Weekend Recap

Hello lovlies - welcome back to Monday.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got exactly what you wanted/needed to get accomplished.  Here is a quick run down of our very very busy weekend:

Friday night - got off work at 4:30 (30 minutes early - win/win), ran home and helped hubby get dinner started, then went to have my nails done at a place I frequent often.  Once they got me settled, they asked if I would like a glass of wine to enjoy while being pampered.  Um... well duh - yes, please!!! :)

After a couple of hours of being pampered, I went home and just relaxed the rest of the night with hubby. Saturday morning came an impromptu yard sale thanks to our neighbors next door and across the street from us.  They had asked us late Friday night if we'd like to join in, so we said sure, and was able to get rid of a TON of stuff out of our garage.  We can actually walk through it again without running into boxes - LOL   After that, we just ran some errands, quick trip to Costco, a bite to eat and then home and down for the night watching Christmas movies.

Sunday we got up at 7 a.m. (again - blah) and worked non-stop on getting the house cleaned, some cooking and laundry done and hubby mowed the yard.  Hard to believe we are still mowing grass here in Texas in December - UGH.  After that, we decided to run to Lowes and take a look at some riding lawn mowers and while we were out, we came across an iron place on the main road and decided to stop in to see what they had.  They had TONS of Metal Christmas things that you hang on your house or put in your yard so we came home with a beautiful poinsetta to hang on our house and LOVE it.  Though not exact, it is similar to this:

The rest of the evening consisted of going out to an early dinner due to being too exhausted to cook after working all weekend long.  We went to one of our favorite places, Sharky's:

Who can beat a view like this while having dinner:

These are their "Shark" bites and are delicious! They are grilled shrimp with bbq sauce and wrapped in bacon and served with Chipotle sauce - OMG YUM!

 

After a nice relaxing dinner, and a glass or two of wine, we were back at the house and getting ready for the new week ahead.  So... what about you?  How was your weekend?  Did you do anything special? Can't wait to hear all about it and catch up! 

Thanks for stopping by to say hello and have a wonderful Monday! :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Friday Favorites - Christmas in New York

Whoop Whoop, we made it to Friday little darlins!!!   This has been THE LONGEST WEEK EVER to me. Can you tell I'm ready for the weekend? LOL Anyway, today is the Friday Fave with these lovely ladies, so gather your favorties and join in!

(you can join in here, here, here or here)

(1) Rockefeller Center. It is absolutely breathtaking this time of year. It was always one of my most favorite spots to see at night time.

I loved these snowflakes - they blinked on and off to the Christmas music

Bringing in the Tree.  Trust me when I say - it is MUCH LARGER than it looks on tv. But it is so neat to watch them bring it in on the trailer and then start setting it all up.  It is a production in itself!

 Ice Rink.  Though I never did skate there during my 4 years of working next to it (thanks to my bad knees) - I always loved watching everyone else skate when I was on lunch or in the City at night:

 (2)  Ornaments around the City. I used to pass these every day when I walked to my office and just thought they were so neat:

You can see how tall these are just by looking at the people walking past them.  They were HUGE!

(3)  Radio City Music Hall.  It was definitely a show stopper and one to never miss.  I passed this every day as well and actually walked through the building (to warm up) on my way to the office in the mornings.

 

Miracle on 34th - I loved seeing this sign during the Holidays on the Macy's building.  And if you've never been there they had the neatest store.  Their escalator was made of wood which literally creaked as you rode up it.

 And of course, there is Cartier, which was also across from my office.  I never shopped there, however, thanks to their extremely HIGH prices - ACK!!!

(4)  Window Decorations. Ya'll, there is literally NOTHING like the windows the designers produce at Christmas time.  When I say people line up down the street and around the building, I am NOT joking and the line goes on for hours and hours:  

 

 

(5)  And of course, what is NYC without their famous FAO Schwarz Toy Store, am I right?! It was SO cool inside.  

 

 

And who can forget the "BIG" Piano? (Are ya'll old enough to remember this famous Tom Hanks movie? I LOVED it and the Piano really is "BIG" ya'll and you CAN actually walk on it and "play" it:

So... there you have it - my Friday Favorites this week. As you can tell, I was very fond of NYC at Christmas time and am dying to go back - though ONLY at Christmas because it truly is magical during this time of the year.  Tell me, have you ever been to NYC at Christmas?

Thanks for stopping by to say hello.  Have a fabulous day and weekend!  :)

Lots of love and hugs,

Holiday Questionnaire

Happy Friday Eve sweetums.  We are on the downhill side of the week, thank goodness, and I, for one, am SO happy that tomorrow is finally Friday again.  After having short weeks for the past 2 weeks due to our grandson being born and then Thanksgiving, it has been tough having to work a full week again - ha ha ha  

Anyway, I was trolling around some of my favorite blogs and stopped by to see what Jenn over at Going the Distance had up her sleeve today and she decided to do a Holiday Questionnaire and invited us to all play along.  Since I love any and all things related to questionnaires because I always enjoy learning about other people, I thought I would join in on the fun too! Feel free to snag her questions below and play along too! :)

A holiday tradition:  Since we've moved to the Houston area, it has just been my husband, myself and our son.  So we always have our Christmas dinner when my son is going to be home from work, whether that be Christmas Eve or Christmas night.  Either way, once we have had dinner, exchanged gifts, we always take off to one of our favorite neighborhoods and drive through looking at their lights.  

What you'd love to see Santa bring you most this year:  Well, he's already brought me a new car, so I'm not sure what else I could really want/need, but I would love to see a monogram necklace, some monogram earrings, scarves, CC beanie hats, massage package just to name a few.

What's your go-to stocking stuffer item:  When I am buying for my men's stockings, it usually consists of their favorite candy/treat, their favorite deodorant, cologne, gift card to their favorite store, etc.

Who is the hardest to shop for during the holidays?  Probably my husband.  Since we live out of state we always send gift cards to the rest of the family, he and my son are really the only ones I truly buy for.  My son always has a list for me, so he's easy. 

Favorite Winter Accessory:  Scarves, vests, boots and CC Beanie hats are my all-time faves

Christmas Tree lights: colors or all white?  Definitely all white - it just looks so much nicer to me, though I love looking at other people's trees who do the color lights - they always look so nice too

Favorite Holiday Cocktail:  Hmmm... I guess this would be wine or spiked egg nog :)

Favorite holiday food: Any and all homemade candy, pretzels, etc.  I usually make homemade chocolate chip cookies and red velvet cake balls - yum

Do you have a good white-elephant gift idea?  Not really, but when we still lived back home, us and our other 3 sets of friends had a White-Elephant party every year and ended up doing a lot of gag gifts that got recycled year after year - it was a blast and something I miss terribly

Do you have a funny picture of you and Santa as a kid? (Post it if you do!) Unfortunately, I do not but always enjoy seeing everyone's kid's pictures - especially the ones who are screaming to get away from Santa - actually, like this one of my nephew this year:

Do you like candy canes?  Eh, I can take them or leave them

Hot Chocolate....marshmallows or no marshmallows?  DEFINITELY marshmellows and the more the better

Favorite holiday song:  Baby, It's Cold Outside - and my favorite versions are the one sung by Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson as well as the one from Glee - I LOVE that.  Oh, and I want a Hippopatamus for Christmas

Favorite holiday movie(s): Hands down my favorites for the holidays.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas until I have broken these babies out:

and

A funny holiday story:  Hmmm... I can't really recall any off the top of my head at the moment

Have you ever been on a sleigh ride?  No, but this is something on my bucket list

A  fun holiday memory: Cutting down our own Christmas tree every year in the woods behind our house when I was growing up.  I miss those days and remember how much fun it was to do that with the family

Well, there you have it - my answers to the fun little questionnaire.  Feel free to play along and let me know if you snagged the questions so I can come learn about you too! :)

It's What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday Y'all

Happy Hump Day sweeties!  Hope you're week has been going great so far.  My week has really stunk to be quite honest, but hey, what can you do, right?  Eh.... Anyway, today I am linking up as usual on Wednesday's for the What's Hap-"Pinning" Link Up Party, so come play along!

These are a few of my favorite things this week:

1.  I need to have my daughter paint this for me.  She can do it so easily, but it would never look like this if I did it myself - she freehands all of her drawings and I can't draw a straight line, nor even a circle - LOL

2.  Aren't these adorable?! They would be perfect for my co-workers

3.  I love this Subway Sign - I need to make this.  I made one many years ago that is Halloween related but I need this one too

4.  I love this lantern and with the Red, White and Black it really pops

5.  I LOVE THIS WREATH - will someone please come make it for me

6.  New York City at CHRISTmas time.  I worked right in the middle of this for 4 solid years and this was my favorite time to be there.  It truly is magical

7.  These ornaments - I think they are SO CUTE! I'm not sure if you can tell, but Red, Black and White are my 3 favorite colors :)

So there are a few of my favorite things this week. What are some of your favorites this week? 

You can link up here or here.  Thanks for stopping by to say hello and have a wonderful day my friends! 

Lots of love and hugs,

Countdown to CHRISTmas (Link up Party - CHRISTmas style - Week 1)

Happy Tuesday sweets! How is your week going so far? Awesome sauce, I hope! :)  Back to work yesterday was a tough pill to swallow but we made it through, thankfully.  My favorite time of the day is always the 5:00 hour when it's time to go home. :) 

Anywho, I saw that Pinky, Katie and Sara have a new link up party going every Tuesday starting today, through CHRISTmas and decided to play along, because it is my most FAVORITE time of year and I'm always up for anything to do with CHRISTmas.  So, come play along and join Katie, Sara and Pinky every Tuesday to talk everything Christmas and share your favorite holiday recipes, decor, traditions, drinks and of course wish lists. 

Here are a few of my favorite things this week:

Elf on a Shelf - I love looking at everyone's ideas that they come up with every year and wish my kids were young so that I could play with this thing - LOL They didn't have anything like this when my babies were babies - of course, they didn't have internet, or Pinterest either (telling my age here - LOL) to come up with these awesome ideas they now have out there on the web. :)

December 1st.  I mean, where did this year go? I am SO stoked because today's high here in the area outside of Houston where I live is only going to be 55 and I couldn't be more thrilled!  I want the cold during the holidays so that it actually feels like the holidays.

I am completely thrilled that CHRISTmas is upon us because this is my favorite time of year and I LOVE listening to CHRISTmas music all day long. This is one of my all-time favorite CD's and the song she and Nick Lachey sing - "Baby It's Cold Outside" is one of my all-time favorite version of that song.  Say what you will about her, but I love her music and especially her CHRISTmas CD - this one in particular:

Here are a few of my other favorite CD's that I am break out every.single.year.  What about you? Do you have any of these? Which ones do you break out each year? Yes, I realize these are also some old ones, but I'm always looking to add to my collection, so please share! :)

So there you go, there are a few of my favorites this week. Please be sure to link up and join in, won't you? I can't wait to see what everyone else is excited about this holiday season.  Have a fantastic day and thanks for stopping by to say hello. :) PS - please excuse the wonkiness of my paragraphs this morning - I can't figure out why the heck they won't justify - some will and some won't and it's driving me crazy today! HA!

Lots of love and hugs,