Over the last 10 days I was in NYC and NJ visiting friends, family, and work. It was such a great trip being able to not only see my friends before Christmas, but getting to my Mom’s concert, and enjoying the city at Christmas time (complete with snow!). I miss New York so much, but there is nothing like coming back home to Jay and Rondo.
To everyone I got to see last week, I love you all so much and miss you constantly. How lucky am I to have you all in my life?!
xo-j
Come Sunday…
Jay and I will be getting married in 6 months! I can’t believe it! We’ve also been together 4 years, which is crazy. In the past 4 years we went from living a block away, to moving into our own (tiny) apartment (again, so tiny), we got a puppy, we got engaged (!), we bought a house, and now we are just half a year from being married. So many things have changed, and with each step, everything has gotten better. I can’t wait to see where we are in 5 years, and 10, and 20…
(just a few weeks after we started dating – our first new years eve together ringing in 2010)
Next week I will be in NYC working, visiting friends and family, and enjoying the season in the busiest/scariest/wildest place on earth to be at Christmas time. I’m really looking forward to being there, though I will miss my boys :(. Poor Ron is so used to having me home all day!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
xo-j
After we were finished cleaning up from Thanksgiving (about a 3 day process!) we got our tree! Last year in Brooklyn we had a fake one since we were living in 650 square feet…but this year we have our HOUSE! We got the tree all set up, settled, and decorated this weekend. Our whole downstairs smells like pine which I’m loving, and every time I look over and see it I get so excited.
When we first brought the tree home Rondo wasn’t so sure about it, which was hilarious. I filled a bowl with ice water for the basin and set it down quickly to help Jay to set it up. We both looked over and Rondo was bobbing for ice cubes in the bowl and by the time we were done he had pulled them all out…ay! He cracks us up though that’s for sure. Anyways, a quick video of decorating, I’m so happy it is finally Christmas time <3!
This weekend was a blast, it was tiring, but man was it fun! Both Jay and my family came and celebrated Thanksgiving here at our house. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family (on both sides). Everyone pitched in and it turned out to be a really enjoyable day. We got some shopping in on Friday, saw Hunger Games, had a fun dinner out with the family, and by Saturday were totally and completely wiped. Thank you family for traveling here, helping me as I panicked the past 3 weeks about the turkey (Mom!), and making so much food I won’t have to cook again until Monday!
Below is a quick video of Thanksgiving – the prep, family, and then getting our Christmas tree! It’s crazy how quickly Christmas will be here.
Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!
xo- j
Fall is my absolute favorite. And since it is already Christmas according to stores, I wanted to make a fall craft that wasn’t completely pumpkin centered and would work through Thanksgiving time. This is a really easy diy that doesn’t break the bank or take up your whole week. I love how this turned out! If you feel like making your own for the house or as a sweet gift, the directions are below…
WHAT YOU NEED:
Yarn – I got a sort of mustard and white really thick knitting yarn
Decorations – I bought a cheap fall bouquet and some berries from Michael’s
Wire wreath base
Scissors
DIRECTIONS:
1. I bought two colors of yarn because I wanted to have a guide for where I would place my decorations. I did about an 8 inch section of white yarn. A bit of advice here is to wrap the yarn around your hand and only do small sections at a time. If you try to use the whole 40 yards you are going to go insane wrapping it, so cut it into smaller sections. First, as easy as it sounds, make a knot around the wire rim and begin to wrap. Wrap this section a bit loose but also very thickly so that you will be able to stick your decorations through later.
(do you see my special helper in the background?!)
2. Take your second color and begin to wrap around the rest of the wreath. Like I said above, do this in smaller sections, hiding your knots as you go along. Wrap this really tight. I found the best way was to wrap 3-4 ahead and then push them down tightly.
3. Here is what you should now have:
4. I decided to take the remaining yellow yarn and go over the section again but loose and chunky. This gives the wreath a lot more character. (I know, I just said character describing a wreath). Also, don’t forget to make sure your dog is badgering you the ENTIRE time and stealing your yarn.
5. Now decide how you would like your decorations to look. I did mine first on the table so I could see how they looked best, then began to stick them through the white portion of the wreath. I cut up the bouquet making sure to give myself enough wire on the back of each flower to wrap it through…
6.You are done! Now hang it up or give as a gift!
xo-j
I can’t believe vacation is already over and it is 2013! Christmas and New Years Eve were both wonderful…couldn’t have been better (with the exception of a trip to the dr on christmas day)! Here are some pictures of friends visiting, family, and the great time we had closing up 2012. We’re ready for our upcoming year of big changes…bring it on 2013!!
(present time!)
(rondo had a special christmas treat)
(nicks adorable kitty, visiting family in ma!)
(best friends from nc came to visit)
(the siblings on nye)
(my brother came to bk for nye!)
(can’t wait to enjoy 2013 with this guy)
I hope everyone had wonderful holidays and a happy happy new year!
xo-j
(our tree and wrapped presents)
Last night we had little Christmas at our apartment. We exchanged gifts, ate a ridiculous amount of Italian food, and watched a movie. Though I’m sad we won’t be together on the actual day, it was a lot of fun to have our first Christmas living together and with Rondo.
(rondo “helping” me wrap the other day)
We exchanged gifts and I didn’t know what to expect from Jay…what he gave was more than I could have imagined…8 days in Punta Cana at this crazy luxurious resort! You can check it out here! How did I get so lucky?! I can’t believe in just a couple weeks we will be sitting on the beach relaxing together with nothing to worry about…now all we need is a puppy sitter…Mommmmmm :)????!!!!
Here are some more fun ones from present time last night:
(rondo’s daycare gave him a stocking! they are the greatest!)
(rondo hiding all his new toys behind the pillows of our bed & our mantle full of cards)
(jay opening, rondo loving his new metrocard toy…such a new yorker)
(the boys tuckered out from playing/opening…so cute)
My favorite gift I got Jay was this custom made poster since he loves Game of Thrones so much…
Pretty cool right? With his real family saying too!
Almost time for 11 days off from work…11! Looking forward to spending time with so many friends and family at home, in Boston, and back in Brooklyn next week. Wishing everyone happy, healthy, and wonderful holidays!
xo-j
(frozen hot chocolate at serendipity)
Lately we have been on an endless journey of lunches, dinners, drinks, and holiday parties…not that I’m complaining, but we have been busy and completely stuffed for the past two weeks! Nothing like the holidays in NYC to fill you up…
(lunch at serendipity…erin and i dressed the same by accident!)
(more serendipty & dylans candy bar!)
(holiday lunch with all my girls from work!)
(rolling stone holiday party)
(i had 3 of these this week and a countless amount of cookies…oh dear)
Jay’s cousin from Italy came to visit NYC with his girlfriend and we had a great dinner at 1 or 8 in Williamsburg…so yummy…
(nyc skyline from our rooftop)
Now just a couple more days until Christmas and a whole lot more eating to do in the mean time! Can’t wait to do little family Christmas tomorrow with these two bubs…
xo-j
This weekend Jay’s friends came to visit from Cali and boy did we party…seriously, I’m still tired! Here are some fun pictures from the weekend in Brooklyn with our friends…
FRIDAY
(out in manhattan for the night)
SATURDAY
(rondo in bed still at 11am…he was up playing until way too late)
(hanging before starting our day)
(rondo falling asleep sitting up in the sun)
(first stop of many at Spritzenhaus…the kale salad is seriously unreal)
(goofing around with em at surf bar for dinner)
(probably my favorite from the weekend. i somehow got the boys to take this one with the trees)
(last stop at lucky dog. rondo came for that one!)
Now it’s time to start my last week of work before the holidays!
xo-j
(rondo investigating the cookies…good thing they were covered!)
This weekend I made my favorite cookies for Christmas/Doug’s Birthday! They are so yummy and beyond easy. I thought I would share the recipe with you today.
What You Need
1 stick butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar + some for rolling
1 cup flour
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
Directions
Preheat to 250
1. Cream the butter and powdered sugar together in mixing bowl
2. Make sure that is all mixed up well…
3. Now add the flour, vanilla, water, and nuts. Continue to mix…I use a spoon at first then my hands for this part because I think it works better than the mixer.
4. Once it is all mixed up start rolling the mixture into about tsp size balls…
5. Place balls on a cookie sheet. No need to space, they don’t rise. Cook for 30-40 minutes.
6. Get your powdered sugar ready for rolling! The second you take the cookies out of the oven, roll them into the sugar…
7. Let cool…and you are done! Tasty simple butterball cookies!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! One of our close family friends always made them for us when we were kids and they’ve been my favorite ever since!
xo-j
forEVR and always 