Merry Merry

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas, we sure did!

This year we stayed home and were able to enjoy our Christmas festivities in our house and it was great! My mom came up to help us celebrate and the celebrations are on the calendar to continue this week as well! 

Friday started off with having friends over for lunch and catch up conversations.  That evening, since Gma was in town, we snuck out to dinner and had a nice evening out with dinner and looking at Christmas lights.

Saturday we lounged around and started prepping food for our Christmas brunch.   Mister and I went to Christmas Eve service that evening.  If you're counting, thats 2 nights out in a row, ha! Getting wild! 

Sunday was parts lazy, fun, magical and very very merry!!

We had to work around Little Mister's schedule a bit but it was a fun day nonetheless.  

We enjoyed opening gifts and playing with all of Little Mister's new goodies.

 Mister and I did just a few gifts for each other and then did gifts to Little Mister from each other.  It was exciting to see what Mister picked out for Little Mister...he found him some really fun toys! 

Little Mister's Gma spoiled him with some really great stuff too!  

After all the gifts were opened it was time for a yummy brunch!  We had ham, Pioneer Woman's biscuits and gravy and sausage and egg casserole.  I am not mad about all the leftovers around the house, that's for sure!

And even though he slept through most of it, we had such a fun time celebrating Little Mister's first Christmas!  

Santa Came to Town

It is a shock to no one that I love love love Christmas.  

With that, everyone has said how even MORE magical Christmas is with kids.

Well, they're right!

Because of Little Mister's early-ness we are quarantined to the house for quite a while so that means no visits to see Santa this year.

Obviously, his health and safety is of our foremost concern and going to the mall/somewhere super crowded is out of the question.

Well, Mister knew how upset I was about this and decided to take matters into his own Christmas hands. 

(I can NOT with his face in this photo, dead)

 He reached out to some friends with this dilemma and was able to borrow a Santa suit and surprised Little Mister and I both over the weekend.

He told me he had a surprise downstairs for Little Mister's 3 month birthday (update coming soon!) that he needed to 'get together'.  Little did I know what that meant.   

A few minutes later I heard  'ho ho ho' coming up the stairs and turned around and Santa himself was in our house!

 I have never laughed and cried so hard at the same time.

Seeing Mister as Santa was 1. so funny and 2. incredibly sweet

 Thankfully Little Mister was not phased by this jolly man in a beard and I was able to snap about one million photos.

To say my Christmas was made is an understatement. 

So This is Love

I always put a lot of thought into our Christmas cards and start planning them pretty early on.

Where they're going to be taken, who is taking them, what we are wearing, what Floyd is going to wear, etc.

So when we found out Little Mister was going to (we thought!) be born right in middle of the holiday season, I knew trying to orchestrate Christmas cards would probably be far too difficult.  So I decided it was it would be my plan to send out New Years cards.
I had even picked out an adorable one on Minted that I was going to customize to say 

'New Year, New Baby New Adventure'.

I had it all planned out in my head, and I have to say, it was quite adorable.

Well we all know by now the story and I guess Little Mister was not into the idea of New Years cards and he wanted to be included in this years Christmas cards ;)

Once life settled down a little, it was back to the drawing board on Minted.

This was my first year using Minted and I have to say I was quite impressed.  From their hundreds of options to the ability to customize just about any aspect of the card, I was in heaven (one may even say on the verge of overwhelmed) trying to nail down just one I liked.  I think at one point I had 15-20 in my 'favorites' selection. 

One thing I did know is that I wanted a postcard version this year.

Cheaper postage, no envelopes to deal with and I just think they're cute!

After quite the deliberation and consulting with Mister, we finally decided on this years winner and I have to say I love it!

Now getting the photo was a whole other adventure ;)

Trying to get a newborn to look semi perky and a basset hound to look 1/2 interested is quite the feat.  Thank goodness for tripods and self timers.  

Besides all of the adorable options to choose from, my other favorite feature of Minted is that they address your cards for you! I simply copy and pasted my Christmas card list into their form and they came to my house addressed and just needed a stamp.  This mama really appreciates anything that saves her time! 

And because of Little Mister's timing, I used our cards as a mini announcement as well.  Two birds, one card.

I am happy to say the cards have been sent out and already gracing some mailboxes.  Consider this your virtual card ;)

Happy Holidays!

*I was provided these cards but opinions are all my own

Weekend Wrap Up : Christmas

We hope everyone had a FABULOUS Christmas.

We sure did!

Ours was equal parts family, friends, rest, good food and wine and spoiled with presents.

And spoiled with food and treats at Grandmas house on Floyd's part.  Someone put shredded cheese on every bowl of his food and now he's refusing to eat at our house...

Thursday it was so warm I was about to get in a 4 mile run in preparation for the weekend calories.  

I ran my fastest 5k in a while so I consider it a win.

Thursday evening my mom and I hosted Mister and his parents over for dinner.

We made THE most delicious ribs, mashed potatoes, asparagus and burgundy mushrooms.  While the ribs were amazing, the mushrooms are entering our meal rotation, they were that good.  We cooked them in the crock pot all day and they smelled heavenly. 

 Friday was a magical Christmas.  We spent the morning having coffee and presents with my mom and then headed to Mister's family for brunch and presents.  

Mom and I made our Christmas Monkey Bread that my aunt has always made.

You prepare it the night before so it rises and then cook it in the morning.  This year it had a mind of it's own...

I promise we saved it and it was DELICIOUS.

Floyd was POOPED all Christmas morning and spent a good chunk of present opening sleeping.  

Once he opened his stocking and snazzy new collar from Gma he was uninterested. 

We had a great time at home with family and spent the rest of the weekend with friends and relaxing.  

Now on to birthday week! 

Floyd's Christmas List

Floyd has a pretty demanding Christmas list.  

Thankfully for him he has a direct line to Santa Paws.

Here's what's on his list.

Throughout the year Floyd has gotten a couple of A+ goodies in the mail from chewy.com, these have made the list.

His top favorites include Wellness CORE Grain-Free Protein Bars (he really likes the chicken and sweet potato variety).  Mister and I eat protein bars until we are blue in the face so why shouldn't Floyd?

And he really, really loves the Nature's Variety Instinct Raw Boost Mixers.  He goes NUTS for these freeze dried morsels.  I sprinkle 3 (4! at most) on his bowl and he loses his mind.  We have always wanted to do a raw diet but this is as far as we will probably get.  

I recently picked up these Milkbone Good Morning vitamins for Floyd and make sure he gets one every morning.  Recently he has been getting the healthy joints variety.  I don't want to talk about his age but I thought it would be a good thing to add into his diet.  

I have gotten lazy on making Floyd his own treats so in the interim he is loving on these Buddy Biscuits.  They are adorable (I think) and soft, chewy and peanut buttery (Floyd's favorite part).  

What Floyd doesn't know are the items that Santa Paws had me and Gma pick up for him.   He is going to be one pumped pooch, I'll tell you that! 

Lately : December

Life has been all sorts of holiday craziness as of late and what better to catch you up on this than with a photo collage of a big ol iPhone dump?!

Left to right...top to bottom

1.  My favorite Lacelet ladies opened up a new studio space and it is awesome.  And they are killin it.  Constantly super proud of them. 

2.  Our work Christmas party called for ugly sweaters so we got busy one night with a some wine and lots of scrap fabric.  Sadly I came in second...

3.  Mister and I celebrated our 16 year (dating) anniversary with champagne and Floyd on the couch...it was perfect. 

4.  It was slow and steady but I ran 6 miles last weekend which is the furthest I have gone in a long, long time.  It felt pretty great.  In shorts and a t shirt nonetheless, in the middle of December!

5.  Floyd really loves squishing himself into our pillows and going back to bed.

6.  We went to Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati zoo...it was so so beautiful and Christmas magical. It was, however, not full of animals :(

7.  Alexis left me the sweetest surprise last week for finishing up the class I took this semester (any getting an 'A'! whoop!) because she's the best neighbor and friend you could ask for.   I cannot wait to dive into that adult coloring book.

8.  I made this bang bang shrimp (with a few alterations) on Friday and it is definitely entering our dinner rotation.

9.  Sunday night we took Floyd to look at Christmas lights and for a puppacino.  He was stoked.  We rounded Sunday out with a virtual secret Santa exchange with our besties Casey and Eric and Kait and Dane...it was fabulous! 

Hope everyone has the MOST fabulously wonderful Christmas week!

Merry Christmas to you all!! 

Happy Holidays 2015

Now that our Christmas cards have graced most of the mailboxes of our friends and family I can finally share our photos!

Let me just say that Floyd was in RARE form this day.  

We were in a new location and interrupting his nap time and home boy was NOT having it.  

It's a miracle we captured any shots we could use.

Special thanks to Hannah for capturing our crazy family. 

This was the winner image but, as always, I have more of that sassy snout to show you.

Floyd. Get. It. Together.

 He loves us...

Happiest of holidays from ours to yours!!

Candy Cane Lane

While I would LOVE to have a mantel on our first (main) floor to decorate and hang stockings, that is just not how our house is set up.  However, as soon as we had our new table I knew was going to DECK IT OUT for Christmas. 

And that is exactly what I have done. 

Even better it was taken up an extra awesome notch thanks to ProFlowers! 

These Candy Cane Lilly are just what we needed to round out our holiday tablescape.  I am already dreaming of how to reuse those vases too.  

And the fresh greenery is just what we needed in the house to make us feel like we have a live tree!

Have you ever seen such pretty lilies?! I didn't even know candy cane lilies were an option in life.  I have really been missing out.

Lucky for you ProFlowers has offered up a few coupons for you to help decorate your Christmas mantle or tablescape!  Or how about sending a beautiful arrangement to a friend or loved one to spread some Christmas cheer?  Who doesn't love coming home to flowers?!

Merry Monday

My tree is still up and I am still in the Christmas spirit.

So Merry Monday it is.

Until Wednesday when it's birthday time around these parts!

But first, our Christmas...was great!

We had a fabulous time with family and friends and even got some relaxation time in too.

We spent part of our time off in Tennessee and managed to start and finish all of Serial there and back.

We are now so, so obsessed and cannot stop thinking about it.  Have you listened?  What are your theories??

Floyd was all about the Christmas spirit last week and since then has been resting.  Seriously, while Mister and I were exchanging gifts he put himself BACK to bed.  

And he has been napping every chance he can since then. 

Mister, my mama and everyone spoiled me rotten this year.

Funnily enough, my mom and I each gave each other Kindle Fires...pink, of course. 

Mister gave me a Garmin watch to run with that I am so excited to test out! And also some super adorable shoes that I am excited to wear when I do not have my running shoes on.

Christmas morning I was making coffee and turned around and Floyd was sitting by the gifts oh so cute.  His gma gave him a fabulous new, fluffy, comfy bed that he is VERY excited about!

And after three Christmases, early birthday celebrations, four states and quite a few days of travel...coming home was a bit tight in the car.  Mr. Floyd was NOT happy.  Thankfully it was not too terribly long in the car and Floyd still had one whole seat with a fleece bed in it to himself. 

And that was our Christmas.  I swear Mister and I participated but we were having SO much fun that we did not manage to get ONE single picture together.  Plus Floyd is cuter.

Hope everyone had a FABULOUS Christmas holiday!! 

Two more days until 30 over here....eeeeeek. 

Merry, Happy and Jolly

I sure hope everyone had a festively, fun filled weekend!

We sure did!

I wrapped a lot of presents, ran 13 miles, braved the mall, crafted and hung out with my favorite hound.  Let to do on the ol to do list is some baking, more crafting and just a fewww more things to wrap.

While I am crossing those things off my list, Floyd is going to be patiently waiting for Santa Paws.

We are going to take the rest of the week off to enjoy time with our families and celebrate Christmas!

Merry Christmas, friends!! 

Festive Floyd

Since we've had our tree up, Floyd has managed to sit by it every night.  

Every night while we are making dinner he sits by the tree and looks at us.

Granted he is a weirdo most of the time.

BUT I think it is adorable and makes me want to take one million pictures of him.

How do you NOT photograph that sweet snout??

Floyd over and out,

Holiday Pin to Present : Glitter Canvas

I am not one to pass up a holiday craft.

Last year I made this glitter canvas and a few other as gifts.

I loved them so much (and had rave reviews from their recipients) that I decided to make more this year for our house!

I started with the idea from this pin and added glitter.  As we know, all crafts get better with the addition of glitter. 

And the other best part of this craft is that it takes about 10 minutes (or less!) to do.

I started with a canvas I purchased from JoAnns (3 for $8 on sale), Sharpie, paints and glitter I already had.

I created an organic line across the canvas with a Sharpie and started with red circles for the red ornaments.  I then covered the red with red glitter, letting dry a little and shook off the excess.  I continued this with blue paint/multi colored glitter and white paint/white glitter.  

I love the simple, just sparkly way this one turned out.  

And I had so much fun I made an ornament version as well.

Linking up with Anne today for Holiday Pin to Present!