holy hipstamatic christmas.

Apparently I am incapable of blogging and preparing for the holidays. So much for being a multitasker. Maybe my new "early-Christmas-present" iPhone 4 will help me become a little better at juggling in the New Year. I've been playing with my new Hipstamatic app (yes, I know I'm about a year behind in the world of technology, but I'm still excited about it) and it has FINALLY inspired me to share my Christmas-filled apartment.

The rest of my week is filled with some last minute shopping, wrapping up a storm, working (out of vacation days) and preparing for my Christmas Eve Eve party! Happy week of Christmas, everyone! xo

 

it's french for grapefruit.

For those of you who are fans of Pomplamoose, I'm sure you've noticed their feature in the recent holiday Hyundai ads. When I heard her calm, jazzy voice singing "Up on the Housetop" with their magical mix of instruments, I immediately went on the hunt for a Pomplamoose Christmas album. As it turns out, their oh-so-popular youtube channel features a few more fun holiday songs, but I couldn't find an album to save my life (would love it on vinyl). But after a few searches on the Goog, there it was. Their Christmas album is not for sale, only available if you donate a book to the Richmond Book Drive. Click here to see the book drive website. You just order through Amazon, provide your order number and BAM! Free download of the Pomplamoose Christmas album—an absolute must-have for my Christmas Eve-Eve party! YOU are welcome! Watch one of the cute commercials below and another Pomplamoose cover I love, "Mr. Sandman!" xo

but this feels like the first time.

Chad, my parents and I took a road trip to South Georgia this past weekend to visit with family. I'd been to that little town a dozen times before. It's small, barely on the map, and covered with sand in places where there should be grass. It almost feels like Florida, and even though it's not far from the border, there's something about it that's very Georgia. Maybe the smell or the cotton fields or the cracks in the pavement or the way the sun sets. This trip felt like the first time I'd been there, even though it's just been weeks since my last visit. I got to see more family than usual, which I'm thankful for. I spent more time outside, and Chad normally isn't with me. It's funny how the smallest details can make a place feel new. So here's to new experiences, or just making old ones feel like the first time. xo

 

hello, angels. sorry i'm late.

I know this is a day or two late, but let's talk about the Victoria's Secret 2010 Fashion Show. I watch it every year, while my bestie and I text our favorites back and forth. It's by far the cutest fashion show out there and this year did not disappoint. About 20 minutes into the show, I found myself getting rather bored. Everything looked like leftovers from last year, and right when I was about to text that to my bff, the sporty stuff came out. Boxer shorts, a racing suit, a baseball outfit, a weight lifter  bodysuit, and the best of all - a soccer ball jacket! It was super cute and fun. The show held my attention for the next 40 minutes. And  even though my all time favorite angel, Adriana Lima (wearing the hot skull on her shoulder, love!), rocked my soccer-ball-jacket-loving socks off, I've got to be honest - Behati is climbing the charts. She's so funky and tomboyish. She's in the adorable rainbow (and soccer) outfit below. And she's my new girl crush. Ok, I'm going to go starve myself now. =0)

 

photo source: http://www.ajurettemagablog.com/2010/11/victorias-secret-fashion-show-2010.html#

my wish list.

I was forced to make a wish list for the holiday season this past weekend, and I thought I would share a few. It's nice to get all the craziness of wants and must-haves out of my head and into my blog. Do we share any must-haves?

{1.blackbird shoot from the hip camera 2.the carrie diaries 3.sylvia plath poetry 4. lomography sprocket rocket 5.cute bookends 6.coraline dvd 7.nine dvd 8.book of unnecessary quotation marks 9.florence + the machine vinyl 10.she + him volume 2 vinyl 11.adele 19 vinyl 12.coralie bickford-smith penguin classics collection}

cloudy with a chance of stuffing.

Happy day after Thanksgiving! I hope everyone stuffed their bellies like I did. I had a different holiday this year. With my parents out of town, I spent most of the day with Chad's family and then attempted to make my traditional family dinner. To go along with the Honeybaked ham my parents sent us, I attempted to make cute little portions of my mom's sweet potato casserole, stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce. I'm actually quite surprised at how close I got to the yummy original taste. Although the stuffing was a little dry, I put way too many marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole (I thought it was going to explode in the oven) and we had no turkey, it all turned out OK for our first Thanksgiving dinner just the two of us. Plus we topped it all off with a bottle of wine which fixes anything, right?

I was excited for the leftovers today, but it just didn't taste the same. Maybe there's just something about mom and dad sending you home with five huge containers full of holiday carbs. Or maybe I can't cook as well as I thought I could.

We ended the day snuggling up on the couch, watching "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs." Love that movie! If you've never seen it and still appreciate awesome animated movies like you did as a kid, then go buy it right now. Don't bother renting it. "Flint you have a call. Flint you have a call." xo.

 

the american ninja.

This past Sunday, Chad and my parents and I drove to Chattanooga to visit with my grandmother and her new boyfriend. And if you remember my previous post about them - yes, he totally has a shirt pocket full of pens. My mom can find a Japanese steakhouse within any 50 mile radius, so I got to stuff my face full of hibachi. Yum.

Anyway, we had the most hilarious cook-in-front-of-you hibachi chef. His name was JR (Japanese Redneck). He had a southern accent and told INS jokes the whole time he was cooking. He let Chad try the spin-the-egg-on-the-spatula trick and Chad totally rocked it. That's when he called Chad an American ninja. I loved his new nickname so much that I made him get behind the grill and do a karate pose.

I love catching the elders off guard. So cute.

What's with back lit photos in Asian restaurants? They're the perfect opportunity to pretend a giant bird is flying toward you.

Gamama's name is Jane. This is her boyfriend, Richard. We like to call them Dick and Jane. How cute is that!  And he's goofy to top it off. Love it.

Happy 24-hours-before-my-four-day-weekend Day!!

xo.

like fall but not really.

I'm so ready to bust out the outerwear, tights and scarves. As of now, I only get to do this about once a week. We're averaging around the mid 70s during the day here in peachy Georgia. Tank tops on Thanksgiving? No thanks. I don't enjoy watching the leaves fall to the ground while wearing flip flops. Come on, weather. You have three days to get it together. Sigh.

 

sugar and spice and everything nice.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to do a mother-daughter shoot with my old friend, Marybeth. Little Natalie was so full of energy and smiles, I absolutely loved photographing her! Unfortunately, the rain cut our little picnic short, but I got some super cute shots. And since I've been MIA with blogging this past week, I'm going to share a bunch! Natalie brought along her tea set and a blanket - cutest mother and daughter ever! Thank you MBS and Natalie for letting me capture your little moments. xo

xo.

winning tastes so good.

I don't know how I went from blogging once a day to once every three to four days. I work too much and I've been sleepy lately. Probably because it gets dark so early now. But this I had to share.

This past Tuesday, my work had a chili competition. So, of course, I entered Chad's firehouse chili. The cook-off was way more serious than I expected. There were score cards, tasting cups and even a professional chili judge. There were about 15 entries, and the whole office tasted and voted. I won by one vote! And I never win anything. I even got the professional chili judge's vote.  So I was pretty psyched to say the least. And the prize? A Tasmanian devil winter hat. Haha.

The winning chili!!

Awesome chili photos by Tammy!! xo