I *love* this time of year!!!

I love love LOVE the holidays!!! My apartment has been decorated for a few weeks now and every time I walk through my front door I smile - the tree has all my childhood ornaments on it. PRESENTS under the tree (can I just say, I may be an adult and could totally open my presents whenever I want but I'll be darned if I don't wait for Christmas day to open them). Poinsettias on the coffee table. Snowflake stickers in the windows...apple cinnamon candles burning... Right now I have a red velvet cake in the oven (making Christmas goodies for the crew that works in my building) and I'm sitting in my big comfy lounge chair while I blog. Makes me happy :)

A few pictures since the last time I posted:

Laugh if you want, but this is one of the handiest little inventions I've ever seen. I think I was reading a Buzzfeed article that featured it and I *had* to get one - $10 off of Amazon and now I don't have to worry about ever losing my pens or business cards or phone or snacks! 

Oh. My gosh. Found my new 'spot' in Lawrence anytime I'm in the area for work - Three Dogz Diner serves up hearty, homemade goodness in a jiffy. This pumpkin cheesecake is one such example.

Progression of decorating :)

I'm slightly obsessed with the vlogger Ingrid Nilsen and watch most of her videos. She's doing a #DIYdecember series and one day featured a chocolate eggnog facemask that you could make yourself. I didn't have eggnog so kinda just winged it, but it turned out great! You can watch the video [here]

So....this exists. Just so you know.

Two weekends ago Gloria and I went to a little Christmas festival in Somerville - it was great because it was contained in a heated tent :) She got to decorate cupcakes!

A masterpiece

I helped her assemble a toolbox...but she handled it pretty well all on her own :)

Riding the choo choo train around outside the tent - we have a blasty blast together

I was reading an article earlier this week and this paragraph really stuck out to me...need reminding of this sometimes...

Pretty frost on my windshield

MADE MY DAY!!! I don't normally go for Dunks but I'm sure glad I did last week - I got this sweet note in my donut bag.

Gettin' my Olivia Pope on - <3 Scandal

Was feeling homesick last weekend so I made myself a good ol' southern breakfast

Biscuits and gravy, hash, eggs, fried taters, OJ, coffee...doesn't get much better than that :)

Gloria and I went on the Polar Express last weekend

I must say, the nutcrackers were a tad bit creepy...

But Santa came and gave us presents! (Including a free ticket to the Museum of Science, which is what we did this weekend!)

Dolled up for the office Christmas party on Friday

A wrapping session - we adopted a few families as an office for Operation Santa 

Elves (ever notice how that's one letter away from 'Elvis'? just hit me...)

Such a good looking office!

And what a pile of presents! (Let me tell you, delivering these was a trip!)

Christmas present from the boss - gorgeous statement earrings!

We went to Stella for dinner

I took Sarah as my 'date' - we always have so much fun together!

Sirloin, gorgonzola mashed potatoes, arugula with truffle vinaigrette mmmmm

Cheers-ing our cappuccinos

Headed back to the boss's place for drinks and a few rounds of Catch Phrase (our office is obsessed) - Andrew and Mishka 

And Kevin and Mishka hahaha

Christie hosted a *fabulous* brunch today - just look at that colorful plate! The 'southern-ness' came out when I suggested we drizzle bacon grease over the potatoes (tee-hee)

Salmon

The spread

Om nom nom nom

And today - The Museum of Science! We got to see a baby chick hatch!

They have a wonderful new exhibit about the human body...you get a wristband with a bar code and scan it into different stages and put in some basic demographic data (age, gender) and then go through the stations and see how your stats compare to other museum-goers'. This is an example of how many calories I burn walking and what my BMR is.

Gloria got to test how high her arch is - she had a blast!

I'm really excited for the next few days - I have a Christmas Eve's Eve service at church tomorrow (followed by cookies and cocoa at the pastor's house) and then 2 more sleeps and thennnnnnnnnnn....CHRISTMAS!!!!! I'm sad that I'm not home this year but super excited to get to Skype with my family and still participate in our holiday traditions with them (ornament presents first, then stockings, then actual presents! - my mom is AWESOME for sending it all up to me!). I even got some clam chowder to eat because my dad always makes homemade chowder to eat before Christmas dinner. I *might* try my hand at his hot cocoa recipe too...I'll definitely take pictures and share my holiday with you all. Merry Christmas everyone!!!