Celebrations on celebrations (I'm old and so is my baby)

Hello from the other side.

Of what? Everything, it feels like. Let's see...

• Christmas (3x)
• Baby's first stomach bug (projectile vomiting [also 3x] his way into Christmas Day, awesome!)
• New Year's
• Baby's first birthday (hold me)
• Baby's first birthday party
• My 30th birthday (actually, prop me up, because I'm old!)

And probably a whole host of other things I can't remember because the last few weeks have been rather circus-like! I have a feeling this is what mid-December to mid-January will always look like for us. Why celebrate once when you can celebrate over, and over, and over...!

Really, we've had an amazing month or two. Christmas was so sweet and special, and our little guy was so loved on. We celebrated New Year's in Richmond with friends of ours, which was low-key and fun, and then continued the party by taking the day off to celebrate CCW's first birthday. We had a family lunch date and a library trip since it was rainy and gross outside, and he played his little heart out. So much so that he went to bed early and slept 14 hours straight! Happy birthday, indeed. 

We had a little family party for him, and had crockpot pulled pork sandwiches followed by birthday cake. He was surrounded by the people who love him and have watched him grow this year, which was just what I wanted! The day after his birthday, C & I celebrated MY birthday the next day with a day-date out to lunch and winery we used to frequent pre-baby. It was awesome to get to spend a few hours being adults, enjoying ourselves and each other. While we were out bopping around, my mom fixed my favorite dinner - homemade tacos - which we followed with ice cream cake (and wine). Not a bad way to kick off my newest decade, if you ask me!

A photo posted by Lindsay W. (@lndsywst) on Jan 8, 2017 at 12:43pm PST

In the spirit of keeping it real, in case projectile vomiting was not enough, I'll disclose the fact that we also celebrated the holidays by replacing our furnace and our water heater within 10 days of one another. That was awesome. Home-ownership at it's finest. Bright side: we have a "rainy day" fund just for times like this. Less bright side: when you use your "rainy day" fund, it's gone in the event you need it again 10 days later. Womp, womp.

So now that we're done with all the partying, it seems like we will get back to life as we know it (whatever that means). I am looking forward to a long weekend at home with my little family - a few days of quiet-ish time sounds like it will be good for all of us! C & I have been re-watching Band of Brothers at night when the Capitals aren't playing, and I think we will finish that up and maybe start The Pacific again. We can't seem to find something new to commit to, so we're going back to the old favorites. What are you watching?

Halloween 2016

Now seems like a good time to join the masses and say, I can't believe Halloween is over, and it's already November! We are deep into my favorite time of year, and while I didn't think it was possible to love fall more, I have found that I do now that there is a baby to share it with. Everything is more fun with kids!

I'll be honest: I wasn't going to get the baby a Halloween costume. Like, at all. He goes to bed at about 6:30 every night, so it's not like he was going to be out and about on Halloween. But at the insistence of my coworkers who showed me pictures of their babies' first Halloweens (some of them many years ago!), I found myself at Target shelling out $20 for a lamb costume (it was that or a terrifying-looking bluebird - the only ones in his size the day I was there!). And truly, I'm SO GLAD that I did, because he was SO CUTE and it was well-worth the $20. Plus, we dressed him in the costume several times and will likely use the same costume again on kid #2 whenever that is so.... whatever. It's fine.

We kicked off Halloween weekend with a trip to another pumpkin patch with my sister-in-law and my niece, and let the babies run around and touch pumpkins until they were sufficiently worn out. C2 didn't care about the pumpkins very much but he did think the dried, hollow gourd was really cool. Whatever floats your boat, my love.

On Halloween night, we fed the baby a quick dinner, then wrangled him into his costume and popped him in his wagon for a pre-bedtime trip around the neighborhood. He was fascinated with the neon plastic pumpkin and the pack of Sour Patch Kids that we let him hold. It was crinkly and amazing and why do I buy toys?! But anyways...

He was the cutest sheep I've ever seen. Truly. Have you ever seen anything better?! Even though we were about an hour too early for trick-or-treating, a couple of neighbors were outside and ready, and they got a kick out of letting the baby "pick" candy. (Mama picked Reese's at every house... not mad about it!) Then we sat on the porch for a few and said hello to the first little kids out making the rounds before heading upstairs for bedtime. Per usual, C2 was tuckered out and promptly passed out, not to be heard from again until the next morning. We handed out candy for a while until our bucket was JUUUUST about empty, and then we headed inside and turned off the porch lights. We had easily over 100 trick-or-treaters again this year - I love that our neighborhood has such a good turnout and has so much fun! 

I'm super glad that I didn't "skip" this holiday because the baby is too young to remember it - we got some great pictures, and C and I definitely made some good memories that we will share with C2 years from now. It was so fun to watch him smile and laugh and try to figure out what the heck was going on. I am giddy with holiday excitement at this point, and can't wait for Thanksgiving and then Christmas! (Though I don't want to talk about the fact that will mean baby boy's first birthday will be right around the corner..... wahhhh). I may or may not have ordered matching Christmas jammies for the whole family yesterday. I CAN'T WAIT.

Christmas Eve Eve

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I will be honest, while I am in full "holiday" mode over here, I haven't really wrapped my head around the fact that the actual DAY we are leading up to is just two days away. I feel like everyone is saying that (OMG, where did this year go?!) but it truly just feels different for me this year.

Maybe it's the weather - 65 and pouring rain today. That's a pretty terrible version of a "white Christmas" and I'm not pleased.

Maybe it's the pending BABY that is currently occupying every aspect of my life.

Who knows.

That said, I did get Christmas decorations out, Christmas cookies baked, and Christmas cards mailed to all our friends and loved ones. It looks and feels like the holidays, and I'm looking forward to spending a few days with our families this weekend. My sister is here for the rest of the week, helping me around the house and doing last minute holiday prep. My parents and my uncle will be here tomorrow night, and we will see C's family on Saturday for traditional Christmas lasagna :) then... any time after that... Baby W is welcome to make his arrival!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate) and there is no coal in any of your stockings. Good tidings to all!

I was completely unable to settle on a Christmas card, so I picked two... it was the same price, and I got to have both of my choices. :) Merry Christmas from our little family to yours!

Thanksgiving 2015

Hello out there! Everyone coming out of their turkey comas and ready to tackle Monday? No? OK, cool. I'd appreciate another day or two of laziness, personally... c'est la vie.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, and I hope you did, too! A few months ago, when we were trying to nail down T-day plans, I decided that I was not going to travel anywhere (regardless of the fact that family is just an hour away), was going to have dinner at my house, and that anyone who wanted to join us, could. Luckily, our families were totally fine with that "mandate," and everyone came on down to our house! Just the way I like it.

I worked from home on Wednesday, and made a batch of buffalo chicken in the crockpot for easy tacos while we watched the Caps game. My parents arrived just in time for dinner, and after eating, my mom and I settled in for pie night. We made just three pies (some years, we are making 6 or 8!), but they turned out beautifully. C prepped a few of our side dishes that could be done in advance, and we called it a day.

Thursday was absolutely beautiful - sunny, warm, happy. In addition to Thanksgiving, it was my parents' 35th wedding anniversary! We celebrated with crockpot breakfast casserole and mimosas (I am SO CLOSE to getting to join the fun again) while watching the parade. C got the turkey into the oven 20 minutes ahead of "schedule" and we were well on our way to a successful day. C's parents and sister and brother-in-law (K&B) joined us (with our niece - she is getting so big!) mid-morning, and we finished watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade while doing a little cooking here and there. We truly kept the menu low-key, and the prep work C did Wednesday night made it even easier.

After the parade was over, my mom and I headed out for a long pre-turkey walk, along with K&B and their dog. We went over to the battlefield trail that I love, and ended up doing a (very, very slow) almost 5 miles! That was more than enough for this huffing-and-puffing pregnant lady. It felt good to move, but I definitely paid for it by way of back pain later in the day. Boo.

We got home, got cleaned up, and finished the last few sides before sitting down to a fantastic feast. I know I've already said it, but I really do love Thanksgiving! It makes me so happy to have a house full of people, with lots of chatter and food smells all day. It fills my little cup right up.

Dinner was followed by football watching and pie before C's family headed home, and we settled in with my parents to watch a movie.

The rest of the weekend was a mix of relaxing and busy - we spent Friday mostly doing nothing but getting the house back in order and watching Netflix, then on Saturday morning I went grocery shopping super early and got a pot of chili cooking in time for a 12 PM kickoff of the VT vs. UVA game. Stephanie was in town visiting family for the holiday, so her, her husband, and the baby came over to watch the game with us. Not only did we get to see a VT victory (12 years in a row!), but we got lots of baby play time, too. So fun!

Saturday night and Sunday morning, I prepped a huge batch of freezer meals for after the baby comes. I will go into more detail later, but needless to say, we will not starve once we are a family of three. Also, my freezer space is totally maxed out - and I have two freezers!

C put up the Christmas tree while I finished the meal prep, and we started getting out some of our holiday decorations. We are keeping it simple this year because otherwise I am afraid we will have decorations up until April! I make no guarantees about my ability to un-decorate the house once a newborn is involved. We do have a few things out, though, and I will add a few more items in the coming weeks. I adore this time of year and can't help but want to have the house reflect all the cheer! We will decorate the tree later this week - for now, we are just letting the cats get readjusted. They are settling in nicely... until the ornaments come out!

I braved the cold and rain to run a few errands I'd been putting off all weekend, and C made us turkey, bacon, and avocado sandwiches for dinner. They were a delicious, fresher use for leftovers that can seem very heavy, and they hit the spot. We are slowly making our way through the piles of leftovers we ended up with... A few more days and we will be good to go! I should have done a better job of sending the family home with food, but I did not, and the majority of it ended up in our fridge. Luckily, it's delicious, and it's a great way to extend the holiday just a little longer. Until the next one!

The Day Before

To tell you the truth, I love the day before Thanksgiving [and Christmas, for that matter] almost as much as I love the holiday itself.

The day before is full of so much promise. I love the excitement, the anticipation, the preparation and lists and scurrying around. On the day before the holiday, there is still the potential for everything to go right. No one has missed a flight yet, no one has burned the stuffing or over-cooked the turkey, no one has been stuck in traffic for hours and showed up for dinner grumpy. People are looking forward to seeing their families and friends, and even looking forward to the travel it takes to get wherever you are going - or the sound of the doorbell ringing when people arrive on your doorstep. There is still the happiness and [good, I think] stress of planning and organizing and celebrating. There's a bit of cheer in the air when you see people, when strangers give each other that knowing little smile and nod because we're all getting ready for the same thing, and even though the traditions are different and the menus don't quite match, we all have the same agenda: get together with people you like and love, enjoy a good meal, share memories, and count your blessings. For me, the day before holds its own magic.

Happy Thanksgiving, all - hope it is wonderful.

4th of July at the Lake!

We had such a fun 4th of July weekend... so much fun, in fact, that we extended it extra long!

Happy 4th of July - from the three of us!

Our regular plans for the 4th were not to be this year - usually, C's parents have a huge shin-dig at their house, complete with pool party and water balloon fight, but they decided this year that they weren't able to do it. No worries - we moved the party to the lake!

My favorite place <3

We packed several of our favorite couple-friends into my parents' lake house for the weekend, along with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law, C and I headed down to the house on Thursday night to meet up with my parents, and everyone else came down on Friday afternoon. We got so lucky with the weather - it was overcast with some rain on Friday and Sunday, but Saturday was sunny and perfect. What more could you want?

The whole crew! Dogs included, kind of.

C got a smoker for his birthday, so for our patriotic feast, he and his friends smoked ribs and chicken wings, which we paired with baked beans and macaroni and cheese. Is there anything better than the smell of hickory smoke alllll daaayyyyy long? I think not.

Men at work

We spent the weekend playing corn hole, floating in the lake and jumping off the dock (not this girl, ever), laughing our way through a few hilarious rounds of Cards Against Humanity, and SUPing around the cove. My sister just got this stand up paddle board as a gift for her husband, and we all put it to good use! It was ultimately determined that the girls are far better at using the SUP than the boys are... we all managed to stay standing while they all ended up in the lake. Winning!

C and my dad put on a fireworks show down by the water once it got dark. There were fireworks being set off all around the lake, and listening to the booms echo down the water was kind of amazing. We couldn't really see any except our own, but we had a soundtrack going the whole time.

My aunt and uncle flew in from California on Saturday night to spend the week at the lake with my parents. C and I planned to head home on Sunday with the rest of the crew, but we made the executive decision to stick around one more night and visit. I'm so glad that we did! There was enough sunshine on Sunday to take a long boat ride to get lunch at one of our favorite lake restaurants, and I managed to get my first sunburn of the season. Whoops. We rounded out the day with dinner at some family friends' house and watching the USA crush Japan in the World Cup final - does it GET any more American??

Freshly painted boat-house doors! USA!

I was bummed to have to head home on Monday afternoon, that's for sure - I would have loved to spend the rest of the week with the fam hanging around the lake. Not in the cards this time, but it was definitely wonderful to get to spend several full days relaxing and visiting with friends. It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!

Holi-daze

Serious questions I am currently pondering: do the minor holidays become more fun when you have kids? Is that inherent, or do you have to work at it? Will I be good at it when the time comes?

By "minor" holidays, I am referring to almost anything that is not Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the 4th of July - take it to be whatever you like. Personally, I'm thinking of Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and Halloween. Do holidays like those become more important and / or more fun if you have children to celebrate them with?

Yesterday was an absolutely normal day for us - I wore green to work, sure, but other than that, there was no recognition of  St. Patrick's Day, whatsoever. Granted, neither of us are Irish.... but then again, neither are most of the people I see "celebrating." In the past, we've drank green beer, and experimented with black and tans, but we haven't ever decorated or gone all out or anything. The same goes for things like Valentine's Day and Halloween: we don't really decorate the house, we don't do anything special other than have a nice dinner for the former and hand out candy for the latter. HOWEVER... everyone I know who has kids seems to really embrace these "minor" holidays, and have a ton of fun doing it.

Exhibit A:

My friend, Ashley, made leprechaun traps with her two kiddos. How freakin' cute is that?! It looks like so much fun. Clearly, though, if I tried to convince C to sit down and catch a leprechaun with me, he'd look at me like I'd just grown two new heads. And the look would be well-deserved.

My Facebook and Instagram have been covered with special pictures for these minor holidays: special outfits, fun treats, new activities - you name it. Who comes up with these things, and how do you know to do them? Do you just automatically have more fun when you have kids in the game to work your magic with? More importantly, will I be good at celebrating the minor holidays when the time comes, after years of generally ignoring these days? 

cookies, steak, and stick-to-your ribs meals

Since we had yesterday off work, C & I took ourselves down to the lake for a long-weekend getaway. It was the kind of cold weather and cozy weekend that just screams for delicious meals, and we certainly delivered. I've got to say, we did some of our best cooking over the last few days! #winning

We both got home from work a little early on Friday, and loaded up the car and headed down. We took our time getting there, stopping for dinner and to grocery shop as we went. We also popped into an adorable little wine shop, which we've passed a million times and never stopped at. As it turns out, In Vino Veritas does free wine tastings on Friday night, so I got to start the party early!! We picked a couple of bottles that we liked, and splurged for a Valentine's Day treat. We don't do V-Day gifts, so wine is good for both of us!

On Saturday, we made a leisurely breakfast, then hung out relaxing by the fire for a few hours. Valentine's Day breakfast calls for mimosas. I have my priorities in order: cheap champagne and expensive orange juice. The perfect combination.

Have French press, will travel.

After an excursion to The Fresh Market in Roanoke for some fancy dinner supplies, we settled back in at the house and enjoyed a little happy hour.

We cooked steaks and scallops as asparagus for dinner and proclaimed it one of the top 5 meals we've ever made together. We loosely followed Kristen's advice for cooking the steaks and making a red wine pan sauce, and the filet mignon was just absolutely buttery. We actually made baked potatoes, too, but ended up putting them back in the fridge! We were stuffed from the rest of the meal. Very successful Valentine's Day, if I do say so myself!

On Sunday, my parents and my uncle joined us at the lake. It was miserably cold, so C made chicken Philly cheese steaks for lunch, and we watched movies all afternoon. For dinner, I made a big batch of Dijon and Cognac Beef Stew.... possibly another top 5 meal! I served it over garlic mashed potatoes instead of noodles, and it was the perfect stick-to-your-ribs meal for a cold night.

Yesterday, we headed home much earlier than usual, because it was already starting to snow at the lake. It's a good thing we did, because it snowed the whole way home, and the roads and traffic got worse and worse as we muddled along. A drive that should have taken us 3.5 hours took almost 7! C and I were almost ready to kill each other by the time we got home... we pulled into the driveway just in time to save our sanity.

Thank our lucky stars, they decided to just go ahead and make the announcement to close the government today before 10 PM last night, and we were able to relax and go to bed knowing that we got to sleep in a little. We don't get snow days, just telework days, but it was still nice to not have to get up and mess with trying to go to work! We got about 6" of snow, and I know my team members in Boston are just laughing at us. Sorry, guys!

There should actually be a porch railing there... we came home to some wind damage!
We were going to replace it this spring anyway.... guess that will be sooner rather than later :(

I always try to bake on snow days, and after looking through the pantry, went with two different types of cookies. I have the dough for Nutella cookies with white chocolate chips chilling in the fridge, and the best ever chocolate chip cookies are baking as we speak. I halved the chocolate chips and threw in rainbow sprinkles for the rest of the add-ins. They are going to be amazing.

Snow days call for hearty meals, so I'm going to make a batch of my mom's chicken and dumplings tonight for dinner. I got my workout in earlier this morning by shoveling the driveway, so I'm looking forward to just settling in in my sweatpants and letting other people deal with driving. No, thank you! Mom sent me pictures of the recipe... aren't the best ones pulled from old, wrinkly cookbooks with food spills and stains? I take that as a sign that they are well-loved recipes. I'm already excited for dinner. It's been years since I've had this!

Hope you are staying warm and dry, wherever you are. What is your favorite hearty, cold weather meal? Comfort food is the best.

Valentine's decor - or lack thereof!

Happy Day-After-the-Super-Bowl Day! Why is heaven's name is that game still played on a Sunday night, and why don't we all get an automatic free pass from work on Monday morning? Especially since there was a brand new episode of The Blacklist on immediately after the game, and you know I had to stay up to watch it! Couldn't possibly just DVR it and save it for tonight... oh, no... blerg. I may or may not be regretting that decision. Probably not as much as the Seahawks' head coach is regretting his last play call decision, though! Dang. What a rough way to end the game.

Anyway. Football is behind us. Let's talk about Valentine's Day!!

I went to get out my V-Day decorations this weekend.... and promptly realized that I really don't have anything. Apart from a wreath I made a few years ago and one crystal heart-shaped bowl, it would appear that I am severely lacking in decor for this holiday. Shoot!

I scoured the web in search of some pretty, not-overly-cutesy Valentine's decorations, and found several things that I'd be happy to have in my house. I think I'll be keeping an eye out for some post-holiday sales this year and see if I can add a few things to have for next year. Where do you find good deals on V-Day decorations? And where are some good places to find things that are a little bit subtle, rather than screaming Valentine's Day? Help me out!

All items from Pier 1, Pottery Barn, Kohl's or Williams Sonoma. Links below!

sign / sign / wreath

pillow / plate / bowls

garland / letters / pillow

#NashvilleNYE

Hi! Happy First Monday of 2015.... there is a reason to celebrate every dang day, isn't there?? This Monday was particularly hard to wake up to, due to the whirlwind of activity over the past few weeks. If you read my Christmas Coffee Talk Catch-Up post, you know that the holidays were very busy for us. Well, the fun didn't stop when Christmas was over... because to celebrate NYE and the new year, we headed to Nashville to "party our faces off!" (gotta quote my sister on that one... pretty sure she is right!)

C and I flew to Nashville on Wednesday afternoon (originally scheduled for a flight at noon on the dot, but delayed til almost 2, of course!) and met my sister and brother-in-law, along with four of their friends, for a long weekend in Music City. We. Had. A. Blast.

This might seem like a semi-crazy plan, but C & I had money plane tickets burning a hole in our pockets, and it actually seemed like the perfect opportunity to cash them in. We booked a trip to Nashville in May to celebrate C's birthday, but when my grandmother passed away right after my grandfather, we ended up having to cancel so I could fly to California and be with my mom and our family. Southwest didn't refund our money, but gave us vouchers to use by March. When my sister suggested the Nash-Vegas NYE trip, I looked up prices.... and it turned out to only be $20 more out of pocket to fly down for a long weekend to celebrate the end of 2014! Done and done. The money was already spent, so why the heck not.

We went to the huge block party-type celebration on Broadway in Nashville for NYE, which was... an experience. It was a free concert, headlined by Lady Antebellum, attended by 130,000+ people, in freezing cold temperatures. While we had a good time, I'm not sure it is something I ever want to repeat! (Nor do I want to repeat the hangover that followed the next day... #cantdrinklikethatanymore!)

Thursday and Friday were much more our style - bar-hopping from honky-tonk to honky-tonk, listening to tons of great live bands (and a few not so great) and soaking in the fun and excitement that can only be found in Nashville.

We went to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel one afternoon for a drink and to check out the Christmas lights - talk about an incredible hotel. It is absolutely stunning inside and out, and the Christmas decorations just make it that much more extravagant and gorgeous.

We almost made sure that we ate BBQ at Jack's (a Nashville staple) and spent hours at Tootsie's World Famous Orchid Lounge. We had fried pickles at Rippy's (one of Nat's and my favorites!) and danced at Legends Corner. 

On Saturday, C & I met up with one of my sorority sisters who lives in Nashville, and she took us to brunch at Josephine and then for an amazing driving tour of the "not touristy" parts of Nashville. I loved finally having a chance to see places other than Broadway. I totally failed at getting a picture of the two of us, but I was so grateful and happy that she was willing to spend her Saturday chauffeuring us around and showing us the sites. Love ya, Rachael!

It was such a fun (and exhausting) way to spend a few days - we had a great time, and already can't wait to go back! Nashville is one of our absolute favorite cities, and it will always have a little piece of my heart. 

Christmas Catch-Up (Coffee Talk #7)

Well, hey there. Long time, no talk - about anything but cookies, that is! Hopefully you enjoyed the Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies series / link-up hosted by Sorority Life to Army Wife and myself, and maybe added a new recipe or two to your cookie arsenal, as well! Did you have a favorite recipe that we shared? I'd love to hear which one!

I'd love to do a gigantic brain dump and recap you on each and every single thing I did / you missed over the last few weeks, but... let's be honest... probably no one cares. I ran a half marathon on Dec 7, then I was in Michigan for a week for work, then C was in Oklahoma City for a week for work, and by the time we were both home and caught our breaths, it was Christmas Eve. Or so it felt! We managed to get the house decorated, the tree up, the lights lit, and the stockings hung just in time to enjoy our "first" Christmas at the new house. Last year, we were in Spokane for Christmas with my grandma, so we didn't get to experience that first holiday season to it's fullest. We definitely made up for it this year!

Let's do this coffee-date style - I've got so much to share, I'm not sure where to start! It's a dreary day here in Virginia, so a warm cup of coffee is just what we need.

I took Wednesday and Friday off work last week in order to truly enjoy some downtime and spend quality time with my family, which was such a good decision on my part. It was wonderful to not think about work for a couple of days. In the past week or so, I've;

• Became real-life blog official!! You can now find me at typicallylate.com - my sister-in-law and brother-in-law gifted me my very own URL for Christmas, and I'm pretty sure that's one of the coolest things I've ever gotten. 
• Hosted a variety of friends and family for Christmas celebrations and quality time, and greatly the enjoyed the sight and sounds of having the house filled with people
• Cleaned the house from top to bottom and then promptly started over again when everything was said and done
• Went on a day-date with C to see Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (so cute!), enjoy a couple beers at Park Lane, and run a few day-after-Christmas errands with the rest of the crazy shoppers
• Caught up on all of Season 2 of The Blacklist to date (why is it not back til February?!)
• Read Yes Please from cover-to-cover, wondered why I'm not friends with Amy Poehler, and began concocting a plan to convince her to be my BFF
• Attended a "contemporary" service at a new-to-us church for Christmas Eve, which was really much more like a rock concert than a traditional Christmas service.... very different, but not un-enjoyable
• Taken a long break from any type of workout and tried really, really hard not to feel guilty about it - I have enjoyed a lot of couch time, but am looking forward to recharging my exercise spirit and getting back in there
• Watched the Hokies beat Cincinnati in the Military Bowl and watched the Capitals shut out the Penguins - it's a good day in our household when both our teams win!
• Vacuumed my whole house with my mom's new Dyson, and promptly began a campaign for C to get me a new one for my birthday: I sure love ours, but it's several years old, and the amount of crap the new one picked up when I had JUST vacuumed with ours made me a bit ill - sigh
• Attended a beautiful annual brunch hosted by my former boss and got to catch up with several former co-workers that I truly miss
• Made plans to attend a Caps game with my family right after my birthday - not exactly a birthday celebration, but will be a fun way to celebrate, nonetheless!

What have you been up to? How are you spending the last few days of 2014? I'm sure I say this every single year, but it truly feels like the year has flown by. We were reminiscing about spending last Christmas in Washington State, and I honestly can't believe that was a full year ago. So much has happened this year, and we had so much unexpected sadness in my family - losing both of my mom's parents in a month was so incredibly hard, and has continued to be so - but there was also a lot of joy and celebrating this year. 2014 certainly didn't go as "planned," but I'm not sure that it can fully be classified as a "bad" year... just one that we are ready to move on from. I tend to prefer odd numbers over even, and I'm looking forward to what 2015 will bring our way.

Merry belated Christmas, and happy early new year. All my best to you and yours!

Five for Friday: ornaments on my tree

I absolutely love the look of color-coordinated, perfectly decorated Christmas trees... in other peoples' homes. In our house, we believe in a tree that tells tales - covered in ornaments that have stories and memories attached to them. C & I both grew up in homes with trees that were covered in art projects and school pictures and "baby's first" ornaments, and we have continued that tradition in our own house.

When we started dating, we started collecting ornaments from places that we go together. That's generally our "souvenir" from almost anywhere - we don't buy much of anything else, but we always try to find a Christmas ornament. Plus, both of our sets of parents have handed-down lots of family ornaments, so our tree is truly eclectic. I love it! Decorating the tree is always a trip down memory lane, and I can't wait to share those stories and memories with our kids some day.

For this week's Five for Friday, I thought I'd share five of my favorite ornaments that C and I have added to our tree. It's not necessarily my TOP five, just five that I really like. Could I ever truly pick a favorite ornament?! Methinks not.

1 // Jennette's Pier in the Outer Banks is a special place for C's family, and a visit there during the family vacation is a long-standing tradition. The first year that I was included in that trip, we bought an ornament. This ornament always reminds me of becoming a part of C's family, and how welcomed I have always been into their traditions and lives.

2 // During our honeymoon to Jekyll Island, we visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Had to pick up a reminder from that amazing day and week!

3 // When we moved into our first house together, my sister gifted us this sweet Virginia Tech ornament. She added our last name above the door for us - it's true, we are a Hokie home all year long!

4 // We received several beautiful ornaments as gifts to commemorate the year we were married, but this traditional Lenox wedding ornament is definitely one of my favorites. It's a classic! My parents have always had a similar one on their tree, and it's lasted over 30 years. Fingers crossed ours lasts just as long!

5 // We picked up this golden leaf ornament in Idaho last year while we were visiting my grandma for Christmas. It has a real maple leaf inside it, encased in 14k gold. It's gorgeous and sparkly (holiday requirement!) and reminds me of a place I love that I enjoyed sharing with C.

How do you decorate your tree? Do you collect ornaments? Do you have a theme? What's your favorite ornament on your tree?

linking up with the five on friday girls:  Darci, Christina, April,and Natasha

linking up with karli and amy