Fizzies Taste Test!

For Christmas, Santa left my brother, sister-in-law and I some fun retro candies in our stockings. Charms. Fizzies. Zotz, which are my personal fave. On Christmas night we decided to do a little taste test of Fizzies - an "instant sparkling drink!" Here's the results.

We followed the directions VERY closely.

First we tossed - yes, TOSSED as shown in the directions - our Fizzie tablets into eight ounces of water.

Then we carefully watched the Fizzies at counter-level. Here's an extremely exciting video of me tossing my Fizzies tablet in to my cup and watching as it fizzes:

They're DONE!

Enjoying! Justin had Blue Razz, Stacey had Cherry and I had Root Beer. Justin gave them one shrug and chugged his AND Stacey's.

Stacey and I on the other hand had very similar reactions. (And Stacey asks me to remove this picture in 3...2...1...) All three tasted pretty watered down and kind of metallic-y.

Verdict: taste definitely did not measure up to the novelty...but still fun to test out together.

Elf on the Shelf

So a few days into December I came home from work, went upstairs to my bedroom to change into my PJs for the night and felt like I was being watched. I looked all around for the prying eyes burning a hole through me and spotted this little guy:

He was literally an elf on my shelf. (And thankfully not that creepy trademarked Elf on the Shelf...) Growing up we had an elf that sat on top of our grandfather clock in the entry way - but he didn't move around and have night time adventures like today's EOTS. I think it's a fun tradition to have though, and I've enjoyed the blogs I've read about that person's elf's adventures.

I expressed my amusement at having an elf on MY shelf to my mother and said I sure hope he enjoyed his stay and exploring different parts of my room. HINT. HINT.

Well...it took *ahem* Elfie a few days to get his act together and play the game correctly, but once he did I found him in some fun spots:

My favorite one? Elfie spent quite a bit of time going through ALL my earrings and various "bling," so I didn't notice at first when he moved on to meet Clay. Last weekend I was laying on my bed catching up on TV shows via Hulu, and I heard something fall between my bed and the wall - with the faintest chime of a jingle bell. It startled me and I had ZERO clue what that sound might have been. I bounced around on my bed a few times, trying to recreate the sound to no avail. I shrugged it off.

My mother informed me a few days later she had to rescue Elfie when she heard his cries from being trapped. Poor Elfie...

Proof that even at 28.7 years old, Christmas can still be a little magical.

Christmas Cookie Exchange

Saturday Amanda hosted a Christmas Cookie Exchange at her new house. I haven't been to one since we did it in Girl Scouts growing up and I don't usually attend many Christmas parties, so I was looking forward to it.

Unfortunately the weather on Saturday made me a bit Grinchy...80+ degrees with a pressure headache and frizzy hair, courtesy of lingering humidity, didn't make me feel very holly and jolly. Luckily some snacks and Amanda's Amaretto Punch changed that. It was a small group of the usual suspects in attendance, but it was nice to sit and catch up, play games and snack on everyone's baked goods.

I still haven't had a chance to sample all the goodies I took home, but Tammi's chocolate chip cookies were pretty tasty. (So was her fudge - deliciously smooth. Mmm...) I made pecan pie cookies (bottom right) that were pretty good - but if I do them again, they'll be smaller for a better cookie-to-pie-filling ratio.

I loved all Amanda's festive Christmas food - the olive penguins were my favorite. What did we do before Pinterest?

Angela, Tammi and I hung around for awhile after everyone else left and got crafty! Always the artist, Amanda had spray painted some ice cream cone holders left over from a Thanksgiving craft green to be Christmas trees.

Angela and baby Leland (Such a good party guest! Barely a peep from him until he was handed off me to - I don't know why I make babies cry, but I do...) made one, Tammi made an ocean tree and I...made three. I was a good guest and left them all on Amanda's mantel though. Hope she doesn't mind my out-of-season Halloween tree! :)

After the party and dinner, Tammi and I headed off to see "Breaking Dawn" together - finally! My four word review: well played, Melissa Rosenberg.

Now I've just got to finish the other half of my shopping this weekend and I'll be all ready for Christmas.

Christmas time is here...

A little look at my revamped holiday decor for this year:

 My own mini-Christmas tree. And I thought a
string of 100 lights was going to be too much...

  If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my Scrappy Christmas garland
I found on Pinterest. I used LED lights instead of incandescent since they're cool
to the touch. Since I didn't have ribbon scraps lying around, I used a bunch of red
and green fabric scraps my mom gave me and mixed in some hot pink and 

lime green tulle to match the color scheme of my pennants I found online. I took
about four hours to tie everything on (and that was with my mom cutting fabric
strips for me), but well worth the time investment. I love it - and want to make
another one for Halloween! (Shocker, right?) I think next time I'll use all fabric.

Scrappy Garland close-up.

I posted this last week. Pinterest has made me fall in love with pennants.
Here's where I found these (for free!). The file includes some additional
printables too - like a party invite and place cards.

Here's the one I made with the Christmas trees. I like
throwing in the less conventional shapes to mix it up! 

Even made my bathroom festive. (I really just
like any excuse to decorate with lights...) 

Christmas shopping fail

weheartit.com

I had a single goal for today: knock out as much of my in-person Christmas shopping as I possibly could. I ate my Christmas donuts, drank my gingerbread coffee, took a shower and headed out to conquer my shopping list.

Within five minutes in the first store, I was reminded why I hate Christmas shopping oh-so-much: all that hustle and bustle that holiday shopping brings. For some, it's fun. For me, it's torture. It's people running you over with their shopping carts; people invading your personal space because they're so focused on their own shopping agenda, they don't notice you standing there; people hovering because you're in their way...even though you were standing there first; small children pushing past you, even if you're tucked out of the way.

This consumerism-on-steroids time of year voids people of any consideration for others (and isn't consideration for others what this whole holiday season is about?), and it drives me insane. How hard it is to say excuse me if I'm in your way or you bump in to me as you pass by?

After little success finding what was on my list, I've decided my new shopping strategies:

avoid box stores like the plague (I swear that checker at Target is a future serial killer...)
shop at more local stores (unique gifts are better anyway)
shop online (my Amazon cart is filled to the brim right now)

And that concludes this Grinchy holiday moment. I hope your shopping is going better than mine.

(On the upside...I finished decorating for Christmas today, and I'm actually really, really happy with how my little tree came out. Pictures soon!)

Cause we need a little Christmas...

Trying to get in the holiday spirit, but it's a little difficult when it's 80+ degrees outside. Also difficult when you get Mariah Carey-bombed just three days in to the holiday season. Nov. 26 at 12:02 p.m. - that's how long it took this year before I heard that damn song...

Now I'm sitting here, trying to convince myself if I put up my three-foot Christmas tree (read: get it out of the corner of my bedroom because it's driving me crazy there) I will feel a little more festive. If nothing else, I do love spending the month of December basking in the glow of Christmas lights indoors. I'm thinking these white lights might get left up after the month is over.

More pictures to come, including a fun holiday Pinterest project I did over the weekend and a fun printable I'm using to decorate. Being crafty seems to help me leave the Grinchy-ness behind...