Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Holiday Blog Challenge Day 2: Favorite Holiday Tradition New or Old


It is Day 2 of Neely and Amber's Holiday Blog Challenge and today's topic is favorite holiday tradition, new or old--fun fun!

We have lots of fun traditions in my family during the Christmas season!

One of our oldest (and possibly oddest) traditions is having a traditional Christmas Eve dinner serving....Chinese food....whaaat? :) 

Haha, it sounds a little weird, but it all started years ago when my sisters and I were much younger. We were leaving the next day for a trip to visit family and my parents didn't want a lot of leftovers, so they decided we'd get Chinese take-out to make things easier as we got ready for our trip.

Well the next year rolled around and my mom asked us what we wanted for Christmas Eve dinner and we said "Chinese food of course! Duh!" and my mom said "Okayyyy, we can do Chinese again.." probably while thinking to herself what strange children she had, haha...

Every year since then, we've had Chinese food at our Christmas Eve dinner. :)


There will soon be Chinese food on these plates...yum! :)

We have other traditions too:

                                                           Decorating our tree




                                                Putting up our favorite ornaments

This is one of my favorite ornaments--I got it when I was a baby! :)


                                              Wearing pajamas all day on Christmas

This stuffed animal kitten was given to me by my mom so I would stop incessantly talking about how I wanted a kitten, even though I'm highly allergic to them..haha...it is possibly one of my favorite gifts ever ;) :)


                       Hanging our stockings with our favorite stocking hangers


                                                         I love Christmas!! :)

Monday, November 28, 2011

Holiday Blog Challenge Day 1: Favorite Gift Received EVER


Starting today, I'm linking up with Neely and Amber for the Holiday Blog Challenge!

Today's topic: Favorite Gift Received EVER!

I have gotten many fabulous gifts throughout my life, but narrowing it down to just ONE favorite: My LiteBrite that I got when I was about 6 or 7 years old!

VIA


I can't exactly remember if I got this as a birthday or Christmas gift because I really can't remember when this wasn't a part of my life growing up, haha...

All I know is that I spent countless hours making pictures with those bright colored little pegs! My sisters and I loved creating cute pictures and designs..and writing each other messages on the LiteBrite. (Because I guess we didn't have paper or pencils??!? Haha...)
 

I SO regret telling my mom to give my LiteBrite away when I was a "I'm-too-cool-for-this" teenager.... :( But much to my surprise, they actually STILL make LiteBrites now! And I have to say, they are way cooler than the version I had---it comes with a flat screen now. What the heck?? That is awesome!
VIA


And speaking of LiteBrites -- imagine my surprise when I was at Old Navy on Black Friday at about 2am and saw a "retro" LiteBrite t-shirt!  I was thisclose to buying that shirt...so cute! Oddly enough, it is not available on Old Navy's website. I may be making another trip back to the store to get it! :)

Monday, November 21, 2011

Favorite of the Week!

I'm linking up with Erin for Favorite of the Week--whoo hoo!!



I'm absolutely LOVING these nail polishes this week:

-Neon Pink by Kleancolor



- Happy Anniversary by OPI



When you put them together this is the adorable result:

It was not until I uploaded this picture that I realized I hadn't gone back and cleaned up the edges yet--whoops! Haha...


Today was such a dreary, rainy, blah kind of day I knew I needed to do something to brighten things up a bit! :)

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Help the Homeless Walk 2011

Bright and early this morning (I actually woke up earlier for this than I normally do for work--ahh!!), I went with my older sister to participate in the annual Help the Homeless walk in Washington D.C.. It was QUITE chilly this morning, so we bundled ourselves up and prepared for a cold charity walk!

We took the Metro in and got to the registration area about 15 minutes before the walk was scheduled to start--not bad! :)

We took a few pictures to occupy ourselves before the walk began.... (it didn't start until about 20 minutes after it was supposed to--ugh!! People were not thrilled to be waiting in the cold, windy weather! Brr!)


Why yes, I was going for the "fluffy marshmallow" look today...haha
Strike a pose!

A sister photo shoot is always a good cure for boredom caused by waiting...and really, that guy behind me looks PISSED to be there, haha!

Before the race began, I was super excited to get my picture taken with the Washington Redskins Hogettes, which was awesome!! (If you are a Redskins fan or are from the DC area, you'll understand why this is a big deal!! :) ) They were so nice! And their costumes--hilarious!

It worked out perfectly that I just happened to be wearing my Redskins hat! :)

The weather was bright and sunny and once we started walking, we warmed up pretty quickly! The actual walk (2.5 miles) seemed to go quickly and people were moving at a decent pace...It's always fun walking around DC and seeing the sights. The walk route took us right by the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, which was REALLY cool to see! I'd definitely recommend seeing it if you are in D.C..



Waiting for the walk to start!
Insert inappropriate joke by me about how the monument might be tilting HERE..yeahhh, probably too soon still for earthquake jokes...haha..

Enjoying the sights as we walk!

MLK Memorial
His statue up close..very impressive!



All in all, it was a fun morning and was a great way to give back to the community and help the homeless, so we were both happy we were able to attend! :)

Friday, November 18, 2011

Breaking Dawn...

I wish I could say hands-down, no questions about it, 100% for sure I loved Breaking Dawn Part 1...

but that would be a lie.

I'm actually pretty disappointed with the movie and that is a HUGE bummer! :(

I went to the midnight premiere with my friend Tabitha and although we didn't love the movie, we did still have fun.. :)

We got to the theater at about 9:45, because as veterans of the midnight premieres of the Harry Potter movies, we wanted to make sure we got a good spot in line! (Well, actually Tabitha is a veteran of the midnight HP premieres...I've only been to one. Can you be a veteran after only doing something once? Haha!)

Hahaha--umm, NO one else was at the theater for the movie when we got there..the ticket-taker was all like "Oh, I didn't even know tonight was the night for the Twilight movie.." Hmm, really? I kind of thought that was your JOB to know things like that...haha

So we found the theater and sat down on a bench and talked obsessively about our upcoming trip to New York City for about 2 hours, lol!

There were a few other people who came early and for awhile, it seemed like the 6 of us might have the theater to ourselves because really, where were all of the other people?

Well, it turns out that the ticket-takers, for some inexplicable reason, held every other person waiting to see Breaking Dawn outside of the theater, but let us stay at our spot in the "line"...hmm, not really sure why, but hey--we didn't complain! We were afraid to leave our spot for anything, so we sat there waiting for the 3 hour Bollywood movie (!??!) to get out before our theater opened up...

When it was about to start, the theater was much fuller than it seemed like it might be and everyone seemed excited for it to start...

including the annoying high school (or possibly middle school) girl who squealed every time Taylor Lautner came on screen, who seemed to think that Bella was actually dead at the end of the movie..(Spoiler Alert--she isn't!) Tabitha and I are pretty sure the girl hadn't read any of the books, haha...

I really liked the first half of the movie--the wedding was so pretty, the speeches at the reception were HILARIOUS...hard to pick just one favorite--maybe her mom singing the lullably...so funny! And the place where they went on their honeymoon was gorgeous!

But once Bella got preggers, things got weird..I should have expected a little more of the creep/gag factor, but ahh--definitely did not enjoy parts of the second half...

I think Tabby's post on FB sums it up perfectly: Disappointment! I think someone at summit has been watching too many episodes of house hahaha

For reals...there is a good reason I don't watch House and it DID seem like that type of show...gross!

So yeah, overall, I think I was pretty disappointed...it was not really what I had expected. I'm sure I'll go see Part 2 when it comes out, but right now, I want to go watch the earlier Twilight movies and forget about the ikcy birth scene and weird wolves from breaking dawn...gag! (Why did the wolves seem much weirder in this movie?)

Did anyone else see Breaking Dawn? What were your thoughts and reactions?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Favorite of the Week!

Today I'm linking up with Erin (love the name!!) for my Favorite of the Week!



I am absolutely LOVING my new boots from Nordstrom that I got earlier this year.


VIA

They are SO comfortable and SO cute! I love them!

I wore them all day around school and my feet did not hurt one bit at the end of the day--that is a great boot!

I love shopping for shoes at Nordstrom--it is one of the few places that I can find shoes for my tiny feet...anyone else have feet that are sometimes even too small for kids shoes? Where do you find your shoes? I'm always looking for stores that sell shoes in small sizes!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

CMAs!!



Today I'm linking up with Neely at A Complete Waste of Makeup and Ashley at Ashley's Carnival Ride for Boob Tube Babble! :)


One of my favorite parts of this past week was watching the CMAs!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE award shows--I'm a huge sucker for all of them: Grammys, CMAs, AMAs, Emmys, Oscars, etc. etc.. It is so much fun watching all of the celebrities dressed up and seeing awesome performances!

I love country music and was so excited to see some of my favorites perform! It was SO worth putting aside all of the work I had to do and taking a night off from grading.... :)

Taylor Swift did an awesome job performing her song  "Ours" and I loved the sweater that she was wearing---so cute and refreshing! I kind of want it.....right now!


                                                         Photo from Ace Show Biz.com


Well, for those of you who have $398 to spend on a sweater (!!), it is available here: Slim Fit Cashmere Sweater
Photo from Ralph Lauren.com


Sadly, that is most certainly NOT in my budget, but oh well...it's still super cute and of course, Taylor would choose to wear my absolute favorite shade of pink, haha..... :)

I'm not usually a huge fan of the hosts of most award shows...usually the awkward jokes and little skits annoy me, but I have to say, I thought Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood did a GREAT job hosting the CMAs this year.

Carrie looked fantastic in each of her 500 outfits, haha...and they are a good pair...very funny. I had a hard time picking which Carrie look I liked the best but I think I'd probably say this one:

                                                                         Photo from CMT.com


SO pretty! I love that dress!!

But probably my favorite part was watching Taylor Swift win Entertainer of the Year! Yay!! She is my absolute favorite singer, and she is so funny to watch when she wins. I always laugh at how surprised she looks when she does win..I mean, come on--you are Taylor Swift! Of course you are going to win! Haha...

                                                                          Photo from CMT.com

All in all, it was a great show and I'm so glad I got to watch it! I love award shows!! :)

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Getting to know me! :)

Today, I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner for SUYL--non-mom bloggers! I love reading Kelly's blog so much--it is one of my favorite!

I got this fun outline from xoxo, Mrs. Smith. It's hard to know what to write to introduce yourself for things like this, so I'm glad to have these fun questions to answer!

Guilty pleasure?
Purses and bags. I have SO many and every now and then, I try to go through them to get rid of some, but it is too hard...:( haha

I can't travel without?
Books--I love to read!

Recent splurge?
Probably my most recent splurge was tickets to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. It was SO good! I love the music and the performers were awesome. I went with my mom and one of my sisters and we had a great time!

My go-to flower?
Hmm, not a huge fan of flowers (allergies make them not as much fun), but I do love roses and the color pink, so I'd say pink roses!

In bulk, I buy?
Nail polish...haha...or pita chips--Stacy's Pita Chips are the best!

I sleep on?
A double bed with a super cute zebra-striped bedspread from Delia's--I love it, even though they probably designed it for a teenage girl, haha...

Comfort food?
Pita chips, gelato, sugar cookies

For breakfast?
Not really a breakfast eater, but I usually will bring some bread and butter to snack on at some point during the morning after school has started...

For dinner?
Pasta!

Can't stop watching?
Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game, Against the Wall (new this year and SO good!), anything on HGTV!

Best online shopping find?
I love Rue La La and Beyond the Rack--I have found some good deals on those websites! Oh and Plum District too!

Every girl should have?
A little black dress...(or several in my case!)

My style in five words?
I like clothes that are cute, fun, and comfortable.

I love wearing?
Earrings, flip-flops, Ugg Boots, sweaters, fleeces... :)

Dream job?
I love my job now (elementary school teacher), but I would also love to be an author one day!

Friday, November 4, 2011

I'm back!

Wow---these past few weeks have FLOWN by! I can't believe how long it has been since I've had the time and/or energy to write on this blog! Whoops!

What have I been doing during this time away from my blog?

Teaching and jumping into another school year!


My classroom! :)


Playing with fun nail polish designs!

Pretty much obsessed with polka dots, haha!

Patriotic Theme!

More Polka dots!

Redskins-themed! Unfortunately, not a good luck charm that week..sigh...

Attending a Christian retreat at Rockbridge--so much fun!

Sooo pretty!!
Fun weekend with Debbie and Tabitha! :)

Visiting JMU!!

I love/miss JMU sooo much!
The new stadium is so cool!
Happy to be back at my school and seeing a football game! Even though we lost... :(


Seeing the Redskins play! (Or at least try to play....lol..)

Fun day but ugly game...unfortunately, one of several...


Celebrating a SUPER fun Halloween!

Emily and I at school on our "Fall Dress Up Day"! :)

Yummy food at Brittany's Halloween party!

My very talented friends made all this super cute, creative food! :)