christmas, according to my iphone!

The last of Christmas pictures! Never-ending holidaze pictures! :)

You can see more of Christmas Day here. 

Hope everyone had a merry merry merry! :D


My Grandpa Jim and mom at a Christmas party! I just love this picture!

The first night we had the littles for their Christmas vacation, we took them to Olive Burger and Santa's Village to check it out. :)

Meghan's seasonal looks for the occasion: candy-cane eyeliner and a hair bow!

And Olive Burger was a huge success. :D

 Santa's Village was really fun to walk around. It was our first Christmas in the Richardson area, so we didn't know what to expect. I was so excited to see the "Christmas recital" performances from local dance schools (memories!) and a really adorable petting zoo... all the animals were so charismatic!

Standy pig! He think he's people!

Afterwards, one of our best neighborhood friends, Jacob, came over to spend the night with R3 (which turned into all the boys watching "The Cleveland Show" for a hot minute... doesn't that always manage to happen with boys? ;P)

Came home to clean, folded laundry (thanks to my sweet, amazing husband!!!) after a day at work. :)

One evening, we went to a party at Tristan's! It was such a fun evening -- he knows the most adorable people (if I say so myself, ha) and has the most beautifully curated apartment. Seriously, it's a dream.

#nofilter

And his sweet puppy, Norman!

Tristan, myself, and Shaleah. :D

Then, a whole 6 days before Christmas, we finally got the Christmas tree up. Better late than never! And the girls had a great time wearing one of my favorite things from high school. :) (Remember Spencer's? My mom got that hat for me from Spencer's and only because I wanted it really really bad! Still happy I have it, to say the least!)

I took as much of the week off from work as I could and managed to get the girls out to the park one afternoon while R3 stayed at home to play with the neighborhood kids. The weather was gorgeous!

Emily, who's smile confidently indicates she has more zest for life than most people. :D

A hilarious post-it I found on the couch one afternoon... XD

In the continued spirit of "do lots of Christmas-y things this year!" we took the kittens to the famed Deerfield subdivision, which is a neighborhood in Plano that is renowned for it's residents' holiday light displays. It certainly did not disappoint!

After a rendezvous in Deerfield, we ended the night at Henry's Ice Cream, which is an amaaazing homemade ice-cream joint in Plano that I can't get enough of. The vibe is so home-y! They make all their flavors (crazy, fabulous flavors!) in house and they are ridiculously rich. I couldn't finish my small salted-caramel cone!

Sushi sushi! My bestie, Hilary, was in town from Chicago and after hanging out at home with the family for a hot minute, we went for a girl-date to our new favorite sushi joint to show her what's up. She even got me to try hot sake for the first time! It was the besssst.

The following morning's donut run to send off Hilary after our living room slumber party. ;) 

Christmas eve cooking!

Followed by Christmas Eve at Mema's! We had a fun night hanging out, eating cheese-y things, watching "Golden Girls" and opening presents. I mean, it's never a bad time with Mema around. ;)

Sadie, being eyed at by furry, cheese-eating vultures. Vultures! ;P (And notice her hair-bow Meggie did for her!)

Annnd the most amazing picture I found on Mema's fridge. Little Meggie and baby Emmy! AHH! XD

We came home from Mema's and continued cooking (phew!)... here's Meg and R tearing off bread for stuffing. :)

And me trying to find the energy to carry on via husband kisses ;P

Santa's rum cakes (which were awesome).

And the sweetest notes to "Santa..." *heart melts*

Post present-opening madness, haha.

And a gift to us from Sadie: "It's a melted snowman ornament!" *heart-in-eyes emoji*

And the most amazing video of R3 and Sadie on his scooter! I may or may not have watched this video 10,000 times, it makes my heart sooo happy. :D

Amazon gift cards for Cody and Ryan that made me chuckle. ;)

Darrah on Christmas day, wearing a scarf from my mom in a very regal fashion. ;P

And other holiday regalia from my mom. :D

The Wendy Darling sail R got me for Christmas. I love it sooo much! It actually can fly, but we just placed it decoratively in our bedroom. :)

A quiet evening, with all the little dumplings enjoying their Christmas bounty!

A fun afternoon at Granner's with Jack and Terri! 

Meggie and her new blue hair, taken at Granner's. :)

A post-Christmas date-night at Taco Joint after the kiddos were picked up. Plus, we went and saw "Into The Woods" afterwards! It was such a fun evening, and we are definitely going back to Taco Joint soon!

Not pictured, but worth remembering:

- a fun family evening with Aaron, Debbie, and Matthew hanging out, eating pizza, and chatting by the firepit :)

- vegan gingerbread scones! Meghan made them for Christmas morning and they were diviiine

- the fabulous "wrapping service" provided at my work that saved me time (and my life!) twice :)

- the joy of being able to be at home with the little dumplings throughout the week and help R with every Christmas task imaginable so he could just come home from his retail job and just chill the hell out

luda-christmas!

Another Christmas has come and gone! This one was particularly special for us because 1) we had the babies for the actual day this year! 2) it was our first Christmas in our new house! 3) we didn't have to go anywhere! Darrah, Cody, Ryan, and Juju all came to US! 4) I could take off the entire week of thanks to that "realtor" schedule! ;D

Here are a few pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day after the jump, if you'd like to see... (I take what could be considered an "obnoxious" amount of pictures during the Great Present Opening)

a look back at 2014

I'm not going to lie, I used to love these dumb surveys. I used to have a Xanga that was nothing but dumb surveys. Great use of my college time! Coincidentally, it's 12am and an awesome/dumb movie is on TV ("The To-Do List!"), so I'm in no better spirit to oblige my nostalgia.


1. What did you do in 2014 that you’d never done before?
Marry my best friend, become a licensed real-estate agent, help teach someone to drive (Meggie!), move into a (rental) house of my own residence, fall in love with Richardson, TX.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I had some unrealistic real-estate goals (mainly because I just went with the flow with my timeline and by the time I was with an agency office full-time it was mid-November and there was so reasonable way I could get the sales I threw out to the cosmos in January). BUT I had another general "smile more, bitch less" and I've been pretty consistent with that policy. Life is much more enjoyable when I bitch less.

I have real-estate goals for next year. But I like to treat every morning as a new start.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No, but many pregnant acquaintances.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Fortunately, no. However, I would be lying if I said Joan Rivers and Robin Williams sudden tragic deaths didn't affect me hard. I love them.

5. What countries did you visit?
Just the USA! However, I did travel to Colorado. :)

6. What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?
A real-estate "snap." I worked for Whole Foods Market for 4.5 years and as a Whole Foods Concierge for 3ish of those years, and could basically work for that company and do Concierge tasks blind-folded in a war-torn country. I'm really looking forward to getting that comfortable with real-estate. 

7. What dates from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 12th, because wedding. :) Also, October 31st because that's hilariously when all of my real-estate things (license, etc.) became active and will therefore expire.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Marriage, real-estate license, becoming a better wife and step-mother.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I totaled my sweet and beloved 2004 Rav-4. :(

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had strep-throat in April and it was bad. Richard had to call into work for me because I couldn't talk at all. (And it doesn't help that I love hanging with my family so much that I insisted on trying to talk whenever I could and therefore recovery was very slow.)

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Kate Spade lemon dress, all my new job clothes, Richard's Father's Day trapeze class, and anything related to helping me build my real-estate business.

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
My husband, step-kids, mom, besties, friends and family because it's pretty crazy awesome how blessed my life is via the people I know. But in particular:
- my cousin, Tonya, and her husband, Stephen, because they've decided for crazy awesome and noble reasons to move back to Texas in February and I'm so excited I can't stand it anymore
- my darling friend, Debbie, because her husband moved to California to start a new business and she stayed in Texas with her two adorable kids and she's a walking saintly inspiration and I adore her
- Hilary, because she's achieved all of her 2014 goals and fashion-texts me always

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled?
I'd like to think not responding to this question is a classy move. :)

14. Where did most of your money go? 
Wedding, moving into a house, vacationing and real-estate business!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Changing my name legally to thecoolestnameever, leaving Whole Foods to pursue my real-estate career and subsequently ending up working at the best company (Ebby!) AND best office. Also, Meghan graduating high school a year early and getting her driver's license. :)

16. What song will always remind you of 2014? 
Anaconda x Nicki, Blue Jeans x Lana, Fancy x Iggy, Sissy That Walk x RuPaul, Beyoncè's 2013 album and other Top 40 gems.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: 
(a) happier or sadder? Happier! 
(b) thinner or fatter? I wouldn't say "fatter," but I definitely gained some weight after leaving WFM because I wasn't running around a store 40 hours a week, ugh.
(c) richer or poorer? A little of both! #business

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Relax, but it's completely understandable why I didn't/couldn't/wouldn't.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? 
Be unnecessarily bitchy to those I love and those who don't affect me.

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

21. Did you fall in love in 2014? 
My husband, daily. :) Also, it's fair to say that I'm an emotional person, and as such I pretty much fall in love with something/someone/some video daily. Cher's Twitter feed, sweet potato/bean combos, John Mulaney, eyebrow pencils, the Cinderella (2015) trailer, Stephen Colbert declaring he's the queen of France (starts around 3:40), Mick Foley, Gaya Bommer Yemini, Alyssa Edwards, etc, etc, etc.

22. What was your favourite TV program?
RuPaul's Drag Race, Parks & Recreation, Breaking Bad, An Idiot Abroad.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I'm pretty consistent!

24. What was the best book you read?
I loved Amy Poehler's "Yes, Please" and cried multiple times at how bright her spirit shines.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Just streaming different albums on Spotify.

26. What did you want and get?
Lots and yes. :)

27. What did you want and not get?
Honestly, I can't think of anything that really stands out.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? 
Of 2014: I really enjoyed "The Lego Movie" and "Boyhood." Of non-2014 (but I watched this year): I loved "Bernie" and "Nebraska."

29. What one thing made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 
Moving forward with my career.

30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
First 6 months: "Wear whatever my apron can't scratch/ruin." Second 6 months: "Laura Petrie sells real-estate."

31. What kept you sane?
Green juice, white cheddar Cheez-Its, drag queen gifs, texting Hilary and Richard's handsome/darling/fun/boring company always.

32. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I'm (annoyingly) too in love with R to have a crush-crush, but RuPaul, Amy Poehler and Joan Rivers guided my soul hourly.

33. What political issue stirred you the most?
All the sad ones, really, but on a happy note I love Pope Francis and all the modern views he's championing for the Catholic church.

34. Who did you miss? 
My mother-in-law, Mary. She was so fucking fly.

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014. 
Don't bitch about it, do something about it. Think positively and work your ever-loving ass off to achieve your goals. Relax when you can and don't be afraid to be yourself.

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Nah, I'm good.

december so far... ;)

My phone's photo album was about to burst... ;)

Trying sushi from Sushi Hinoki for a stay-at-home date night. The fried Alaskan roll is so freaking delicious. R and I still talk about it weeks later!

Sadie, who was SO DAMN HYPER one evening! I told her to stretch (which was elaborate ruse for her to just stay in one place for a hot second) and she was cracking me up.

My sweet husband cleaning our cars one beautiful Saturday morning.

A wonderful evening with Bia (and Bubba the dog!) for Bob's birthday! We had Olive Oil's (which is to die for) enjoyed the warmth of the fire pit underneath the moonlight and watched "Whatever Works." It was marvelous.

And another birthday party for Nery!

Meghan driving around for our Christmas shopping to warm up before her driver's license exam. 

Emily's first band concert! We missed her duet with one of her best friends thanks to traffic (!) but we were lucky enough to get an encore when the whole concert was over. :)

A Friday evening with CJ and Jim! We had champy, German chocolate cupcakes and the most delicious Mexican food and I even got to help decorate their Christmas tree (with the cutest ornaments, thank you very much).

Waiting in Ebby's conference room for our Santa picture to print, where Sadie wrote a letter to Santa ("I sat on your lap!" You know, in case he needed to trigger his memory) and made adorable reindeer antlers.

R3 and Sadie mysterious asked us for $5 each one Wednesday and showed up with these Christmas presents the following weekend. :D (My heart swells over Sadie's plastic-bag wrapping job!) What sweet little dumplings!

Finally playing in a pile of leaves (with Cindy!) after one very long morning for dad. ;)

Nancy and Nery's (surprise!) wedding! Such a beautiful evening with all of our favorite people. :) The house was decorated beautifully, too.

My favorite person talking to my other favorite person (my mom) on the phone making Christmas arrangements. I love how much they love each other. :D

family santa picture!

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Christmas season so far! I can safely say we are 99.9% done with shopping and it feels fabulouuus! There's nothing better to get me in the Christmas spirit than being done with shopping (to me, it's all fun after that). Also, Santa pictures! Richard loves family Santa pictures. Like, "you know we have to take a Santa picture sometime this month, right?" ;) And well, I think they're pretty great, too. R has one of him and the kittens taken a few years back and it's just so precious. I have visions in my head of wrangling the kids' schedules when they're in their 20s/30s to get a family Santa picture together, because TRADITION. (And if I've learned anything about family traditions, they're equal parts warm fuzzies, laughs, and eye-rolls.)

This year was our first family Santa picture, which took place at Ebby's Jupiter/190 office in Richardson. SMALL MIRACLE: ALL KIDS ARE BEARING TEETH.

I'm so tickled this Christmas-y picture showcases all of us in short sleeves and R3 in shorts. Texas!

Fun side-story: Emily and Meghan's friends, Cindy and Krystall, were over for the weekend (we were quite a gaggle of kids in the Ebby lobby) so we threw them all in front of the camera together, too. :) Other fun side-story: Santa was trying to talk R into working as a Santa, too. "You'll be great, the beard is awesome, just work on growing your gut, the money is great!" ;P

2nd thanksgiving (just as great as 2nd breakfast)

Our Thanksgiving(s) this year were so wonderful. We didn't have the littles for the actual day, so Richard, Meghan and I went over to Darrah's house for suuuch a fabulous meal (stuffing! stuffing all the time!). I may not eat turkey, but I do get particularly excited for Thanksgiving because I use it as an excuse to throw down on some Chilean Sea Bass (which isn't the cheapest fish you can get!), and this year did not disappoint. Darrah has done a lot of beautiful work on her home, particularly in the kitchen, so it was especially fun to inaugurate her new facilities with her and her boys. That's mostly why I don't have any pictures of the actual day because I was too busy "ooh"-ing and "ahh"-ing and laughing with everyone to pause, but you can't ask for more than that. :)

Thankfully (puns!) we were able to have the babies over the weekend, so my mumsie and Grandpa Jim made it over for "second Thanksgiving!" We had steaks, salmon, baked potatoes (including sweet potatoes!), and salad which I dare to say is the greatest 2nd Thanksgiving meal ever. :) Juju even brought over a gingerbread house for the kittens to decorate! (She picked up on the "grandmother" thing real quick, lemme tell ya.) Here are a few pictures from our lovely afternoon...

Emmy was planted in her "spot" in front of Grandpa Jim for a good half-hour since he was sweet enough to scratch her back. (My step-kinds love a good back-stratch. Back-scratches cure all!)

Sadie, teaching Juju how to play some "clapping games." There was a lot of giggling! And it wasn't long before mom ended up wearing Sadie's costume jewelry (those two together are hilarious).

Our beautiful salmon fillet, before preparation.

The girls putting together the gingerbread house! It was the perfect thing to do while Richard was cooking. :)

Recovering from a very fulfilling meal!

The final product! The girls weren't worried about parting with the actual house, which Juju really wanted to take home, as much as the icing. (Priorities!)

Richard and his hero :) (Apparently Grandpa Jim said, "Surprised we didn't break the camera..." ;P)

Not pictured: R3 (poor dumpling wasn't feeling well, unfortunately!), Meghan's homemade honey butter (for the baked sweet taters!), a thousand more boxes of seasonal white-fudge oreos from Juju (my holiday crack), and Emmy & Sadie macking on everyone's plate for their salmon (the little girls are obsessed). We even got to go over to play at Debbie + Aaron's afterwards! Needless to say, we were all very happy by the end of the day. :) Not bad, 2014 Thanksgiving, not bad at all! :)

remember remember, this blissful november

November has been so wonderful this year. The weather has been all over the place, but in all my favorite places! From crisp and autumnal to coldcoldcold to rainy and cozy, I'll take it all! I'm slowly starting to get in the swing of things in my new office and am meeting some of the loveliest people in the process. Richard and I had a wonderful time celebrating his birthday by ourselves. :) Emmy and Meghan have quite the busy social calendars, while Sadie and Richard stay at home and love on us. :) As per usual (!), here are a few snippets from life lately...

Richard and Sadie passed out on the way to Juju's. I'm always such a sucker for dumplings passed out in the backseat. ;)

All dressed-up at the Windspear Opera House with my love, for "The Marriage of Figaro" (i.e., his birthday present!). Afterwards we went to Whiskey Cake (our favorite) and stuffed ourselves silly -- it was such a great Sunday!

Sadie-bug, helping Meggie cook dinner one Saturday night when Mema came over. We had chicken & eggplant parmesan with salad and homemade breadsticks, sooo yummy! It was so fabulous to be able to hang out with Mema, who is one of the most precious people ever. We were sad Emmy couldn't be with us, but she had a slumber party birthday to attend, you know. ;)

Richard and Sadie skating and "skate hugging" early one morning (you can tell because I have serious "morning voice!") These two play so sweetly together, it's such a joy to watch. After they came back inside and took their skates off, Richard just grabbed Sadie under her arms and carried her into the living room to play video games (it was quite a giggle fest to say the least!). 

Day 1 in my new office, complete with name plate and a mass of unorganized papers. ;) I have a great little "corner lot" space and it's so nice to be out of the house and working again!

Stretching with R before an evening walk, ballet style! (Always feels amazing!) Since leaving retail, I'm not running around as much as I used to so we've committed to "buddy-up" on walking 3-4 times a week, and man physically exerting yourself is so much easier with a buddy! There are times when I really don't feel like it, but then I'll approach R and he so sweetly encourages me with his "Yeah, let's do it!" What a guy. ;)

Other funzies not pictured:

- trading baked goods with our precious neighbor, Evie

- trying a local Brazilian restaurant with Tristan and Shaleah

- Emily slowly gaining traction on her clarinet skills!

- trips to my old Whole Foods in Addison for lunches and hugs from so many sweet people

- drinking in the crisp, cold air after being inside for long periods of time

- STILL munching on Halloween candy... :)

- falling asleep watching "Valley Girl" all the time (my new bedtime ritual, however lame!)

- the beauty of having a flexible work schedule! Starting a real estate business is tough, but at least I can stop & go as needed based on my family's schedule :) :)

- Meghan accidentally referring to me as "mom" once :D

- finally trying an Olive Oil's pizza, which was a great decision, SO YUMMY

- introducing Meghan to "The Birdcage" (crucial) and Richard comparing me to Nathan Lane's character (!)

- sweet potato + bean combos, all day every day

- R3 calling Meghan on her cell just to hear her voice and tell her he missed her *crying*

- Amy Poehler and Diane Von Furstenberg inspiring my every move.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving week! :)

littles' school pictures!

Emily told me, "My friend swept my hair to the side to look like Beyonce."

My favorite gopher smile!

Little muppet-face!

I may be the worst step-mom ever. ;)