for to be honest. Is a good food processor worth spending extra money on? I don't even know. I just know that I really need one. The blender I own is on it's last leg... :/

The Obol.

I hate soggy cereal, so this is absolutely perfect for me. Need. As-Soon-As-Possible.

A new iPhone docking station for beside my bed.

I have a docking station in my bathroom, but I use it everyday while getting read and I'm getting tired of moving it back and forth from the bathroom and my room. This one would be perfect! Anything with a clock will do though... I know these can get a little overpriced, and they don't need to be (imo).

This leaf ring from Etsy.


I saw this the other day on Pinterest and fell in love with it! Isn't it adorable? There's also a matching bracelet... just sayin'....

Also from the same seller on Etsy, I found this claddagh ring that I just love.

I know technically you're not supposed to gift yourself with a claddagh and that a guy is supposed to give it to you. I don't care though, I still want it. I don't care who gives it to me, whether that be myself or someone else! ;)

What's on your Christmas list this year?? Do you know the story behind the Claddagh ring?