Monday, December 29, 2008

Oh, There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

There really is no place like home for the holidays. We had a whirlwind of a holiday week, and I wouldn't have changed a second of it! We arrived late on Saturday, and Sunday morning I met my girlies Sara, Giuly, and Cathy for our new tradition, Splash brunch.

The food was amazing, and the dessert... mmmmm

Following brunch I headed into the city for a C/D Heidelberg dinner. The Heidelberg is an old fashioned German restaurant, and for the Christmas season it is bedecked in authentic Teutonic decorations. Going to the restaurant during Christmas is a C/D tradition, and a great tradition it is! (C/D are the initials of James' family, which is my understanding should not be broadcast on the internet).


We all had a great time! The beer and conversation were flowing, and everyone was in great spirits!

Monday night we celebrated the second day of Chanukkah. Here is the beautiful Chanukkah table set by my mom:

Guy was in charge of the latkes, and did not disappoint! They were to die for!
The food was amazing, and we all had such a great time!

On Tuesday I went down to New Jersey, and met Michellie's Mia June Kelly for the first time:

Wednesday was Christmas Eve dinner, and here is the beautiful Christmas table set by James' mom:

And Thursday was Christmas!

I received the absolute most beautiful earrings and necklace from James!

A thank you smooch for Jimmy!
I can't believe this is already my fourth Christmas with James' family!

Friday my mom and I met Katie for lunch at the Hunt Club. We both agreed that if she wasn't in Hoboken and I wasn't in Houston, but instead we were both in Connecticut, we would eat lunch at the Hunt Clube, like, ALL the time.

After lunch we went Marley and Me (very cute, total tear-jerker!) and then went to meet the rest of the girls at the Wineknot.
Cath and I wanted to grab some sushi, and so ran over to Fin (the best sushi restaurant EVER). We also clearly had one too many glasses of wine...

And that was the week! PHEW!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Lights in the Heights

Since moving to the Heights we are always hearing about "Lights in the Heights." How it's the event of the year, and it's not to be missed. Well, last night we finally got to experience "Lights in the Heights" and it absolutely lived up to the hype!

Unfortunately, my pictures do not do the scene any justice. All of the houses were impeccably decorated to the nines, and lights were strewn along all the trees lining the streets. This is the best picture I have... Lights just do not photograph well (at least not for me).

Our neighbors threw an "ugly sweater" party, but I waited until the last minute to look for an ugly sweater, and of course couldn't find one. I did, however, find this adorable red vest at Target, and the Christmas hawaiian shirt that I found for James along with the red track jacket were plenty tacky for the two of us.

Our neighbors Pat, Alex, and Ryan went all out! LOVE the Christmas spirit!

James and our neighbor Matt bearing Christmas treats.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Xmas...

As Christmas is fast approaching, the house is finally all decked out for the holiday season!

And unbelievably enough, it actually SNOWED in Houston yesterday!

Our lovely tree lights up the whole house and makes it feel oh-so-cozy

And of course, here is Audie posing nicely in front of the tree:

Okay, I lied. He wasn't posing so much as getting in my way of taking pictures of the tree, but the pic above somehow ended up looking cute. This, however, is what the rest looked like:


Sunday, December 7, 2008

Sunday Dinner

This weekend was about all things Christmas, and Sunday night dinner turned out to be no exception. James prepared spicy shrimp sauteed in oil, and butternnut sqash with brown sugar. Not only was it absolutely delicous, but the shrimp dish was also the right colors!

To make the spciy shrimp, just sautee the garlic, dried arbol (or other spicy) peppers, onion, and parsley in olive oil. Add shrimp, and put over pasta. And enjoy!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Bathrom Vanity

I am now on a mission to find the perfect double vanity for our master bath. We are looking for
the perfect mix of minimalist, but with lots of room for storage.






Winter Wonderland (sneak peak)

We haven't quiet finished decorating the house, so I will wait until that is done in order to post house pics. But as a sneak peak here are some pics of our little Winter Wonderland...