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.

Catching up

The last time I legit blogged about something was mid-October...and pretty much everything in my life has happened since then. Okay, that may be a bit hyperbolic, but it sure feels like everything always happens in October. The whole month is always a whirl-wind of activity to say the least, and this year was no different: Green Bay Packers pep rally when my boys were in town to hand the Texans their one loss of the season; my annual Halloweenie Roast; and the lovely Katie got married at the end of the month. Add in some really great job news, and you'll understand why my first weekend in November looked like this.

So in one blog post or less, here is my October:

Packers Everywhere Pep Rally
What other NFL team hosts pep rallies for local fans at away games? Packers Everywhere is a pretty cool little side project the team's marketing department has so you can connect with fans on game day, no matter what city you're in and share your love all things Packers. Each season they select a handful of cities to host a pep rally in. This year Houston was a lucky winner, and since the bar they chose was a hop, skip and jump away from where we live in this city of millions, my mom and I donned our best green and gold gear and headed over to check it out.

Personal nerd highlight: getting to hear Vic Ketchman (center photo, guy speaking), one of the writers for packers.com, talk about the match-up against the Texans and answer fan questions about the rest of the season. He writes a weekly "Ask Vic" column that I just adore - his sarcasm and wit in his answers is perfect.


A Very Harry Halloweenie Roast
It went by in a flash for me, and I really, REALLY wish I would have discovered THIS before the party...not three weeks later (*sigh*), but the Halloweenie Roast was a success. Though not many weenies were actually roasted this year, I think everyone loved the Harry Potter theme. I was so impressed with how all my friends got into the theme, and there were some great costumes (Tonks, Lupin and yes - even little Teddy! - were perfection), foods (goblin brains = YUM) and potions (Baslisk Blood? I wanted to drink every last drop & had to ask for the recipe following the party).

I may have had a little too much fun planning and decorating for the theme too - when you're making your own Bertie Bott's and Chocolate Frog boxes (complete with chocolate frog and trading card...) and hanging candles from the ceiling to recreate the Great Hall, you may have gone a little over the top...

I'm not sure another Halloweenie Roast will ever live up to this one, but it sure was fun.


Katie's Getting Married!
The last weekend of October, I ventured up to Oklahoma for Katie and Jonathan's wedding. Though Katie and I have only known each other for five years, we share a love to music (yes, Hanson) and Gilmore Girls that cannot be denied. She's Sookie to my Lorelai - or vice versa, depending on the day.

Katie was kind enough to ask me to be a bridesmaid (dress #3, just 24 more to go!), and though for me the whole day is kind of a blur and I'm not sure if I sat down longer than the time it took for me to eat...it was fantastic to share in her wedding day from start to finish.

KUUUUULAAAAA!


Whew, I'm tired just thinking about all this again...how was your October?

Halloweenie Roast Preview

Me as a Care Bear...circa Halloween 1987-ish.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

No, I'm not talking about Christmas. The most wonderful time of the year in my world is early fall. Why? Because it means Halloween is coming!

I'm not quite sure when the full-blown obsession started, but for as long as I can remember I've always loved Halloween. Perhaps its from reading too many books growing up. I've always liked living in someone else's world, so the idea of being someone (or something) else, only if for a night, has always been appealing.

I also love all the folklore surrounding Halloween - why we put out pumpkins, why children are supposed to dress up as scary creatures. And I loved trick-or-treating when I was little - trolling the streets with my neighborhood friends, trying to hit up every last house in the subdivision. (There's exactly 200. Not sure we ever got them all, but we came close in fifth grade!)

But my absolute favorite part of trick-or-treating was sitting at the kitchen table afterwards, trading away candy for as many Sweet Tarts as I could get. I think one year I managed to trade (I'd even part with my Snickers bars in some cases) for more than 200 packets of those. I'm not big on candy, but those are still one of my favorites.

I might not be able to go trick-or-treating anymore, but adulthood has brought my annual Halloweenie Roast as my main form of celebration. Each year I invite my friends over to drink witches brew and roast hot dogs over the fire in the backyard while listening to my ever-evolving Halloween playlist. As we get older, I see this evolving into a fun dinner party with disgustingly delicious Halloween treats.

Last year I started doing themes just to jazz it up a bit (masquerade - I was so impressed by everyone's masks!), so I decided this year's soiree should pay homage to the beloved Harry Potter. I've been dreaming up ideas for the past week or so for decorations, a few games and some cool prizes for my guests. Yesterday I took the plunge and snagged a few general Halloween-ish things on Etsy I've been eyeing.

Here's a sneak peek at Halloweenie Roast IV:

Disgusting Drink Labels by iDIYjr on Etsy

I saved wine bottles for a friend's wedding shower decor recently. I had a good variety of sizes and bottle colors, so I decided to reuse them for Halloween since my dad very patiently took all the labels off the bottles for me. Between these labels (so fun!) and some candles I'm excited to incorporate these into my decor this year.

Halloween Bunting Pennants by Mary's Montage on Etsy

I kind of love the pennant Pinterest craze even if it's overdone at this point. It's just such an easy, creative way to decorate and add color. I fell in love with these vintage-y Halloween ones - and I'm super excited to have the file for the rest of forever so I can print these for years to come.

Spooky Halloween Mix paper straws by Glitter Daisy on Etsy

Another kind of overdone Pinterest craze I love is paper straws. I love straws. (Seriously. I think the only time I don't use a straw is when I sip wine or drink beer from a bottle...and even then, I've been known to stick a straw in a Bud Light Lime and be mocked mercilessly by my dad and brother for it.) I think these are super cute and festive update to the orange-straw-black-cup combo I've used in years past for my Halloweenie Roast.

Skeleton hand glasses from Terry's Village

I'm always looking for new things to add to my Halloween collection that I can use for years to come. I fell in love with these glasses back in July (yes, Halloween planning starts that early) and was excited to order some. They only hold two ounces of liquid, so they're not great for drinks unless we're all sipping champagne (not likely at a backyard weenie roast...) but I have a special plan for these this year. Maybe they'll evolve into champagne flutes when I transition this event to a dinner party down the road.

I'm keeping all my Harry Potter party ideas under wraps so my guests are surprised. I may have delved a bit too deeply into that last night... I definitely fell down a rabbit hole that I climbed out of very quickly when I started considering costs, but I've found some fantastic ideas and came up with a few of my own that really excite me. It's all about the details. I can't wait to put everything together.