A Week of Christmas

Oh what a wonderful week of holiday spirit. My sister and I had a bit of baking fun with friends we hadn't seen in a while and made some delicious chocolate chip banana bread and peanut butter cookies. 

We went a little crazy with the decorating. Not the most aesthetically pleasing cookies, but it's the spirit that counts, right?

This is really the only one I decorated myself.

We tried to make Santa...

I also got to go to one of my best friend's last Christmas ballet show (The Nutcracker), with some other friends, which was absolutely amazing. She did a beautiful job with her solo as the Snow Queen.

Then we got to watch Big Hero 6 with the same friends we baked with and more. It was such a cute, funny, and bittersweet movie. I definitely recommend watching it.

And of course, some last minute Christmas shopping had to happen. We went to the mall and there was a cleverly named pet store called AniMall that I forced us to go into. Just look at the little cuties! They had fluffy rabbits, cats, and guinea pigs that all made me melt from cute animal overdose.

     

 

And of course, you can't have a Christmas post without Christmas decorations can you?

My favorite ornament. It's an adorable raccoon!

On Christmas day, my dad's best friend came over and brought his sweet dog along with him.

We also got to watch the premier of Into the Woods. It was a pretty dark musical overall, but there were some funny moments. My favorite part was when the princes sang their duet, "Agony". Saying that the princes were being overly dramatic would be an understatement. The music was fantastic and it was interesting how they combined different fairytales into one plot. It was nice seeing this version after watching my school's version of the musical.

In the evening we had my best friend's family come over for dinner to celebrate the holiday. We exchanged and opened gifts under the Christmas tree. I'm so grateful for the gifts I received, but more importantly for the people who gave them and how thoughtful they were.

We played a fun game of Sour Apples to Apples, re-read my sister's old diary from when she was 8 and 9 (which was pure comedy gold and made us cry from laughing), and sang songs while playing the piano.

Overall, a perfect week of Christmas.

Lakeside Reflections

The park's lake was unusually clear from all the rain we had this week, so the reflections were stunning.

A Trip to the Railroad

My sister's friend came over and we spontaneously decided to go on a walk through the neighborhood after being in the house for a while watching some episodes of Game of Thrones. We walked to this man-made pond and did a little adventuring.

And what did we find behind it? Railroad tracks!

Balancing...very treacherous.

Me and the sis.

When we were going back I saw this and just thought it looked so pretty.

A Peek into the Week(end) #3

Christmas came early because my sister is finally back home!

We picked her up from the airport this weekend and the view going to the airport was stunning. A great way to be welcomed home.

After we got home an moved her in, we decided to go out to eat at C&T Wok. But first, a detour to this beauty. 

We drove around looking at all the pretty Christmas decorations, but this one takes the cake!

The amount of lights this house had was absolutely insane. It was so colorful and intricate that I wondered how long it must have taken to get these lights up. The entire front yard was covered in thousands of lights hanging from almost everywhere, along with an inflatable snowman and Santa. I couldn't help but wonder how much their electricity bill cost. I've gotta say, these pictures do not do it justice. Let's have a moment of appreciation for those people who take the effort to go all out for the holidays and make the world a little more cheery.

Friday Night Cookies + Christmas Movie

After a long week of stressful schoolwork, it was time for a little fun with my friends. Since it is nearing Christmas (I'm so excited!), Christmas movies and other Christmas-themed foods were in abundance. I think these adorable (and delicious) cookies say it all. We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas while snacking on cookies and Twizzlers and sipping lemonade. We also had a lot of fun sliding around on the super slippery tile floors, dancing, and other assorted shenanigans. Just a great way to end the week and get into the holiday spirit!

Black Friday Haulin'

(Sorry for the bad lighting, my options were limited)

So Black Friday was yesterday, and that means some shopping got done, people! I didn't get much, but one of the items was quite expensive (okay, VERY expensive).

Did I buy a shirt with cats all over it? Yes, yes I did. #noregrets

I absolutely love cute animals, and when you stick them on products, I cave. I saw this last minute at Loft and I just couldn't resist. 

We also stopped at Charming Charlie's and I picked up this little guy. It's a hammered metal ring with the Pisces constellation on it. 

I've been wanting a collar necklace like this for a while now, and I finally found it! I also got this at Charming Charlie's. It actually goes quite well with the cat shirt, if I do say so myself.

And finally, the best for last. I'm going to college relatively soon and my old laptop is pretty messed up after years and years of constant use (it was a hand-me-down from my sister), so my parents decided to spring for a new one while there was a huge sale going on. My sister says that she really loves her Macbook Air and that it is great for college, so now we're laptop twins. I'm using it right now to type up this post, and I've gotta say, this is an amazing laptop.

Cranberry Colored Things and Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Because it's Thanksgiving, I'm thought this post would be appropriate. I just had some cranberry sauce to go with my Thanksgiving dinner, and I had some cranberry (ish) colored things, so...yeah. Let's get into it!

I got these all from Harris Teeter in the same trip. I was probably just feeling the holiday spirit or something, so everything is this red shade. First, I got these nice leggings that are fur lined. I have two words for you. So. Comfy. I also got this nail polish by Revlon in the shade Cherries in the Snow (looove the name which is partially why I bought it) and this Burt's Bees lip shine in the color Pucker. Very fitting for Thanksgiving, I'd say.

Enjoy my messy hand turkey Snapchat art.

     Now onto the real Thanksgiving part. Thanksgiving is a day for expressing gratitude and reflecting upon what you are grateful for, which I feel like people don't do enough. We get caught up in the negative things in our life and forget about the things that we love and what makes the positive things in life. We focus too hard on what we want, and sometimes we need to take a step back and appreciate what we have.

     I am so thankful for my family and all of my friends. I am thankful for all the random nice people I've met over the years. I am thankful that I live comfortably and have the resources to actually create a blog where I can express myself. I'm thankful that I live in the 21st century and have more rights than I would have if I had lived in some earlier time period. I'm grateful for modern medicine, the luxuries in life (music, television, travel, etc.), and, well, the Internet. The Internet allows people to connect to people and places or events all over the world, which is something I find absolutely incredible. Although the Internet has it's pros and cons, it has opened so many doors and I am grateful it exists. One thing I really do love about it is that I can video chat with my sister, who happens to be studying miles and miles away from home. She couldn't make it back for Thanksgiving, but I could still see, talk, and laugh with her over funny stories and cute animal pictures. People say the Internet is breaking families apart, but I say it's bringing them closer together. And for that, I am truly grateful.

A Peek into the Week(end) #2

Last weekend I went for a walk with my parents and their friends through a beautiful neighborhood that I can only wish I lived in.

 This picture kind of came out blurry but it makes it look like a painting, don't you think?

Let's just say I went a little camera crazy when I saw a heron.

Such a pretty bird in such a pretty place.

Current Favorite Outfit

Behold, my favorite outfit! I've been wanting to post this for a while, but life gets in the way sometimes (seems like all the time, doesn't it?). Unfortunately the perfect weather of early fall has been replaced by the freezing cold, so I haven't been able to wear this outfit in a while. But if I can't wear it, I'll blog it instead! 

What I really love about this outfit is that it looks effortlessly simple, clean, and modern. Maybe even a touch sophisticated. Just a plain white shirt and a necklace is all it is. I was wearing a pair of black jeans and a pair of tall brown boots with this, but the bottom half of me didn't exactly make it into the pictures...oops.

I wore a bright colored lip to add a pop of color against the white.

I also added some sunglasses (it was so bright that day!) and sparkly butterfly earrings.

The necklace is from Studio S and the shirt and sunglasses are by the brand Merona (I got them from Target).

#OOTD

Here's my outfit of the day! I had a lot of fun awkwardly posing for this: