Wrapping Up The Year

I made my blog private for a minute or two but I've decided to make it public again. I hate when people take my photos so I've decided not to post any photos that don't have a tag on them. I'm sorry if it makes my photography ugly but I just don't like when other people take credit for my work.

A lot has happened since I last blogged. I celebrated Christmas and had a grand ol' time with my family. Everyone got very nice presents, myself included. I got an IPod nano amongst other nice things, but I was really looking forward to my IPod because my poor mini doesn't hold a charge anymore. Rest In Peace dear IPod mini, you lasted me a good 6 years! I'm so happy with my new IPod though, it's adorable, touch screen and PINK. I also love that I can listen to the radio on it. Daniel got a bunch of great stuff including a trampoline, a kid's digital camera (already took 390 pictures - takes after his momma!) and the Creepy Crawlers that they just put out recently. I was surprised when I saw they brought it back, I had that when I was a kid! I was also surprised to see my Mom got me the full size of the original Juicy Couture perfume. The bottles are just to die for, really. With the extra money I got I think I'm going to get myself Flora by Gucci. I've been stuck on that fragrance for the longest time now and I think I'm due for a couple new scents.

I ate great food, opened great gifts, had a lot of laughs. Now it's time to detox. I'm currently taken by jasmine tea. It smells SO good, it's extra fragrant and delicious. I don't know what it is about the tea that makes me feel so cozy inside but I got a lot of new tea for Christmas. If I'm not drinking Pellegrino, I'm drinking tea. Anyway, I've come to post a couple pictures from the past few days. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

My home made cheesecake, it was as delicious as it looks!

Happiest Time of Year

I am so excited that it's finally Christmas time. Everyone knows I wait all year for this. What have I been doing? Decorating the house, painting and doing some Christmas shopping. So far I've got 3 people taken care of, but I have a couple more to go. How are you doing on your Christmas shopping so far?

Everyone loves (and hates at times) this part of the year. I mean, I usually love the holiday season but then again people can get totally rude and annoying during shopping trips and some people can be downright grinchy. And after an arduous trip to the mall I can be a little Grinch myself. However, I do these things to keep the inner Grinch at bay:

See Christmas lights. I love to go around to neighbors and look at everyone else's light displays. Some people can get really creative and Daniel absolutely loves the lights. We also take him to The Symphony of Lights, it's a local light show that the Howard County hospital puts on every year for charity.

Donate to a charity. There are plenty of different charities to donate to during the holidays. Toys for Tots, Salvation Army, etc. Everyone who has some extra money should donate a present or something! It's the season of giving, isn't it?

Decorate! Obviously I decorate to my heart's content. We make decorating our Christmas tree an event. We turn on Christmas music, make hot cocoa and make the event as festive as possible. I love to decorate outdoors and indoors.

Go caroling! It's pretty unheard of in this day and age but I used to go caroling in my neighborhood with my friends. We got sheet music, huddled together in the cold and sang Christmas songs outside our neighbor's doors. We usually got free cups of hot chocolate or egg nog for our efforts. And it's always fun to hear people singing from inside the house. I would love to go caroling again if I could ever get enough people who would want to do it.

Watch Christmas movies. My favorite is Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. I love both movies and any time one or the other comes on around Christmas it really feels like the season. There are other great Christmas movies, of course.

Spend time with family and friends. It's always hectic this time of year but it's nice to make time for your friends and family that you may not have seen a lot. I like to hang out with friends who come home from school during this time and visit family. Seeing people who know and (have to ) love me grounds me.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the holidays. So far we've had zero snow but I hope that changes soon! And for your amsuement, I leave you with my collection of holiday scented candles from Yankee Candle. Can you say "obsessed"?

Thanksgiving & Hair?

November is really flying by! Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States, so Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Americans. I'm going to be eating good food and hanging out with family so I suggest you do the same. I have already whipped up my contribution to Thanksgiving which is a cheesecake. It's huge and looks delicious. My mother is currently in the kitchen making the brine to put the turkey in overnight. The house smells like herbs!

This week I have been painting the bottom floor of our townhouse. I have already gone through 2 gallons of paint. I am close to finishing though, which is excellent. I don't know how much more my arms and back can take. The first day after painting I felt like a train hit me and had the worst tension headache. It's all worth it because after I finish all my painting we are going to go crazy decorating for Christmas. It's kind of crazy that "Black Friday" is already upon us. And the crazier part? I've only gotten one red cup this season. One! Obviously I am due for a grande peppermint hot chocolate after Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll treat myself right before I start studying for exams.

I'm going through a stage of wanting to be blond or just have different hair in general. Unfortunately I go through these stages a lot during the year. I need to get it out of my head so I've been looking at people with cool hair. Hopefully if I get my fill of cute hair I can get it out of my system and resume loving my natural brunette color. Have some pictures of people with cool hair. From me to you.

I LOVE HER WITH RED HAIR. *dead*