Holiday Pictures

I finally shrunk down some pictures to share. I didn't want them to be a big file size when I posted so that they hopefully don't cause loading problems.

First I want to say WOW, it's the last day of 2010!! I wasn't even fully used to hearing 2010 and it's time to start saying 2011!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Back to the pictures...
The first round is from Downtown Disney on Christmas Eve!

World's biggest Disney store, no lie

lots of people walking around, but it wasn't actually as crowded as the last two times we wentThe Ghirardelli store/chocolate factory!!
I got a pumpkin spice hot cocoa from later in the evening, SOOOO good.

Lego sea monster! There is a big Lego store there.

When we went to go eat at Rainforest Cafe, we were expecting a long wait. To our delight, our party of 8 got seated right away. It was only 4:30 or so. That might explain it. The place was only half full, much different than usual. I thought it might be overly crowded because a lot of tourists go to Disney for Christmas, and this area being free to walk around would be a big go-to spot when not in the actual Disney theme parks. The restaurant got more filled up when we were done eating. I guess by then, it was normal people's dinner time - not like us early birds! ;) We always eat dinner early.

It's very hard for me to get good pictures while inside because the restaurant is kept a little dark, with some shimmering lights and spotlights. It really is an experience! Fake, large animals all around, moving their ears or hands every once in awhile. The fake thunderstorms are the most fun!

When we were done eating at Rainforest, it was dark outside and so pretty. Twinkling lights in trees, Christmas window displays, and decor lit up around buildings. Right by these two snowmen, which is also near the kiddie train ride, every so often fake snow would blow out from a light pole area. It was the sudsy soap fake kind of snow. It looks so pretty though.

And then Christmas Day...
Still too young to understand the concept of waking up and immediately wanting to open presents! I guess it must be our last year with him that he didn't demand us awake at 7am to open his presents! We all woke up around 9am, slept in after being up too late Christmas Eve. He just laid on our bed awake for awhile(he slept in our room to give my parents his room) without realizing anything. I finally said "MERRY CHRISTMAS!" to him and then he said, I can open presents?!
You know how it goes, wrapping paper everywhere, lots of presents when you combine the presents from my family members with ours!
It's easy when they still don't know how much things cost and are happy with things that don't have to be expensive. One of his favorite gifts from us was a $14.99 play rug from Ikea.

We also got him a big singing Mickey, and other small things.

We set up tables in our front porch for eating our Christmas meal. The weather was a little windy but the temperature was good for sitting out there, upper 60's most of the day I think.
One of my cousins, our only cousin that we are close to, is pregnant. She found out that they are having a boy right before Christmas. Exciting! She has a daughter already who is almost 10 years old. Kavi and her play together cutely. I have given my cousin some of Kavi's baby things(yes I still have almost all of his baby clothes!) and will definitely be giving her more items before the baby comes.

(I don't like how I almost look pregnant next to her, when I am not! lol)

Vintage Thursday: tea with jam and bread

Tea...

Dansk tea for one set $29

creamers $2.50 each

sugar bowl $5

with jam...
jam container $8.75

and bread.

wooden bread box $15

While looking around for vintage items, I found the beautiful sugar bowl and then decided to do a tea theme. Then the lyrics from Doe a Deer came into my head "tea, a drink with jam and bread" after I found the adorable ceramic apple jam container. I want that!!

I'd still really like to share pictures from Christmas and hopefully tomorrow I will have that ready. I haven't written as many posts lately with just trying to get back into a routine. I had to get blood drawn this morning for routine blood work - though I haven't had any blood work done since I was pregnant. And I never had it done before that! They are checking things like cholesterol, thyroid, and other stuff. A lot of people I know have had high results for cholesterol even when they were thin or vegetarians, so I won't be surprised if mine isn't in the right number zone either. But I can hope!

Arranging thoughts

So much to talk about! But my mind is slightly disheveled from all the activity! I want to talk about going to Downtown Disney on Christmas Eve, then Christmas day, and presents. And I'm trying to figure out which pictures to post so that it's not a picture overload.

Today is the first time in over a month that it's just me and Kavi at home all day. It was such a fun month or so! I think everyone will be glad to get back into a normal routine, but we'll miss the every day interactions.

I got a new coffee maker for Christmas. :D From my sister and my good friend, they chipped in for it (but also but me a couple other little cute things too). Isn't it pretty?? I had been using the same coffee maker that I got at my wedding shower over 6 years ago! So I wanted a new one.

We tried to limit spending this year on each other so we had a set amount of $ for present buying within my family. Except me and my husband spent more than the limit on each other and we spent more on Kavi. But it was more like for my sister, close friends, and parents.

I wanted a big self healing cutting mat for a long time but never bought one for myself. I have a rotary cutter(rolling blade) but never had the mat so it was almost pointless. So I got a nice big mat(we got it for 50% off woo) for Christmas from my husband, along with needed pinking shears, and a Starbucks gift card(yay!).

From various people I also got earrings, comfy slipper shoes, candles, Christmas decor, mugs, lotion, slipper socks, Godiva chocolate cookies(YUM), matryoshka salt&pepper shakers, and my mom hand painted us matryoshka sets!! They are so cute.

Well this post is lacking pictures but I have to arrange them all first!

Christmas tunes

Merry and Bright

I wish you all a heartfelt Merry Christmas!!

I appreciate my bloggy friends and the creative community!!

The rest of my family arrived last night. Yay! We usually go to close friends house every Christmas Eve for goodies and to hangout, but this year they are actually visiting family out of town, where my family lives(their family is the reason we first visited that town)!

So our Christmas Eve is the first unplanned one in forever! I really mean, forever! We had no plans so we decided to go to Downtown Disney, again! This time, with the whole family. I think it's going to be so fun! We will go in the early afternoon and probably get home later tonight. It should be decorated there and festive. My family hasn't been there in many years.

Tomorrow we host Christmas at our house, with more family coming over for a homemade Italian meal(plus other sides like an Indian side).

I hope your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are truly wonderful!!!

Vintage Thursday: Gussied up for Christmas

Fab Gabs Vintage Trapeze Coat

Let's imagine a Christmas party or a fancy Christmas Eve dinner where you get all gussied up in unique vintage items. I'll need a red coat, nice shoes, and a dress. If I were to go to such an event, these are the items I'd like to pick from in my closet. We can dream!

links:
1, 2, 3, 4

coats from HazeyJaneVintage, Mary Janes(lost the link!)

Shoes from DearGoldenVintage

I love this dress:

Dorothy from Emerald City from missfarfalla

How about some gold
Gold satin party dress from tiddleywink

Do you have a favorite item? One of the more casually classic dresses? Would you go for the satin or velvet? :)

Tea time

Most evenings since it's gotten chilly out we like to have decaf hot tea at night. My mom bought us a pretty red tea kettle and it's being used a couple times a day, depending on who wants a hot drink.

I love Twining's tea. First I thought my favorite was English Breakfast tea, but now it's Irish Breakfast tea because it's stronger. And for a normal/large sized mug, I always need two tea bags. Otherwise it tastes too weak to me!

Only 3 days until Christmas!! My husband put up Christmas lights before we came back to Florida. Here they are at sunset time. Christmas lights don't come out very well in pictures!

Paint Progress

Yesterday I mentioned paint in my son's room. So it's halfway painted, still. I wonder if it will be done before Christmas? hah. But I'm loving the color!


We still have the changing table in his room, mostly used as storage right now. Plus some of my mom's things since she is sleeping in there. I can't wait until it's all painted, and then I can rearrange things and finish decorating.

Fashion Inspiration: layers and red coats

With the weather here going from the 40's one day to the 70's another, layers are a good idea. You can add more or less depending on the temp for the day.

1. Play Day., 2. DSCN2232-1, 3. Peekaboo, 4. ...Valldemossa village - day 2

And I just love the way a red coat looks. I don't have one, but I'd like to!
1. Irina, 2. It's a nice leafy red coat thanks, 3. forest., 4. Untitled

Things have been really busy! Friday, Saturday and Sunday included a lot of shopping!

On Saturday me and my mom went to Tampa to Ikea and a big mall there. While we were gone, my husband painted some of Kavi's bedroom(finally bought paint!!), with a little of Kavi's help! I love the color and maybe it will be done sometime soon. Kind of a hectic week to finish it!

Sunday me and my husband got to go out for about 6 hours while my mom stayed with Kavi. My mom took Kavi to Target then they had fun at home! Me and hubby went to stores, ate at Panera, went to the movies, and did more shopping. Phew! Busy busy like I said.

We saw Tron: Legacy in 3D. We liked it! Very visually interesting.

I am feeling almost all the way better. I still have a little cough.
I imagine this week is going to be very busy!

Vintage Christmas Kitsch

Home

We made it home last night! It was quite a journey. It took us eleven hours total. We didn't make very long stops but we did need an extra stop or two along the way. Overall, Kavi has done so well on the road trips even after being potty trained. I keep him in a pull-up while on the drive just in case we don't get him to a bathroom in time, but he didn't even have to go in them! He is a very good road tripper. He mostly just sits content in his car seat looking at the cars on the highway, or takes little naps. I am glad my mom was with us on the ride since it was my first time being the sole driver for that kind of distance. I survived!

Just some catch up things:

I loved the Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie!

On Sunday it flurried on and off all day, not just the morning! There wasn't enough falling to collect on the ground very much though.

Monday morning when we left for Florida, it was flurrying again!! There were random flurries for the first 2 1/2 hours of the drive. Very winter feeling!

Every time we had to stop for gas, food, or bathroom breaks, getting all bundled up right at the car was hard, and cold! Then once back in the car, it's too hot to be wearing all the layers. Us Floridians are just not used to it!

My throat is hurting a lot. I felt like I had a chest cold last week. My chest doesn't hurt much anymore but my throat does a lot! So I went to a clinic tonight to get checked out. Thankfully I don't have strep throat, which was my fear. It's "viral pharyngitis", just a bad sore throat.

Today I bought a humidifier since having the heat on in this house is killing my throat. (Yes, it's even cold here in Florida right now!) I also bought throat spray and halls throat drops. I just want this to go away now. We did some Christmas shopping earlier today and I still have more to do!!

Magical day

Today I got to see snow for the first time since early 1991!!! I was only 10 at that time. This morning I was laying in bed awake when my mom came to the door and said "you awake? it's snowing!!!". So me and Kavi jumped out of bed, layered on some warm clothes and rushed out. It was lightly snowing! Flurries blowing around, landing on us! Tiny little snowflakes!

holding a little snowball his grandpa made

That's not dandruff, people! See how messy my hair was? Literally jumped out of bed! :)

We were so cold! After the first look we bundled up more with scarves, hats, etc.

In a couple hours me, my sister and some friends are going to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! What a magical way to start the day with snow, and continue the magic with the movie! Kavi is staying home with my parents. Then this evening we are going to a Christmas play at a church that our friends' little girl is in!

Three more days

We only have three more days at my parents' house! The past 2 weeks have gone by fast in many ways. I do look forward to being in my own house with my husband again, but I will miss being here too!

The positive thing is that my mom is coming back to Florida with me and Kavi on Monday! I am driving her car down the whole way, and she will be me and Kavi's entertainment! I expect poems on demand, songs, good stories, and choreographed dances(sitting in a car is no excuse). If she doesn't do all those things...well I guess we will love her anyway.

And then only 10 or 11 days after we get back to Florida, the gang from up here will be at our house in Florida for Christmas. We just can't get enough of each other, huh?

My husband is of course missing me and our son lotttts. He can't wait for us to get back. He has tried keeping himself busy but it's not the same when you are all alone.

We have too many things to squeeze into the next few days before me, mom, and Kavi leave on Monday morning!

These last minute activities include:

Seeing friends sometime tonight or Sunday.
Shopping probably all day tomorrow in Birmingham for Christmas presents.
Seeing The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Sunday!!
Oh...and packing.

A few days ago I helped my mom take photos of hats that she needs to add to her shop soon. I don't like having my picture taken, but I also know how it is when you need a picture of something for Etsy and you can't easily take it of yourself! So she gets certain angles of me(=no double chins haha) and her hats can be the stars.

Guess what?
TWO WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS EVE!!