noël

a peek into a lovely christmas celebration.

wishing you all love and cheer during the holiday season.

xo, hay

insta-christmas-weekend

maybe i'll show some real photos later, and hopefully everyone had a fantastic holiday.

fill in the blank friday.

1. The best way to spread Christmas cheer: is by helping others and making others around you joyful.

2. The thing I love most about Christmas is: being with family and giving. Giving gifts, giving to charity, giving love, that's my favorite part.

3. The holiday season is a time for: reflection and gratitude.

4. My favorite thing to eat during the holidays: is Christmas chocolate of course! Or soup/casserole. Any kind of comfort food is perfect.

5. I will be spending Christmas: Eve at my Dad's with my brothers' and all of Kate's family, and the 25th with my Mom's side. I'm excited to be around all of the family.

6. Tis better to [give or receive]?

see above.

7. I'm dreaming of a: calm and mellow Christmas. I'm excited to see my family open gifts and spend time relaxing together.

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linking up with Lauren today, if you want to link up too leave me a comment so I can check out your blanks.

xo, hay

you'd think we were toddlers.

taking a decent photo of your kids proves to be a challenge at any age. 

mom found out the hard way.

 take note to alex's face 

[far right]

and now tucker's

[middle]

 semi normal 

[of me at least]

there's a keeper.

on a side note,

oh heyyy.

i wish i had fabulous reasons for not blogging all month but truth be told, i have been living at work.

 this month, aside form working, i have been scrapbooking, wearing colorful tights, going to a santa claus brunch at the golf club with the family, eating chocolate from my advent calendar + broccoli/cheddar soup [i love soup weather], hung out with the bestie for a morning while she was in town, and wearing fuzzy socks [also love fuzzy sock weather]. i also have watched clueless [classic], taken vain photos of myself [highly productive], confronted my obsession with nail polish, put up purple christmas lights in my bedroom, braided my hair almost everyday due to the frizz problem that comes every winter, witnessed pretty skies, and decorated trees.

and if those weren't mundane enough things to read about, here's more:

family candyland, Glühwein [!!!], mini paintings for my bestie in germany, long lines at the post office, massive traffic [living right next to the mall is awful this time of year], and watching star wars [i cry when ani turns into darth]

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i cannot believe christmas is in five short days. i'm excited for all of my peoples to get their gifts from me so i can show all of YOU what i did. since i'm a giver like that. giving is way more fun. what are you giving your loved ones this year? i'd love to hear your ideas.

more instagramzzz

the end of november looked like this:

 fun lipstick for thanksgiving. game day, pre-turkey. silly little brother. foggy nights. long hair. pretty fall center pieces.

 pretty paper at work. silly doodles. lovely gems. and new pens!

...and my obsession with love actually.

these were taken on different days...i have an addiction, and i'm okay with that.

what are some of your favorite movies?

thankful.

scenes from the holiday

 wednesday night we celebrated mama's birthday with an early thanksgiving dinner + extended family.

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thursday we had a feast at dad's with family and friends.

some things that make my heart full with thanks:

my family, my friends, our health, technology so i can talk to family and friends near and far, a job that i love, another job that i like, food on the table, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, my creative passion, my education, coffee, the nba lockout coming to an end, my safety, and all of the love in my life.

there is always something to be thankful for.

mama, happy birthday.

my mom. early 1960's

happy, happy birthday to my beautiful mother.

today you start another lap around the sun, another chapter added to the wonderful life you've had so far. you are an exceptional woman and deserve the world today. 

here's to many more years and celebrations to come,

i love you, admire you, and respect you and the brilliant mama you are. i couldn't ask for anything more.

feliz cumpleanos,

your daughter

HEJ

instagram + noviembre

I'm still baffled by the fact that it is mid-late November, depending on where you stand with that. 

 This month I...

got the new iphone 4s, have had many "dates" with the little broski, got a ton of scrapbooking done [more on that later], babysat more kiddos, and indulged in a holiday starbucks.

 I also...

woke up with crazy curly hair, witnessed some seriously beautiful skies, skyped with my favorite boy, picked up some awesome vintage books at goodwill [I promise that I am not a neo-nazi, I am just a huge WWII buff...], and I found some lovely head accessories for the next royal wedding.

And lastly I...

went to the Breaking Dawn midnight premiere with Liz, hung out with the J-man some more, saw even more pretty skies and sunsets, hit up the J. Crew outlet with mama, had trouble getting out of bed, and accidentally hit the "text to talk" button on my phone while ordering a Caesar salad. Big laughs all around.