HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE! I can't believe that twenty-fourteen is all wrapped up, and that we are hours are way from a brand new year!  Here's what 2014 was all about! 2014 started out freezing cold with a polar plunge into Egg Harbor in Jersey. But hey, I knocked something off of my 30 by 30 list. We scored with some winter weather allowing us to ski, ski and ski some more during the early months of the year, and when it warmed up I built a table just for fun (which is going to end up at the Goodwill because we have no place to keep it), and went adventuring outside of the city.

In the summertime we flew out to Ohio to celebrate the nuptials of some lifelong friends, and met up with some family members from the Netherlands in Jersey. This also happened to be right around the time I moved out of my beloved first apartment in Boston, and into our new place, one street over! Come August first, we celebrated our one year Bostoniversary!!

In the fall my family traveled to Bar Harbor to celebrate two very important people and play in Acadia National Park... Breathtaking! I also finally went to my first Red Sox game, and took real estate classes and a test to be a MA real estate agent! We can't forget other exciting highlights like the purchase of my baby fiddle leaf fig (I can't wait for it to grow), apple picking and wine tasting up the coast, spooky Salem days around Halloween, or just simply Indulging in some seriously delicious pumpkin cookies!

We had our first snow of the season (which was probably our only snow too) in November, and I got super lucky when I got to see all of my siblings and both parents over Thanksgiving. We purchased the most darling Christmas tree in all of the land and decorated it all up and L and I celebrated both of our birthdays in early December as well as celebrated everything Christmas - here, here here and here. We wrapped our year up with an amazing once in a lifetime ski experience at Wildcat, which was followed by a week long Christmas vacation of visiting with our loved ones.

It was such a busy and great year and we have so much to be thankful for. Looking forward to 2015!! I hope that everyone has a happy and safe New Years Eve!

Christmas 2014

I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. This year was a pretty great Christmas mainly because L and I both got to see everyone in our family. We traveled to Ohio for the holidays and have been on the roll with all of the hip, hop and happening Christmas parties, dinners, celebrations, game nights, shopping and family time! It truly has been great!
Even though there was absolutely no snow, we still made the best of it and had the jolliest of times!
I should have known better, but I always seem to go a little overboard on presents. I love boxing everything up in brown paper packages tied up in string, however when it comes to figuring out how we're going to transport them from point A to point B... I lose my cool. Somehow, we managed to squeeze almost all of our presents into the tiny car to make the trip. Next year, everyone's getting gift cards!

Wrapping is my favorite! I invest entirely way too much time perfecting each and every gift so that they are all different yet all the same theme. I went a little tulle crazy and incorporated it onto almost every gift. Gifts that L and I bought for our families included the fleece lined flannels from L.L. Bean, Visa gifts cards, a latte machine, flannel pajamas, fleeces, hiking socks and soles, and I bought L some Bean Boots!

My mom's rendition of a Christmas tree this year was much improved from last year when she didn't even get a tree. I think it's safe to say she has reached the "low maintenance Christmas" phase of her life and is waiting for us kids to start hosting the holidays. In other news, I made my first turkey dinner and we noshed on that feast which was followed by exchanging our gifts. 

My sister and I made two batches of sugar cookies and ninjabread men, while my mom had some molasses cookies on hand as well as some delicious cranberry cookies that she made. We basically baked and baked and baked and then ate everything. There is an unending supply of candy and cakes sitting around here and I have absolutely no self control. Who cares!

I accidentally bought a $30 lotto ticket the other day and got lucky. I don't like gambling with that much.

I also came extremely close to adopting another cat multiple times. Look at those faces! L said no.

Other Ohio shenanigans involved getting to go see my favorite hair lady in all of the land, eating at some of my favorite small town shops and meeting up with some high school friends. It's so fun to see what everyone is up to these days.
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year!
P.S. If you want to join in and try the 52 week money savings challenge... NOW is as good as time as ever to start!

Here's to Friday!

We made our Christmas cookies this week and I am so, so pleased with how they turned out! Every year we try a different recipe in hopes of finding the perfect one, and this year I KNOW we got it right! The cookies were big and fluffy, and I followed this frosting technique in order to perfect my decorating!
The recipe yields about 40 cookies, and you don't need to cool them which is perfect for my impatient self. ALSO, they don't expand into a big blob when baking... another plus in my book!

Ingredients: 1 cup granulated white sugar 1 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract 1 egg 3 cups all purpose flour 2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions: 1 - Preheat over to 350 degrees F 2 - Mix the butter and sugar until it is creamy 3 - Beat in the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract 4 - In a separate bowl combine the baking powder and flour. Slowly add to the wet ingredients while still mixing. 5 - Divide the dough into two batches. Roll one dough ball out (about 1/4 inch thick) onto floured parchment paper  6 - Punch out your cookies using your favorite cookie cutters and then place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 7 - Bake 6-8 minutes and let cool completely before frosting and decorating!

I mentioned earlier this week that we headed up to North Conway, NH for a very impromptu date with the slopes. The morning that we went skiing there had been a cloud inversion which is apparently a very rare thing. When we got to the summit, all we could see below us was a complete sea of clouds... it was absolutely breathtaking. 

Because we had never skied at Wildcat before, we had to do our ceremonial ski map framing to add to our collection of mountains. 

I couldn't pass up these adorable flannel sheets at Target the other day - our bedroom looks like Christmas!

We used Tiny Prints this year to order our Christmas cards and I couldn't be more happy! They have all been mailed out, and we have been receiving more and more Christmas cards every day to add to our wine cork card display!

I'm trying to get a lot of days off of work for Christmas and New Years and have been busting my butt at work to make it happen... hopefully it does! Yesterday was a 14 hour day and this entire weekend is going to be crazy, I just know it! I really want to go see Trans Siberian Orchestra (again) at the garden on Saturday but I just don't think I'll be able to swing it! They're my favorite this time of year!

via

 I hope all of your shopping is done! Can you believe Christmas is in 6 days! December is flying by!

Have a Happy Weekend!

Wildcat!

Wildcat! (To the tune of Roooadhouse!)

We found ourselves slopeside yesterday for a very impromptu trip up to the beautiful North Conway, NH to enjoy a little piece of the wonderful town. 

North Conway, NH is home to just about every fun activity every east coast bound soul is looking to take in. If you are looking to vacation up here and want to soak in an AMAZING area... this is YOUR PLACE! It has several ski mountains, outlets, cute shops, delicious restaurants, the Saco river, the white mountains, hiking... and much, MUCH more!
This particular trip was so, so last minute that L and I had no idea we were going until an hour before we caught the train to Wells, ME!
We left early, early in the morning Monday and headed over to the mountain to get our dose of skiing in before all the holidays sneak up on us. We usually find ourselves over at Attitash, however they only had 20 trails open, opposed to their sister mountain (Wildcat) who had over 40... mind made.

I had never skied at Wildcat before, and was pleasantly surprised by the absolutely breathtaking views, and the great trails. Driving up the mountain to the base lodge was like entering Narnia... halfway up you suddenly hit a wonderland vortex with snow drenched pine trees and winter everywhere! It was slightly overcast towards the bottom of the mountain, however, halfway up their high speed quad you jump out of the clouds and are literally left staring at a sea of clouds beneath you... amazing! At the top of the mountain you also are also staring straight at Tuckerman's Ravine, which is basically a giant vertical crater on Mount Washington that crazy people hike up and ski down. 

Straight cloud business.

Tuckerman's Ravine is the crater to the left of the summit.
We scored several runs throughout the day and couldn't seem to wrap our heads around the fact that it was THIS beautiful. These pictures just don't do it justice!

Other mountain looked like little islands peaking out of the clouds.

Other than the handful of season pass holders, we had basically every square inch of that mountain to ourselves. Heck yea! That's what you get for midweek skiing.

I've had so much luck these past couple years with skiing around this day. Last year we went to Okemo around the same time and had an absolutely amazing experience as well. No lines, tons of snow and friendly people. It's the best!

After skiing we moseyed on over to the Grand Hotel to grab some hot cocoa, cider and play some cards and then hopped right over to the outlets to indulge in some 50% off J. Crew action. 

Until the next time, North Conway!

Wine Cork Card Display

  By now I'm sure that you have read somewhere on this blog that I have a plethora of wine corks sitting around in apothecary jars and vases in hopes of finding a more permanent home. I collect them from everywhere, and continue to add to it everyday.  Originally, I wanted to create a fun cork board, but while trolling Pinterest, I came across a different rendition of your typical wine cork board - a cork board made of wine corks mounted on a meter stick! This was just the decoration that I needed to fill one of the bare spots on our wall.    I don't have a designated home for all of our beautiful Christmas cards that we receive, so I figured with holiday cheer in full swing, this would be a great project to use to display all of our incoming cards! The supplies are simple. All you will need is a meter stick, wine corks (43), glue, and some ribbon!  

I started gluing the corks from the top of the meter stick, which I later decided was a bad idea. So I would suggest that you start from the bottom and work your way up that way you don't run into any awkward "I have leftover centimeters sticking out from the bottom" problems.

Don't you just LOVE Irony Chardonnay? They're so witty!

I used Gorilla Glue because I had no other strong glue, or a hot glue gun on hand. If you do use gorilla glue, make sure you apply it right in the middle of the cork and not all over it because it expands and becomes a foam that will drip off the sides. What I have applied to this Raymond cork is too much.

Apply each cork one after another and try to make sure they fit well with the corks that they are laying next to. No need to look at any meter stick business that is showing through.

  I let my cork board stick dry for a couple hours and then anxiously decorated it with tree trimmings and cards! I love the natural colors that it brings to our very neutral living room palette.  

 
 And of course we can't forget our own holiday card that we ordered from Tiny Prints this year! Even Macy Cat made the cut! Lucky cat!

We went ahead and framed it for added Christmas decor around the place. We both love how it encapsulates our lives all in one picture!

FRIday!

Boston apparently doesn't know how to produce SNOW anymore because we have been getting rained out everyday this week! It's nasty rain too. Wind and everything. I can't go from point A to point B without having to build an arc first!    In other news, we sent all of our Christmas cards out last week! LOVE them! Will be sharing a fun Christmas card display with you on Monday!  

   If I had a spare $635 dollars I might consider investing in these 5050 boots! But like I said... only if I had the pennies to spare. Why do they have to be so gosh darn expensive and so cute at the same time!? I guess that's why stars like Angelina Jolie get to wear them.... someday...  

      I ate an entire bag of Cape Code Chips (the best) during the VS fashion show. I don't feel bad about it at all. I deserve it. I've been itching to go to the factory... guess I'll just eat a bag a day until I go. They're the BEST kettle cooked chips on the planet.

Speaking of the fashion show, I hadn't heard the song "Take me to Church" until Hozier sang it, and I must say... it's been on repeat for a couple hours now, he's got a voice! The music video is very moving.  
How about a cheesy Christmas photo op with my best fur pal!? She lives for this kind of stuff.  

 Cheers to your weekend, enjoy all of the fun Christmas festivities!

Hot cocoa gifts

 I kept seeing a different rendition of this cute hot cocoa getup plastered all over Pinterest, so I thought I'd give it a whirl!

  If you're looking for an easy, affordable gift idea for a friend or coworker this is the PERfect project for you to start right now!
Easy as 1, 2, 3... all you need are the basics.    For mine, I used mini Baileys, baby mason jars, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, crushed candy canes and hot cocoa powder.
Realistically, you're only going to get 1 or 2 rounds out of this jar of fun... but imagine dumping it all in one big HUGE mug, adding some milk and boiling it away. Oh my goodness.. delicious!

  I put the cocoa powder in first, followed by the crushed candy canes and then the chocolate chips and marshmallows. The most difficult part was securing the Baileys bottles to the jar. Once strapped down, I added a fun Christmas tag to dress it up a little!

Too. much. fun!