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

December

I cannot believe that tomorrow is December y'all. Time is flying by at a ridiculous pace. The holidays are my favorite time of year, it's just hard to believe they're already here! I am so excited to do all my favorite Christmastime things like watch holiday themed movies while burning my holiday themed candles. Who am I kidding? I've been burning my holiday themed candles since November 1st! I've already finished off my Christmas Cookie scent and moved on the Cinnamon Stix. Yankee Candle holiday scents are my fav! I love curling up with a cup of hot chocolate to watch a movie and have one of those scents burning. You know you have a favorite holiday candle :)

Next week I'm going to get going on my Christmas shopping. I'm super organized with it this year, rather than simply making a list to highlight (I love highlighting!) I've created a spreadsheet with names, items and prices. A bit nerdy, but I really want to keep track of how much I spend at Christmas and start comparing each year. The following week will be on to one of my other favorite past times of the holiday season. Gingerbread Houses! I love making gingerbread houses. Maybe it's my creative side that can never outgrow it, but I always try to find something new to add to my little house each year. I've already been thinking up ideas. Yup, I take gingerbread house building very seriously.

Just before Christmas, I'll get to do my all time favorite holiday activity. Drive around and look at Christmas lights. I've been doing this since I was kid. My parents took us when we were young and it's just been a tradition I've kept up ever since. I absolutely love this tradition. Listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate while driving through beautifully decorated neighborhoods is just so magical. I usually try to pick a cold night to make it that much more special, although in Texas, sometimes that's not possible so I just crank up the AC and enjoy my hot chocolate in the "cold" regardless of the weather outside.

I always go over to the parent's house one weekend before Christmas and make cookies with my mom. I love doing this too. My brother and I always decorated the cookies when we were younger, now it's just me while mom bakes them all. The my perfectionist/creative side comes out so it usually takes quite a while, but we always have fun and end up eating cookies in the process. We also bake cinnamon rolls just before the 25th to eat Christmas morning. I love this because when I was kid my mom always baked them and I just watched, now I get in on the action and we make them a little more "ooey and gooey and cinnamony". Did you see what I did there with those awesome culinary terms? I also absolutely LOVE eating cinnamon rolls. Or almost anything with cinnamon really. So, yeah Christmas morning cinnamon rolls are my fav.

Hope you're all as excited for December as I am! :)

xoxo
kris

Turkey!

Thanksgiving really can't be just a few short days away, it doesn't seem possible, time could not have flown by so quickly. But, it has. Last year my holidays, starting with Thanksgiving, were a little shooken up and took a different course than usual. This year, while I'm not getting back to the usual schedule, I am getting to celebrate the holidays in a more normal fashion and I'm very excited about it. Last year, I never really got into the spirit until right before Christmas so it was hard for me to enjoy things- there were a lot of issues going on, none of which will be discussed on this here blog, so hopefully with many of those things behind me I can get back to a slightly different, but more normal routine.

I'm going to help my mom cook Thanksgiving supper on Thursday morning (after I wake up early and go for a nice run since it's going to be like 75 degrees outside). I'm really excited! Since I haven't had Thanksgiving at my parent's house in a while, and she hasn't cooked it in a while, we're trying some new methods. Rather than a huge bird for the three of us we're just doing seasoned turkey breasts and some of the usual culprits for side dishes. I'm also going to roast some of my favorite veggies and make cilantro/lime black beans to mix with them. I know you're thinking "what tha?!" but I love veggies and black beans together and we're just having fun this year. Rather than making desserts, I ordered a pie from my little buddy Jayce when his baseball team was doing a fundraiser with Pie in the Sky Pies in Conroe. They were so sweet to deliver the pecan pie I ordered on Saturday (plus I got to visit with Tami and little Miss so it was a win win). I can't wait to try the pie, it looks super delish! My boys are playing Thursday night against the Jets, so I'll be watching that while I'm being lazy from eating all the food. I'm pretty excited. I'm sure the parents and I will get a game or two of scrabble in there somewhere, it's what we always did on holidays. :)

Something not holiday related, but that I'm also looking forward to, is seeing Breaking Dawn Part 2 on Wednesday night with Isabel. We've been holding out waiting for the crazies to get their fix so the theater is less crowded and ridiculous. I'm kind of over the whole series, but I do have to see the movie just to see it. I know, that sounds silly. I have heard they changed some stuff, specifically the ending so I'm looking forward to that. I'm kind of hoping someone dies or something just to really change things up. We shall see!

I'm working through Wednesday, although the students don't have class Wednesday so it's kind of silly for the University to be open, but oh well. I will be the only one in the office that day so I can play some Christmas music and really enjoy being in the holiday spirit this year. The guys in the office aren't really the holiday types. Anyway, I usually get my fix with the music on the way to work, so I'm kind of stoked to be able to listen to it all day long in the office!

What are your Thanksgiving plans? I am very thankful this year, for many, many things so we'll just leave it at that. I am very thankful. My goal this holiday season is to try and spread some holiday spirit/awesomeness whenever possible. I'm going to start carrying Christmas cards with me and anytime I'm at the store (or anywhere really) and someone seems like they could use a pick me up, the cashier looks entirely overworked, or maybe just another patron who seems overly stressed I will give them a card and hopefully brighten their day just a little. I've thought about even putting a little Starbucks card in a few, for someone who seems like they could really use it. Nothing too fancy or expensive just a little something to let people know there's someone out there that cares. Hopefully this will inspirse some of you to come up with your own "holiday spirit spreaders" or you can even use this one, I don't mind! (plus it's not like I invented it or anything hehe) I think we should all focus on getting back to the holiday spirit rather than just shopping and not really focusing on family/friends and what the holidays really mean.

Sorry, didn't mean to go off on a tangent. Talking about the holidays makes my head spin into so many different directions... maybe I have ADD. haha. Anyway, hope you all have a very fabulous Thanksgiving with your family, friends, volunteering, by yourself, or however you choose to spend this holiday. Just remember to be safe, especially if you have drinks!

xoxo,
kris

Toes in the Sand

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been uber busy lately! I know that's no excuse, but there ya go. The first weekend in November I spent running errands and finishing up a wreath that was ordered. And by running errands, I mean running around like a chicken with my head cut off getting everything ready for my vacation/destination wedding in the islands! I was so pumped. Obviously, I was so extremely stoked to be part of Dev's wedding but also to go to Grand Cayman and stay at the Ritz? Who would not be ready to shoot out the door for that?! The weather was perfect, other than a front that brought in some major wind for the majority of our trip. But, the sun was shining the entire time and it was beautiful. The ceremony and dinner following it were both held directly on the beach at the Ritz so it was very fabulous, especially with the sunset in the background. Definitely the most beautiful scene I've come across in real life. The rehearsal dinner was on a deck overlooking the water as well. Everything was really just perfect. We spent the days laying on the beach being waited on with drinks and yummy food. The only thing I wish we could have done was visit Stingray City. It was so windy that it didn't work out for snorkeling over there. Oh well, I'll just have to go back in the near future ;)

 

Laying out at the Ritz

The hotel (just one little part) it was HUGE! It went across the street with a sky bridge and everything.

 

Our travel agent was awesome and requested for my room to be near Dev's, and since they received an upgrade, I did as well! We were all supposed to be "garden/resort view" across the street, but we our upgrad got us beach side with ocean views. (and a living room!) :)

 

Dev had the cutest little bags waiting in our rooms for us and they included this super awesome potholder that her mom quilted. Love it!

 

The ceremony was literally right on the beach. They did a great job with simple, classy decorations.

 

Here comes the beautiful bride!

 

Her flowers were gorgeous! (and there's me holding my dress down in the wind lol)

 

The table cloth blew up right when the picture was being taken, after 3 tries, we gave up haha.

 

More amazing beach. Look at that water! :D

 

I have been converted to a beach person after this trip, however, only clear/blue water beaches. So pretty.

 

The last day I drove around with a couple people that were on my flight to tour the island before heading to the airport. The water/beach was so different on different sides of the island.

 

The water was still clear, but not as deep of a blue and no white sand. We definitely had the best beach at our hotel!

 

Here's our little rental car. It was actually very roomy on the inside. The Caymans are Brittish Isles so we had to drive on the left, so different! I don't think I could have done it, thanks Roger! :)

 

While driving around, we stopped at Rum Point for lunch.

 

They had this hilarious sign hanging at the bar, LOVE IT! Having been in the food service industry for many years, I wish I could have said smartass things like this to people often!

 

 

 

Well that's all the pics I have for now. I still have to load my camera photos to my computer, these are just from my ipad. I really loathe loading my outdated point and shoot photos. Maybe Santa needs to bring me a new big girl camera? haha! Anway, hope you're all doing well and fall is kicking off with a bang for ya. I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I mean really, where does the time go?

 

xoxo,

kris