Let's go shopping!

So. Since I recently whined (wined? haha) and moaned over how my excessive spending and love of nice things has affected our finances, I thought I'd at least show you some of my holiday treasures.

If I haven't told you yet, I have a serious obsession with shoes. (And it just dawned on me that I haven't shown you a picture of the WEDDING SHOES yet. They deserve all caps because they're just so fabulous. Future post...)


Anyway... I ordered these sexy little heels from my favorite online shoe store, endless.com. If you haven't visited, go now. Or wait 'til you're done reading. But don't forget. Thousands upon thousands of shoes and free overnight shipping!!

Back to the shoes...

I'll admit, they were a total impulse purchase. I love the style and have been looking for a pair like this, but didn't want to spend an arm and a leg. I came across these for something ridiculous like 30ish bucks and figured the color was perfect for spring/summer dresses.

Then they came in. They don't buckle. They... gasp... velcro. I don't know how I missed it in the picture. Think you'd notice if I hadn't told you? I took opinions from the female family members on Christmas day and they didn't think they were horrible. I still can't decide whether or not to return them.

Lest we forget, I'm all about image, people. C'mon! I don't know if I can be caught in public wearing velcro shoes. 'Cause I know I'd laugh at you if you were wearing them. Kidding. Maybe ;)

The real reason for the trip to endless.com was to find an inexpensive pair of over-the-knee boots. The way I see it, these puppies are all the rage right now but will be completely out of style next year. I'm not one to waste money on trends, so spending a mere $60 seemed okay in my book.

And they're gorgeous. Great with leggings. Perfect with skinny jeans. And hopefully even more perfect with:




My New Year's Eve dress! Well, what I hope to be my New Year's Eve dress. It's on it's way from bebe as we speak.

With my luck, it won't fit. I never said positivity was a strong point...












As you may recall, I am quickly growing addicted to big, fancy earrings. I ordered these from Arden B, my favorite store in the whole world. Except I ordered them in gold. Much prettier. And would've been perfect with my new dress. I went back online to find out that the gold were sold out, so I thought I'd give silver a try. They're too gorgeous to not at least take them for a test-run.

After wearing them for about an hour and a half, my decision was made.

They're going back.

These are seriously the heaviest things my ears have had the unfortunate experience of meeting. I honestly thought they were going to rip right through my holes. Thank me later for putting that image in your head.

Now I want to go shopping again. I can't win.

Gifts Galore

So now that I'm out of my post-Christmas funk, I can focus on happy things again. Wanna see some of the lovely things we received for Christmas this year?

Of course you do.

The husband and I didn't do too much for eachother because we splurged on the last (well, maybe not the last) piece of furniture that we NEEDED for our house. Everyone needs a really expensive home for their liquor, right?

I'd love to tell you that this beauty pictured is the actual one that was delivered to my house (two days AFTER our Christmas Eve party, I might add) but I can't in good conscience tell you that my glassware is that shiny.

Even though we agreed not to do much besides the bar, the husband was fantastic as always and got me some pretty lovely things.

I can no longer say that I'm the only girl in the world who doesn't own a iPod.

Yes, he picked this out from White House Black Market all. by. himself. Good husband :)

Think he's trying to tell me something?

Aside from these lovelies, he got me some fabulous costume jewelry. I've had an (unhealthy for my earlobes) obsession with big, dangly, sparkly earrings recently, and he took notice. I found four pairs under the tree.

Now you're probably wondering what I got him.

Apparently I got him everything except what he really wanted. What could that possibly be, you might be wondering?

Underwear.

Seriously.

He has an obsession with a very particular type of designer underwear. He cracks me up. Now, as much as he needed new ones and as much as I'd like to see him in them, they're expensive, and I couldn't see spending $100 on a few new pairs for him. Where's the fun in that?

So instead, I got him the usual... shirt, several ties, cufflinks, peanut M&Ms...

Oh, and this:

I'm a good wife ;)

Wine please.

I need a glass. No, make that a bottle.

My long Christmas weekend was fantastic and blissfully relaxing. So why is it that the second I laid down in bed before the first day back to work, I began to worry and stress about EVERYTHING???

I slept like crap last night because I couldn't stop thinking/worrying about money. Why is it always money? I'm seriously starting to believe what people say... it truly doesn't matter how much you have because it will never be enough. My situation has been the same whether I've made $20,000/yr or $80,000/yr. We spend too much. Bottom line. We like nice things. We seriously need to get this under control.

All this worry makes me want to curl up with a blanket on my $1,800 sofa with my $1,000 dogs, watching my $800 TV in my newly renovated house I'm beginning to think we can't afford...

I can actually feel the stress in my shoulders today. Ugh.

My apologies for being so complainy.

Deck the Halls

Saying that I'm obsessed with Christmas would be quite an understatement. I get absolutely giddy with excitement this time of year. And one of the things I look most forward to is turning my house into a Christmas wonderland. Or "the Christmas crack den", as my friend Andrea lovingly nicknamed it. Too bad that didn't insult me. I LOVE it!


This year's theme is ornaments. I went a little overboard. They are EVERYWHERE. They're hanging from my drapery, draped over picture frames, sitting on shelves, they're in my china cabinet... Like I said, EVERYWHERE. I have issues.


Without further ado, below are pictures of my crack den, er, wonderland. If you get bored, make a game out of it and count the ornaments ;)

It's also bears mentioning that my Christmas tree MUST match my living room decor.

One guess as to whose stocking is whose. The dogs share.

Please ignore the massive wad of cords. And the finger prints on the frame.

See? Like I said. Ornaments everywhere.

You like?

You know it's time for a diet when...

your belly-button ring starts disappearing inside your belly-button. Oy.

November what?

So here it is... the much anticipated (well, that's probably slightly overstated...) wedding post.

Seriously, the month of November FLEW by.

The festivities began with my first wedding guests' arrival on the 4th and didn't end until the return from our honeymoon late on the 21st. Then there was Thanksgiving. Then it was December.

Anyway, here's a small (ok, fairly lengthy) recap of the wedding fun:

November 6, 2009: Wedding rehearsal and Yankees themed rehearsal dinner. Not to brag, but our rehearsal dinner was quite possibly the most fun rehearsal dinner I've ever attended. And I've been to a few. Leave it to the boy to come up with a Yanks theme... I brushed the idea off at first, but am SO glad I listened to him in the long run. It was seriously fun. EVERYTHING was Yankee themed... we had ballpark-type food, servers tossing bags of peanuts and crackerjack... we wanted it to feel like you were actually at Yankee stadium. Well, as close as you can get, being in the hotel banquet room ;)

Here are some pics (rehearsal first, dinner/party after):

Top to bottom: practice walk down the aisle, practice vows, and the ever-important practice kiss.

Top to bottom: the "ticket" invitation, table decor, the cake, servers with crackerjack and beer served stadium-style, Pennant Ale on tap, the entire bridal party.

I'm sure you can tell from the picture that we requested that guests change into Yankees attire (or Cardinals gear for all the St. Louis peoples) after the rehearsal... being the bride, however, I just had to wear something a little more "special". A jersey definitely wasn't gonna cut it. My American Apparel navy pinstriped dress was perfect. Too bad I feel like I'm playing dress up everytime I try to wear it now...

November 7, 2009: wine tasting and cocktail party. After making my fourth airport run in 3 days, the boy led a small wine tasting in the hotel banquet room for hotel guests.

See how no one seems to be paying attention? Guess the glasses were too full ;) Of course I'm kidding... he does a fantastic job teaching people about wine. I always learn something. In fact, I'll teach you something right now...

See the drawing of the tongue in the back right of the above pic? Who can tell me what that's showing? If you answered, "the different tastebuds of the tongue", you're smarter than me. Salty, sweet, bitter, sour and savory. Good trivia for your next party :)

That night (the night before the WEDDING!), we had a small cocktail party in the boy's restaurant for the hotel guests. Just something simple to keep everyone occupied. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures because I was upstairs in my suite by 9pm with my BFFs Krystyn and Erin trying to get to bed early. After an Ambien and entertainment by Krys, we managed to fall asleep around midnight.

November 8, 2009: THE WEDDING DAY!!!! I'll save the big wedding post (and the traumatic wedding incident post) for another day but leave you with a little sneak peek:

10 Rules for Holiday Eating

In my attempt to do as little work as possible this morning, I came across this article online. Enjoy!

10 Rules for Holiday Eating:

1. Avoid carrot sticks and celery!

Anyone who puts these rabbit-food substances on a holiday buffet table is clueless of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls and pork ribs.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly!

Like fine single-malt scotch or a great bottle-fermented trippel, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch or trippel! You can't find it any other time of year except now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip and contains 55 undeveloped chicken embyoes? Hell, it's vapors are fattening! It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas! Tax season is right around the corner.

3. If something comes with gravy, use it.

That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat. If there are no mashed taters, smother your cheesecake in it!

4. Speaking of mashed pototoes...

Always ask if they're made with skim milk, whole milk or artery-clogging cream. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission or going to a martini bar and asking for a light beer... Just sick! If it's whole milk, it's socially acceptable and you really don't want to seem like an ungratful guest, do you? However, if made with heavy cream, just eat it out of the bowl and offer to be adopted! These people are the real thing! Move in right away, before they know what hit them!

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party...

... in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello???

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's.

You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10lb plate of food and that gallon vat of eggnog.

7. Mark your territory!

If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted cookies in the shape and size of Santa or any form of home-made chocolate chip anything, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becomming the center of attetnion. Theyr're like beautiful designer shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies.

Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? President's Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake?

Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it with all costs. I mean, c'mon, have some standards, people!

10. One final tip:

If you don't feel "I need stretchy pants" full when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Reread tips and start over. And hurry! January is just around the corner.

Carolyn's crack

Try to find something it's not good on. I dare you.

It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

Now repeat that in a sing-songy voice and you'll have an idea of what it's like to be me during the holiday season. I freaking LOVE it! I seriously can't get enough. It usually starts for me the week of Thanksgiving, which this year coincided with the return from our honeymoon, so I was already in a crazy-good mood. I guess I've taken my cheery-ness a bit too far this year though, because I've been accused by my friend Andrea of hitting the holiday crack pipe a little too hard. Love her :)

Disclaimer: although I was super happy that the holidays had arrived, I was secretly a little peeved that I didn't give myself a bit more time in between the return from honeymoon and the holidays to lose the wedding/honeymoon weight. Ugh. Guess I'll dive head-first into the eggnog and just wait till January 1, like I do every year ;)

Back to the topic at hand... since this is truly the most wonderful time of the year (go ahead, try to tell there's better time... you won't win) I thought I'd share a few of the things that make it so wonderful for me.

Drumroll please...

Here are Carolyn's favorite holiday, um, things:

SNOW!!!! I love love love it. Thank God I live in upstate NY. I love watching it fall and rest so serenely on my grass. I love seeing it rest peacefully on rooftops and tree branches. I love how cute my dogs look pushing through it with their noses. Now if only we could get the plow trucks to stop coming along and turning it brown. There truly is something to be said for a white Christmas.

Peanut brittle. Need I say more? Someone so thoughtfully assumed that a few extra inches on my waistline would be the perfect Christmas gift and left a huge bag of the stuff at my office. I'm not supposed to share with coworkers, right?

Ahh, Christmas lights. I wish I could tell you that our house resembles Clark Griswold's but hanging one strand along our roofline proved time-consuming enough. Maybe next year.

A warm fire. And yes, this is our fireplace. And no, we didn't douse the logs in kerosene. The house did get so hot, though, that we had to turn the heat off for fear the dogs would pass out. Isn't it so nice to relax in front of a fire, with all the lights off in the house except for the Christmas tree? Ahh, Christmas time... how I love thee. What makes Christmas the most wonderful time of the year for you?

Did you forget me?

'Cause I didn't forget you. Well, maybe I did. But it was only temporary. I've been busy, people (er, my one faithful follower)!



Truthfully, the reason for my blogging-hiatus was wedding related... that can only account for about 2 of the 5 weeks I've missed though... the other 3 can be attributed to the daunting task of doing a ginormous wedding/honeymoon post. I started it last week and haven't touched it since. Maybe by our first anniversary I'll have it done.



Anyway, to prove to you that this is really me, here's a lovely picture of yours truly (in a gorgeous dress that the husband picked out all by himself!) enjoying one of the many holiday parties I've been to so far this year.