My Favorite Christmas Song

I've finally managed to put myself back into the Christmas spirit! Hooray!

In honor of that, I thought I'd share my favorite Christmas song...

Wait for it... wait for it...

Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters from his White Christmas album.

Now, what's your favorite Christmas song?

A Bit of Randomness For Thursday

Random Note #1: I generated my "Top Words of 2010" on Facebook which are pulled from my status posts. Here are my results:

1: Love - used 22 times
2: Jesse - used 17 times
3: Weekend - used 16 times
4: Happy - used 14 times
5: Brown - used 13 times
6: Tonight - used 12 times
7: Morning - used 11 times
8: Night - used 10 times
9: Sweet - used 10 times
10: Nyc - used 9 times

Not too bad. For some reason I thought I'd been more bitchy than I actually was. Apparently not.


Random Note #2: Black Swan looks awesome and I hope to see it this weekend.




Random Note #3: I've been mentally pre-occupied lately, which is what I blame for not doing any good design posts and also being in a not particularly great mood.  Must remedy this situation very soon. (I know I keep saying this...)

I googled "mentally preoccupied" and this is the image that came up.  Interesting.

Random Note #4: I'm missing Columbia, SC very much at the moment. The holidays always bring this about.

Columbia, SC (Image courtesy of City Data.)

Random Note #5: Everyone is having babies. I am thankfully excluded from this.

Again, I googled "Everyone is having babies" and this image came up.

Random Note #6: There is apparently a serial killer in Brooklyn.

Another image courtesy of Google.

Hello There, Beautiful

My man will be playing Edgar Allen Poe in The Raven, which will be released in 2011.

Image courtesy of The Huffington Post via my friend Kellen.

Be still, my beating heart.  Oh John, I adore you.

Read the article here or IMDB info on the film, The Raven, here.

Weekend Recap: BAKING MARATHON!

This weekend, I baked. A lot. And I had a little furry helper, who didn't leave my side the entire time:

I love baking, especially during the holidays. It's so calming and just puts me in the most festive mood! I also love to share my baking, so my co-workers will either love me or hate me tomorrow (pending on how they are feeling with regard to ingesting large amounts of sweets).

I made...

Peppermint Bon Bon cookies (Left) and S'Mores Cookie Bars (Right)

Peanut Butter S'Mores Bars

I also made some Chocolate Chip Meringue cookies, but didn't get a good photo of them.

It was a really nice and relaxing weekend filled with awesome smells (from baking and some great candles we bought) and watching lots and lots of cheesy holiday movies.  I'm excited that Christmas is almost here to spend time with family and friends who I don't see nearly enough.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!  

Baby, it's cold (and rainy) outside...

My entertainment for this cold, rainy December morning upon which I got up way too early, it's pouring out and my Internet isn't working even though it says it is includes coffee, reading Slaughterhouse-five, watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and watching my cats dueling on the windowsill.

Not too bad of an alternative, if I do say so myself.

Oh yea, I'm also way overdue for writing a good design post. Sorry folks. It's coming, I promise!

Chai Hot Chocolate?! Yes please!

I saw this recipe today on Design Crush courtesy of Epicurious. It sounds simply delish and perfect for these chilly winter days.

Photo courtesy of Design Crush.

Chai Hot Chocolate

• 4 cups low-fat milk
• 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
• 10 cardamom pods, coarsely cracked (If you can’t find these, don’t give up! Just use a little cardamom powder, or some extra allspice.)
• 1/2 teaspoon whole allspice, cracked
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
• 6 quarter-size slices fresh ginger plus 1/2 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
• 1/2 cup chilled whipping cream

1. Combine first 6 ingredients, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and ginger slices in medium saucepan. Bring almost to simmer, whisking frequently. Remove from heat; cover and steep 10 minutes. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

2. Meanwhile, whisk cream, remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, grated ginger, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon vanilla in medium bowl to peaks. Add more sugar to taste if not sweet enough for your taste.

3. Strain hot chocolate. Ladle into 6 mugs. Top each with dollop of ginger cream.

NY Times "The Hollywood Issue"

If you haven't watched "14 Actors Acting" on the NY Times Magazine website in the Hollywood Issue, you are missing out.

It's beautiful concept that is flawlessly executed. Beautiful cinematography, excellent actor selections, such as Javier Bardem, James Franco, Michael Douglas, and Natalie Portman to name a few.

Please watch them, I promise its worth your time.





























Original Link: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/12/magazine/14actors.html?src=fbmain#index

A Little Giggle for Friday Morning

My kitten, Abigail, hasn't quite figured out the workings of our new glass coffee table.

Unofficial Gift Guide for Holidays 2010

I didn't intend to make a gift guide, but I've come across such great things via the great interwebs in the last few weeks, I figured I'd share them with you all... and hell, they'd make great gifts!

Enjoy!

Living Retro by Andrew Weaving - $18.84

Clothbound Penguin Classics from Anthropologie - $20.00

Chocolate Pie Chart by Mary & Matt - $20.00

Cowl Scarf from Black Haired Broad on Etsy - $30.00

Sweet P Luxury Bath Set from Sweet Petula on Etsy - $42.00

Retro Modern Pet Bed from Kittyville on Etsy - $79.00

Lumi Candleholders from CB2 - $2.95 to $4.95

Couple Pillow from K Studio - $160.00

Extra Ingredient Apron from Anthropologie - $38.00

The Savoy Cocktail Book - $13.57

Framed Cross Stitch from Bombastitch on Etsy - $40.00

Elements of the Perfect Shave Kit from The Art of Shaving - $100.00

Go Team!

This past Sunday, sweet hubs and I ventured to the New Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey to attend our first pro-football game - the NY Giants vs the Washington Redskins.

Sweet hubs is a big NY Giants fan, so we made sure we dressed appropriately, in our fanciest Giants wear.

I loved seeing all the tailgating outside of the stadium - I think that's the thing that I loved the most about getting to go to a pro-football game - seeing the fan's enthusiasm. It's so contageous!

Sweet hubs is totally stoked!

Even though our seats were in the nosebleed section, they still had a fantastic view of the game.  I don't think there are any bad seats in that stadium.

We were so cold (the temperature was hovering right around 30 degrees with 20 to 30 mile per hour wind gusts) but had such a fun time!

And best of all, the Giants won! 31-7! Take that, Redskins!