Let the Busy Christmas Season Begin!

Phew, I have been so busy this week! After hosting our first Thanksgiving last Thursday, we spent the long weekend just kinda recovering and slowly getting out Christmas decorations. 

Our mantel - still getting all of the decor out!

Mom and I got crafty and made these paper trees for my mantel! It was super easy and just required a few pieces of Christmas cardstock, baker's twine, and scotch tape. My favorite part is the teeny tiny banners, obviously :) 

But what's kept me really busy is the sudden flood of Bunting and Banners orders I've received this week! Just about all day Sunday and every night this week was spent hard at work crafting beauties like this: 

Winter ONEderland First Birthday High Chair Banner, Etsy

Winter ONEderland Buffet Cards

I haven't blogged much about my little Etsy shop, so let me take this time to say how absolutely thrilled I am that it's taken off the way it has. I started up the shop on a whim in October, assuming I might make a banner or two for family members and that'd be it. Much to my surprise, I've received orders from all over the country! 

Merry & Bright, Etsy

It's been less than two months and I've already made items for weddings, holidays, and sweetest of all, first birthday parties as shown above. I'm so excited to see where this journey leads in 2014, and I feel so blessed to have contributed to so many happy celebrations thus far!

We have our tree up, but it's not getting decorated until I get the rest of these orders out! Pictures to come this weekend :) 

Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful holiday. A whole day of being thankful with your loved ones, eating delicious food, and sipping some fantastic drinks? AND there's a parade, a dog show, and football on TV? Sign me right up.

Our decorated hearth and fire going!

This year was extra special because Adam and I hosted dinner (for ten family members) for the first time. Overall, I think we did well and everyone enjoyed themselves! We deviated slightly from our planned menu, but flexibility is key right? The turkey moved from freezer to fridge on Saturday night, and I think next time we'll take it out a day earlier as he was still ever-so-slightly frozen on Thanksgiving morning. Nothing a little bath wouldn't fix!

Adam and his kitchen helper.

Dinner was planned for 3PM, so we muched on appetizers while cooking. Mom brought over two of these beautiful pumpkin pies, and I served up simple cheese and crackers.

What really makes holidays special in my family is stuffed ham. This is a delicacy found only in the southern Maryland, so it's a staple on special days like Thanksgiving. Simply put, it's sliced corned ham stuffed with kale, cabbage, spicy stuff, and just general goodness. Frankly it's probably kind of scary if you've never seen it, but if you ever see this on a dinner table, do not pass it up. It's absolutely fantastic, and even better the second day on sandwiches. 

I may or may not be salivating right now. 

Sticking to a schedule definitely helped me prepare not just for the meal, but for getting it on the table on time. The weekend before, I had made a list of little things I could do throughout the week to cut down on prep the day of. I chopped veggies, made graham cracker crusts, and sliced cheese a few days in advance. For the day of, I simply counted backwards from dinnertime to figure out what needed to be done when. 

Adam carving his first turkey

Important tip: Don't forget to allow 30 minutes at the end for the turkey to rest! This actually is the perfect time to make your gravy, hopelessly burn bake your rolls, and heat up casseroles in the oven. The schedule was instrumental in enjoying the holiday while hosting. I think it is a tradition we'll be happy to repeat each year! 

Perfect cheesecake, recipe here. Hint: skip the waterbath. The topping will cover any cracks anyway.

Happy 25th, Adam! (And a to-die-for sangria recipe)

Tonight we're celebrating Adam's 25th birthday with a few friends. We haven't hosted in months because of the wedding and crazy busy schedules, so we're both looking forward to having some people over, relaxing, and catching up.

Since we'll also be hosting Thanksgiving dinner in just a few days, I wanted to keep things low-key for Adam's birthday. The holidays are a marathon, not a sprint, folks. But of course, I couldn't resist conjuring up a new drink! 

Apple cinnamon sangria

Keeping in mind my love of all things seasonal and my desire to keep it simple, I surveyed what we already had stocked up and made the best of it. And I have to say, this ended up being one of my favorite concoctions yet! Naturally sweetened, relatively low-calorie (who are we kidding, though), and yummy autumn goodness. I present for your taste buds' pleasure, my brand new apple cinnamon sangria recipe! 

Things you'll need*:

-1 bottle of white wine (I used chardonnay we received as a wedding gift)

-1 cup Mott's apple juice

-3 cups diet ginger ale

-3 apples (I used a granny smith, a red delicious, and a gala)

-1 TBSP honey

-1/2 TBSP cinnamon
-vodka to taste

Makes 4-6 servings - I recommend doubling!

1.  Uncork your wine and pour into a large glass pitcher. If you're a complete non-wino like me, break your bottle opener in the process.

Poor crooked corkscrew.

2. Rinse and cut up your apples into 1/2-inch squares. Don't peel them, though! You'll want the color of those peels to make your sangria look as good as it tastes. Immediately put the apples into the wine to keep them from browning. 

3. Add apple juice, ginger ale, honey, and cinnamon to taste. A note on the ginger ale: don't add it yet if you prefer a more carbonated sangria. I like mine flat and more punch-like, so I added the ginger ale right away.

4. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 7 hours. This helps the flavors really blend together and infuse with one another. To kick up the proof a bit, add vodka to taste.

5. Enjoy! If you haven't added the ginger ale yet, go ahead and add it just before serving. 

*Please note, all measurements (besides the wine and apples) are totally approximated after the fact. My cooking method is to add stuff until it tastes right, which drives Adam crazy. He's a by-the-book kinda guy.

This drink is perfect for Thanksgiving! If you haven't finalized your menu yet, I highly recommend giving this a try! 

Cozumel: Where Bathing Suits are Acceptable Wedding Attire

I'm finally almost caught up with blogging! Yayyyyy!

This month, Adam and I were thrilled to attend the first weddings since our own: his best friend's, and my dad's! Unfortunately, they were on the same weekend. IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. We couldn't possibly miss either wedding, so we split and attended the respective weddings solo. I was beyond bummed to be away from Adam on what would've been a romantic vacay, but I couldn't stay sad long because I was headed off on a 4-day cruise to Cozumel with 50 of our family members and dad's friends! 

Carnival Liberty, front, docked in Cozumel

This was truly a trip of a lifetime. Getting to spend four straight days with so much of our family, all while celebrating my dad's marriage, was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I was genuinely sad that Adam was missing out on this, but I still had a blast! 

We got to spend several hours exploring Cozumel before the wedding later that afternoon. A group of about 20 of us hopped in cabs and headed to Money Bar. I'd heard raves about this place while on our honeymoon just a short distance away in the Riviera Maya. 

This place was pretty neat. Situated right on a pretty little spat of beach, Money Bar served up yummy drinks and food, and even provided snorkel equipment if you wanted to go cool off and see some fish. Surprisingly, there were quite a few to see! 

Taken underwater with my cousin Dusty's iPhone. Pretty cool, huh?

From there, we headed into downtown Cozumel to Wet Wendy's for lunch. Wet Wendy's is well-known on TripAdvisor for their massive, overflowing margaritas:

Brain freeze for one, please.

Honestly, Wet Wendy's didn't do much for me. It took us a $50 cab ride to get there, and while on the way, I asked the cabbie what he thought of the place. He didn't speak much English and simply replied "Americanos." Roughly translated, we were heading to a tourist trap. Aww, shucks. After getting spoiled with authentic Mayan food on our honeymoon, I'd been jonesing for the real deal on this trip. It was good, don't get me wrong, just not quite what I wanted, ya know? 

The wedding was so, so pretty! There was a torrential downpour about an hour or two before the wedding (apparently that's the new family tradition), but it cleared out just in time. 

My dad's new wife walking down the "aisle"! I guess we have a thing for tough terrain, too.

The ceremony was short but so, so sweet. Apparently my dad's tears on my wedding day were just the precursor to his own wedding. I'm pretty sure he cried every day of the whole trip - but it's his party, and he can cry if he wants to! :) 

After the ceremony, we all hung out for a little bit and enjoyed some margaritas before heading back to the ship. 

That's me on the far left, then my two brothers, Dad's wife, Dad, Mom-mom, and my two sisters.

Oh and if you can't tell, those are bathing suit straps in the picture above. Yup, I have now officially worn a bikini to a wedding. But that's just the kind of wedding it was! Come as you are, even if you're rolling in from the beach bar. Dad even rented a churro stand! Talk about incorporating local flavor into your destination wedding. 

My little brother, David, waiting impatiently for the stand to open!

Getting lifted by some of the crazy men in our family

All in all, an amazing bonding sesh with the fam, and a great destination wedding! 

London Calling.

Adam and I got home from the honeymoon of a lifetime late Sunday evening on Labor Day weekend. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who had fun while we were gone:

I guess we were missed!

We spent Labor Day Monday relaxing, procrastinating unpacking, and opening gifts. I took off Tuesday as well to start the name change process. Right as I was walking out the door to head to the Social Security office, I get a call from my boss. They need me to go to London on SUNDAY for a work trip, so hopefully I haven't changed my name yet and my passport is still valid? Umm heck YES, name changing can wait a week or two!

I was so excited. Europe has always been a huge item on my to-do list, and you couldn't ask for a better city than London for your first solo European excursion. Sure, leaving a whopping five days after my honeymoon wasn't ideal, but this was London, baby! There was no way I was passing up such a great opportunity. 

I landed in Heathrow late Sunday evening and caught the train to Paddington Square. 

The Tube announcer lady has the most pleasant and soothing voice of all time.

Everything looked like Harry Potter. I resisted my urge to go straight tourist and prance around London in the dark, but only because it was late and I was exhausted. All of the cabs looked exactly how I pictured them to look: 

Pip pip, cheerio.

I gave myself away as an overexcited American as soon as I opened my mouth, and my cabbie was kind enough to humor me take me to my hotel via the scenic route. Which was actually also the fastest route because my hotel was in an AMAZING location! If you ever find yourself in London, I highly recommend staying at the Doubletree Westminster. It's located just a short walk from two Tube stations, and it's right around the corner from Parliament and Westminster Abbey! 

My hotel room, with a view of the London Eye! Couldn't fit it in the picture, though. Bollocks.

Oh, this was just my commute for the week. NBD.

Westminster Abbey

 I truly don't have any regrets in life, but if I was hard-pressed to pick something, I do wish I was able to travel more. Navigating my way around a foreign city brought such a sense of confidence, and I was pretty good at it! After just a day or two, I didn't even need to use my GPS app to get around. The Tube App was an absolute godsend as well. The Tube is beautifully simple once you get the hang of it. 

This isn't as complicated as it looks.

After I was done working each day, I liked to head to Oxford Street and do a little window shopping. It was here that I discovered the eighth wonder of the world that is Topshop. This store is ahhhhmazing. I also did typical Brit things in the evenings, such as sampling fish and chips (not a huge fan) and hanging out in pubs (definitely a huge fan). 

Discovered my new favorite drink. Unfortunately it costs a million dollars to ship to the states.

On the last day of the trip, I was fortunate enough to have time for a little sightseeing. Naturally, that meant a doubledecker bus tour and seeing the Tower of London! The history buff in me pretty much geeked out all day. Execution sites and royal jewels on display? Sign me up. 

That's where they keep the jewels. Mmmm jewels.




You don't want to go into the Tower of London that way.

Next thing I knew, the week was over and it was time to head home. It was an amazing week, but I was excited to finally get some down time with my husband! Skype just isn't as good as the real deal.
Until next time, London!