Sailboats and Santa.. Oh My!

Almost every few days I drive down this one side-street, to clarify its not a one way street its a side-street but it's a specific one. It makes driving in the annoying afternoon traffic just a little bit more bearable. Every year I am welcomed by this gorgeous sailboat that is decorated with lights.  There was one year that it wasn't there. I so so sad. I made Dave drive by it all the time, just in case they happened put it up, but they didn't. Well ladies and gents... this year they don't have just 1 sailboat, not just 2 but 3 decorated SAILBOATS!!! I actually squealed with delight when I saw this. I'm pretty certain Dave laughed, possibly out of embarrassment, possibly cause he thinks I'm a little kid (which is true), or possibly because he thought it was super cool too. I think it might have been all three. HA! Anyways... Isn't this pretty? YEP! Oh and yes I was THAT person who stopped in the middle of the street while I was driving to take this photo. No worries people, no one was behind me to get mad.

And my hubs... hes a regular ol' Clark Griswold. So Proud! This is like a 9x9 backyard and its not all of what we usually put out. You like my pumpkins on the left by Santa? I still haven't gotten rid of them, I think it adds character.

Did you check the bulbs Clark?

This is my most favorite outdoor Christmas light thingy we have. Its like a cheesy creepy Santa. I love him!

Ho! Ho! I'm Santa!

Ok. Thats all for today. Hope you're having a wonderful Christmas week! HO HO HO!!! Santa's almost here!

xo, Steph

25 Day of Christmas - Day 13: Music NKOTB You know!!

I've told you this a trillion times but I love Christmas music.... probably more than your average person. Once I tried to spend the whole month of December listening to Christmas. It was fun at first but then I started getting tired of it, and hearing Dalilah and that one time during her show that we heard a sweet dedication from a listener and she said she had the perfect Christmas song and then she played Jewels Foolish Games, which if you didn't know is NOT a Christmas song. Anyway... what I'm saying is don't dedicate an entire month to ONLY listening to Christmas music, it will take away from the awesomeness that Christmas music is. 
 

 

 A few months back while at McKay's I found the 98 Degrees Christmas cd for like 2 bucks and I forced Dave to buy, actually I think I had monetary credit at the store so maybe he forced me to use my credit and not our money. I couldn't believe that a. it was so cheap and b. that I didn't own this amazingness already. So it was snatched up and put into our growing Christmas music collection.

Then when Borders was closing Dave found me the New Kids on the Block Christmas CD. We joked about how I needed it, but I didn't so I didn't buy. BUT then when they were like a day out from closing and things were super cheap Dave went and while looking around he found it again and of course I forced him into buying it for me for dirt cheap. My review: It's horrible, but Funky Funky Xmas is AWESOME in that its so bad that it's awesome. Would I buy it again. YOU BET YOUR BOOTY I WOULD! How can one NOT own the NKOTB Christmas CD? Thats just wrong.

Oh and NSYNC. I wish I had a funny story about this but I don't. Well I guess I kinda do. It's my husbands. THE END. Now that's funny. I guess its not if you know my husband, but if you don't then you'll think it's funny. EDIT: Dave said he bought this for me... I don't remember this.






xo, Steph

p.s. cause outtakes are funny. I asked my friend at work to take my photo and clearly I was not ready. ha!

SURPRISE!!!

OPEN YOUR EYEBALLS!

25 Days of Christmas: Day 12: Wardrobe of AWESOMENESS!!

Here's my Holiday Fun time outfit. When I go to parties I have a habit of wearing black... or maroon... but this time. This Christmas I am wearing this bad boy... or girl out to parties. I haven't yet, so if you see me at a party and I'm wearing this don't make fun of me for wearing it again. I'm just one of those peoples... the kind that like to re-wear outfits. Oh and I totally wore this to work all day and I wanted to spin around like a five year old on Toddlers and Tiaras, not that I watch that show or anything. Oh and when I asked Dave how my outfit looked he told me I looked like I should be on Grease. I'm not sure if its a good thing or not but I'll take it. And now all I have in my head is the scene where Olivia Newton John says "Tell me about it... Stud". HA!

Jacket: Target (Black Friday Special), Dress: H&M, Belt: Goodwill, Tights: DKNY, Shoes: Marshalls

Ok. That's all.

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 11: Recipes - Peach Cobbler Protein Bars

I haven't chatted about this on here yet so why not today. On January 3rd 2011 I made a plan to lose weight and get healthy. So working out and eating well has been very important to me this past year. I did really well this year. I was super successful with my weightloss and I lost 45 pounds. I've kinda taken this past month off but I'm still trying to be pretty good with my diet even if I'm not hitting the gym so hard.  We know right now is the time of the year where we go to parties and usually they aren't super healthy. So here is a quick recipe that is super yummy and oh so good.

I’ve adapted it from this original recipe from Jamie Eason’s Cinnamon Swirl Bars to make a Peach Cobbler-ish Protein Bars. I kinda like making these and taking them to parties, in fact I'm taking them to my work party later this week, don't tell anyone... shhhh. No one knows they are healthy. They just think it’s a peach cake. Don’t tell them, and no one is the wiser. Hehe.. Hope you enjoy them, and definitely take a look at Jamie’s Cinnamon Swirl Bars, those are TO DIE FOR!

Peach Cobbler Protein Bars

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oat flour (I make mine, I use a coffee grinder and grind oatmeal until it's fine)
2 1/2 scoops vanilla whey protein
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Splenda
2 egg whites 
1/2 cup Skim Milk
2 4oz jars of peach baby food
1 1/2 cup frozen peaches (thawed)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 9x14 inch Pyrex dish with non-stick spray.(I actually don't know what size it is, but look at the picture at the end and you'll see, or you can use a square pan, its really your choice. Just make sure your servings are correct)

Step 1: In small bowl combine: (set aside)

• 1/3 cup Splenda
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Step 2: In large bowl combine: (whisk together and set aside)

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour 
• 2 1/2 scoops vanilla whey protein
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup Splenda

Step 3: In a medium bowl combine: (whisk together & add to large bowl)

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 4oz jars of peach baby food
• 1 1/2 cup frozen peaches (thawed) – Do a quick chop to them

Step 4: Pour a shallow layer of batter into the loaf pan (about 1/4 of the batter).

Step 5: Sprinkle heavily with half of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining batter & cinnamon/sugar on top.


Step 6: Draw a knife through the batter to marble. Bake for 28-30 min. Let cool for 10 min. Bars will be dense.

Before they were cut.

Oooh Yummy Yummy!

Hope you try them and enjoy them!

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 10: Movies Home Alone

I realize I'm behind but yesterday was a busy day at Help Portrait and then we got some sad news from a close friend and I wasn't in the mood to be me and peppy. So here is what should have been yesterday's post. I'll catch up on the extra day later this week. :)

I've told you we have about a bajillion Christmas movies at our house, right? We have so many that hubs told me we were going to do a 12 days of Christmas movies, and we were still not going to have watched all of them. We also have a bajillion times 10 Christmas CDs but I'm not going to get started on those.

My Most favorite Christmas movie is Home Alone. Somehow we didn't own that movie. WHAT THE!?! I know, my thoughts exactly. I finally saw it at Best Buy for super cheap so we bought it, I wanted the Blu-Ray but they didn't have it.  I swear I can quote this movie word for word. Its almost as bad as when I quote The Labyrinth (my most favorite movie EVER). This morning I was having a conversation with Dave, I don't remember what I was saying and at the end of it Dave said "I bought the milk, eggs, and fabric softener", I totally had sounded like Kevin from Home Alone at the end. Apparently... I speak Kevin McCallister.

Oh and if you wanna know what it's about then you should go to the store and buy this right now. RIGHT NOW!!! I wont even give you a hint because you just need to own it. Don't be like me and not own it... until now.

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 9: A note on Giving

This is not a do it yourself craft, not a fun tip, trick or technique but more of something that's been on my heart over the past few weeks. So you have been warned, you can skip Day 9 and move onto Day 10 tomorrow if you'd prefer but I'd like you to read it.

I actually wrote this post the other day, it was something that was sitting on my heart and I wanted to post it but felt like it wasn't finished. Until this morning. I knew how it needed to end. So here is the Giving post.

I will be the first to tell you that I am not a giving person. I want to be but I'm selfish. At least I can admit it. I am a selfish bratty person. But I want to be better. I want to give without wanting something in return. And by return I mean give without getting something out of it, in my mind. Like the "Wow, I just did a good thing" feeling. It makes me think of that Friends episode where Pheobe keeps trying to do good without feeling good about it, like when she got stung by a bee so that the bee would feel really cool and macho in front of its other bee friends, but then she realized that it died after stinging her. I want to give to others in need and not expect to feel awesome about it. The thing about that Friends episode is that it reminds me that its okay to give and feel good about what you did. Tomorrow I will be participating in the Help Portrait Program along with thousands of other photographers and volunteers. Its something that means a lot to me. Here is what it's about, I stole this from the site and watch the video too please:

In December, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered.

Growing up we didn't have much money. My parents are divorced and between both households it was rough growing up. We were never able to have the luxury of a fancy photo until we were older and finances where better and that's only if you consider JCPenney a fancy photo studio. Looking back I wish that there had been something like this available for our family to take part in. I hound on this a lot, but photos are important. Remembering your life is important. And that is what Help Portrait does. It helps you remember your memories by photographers getting together and taking your photo and asking for nothing in return. I have a small background in Photography, but I don't plan on being there to photograph. We have enough awesome photographers here in Nashville that I don't feel like that is where I am needed. I want to be there to help out in whatever way they need me to. I just want to be there to help. I am huge sap, I cry at the video from Help Portrait maybe because I can understand some of the people who might be there, maybe because I can sympathize with them or maybe because I just can't understand what they are going through. I don't know why it is that I cry when I watch that video, but I do. I know that tomorrow what I will be doing wont be to benefit me, to make me feel better as a person, I know tomorrow will be about the people who are in need, financially, physically and mentally, those people are who need my support, my shoulder to cry on, and my strength to help them. And maybe, just maybe we can help them feel like that one day is a good day among all the things that they've been going through (both know and unknown).

That is all. Now that you've just heard my ramblings of stuff.


P.S. I just watched the video again and cried.

xo,Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 8: Decor and More...

Who loves Christmas decor?   I DO!   I DO!

I love our Christmas Village. Its something we started back when we were dating, we would buy a piece (or pieces, we have a habit of going overboard on Christmas) each year and its grown to be a big village. But sometimes it can be a bit of a hassle since we don't have a great designated area. Right now its on my large bookcase so it can be hard to see it. That being said we don't always put out all of our buildings or people because... well it would just seem a bit much.  I wanted to photograph a few key pieces of it and share it with you.

This guy is one from our first Christmas. He used to move, but he's kinda loud, and I'm certain the kitty babes would try to attack it if we let it run.

This Christmas Shoppe came from the GoodWill... At least I think it did... one of our buildings did and I think it was this one. Its pretty rad if you look in. You can see fake toys and stuff.... Pretty rad if you ask me.

This Santa, Child and Photographer always gets me. I just love it. Its so sweet. I wish it would snow here and I could see santa. Actually this is how I imagine old timey Christmas to be, ya know... back in the "It's a Wonderful Life" times.

Every Christmas Village NEEDS a Church, especially one that looks all old fashion-ey. This one is way cool in person, it has pews and everything. I can't remember off the top of my head if it has people. I feel like it does. I guess I'm just a sucker for lights in the building.... especially the ones that look like stained glass. :)

Oh and for good measure, since I haven't gotten any good photos of the tree yet, I can show you another few ornaments.  This year we went with themed ornaments. We have a ton of Disney ornaments, also, we buy a new special ornament every year. The first one was from our first Christmas as a couple (not married) and the second is our ornament from the year we were married.

P.S. Disney is a big part of us because we got married on the fiftieth anniversary of Disney. So yep... thats why most of our ornaments are Disney related. :)

25 Days of Christmas - Day 7: My Christmas Wishlist

Dear Dave or any other family member that would like to gift me a present that is not in the form of a gift card, below is my Wishlist! I don't actually think anyone will get me this, especially not the clock or the shelf, although I'd like it. Dave made fun of me for wanting it! HOW RUDE! I know it's a jumbled bunch of everything but its a lot like my blog a bunch of randomness! :)

1. Bamboo Doily Clock/Etsy, 2. Flower Cutout Mini Shelf/Urban Outfitters, 3.Porcelain Bird Ring Dish/West Elm, 4. Stussy - Women's Lace Collar Dress/Amazon, 5. Like and Dislike Stamps/Urban Outfitters, 6. Starbucks Gift Card/Starbucks, 7. Smashbox Click You're It Eye Palette/Sephora, 8. Birds on a Wire Photo Clip - Set of 8/Urban Outfitters, 9. Womens Wellies EVEDON/Joules, 10. Tarte - The Starlet Limited-Edition Makeup Vanity/Sephora, 11. iPhone 4s/Verizon, 12. Tea Lovers To Go Cup/Urban Outfitters, 13. Wood Camera Tape Dispenser/Wanderlust (now that I look at this site again it appears to be under maintenance), 14. 2012 Calendar Little Foxes/Etsy, 15. 60's BRITISH ENVY Navy Blue and Floral Mini Dress/Etsy, 16. Beautyblender/Sephora, 17. Michael Kors Wallet Clutch for iPhone 4S (Red)/Apple, 18. Fujifilm Instax MINI 7s White Instant Film Camera/Amazon

I fully don't expect to get all, or any of this, but I've always been one to make a Christmas list and even at the ripe old age of 28 I still intend to do this.  What are you wishing for this Christmas? Doesn't have to be as much as me, I'm one who gives lots of options to my family. :)

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 6: DIY Glitter Pears

I found this pin on Pinterest but could never find actual instructions for how to make them.

 Luckily I had just finished making these Glitter pumpkins from Martha Stewart so I had some ideas of how to do it so I figured why not try it. So on Thanksgiving my Mother in Law and I had a craft filled day. I just realized that I never photographed the rest of the stuff we made. Making mental note to do this. Also... I wasn't planning to share the directions on it so I didn't photograph it, I know, what kinda Blogger am I? For Shame! hehe... But honestly, its not really hard so you shouldn't need them.

Supplies Needed:
Fake Pears of assorted sizes (we found our in the floral area at our local Michaels and got the kind that were sold both individually - Large size and in a bunch - Small size)
Tacky Glue
Glitter of your choice
Foam brush
Newspaper

Steps-

Step 1 - I like to create little stations so I don't make a mess. For this project one station is a glue and wait station and the other is a glitter station.
Step 2 - Pour glue onto newspaper and dip foam brush into and "paint" glue onto your Pear.
Step 3 - Move to Glitter station and pour an obnoxious amount of Glitter ALL OVER your pear.
Step 4 - Let it sit with the obnoxious amount of Glitter on it for a few hours, then you can shake some of the excess glitter off of it. And the put it in your favorite bowl, vase or tabletop, mine would be sitting in a cute porcelain santa sleigh if I didn't have 2 kitties who like to play with the pears and glitter.

Things I would suggest: 

Apply extra glitter on it so that you don't end up with some "bald" spots like mine did, you know, the spots where you can still see the pear. You could easily fix this by making these in a well lit area.
You can use spray adhesive if you'd prefer, just be sure to do it in a well ventilated area. We would have done this, but had already used a ton of it earlier that day and to be honest I was tired of having sticky fingers from the spray adhesive.

That's it. Not too difficult at all.  Let me know if you end up making it!

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 5: Tip, Tricks and Techniques

Truth be told, I get stressed a lot. So I'm super susceptible to cold sores. I'm really good at telling right before I'm going to get one that I calm down and take some prescription meds and usually that will help. WELL Friends... this weekend I was stressed and it was cold, so I was running the heat a lot more than normal which dries up my skin and makes it irritable. But this past weekend I was in Knoxville for a workshop and to model for the workshop. Low and behold my little friend decided to show up cause I was stressed, modeling is a stressful thing and I was so nervous. I know I act all cool but really I was WAY nervous. I didn't have any meds, the Pharmacy was closed, and all I could get was my over the counter stuff. So first thing Sunday I went to the Pharmacy, picked up my prescription and stopped it, but it had already started to form. So it wasn't going to get worse, but it wasn't gonna be gone in 3 hours for my photos.  What was I to do? Well I didn't do anything. I went to the makeup gal, who was awesome and she taught me the most amazing tip ever. Now, I don't think I'd do this EVERY day that I have the cold sore. But what I would do is use this technique on those must hide it days, like my modeling gig last Sunday, and say... my husbands Christmas party (hopefully it will be gone by then, but you never know). Follow the instructions on the Liquid Bandaid, don't drink it, or eat it.  And do this at your own discretion.

How to hide a Cold Sore on the fly:

Supplies needed:
Liquid Bandaid
Abreeva (or something to keep it hydrated)
Concealer
Powder
Lipstick

Steps:
1- Look at your sad cold sore (image 1)
2- Make sure you have applied something to hydrate it before because you will not be able to add this after. Apply 1 layer of Liquid Bandaid (image 3). The package says you can do 2, but I'd recommend just one because it can make it bumpy which is what we don't want. We want a flat surface so that you can apply makeup over it. (image 2)
3- It looks a little shiny even after its dried (image 4)
4- Apply a layer of concealer. I tried to use my L'oreal stuff but it was a little to liquidy, so I tried my Smashbox stuff and that did the trick. I applied it with a sponge so that things stayed sanitary. I also applied a little powder over the top and around the rest of the mouth to try and keep the coloring the same. (image 5)
5- Apply some lipstick or your favorite gloss and go out for the night.

Mine lasted a good 5 hours before it became a little more noticeable. This may not work for you but it worked for me and saved me from looking like a hot mess.

Let me know if you end up trying this. I know this isn't the end all of hiding a cold sore but thought it was pretty neat.

P.S. Sorry for sharing my ugly cold sore, but I thought maybe this would help someone since I'd never heard of this.

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 4: Music by Travis

Some of you may not know this already but hubs and I are from California originally. We've been in Nashville for about 5 years, 5 LONG years. Nothing wrong with Nashville, I love it, but nothing is as good as home.   Out in LA there is a radio station called KROQ and their morning show, Kevin and Bean, has always been my favorite. In fact, we both love it so much that we listen online so we can still get our bit of home.  For quite a few years they would put out a Christmas CD. A collection of artists that we like, singing rad Christmas songs that we love.  All the songs are awesome, all the cd's are awesome, and if you can find them somewhere online then you should buy them. We own them, we're lucky enough to have friends local that would buy them for us and send them. My most favorite song from ANY of the albums is River performed by Travis. Oh goodness. Its amazing. I can't find the actual song because its exclusive to the cd, so buy it at the link I found on Amazon. Hopefully you'd find it and actually get it. Anyway... I DID find a clip on Youtube. So you can listen to whole clip, or skip to 3:35 in when the song starts but I listened to the whole clip cause its kinda neat to hear his accent. ;)  Ok. Hope you enjoy.

P.S. I hope you're enjoying my Daily Christmas. I know it's a bunch on nonsense, but its stuff I think is cool so I hope you think its cool too.
P.P.S. If you like my posts and want to stay up to date follow me on Bloglovin here:  

Until tomorrow.

xo, Steph

25 Days of Christmas - Day 3: Movies and Mr Magoo

My dad, oh my dad... Growing up we had this VHS (you hear that kids a VHS) that my dad had recorded on the VCR (that one too kids) and we would watch it every Christmas more than a few times.  I never really enjoyed it, to be quite honest with you. I was a kid and I was super bratty and I didn't want to do what we did as a family... like watch the 7 different Christmas movies he had recorded onto that VHS. Fast forward to last year I was talking to my dad on the phone. I asked him to burn me a copy of that VHS onto a DVD and send it to me. I really missed those old Christmas movies that I had grown up loving! He said he wasn't sure if he would be able to because he didn't have a recorder. So I told him to send it to me since we had one. Well... a few days later I checked my mail and found a package in there from my dad. He had found a dvd set that basically had every movie from the VHS on it. Clearly someone knew I would have a need for this. So now I have this wonderful DVD set that I love watching. I make David sit with me so I can watch the best one of the whole set, Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol. How funny is it to see Mr. Magoo get into all those crazy situations, he's like the original Mr. Bean but in a cartoon. HA!  So this is the DVD set I have. Filled with lots of fun memories that I had as a kid. It makes me happy and sappy all at the same time. I won't lie to you internet, I cry almost everytime I watch this DVD.

P.S. Kids if you're reading this, enjoy your time as a kid watching dumb Christmas movies cause when you're almost 30 you will miss that time. FOR SURE!
xo, Steph

25 days of Christmas - Day 2: DIY Calendar

Calendars are like one of my most favorite things ever. I have this bad BAD habit of buying between 4-5 different calendars. When Dave and I got together we combined our calendars, he's just as bad as I am, I swear we had about 10 of them and I'm not even exaggerating, so we decided that since we had no where else to put that we would decorate our entire bedroom with Calendars. We did not have any decorations, just calendars. So we always knew what day it was. Currently in my office I have 5, 2 hanging, 2 daily and 1 day planner dealy. I'm really bad at changing the daily ones, even bad at changing the monthly but by the 15th I've usually gotten tired of looking at the tiny calendar in the corner of the previous month that I change it and then the cycle continues. So when I get the chance to be crafty with my calendars I am excited. Monthly I get this printable calendar email from Scout Creative, but I never put them together because I'm at work and I don't have glue. Well people... this month was MY month, I didn't have glue but I didn't care. I printed that bad boy off and swore up and down, crossed my heart that I was going to do this calendar and it was going to look great.... WELL.... I'm not so sure that it turned out quite like theirs, but it turned out at least. Oh and they do these calendars monthly so sign up for their newsletter cause its fun to get these in your inbox.

Here is what you need:

• Print off the Scout Creative Monthly calendar found here.
• Scissors
• Glue (probably a glue stick and not tape like I did)
• Nimble fingers

Then follow the instructions that are on the print out. First of all, I'd recommend not using tape like I did. I swore I could get away with it. You can't. Now you know. Second, you should probably learn what Mountain fold and Valley fold mean. I didn't, I just folded it where ever I wanted. Probably not a good idea. Thirdly, is thirdly even a word (?), don't get discouraged when your fat fingers can't make the tape stick. Its normal I bet, but you shouldn't have the problem if you follow my first tip. Thats all my tips for you, here are some pictures I took while doing it over my lunch break the other day. There aren't many photos cause I made this on a whim and self timer on my phone = not so good and easy to work.

Cut Cut Cut...

Fold Fold Fold

Nutcracker Head and Crown

All finished... Now can I go eat my greek yogurt?

This is where it will live till the end of December... Or the middle of January.

xo, Steph

P.S. This isn't a sponsored post. I'd tell you if it was, its just a cool freebie project. Fun for the holidays.

25 days of Christmas - Day 1

I have this plan. The plan is to write about 25 Christmas things over the next 25 days. I was fully intending of doing 30 days but then remembered when I was 28 days out from Christmas that maybe that wasn't going to happen. So we're going to stick with 25, and you should forget that I just told you that. HA!

Okay, today is Music. I was recently exposed to Phil Wickham, and his Christmas album Songs for Christmas.  Its a pretty awesome album, like SUPER AWESOME!!! Currently it is the only CD sitting in my car... That's not entirely true, its the only CD sitting in my CD player that I've been listening too. Gooo Christmas!!!

Anyway... today's song is O Come O Come Emmanuel, and its amazing. I usually like that song, its not one that I would put on repeat but I like it enough. There is just something about the way it was arranged on his CD that is just amazing- keep playing it on repeat amazing. Check it out here yo! And if you like this, then check out the rest of the album and buy it on iTunes or try to find it on CD. :) P.S. It sounds really awesome when its cloudy and dark and you have loud bass in your car, not that I would know, its just what I heard... from my car.

On Spotify here: Phil Wickham – O Come O Come Emmanuel

xo,Steph