NYE

Let's be honest here, I've never been a huge New Year's Eve fangirl.  You stay up late, blow a few noise makers, and wake up just in time to catch the 7th rerun of the Rose Parade.  This year it was slated to just be a night with Dave and I together, but we decided to make it more memorable.

Instead of just going to our movie theatre down the street, we hopped in the car and ran down to the Grove in LA.  It was good choice.

Our last meal of 2013 turned out to be fairly comical.  We wanted to grab a quick bite before the movie without spending an arm and a leg so we hit up some of the Grove's (fewer) more casual establishments: Wetzel's Pretzels, Jamba Juice, the Grove Hot Dog Stand - you get the idea.  Turns out that everyone, everyone, was out of food for the night.  Apparently it's the end of the year and their quota has been met.  The end.  After a diligent search we scrounged up one large hotdog to share, a bag of chips, a banana, and two water cups.  A feast of kings indeed.  We rang out 2013 in style.

But the real pièce de résistance of the night were the soapy snow flurries they showered down on us.  Dave is a good husband to let me talk him into being late to our showing of Walter Mitty so I could enjoy them.  He's a keeper that one.

And like the old folks we are, we got home at 11:00, gave each other a New Year's kiss, and went to bed at 11:45.  I can get used to this kind of New Year's Eve.

happy Christmas

Is it time to get back to real life already?  I love this time of year, if not just for the fact that it means spending a goodly portion of time with family.  This year we got a week with Nemrows at Thanksgiving and a week with Toblers at Christmas.  I'm a happy gal.

We picked up both Midwestern siblings + spouses from LAX on Friday and promptly got ourselves to Balboa the next day.
Priorities.
I've Christmased in Orange County for most of my years, but somehow I never really thought of going to the island to enjoy the festivity and Christmas lights.  My loss.  It's completely charming (of course) and meeting up with cousins and seeing darling babies was a plus as well.

PS - My New Year's resolution this year is to stow my iPhone more often and get out a real camera (after I get it fixed)...till then, bear with me. 

Of course our second order of business was to get to South Coast Repertory for our annual showing of A Christmas Carol.  We've been seeing this production for a good many years (back before I can remember) and it is definitely my favorite Christmas tradition complete with a cookie and apple juice at intermission.  There is an extra special sweetness about the play for me as I get older and especially this year.  It's a tradition I plan to keep no matter where we end up (but Hal Landon will always have my heart).

We normally spend an unconventional Christmas Eve brunching in Laguna Beach and this year was no different.  We pulled up to our annual cute cafe, and were extremely dismayed to find out its been closed...for a year!  It almost ruined Christmas, but we persevered and suffered through lunch on the beach at the Laguna Hotel.  Life is rough.

In my opinion, Christmas ought to always be a relaxed, easy day where one stays in their PJs far to long, eats good food and keeps good company.  This Christmas was precisely that, complete with sleepwear and slippers till 3PM.

The day after a big holiday is always a tad depressing, but Christmas is especially so.  Cheerful Christmas music is cut off abruptly and the walls seem oh so bare without their previous festive decor.  In an attempt to keep the merriment going we made a family trip to the temple.  It was most effective.
Also I've decided to break tradition and keep the Christmas music playing till January one.  That helps too.

A trip to Disneyland on Friday also helped to wipe away the post-Christmas blues.  The happiest place on Earth tends to have that effect.  I also took, roughly, a kajillion pictures - you've been warned.
We went on the swings entirely too many times, checked off a Disneyland bucket list (always wanted to canoe around Tom Sawyer's Island), and ate at the delicious Cathay Circle in California Adventure.  De-lightful.

 

And that was a wrap for our week with the Toblers.  It was festive, fun, and entirely too short - as time with family always is.  We're still working out the kinks of our master plan of how to all live within 1 hour of each other, but until then, this is what we get.  Happy Christmas all!

favorite

Has anyone else ever had a Cara Cara Orange?  I just discovered them this weekend and I think I've eaten one every day since.  They're a hybrid cross between an orange and a grapefruit and they are oh so tangy, sweet and juicy.

David peels his like an orange and I cut mine like a grapefruit.  To each their own right?

P.S. Did you know that you can get samples of the produce at the grocery store?  You learn something new everyday.

highlights #80

Happy one week till Christmas!  Surprisingly enough all my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped and under the tree.  Not a normal occurrence, I assure you, but done all the same.  And it feels oh so good.

What am I going to do with all this time leading up to the 25th?  Something productive I guess - while I figure that out here are some fun posts from the around the web:

digging these free gift tags! (they're on all my gifts this year!)

artsy fartsy

the correct way to spray paint - who knew?

some great product placements

shadows

the best Christmas card alternative 

I just made caramels...and now I want to make this fudge 

the cutest holiday printable

easy peasy scarf DIY

I want (need?) this dress (& it's 50% off right now with free shipping so...justifying??)

and the perfect holiday home front

xo

festive

It's mid December, and today it was in the 80's.  There were bees buzzing in the trees and I had to turn on the A/C it was so stinkin' hot. 

Is it just me or does something about this scenario seem oh so wrong?  I was just warming up to this brisk(er-ish) weather and now this.  Ah well, we do live in California.  David laughs at me while I show a stink eye to the heat when this is exactly the reason other people live here.  The irony.

So in an effort to feel more Christmasy I took copious pictures of my little poinsettia and blasted the Christmas tunes.  The things we do to feel festive.