Friday, December 31, 2010

So Long 2010...

Happy New Year!
If you asked me last year where I would be today, I would certainly have never dreamed I would be in Central Cali. I am so thankful for this adventurous year. It's been crazy but amazing in so many ways.
I can't wait to welcome in 2011 with new friends & in a new place!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Casual Style...

I have a pretty casual personal style. Sometimes I get a bit too relaxed though. I love these celebs casual style. Hopefully I will get some inspiration to mix it up a bit.

I love her jacket & the very subtle mix of patterns.

I love the attention to details in Lauren's look. From the hair to the purse to the glasses...


Gwyneth looks so relaxed in this look, but she doesn't look like a slob at all. I love the shoes too.

Today I...

Today I went to see Black Swan. Crazy-Crazy-Crazy! It was much different than I expected. I still haven't decided if I love it, but I was really glad I saw it. Natalie Portman was seriously amazing in it though. Such a good actress!


And I wore my new sparkly pink TOMS! This isn't the best pic of them, but I really love them!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Signature Dish...

We have a new grocery store in town that is DIVINE! It's called New Frontiers & is extremely allergy/vegetarian friendly. They also happen to have a ton of pre-made food options - which is like heaven to someone like me who is not crazy about cooking (I'm trying to do more of it though!). Well one day I found a slice of ginger mascarpone cake & had to try it. It was quite literally the best thing I've ever eaten. I'm serious. I read all the ingredients & decided that this was definitely something that I could make on my own. I of course threw out the packaging & forgot all about it until I stumbled upon a very similar (I'm assuming) recipe. I made it & it was SO YUMMY! It's basically really creamy cheesecake on a gingersnap (GF!) crust. It super simple & no bake. So, make sure to invite me to your next party so I can bring my new signature dish :)

Disclaimer: That is not my picture. All of mine was eaten before I could take a pic.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Reading List...






Thanks to Christmas, my reading list has grown greatly! These are on the top of my 2011 reading list. I don't really know too much about any of them (except Hound of the Baskervilles - there was a Wishbone episode about that one) which makes it all the more exciting!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Miracle...

We went to Trader's the other day to pick up some last minute holiday snacks & came upon a bucket full of peonies! I am no flower expert, but I thought these only bloomed around June! It's so great to have Christmas decorations everywhere & beautiful peonies on the counter!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Holidays...




Brother...


Andrew arrives tomorrow! So glad the fam will all be together for Christmas.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Decorating...

If I had my own house, this is what it would look like for Christmas. Love it!

Happy Birthday!!!

Today is Henry's 5th birthday.
I swear this dog can tell time. He woke up at exactly midnight & came over to me to pet him. He knew I had to because it was his birthday.

It's A Wonderful Life...

So, I had a small town adventure today that was so fun & so very Christmassy! My friend called me this morning and invited me to a special showing of It's a Wonderful Life at a tiny little theater called The Fair Oaks! We arrived (in the rain), donated our can (they were doing this all as a canned food drive for the women's shelter), and settled in for some wonderful Christmasness (making up words here). I haven't watched the movie in it's entirety (without talking through most of it) for years, so I thoroughly enjoyed seeing it again. Even better than the movie was the atmosphere. The Fair Oaks is the most DARLING little theater in downtown AG. It has one screen. How cute it that? What other movie theater let's you in free with a donation of canned food? I am loving this little town more and more. After the movie it was still pouring, so we got coffee & Mexican food and sat outside to watch it rain. What a perfect day!

p.s. I couldn't help myself when it came to that picture. I apologize :)


Friday, December 17, 2010

Shelly's Christmas Party...

Friday was Shelly's Christmas party! We had so much fun! Everyone pitched in and brought delicious snacks & holiday themed drinks (I think my favorite had to be the hot buttered rum!). It was just nice to get to spend more time with Shell & other friends too!


Can't wait for next year's party!


LA Adventure...

Val & I decided to celebrate Christmas in LA this year! She picked me up at my grandma's & we opened gifts. She gave me pottery by Dave! I am so happy to own one of his pieces! After gifts & visiting we headed out to Urth for lunch! It was SO GOOD! I ordered cheese and green chile tamales and my absolute favorite beverage of all time - the English tea latte. Urth could not be any better! So tasty. Luckily Val & I love to people watch too. Some of the most interesting people hang out at Urth!

Then we headed to Babycakes. It's impossible to go to LA and not visit Babycakes! They had delicious pumpkin cupcakes.

Then we headed to Bunker Hill (made famous by 500 Days of Summer). It was a GORGEOUS day & we had such a pleasant afternoon. I miss living with Val & talking every single day. I think we've done pretty well these past couple of years though :)

We ended the day at the Grove. It was so beautiful for Christmas! They had a huge tree, hanging snowflakes & it actually snowed! We had happy hour at Cheesecake Factory, shopped Anthro, Gap, and Nordies, and left with Mexican Hot Chocolates! It was a perfect day & Val is a road warrior! We got to see so much of the city & just enjoy quality Meg & Val time.



Ice Skating...

While I was down in SoCal for the week I escaped family & was able to celebrate Christmas with some of my favorite people in the world!

First stop: Christmas party with Shell & Kenz! We've now been celebrating holidays/birthdays together for a while now, so it feels like a MUST to celebrate with these girls. We decided to go ice skating for this years festivities!

Of course we had to have dinner & gifts first though! We dined in Chipotle & opened our FABULOUS gifts! I have to say we all did pretty well this year! These girls have great taste & know me very well!
We opened gifts then headed over to buy our skating tickets.... I have to admit I was pretty nervous since I hadn't skated since I was 12.
Skating was so much harder than I remembered! I'm proud to say I didn't fall once though. Despite the pain in my feet, it was a really fun activity. Definitely out of the ordinary & it screamed of Christmas!
On the way home we opened up Shelly's "new" Kelly Clarkson CD & blasted it! I love car dancing with Shell!
It was another successful night! I love those girls a lot & they make everything tons and tons of fun. Can't wait for whatever we come up with next year!



Tales from Avonlea...

My mom is obsessed with the Salvation Army website (it's like ebay)... I've gotten in on a little of the fun as well. A while back I decided I wanted to get some of my favorite childhood DVD's. One of them was available from the Salvation Army website with a bunch of other random movies. They came in yesterday, and much to my delight, I found that one of the DVD's in the package was Tales from Avaonlea! That was one of my absolute favorite TV shows growing up! Oh, old school Disney... Please tell me someone else remembers this show!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Muppets...

I think this Muppet art is completely amazing. I would hang this proudly in my house.






Gonzo happens to be my favorite Muppet of all.
Side note: I cannot wait for the new Muppet movie!


Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I'm Back...

We arrived home safely! It was another fun filled week in southern California... I was able to see family and friends aplenty (we had 55 at the family Christmas party!)... Now I'm sufficiently exhausted. My grandma doesn't believe in letting me get a full night of sleep. I'm so looking forward to sleeping for more than 4 hours tonight! I'll post pics soon!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Black Swan...



I think I really want to see this movie. I've read some really great things about it. It might be hard to get someone to see this one with me though...

Transient...

I feel a bit like a transient these days. I don't even put my suitcase away after I unpack it because I know I will being using it again shortly! Don't get me wrong, I feel so blessed to be able to travel & go back to southern California to see family & friends, but packing gets very old. I just packed for this next week (I think I hate everything I own!). This week starts Christmas for our family. We're celebrating my grandma's birthday tomorrow, followed by more than a week of family & friend's Christmas parties!
Good news! I got a new camera! My parents bought it for me for Hanukkah! My picture quality is going to improve immensely! I can't wait to document this weeks festivities! Christmas here we come!


Friday, December 3, 2010

Currently Obsessed With...

Here are some things I'm loving right this instant...
I bought this candle on a whim (and a $5 sale) & have not regretted it one bit. It smells so ridiculously scrumptious! I wish I could bathe in this scent. I'm serious. If anyone finds this scent in a perfume, call me! I stand over it and inhale... It's probably an unhealthy obsession.

I'm finally reading Gone With The Wind... I love Rhett. He's a terrible, but oh-so-intriguing & interesting!

Thanksgiving may be over, but I'm still eating cranberry as much as I can! I actually LOVE the stuff that comes straight from the can...



This is by far the best ginger ale I've tasted... It's the only soda I really love.

I would love to have a very Juicy Christmas... These stockings are to die for!


Thursday, December 2, 2010

New Britney...


The countdown till March begins...

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Peppermint Mocha...

December 1st is the first day I allow myself to order a peppermint mocha! It feels like Christmas!

Thanksgiving...

We're back from Yosemite! We had a wonderful time! It was a nice break from tradition (sometimes I think it's fun to mix it up!), but we still managed to make it feel like Thanksgiving. We had a semi traditional feast in our hotel room that consisted of stuffing (GF for me!), sweet potato chips, green beans, roasted potatoes, and my personal favorite - cranberry sauce, and pumpkin bread! After dinner we had a pretty intense Yahtzee competition & watched Harry Potter.

It was Henry's first real road trip. He did amazingly well! He has some serious space issues though. He was happiest when on my lap, the center console, or my moms lap. I"m pretty sure it's illegal to let him ride like that, but he is a little heat bomb & kept me so warm! It was freezing, so a blanket (even a live one) was much appreciated! We entertained ourselves on the ride by listening to John Denver, Carole King, The Beatles, Odyssey's, and of course my mom's favorite Amy Grant Christmas (aren't you sad you missed out of that one Andrew?)...

He's seriously the cutest thing ever! The only really annoying thing he did was when he would get super excited (which was a lot!) he lets out this horrendous noise! It's a mix between a whine, and yelp, and a straight out dog scream! I kinda couldn't blame him though - Yosemite was pretty exciting!
We had heard that it snowed, but there was no evidence of the snow until we got into the park. Almost as soon as we drove in we saw tons and tons of snow! It was gorgeous! Luckily my dad's friend had warned him, so we came prepared with chains for our tires. A lot of the road was pure ice! It was FREEZING though! I had like 4 layers on & I was still freezing...
Hiking up to see this waterfall was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. It was a short but VERY ICY trip to the top. There was a small hill you had to climb & the entire hill was probably 2 inches of ice. Surprisingly there were a ton a people trying to get to the top! When we arrived at the hill we saw people falling, slipping, and giving up and just sliding down on their butts. We didn't want Henry to freak out, so we took turns going up the hill. My parents went up first so I got to stand at the bottom and just observe. FUNNIEST THING EVER! In the 10 minutes that I waited by myself, I saw at least 15 people fall. I only wish I had a video camera. Most everyone thought it was funny though, so we all laughed together (and at each other!). Amazingly I made it up without falling. It was such a gorgeous view!
My dad got some pretty amazing pictures! We only spent one day in the actual park because most of the trails were closed because of ice & they were calling for even more snow. Yosemite is even more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. I can't wait to go back & actually explore some of the trails!