holiday decor

Last night I started pulling out the seemingly endless amount of Christmas decorations we have. I think there are like 6 or 7 totes full of stuff, not including our artificial tree. As I started going through them and putting things out, I realized that I have a ton of mismatched decor!
I did what any blogger would do and I hopped onto Pinterest to find new ways of displaying the same old things.

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Amy on Pinterest

Epson salt as snow! I love it. I have two sconces in my entry way that I was needing snow for...What a great idea!

Source: livingroomdecorating.org via Sabrina on Pinterest

LOVE the red wreaths. They are so lush. Plus those green balls on the mantel, gorgeous.

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Danielle on Pinterest

So simple, but I love balls in jars. 

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Brooke on Pinterest

I REALLY love textured green and silver balls in jars. 

Source: thehouseofsmiths.com via Rebecca on Pinterest

I'm a huge fan of mod colors for Christmas. 

Source: theinspiredroom.net via Carrie on Pinterest

What a simple addition. I have a couple jars with greens in them. I'll be putting "believe" on them this afternoon!

Source: bhg.com via Tonya on Pinterest

I adore this alternative method of decorating a staircase. Lets hope I have enough greens to do it!

a day worthy of thanks

I had a very long Thanksgiving Day. It started like any other, bright and early so we could put the turkey in the oven. But after she was in we left to head to the Turkey Trot in New Paltz. The race isn't competitive at all, in reality they only time the first 300 people who finish. With over 1500 people there, I was certain I wasn't making the first 300, but Mike gave it a shot and ended up coming in 295!! I was so proud of him.

After trotting, we came back home, perused the black Friday ads one final time, finished making dinner and sat down to hang out with the family and eat way too much food. The appetizers were followed by turkey, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, turnips, sweet potatoes and I'm sure I'm missing a few things. It was all delicious and I'll share a few of the recipes I made next week.

Turkey was followed by pie which was followed by quiet rest time. There was no actual sleep, but we all laid down and tried our hardest to rest so we could try to be refreshed for shopping. At 930pm we left and went to get on line at the mall for some shopping! We had a blast. I'm not sure any of us got amazing deals, but we definitely had a great time. I love this tradition!

Getting ready to leave our house...9:30pm 

Waiting outside to get into the mall

Jenn modeling a moose hat in American Eagle

Waiting for 4am to get here so more stores would open!

Jenn getting a little bit sleepy...We took a lunch break (homemade
turkey sandwich break) around 6am.

Leaving the mall at sunrise

While I definitely missed not having the normal big crew there on Black Friday, we made the most of it and had a great time together. We got home around 7 am and actually left again around 2! We went to a different town and different stores. We made it home by 7pm and were definitely pooped! Saturday was a great day full of relaxation and leftovers! Tree hunting was Sunday and I'll have a whole post devoted to that on Thursday!

what a weekend!

This weekend was amazing. From Thursday through Sunday every moment was completely amazing. I'm taking a day to recoup and I'll be back with lots of recaps tomorrow!
I hope you all had an amazing holiday weekend!! I sure did.

giveaway!

I love to share the giveaways I find while surfing around the web! Today's giveaway is from Tundra Running, they're giving away a FREE Garmin 405!!! Seriously!?! Awesome. I suggest you don't go there and enter so I can win please!!!

black friday

Hip-hip-hooray for black Friday! As you're reading this, I'm probably sleeping because I've been out shopping since 9pm last night. I love black Friday. I'm the person in line wearing a Santa hat, with personal speakers, hot cocoa, Christmas cookies and glittery hair. I am definitely that girl.
Growing up my parents used to sneak out of the house on black Friday to do some early Christmas shopping, just the two of them. They enjoyed the "alone time" (with all the other crazy shoppers) without us kids. We have a really big family so the crowds don't phase us, and really after I get my shopping done I could sit around and people watch all day long. I love the feeling in the air of anticipation. It is a happy time of year and nothing beats it.
I won't be wearing these brands, but this is the exact outfit I'll be wearing. I'll have jeans, red flats, my I believe in Santa shirt (yes I own this), a Santa hat, silver dangling earrings and a small wristlet purse. Here is my polyvore version of my outfit:

black friday by rundreamcook featuring a zip top bag

Plus! Black Friday definitely would not be complete without the 2011 sweatshirt! Making it's blog debut today - I'm sure you'll see me donning this sweatshirt a million times between now and Christmas. Anytime there is anything festive going on with our family all 30 of us show up matching. This year we ordered 32 of these beauties. So if you're in the NY area keep an eye out for the mass of bright red ladies this holiday season!!

My beautiful mom being my model. Try to ignore the shopping mess in the
background, we got home from mega Thanksgiving grocery shopping to find
that the hoodies had been delivered!

I'll be wearing this red hoodie on top of my I believe shirt all day long, no matter how sweaty hot I get! It's just a rule. Although I may trade out my Santa hat out for my Santa Mickey ears, just because those are simply a headband.

full of thanks

First and foremost I want to tell you how thankful I am for you, my readers. Every single comment I get, every time someone new follows me, every response on twitter just fills me with joy and excitement and I am SO happy that I have gotten the opportunity to get to know some of you ladies through this little blog of mine.
This beautiful Thanksgiving morning I have tons of warm and fuzzies. I am filled with gratefulness for all of the wonderful things in my life.
Once I pop my turkey in the oven I'm off to spread some merry and run a 5k in New Paltz. This race benefits Family of New Paltz which provides the community with not only a food pantry, but a 24 hour help hotline, support groups and a shelter. I love racing, but it is so much better when I feel like I'm donating to a worthwhile cause. I can't imagine a more worthy cause, especially during the holiday season and the colder months than this one.
These are a couple pictures from last year's race: (Not my pictures! All credit goes to Martin Weiner)

I'm off to enjoy the race and then to finish cooking and celebrate with my family. I'll be heading out tonight around 9pm to go shopping! Watch out black friday, we're coming to share the merry!

wednesdays are for pinning

When I was a little girl, all of my aunts were stay at home moms. For us kids that meant that after the 1/2 day of school on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was spent at Grandma's house preparing pies for Thanksgiving. In '99 when my Grandmother passed away the tradition continued, but everyone came to my house. We still make pie crust pin wheels with cinnamon and sugar as we used to with Grandma, and we even taught my cousins who didn't ever get to meet her or the ones that were too young to remember the tradition how to do it.
Now that we're all old, most of us work the day before Thanksgiving. So pie day will be a little later in the day today. When everyone gets here between 4-5, we will have the ovens cranked up on high, and my house will fill with the smells of the holidays. I'll probably start baking before they get here. Some pies (like pumpkin) take so little prep but have such a long cooking time that it is just easier to do it earlier. I'll also be preparing a brine for my lovely bird that has been defrosting since Monday nicely in my refrigerator. We'll prep the ingredients for the stuffing, I'll make cranberry sauce and some frosted cranberries for snacking and we'll have Christmas music playing the whole time.
For today's link up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple, I'm pinning all of the things I've been looking forward to this week. I hope all of your preparations are going smoothly and you have a wonderful day before Thanksgiving.

Source: post-a-card.blogspot.com via Tracey on Pinterest

Last week they were teasing us that it might snow on Wednesday, I was kind of thrilled about the idea. I'm sure no one else was, especially with everyone's travel plans, but I love snow...especially when I'm prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas

Source: theniftyfifties.tumblr.com via Sue on Pinterest

This picture made me teary when I saw it on Pinterest. So many memories of baking with Grandma. Thanksgiving was definitely her holiday and I miss her terribly. But I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to create those memories with her.

Source: stylemepretty.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I have a beautiful Thanksgiving table waiting for me Tomorrow.

Source: songbirdisnesting.com via Caitlin on Pinterest

I had to include this one too, I was too in love with the polka dots.

Source: wildflowersphotos.com via Kim on Pinterest

I'm looking forward to spending the day with my extended family tomorrow. I'm so lucky to have such a huge supportive family. I love each and every one of them!

Source: Uploaded by user via Jani on Pinterest

Black Friday. Ok this made me laugh so hard. This is definitely me.

Source: google.com via Rachel on Pinterest

Christmas tree hunting is a big tradition for us, it will happen Sunday morning at 10am. Watch out Battenfeld Tree farm, we're invading!! (they're well aware - we definitely call ahead to see if they can handle our special type of crazy!)

Source: johnsloaneart.com via ZombieGirl on Pinterest

Sigh. This picture makes me miss my dad.

Source: google.com via Abbey on Pinterest

While tree hunting, we tailgate. This crowd is only slightly larger than my family!

take a break

Old Navy is having some pretty amazing in store deals this week leading up to their Black Friday sale. They're actually having "better than Black Friday prices." It started over the weekend with 75% off outerwear on Saturday and 75% off adult sweaters on Sunday. Then they extended it to 75% off adult graphic tees yesterday, off adult long sleeve tees today and then tomorrow will be 50% off adult clearance items.
I was able to pick up a couple things for others to give as Christmas gifts and sadly a few things for myself too...It is really hard to beat $6 sweaters.
These are some of my favorite things I found while browsing their website. I always like to share some deals and I love Old Navy for some basics.
I'll start with men's:

here

here

here

here

here

here although I know I won't get Mike in it, I really love it.

Now onto some women's, feel free to pass this list along to my sisters!

here

here

here

here

here. Obviously I need this.

heck yes!

I am too freaking excited about this week. I can barely contain myself. This weekend was kind of fabulous, amazingly relaxing Saturday followed by a Sunday Funday! Saturday I pretty much hung out around the house, listened to tons of Christmas music, did a lot of cleaning in preparation for this upcoming week, but also took some time to just hang around. I even played a little nintendo, which I haven't done in ages.

Source: ashleymaxwellphoto.com via Julie on Pinterest

Yesterday was tons of fun. I spent the day working at a bridal expo in Danbury, CT with Kristyn. It was great, I loved chatting with all the brides about their ideas for wedding cakes, and showing off the delicious cupcakes and french macaroons we brought with us. All the brides are just lovely. It is such an exciting time for them and you could really see the joy on their faces! After the expo, Kris and I went to the mall to score some deals at Old Navy because they were having some crazy 5 hour long 75% off all sweaters sale. We got there with like a half hour until the end of the sale and I have to say it was a bit stressful! There was an employee standing in the front of the store counting down the minutes left, which left us scrambling a little bit. I got exactly what I went for (Christmas presents) and only spent $14 on the two items I picked up. I was very happy with my purchases! I love when I get really great deals, it makes the present so much more exciting for me, and bountiful for them! After shopping we decided to grab dinner and had the longest dinner ever at a Uno's. We hung out and chatted for hours and it was completely wonderful. We don't get to just sit and hang out like we used to when we were roommates, which makes sense since we live an hour apart, so I was really grateful for the time we got to spend together NOT working yesterday.
It's a busy week ahead, but I couldn't be more excited about it. Shopping, baking, shopping, cooking, running, eating, shopping. I think that's what my week looks like! Sounds like a good one to me!

mismatched

I feel like Friday keeps sneaking up on me, and it is really a GREAT feeling. A week from right now I will be collapsed on my couch sleeping after a crazy night of Black Friday shopping with my family. I am SO excited about it. This weekend will be filled with prepping for Thanksgiving and a little bit of time out to help a friend. I'm heading to Danbury, CT to go help my friend Kristyn of Sugar Hoot out at a bridal show. It should be tons of fun! Hopefully she'll get lots of business out of it and we'll be able to browse the vendors a bit.
Friday fanices is probably one of my favorite posts of the week. I love pouring through clothes on polyvore and other sites and picking out my favorite pieces. This week Alison told us to go daring. Mix prints or patterns that we normally wouldn't...Clearly I took that and ran!  I love patterned tights but I can never seem to find the right outfit to wear them with. While I don't think this skirt and these tights are a combo I'll be rocking this weekend, I think it's a step in the right direction.

mismatched by rundreamcook featuring a gold shirt