My Merry 25

Yay, Christmas! This month is off to a spirited start, and I want to share the 25 ways I celebrate all month to make December merry and bright.

1. Decorate, of course. This is our first year with colored Christmas tree lights and so far so good. This includes adding an ornament to the tree that represents a favorite moment from the year. 

2. Attend the GAA's Holiday Concert where a cappella carols abound (I highly recommend this - next year it's on Nov. 30). 

3. Kick back at a reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (located on Carolina's campus at Bull's Head Bookshop). 

4. Have some fun at work holiday parties.

5. Watch the usuals: Christmas Vacation, Elf, Home Alone and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

6. Drink the usuals: apple cider, hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows, eggnog, Christmas lattes and all that. Best Christmas lattes are at Thanks a Latte in Holly Springs. 

7. Dine at The Carolina Inn (their Christmas decorations are my favorite).

8. Compete in Southern Weddings' Annual Gingerbread Barn Building Competition (also at the inn - there's still time to sign up here); build a gingerbread house with family.

9. Craft an ornament, and participate in an ornament swap.

10. Drive around looking at tacky as all get out Christmas lights (if you need some good houses - I've got some great ones). 

11. Take Bentley to his kennel's open house where he gets to see Santa.

12. Make red and green Jell-O shots on Christmas Eve and open homemade poppers with lottery tickets all while devouring lots of apps... Naughty before nice!

13. Christmas feast with our friends Jen and Nick. 

14. Go ice skating in Raleigh. More on that here. 

15. Read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas - boomingly! - to family on none other than the night before Christmas. 

16. Bake cookies with lots of Christmas sprinkles.

17. Attend candlelight service on Christmas Eve (the service at Hope in Raleigh is great). 

18. Listen to Kenny G's Miracles: The Holiday Album - my "I'm castaway on an island during the holidays and can bring one album" album. Seriously.

19. Turn on Time Warner Cable's Yule log channel in every room of the house (TWC channel 508 in the Raleigh market; search options along bottom, to the right, until you see Yule Log, select 2014 Yule Log HD for the "ultimate experience complete with a crackling fire and holiday music"). 

20. Have some fun with our Christmas card.

21. Random acts of kindness (crucial!). 

22. Get new Christmas jammies.

23. See Kathleen over Christmas break - preferably at What-A-Burger in Concord - it's all about traditions (she told me a baby was on the way here last year!). 

24. Celebrate 'A Very Bestie Christmas' with May complete with a slumber party.

25. Try a new holiday happening. 

I love old traditions, new traditions, all traditions. Here's to a month full of love and happiness and a whole lot of fun.

{photo of my delicious latte from restaurant Sip in Holly Springs}

#V7LaunchParty

This past week I went to my first Southern Weddings magazine launch party, and it was just as delightful as it comes. It was held at oh-so-nice The Umstead in Cary. Upon entering we were greeted with glitter, sequins and all things Southern. Names were written on a Howdy name tag along with favorite Southern dessert (Hank's Grandma's banana pudding for me). At this sparkly table we also got to pick up the cutest Belle & Union magnetic buttons - 'Preserve Love' and 'Sweet as a Peach.' 

High Cotton was at the entrance with a bow tie bar for all the beaus. And with this sign by All She Wrote Notes, I felt thoroughly welcomed.

Pretty magazines for all. 

I signed the guest book in all its gold foil, pink and glittering goodness. 

The candy bar was ah-mazing. I'm talking pumpkin cake pops, pink pig gummies, rock candy, frosted and sprinkled Oreos, and all that. 

Carolina alumni owned and operated Hot Dog! Photo Booth was there with the perfectly themed backdrop and super fun props. Me plus a photo booth equals 'happy as a clam.'

The flowers were perfection too. 

As were the little ham and pineapple biscuits.

There was a barbecue bar where sauces abound. 

And a very fall cheese display.

There were matchy-matchy tags too. 

There was no shortage of adorable bites like mini chicken pot pies, vegetable tarts, chicken and waffles, and more (that I can't remember because there was so much deliciousness). 

These fellas jammed it out, and May and I smiled it out. Guests were asked to wear pink, peach or metallics. 

Now for the drink stations. There was a lemonade bar with pomegranate, strawberry or raspberry lemonade.

Paired with cute straws, of course.

And most importantly, there was Cheerwine punch - favorite of the night. 

If you didn't want Cheerwine punch, you could enjoy it by the bottle. 

That's what May did as she hosted the online stream of this event.

Just when you thought your sweet fix was complete with the candy bar, there was a dessert bar too. 

That was all so sweet as were the things the Southern Weddings ladies said about love: 'I believe that loving well, even when it's hard, is always worth it.' ... 'I believe that a stronger-than-Southern-oak marriage can change the world.' 

With all that, we photo boothed it one more time in the name of love before heading home. 

Once home, we looked through all of our swag bag goodies, and yes, they were good, and pink, and Southern. Even the bow tie koozie says 'fancier than fried pickles.'

It was a fantastic evening from head to toe - just as sweet as a peach.

Thanks a Latte

My favorite kind of shopping is sipping and shopping. Give me a latte, wine, beer, lemonade, punch, whatever, and let me shop. I had some fun a couple weeks back at one of my favorite stores on earth, Thanks a Latte in Holly Springs. It's owned by the most adorable family, is also a coffee shop (reminding me of my childhood days at 21 Union Street and Smelly Cat in Concord), makes the meanest pumpkin chai latte and has all of my favorite gift brands under one roof - Kate Spade, Half United, Thimblepress, Rewined, Rifle Paper, Ban.do, Emily Ley, etc. Two weeks ago they held their second annual holiday bash, and it was all levels of merry and bright. 

All of that was in the swag bags! From the cutest 'I love you to the fridge and back' towel to a Rifle Paper card and Barr & Co. soap, I could not have been happier. I even won a gold sparkly ornament from one of their 28 drawings. My SIL Amy and I held it down from open to close, and I'm pretty sure we'll both be there for the third annual. If you live in the area, Thanks a Latte is where it's at / worth the trip.

Local Happs

Hank and I tried a new restaurant in town, Full Moon Oyster Bar in Morrisville. Some nights you want to belly up to a bar for a chill meal, and this is the place to do just that. Why? The entire restaurant is bar after bar after bar - no tables. Oysters and bubbly, please!

Bentley attended his fourth Down by the Tracks at Seabord Station in Raleigh. It's always a fun block party filled with food trucks (pumpkin pie milkshakes!), beer, bands and all that jazz. Bentley and I won the 'Best in Selfie' contest thanks to sweet people who gave us a little likety like. Bentley even got to bring a friend - his cousin Lennox - so he was all levels of doggon' happy. 

Mom and I celebrated her birthday early at cooking school at Southern Season in Chapel Hill for brunch with Chef Sara Moulton. We enjoyed smoked salmon on crispy potato pancakes with horseradish cream and picked onions as our first course. Then we had a delicious breakfast casserole dubbed toad in the hole Italiano. The last savory dish was an arugula salad with aged Gouda, pecan praline and mustard vinaigrette. We finished the meal with chocolate stuffed French toast with raspberry sauce. There were two wine pairings, and my favorite was the red, Meinklang. 

I give each of these happs two thumbs up. Highly recommend taking your dog to DBTT next year, and a cooking class at Southern Season makes a great gift.

Rock the Vote

Hank and I voted it out before work this morning. There were actual candidates on the ballot there to greet us outside of our polling place - what a welcome. And the sticker... Always a treat. Two thumbs up for excerising our right to vote today.

Halloweekend

I had some fun costuming at work for Halloween. May and I were pineapples. I made the headpieces from this Studio DIY tutorial, and I was pretty much obsessed with our 'get up' all day long.

We co-captained our work's holiday committee and had some fun setting up this candy bar for our coworkers.

We even made my favorite punch dubbed 'witches' brew' (sans cherries) when it's Halloween otherwise known as 'grinch punch' for Christmas. Recipe is Paula Deen's Lime Sherbet Punch. So easy: Ingredients 2 quarts lime sherbet, 2 liters ginger ale, 1 (46 oz) can pineapple juice, slices of one orange and one lime for decoration. Directions In a punch bowl, add 2 quarts of lime sherbet. Then add ginger ale and pineapple juice. Decorate with lemon and lime slices (and some maraschino cherries instead of the orange at Christmas time). 

Witches' brew was served in the below cutest witch cups by Meri Meri. The Land of Nod carries Meri Meri's holiday line, and they truly have the most adorable holiday party decs. I wiped out their entire New Year's Eve line last year, and if you're looking for photo booth props, theirs rock (their new year's party props may have already hit my Christmas wish list). 

May and I won most hilarious. Yay!

After work it was off to the lake where I ate candy by night and watched Hocus Pocus.

Hank, my Dad and I spent Saturday morning in Charlotte. We grabbed lattes at Amelie's, made a stop at NoDa Brewing for a special release beer, chowed down on tacos at Cabo Fish Taco and shopped it out at one of my favorites, Blacklion. 

We spent the evening at a neighborhood chicken stew on the prettiest backdrop, fall at the lake.

On Sunday, we left with some of this most wonderful curry chicken salad with cranberries masterpiece my mom created via Southern Living. 

October came and went; the weekend came and went; whew, time flies. Live it up, people. I just shipped out my first Winedeer of the season so I'm just saying, if you want some, come get some. He'll look fab on your bar cart. Happy Week!

Mummies and More

Last night I came home to a surprise in the mail which is always delightful. My Aunt Kimmie painted this ceramic mummy and shipped him to me all the way from New York. He arrived just in time for Halloween and pairs perfectly with my witch. Note: Take time to randomly send someone something nice in the mail - it's the best feeling to receive something unexpected and know a sweet person was thinking about you.

I spent the evening 'skulpting' my signature skelly trophies for our costume contest at work tomorrow. Best in Show definitely deserves gold glitter. These are broken down and reconstructed from Dollar Tree garland then spray painted, embellished and placed atop dominoes. {Tags by May of All She Wrote Notes.}

Tonight I finally carved my pumpkin. Hank cut the lid (with a knotch of course!) and cleaned out all of the guts for me. I went with a goofy fella' and that's that.

Tomorrow it's all about hopping into costume, candy and watching Hocus Pocus and maybe some pumpkin spice s'mores (traditional s'mores but with pumpkin spice marshmellows by Jet Puffed - I found mine at Wal-Mart). 

Happy All Hallows' Eve EVE. 

Cemetery Tour

Last night I embarked on a cemetery tour with Hank and a bunch of Carolina alumni. We enjoyed bites catered from The Root Cellar in Chapel Hill (formerly Foster's) before touring Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh... at night... with flashlights! Perfectly spooky for Halloween week. I had to break out these happy lanterns for the occasion.

We took in a lot of history about the many notable Carolina alumni buried there. We even sang the fight song together at the tombstone of Ragsdale, the man who wrote the tune. We heard a tale about an angel tombstone who lost her head at some point a couple years back. The cemetery posted missing notices and one day they randomly got a call that if they looked in the dumpster behind Winn-Dixie, they would find the head of a stone angel. They believe a couple N.C. State frat boys had her head on their mantle for a few years. In any event, the cemetery is a fascinating piece of Raleigh that I encourage you to take a tour of, and it's beautiful by day.

Oh! And we passed this insanely decorated house in Historic Oakwood that got me all levels of excited about Halloween and watching Hocus Pocus tomorrow night. 

It's getting awefully spooky around here.

Costume

As I countdown to Halloween, I've made a plan for something fun to do each night. Tonight was all about the costume. 

I crafted away so stay tuned for the full view of my 69 cent ensemble on Friday.