Christmas- A little long overdue!

(Again, please excuse me how far behind I am on posts! I know that it is January 18th but...can't it be Christmas year round?!)

Anyway,
This was, hands down, one of the best Christmas' yet. Mainly because I was able to pull off both Christmas with "Charleston's" family as well as mine and....the newest addition to our family celebrated her first Christmas morning with a visit from Santa! Words can't describe how the dynamic of a family changes when a new one is added to the family but it brings so much more excitement to opening presents and celebrating the holiday together!

I spent Christmas even with "Charleston's" family and we did "Christmas morning" on Christmas eve, followed by dinner and the Christmas Eve service at their church, Myers Park Presbyterian. On Christmas morning, we woke up and drove back to Kernersville to meet mom and Dad, Sister, Olivia and Sam and have Christmas morning with my family!

I tried my hardest to use my camera as much as possible but there were so many other fun things to do besides snap pictures!

Here are a couple to show some of my most favorite people in life!

**Click any picture to view larger**

On Saturday night we had Christmas at Grandmas.

Mattie and Griffin (my cousins)
On Christmas morning it started snowing.....and didn't stop....we measured the amount of snow on our patio table and by Saturday night we were at 9 inches!
Olivia had a long Christmas morning with her new toys from Santa. She was due for a nap while we were at Paw-Paws house.
Livi got a new pair of boots for Christmas! That sweet little face in her Christmas onsie!
Mom, "Charleston" and I got Dad the Muck hunting boots he has been wanting. They got used that morning while dad shoveled the drive-way!
Sister and Livi having Christmas morning breakfast!
Mom wanted a new facebook profile picture...I think it turned out well!
Christmas morning at the Higgins house
Mom and Olivia
"Charleston" is going to go on a shopping spree at the Bass Pro Store!

She was focused on the presents in front of her!
The Howard Family. I think Olivia wants her present back!
I got her some new PJ's!

Sweet tired baby face. She has added so much happiness to our family; I can't even explain!
Hope everyone had a happy holiday!

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

(so I am a little behind...bare with me!)

It was cold. It was miserable. It was raining.

When NC State was rolling through our winning football streak, “Charleston”, myself and our friends Ryan and Heather grabbed up some tickets to the ACC Championship game here in Charlotte in hopes of cheering the Wolfpack to victory.

Well….bum bum bum…. The Wolfpack did not make it to the ACC Championship game thanks to a loss to Maryland in their last game of the season. Therefore, we had four tickets to a game none of us truly cared about.

Oh what to do??

Well you suck it up, tailgate and have a fabulous time at the final football game of the season with friends!

We had full intentions of throwing an all out blow-out tailgate until…the second bomb hit. It was freezing rain all day leading up to kick off. Miserable weather.

Therefore, it paid off to live in Uptown and only four blocks from the Bank of America stadium. We pulled the coolers up to my fourth floor balcony, kicked our feet up on the coffee table, turned on several other football games and threw our own tailgate in the living room ALL DAY LONG. We ate bojangles and chips and dip and heather and I pulled out all of our favorite tailgate games – painting our finger nails! When could you ever do that at a normal tailgate?!

Long story short. We ended up going to the game and were miserable the entire time. I can’t explain how cold and damp it was, and the worst part, I honestly couldn’t give a crap who won.

We did hold a little photo-op out on the balcony before walking to the game. We had to come outside to take pictures because with all our cold weather gear on we were sweating to death inside….

**Click any picture to view larger**

view from our seats

"Charleston" and Heather
Ryan, "Charleston" and Heather

Me and Boyfriend freezing our bums off!
I knew as soon as Heather pulled out a bottle of finger nail polish from her purse this was going to be the best "tailgate" ever!
FA-REEEEEZING....

Great Year In The Kitchen

2010 was one of the best years in my kitchen.
I experimented with all kinds of foods but for the most part stuck close to home with a little spin on some traditional favorites. I found several websites for online recipes that I fell in love with and stocked up on my spice cabinet so as to never shy away from a recipe with too many ingredients! It was also the first year in a long time that I have had another mouth that I could feed and was worth cooking for. It’s hard to get motivated to bust out a new recipe when you are the only one eating it. “Charleston” was my guinea pig and he was good at the job. He is easy to please and I feel like he appreciates me cooking for him which makes the world of difference since he knows how much I love doing it!
Overall, 2010 brought several recipes that have become staples in my kitchen and will be for years to come:

The Best “Large Group” Dinner
Chicken Spaghetti

Find it Here: Chicken Spaghetti

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Best Snack
Rustic 5-Spice Potato Chips (served with a side of homemade ranch!)

Find it here: Chips

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Best Breakfast
Baked Cinnamon French Toast

Find it here: French Toast Bake
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Best Homemade Steak House Dinner : AKA - Man Food
Grilled Ribeye Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce

Find it here: Steak and Cheese Sauce

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Best Mac and Cheese
Fancy Macaroni

Find it Here: Mac and Cheese

and runner up…
Buffalo Chicken Macaroni and Cheese

Find it Here: Chicken Mac and Cheese

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Best Simple Quick Dish for Girls Night
Baked Lemon Pasta

Find it Here: Baked Lemon Pasta

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Best Sandwich
Homemade Chicken Patties with Chives, Ginger and Garlic (make these babies and put them on a Sesame bun with a THIN spread of Mayo, lettuce and onion!)

Find it Here: Chicken Patties

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Best Appetizer
Stuffed Mushrooms

Find it Here: Stuffed Mushrooms

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Best Mashed Potatoes
Three Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Find it Here: Mashed Potatoes

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Best Biscuits
Corn Muffins with Bacon Bits and Cheddar Cheese

Find it Here: Biscuits

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Best Tacos
Tyler Florence Crispy Fish Tacos

Find it Here: Fish Tacos

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Best Side Dish
Stuffed Tomatoes

Find it Here: Stuffed Tomatoes

It's Moving Week

Moving has begun.

I had everything packed up before going back to Kernersville for Christmas this past weekend.
As soon as I got off work yesterday, I started carrying stuff over by the car full.
Well, for Christmas, Santa brought me a solid head and chest cold. (I must have been on the naughty list!)

The process of moving and and having a cold simply do not go together! Let’s just say this has not started like I had imagined; my enthusiasm is a little short as well as my patience.

But then again, maybe my luck is better than the poor person who owns this car:


New York City Sanitation Worker Wrecks Ford Explorer - Watch more Funny Videos

So, long story short. It’s moving week.

Christmas updates and many many pictures will come next week when I have my desk and internet back up and running!

Happy Holiday and New Years Friends!

Gumdrops and Antique Oval Mirrors

The living room in my new place is a fairly small room so I have been looking around for some sort of mirror to put on the wall and hopefully “open” the place up a bit! I want something fairly large to take up some wall space but I want the mirror to also be a decorative piece. At this point, I don’t mind putting a little extra $$ into it if it is something I fall head over heels in love with!

While shopping around, I DID fall head over heels in love with something totally wrong for me and my needs. (Before “Charleston”, this seemed to be the ongoing concept of my life :) I thought I had grown out of it!)

Anyway, I HAVE to have an oval antique mirror! The thing is, where in the world do I put it?! I feel like you have to have one of those “fancy” rooms or a well put together space to throw one of these gems up on the wall (and that right now, I do not have).

I even thought it would be cool, one day, to possibly make a collage out of several of them instead of one large mirror. If I had some sort of entry way it would be perfect! But right now, in my Christmas slumber I will dream of gum drops and antique oval mirrors like...

this:

or this: (maybe with a fresh coat of paint!)
or this:

or this:

or this:

"Oh Benny Benny Boo Boo Boo Boo"

“Charleston’s” sister and brother-in-law have gotten “Charleston” and I addicted to the show The Sing Off. I was over American Idol 100000 seasons ago so this is my new REALITY music drug. As with any reality show addict, I don’t ever miss an episode and the only thing I forward through on DVR are the commercials.

Anyway, one of the judges on the show is Ben Folds…..and….I have a crush.

He is not cute. He is small and short with shaggy hair. He has big glasses and funny teeth but…he is musically talented and I am totally smitten. Give a man vocal cords, a piano, and raw creativity and I am grinning ear to ear picturing myself being some crazy groupie following this dude coast to coast and one day being his back up vocals at his next show. I am in love. Muisical talent (of that kind) is just that attractive!

Anyway, so I love The Sing Off and Ben Folds and as you can see below he has been incorporated throughout my new playlist!

“Drop A Beat” Playlist:

The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco
Grenade – Burno Mars
Wash Away – Joe Purdy
Brick – Ben Folds
Office Music – Lil Wayne
Marry Me – Train
Made For You – One Republic
Kyrie – Mr. Mister
The Luckiest – Ben Folds
Dog Days Are Gone – Florence & The Machine
Middle Distance – Sea Wolf
Sunshine – Matt Costa
If I Die Young – The Band Perry
Come on Eileen – Dexys Midnight Runners
Body Language – Jesse McCartney ft. T-Pain
Fred Jones – Ben Folds
One Day – Matisyahu
Why Wait – Rascal Flatts
Empire State of Mind – Jay-Z
Friday Im In Love – The Cure
Annie Waits – Ben Folds
Rockin’ The Suburbs – Ben Folds

Anticipation

My Christmas shopping is done.

It’s already wrapped and laying around one of our end tables because a Christmas tree is nonexistent this year.

I am counting down the days until Christmas when I can have a little vacation and catch back up with the important things in life.

I am also counting down the days until I move into my new place. The anticipation is seriously killing me.

I have been picturing over and over again in my head what my living room will look like; how I will lay out the furniture in the master bedroom and what colors I should use in the bathrooms. Ok so I will admit it, I am SUPER excited!

I have tried my hardest to get everything I need to complete the place so that on Dec. 29th when the moving truck and my family troops are here in Charlotte, I can let them run free getting the place together.

“Charleston” keeps telling me I am jumping the gun with a lot of things but…if I go ahead and buy the curtain rods for the living room and bedrooms then while my dad is here on move-in day, I can give him the task of putting them up while he has his tools with him. Otherwise, if I wait to buy them after move-in day and my family is gone, I end up having to do the instillation myself with my handheld screwdriver. Way harder than it looks! Trust me ;) I am just trying to plan ahead.

I have to be prepared to utilize all free labor when it’s going to be available; capitalize on the opportunities. I already bought a shelf to go in the pantry which will give me much needed storage space. Again, to some people (“Charleston”) I might be jumping the gun but…if I don’t have the shelf the day of move in, how am I going to get Sister and Mom to set up the kitchen so that night I can possibly make them a “Thank You” meal that night. I want things set.
When I move in, I like to get in and get it done. Be ready to wake up the next morning and go about life as if nothing has changed.

But the anticipation of moving has me counting down the days until it’s a reality. I am counting down the days till Christmas anxious for a break but bypassing that in my head for my move-in. Once I move in, what will I be counting down to then?

I almost feel like I am wasting the days waiting for the next “event” and thinking finally I will be satisfied and happy. I really have to learn to live for today because at this very second I am satisfied and happy and need to appreciate every bit of that and what I have.

And on a side note….if I were not spending money on my future residence, I would be checking the tracking number for these little puppies that I would have sent my way! LOVE THEM!

Hair Clip, Earring, Ring Set

Rings

Find them on etsy.com

What Makes Me...Me (Part 1)

Last night before bed I asked “Charleston” to tell me one thing I don’t already know about him. Every now and then I ask him this question because I want to truly know who “Charleston” is and what makes up that personality of a person that I have fallen in love with.

Many of us define ourselves by our occupation, age, gender, marital status, children and the place we live. What does this really tell you about them; who they are as a person? This simply classifies you; A single, 26 year old, brown haired, engineer who lives in Charlotte, NC. That classifies me. But this could also be the classification for some random girl named Mary who works next door.

I am more than that….

I am a total extrovert that gets a natural high off of pleasing people; somewhat of a suck up.

I am a purple loving "closet" decorator who, if the money where there, would change the linens and style of my bed every month. I am in love with fabric and its textures.

I am someone that could easily eat at Taco Bell (I know, grade "F" but edible) everyday.

I love children and look forward to having my own but...I look forward more to the time when they are in middle/highschool then when they are babies. I look forward to enjoying their sporting events and the excitement of watching what direction and path in life they choose that I will have no control over except for the hopeful satisfaction that I have gotten them off to a good start.

If it were fashionable, I would wear every single piece of jewelry that I own everyday. It means THAT much to me. As frugal as I am on most things that cost money, I don’t mind spending money on jewelry. Jewelry makes me feel beautiful because no matter what, it ALWAYS fits.

Again, I am frugal and have been since high school. No, I don’t wash and re-use plastic zip-lock bags but I do ponder EVERY expense.

I have five birthmarks. Four on my leg in the shape of a puppy paw print and one on the inside of my left forearm.

My favorite morning activity is brushing and flossing my teeth- usually a 10 minute ordeal.

I am hungriest in the morning and would have no problem waking up and eating dinner at 6am. Lasagna anyone?

I suck my bottom lip when I am tired. I fall asleep the easiest on my back and ALWAYS have to be covered with a blanket or sheet no matter if it is 100 degrees in the room.

My gut tells me that it would be the best adventure in life to move to the middle of nowhere, (Colorado or something) and experience an entirely different lifestyle, but, my heart tells me I will never be far from home.

I have no desire to ever pick up a book and am not ashamed to admit that I love television – reality TV sucks me in.

I chose red wine over white and Coke over Pepsi.

I fluctuate between a size 4 and size 6 and am absolutely ok with that. The part of my body I am most self-conscious about are my arms, therefore, I prefer winter clothes over summer.

My closet is organized in sections by pants, tops, and dresses and within those three categories they are organized like the rainbow. (And of course only on white plastic hangers!)

My lucky number is 2 and if I could be a professional athlete in any sport it would be golf. (Where I wouldn’t need to use my favorite number! Bummer)

I never listen to my voicemail; I prefer just to call ya back.

My father has always been the number one person I look up to in life.

My absolute favorite childhood memory is of Camp Tekoa.

If I could afford any car I would be rockin’ a 2011 Cadillac Escalade 6.2L V8 Platinum in the Silver Lining Metallic Color.


That’s me; the real me. These are the kinds of random things I love to know about others – what really makes them tick….

What makes you who you are and makes you tick?

Christmas Bummer

Total Bummer.

I am not decorating for Christmas this year.

I am moving to my new place between Dec. 27th and Dec. 29th and will hopefully have my old apartment packed up before I go home for Christmas on Christmas eve, therefore, why drag all my decorations and ornaments out just to have to pack them right back up again? A huge headache.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Sister let me help her decorate her Christmas tree so I got that part out of my system. I have now moved onto living vicariously through online decorations and just picturing what they would look like covering every inch of my new apartment.

Thanks to Caroline over at My Pretty Little Thoughts, I have become addicted to the online store HORCHOW. I swear, EVERYTHING, at this place is beautiful….and the price reflects it. Therefore I guess it’s a great year to live vicariously through online pictures instead of purchasing any of these treasures myself!

A few of my favorites that maybe one day will decorate my house:

**click any picture to view larger**

Embellished Ivory Stockings ($160)

Natural/Sage Ruffled Christmas Tree Skirt ($650)

Royal Holiday Tabletop Topiary ($95.00)

Janice Minor “Snowflake” Candle Rail ($350)

Golden Filigree Christmas Tree ($185 each)

Regency Dinnerware

Juliska Dinnerware

Snowman Salt and Pepper Set ($45.00)
The prices on some of these items were a little high but nothing that just blew me out of my Christmas socks until I came to this:

A 7.5 foot Jersey Frasier Fir for $985.00 (plus $40 shipping) Seriously? Lets say, on average, you spend $50 on a real Christmas tree. It would take you almost 21 years for this thing to pay for itself compared to going with the real deal every year. (Oh yeah, and I forgot the extra $40 you would spend every year on two Yankee Candles in Christmas Tree scent to go the extra mile and have your house smelling like tree!)

Jersey Frasier, 7.5’ ($985.00)

Boyfriend Gets Brownie Points

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice.”

It is the little things that mean the most.

I got home from spin last night at 9:00pm, scarfed down a gourmet meal of Campbell’s condensed Chicken Noodle Soup and slung myself in bed. As “Charleston” and I laid there and discussed our plans for the next day and everything else that hits your mind as your head hits the pillow, he quickly blurted out for me not to forget my lunch in the morning; he had packed it for me and left it in the fridge.

Right before walking out the door this morning, I went to the fridge and on the top shelf were two grocery bags – one for me and one for him.

At my lunch break in the office, I started unpacking my grocery bag and found a fabulous lunch made just for me by boyfriend. It was the cutest thing.

There was a plastic container of lettuce, a zip-lock bag of green peas, a zip-lock bag of sweet corn, a bag chic peas, and a baggie of left over Thanksgiving ham; all my favorite ingredients for a salad! It was perfect!

I love “taking care of him” in the kitchen but every now and then it is so nice to know that he can and will take care of me when I don’t have time. The best is…I don’t even have to ask, he just already knows.