Work Party

Last night, our Director of Development took us to their country club for dinner. It was amazing. First he had cars/limos pick us all up at home and took us there. Then we had a cocktail reception type thing with some yum appetizers. From there, we went into the room where we had dinner. To start it off, there was a guy playing the piano, just for us. Wow. We had a great meal with outstanding wine. It truly was an awesome event!

Leonard Bearstein Symphony Orchestra

On Tuesday, Kevin and I were off work so we went over to the Bank of America Corporate Center and checked out the Bearstein Bears! It was definitely more for children as we had more fun watching them than the orchestra. If you live in Charlotte and have a chance to visit today, please do! Definitely plan to do it next year!

LG and Tara

Two of my Charlotte bestests and I went out last night to get our nails did and to dinner. We started at Polished. They got manicures and pedicures. I just did the manicure. Thought it was still best since my leg is still not perfect. Then we went to Nikko for some sushi. Yum! We totally did the typical girls night for the Southend area of Charlotte, haha. Thank you girls for a fun belated birthday night!!!

Christmas with Kevin

Kevin and I celebrated Christmas on Sunday when I got back from Maryland. He gave me these gorgeous Yurman earrings. Unfortunately they are very similar to some my parents gave me for my birthday a couple years ago. So....we took them back. Kevin wanted me to get something that I would wear a lot.....but aren't these gorgeous?!!!! He has good taste!

So we went to Morrison Smith in the Myers Park area of Charlotte last night. Look at these citrine earrings!!! SOOOO pretty and I can wear them all the time!

Annnnnnnd....he told me to get this pair too....green pearls!!!! Oh my goodness, so pretty! I'm wearing them today!

Then we went to Cajun Queen for dinner. Yum! It was a great night!!!

Christmas

Dad got a popcorn maker for Christmas....hahahahaha....

And some amazing NC State gear. No he isn't going to play for the basketball team, we couldn't find any shorter shorts - ANYWHERE. Any good ideas on where to find some shorter ones for him to lounge around in after a shower?

As always, we had an amazingly blessed Christmas. My parents always go crazy!!! Some highlights were a pearl bracelet (inch pearl, inch pearl), monogrammed 16oz. tervis tumblers, J. Crew, cooking tools, cast iron skillet, pots/pans (going to pick these up in Charlotte) and some warm slippers!

Mom got lots of accessories from Nordstrom - scarf, wrap, belt, spanx, gloves, and a fancy Kate Spade purse. She had been looking for a purse for almost two years so we snagged the one she saw when she was in Charlotte for Thanksgiving! When you find a good one, you have to get it!!! Yall know how that is!

Christmas Eve

This is my parent's tree on Christmas Eve - so pretty. I love our house at Christmas. Mom always does a beautiful job at getting everything just perfect! Of course I'm a bit biased, but I think our house is the prettiest! ;)
Mom sent out a letter to the neighborhood this year about luminaires and most of the neighborhood took part. Do you all do these in other parts of the country? They are so pretty if everyone makes them. All it is are paper lunch bags with the tops folded down about an inch with some sand in the bottom and a votive candle. So pretty to drive around Christmas Eve and look at the houses and have the streets lined in these!

My brother and I have a tradition of always catching one on fire....

We headed to church for the 10:30pm service. It was gorgeous as usual with a great message and music!

Later today or tomorrow, I'll post some pictures from Christmas. As always Santa and my parents went above and beyond!

As this post comes up, I will have just landed in Charlotte. My flight leaves at 5:15am and I'll be back in Charlotte two hours later! Sad to leave home but glad to see Kevin and Charlotte friends!!!

Nuss and Ash!

I know, I'm running a couple days late but I'm trying to post about one day at a time!

On Thursday I got to visit Nuss, my favorite teacher growing up. She taught us 12th grade English. It was SO great to see her - she was such an amazing role model to us at that age and I will always treasure her as a past teacher and most importantly as a friend. One of my best friends growing up (and still) also visited her at the same time and the three of us had the best time catching up.

Nuss (also known as Jill, haha!) had a child on November 5, 2006 named Evan. He is just adorable and we had fun playing with Thomas the Train!

Hopefully I haven't made any grammatical errors in this post since Nuss is reading it!!! :)

Family Dinner

Every year we have family dinner. Typically it is always Christmas Eve but this year it was on the 23rd. We ended up liking it because it made Christmas Eve more relaxed. Jenni and Frank have been hosting it lately and their house is gorgeous. It is right on the Wicomico River.

A few families do a lil gift exchange...
Mom, Dad and I.

Aunt Susan, Uncle John, their daughter Jenni and Jenni's daughter Frankie. So cute!

Mom, Dad and Jack. Jack is Mom's, cousin's grandson. He's 11 months old!

We always have a good time seeing everyone. The food is always tasty (filets, crabcakes and sides). Thank you to Jenni and Frank for having us!

Christmas time!

We had Kevin's parents, brother and uncle over for dinner the other night before they went to the Panthers game. I fixed some appetizers and we ordered dinner in....that was the plan, I wasn't a slacker ;). Here is my table set...

Then they went to the 8:20pm game - it was freezing. They look like they are ready for arctic!!! We were glad to be watching it in the comfort of home!

We celebrated Christmas with his parents on Tuesday night before everyone left - it was such a blast. They are so welcoming to me. I honestly feel like part of their family! His brother and sister in law went to her family's house in Atlanta and I came home to Maryland. Kevin had to work today, poor thing. Someone has to work for the family though!!! On our way back from their home, we went through downtown Waxhaw - it is so cute, this picture doesn't do it justice.
More pictures to come later today or tomorrow of family dinner (a day early) and other things that are going on around here! Hope yall are enjoying time with your family!!!

Christmas Traditions

This picture was in 2007 and Anna Kate was only 2.5 months old! Unfortunately Clay, Emily and Anna Kate aren't joining us this year (they are heading to Raleigh to see Emily's family). We will miss them so much. It will be weird not having them there.

Typically every year we have family Christmas Eve dinner with my Mom's cousins and their families. This year we are having it on the 23rd instead due to other's schedules. Christmas Eve we'll light the luminaires (which my Mom organized for the neighborhood this year), go to church then play Santa. We'll wake up Christmas morning, do Christmas, stockings and have the same brunch as we always do - an amazing breakfast casserole Mom makes. We always sit at the dining room table and she always gets too fancy with it!!! Typical Mom thing, ya know?!! It makes it special though!

What are your traditions?

A work day.

This is a typical day up north for me....driving to look at sites for our client and meeting with townships. This was last week in Lancaster County, PA (obviously before all the snow this past weekend!). At first when I saw this, I just thought why don't they just drive, it has to be faster....but then I realize that even though this is slower, they are riding around and enjoying the scenery and doing things slower. What a concept!

Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Blossom Recipe

I made these delish cookies this weekend. Kevin was mentioning last week how these were his favorite and the next day on the plane I was catching up on my Martha Stewarts and the recipe was in it. It was a sign that I had to make these for him and to have at the house for when guests stop by during the holidays!
Hershey Kiss Peanut Butter Blossom Recipe
48 Milk Chocolate Kisses
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
granulated sugar

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove wrappers from chocolates.
2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl. Add 1/3 cup granulated and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and sald; gradually beat into mixture.
3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

MIA

This Christmas rush has stolen my blog time!!! I'm so sorry!

We are busy running around trying to get those last minute packages out at the Post Office, going to Target to get gift cards for our concierges and cleaning up before we head out this week. Work has also been a little crazy as I was up in PA this week for a meeting.

I'll be back on Monday! Enjoy the snowy day in the northeast. No snow in Charlotte!

Christmas Decorating

I finally finished my Christmas decorating on Monday night! Here are some examples....my illegal wreath (we aren't allowed to have wreaths or doormats since I don't own the outside of my door in the condo building).
I LOVE this pineapple cone tree. This one is my Mom's and has been around awhile (it could be her Mom's, not sure). I think it is so cute and very Williamsburg-ish. You stick the pineapple on top and plug the apples into the cone. Then I put boxwood in between apples so you don't see the cone.
This is the magnolia that I mentioned I was getting from Kevin's parents home. I also put fake berries in it to spruce it up a bit. This is on top of my cabinets/bookshelves.

This is my one Christmas tree....not much room in 800 square feet for a real Christmas tree! Mom made this for me last year for the Holiday Home Tour. It was fun bringing it out again this year....she actually put it up for me when she was here for Thanksgiving. Isn't it adorable?! It sits on the countertop of my cabinets/bookshelves. And look at that precious girl next to it....my niece!!!

This is another fun little creation that Mom did for me last year for the Home Tour. All of the ornaments at the base of the tree are each year from year 2003 of the White House. Do any of you collect these? You check them out here.

Hope yall had fun decorating your homes! It definitely gets you in the spirit!!

Fran and Bev

I got to see two of my favorite friends last night - Fran and Bev. We had so much fun at Cantina for dinner! It is great that we always pick up where we left off and have great girl convo! I worked with them at my old company and we've stayed in touch since I left almost 3 years ago!

Sidewalk Sale

On Friday night, Kevin and I went to Basil (our favorite restaurant at the bottom of our building). It was fun to have a date night out! Then we went upstairs and hung out with our friends Wendy and Josh. It happened to be their 6 month anniversary and they had just received their wedding video. We got to check that out with them.... it was great! We got to relive being in Mexico - being tan and always having a drink in our hand!

Saturday we headed doing to south of Charlotte to see Kevin's parents and his brother and sister in law. We had fun looking at photo albums from when they were growing up and visiting with them. After dinner, we headed back to uptown and stopped in many neighborhoods checking out Christmas lights!

Sunday we went to Asheville to the J. Crew sidewalk sale! Kevin took my car while i was in there and went to Best Buy. You know you shopped too much when the next day your lower back hurts from going through so many bins of clothes! I came out with a wool cardigan, bathing suit, short sleeved collared shirt for work and a cotton dress all for $55. What a steal! Here is a picture of the madness -
After the sidewalk sale, Kevin came back and we went around the corner to the Clearance Store. We had to take a picture -Kevin walked out with a pair of khaki pants and I came out with NOTHING! What a record!!!

Avenue Holiday Party

Oh how times change! The below picture is from the Avenue Holiday party 2008. Kevin and I were just friends! Our friend Kim is with us. :)
This year was much better since we are "together together!"

Here is Wendy, me and Jennifer!

Margo, me, Meg!

Nordstrom

Went over to Nordstrom at lunch today to find some gifts for a special lady. Have yall been over there recently? They have great jewelry, cosmetics, and tons of gorgeous accessories. Wow! Such cute things and great gifts!

New Years Eve

I've been thinking about New Years Eve the past day or so and what we are going to do this year. Yes, I know, it isn't even Christmas yet!
Top NYE Priorities:
1. Be with friends/family and Kevin
2. Be able to dress up
3. Be able to partake in adult beverages

Do not want for NYE:
1. For anyone to drive (so dangerous on NYE)
2. To spend a ridiculous amount of money to get in a regular bar
3. Wait in line for drinks

What do you look for in a New Years Eve good time?!! I'm curious to know if you have plans and what they are!

Tis the season

On Saturday we went down to about 45 minutes south of Charlotte where Kevin grew up. We had a great time and got to see his dad perform in a church play. It was fun!

Then we went to an annual party at my friend's Sarah and Miki's. This is their 8th one! Here are some of my college friends and I. Kev and I, Laura and Brandon, Crystal and Matt, Sara and Adam. I was in civil engineering with Matt and Adam. They grew up with Brandon. It was SO great seeing you all and catching up! We need to do this more often! Also got to see some other friends and meet Shannon's boy Bill. I'm sorry we didn't get a picture Shannon!
Saturday we went to the game with Kevin's parents. Mom's favorite, Taylor Hicks sung the National Anthem!

It was SO cold. It felt like the artic. We look like idiots but we didn't care!

Happy Monday!

Holiday Home Tour 2008

This weekend reminds me of last year this time....my condo was part of the 4th Ward Holiday Home Tour in Charlotte. 1,100 people went through the tour last year and I felt very lucky to have my home be one of the stops! Mom and Dad came down to help me decorate...okay so Mom helped me decorate but Dad carried the big bins of greenery etc... Look at the adorable Carolers...they are a tradition in our house! Unfortunately I don't get these this year...they are up north for this season!
I love the pineapple/apple tree. Mom said she would send me hers so I can use it this year. I'm excited! This is my foyer area...

This is my bathroom all decorated last year...

Here is the main area of my place...the magnolia across the top of the cabinets was so pretty - it really made everything feel so festive. We're going to Kevin's parents house tomorrow and his Mom has a magnolia tree...if you see where I'm going with this.... Lots of Santas served as decorations (far left on the floor). Also, you can see on the right (on the countertop) - Mom MADE that tree!!! So creative! I loved having her here to help me put it up again this year. All it needs now are some batteries to get have the lights come on. I plan on doing that this weekend!

And finally, the Tour wouldn't have been possible without about 12 of my closest friends. They all helped me by being a volunteer to monitor people as they toured. Didn't want anyone to snag anything ;). Thank you girls! Here is Jen, B, Lauren and Beverly...

So tonight, since obviously my place isn't on tour this year, Kevin and I are volunteering at someone else's home. It will be fun to officially get in the Holiday spirit and visit with some new friends!

J. Crew Sidewalk Sale

Just got an email from J. Crew Clearance Center:

Our biggest Sidewalk sale of the year!
Saturday and Sunday
December 12th and 13th
10am to 4pm both days!
We've added lots of new items for this Holiday sale!

Clearance Store Hours:
10am - 8pm Monday through Saturday
11am - 6pm Sundays

Call 828-687-6475 for more information!

J. CREW Clearance Store
One Clifford Way
Arden, NC 28704

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

We were lucky enough to score tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Saturday night. Mom and Dad love them so it worked out perfectly that they were in town. It was an amazing light show and the musicians were SO talented. Check out some of the shots:
Yes, that's real fire...

Afterwards, we went back to the Ritz for a drink. They had been building this gingerbread house since my parents got in town on Wednesday. Here is the final product!

They had awesome decorations...