Resolutions

It's that time again, New Year's Eve is tomorrow. Can you believe it? Seems like yesterday I was in college, or graduating high school for that matter. Yes, I know I sound like an old lady. I just can't believe it's going to be 2013, craziness!

I've never been a huge NYE resolution maker, I did make one last year. It basically involved focusing on me, like getting back into running (check!) and taking boxing lessons (check!)- essentially just things that I had been wanting to do, or always wanted to do and had never done. I didn't get the entire list accomplished, so it's evolved more into a life list as I've added more things to it.

Now I feel like I should make a resolution for 2013 as well. Any ideas? I thought about doing a 365 photo challenge, especially since I bought the Canon. I'm just not sure it's very reasonable since by the time I get off work and finish my run it's dark outside. So, maybe a weekly photo or weekend only? I also thought about doing Instagram only for it, but that defeats the purpose of trying to use my new camera. So what do y'all think? Have you done a 365 challenge before, if so, what was it?

Hope everyone has a very happy and a very safe New Year!! (Remember to call a taxi, don't drink and drive!)

xoxo,
kris

Christmastime

I hope y'all had a great Christmas! Mine was good, the storms blew through on Christmas Eve (late) and early Christmas morning, annnnnd we lost power. But, other than that it was great. We were without power for a couple days so my mom and had to lug our Christmas food to Candy's house and cook there, then lug it back home all packaged up and in coolers to keep it warm. We had Christmas dinner on the coffee table, by lantern. It could have been much worse, though, so we were lucky. The crazy winds knocked trees down everywhere, but we ended up with just some huge branches, no major damage. I was glad I got to at least warm up my homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast before the power went out! :)

Was Santa good to y'all? I got a gift card to go toward a camera (which I bought Saturday!) and Candy and the fam got me a Dremel tool and I'm so freaking excited to start using it on my craft projects!! I almost bought one at Black Friday, they're so cool. They can do all kinds of stuff in one. I also got a couple Hobby Lobby gift cards which will go to great use for my crafting projects. I loved everything and am so thankful for what I received! I also loved being able to give gifts too, that's truly my favorite part. I hope everyone enjoyed their treats!

I don't know about y'all, but I'm so not ready to go back to work this week! I love vacation!!

Hope your Christmas was very merry and your new year is full of happiness and cheer!

xoxo,
kris

Winter Wardrobe

I don't know about y'all, but I love winter clothes! I mean don't get me wrong little dresses and such are super fun in the spring, but the winter means you can bring out the big guns- sweaters, boots, scarves, hats, leggings really the list just goes on and on. In light of my winter wonderland clothing obsession, here's a little peak at some outfits I've found online that I'm crushing on. Most came from Pinterest so they have everything picked out, down to the earrings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several of these outfits could be warn to Christmas parties or New Year's Eve parties, a couple could even be warn to work! I just love fall/winter clothes. Don't you? Hope everyone has a week full of fun festivities with family and/or friends. I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away! Enjoy this special time of year :)

 

xoxo,

kris



I have no words.

Everyone knows about the horrible acts that went down on Friday. I have no words to express my anger and sorrow for those souls who lost their lives. I came across this poem/song via twitter and wanted to share it with you.

Little Wing

Fly, fly little wing
Fly beyond imagining
The softest cloud, the whitest dove
Upon the wind of heaven's love
Past the planets and the stars
Leave this lonely world of ours
Escape the sorrow and the pain
and fly again.

Fly, fly precious one
Your endless journey has begun
Take your gentle happiness
Far to beautiful for this
Cross over to the other shore
There is peace forevermore
But hold this mem'ry bittersweet
Until we meet.

Fly, fly do not fear
Don't waste a breath, don't shed a tear
Your heart is pure, your soul is free
Be on your way, don't wait for me
Above the universe you'll climb
On beyond the hands of time
The moon will rise, the sun will set
But I won't forget

Fly, fly little wing
Fly where only angels sing
Fly away, the time is right
Go now, find the light

Written by: Jean-Jacques Goldman and Phil Galdston

Giving

As Christmas is fast approaching, now is when we all get into the giving spirit. We want to donate, volunteer, and just spread joy to everyone. I know I'm definitely one of those people who fall into the category of "being more in the giving mood" around the holidays. But y'all, we really need to focus on this stuff year round. I recently stumbled upon this (Click Here) blog post. Seriously, click the link and read the blog before reading on! She basically decided to make her 38th birthday a day to help others all around her community, by performing 38 Random Acts of Kindness. Brilliant! I absolutely love this idea! I've been racking my brain trying to come up with something fun to do for my 30th in February.. think I found it!

I was really inspired by one of my favorite celebs that I follow on Twitter, Sophia Bush, when she used her 30th birthday for a good cause this summer. She funded an entire school by raising $30,000! It was her 30 for 30 campaign. Obviously, I don't have the followers and outreach that she has, so something more like my homegirl Robyn's RAOK (yeah we're bff now) would be more suited for me. It totally works out since my birthday is on a Saturday, and the following day is the Superbowl, so I can meet my goals on my actual bday and then celebrate the best way I know how- by watching my boys play the game I love the next day. I'm thinking this is the best plan ever.

Now, here is where y'all come in. I need some ideas for my RAOK. There are obvs the staples of making donations and such but I need some others as well, after all I have to do 30 in one day! This is a very small community so I'm going to have to think outside the box for this one. I would love to have some helpers with me to participate and take some pics, so I can share my Big 3-0 with all of you! So, bring on the suggestions for some RAOK in the comments :)

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and this great winter weather we're having down here!

xoxo,
kris

Holiday Tunes

Y'all, I have a problem when it comes to holiday music. I can't control myself. I start playing it too early and I play it all the time. Seriously, if you get in my car at any point from November 1st through December 25th, there will be a Christmas CD in the player. It just puts a smile on my face and brightens my day, not to mention is eases tensions on the road! If you don't like Christmas music there's something wrong with you. Just kidding! But seriously, you should give it a try in your car if you're not a lover of all things holiday and musical. Those that know me well know that I tend to get angry (really angry) at bad drivers, but this time of year there's a little less of that with my jolly music going on. :)

So to help you expand your song base, or start it, here's my list in no particular order of some favorite Christmastime songs! Some I have favorite artists for and others I just love the song in general, hence the varying degree of artists.

1. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You

2. Zooey Deschanel & Leon Redbone - Baby It's Cold Outside

3. The First Noel

4. O Come, All Ye Faithful

5. It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

6. Amy Grant - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

7. It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

8. Oh Holy Night

9. Bing Crosby - White Christmas

10. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Obviously, I could go on and on and on. I decided to cap it off at ten. Ten is a nice, round number. If there's a song you love, feel free to leave it in the comments! I'm always looking to add to my Christmastime music, I mean you can really never get enough of it. All this music talk is making me want to listen to some, I think I'll have to crank up the Pandora in the office today! :)

Hope everyone is having a great day and a wonderful start to a fabulous month!

xoxo,
kris

Top Christmas Movies

To keep with my insanely high Christmas spirit, I thought I'd share some of my favorite Christmas movies with y'all. I seriously love watching holiday movies, drinking hot chocolate and having holiday scent candles burning in the background. It really doesn't get much better than that after a long day of work, especially if it's cold out! So, in no particular order of imporatance here are my favorite Christmastime movies.

1. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Christmas Vacation is one of my all time favs. It has something for everyone. I think at some point or another Clark reminds us all of our dad at one time in our lives and then there's cousin Eddie, if he doesn't make you laugh, you have no sense of humor. Of all the National Lampoon movies, this one is by far the best.

 

2. Elf

Usually Will Ferrell's movies are super raunchy and ridiculous (all be it funny!) but he hit it out the park when he decided to step out of his box and do this little holiday number. There are so many quotable lines in this movie, just like Christmas Vacation. I adore Zooey Deschanel and their characters combined make this a great movie.

3. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

As a kid, this was my all time favorite movie. I loved all the different characters and the Island of Misfit Toys. Side note, I've been trying to find a Hermey the Dentist figurine for a long time for a friend of mine that's a dentist, so if you happen to come across one, let me know! The ones I've seen online usually just look a tad bit off...

4. A Charlie Brown Christmas

This is another staple from my childhood. We always watched A Charlie Brown Christmas together every year. I loved that little Christmas Tree they get and Snoopy's little decorated house is just so cute!

5. It's a Wonderful Life

I must confess, when I was young my mom always made me watch this and I just couldn't get into it. As I've grown older though, I've really come to love it! So many parallels can be drawn between today's world and when the movie was made (1946!) I guess history really does repeat itself. Plus Jimmy Stewart isn't bad to look at for the duration of the movie either! ;)

"George Bailey, I'll love you 'till the day I die."

6. The Family Stone

The Family Stone is one of my all time favorites, most years I actually end up watching it more than once. I just love how it shows the "real" family. There's no picture perfect togetherness or anything, families are messy and we fight, and the holidays bring us together along with all of our baggage. Wow, that sounds really Debbie Downer doesn't it? It's really not like that, I promise! I just really like that it feels like you're watching a real family, you laugh, cry, get angry and have happiness too. Love it.

7. A Christmas Story

I just love this movie. I think most everyone has watched it and one point or another- if not every year. There is a very good reason they show a marathon of it starting on Chritsmas Eve, it's just that awesome. There are so many quotes from this movie as well. I usually spend the entire holiday season spewing them until everyone is probably sick of them haha! "F-R-A-G-I-L-E, must be Italian"

8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon NOT the Jim Carrey Movie)

This little ditty is another staple from my childhood. I just loved this cartoon and I'm sad to say, but they ruined with the remake. I did not like the Jim Carrey version. I even saw it in the theater, to get a good viewing and it just wasn't the same as my old childhood friend here.


Well, those are my top Christmastime movies- again in no particular order. I most definitely watch more holiday movies than these, they're just the ones that have stuck with me over the years and I really go back to each and every year, and sometimes twice. What are your favorite Christmastime movies?

xoxo,
kris

Wish List

As you can tell from my previous post, I absolutely love the holiday season and get excited over all kinds of things. I love giving gifts, especially coming up with homemade or semi-homemade gifts is one of my all time favorite gift giving things. I'm a big fan of the gift basket. Last year I gave several of them out that were all very similar, just varying in size and a few contents. The main items last year were cheese spreads, olives, crackers, cheese boards, cheese knives, chocolates and then a personal item for each recipient. There are a lot of places that make baskets like this (or with other contents like wine etc) but I really enjoy making them and decorating them. Making the basket pretty is half the fun! :)  I'm really trying to buckle down this week and get my gifts ordered. I will definitely be hitting up some stores this weekend when I'm in the Woodlands for an appointment.

So to get in the gifting spirit, here is my "wish list" obviously I'm not going to be receiving this stuff, since they're mostly pretty expensive items, but a girl can dream!

I've wanted a KitchenAid Mixer for years now. I know they're not that expensive and I am going to have to eventually man up and just buy one. I am especially loving this color, isn't it fabulous?!

Frye boots. Oh, my word. I just love them. This style in particular. They're super cute, country yet trendy, and from what I've read very comfy. One day, you will be mine!

I recently discovered this designer thanks to a post on A Beautiful Mess and let me just say that Orla Kiely knows what she is doing. Her bags are fabulous! This blue one is from the new collection, I just love the color and the little leaf pattern. Her stuff is a little pricy (hence the reason I don't have this bag in my possession right now) but I think it's definitely worth saving up for! She also has some cute laptop bags and dresses as well.

This is another Orla Kiely bag, because I mean really, we can't always carry a beautiful blue bag everywhere we go! ;)

A big girl camera. This is actually something I will probably get in the near future, maybe not this exact one (although that would be awesome). I have been in desperate need of a new camera and I really want a good one that I can use for better quality pics of my crafts as well as outdoor pictures. You didn't know I was a huge nerd that likes to run around taking pictures outside did you? Yup, that's me!

Ahhh, a serger. This isn't really something I need it would just be super awesome to have. I'm not making a clothing line or anything, but the pillows would go by oh so much faster with a serger. Plus, I could branch out to other things if I had one. The ones in our lab at school (way back when, ha!) were fabulous!

That's my Wish List this year. Obviously, I would love to win the lottery or something crazy like that, but what are the odds? ... probably about as good as many getting this stuff, haha! Have you thought about your Wish List? Hopefully everyone has a little fun with it, I think it's good to dream a little now and then.

I can't believe we're already so close to Christmas! It would be even better if it wasn't 80 freakin degrees outside! Oh well, I'll just have to be bad and crank up the AC to have some hot chocolate tonight ;)

xoxo,
kris