Happy Thought Thursday

Here's a little something I saw in the Metro the other day. I thought it was quite funny. Even fast food restaurants are obsessed with Facebook these days. Sorry it's a bit blurry. :)

Happy Thursday!

Less than 100 days!

In honor of the fact that there are less than 100 days until my absolute favorite time of the year.. Christmas, duh.. I want to reminisce some of my favorite holiday memories. There really are so many, but I have a few that always remind me of how blessed I am, how nuts I am, and really just how much I LOVE Christmas. Many of them have to do with my friends and family, which I believe is the reason why I am such an avid holiday lover!

1. Christmas music on the radio.

This is one of the first real signs that Christmas is approaching. Thanksgiving turkeys have been eaten, kids are on the long stretch to Winter break, and the local soft rock station changes over to holiday tunes 24/7. If you are lucky enough to have grown up in Columbia, SC you may have noticed that WBBQ (the station in Augusta, GA) starts their tunes a bit early. I am talking right after my birthday.* Almost a full week before Thanksgiving. I know that some people hate this part of the season, but I happen to think it is fantastic! It gets you in the mood to decorate and drink warm drinks and await Santa. To the sad dismay that is my life, I begin adding a holiday song here or there into my rotation on Pandora beginning with the first signs of fall. Don't judge me. I already know I am crazy :). (For crying out loud, I already started this countdown!)


2. Eggnog Lattes from Starbucks.

I know, I know. Eggnog. The forever argued over holiday drink. "Is it safe to drink? It's gross!".. blah, blah, blah. I LOVE eggnog. Always have, always will. My sister and I used to get so excited when mom brought it home during the fall season! We would drink it for breakfast and with dinner. Weird? Maybe, but who cares! And the only thing better then plain eggnog are the eggnog lattes from Starbucks! So creamy and good! I am so happy to say that one of my favorite childhood drinks is now an adult version. Sweet!


3. The Nutcracker.

For twelve years, starting when I was 9, I performed in the annual production of the Carolina Ballet's The Nutcracker in Columbia, SC. It took just that one performance as a party soldier, in November of 1996, for me to realize the love and passion I had for ballet. I continued to perform until my freshman year of college, when school and life began to pick up and ballet slowed down. I will never forget the nerves and excitement of arriving at the Township Auditorium the Sunday of Thanksgiving week and seeing which dressing room I would be in, what the stage looked like when the auditorium lights were on, and always sneaking a peek into the older girls' dressing room to see my favorite dancer or costume. I was fortunate enough to dance the role of almost every part in that ballet throughout my eleven years performing. It was a thrill to dance in the flower scene as the Dew Drop Fairy twice! My entire family was consumed with The Nutcracker at this time of year, as my dad was in the Party Scene as a Party Dad and my mom worked backstage as the property manager. My sister even (sometimes) enjoyed coming to the studio to hang out while my mom painted and created amazing props. We lived, breathed and danced The Nutcracker for four months every year. The people of Carolina Ballet became a family to me, and I am so lucky to have met so many wonderful friends. Dancing will always remain one of the most important parts of my life, and there is no better feeling than starting the Christmas season off with a beautiful production that warms hearts. My wish is that I will one day be able to be involved again with this wonderful ballet. Until then, I will always envision Sugar Plums dancing in my head. :)


4. My mom's incredible decorations.

Our house has always been tastefully decorated. My mom has always had what it takes to make a house a home. But when it comes to Christmas... it is amazing! Each room in our house has a theme. She decorates each one from top to bottom. Not in a tacky way, but in a subtle way that is so great. It's all about nutcrackers on the back porch, snowmen in the kitchen and a village scene in the study. We have at least three Christmas trees every year: the gold one in the dining room, the family ornamented one in the study and the ever-changing tree in the living room. Our house is always filled with scented candles and wonderful cooking around the holidays and I always miss it most at this time. The decorations that are put up outside are so tasteful and beautiful. The white lights frame our front door and run all the way down the front banisters to the topiaries at the bottom of the steps. They are never too much and my family and I love to turn them on and ride to the end of the cul-de-sac in front of our house just to ride up and see how pretty everything looks. It is a special moment every year, and I am so excited to have my very own Christmas tree in my apartment this year. The first 'big' one.** Decorations really open up the door to a great celebration!


5. My first Christmas snow.

As I have said before, I have spent most of my life in Lexington, SC. The state with no seasons. It goes from hot to cold in a matter of days. So when my family traveled to Detroit, MI to visit the rest of our extended family for Christmas break during my junior year of high school, you can imagine the shock of the extreme winter weather that awaited us. It was C-O-L-D! My sister and I were sure that it would snow when we were visiting, so everyday for a week, we would wake up and hope that a white blanket would be covering the yard outside. But nothing happened. It was finally Christmas Eve at my aunt's house and we were so happy to share it with our family, but it was so sad that we may be leaving soon without a hint of snow. Much to our happiness and surprise, when we woke up the next morning, there were 6 INCHES covering EVERYTHING!! It was one of the best Christmas presents ever. I'll never forget being able to play in the snow on Christmas morning and then being able to enjoy the rest of the afternoon laughing and sharing time with my loved ones. I hope I can have this same surprise again sometime in my life!


6. Listening to Mariah Carey's Christmas CD

This has been a tradition in my family forever. We LOVE Mariah Carey's Christmas album. It is one of the best CDs ever. It always makes me so happy to drive down the road during the holidays, blasting these songs and singing along with my dad. Who cares if it's Mariah? We don't. :)

7. Celebrating Mom's birthday on the 23rd then celebrating Christmas Eve and Day

Mom's birthday is two days before Christmas, so we always do something nice on her day before the craziness that is Christmas. She always gets gifts for both, so I enjoy shopping for her the most during the holiday season. Then starts our Christmas ritual. We are a Christmas Eve present-opening type of family. We have always done it this way. I didn't think anything of it until I started school, and my friends thought it was weird. We always do the same thing every year. We go to church around 5 p.m. Then we come home, get our pajamas on and go out in the garage and get those huge black trash bags. We turn on the holiday music channel on the TV, and then my sister and I sit on opposite sides of the living room and we open all of our wrapped presents. We take turns between everyone, and then we would let Sugar open some of her presents.*** She was so cute digging her nose in the bags looking for treats. I'll never forget it. After everything was done, we call the family in Michigan and then watch TV until we get sleepy enough to go to bed. Then the next morning, we wake up and get our gifts and stockings from Santa. Then we try everything on and figure out what we will return. It all ends with a big breakfast before we all watch TV all day long. I love our holiday traditions the most out of everything in the holiday season. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR DECEMBER 23 to get here! 

I hope that my holiday memories have you excited for the next few months to fly by as much as I want them to! I know, I know, I shouldn't rush through the best season of all. I will take in every moment here in DC until I get to come home for the holidays. Until then, Merry (almost) Christmas!! 

*My birthday, for those of you who don't know, is November 16. I will be 23. Eww. But, add it to your calendar anyway. :)

**As for those who have roomed with me in the past, you know I put up the baby fake ones here and there.

***Sugar, our dog, will be loved and missed this Christmas. :(

Happy Thought Thursday

Every Thursday, I am going to post a photo and write a tiny blurb about something I see around DC that makes me have happy thoughts. And by happy thoughts, I mean a lot of things. It could make you fall out of your seat laughing, make you think about something or someone you miss, or maybe leave you with a slight grin on your face. I know how absurdly observant I am, so hopefully I will find sights that will put you in a happy place during your day. Stay tuned for today's happy thought..

Best. Weekend. Ever.

Again, I must apologize for being so slack with this blog. I started out so excited about everything, but with all the busy-ness that has been going on in my life, I barely have time to eat. Literally. I haven't cooked a meal in about a week before last night. I have been relying on my stocked cabinet of Cornflakes, Nutrigrain bars and rice. Ha. The life of a recent college grad.*

So this past weekend, I went to what I think was one of the most fun weddings of all time. I flew down (thank goodness!) to South Carolina on Friday and had Mom come pick me up and she brought back to good ol' Lexington for the night. Then on Saturday, I met Christa and John in Columbia and we set out for our whirlwind trip to Charleston for Meredith and Paul's wedding.

We got into Charleston at just around 2 p.m. and went straight to meet all my friends that I was staying with at the hotel in Mount Pleasant. It was SO great to reunite. It was a short-lived reunion because I had to go get ready and be at the church early to greet the guests at the program table.

Let me tell you something. There are some people who go over the top with weddings. And everyone has individual ideas on how to spend money on different parts of the wedding. But I will say, Mere and Paul did a great job at balancing everything to make their special day enjoyable for not only themselves, but their guests as well. It was BEAUTIFUL! The ceremony was short and definitely sweet ( I may have teared up a bit.) And the reception was even better. The 3 F's were in full-force: Food, Friends and Fun!**

To start, the reception location was awesome, to say the least. Middleton Place is a wonderful place to have a reception. It was large enough for everyone to fit and cozy enough to not feel like you were in a giant empty room. There were even peacocks roaming around the pavillion we were in! The band and drinks made it more than fun. And the food.. my friends.. let me tell you something, those were the best shrimp and grits I have ever tasted. They were in a cream sauce that made the shrimp to die for. And the grits were PERFECT. Nothing could have been any more perfect, in fact. Except for Meredith: she was lovely. I am so happy to have been able to share that special day with her and all of my closest friends. It was a night I won't forget. 

So, on my plane ride home, I kept thinking about those shrimp and grits. I would kill to have the recipe, but I doubt Duvall's catering in Charleston would give it up to a novice cook like myself. So I settled for the next best thing, shrimp scampi. It's not exactly what I wanted, but I figured it would satisfy my need for more shrimp.

Yesterday, I went to HT and got the supplies. I made the yummy dish for Randan and myself. We accompanied it with an iceberg wedge with parm cheese and ranch dressing. Pretty standard. And of course, the go-to side: Texas Toast with cheesy crust. Best ever. Yum. I also bought one of the last cases of Honey Moon beer. It's the Blue Moon summer ale, and I am going to miss it over this winter. It's very sweet and yummy. Goes great with seafood. 

Disclaimer : This happens when you steal my camera when I'm not around. Ha! Love you!

And in closing, I have a packed Labor Day weekend. It's going to be so fun and I can not wait for it.

Firstly, the University of South Carolina Gamecocks have their first football game this Thursday, September 3. We are joining the DC Alumni chapter at Crystal City Sports Pub for the game-watching party and I am so excited. Time to bust out the face tats and garnet and black colored dresses! Woo hoo! Go Cocks!

Then after work on Friday, I am driving three hours to Hampden-Sydney College to stay with Adam for the weekend. I have been waiting for this moment since I left H-SC last spring. I can honestly say that H-SC is one of the most fun schools I have ever visited. Not only is it in the middle of nowhere (Farmville, VA), but the entire school is filled with only one thing : boys. (Sorry, Adam, you know what I mean..) It is a completely different atmosphere than an SEC school or any other school for that matter. My weekends there have consisted of awesome parties, fun concerts and even better fraternity functions. Plus, there is a restaurant in town called Macadoo's and they serve awesome onion rings and sandwiches. Adam and I frequent it often when I visit (hint, hint). Annnnd, even though I am a college grad, my boyfriend's sweet school will give me the opportunity to relive some of my college days minus the classes.

I love it. Period. So, I am going to visit Labor Day weekend. Can't wait!

Stay tuned because this week, my cooking is back in full-force. Tonight, I am making Smothered Chicken with brown rice. Yum.

Oh, and Happy September. It's almost Fall!! Stick around for my crazy fall rants in the weeks to come! It's my absolute favorite time of year!

* Don't feel bad. I really do love Cornflakes. My grandfather used to eat them, and I think that's part of the reason why I love them so much. I remember eating them at their house when I was little and loading the sugar on to make them sweeter. I haven't changed that part. I may put Splenda in my coffee, but you can't make me part with the real thing for my Cornflakes.

**Ran-- don't you love my alliteration. Just a little English grammar for 'ya.