Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

xo Emily

Merry Christmas!

Some of our holiday decor this year

Enjoy and be safe!

Oh Christmas Tree

Just a day early but I'm here to wish each and every one of you a fabulous Christmas tomorrow. The holidays is about reconnecting with loved ones and showing your appreciation for their presence in your life. I appreciate the true friendships I've made through blogging and love those that have followed my life journey via my blog.

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to share some of my favorite tree ornaments. Since K and I started dating we have collected shot glasses from all the cities and countries we've visited but at this point our cabinet is bursting at the seams so we recently started buying ornaments from our travels instead. So here's our little collection plus some other sentimental ornaments.

New Orleans, LA

Disney - Orlando, FL

Savannah, GA

Las Vegas, NV

Busch Gardens - Tampa, FL

And of course a photo ornament from Lola's 1st Christmas.

We hope to continue growing our travel ornaments to remind us through the years of all the places we've vistied and experienced together.

Merry Christmas to all my beautiful friends out there! 

Long Weekend Part 1: Work Holiday Party Plus Some

Such an epic long weekend for my company holiday party and ringing in my 32nd birthday with friends. My husband was traveling for work so Kate stepped in as my date for my work party at a Universal Studios resort on Thursday night. Luckily they gave us Friday off because lots of wine was had! The night consisted of dinner, wine, karaoke, dancing, wine, casino table games with funny money and more wine.

On Friday morning I went to brunch with some coworkers at Hash House a Go Go which was amazing and much needed! I've been dying to try out their brunch menu. The portion sizes are out of control so I had leftovers for days.

On Saturday night I went out with my friends from college visiting from near and far which we'd been planning for months. We met up at a sushi restaurant downtown and then rang in my birthday at 12 o'clock at a bar downtown before calling it a night like the old fogies we are. ha!

Sunday brunching for my birthday happened which I'll cover tomorrow since this post has gotten long enough. Luckily I took this morning off of work to use up the remainder of my PTO and slowly wean back into the work week after all the celebrations over the weekend.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Christmas Weekend

What a fun-filled yet relaxing (at times) Christmas break away from work and spent with those that mean the most - family and friends. I feel refreshed to start this new week and I'm already looking forward to celebrating NYE this week.

I apologize in advance for overloading you with Lola photos.

On Christmas Eve, we drove 2 hours west to spend Christmas night with my in-laws and extended family. We did a white elephant gift exchange and K & I ended up with Busch Gardens park tickets to use in 2015. Pretty sweet!!

We also decided to open gifts the night before Christmas this year. Lola got a new bed and I got lots of gift cards, camera accessories, some Alex & Ani bangles, a pearl necklace from my Mother In Law and some other goodies.  

On Christmas day, we had a huge lunch with family and then went over to spend the night with some friends so Lola could meet and play with their Basset Hound, Snuff for the night. We drank lots of wine and played some cards.

On Friday, we headed back home and got our house ready for a Christmas party with friends. We played Cards Against Humanity which was hilarious and had some Eggnog and finger foods.

Saturday was a relaxing days at home. We went for dinner and drinks at Chili's and relaxed the rest of the night at home.

On Sunday, we did some shopping and then went for lunch with friends to watch football with Lola at a dog-friendly restaurant. Later in the evening we drove an hour to meet one of my best friends from Trinidad to have dinner with her family and 3 kids.

 
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas weekend!

Joining the lovely Biana for her weekending linkup.

Holiday Home Decor

I love decorating for Christmas and purchasing a few new items each year to add to my collection. Some of my favorites from this year is our new wreath, star tree topper and stocking holders. I posted my Christmas decorations here a few weeks ago. I've also started collecting tree ornaments as souvenirs from our travel ventures. I found most of my decor at Home Depot, Khol's, and Amazon.

Where do you shop for Christmas home decor and ornaments?

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas holiday and I'll catch you next week!

Merry Christmas to You

Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season!

I'm out of town visiting my in-laws and extended family for a couple days so I will be away from the blog world. I hope you are able to surround yourself with love this Christmas and appreciate all the things you have as you reflect on the past year! I, for one, am very thankful for so many things especially my loving parents, husband & family, fantastic and always entertaining friends, and of course my cute baby girl, Lola.

Holiday Card Linkup

I was so happy to be paired up with the lovely Emelia from Dream Big & Buy The Shoes. I had never visited her blog before so I was immediately introduced to a new blogger friend. We both agreed neither of us are exactly the crafty type but she spoiled me with two cute Christmas cards as well as a Starbucks gift card.

Loved Emelia's sweet message in her holiday card and she really went the extra mile by including a gift card. Thanks lady!

Starbucks Frapuccinos here I come!!

And a bonus card came in the mail from the girls at The Sequin Notebook.

Thank you again Emelia for the lovely cards and gift card and also a thanks to B & M from the Sequin Notebook for hosting the Holiday Card Swap.

Happy Holidays lovelies!

Christmas Traditions with Friends & Family

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day yesterday!

We spent Christmas with my in-laws and K's extended family. (We're traveling to Trinidad tomorrow to do a late Christmas with my parents and ring in 2014 with my friends back home).

On Christmas Eve night, we went out to celebrate a friend's birthday who's born on Christmas day. We meet up at the same bar every year to ring in his birthday at midnight with some celebratory shots.

On Christmas morning, we wake up and open gifts with K's parents and sister and then go for Christmas dinner.

Some of my pretty gifts from Santa.

Back to work today ugh!

Looking forward to flying out tomorrow to see my family & friends and SO excited to ring in 2014 in the beautiful Caribbean. I have some awesome guest posters that will be holding down the fort while I'm gone.

Also, check out my guest post over at Showered with Design by Lisa!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe NYE!

xoxo