It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

To be completely honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to my work Christmas party, but I ended up having a great time. It was great to see everyone from the other offices around the state, and we all had fun catching up and spending time with each other... and my favorite part was being outside.. in December! I take it for granted sometimes, and forget that it's the time of year where it's usually too cold to stand being outside, and now I can enjoy outdoor living year round. H and I sometimes have to pinch ourselves!

Some of us participated in a cookie swap, and I made creme de menthe cookies.

Mixing it in my new Kitchen Aid :0)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Blend 1/2 cup of butter (softened), 3/4 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tsp. of baking soda, 1 tsp. of baking powder, 2 tsp. of vanilla, and 2 eggs.

Add Andes chips and mix well.

Add 2 and 2/3 cups of flour and continue to mix well until blended.

Cover and chill in the fridge for 45-60 minutes.

Spoon out 1 oz. of dough and form a ball and slightly flatten

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees

The recipe can be found on the back of Andes baking chips. It used to be hard for me to find the baking chips anywhere except Walmart, and I usually try to avoid Walmart as I loooove Target. I used to check all the major grocery stores as well with no such luck, but this year I found the baking chips at Target and Super Target! Whoo hoo! 

I had a little helper who's all ready for Christmas 

I usually take a lot of pictures, but not much was documented from last night except for my outfit before we left, and a very blurry pic of me pouring a glass of champagne from H's phone.

I wore my new sparkly top from Old Navy and a skirt that I wore for New Years Eve a few years ago. I also wore my new Lauren Conrad blazer over it.

Like I said.. very blurry :0(

We also did a gift exchange, some may call it "Yankee Swap". Last year I brought a nice bottle of wine and a Starbucks gift card, and I ended up with coffee mugs that we didn't need. So, this year, I decided to just get one simple gift. I saw this set at Target and I remembered trying it a few years ago and that it tasted just like Baileys without the brand name. It comes with a bottle of the irish cream and 2 glasses to go with it. Perfect gift!

I picked up two, as we have a Christmas Party/Birthday party to go to tomorrow night where we're doing another "Yankee Swap" type gift exchange. I wonder what we'll end up bringing home tomorrow.

Last night we ended up with.... drumroll please......

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I was very excited about this! It's the soundtrack to a Charlie Brown Christmas, and the dvd of the Christmas special. I kept asking around who's gift it was and no one owned up to it. There was also a gift card to Starbucks included with the gift which I plan on using for a peppermint mocha.... YUM!

Tomorrow night is a Christmas Party and a surprise birthday party for one of our friends, so I picked up a bottle of Skinny Girl Sangria for the birthday girl. They sell it at Target now! :0)

My other finds at Target today (aside from H's stocking stuffers) were these festive hand soaps:

Smells like Christmas trees!

Smells like candy canes!

I tried on this outfit at H&M today and thought about it for tomorrow night, and maybe paired with black tights and a longer sleeved top for Christmas Eve, but I ended up deciding against it. What do you think? Did I make the right choice or should I go back? I sent the pic to H and he loved it, but I didn't and now I'm not sure :-P

Please ignore the flip flops... but I am just so drawn to all things sequined and sparkly right now!

Tonight, we're staying in and watching Christmas specials on the DVR and enjoying a bottle of wine. Happy Friday everyone!