On the 9th day of Christmas...

I received my package of goodies from Sephora last night.  A week or so ago I received a $15 dollar gift card through my email and decided to take the opportunity to order the Naked 2 palette.  I realized that I'm a year or two (or three) behind the craze but I've been using my MAC palettes to get some use out of them.

The packaging for the UD palette is MUCH more durable than MAC, I think it will be a great thing to travel with.  I had a difficult time choosing between this one and the Smoked version - I think eventually I'll try to get that one too.  I also purchased a Laura Mercier lip gloss in Baby Doll so I could make the $50 minimum for free shipping.

There is a good chance I'm wearing this one on my wedding day...its beautiful!

Today R and I went to Target so I could pick up a couple of prescriptions.  We purchased the ingredients to make the pan sugar cookies that I saw featured on The Jacksons blog several weeks ago.  Black bean lasagna and sugar cookie bars were on the menu tonight and it was amazing!  Here is her recipe or you can check out the link above for her post.

Cookie bars:

1.5 cups of sugar

1 cup of butter, softened

8 ounces of cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2.5 cups flour

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

3.5 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

splash of milk

Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar.  Add egg and flavorings and blend.  Mix dry ingredients in a seperate bowl and add to the butter mixture.  Grease a pan with cooking spray.  Spread the dough into the pan.  Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.  Cook until golden and let cool.  Spread frosting on cookies and decorate with sprinkles.  I purchased a jar of fancy sparkling sugar from TJ Maxx during my last shopping trip and I'm trying to think of all the baked goods that will be even more amazing when topped with pink and red sparkles.

Tonight we finished wrapping our holiday gifts and now we have a very pretty stash underneath our tree!

My JCrew Factory purchases

Parking was a nightmare on Saturday but it was worth it to hit up this sale.

A purple and green oxford for R.

This isn't my exact blouse - I bought it in midnight blue with ivory dots so flip the colors in this picture.

I own this in a few different colors but not fuchsia, I wore this to dinner with patterned tights and my black boots to celebrate R's sister's birthday. 

 I don't wear a lot of blue, this shade is very flattering though.  I actually purchased it to wear with a dress I plan to wear to my bridal luncheon.

Great everyday sweater, it'll look great with denim and slacks for work.

This silk white blouse is a great closet staple.  It doesn't photograph well but I wore it with the pink skirt to dinner.  This is a very classic and feminine blouse that I can literally wear with anything in my closet.

Shopping around Christmas is such a pain - no parking and long lines to pay but I love the energy of the crowd and the winter sales! I don't think we'll head out at all next weekend, I have a feeling it will be too crazy even for me.

On the 10th day of Christmas...

Two posts in one night....this IS happening.

My mom and I went to a local event today called The Christmas Market where vendors from several small businesses set up booths in the American Legion Building and the public could finish their Christmas shopping.  Mom received a really cute invitation in the mail.  It's the first year that it has been organized but I hope it becomes an annual event. I purchased a beautiful handmade double strand crystal and pearl necklace and some home fragrance from Pink Zebra.  These little soy based beads can be used in any tart warmer.

There were some really neat things on display, I'm always amazed by the creativity of others.  After lunch I went to a local gift and garden center and purchased a special ornament for our tree.

I wanted an ornament that would remind us of our first date.  Since this is the last year we will celebrate our "dating" anniversary.  I love the way it turned out!  I also popped by the Jcrew factory store and hit up a 60% off sale, my loot- two sweaters, two blouses, one skirt and one oxford for R.

We were invited to celebrate R's sister's birthday tonight in Raleigh

Dinner was amazing - I had the salmon with lobster risotto....seriously I wish I had a photo because it was so pretty on the plate.  R had steak and mashed potatoes which looked really tasty as well.

This photo was taken at really close range, neither R or I are that pale in real life  (or that's what I'm telling myself).

When we got home we enjoyed some holiday television - a movie called The Dog That Saved Christmas and the new Elf on the Shelf cartoon.  I addressed all of our Christmas cards.  I think friends and family will get a kick out of them and I think it will be really obvious that R selected our photo this year.  These will be in the mail on Monday.

I couldn't figure out how to blur the addresses so I had to use these tacky red dots :-(

I took some pretty good pictures of R and Baby tonight...after watching a Christmas movie about a dog we both wanted to give our pup some love.

And a photo of her sweet poinsettia collar, our cat has a matching one that I'm hoping to snap a photo of later ....they are really cute when they stand beside one another (rare moment).

On the 11th day of Christmas...

Technically this is a day late but R and I both worked super late yesterday and then went for a long fancy pants dinner.  When we finally got home last night I crashed.  Anyway for the first time since moving we ventured to Main Street in our new town to enjoy the city lights.

We also went to a hidden gem of a restaurant...authentic Italian, better than any I've ever had including the many Italian places I've tried in New York.  We started with the Eggplant Rolletini...AMAZING!

I borrowed this picture from the restaurant website because the inside was so darn cute - exposed brick, tall ceilings and a very ornate bar.  I didn't take any pictures because we were so "in the moment".  We sat next to the Christmas tree with some great live music and watched the horse drawn carriage rides on the street.  It felt like Christmas!  R had a veal and pasta combination and I had seafood linguine along with the most amazing bread basket.  We will probably be regulars here.

When we got home we watched the last half hour of a holiday favorite:

For the past couple of weeks I've been wearing my Nars velvet gloss pencil in New Lover...it is the most amazing and wearable shade of red on me.  The texture is great and feels a lot more like lip balm than lipstick.

This is a photo to share for fun...I like to have these protein drinks sometimes for breakfast and yesterday I had a perfect heart form on the lid when I opened it:

Crazy right!  Yep I'm taking this as a "sign" from above that I'm loved :-)

My 12 Days of Christmas

So in the past I've done a series around Christmas about my favorite things, family traditions, recipes, etc.  I wanted to do something different but honestly these are my favorite posts every year!  So tonight I'm starting My Twelve Days of Christmas...

R has had a difficult time getting into the Christmas spirit this year, probably because of his crazy work schedule.  We promised to make more of an effort in the next several days to add some holiday fun to our lives.  Tonight we watched two classic movies -

Dinner had to come together in a flash after we both got off work late.  Low sodium turkey bacon and pancakes!  Now I am not fooled into thinking anything is healthy about standard pancakes  despite what the box says, but we don't eat them often and but when the craving hits....real maple syrup definitely hits the spot.

And a few things that are new this Christmas...

My favorite ornament

And a new scent given to us by R's mom

I had this burning tonight along with two of the Bath and Body Works candles I purchased on Black Friday and our house smelled so festive!

It's beginning to "feel" a lot like Christmas

Great weekend!

On Friday R and I went to a hometown Christmas parade.  My niece performed in the parade with her tap dance team and she was amazing!  We had a great meal at a local cafe afterwards and R had a chance to check out a mini classic car show after the parade.  We also saw the Christmas light show that has been a tradition in my family since I was little.  I wish I had taken pictures!

Saturday R and I both worked for a few hours but we had a great winter meal afterward.  Pot Roast - yum!

 Veggies ready for roasting :-)  Apothic Red wine...obsessed!

 Everything in the pan, 350* for 2 hours.

 R's favorite holiday treat.

Sneak peek at our Christmas decorations.  I'll do a separate post with our 2012 holiday decor, I'm not quite finished yet.  Our house is coming along but we have a few more things to do to make it feel like "home"

Sunday we tried a new brunch place...local, great chef, nice selection, fresh bread - we are in love. We also went for our third pre-marriage session with our preacher and it went well.  We had to share details about our relationship with God tonight and we did a communication exercise that was incredibly helpful.  I'm in such a holiday mood lately!  This week I will be sending my Christmas cards and we have our first party next weekend.  I'll also be posting some holiday treats soon.

Here to stay...for a couple of years at least

Very quick update to let everyone know that I have internet up and running again and blogging will resume shortly.  On Friday R and I packed up all our possessions in boxes and on Saturday the friends and family that love us the most came over in the early morning to help us load our uhaul and allow us to pack the overflow into their vehicles.  We met at our new home after a one hour commute and broke bread (pizza) before unloading the trucks.  Sunday R and I had to go back and clean our rental home so the landlord can start showing it to potential renters.  In the five days we have been in our new home we have decked our halls for the holidays, unpacked all the boxes, had the cable installed, and our fridge is now fully stocked with groceries.

Now that I have started a new position at work (Sept 2012) and moved (Dec 2012) I can FOCUS on planning my wedding - it's only 3.5 months away!