ready to party!

It's New Years Eve weekend!! Last weekend was a time to relish in family time and this weekend is time to party your butt off! Saturday we are spending the day at my sister's house celebrating my niece's 11th birthday and then glam-ifying ourselves! We're going all out with sparkle and glitz for the night even though we will just be celebrating at her house.
It will be a night filled with games and booze and I'm sure more laughter than I can handle.

I'm linking up with Alison of Long Distance Loving as always for Friday's Fancies. I can't wait to see how everyone else is glam-ing up to ring in the new year!!

new years by rundreamcook featuring engagement rings

I had to throw the engagement ring in there! Who wouldn't love getting that surprise at midnight?! I know I would.

a wonderful christmas time...

This has been an incredible Christmas season. I am super lucky to be surrounded by such an awesome family. Here's my Christmas recap in pictures

Santa came! Looks like we were very good this year

Dan, full of Christmas cheer. I think the mug of beer helps too!

My wonderfully pregnant sister and her husband opening presents

Michael and I opening presents

All of her girls in one room, a cinnamon bun and coffee? Life is definitely good!

Jenni doing a self take during present opening

Over 40 people at our Christmas dinner, it was glorious.

Organized chaos of family...all trying to out talk each other.

My cousins Amanda, Precious and Brittney

My brother in law, Tom and cousin Benson. Ben was hours away from turning 21 here!! Happy Birthday Ben!!

new years pinspiration

Christmas weekend was fantastic and New Years will be just as great. My niece was born 1/1/1 so we always do a NYE party for her. She has to go back to her mom's house at 5 on NYE so we will celebrate her all day long and then the kids will go home and we will have a sparkly adult new years eve bash to bring in the new year. I love it!

Source: polyvore.com via Katie on Pinterest

I love this top. So much sparkle, I can hardly handle it!

Source: lisastorms.typepad.com via KK on Pinterest

Gorgeous NYE decorations!! Love the star punches in the numbers.

Source: thecupcakesocial.com via Kristina on Pinterest

So creative and pretty! But with so many people at our celebration, I don't think anyone would notice the designs.

Source: blog.freepeople.com via Jillian on Pinterest

I probably need these. I'll wear them every day, ya know to the grocery store.

Source: secretsofasupermommy.blogspot.com via Laurie on Pinterest

After hours of games and drinking midnight snacks are definitely necessary! What a cute tag.

Source: twodots.com.br via Sarah on Pinterest

I will definitely have a glam smokey eye for Saturday night

Source: weheartit.com via Amanda on Pinterest

And then I will top it with this much glitter. I'm not sure HOW, but I will do it. Any tips are appreciated!!

Source: google.com via Whitney on Pinterest

LOVE this. Individual bottles on ice. I swear, it doesn't get cuter.

Source: dandee-designs.com via Nikole on Pinterest

How perfect? I love the design of this box!

Source: dribbble.com via brad on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Julia on Pinterest

How are you celebrating NYE this year??

post christmas coma

Apparently I needed a day to recover from Christmas weekend. We had a fantastic weekend with family and friends.

Christmas eve was great! We spent the day out at my sister's house celebrating with my niece because she spends Christmas day with her mom. After celebrating with her and eating delicious food made by my wonderful sister we went to my cousin's house to see the kids and have some dessert. Her kids were so excited, it was completely adorable. Zach, who is 8 was tracking Santa on NORAD obsessively. It was so fun to watch him get excited about where Santa was at every single moment. Then we went home and started doing our thing. While mom finished wrapping presents I brought down and arranged the ones I had wrapped. Then I sat down with a cup of tea and watched every Christmas special on tv. It was glorious. We finally went up to bed at around midnight.

Zach showing me the NORAD app on his ipod.

Before Santa came

Addie, my sister's dog, helping herself to the canister of
dog food we keep in the kitchen.

Mike in his Christmas pjs

Sheldon snug as a bug in my bed.

My sister got to my house at around 7am, honking up the driveway and singing jingle bells to wake us up and get us ready to open presents. We made coffee and started cooking some early morning snacks.

After Santa came!!

Santa was absolutely amazing to me and I couldn't be more thrilled with the presents I received Sunday morning. I got a ton of new running gear which is awesome. Lots of cold weather gear, which is awesome because it has finally gotten COLD here in the northeast! I'll be loving the hat and gloves and long sleeves on my run tomorrow morning. I got a new tv for my bedroom. It's small and perfect. Some new clothes, first time I've been in a medium....ever I think. Santa his up Victoria's Secret hard core! I got 2 new bras and a lot of gift card money to hit up the semi annual sale. This is amazing for me. My bras were awful. I have a really hard time finding ones that fit me really well except for the very sexy push up and I get super annoyed paying $50 for a bra, so getting one for Christmas was perfect.

Mike had a very running gear Christmas too, he loved it all! I think we all really enjoyed waking up Christmas morning and spending a nice relaxing two hours to open presents, snack on a cinnamon bun and drink copious amounts of caffeine. It was honestly the perfect Christmas morning. 

stalking

I love Santa. It's true. I love the magic he brings to an otherwise commercialized holiday, I love the joy he brings to little kids faces, and I love the anticipation of when he will be here!

Yesterday Mike and I had the opportunity to get up close and personal with the big guy himself. Like really close, as in Mike was in the big red suit.

Jenn, my older sister is a preschool teacher and was in a bit of a bind when Santa called out sick. She called and asked Mike and of course he said yes. He was a bit nervous at first, those are really big shoes to fill, but once he was decked out in the get up, he said it was awesome. First we went to the baby room (1yr old and younger), where all but two of them were completely terrified. He posed for pictures with screaming babies and gave out presents.

Then we were on to the bigger kids. The 3-4 year old kids! This is Jenn's classroom. She had all the kids in one room and they were singing Christmas songs, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to be specific and Mike walked in and the kids freaked out! They were SO excited. Running up to him and hugging him. Thanking him for being there. Telling him just how much they loved him and how good they've been this year. He was fantastic. With oodles of "ho ho ho's" and getting his belly to jiggle as much as possible, he played the part really well. In this room there were more than 30 kids and he gave them all their presents and then sat for pictures with them and helped them open their new toys and examine the very cool things he brought them. Watching him play with the kids made my ovaries ache like you wouldn't believe.

If you don't have little kids in your life, you may not be familiar with NORAD tracks Santa. This is my favorite thing of all time. As a kid (ok I guess teenager) when this came out my dad LOVED it. It's the dorkiest thing ever really. You can check in online and see where Santa is at any given moment. They give you facts about the different cities and an ETA for when you can expect him to visit your house. I'm 27 and I track Santa like a crazy ex-girlfriend. I love sharing it with my cousins. It makes me feel like I'm sharing a bit of my dad with my younger cousins, in such a fun way! So, go track Santa.

tipsy turtle friday!

Happy Friday my lovely friends! Christmas is in 2 days!! TWO DAYS! Are you ready? I definitely am! Today is Christmas Eve in my sister's life which means the big man comes to her house tonight to bring presents to my niece. They started that tradition years ago so they could experience the magic of Christmas morning with her even though they only have her on Christmas Eve. (She spends Christmas day with her mom) So today marks day one of our three day extravaganza and I'm super excited.
First I want to share with you my absolute favorite Christmas treat recipe. It's for tipsy turtle bark. It couldn't be easier and it is seriously delicious.

Tipsy Turtles:
1 bag good quality chocolate chips
1 bag chewy caramels
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup whiskey
1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Melt chocolate and spread to about 1/8-1/4 inch thick on a nonstick surface. I use a silicone mat. Put it in the refrigerator to help it set a bit faster. While chocolate is setting, melt caramel with the heavy cream and whiskey. Once smooth pour it over the set chocolate. Top with chopped pecans and refrigerate until caramel is also set. Cut into squares.
Proceed to eat the entire tray. Then repeat!
I always have to make two batches because I eat one myself!!

Now onto my favorite link up!! For Friday fancies this week we're dreaming of a white Christmas. I don't think that we'll get to enjoy snow this Christmas, but I'm still hoping! I decided to go pretty darn fancy and with a "winter white." This is definitely not what I'll be wearing on Christmas day, but I wish I was! I wish there was a holiday event that required this dress, it is just gorgeous!

winter white by rundreamcook featuring platform high heels

I hope you all have a magical holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!