tight love

Had our staff Christmas party today at work--we had a crazy Christmas sweater contest and everything. I went to 3 different thrift stores last night looking for the perfect sweater to wear today and they had nothing! Just normal sweaters. Since when did the Salvation Army become so posh?? So I ended up pinning a bunch of green tinsel to my sweater and wearing reindeer antlers to impress my co-workers. It's the thought that counts, right?
But last night's shopping trip wasn't a total waste. I strolled over to Marshall's "just to look" and found a great pair of brown tights which I really needed--I know I live in Cali but it still gets somewhat cold so that I can't bear my legs for a few months....of course no one would want me to either since I don't shave in the winter--I need the warmth people! No, I'm mostly kidding....
But seriously, I bow down to whoever was smart enough to invent tights. Definitely a wardrobe essential for the winter no matter where you live. 

decorating for the holidays

Just a few of the Christmas decorations that I made and promised you photos of:

1. We put up Christmas lights around our living room windows and I hung 3 big pine cones with ribbon from our curtain rod. Very classic. 

2. These are yarn letters that I made out of cardboard and yarn. I got this idea from one of my favorite blogs Jen Loves Kev. See Jen's DIY yarn letters step by step here.

3.  Instead of getting a Christmas tree this year (we are tight on $$ and we won't even be at our apartment the week surrounding Christmas), I decided to find another way to display some of my favorite Christmas ornaments. I cut 10 pieces of ribbon and tied them to the curtain rod above our kitchen window. Then I tied my 10 favorite ornaments to the ends of the ribbon. Looks pretty cute right? 

4. This is a cinnamon jar that I made out of a pint size mason jar, a strip of Christmas ribbon, and cinnamon sticks. I used a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon around the lid of the jar and then I poked holes in the top with scissors so that the cinnamon scent can permeate the room. Then I broke about 7 cinnamon sticks in half to fit in the jar and screwed the lid back on. I love coming home to an apartment smelling of cinnamon during the holidays!

5. My friend and I went to Color Me Mine a few weeks back and did some painting--this cute snowman is my creation. Turned out pretty good considering I haven't painted since I was doing it with my fingers. And did you know you can bring wine with you to drink while painting at this place? We're definitely going back for this reason :)

Has anyone else done any decorating for the holidays yet? I would love to hear what you did!

a pinteresting life

So I hope everyone in the LA area survived the crazy Santa Ana's last week--the school I work at didn't fare so well.....about 12 trees down, an entire fence demolished, metal picnic tables bent out of shape, no power for 5 days, but more importantly, NO HEAT for 5 days! And this includes the two days that my co-workers and I had to sit in the freezing office for 8 hours. I never knew fingers could get that blue.
On the upside, my weekend was great! I decorated our apartment for Christmas and did a few crafty projects--photos coming later this week.
My husband was excited that I was out of his hair so he could brew his beer and watch football all weekend. And I was excited to finally get some of my projects started
[Pinterest is easily ruling my life these days....I'm sure I'm not the only one].
Oh and I also found a new song to be obsessed with....
Told you I had a productive weekend :)

a few of my favorite things...

Hope you all had a happy Friday, not freezing in a cold, dark office for 8 hours like it did (the school I work at was rocked by the high winds the other night; trees down everywhere; the power out and phones down). On the upside, I got paid to sit around and have some good conversation with a co-worker friend. 

Be back next week with some outfit posts and some pics of my DIY projects this weekend!

a night of memories

I have been at this blogging thing for about 2 months now and I thought that I would go back and remember some of my favorite outfits and photos--the only one missing is the outfit I put on every night as soon as I get home from work--my full body footy pajamas (super hott)! Unfortunately my husband broke my heart and told me that it was not a blog-worthy outfit :(

I am also SO proud that my blog was nominated by the wonderful Cambria over at Jupe for being one of her favorite blogs! Thank you Cambria and thank you to all of my magnificent followers--couldn't do it without you guys. 

the wishlist

To appease my highly organized and early Christmas shopping mother-in-love (we don't use the word 'law'), I was forced to create this masterpiece known as my Christmas wishlist. It is kind of a funny thing if you think about it. Making a list of things we want and giving them to people who may want to buy them for us.....can it be Christmas every day please? 

I know everybody says this but I honestly like giving gifts rather than getting them. It is fun to go shopping for someone other than myself for a change. And it is SO awkward opening a gift in front of the person who got it for you, especially if you don't like it. I just try to avoid this if at all possible because I'm a really bad liar and my fake smile is full of so much cheese, its ridiculous. 

But I am totally looking forward to this weekend because I have some serious plans with my Michael Buble Christmas mix, my KitchenAid, and some bomb cookie recipes--wish me luck!

the after party

I'm still trying to re-coop from the indulgent holiday that is Thanksgiving. Does anyone else feel like they gained 5 pounds? My family made SUCH great food, no one could stop eating! We washed it down with a dozen games of  very competitive Spades, a soccer game that resulted in many sore muscles, and joke after joke referencing the Occupy Wall Street movement. They are an odd bunch, my family, but it was great to see all of them. Too bad I forgot my camera or I would have had some interesting pictures for you.

I actually wore this outfit last week before my trip up north. I am really loving the dress and boots look for the winter. I couldn't get away with being warm enough in this without tights in Washington, but here in LA, anything is possible. 

Please forgive me if my posts this week aren't as frequent as normal....I am still trying to get back in the swing of things and haven't had the time to prepare posts like I normally do. But I'm working on it and glad to be back :)