Christmas Decorating

It's the most wonderful time of the year and I've finally finished decorating for the holidays. We have a small fake Christmas tree which we've been using for the past few years so it's not nice and fluffy like the real ones nor does it have that nice tree smell but it's easy to maintain and will do for now. I hope to upgrade later on down the road.

Star Tree Topper from Kohl's

Christmas tree skirt  

Tree ornaments from our travels

I started off with very little Christmas decorations and have been trying to buy a few new pieces every year and also get ornaments as souvenirs from our travels. I bought the Mickey & Minnie tree ornament on our recent trip to Disney and I purchased new stockings since we now have a new addition to the family.

Our Living Room where the Christmas tree is set up to the right.

   

The little details

Kitchen (or bathroom) towels

Martha Stewart Ornament Wreath from Home Depot hanging on front door.

Happy Holidays!

How's your holiday decorating coming along?

Birthday Restaurant & Retail Love

Every year my inbox gets flooded about a week before my birthday with freebies and coupons from restaurants and retail stores. The majority of the restaurants send free dessert coupons which I rarely use but I wanted to share some of my favorite birthday freebies that you could receive by signing up to their mailing list. Now to decide which ones I want to use!!

$25 Gift Certificate from Texas de Brazil.

 

Free appetizer from P.F. Chang's.

 

$10 off from Victoria's Secret.

 

Free boneless or traditional wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.

$10 off from Bonefish Grill.

Free burger from Ruby Tuesday.

Free appetizer from Texas Roadhouse.

Free dessert from Outback.

Free mascara and lipstick from Sephora.

$10 off from Maggiano's Little Italy.

Last year I posted here about my retail and restaurant birthday freebies which, the majority, I also received this year.

What's your favorite birthday discounts or freebies?

 

Spinach & Goat Cheese Quiche

 Serving size: 1 quiche
(Double the ingredients for two pies)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked spinach
3 eggs
1 9" frozen pie crust
1 tbsp sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup goat cheese crumbles
3/4 cup shredded rotisserie chicken (optional)

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl and stir in the whipping cream, spinach and chicken. Mix well.
3. Pour mixture into frozen pie crust and top with goat cheese crumbles and sun-dried tomatoes.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until top becomes golden brown.

I've done a couple quiche recipes in the past including this Ham & Mushroom Quiche.

Enjoy!

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The Holidays Have Begun

The craziness that is the holidays is here and another great weekend for the books! I had my work holiday party on Friday night so we booked a hotel and had a little staycation for the night at Universal Studios since driving after several hours of free drinks is never a good idea. 

We had cocktail hour, buffet dinner and then the after party was at Universal's City Walk.

On Saturday morning, we checked out of the hotel and picked up our precious wrinkly bundle from her pet sitters.

Saturday night was a wash and we had planned to attend another holiday party but the couch and snuggles with Lola won.

On Sunday, we were feeling refreshed and decided to venture downtown for lunch and to watch football at a couple dog-friendly bars and restaurants. Lola had a blast meeting lots of people and other dogs and crashed hard when she got home giving me time to do some blogging and the usual Sunday cleaning, laundry etc.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

Joining Biana for Weekending and Leeann for Monday Morning Gossip.  

Weekly Roundup & Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! 

I love when the holidays come around because it's my favorite time of year although December is going to be a busy, busy one and now we have a puppy which makes it that more difficult to juggle. 

My work holiday party is tonight and I have several more upcoming parties and events on the agenda:

- 2nd holiday party for the year with friends

- Staycation and birthday trip to Disney

- Friend's wedding on my actual birthday

-  A friend's housewarming party/3rd holiday party

- Christmas long weekend with the in-laws

-  NYE celebrations with friends

After the 4-day weekend for Thanksgiving, it was really tough going back to work and leaving Lola at home for most of the day. I now know how parents feel leaving their babies/kids/pets behind when they head to work. 

A girl friend of mine was in town visiting so our college clan went out for Japanese hibachi and sushi dinner to catch up. 

Joining Amanda for Friday Favorites.

Favorite Purchase:

Bath & Body Works goodies for myself and Christmas gifts.

Favorite DIY/Craft:

Seriously thinking of creating my own advent holiday calendar.

 

Favorite Sips:

Really good seasonal beer ~ Leinenhugel's Cranberry Ginger Shandy.

Favorite Quote:

I ran across some Marilyn Monroe quotes while reading a documentary of her life at the hairdresser a few weeks ago.

Have a great weekend!

Thursty Thursday Dirty Martinis

Hey everyone! Today I'm joining Kristin as the co-host for her Thursty Thursday linkup. 

Of course, my signature drink recipe is my all time favorite...Dirty martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives

Serving size: 2 Martinis

Ingredients:

5 shots vodka

1 shot dry vermouth

1 shot olive juice (for extra dirty)

Blue cheese stuffed olives

 What To Do:

 Shake ingredients in a shaker with ice and serve chilled.

 

1. Follow Hopelessly Ever After and Martinis & Bikinis via GFC or Bloglovin'.
2. Write about your favorite DRANK (alcoholic beverage).
3. Grab a button from below or Kristin's sidebar and put it in your post. 4. Come back here and link up!!!
5. Get some new recipes or drink ideas for the weekend and make a new friend!!

6. Send a tweet with #ThurstyThursday and include @leggs532 and @TriniEmz  so we can see it!!

Anyone interested in co-hosting next week email Kristin at: hopelessly_ever_after@yahoo.com

An InLinkz Link-up

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Urban Decay Naked Eyeshadow Palettes

I used to be a big MAC eyeshadow girl until I bought the original Urban Decay Naked palette. I love shimmery colors and the quality of the brush. I've never seen a brush that's so easy to clean (by wiping with a tissue) which makes it easy to apply multiple colors with the same brush.

I recently bought the Naked 3 palette so here's a comparison of the colors side by side.

Urban Decay's Naked Eyeshadow Palette

As I mentioned the brush is awesome and I love pretty much all of the 12 colors, except the 11th color is a bit too dark for me. I chose this palette over Naked 2 as I think the colors were a good blend to create a neutral daytime look to a more bold nighttime look. I especially love the 12th color, Gunmetal, the more I experiment with it to get a slightly dark blue smokey yet sparkly look for evening or nighttime.

Favorite colors:

1. Sin

2. Sidecar

3. Half baked

4. Toasted

5. Gunmetal

Urban Decay's Naked 3 Eyeshadow Palette

I love the double-sided brush and the neutral yet shimmery colors that come with the Naked 3 palette. The right side of the palette also has a few colors to create a smokey eye look so you can get the best of both worlds.

Favorite colors:

1. Dust

2. Buzz

3. Trick

4. Mugshot

Do you own any of the Naked eyeshadow palettes or something better/comparable?

What colors or color-combinations are your favorite?

Pepper Jack Cheese & Chicken Dip

Thank you to Steph for introducing me to this Pepper Jack Cheese dip recipe. It was rich and tasty with a bit of spice and a big hit at the Holiday party we went to a few weekends ago. 

Ingredients:

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ cup cooked and crumbled bacon

1 cup shredded rotisserie chicken

1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1 tbsp diced jalapeno, seeds removed

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Melt cream cheese slightly in microwave for 20 seconds and then beat until smooth.

3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and pour mixture into a baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes. 

4. Sprinkle with Paprika and serve warm.

Enjoy!

1. Follow Kate and myself via GFC and Bloglovin. 

2. Link up your favorite recipes or food-related posts.

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