Twas the last day of work before Christmas

Twas the last day of work before a week off for Christmas and the office worker was stirring at her desk dreaming of no alarm clock and endless glasses of champagne and spiked egg nog. Yep... sorry I wasn't creative enough to rhyme. What's going to rhyme with champagne or egg nog? Exactly...

Such an amazing feeling to know that I won't have to be back at work again until the 30th and even that will be a short week. Love working for a company that gives us plenty of time off this time of year.

Looking forward to celebrating Emily's birthday tomorrow night and a wine and wrapping party at my neighbor's on Sunday. At last year's wrapping we wrapped a ton of gifts, drank too much wine, and had a great time especially when so much wine was drank my friend signed a gift to her nephew as: From Uncle Jenn

Priceless...

Looking forward to a week of sleeping in and the only thing I need to worry about is how much champagne to put in my mimosa on Christmas or which movie to go see.

And last but certainly not least... yesterday, I came home to these adorable ornaments in the mail from Jill who was my swap partner in Meg's ornament swap this year. I love that she included some chocolates too... YUM!

Happy Friday!

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Current Loves

What I am loving at the moment is that Christmas is less than a week away! But of course I've got a lot of other loves in my life...

~ I'm loving the under $10 gift section at Target... picked up some bath salts and bath fizzies for only $3 each. Hello cheap Christmas gifts and a gift for me :)

~ I'm loving that I'm 100% done with Christmas shopping... all packages to friends and family in Connecticut were shipped out on Monday and even the last of H's stocking stuffers are wrapped up in "Santa paper".

The majority of my holiday shopping was done online.. no crowds for me

~ I'm loving that even though I soak up every bit of warmth and sunshine here in FL, that I got to bust out a warm outfit just for a day or two. That's what I love about it here, even if it gets chilly for a few days, it doesn't last long and before you know it my flip flops are back on my feet.

Gap skinnies | Sparkly top and sweater - ON | Taupe heels - Target

~ I'm loving my big duggy even though she's a BAD girl sometimes....

...ignore the typos... auto correct is my nemesis

How could anyone stay mad at that face?

~ I'm loving this guy's voice crooning me through the holiday season

~ I'm loving that no matter how many times I watch Christmas Vacation, it never gets old

~ I'm loving my recent finds on Pinterest:

Seriously....

This looks so much like Roxy and we even have those same reindeer antlers... too cute!

~ I'm always loving my H

Yep... he's all mine

What are YOU loving today?

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Sephora Deliveries Make Me Happy

I get just a little too excited when I get home and there's a Sephora box full of goodies waiting for me :)

I cashed in my $20 VIB reward and picked up some of the items my makeup artist used on me when I had my complimentary makeup session before our Christmas party last weekend.

I picked up the mascara primer (seriously had no clue that mascara primer even existed until my makeup session) that the makeup artist used on me. I couldn't believe how much it improved my lash length and fullness. It seriously looked like I was wearing false eyelashes. LOVE!

Tarte MultiplEYE Natural Lash Enhancing Primer

I also ordered the finishing powder she used on me which was gorgeous. It gave my face a nice glow without being shiny, plus it mattifies the skin which I definitely need.

HD Microfinish Powder

I also decided to try out a new bronzer so I picked out Sephora's bronzer and highlighter duo:

Microsmooth Baked Bronzer Duo

Of course, I also picked up some freebies since samples are always included and there's always some kind of promotion going on. I decided on samples of Viva La Juicy, Clinique Happy, Hope in a Jar, and Murad Rapid Collagen Infusion.

Sephora

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Red Velvet Cupcakes

Out of all my holiday season recipes, I seem to get the most compliments on my red velvet cupcakes. They look super festive and are ohhhh so good! I can honestly say I have never tasted a better cupcake than the ones from this recipe. And I've had cupcakes from some of the most famous cupcake shops including Georgetown Cupcake but these are hands down the best!

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup of shortening

1 and 1/2 cups of sugar

2 large eggs

2 one oz. bottles of red food coloring

1 tsp. of vanilla

2 and 1/2 cups of sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp. of salt

2 tsp. cocoa

1 cup of buttermilk

1 tbsp. of white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Beat shortening at medium speed until fluffy

Gradually add sugar, beating well.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until well blended after each addition.

Stir in food coloring and vanilla blending well.

Combine flour, salt, and cocoa in another bowl, set aside

Combine buttermilk, vinegar, and baking soda in a 3rd bowl, set aside

Add flour mixture to shortening mixture alternating with buttermilk mixture beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Beat at a low speed until blended after each addition. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes

Pour batter into 3 greased cake pans or into cupcake cups

Will yield a three layer cake or about 2 dozen cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting

One 8 oz. package of cream cheese softened

1/2 cup of butter softened

One 16 oz. package of powdered sugar (I usually use a little less)

1 tsp. of vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy

Gradually add powdered sugar beating at a low speed until blended

Add vanilla, beating until blended

Joining Jessica and Ashley for Taste of Tuesday, hop on over and share a recipe with us

and

Chelsee for Let's Be Friends Blog Hop

Recipe

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All you need is a little sparkle

One more work week until a week off for Christmas... it's all I can think about.... single digits!

Friday, was my work Christmas party. I had been looking forward to it for a while since I had been hearing about all the shenanigans that usually go down each year and all the fabulous prizes that are to be won. I also promised myself I wouldn't be "that girl" since it was my first party with my new co-workers and I succeeded. But that doesn't mean I wasn't enjoying myself.... in fact I introduced several people to Three Olives Loopy. In between shots of Loopy, I played some mini golf, darts, pool, and bowled. All of which I sucked at except for bowling.

The day was filled with drinks with co-workers at the bar starting at 10:00am (yes please!), spontaneous dancing, good food, and lots of prizes. I walked away with a $50 Amex card and $60 in cash. Perfect for this time of year! I watched others walk away with $1000 in cash, LED tv's, Xbox's, free vacation days, tablets, etc... amazing!

I donned my reindeer antlers again with a sparkly top since I wasn't sure how casual or fancy the shindig would be. Crappy OOTD pic....

Top - F21 | Jeans - Gap | Sparkly heels & headband - Target | Bangles - Kate Spade

The rest of the weekend was nice and relaxing (extremely rare this time of year) and was spent finishing up last minute Christmas shopping, happy hour with H, game night at H's parent's house, wrapping presents, watching Christmas specials, and enjoying copious amounts of eggnog, Baileys, and wine. Perfection.

Joining Carly and Molly for Funday-Monday

and

Bella for Weekend Recap

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Next Year Kids, Next Year....

Happy Friday lovelies! Today, you can find me over on Emily's blog while she's off celebrating her fabulous 30th birthday with K in Savannah.

Last night, I went to go get my 3rd laser hair removal treatment... yep thank you groupon! I love the thought of never having to shave or wax again, but yowzers no one warned me how much it would hurt! I felt like Steve Carrel on The 40 Year Old Virgin except I didn't yell out "Kelly Clarkson!"

Today, is my work Christmas party. I've been hearing a lot of crazy stories about all the shenanigans that go down each year and all the fabulous giveaways and prizes so I'm excited. But I've promised myself not to be the one planted at the bar at 10:00am as I'm the new girl and I don't want to make the headlines my first year. This year, I'll be perfectly happy sipping my drinks and pointing and laughing at those who are going full throttle. Next year kids, next year!

Don't forget to "like" this little blog on Facebook I finally came out from under my rock and created a page.

..... and upload my new button to your sidebar. The fabulous Erin made me a new button that'll fit better on everyone's sidebar instead of stretching out and fading. She did an amazing job!

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Decking the Halls

I think it's been pretty obvious around these parts lately that I love to deck the halls this time of year.... decorating for Christmas is the only good fuzzy feeling that compares to being on the beach with a margarita.

~ I wrapped gold ribbon around the lighted garland going up the staircase this year... not an easy task.

~ Festive pillow I picked up at Target

~ Even though it scares me to go into Walmart, I found myself in there the other day and was impressed at how well their 3 wick candles stack up to the ones at Bath & Body Works

Our house is exploding with nutcrackers and penguins, and I moved our blue and silver decor from our 1st Christmas together up to the game room after switching over to a red and gold theme.

~ I made my own garland to hang up around the door since I felt it looked nekked.... another not so easy task, but worth it... and yes that's another nutcracker in the corner.

~ Dining room table with yet even more nutcrackers

~ My fav decor item picked up at Old Time Pottery was my snowman countdown thing-a-ma-jig

~ Christmas tree and stockings hung with care

~ Nativity scene I picked up at Home Depot last year after Christmas for only $10

~ Little throw pillows from the Target dollar bins

~ My ~~pitiful~~ gingerbread house

I wanted to get a "before the Christmas tree" shot and got the most adorable little photo bomber caught on camera.

Joining Ashley, Allison, Jordon, and Jessica for a fun Christmas decor link up.

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Dear Santa.....

I've been a good girl ~~for the most part~~ and am hoping there will be lots of goodies waiting for me under the tree this year :)

2013 Christmas Wish List

How amazing would it be to finally get my hands on a HANAair Professional Hair Dryer? I've only heard amazing things about this dryer and with my mop of hair it would be perfect! I need some HANAair in my life.

Who doesn't love Sheldon? Or Penny? The Big Bang Theory trivia game would be perfect for game nights at our house.

We all know Lisa (and Giggy!) is my favorite on RHOBH, but who doesn't love the brutally honest one liners from Brandi? Girlfriend has been through the ringer, and doesn't sugarcoat anything. Her book has great reviews, and I can't wait to not be able to put it down.

I reviewed this perfume back when it was first released last summer after testing it out at Sephora and I've been refraining from buying my own bottle holding out for Christmas.

Considering, I'm obsessed with my original Naked palette and Naked2, it's only fair that I want Naked3 as well.

Tervis Tumbler with a lid for lazy days by the pool or the beach

It's no secret that I'm a dunce at trying to curl my own hair. I'm hoping a curling wand will help since it won't leave the dreaded clamp mark.

I ruined my pretty pink camera last year at the beach by getting sand in it, and have been using my trusty iPhone to take pictures ever since... yes even on vacay *gasp*. I like this camera because it's decently priced and includes 16 megapixels (my last camera was a dinosaur with only 7) and is rated very well.