christmas times!

Stopping by Del's to see the family!

The annual "Holi-gay" party at Tristan's :)

#feelinmyself

Christmas Eve dinner! Crab, prime rib, risotto... it was TRULY DELISH.

Waiting ever so patiently on Christmas morning!

Emmy in her Juju present!

THE BEST MOMMY EVERRR

Sadie and her present from Tonya & Stephen :)

... hustlin' away ;)

Getting right back at it (in his new gaming chair).

Hanging out at Darrah's afterwards for Christmas dinner!

Other fun stuff, not pictured:

- Mom spending the night in a hotel Christmas Eve, which was AWESOME. She could just pop over whenever!

- My UKULELE I got for Christmas! YAAAAY

- Meghan getting stilts (and us yanking her chain all day long like she wasn't going to get it)

- Tonya & Stephen's perfectly wrapped presents ;)

- The AMAZING food!

- Getting shoes from Tristan because he's awesome

- Watching "Meet Me in St. Louis" a million times

- Meghan's CHOCOLATE CHIP TOFFEE COOKIES. HOLY SHIT. 

- Meeting Hilary in Ft. Worth the day after Christmas to catch up! The best!

- Giving up working out for the whole week just because!

- Wrapping all the presents in our room (staying up until 2am!) because... we planned poorly this year, haha.

a look back at 2016

I have a million blog posts to catch up on, but I feel like doing this first! ;)

1. What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
Move into a 4-bedroom house, get excited for Christmas, have a 1-year anniversary in the title business, finally figure out my "make my periods tolerable" cocktail, WORK OUT CONSISTENTLY, visit Sante Fe!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Yeah, pretty much! I had really chill resolutions (only buy things that make me gag, be more fabulous, text people when I'm thinking of them) and they really helped inform my day-to-day in a cool way. Those will probably still be on the resolution list for next year so I keep it up ;)

But new additions to next year will be...

- to feel dope in Calvins

- do pull-ups

- learn how to play my ukelele I got for Christmas (!) 

- get my sugar consumption in order

- get a DVD burner and start sending videos to family that I take throughout the year

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my friend Janine. (Gigi!)

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Nope.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the USA! Portland, Sante Fe, and a lake house outside of DFW.

6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
Better performance at work (now that I have a baller team mate on board and am more familiar with the job), a fucking solo vacation with my husband, and getting custody of the littles.

7. What dates from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
My step-son moving in with us 3 days before school started! And my birthday because I had a wonderful party that made me so happy!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Becoming a fitness person and some physical therapy wins.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Honestly, I did pretty great this year. Things that sucked for me (turn over at work, etc.) were really beyond my control. 

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yeah, I got this nasty stomach bug that made me feel very uncivilized in May and got my first cold in forever in December.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
A NEW BED my husband and I can sleep on together, furniture from Tristan (bar cart! credenza!), my green Club Monaco dress, my birthday dress, cupcake tank top, all my fitness gear...

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
- My husband for being the absolutely sweetest and handsomest and supportive and strong

- Meghan for slowly, begrudgingly, getting more and more mature

- R3 for being the sweetest, best kind of little man

- Emmy for blowing me away with her digital art

- Sadie for being so positive all the time

- Mommy for being SO FUCKING SWEET

... I could keep going because all my friends and family members are super adorable and wonderful.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled?
TRUMP.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Moving into a house, a family-law attorney, Meghan's T&G tuition and really dope food.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Being a morning work-out person, our beautiful house that we live in, solo weekends with my husband, my birthday party (and that Hilary could be here for it).

16. What song will always remind you of 2014?
SZA x Babylon, Kanye x Fade, Lady Gaga x Joanne, Bruno Mars x 24k Magic, Ariana Grande x Side to Side, Nova Heart x My Song 9, Sam Phillips x Reflecting Light.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
(a) happier or sadder? Happier! Prouder!
(b) thinner or fatter? STRONGER.
(c) richer or poorer? Richer! #bossbabe

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
I legit can't think of anything besides going on a vacation with my husband. Maybe blog more?

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Look at my phone all the damn time.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
With friends and family. :)

21. Did you fall in love in 2016?
Outside of my husband... it's pretty much my job to be friends with people, so I know lots of adorable people through work. Pop culture wise, Ali Wong, Joe Rogan, Jason Mantzoukis on "The Gilmore Guys" podcast, Carly Rae Jepsen, "HELLO, DOLLY!", Bob Odenkirk, Bernie Sanders, Jenny Slate, Billy Eichner... I like pop culture. ;P

22. What was your favourite TV program?
RuPaul's Drag Race ALWAYS, Veep, Gilmore Girls, the first couple seasons of New Girl.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Ugh, I really don't like that Trump is our FUCKING PRESIDENT. :/

24. What was the best book you read?

I tried reading alot but nothing really stuck.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I really liked Beyonce's, Ariana's and Lady Gaga's new albums, but I listened to SZA's "Babylon" a million times.

26. What did you want and get?
Being nice to myself and actually feeling proud of myself. :) And more time with FRIENDS!

27. What did you want and not get?
Some contracts from work, haha, but not much.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think I watched more TV than movies this year, because I can't remember anything NEW I liked outside of Spotlight, the Iris Apfel documentary and Don't Think Twice.

29. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Getting into a groove at work THANK GOODNESS. 

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
Some days: as fucking dope as I can make it. Other days: luxe with flats!

31. What kept you sane?
My workout schedule (#obnoxious), getting SUPER relaxed on weekends, not drinking during the week.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Yonce & Bernie, haha.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
It was a really tough election year. :/

34. Who did you miss?
Grandpa Jim. :(

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016.
"Don't wait until tomorrow, next week or January. Start now."

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I GIVE ZERO FUCKS AND I GOT ZERO CHILL IN ME.

bits and pieces of december :)

Volunteering to make sammiches one morning for a good cause - in the spirit of the season! :)

Celebrating Nery's birthday at Hooters (even though he wasn't there!). We rocked our Patriots and Lakers "gear" to honor Nancy and Nery, who were on vacation haha.

Richard couldn't comprehend wearing either, so he opted for Cowboys. ;P

Super casual vs. super dress! ;)

An ACUTAL POLAROID we got at a work event. 

A few videos clips from the month ;P

Important concepts, a la Kent.

Texting with Blake about the Hairspray musical! It's been so long! 

With BIANA DEL RIO. #omg

Celebrating Nery's birthday once he got back into town!

Another round of lobster mac and cheese JUST CUZ.

Emily & Juju, being hilarious.

Revolution ready! (He loves his new hat... whenever it's freakin' cold enough to wear it!)

Work husbands at the Hesse Christmas party!

Work wives!

Our first ever caricature from said work party, haha. #accurate

Sadie's Grumpy Cat face is sooo good! She makes me laugh so much!

Emily rocking my old Pearl Jam shirt, BLEST.

Secret Santa picture for my husband! We weren't able to get a full family one this year due to sickness and schedule conflicts, so I found one at the nearby food truck park while Handsome Man went to a holiday work dinner. ;) (Meghan dressed up for school, coincidentally enough!)

Emily reveling in her "basic as hell" hair bun (that I did for her so she didn't have to wash her hair in the shower). She came tumbling out of the bathroom saying, "Daddy, can I have some Starbucks?!" ;P

THIS AMAZING VIDEO Emily worked on for hours. I love her sooo much!

thanksgiving (and the weekend!) 2016

This Thanksgiving and subsequent weekend was one for the record books. We ate & drank like kings, saw all the "over 18-year-olds" we loved (the littles' were at their mom's), watched a bunch of Simpsons episodes (yay for the annual marathon!), put up the Christmas decor! The only downside was the guilt I felt after Thanksgiving Day for being ABSOLUTELY ZERO HELP. I mean, I took all these pictures and videos (videos on my hard-drive, haha), but in terms of actually doing something that contributed to the day's fesitivies... I was out, haha. (I'm obviously super thankful for family that doesn't kick my ass for being so chillax.)

Hilarious texts that I gotta keep for the memories. :)

Richard & D, talking to the uncles.

Ryan, being adorable.

I probably said something like, "Be really cute, baby!" ;P

Dessert cousins!

Mommy being continually adorable the next day!

The girls chillin' out and then rocking onesies at the mall. (Mom brought me a bunch of high-school stuff the day before and the tie-dye onesie was passed downed to Meghan!) I even managed to put up the Christmas tree the next day, which is a small miracle. ;P

Hanging out with Debbie, Aaron, Matt & Ioana at a karaoke bar! 

Lovely ladies at our house afterwards. :)

FUN FUN FUN. :)