Weekend Update

With Thanksgiving being so late this year, Christmas has snuck up on me. I'm generally less excited for Christmas in recent years just because I know that immediately following Christmas is busy season, and I have to say goodbye to my life outside of work (which, who am I kidding, isn't very exciting) for the next 4 months.

But I made an effort the past week to get into the holiday spirit. I took an afternoon off to do all my Christmas shopping and wrapping, I finally got the tree decorated, I attended my work Christmas party and a holiday party for United Way, and now I'm feeling significantly more festive than before.

1. The United Way holiday party, where I bought shoes for a child in need
2. My lovely roomie and I before our office Christmas party
3. One of my clients sent me a GIANT container of pecans. Time to start baking!
4. Some of my favorite girls getting our hair blown out before the Christmas party
5. A delicious festive cocktail (recipe below)
6. Lauren, Holly, and me at the party
7. Our cute little baby Christmas tree
8. My dear friend Whitney turned 30 the night of the Christmas party, and we celebrated in style (and also met Floyd Mayweather at Waffle House at 3 am!)
9. Stovetop potpourri - if it smells like Christmas, we're halfway there!



Cider Pomegranate Smash
from Clara Persis

2.5 oz bourbon
1 tsp lemon juice
6 oz sparkling apple pomegranate cider (Martinelli’s make this)
1/2 tablespoon pomegranate seeds

Fill a tall thin (or short and wide) cocktail glass with ice. Pour in the bourbon and stir to chill. Pour in the lemon juice and sparkling apple pomegranate cider and stir well to combine. Top with fresh pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately.

Stovetop Potpourri

Slice an orange or two, throw in a cup of fresh cranberries, as many cinnamon sticks as your heart desires, and a dash of cloves, cover with water, and simmer on the stove to fill your home with the smells of Christmas. Enjoy!

Making a List, Checking (Things Off) It Twice

Since it is now December and 2013 is almost over (excuse me while I freak out for a second about how fast this year flew by), I wanted to sit down and reevaluate my goal list of 101 things that I'd like to accomplish in 1,001 days.

I've crossed a few more things off my list, and I want to make sure this little journey gets documented along the way! Here's what I've been up to lately:

3. Host a dinner party. CHECK!

I'm assuming having 11 people over for Thanksgiving counts as a dinner party, right? I, however, admit that I didn't cook the entire meal, but I did cook to turkey, so that counts for something.

19. Stay in bed all day and watch an entire TV season.

Sometimes you just need a lazy day to yourself. I've gotten mindlessly sucked in to Gossip Girl on Netflix, and it's just that it's so bad, it's good. And also, can I be Blake Lively? Please and thank you.

28. Visit 3 new states.

I crossed off New Jersey while I was up north visiting my friend in Philly (still working on that trip recap, I promise). I can't say I'm dying to go back anytime soon; the roads are really strange and confusing up there, at least in the twon where I was staying (no left turns, what the heck?!).

68. Start a collection.

I've always had a love for coffee mugs, and when Starbucks introduced their "You Are Here" collection, I knew I had to pick up a mug from every city I traveled to this year.

My Los Angeles mug is sitting on my desk at work..

Now can someone just tell me how I can display all these new pretties?

80. Get a blowout at a dry bar.

Happening this weekend before my office Christmas party. Having someone straigthen my curly hair for me while I sip champagne sounds utterly fantastic.

85. Adopt a child from the Angel Tree at Christmas.

We do this every year at work, and this year I adopted a 9 year-old girl, Vanessa. I'm hoping she's going to like the hot pink sneakers I bought her (all girls like pink at that age, right?)!

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In other news, follow along with me today as I hold the Blog Baton on Instagram! I loved this idea when Mason introduced it, and now my day is finally here! I'll try not to bore you with too many pictures of my accounting day job; I promise accountants can be fun people, too!

Have a happy Wednesday!

My Favorite Holiday!

My favorite holiday has come and gone. But luckily, Christmas is a very close second and it's only 23 days away!

I'm not ashamed to admit I had 4 Thanksgiving meals this year and each one was better than the one before. We hosted our 2nd annual Friendsgiving, my sister was home briefly the weekend before Thanksgiving so we had dinner with her, my office hosted a Thanksgiving potluck on Monday, and then I headed to the mountains for the real thing. Not only did I have 5 glorious days off, but it SNOWED in the mountains! Probably the only time I'll get to see snow this year.

Ah, the greatest time of year!

How did y'all spend your holiday?

Linking up with Sami