Christmas is over? It's December 28th? The time-- where did it go?

Getting older, for me, is synonymous with the 'ole "blink and you miss it" saying.

Christmas? My favorite holiday that I over-decorated our apartment for and spent way too much money in preparation for and got so, so excited to go home for the holidays in anticipation of?

It's gone. Over. Done with. FINITO. Au revoir. Arrivederci. Adios 'til next year, my friend.

It feels like the last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and after all of the build up I'm kind of looking around, confused, wondering where a) Christmas went; b) December went; and c) 2011 went. Even more overwhelming are ALL OF THE PLANS/IDEAS/GOALS I've started to make for myself for this upcoming year of 2012. (Sidenote: I think I've blogged this before, but does anyone else out there ever read something with a date of like... 1999 and think "Psh, that was just a few years ago... oh, um... or thirteen. A child has become a teenager and my mind still thinks it was just a few years ago." Also devastating-- hearing some of your favorite songs start to make the rounds on a radio station's Wayback Wednesday playlist.)

(If you're still following this jumble of random, bless your heart. I've just inhaled a large coffee and my mind? It is racing.)

The funny thing is, one of my goals of 2012 is to NOT plan so much and to not be overwhelmed. Planning to stay organized is one thing; planning to an obsessive extent is completely different. I'm an "it's all in the details" kind of person, yet I know it's time to take a step back when I'm laying in bed at night mentally practicing how to tie the perfect bow with my ribbon, perfectly color-coordinated to my wrapping paper and how I'm going to attach the color-coordinated initial ornaments that I bought for each gift. Brian sometimes says my mind must be a scary place at times-- agree.

So anywho, I need to lay off of the details. By nature I will always plan and over-plan and worry afterwards if I planned enough, but my goal is to try and start to enjoy the results of my planning, because I really do not do that as often as I should.

To wrap up the last few weeks, I'll bullet:

*I went home to Texas for Christmas. While there, I drank a lot of wine and sweet tea; ate my weight in sausage balls, Trash (snack mix), Chick fil A, and Mexican food; walked our boxer, Lucy; spent time with my family (extended and immediate); and had the best girls night in ever with the best of my best friends. My shopping was done so I got to relax and sip coffee in the mornings and go for runs at 10am if I wanted to... and it was just lovely.

*My parents completely surprised me with a Kindle Fire for Christmas. As anti-eReader as I was forever (hello, desire to work in the PRINT publishing industry)... I'm hooked. Like, it is my precious baby and don't come near it. We're one in the same. The bond? With my Kindle? It is powerful. Truly though, it is SO handy on the train/shuttle and weighs much less than the three books I routinely carry for my daily commute (a girl's gotta have her literary options). So... Kindle Fire. It's good, pretty stuff.

*Our tree is so dead I'm afraid to turn the lights on, but am crossing my fingers that it can pull through to 1/1/12. Then we'll bid it farewell.

*We got a Keurig for Christmas. Sticking in the K-cup is easy. As for the estimation of how much water to use... I'm still learning:


*I cannot wait to make black eyed peas and cornbread on New Year's Day.

*Pinterest Check: I made melted snowman cookies while I was home! They're adorable! I'll share pictures (I promise).

*My flight to Texas included an aisle-mate who played percussion on her lap and aggressively tapped her feet for the entire. four. hour. flight. I shamelessly snapped a picture as proof once we landed and before I bolted to get the HECK away from the crazy:


*We may/may not stay in on New Years Eve. For the first time ever, I would be comPLETEly okay if that's how our plans work out.

*My race schedule for 2012 is in the works. I ran most mornings that I was home and BOY did it feel good to be back out on the pavement. Seriously-- I've missed it and am also reminded why I get sick of the treadmill so fast. I even ran Christmas morning with "Santa Baby" and "Baby It's Cold Outside" playing in my ears. It might have been my most invigorated run in a while.

*At our big family Christmas Fiesta last Thusrday, my five year old (second) cousin Jack looked me dead in the eye as I wiped the remnants of (bright, royal blue) snowman scarf icing from his cheeks (and nose, ear and forehead) and said "Katie, I love you," in the way that only a little five year old boy can say. And I about melted to the floor. He has my heart, he does indeed.


The rest of this week will likely be cray-cray, and it's not a good sign that my left eye has already been twitching, so I'll try to post my million and one pictures from Texas asap. There are some goodies, I promise!

P.S. Does anyone else feel lost on Pinterest without Christmas ideas to save and obsess over completing? I couldn't help but giggle when I saw notices that people had repinned Halloween and football pins in place of Christmas. It's like we're lost with no direction. Is it Valentine's Day yet? V-Day = new board = new world of procrastination.

The Sunday I did absolutely nothing productive.

*I should be packing but I cannot muster up the oomph to do so. The last thing that I want to do tomorrow is come home and stress out and be rushing to pack and get things together, but tonight my thought is "Eh... what's the hurry?"

*My eye has been twitching for over a week now. I'm convinced it's because I never get enough sleep, though I slept until 10 today, which never happens. You'd think I'd head to bed now, but we just started a movie, just for kicks. Never mind that I'm the only one out of the two of us who has to work tomorrow.

*Tuesday night I leave for Texas, and I am SO excited to be home for awhile! I wish that Brian was able to come and spend at least part of the holiday with me, but it will be nice to be with my family regardless. We even have a Christmas Fiesta planned for the Thursday before Christmas, which I'm overly excited for. It shall be fun!

*Packing update: I just pulled out the few gifts that I purchased to take home with me... um yea. Let's change "a few" to a third of my suitcase. Whoops.

*I baked 150 cookies this weekend to package up and take to work before I leave. Have I done that yet? No, no I have not.

*While I accomplished nothing productive today, I did Pin an astounding number of things on Pinterest. I can't complain though-- snug on the couch under a blanket with the Christmas tree lights on and Brian next to me watching football was a pretty ideal way to spend this particular Sunday.

*The panic has arrived-- off to frantically overestimate how many outfits I'll need when I'm home!

Rockettes and Pinning on Hump Day, oh my!

Last night was wonderful! If you remember from yesterday, we had our night out in Boston for my birthday-- dinner at Teatro, followed by a little Christmas-y show that I've ALWAYS wanted to see:



I know! I didn't think in a million years that Brian would be up for going to see it, but he knew how badly I wanted to see it and made it happen-- love him! The show was great and complete with an entire scene where the Christmas story was performed... and it was amazing. It makes me a little sad but when you go to Christmas shows these days, the REASON for Christmas is eliminated more and more, so I was NOT expecting a full-on nativity story... which was beautiful! The costumes were amazing and so detailed, there were LIVE AND BREATHING sheep, donkeys and (so help me) camels! This is the best picture I can find from a website:

source

It was just fabulous. Can I just say that these ladies must burn THOUSANDS of calories every night? There were some routines that were non-stop tapping and kicks for a good 10-15 minutes. CRAZINESS. It was also so cute to see tons of little kids there in awe of the ladies and the costumes and their kick line fabulousness. When I called my mom afterwards to tell her about the evening she said she bets those little girls went home last night and dreamed about being a Rockette.

Um, excuse me but I MYSELF went home and dreamed about being a Rockette! At 26, do you think I'm past my prime? I totally used to rock the kickline as a Kitten.

Anywho, on to Pins! I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple today-- enjoy!

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This reading nook? It makes me swoon.



Source: etsy.com via Katie on Pinterest



Totally doing this for my Seinfeld-obsessed uncle and cousin!





Candy Cane Truffles? Mhmm, I'm listening...





Perfect for the family's pre-Christmas Eve Christmas Fiesta!





Classic and simple-- love it!




A LUNCH CrockPot? Heaven. Queso for lunch, anyone?





I die.




Hahaha so true.


Have a happy Wednesday!

On the downside of my twenties...

Well, y'all... I'm twenty-six. The day came and went and I have to admit that I don't feel a day over... 22.

Except for Friday night when I'd been drinking red wine all evening and someone in our group made the decision that a sports bar would be our next stop and I experienced the dreaded moment of "Gosh, this place is so loud! And look at that girl-- poor thing is going to regret not being able to sit up in her chair tomorrow when those pictures her "friend" is taking show up all over the Facebook. My Lord, if one more person knocks into me..."

Needless to say, we left shortly thereafter.

All in all though, it was a lovely weekend. As I mentioned, we went out for apps and drinks Friday evening with good friends, which was lovely (minus the sports bar) and much needed. Saturday I slept in until NINE-THIRTY!! then headed off to Target for my ritual morning "me time." We debated braving the crowds to shop a bit, but since the majority of our gifts have been purchased (and wrapped!), we decided to stop at Pottery Barn for my big check-mark (Brian's parents' gift) and headed STRAIGHT back home. It was stressful, my friends. People have hit that harried "Get outta my way or I'll knock you down" point, which is oh so sad--

'tis not the reason for the season!!


Our evening progressed to include such finery as takeout Chinese (per my request) and a viewing of my favorite Christmas movies. Brian had never seen A Christmas Story, so considering I can quote that movie from start to finish, we finally sat down and watched it... and he loved it!

Or he faked it, but regardless-- it went well.

Sunday, my actual birthday, we watched football all day while I made snacks, wrapped gifts, wrote out Christmas cards and made a big pot of my Daddy's sauce and meatballs. It was the perfect day.

We're going out tonight in Boston for dinner and a surprise show somewhere, which is my big gift, so I'm pretty excited! We tend to not go all out for birthdays, because we do little stuff for each other every day, all year long. Spending a bunch of money on a gift "just because" doesn't make sense to either of us, so we either wait to buy a great gift, or plan an event that the other person will enjoy (um, tonight!). Maybe I've just never noticed before, but I've had so many people ask in the last few days about what I received as gifts.

Have they lost their minds?

"What did your parents get you? A nice gift? What about Brian? Oh... your gift is going out? You didn't actually GET anything?"

Perhaps I'm just not a materialistic person, but this is driving me up the mother-lovin' wall. An expensive gift does not make for a memorable, wonderful celebration.

My parents rarely give me birthday gifts, and I never expect them-- my birthday is two weeks before Christmas, and the cards that they send me mean more than any random gift or bouquet of flowers they would send. Brian's gift on Sunday was making me breakfast, picking up coffee and bringing me flowers, and helping me with little odds and ends around the house all day. THAT made the day special.

Ah, well. Off of my little tangent for now. I do have pictures from this weekend and for some reason thought that my iPod cord would work to upload them from my camera (my Canon camera... not anything iRelated)... obviously it does not.

'Til later my lovelies!

Spreading Christmas Pinterest Cheer!!

In case you haven't noticed, I've been struggling with a lack of the blog material lately. My days have mainly consisted of work, getting back into a gym routine, and attempting to conquer as much Christmas shopping and preparation EARLY in the month, so I can enjoy the holidays for the REMAINDER of the month.

I've been a busy bee and basically just opted to not blog about mundane little things:
"I went to Trader Joe's and bought great cheese today."
"My Cupcake Red Velvet wine was finally back in stock- yay!"
"13 days 'til I'm home for Christmas and Mexican food and my Lucy dog."

Riveting, right?

However, I've missed the blogginess that I was feeling for awhile there, and few things get me back into the swing of loving my blog than joining up with The Vintage Apple for my ever-faithful Oh, How Pinteresting! Wednesday. I know that I'm not the only one out there who finally feels just fine and dandy and EXCITED about posting all of the Christmas pins you've been saving since oh... August? The Christmas spirit bug has bitten me (and since starting this post I've thought of a list of things to blog about-- love that.)

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I absolutely cannot WAIT to make these! Might have been one of the first things I ever Pinned. Aw-- the nostalgia :)




Source: tumblr.com via Katie on Pinterest



'Tis the season, right?




Those little Kisses are one of my fav Christmas candies... beyond addictive.




Love this nativity display.




Katie's Christmas app contribution-- check! A Christmas cheese tree, just for me.




We're having people over for my birthday this weekend, and you can bet your bottom that these babies will be on display!




I DID THIS! I'll post pictures of the final result as soon as I recover from the trauma of attempting to hang enormous boughs of pine over my window using teeny itty bitty nails.




I love this so much. Perhaps I'll attempt it as my one final craft of the season...


Source: squidoo.com via Katie on Pinterest



Christmas cake pops. I can do this... I can do this... I can do this.




Gifts for the girls? Perhaps adding monogram stickers?




No babies for me yet, but I cannot even handle the cuteness.




This is on my to do list for a future Christmas. I love it. Adorable and precious and lovely. love love love.


Happy Hump Day, friends!