Merry Christmas:

Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope your day is full of warm moments with family and friends. 'Tis the season, after all.

Christmas 2014:

It's that time of year again -- time to share what I'm wishing for this year. My mom complained that my list is too random. Well, that's me. My interests are varied. So, here we go. My picks for 2014:

1. Madewell's sidewalk skimmer in leopard ($118) -- my current leopard flats have officially died so I am in the market for new ones. I love the almost pointed toe of these.
2. Immersion blender ($40) -- we make a lot of soups during the cold winter months so we really need an immersion blender to make them smooth and creamy. Transferring to a blender is getting old.
3. Momofuku Milk Bar cookbook ($23) -- these are all the recipes for the delicious baked goods at the Momofuku Milk Bar. I've never actually been there but have you seen these recipes? They look bonkers.
4. Growing Up Sew Liberated ($17) -- I recently checked this out from the library and fell in love with it. It's filled with fun, creative patterns that I can't wait to make.
5. 30 Rock season 7 ($26) -- No surprise that I'm in love with 30 Rock and Tina Fey. This is one of the only seasons I am lacking.
6. Phillips Sonicare Airfloss ($70) -- I'm terrible at remembering to floss and after conversing with my dentist about it, I really want to try the airfloss. Anything to make the everyday mundane easier, right?
7. Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens ($197) -- I am dying for a new lens for my DSLR. This one will do nicely, I think.

There are a few more items on my list. Click here to check them out. Happy gifting!

Stockings:

Happy December, everyone!

Now that Thanksgiving is over and done with, I can turn my attention to Christmas. This Christmas is going to be extra special because not only is it the first in our new home, it's our first as parents. I am looking forward to sharing M's first Christmas and making sure it's extra special.

So, in order to usher in the Christmas spirit, last week I ordered fabric to make our new stockings.

I love collecting and hoarding new fabrics so I had so much fun with this step of the project. I plan on making each stocking quilted with a white cuff. And I'll embroider each family member's name onto the cuff of their stocking. 

I am so excited to get started on these. And even more excited to see them hanging, year after year, on our mantel. 

Baby's first ornament:

I've been on the hunt for the perfect baby's first Christmas ornament for a few weeks now. I don't really know what I'm looking for, I just know what I like when I see it. That pretty much means looking at every single ornament out there. It's hard work, let me tell you.

I've managed to narrow it down to a few different ones. Here are the front runners:

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We are leaning towards the bear ornament but there are so many options, I'm having trouble deciding. I think about my first ornament (and all my other childhood Christmas ornaments) and the fond memories I have seeing them on the tree every year, and I want little M to have wonderful memories of his childhood Christmases like that. It makes it hard to choose. Suddenly, it seems like a huge responsibility. I have to make the right decision but I feel torn.

Almost Christmas

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The office is dead. No one is here. There's nothing to do. And time is passing so slowly. I've never been more ready to go home.

I've been trying to convince Andrew to let me open my Christmas presents early. Every day I come home and there's more. And they are huge. We're talking too big to fit under our tree huge. And I can't even remember what I asked for that could possibly be that big. And that's got me excited because presents that I didn't think to ask for are usually my fave.

I'm thinking I may have a half day tomorrow. Or maybe not go in at all. Still debating. I've still got cookies to bake. And blankets to snuggle up in.

Today is my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Diddy! Before I head home for his bash, check out my favorite names of towns in Arkansas (found during during work this morning):

1. Bald Knob
2. Blue Ball
3. Delight
4. Friendship
5. Jerusalem
6. Locust Bayou
7. Macedonia
8. Pencil Sims Bluff
9. Smackover
10. Stamps
11. Sweet Home
12. Swan Lake

P.S. Kristin is back! 3/4 Order Christmas party tomorrow night!

And here we go

Things have been a little nuts lately. We've been dealing with busy work days, studying for finals, sickness, and Christmas shopping and decorating. But we're back and we're ready to party. Here are a few of the things that you missed:

We have a new Christmas jam, "Electronic Santa" by Blazer Force. When Andrew listened to it, he said "I have never heard a song about Santa that made me want to dance before". And trust me, this song will make you want to dance. So don't listen to it in a public place unless you're meaning to show off your mad skills.



This commercial had us laughing last night. I haven't seen Andrew laugh that hard at anything on TV in a while.



This past weekend, we set up our tree. The candy garland is from when I was a kid. It used to hang on the trees of my childhood and I would try to taste it. So if you look closely, you can see where some of the candies have been unwrapped and there tiny teeth marks in the styrofoam underneath. And the little red shoe ornament is one of my favorites. Tyler gave it to me a few years ago and it says "all I want for Christmas is peace on earth and really cute shoes".

A few nights ago, Andrew and I finally perfected avocado sushi at home:

And finally, here are a few more of our lego creations: