Favorite Stocking Stuffers

Now that I have throughly enjoyed my Thanksgiving my brain is in full Christmas mode.  My birthday is on Christmas and I think that just adds to my love of Christmas but it also means that everyone is asking me what I want for Christmas and for my birthday.

While I try to think of things that I want here are a few things I am thinking of getting for other people.

Growing up my sisters and I could always count on getting socks and underwear in our stockings on Christmas morning.  Now as an adult I love to give (and receive) Hanky Panky to my favorite girls.  I have lots of other pairs of underwear but my Hanky Panky are the ones I wear almost everyday so I know whoever I give them to will gets lots of use out of them.







Another thing I am planning to get multiple people on my list is this cute little power outlet cube.  It has regular power outlets and spots for USB cables.  There are other versions of this power cube but the thing I like about this one is that it comes with outlet adapters so it can be used in multiple other countries.  I can think of many people in my life who will take full advantage of this feature. An added bonus is that this product is purple and we all know how I feel about purple things.





Another great easy thing to put in someone's stocking is cute little notepads.  I am a huge list maker both at home and at work so I know I can never have too many notepads so I give them to others too. These Kate Spade notepads look perfect for stockings.



All this talk about stocking stuffers has helped me think of a few things that I would like in my stocking but knowing my loved ones I am going to have to come up with a few more things to put on my list for Santa.  Happy beginning of the Christmas season!

What's Up Wednesday!

I had fun doing this the last few months so I am linking up with What's Up Wednesday again.

What we're eating this week:  Well obviously tomorrow we are eating turkey but I also made a Quiche Loraine this week. Last month we were down at my parent's house and my mom had made quiche to take to an event.  She had a leftover one so we took it home with us and my husband fell in love with it.  He apparently thought all quiches were boring and gross because the only one had ever had was some kind of spinach one.  Ever since he tried my mom's quiche he has been asking me to make another one so I finally got around to asking my mom for the recipe and making it.

What I'm reminiscing about: I am of course still (and will continue to be) thinking about my California wedding.  I had so much fun and I love seeing all the pictures everyone took. Many more posts and pictures to come but read the first few posts here, here and here.

What I'm loving: I am loving that while I am having another wedding in June I am officially and legally married to my husband.  I love calling him my husband and get butterflies every time I say it.

What we've been up to: Well, if getting married wasn't enough excitement for the month of November I also got a promotion at work.  I have a brand new position in my department at work.  I had to take a test and do two interviews to get the position so needless to say I worked hard to get the new position and am very happy about it.

What I'm dreading: I am trying to keep a positive attitude at the moment.  There are some things happening around me that I have no control over so I am just trying to focus my energy on the positive and not dwell on what I can't change.

What I'm working on: I am currently working on sending out thank you notes to all the people who came to my little shower and also thank you notes to all the fabulous people who came came to my California wedding.  I want to get the notes sent out this weekend before the time gets away from me.

What I'm excited about: I am totally a Christmas girl so I can hardly contain my excitement about the upcoming season.  I love everything from decorating a tree, to buying presents to going to look at all the pretty lights in the park near our house.  Last year my husband and I went to see the lights/display at Christmas in the Park and then went and had hot chocolate in a nearby hotel lobby.  I can't wait to do it again this year.

What I'm watching/reading: I am still watching Grimm, The Blacklist and Agents of Shield with my husband but over the weekend I watched the first couple of episodes How to Get Away with Murder and I think I like it.  The first season is on Nexflix but not all the second season is on Hulu so I am not sure what I will do when I get through the first season.

What I'm listening to: Mostly whatever comes on my Pandora which is usually a mix of country and a random mix of 90s-00s pop music.  Everyone needs some Britney in their life every once in a while. I have been working on a project at work that is a bit repudiative so my headphones have been on a lot this week.

What I'm wearing: I had a gift card to The Loft so I bought myself two new shirts.  This lace blouse came last week and when I wore it with my jeans on Friday I got so many complements.

It looked great with my jeans but I know it will also looked good tucked into one of my many pencil skirts.  As part of my new position I have a feeling I am going to be attending more meetings so my many pencils skirts are going to be getting lots of use.

The other shirt didn't arrive until last night so I am wearing it today. This pretty floral blouse also looks great with my jeans but can be worn tucked into a pencil skirt on the days I have to be a little more dressed up.

What I'm doing this weekend: Well I, like most of the county, will be doing some combination of eating, shopping, relaxing and hanging out with family.  I am having Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family and went to his mother's house last weekend to decorate her house.  I took most of the decorations down at my condo and put them up at her place so it would feel all festive. I have a partial list of what I want to buy our friends and family for Christmas so I am hoping to at least finish making the list if not also buy many of the presents.

What's Your Favorite Christmas Tradition?: I am a huge fan of pretty much everything Christmas so to pick just one favorite tradition is really hard.  I love buying presents for people and watching them open them but I guess I have to say my favorite tradition is decorating my Christmas tree.  Even when I lived alone I always made sure I had a real tree to decorate and admire during the Christmas season.

Quiche Loraine

A few weeks ago my husband (it is so fun to say that) and I were at my parent's house.  While we were there my mom gave us a quiche loraine to take home and my husband fell in love with it.  I got the recipe from my mom so I could make it again and here it is.

1 9 inch pre-made pie crust (I use the kind in a red box)

1/2 lb bacon

5 eggs

2 cups cream

3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese

a dash of salt

a good sized dash of pepper

a dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Put the bacon in a skillet and cook it until crispy and then drain the excess fat

While the bacon is cooking grate the cheese. You can also mix the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a bowl and mix with a wire whisk while the bacon is cooking.

Carefully put the pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan and then place the bacon in the bottom of the crust

Put the cheese on top of the bacon and then carefully pour the liquid into the shell

Bake for 1 hour to 1.25 hours or until the top is light brown and cracking.  You will be able to put a knife into the middle and have it come out clean when the quiche is done.

I recommend putting a foil lined cookie sheet under quiche when cooking it in case the quiche overflows a bit.

I am taking this quiche to my mother in law's house on Thanksgiving morning so we have something to brunch on while cooking our Thanksgiving dinner.  Not quite a traditional Thanksgiving food but my husband loves this quiche so he is looking forward to eating it again.

Enjoy!

The Party Before the Wedding Parties

The Thursday before my California wedding my parents hosted a little dinner party at their house for the out of California family and my cousin who couldn't come to the wedding ceremony. 

I threw together this California wedding with only about 6 weeks notice so my cousin (who is also one of my bridesmaid) already had plans for the weekend but I was very happy she was able to come to this little dinner party.  

I wore my comfy grey dress, a belt, a big necklace and because we are finally having a bit of fall weather one my many cardigans.  

Two of my aunts flew in from the Seattle area to help celebrate.  Two of my uncles flew in too but they did not end up in any pictures.  I think they were hiding from the camera!  I was so fortunate that so many people made the time to come to this wedding but are also planning to come to Hawaii to help us celebrate again.

We were also having the wedding reception at my parents house so it was very convenient that earlier this year my parents bought a dinner party at an auction.  The item they bought was a dinner at their house where a chef and waiters came in and did the whole thing start to finish.  They brought everything from the food to the decorations to the dishes and then at the end they did all the clean up and took it all away.  It made the evening really easy and low stress for everyone and my goodness the food was delicious.

There was a spread of cheese and crackers before dinner, butternut squash soup and a delicious bread pudding that didn't get photographed but here is a shot of the main course.  There was also plenty of wine flowing throughout the evening. I had to drive home that night so I couldn't have too much of the wine

The evening ended with a little bit of piano music courtesy of my dad.  

A Little Shower at Work

When I walked into work a few days before my California wedding I was surprised to see my desk all decorated in shades of purple and white.

My sneaky coworkers even managed to change the background on my computer to purple and white flowers.

There were white balloons with purple ribbons all over the place and they even decorated my pole with purple ribbon.  Gotta give the pole some love!

The common area outside of my cubical was also all decorated in purple and white.  This common area is where we have any sort of smaller celebrations so I knew something must be in the works for later in the day.

I had been wearing a purple sweater the day before so all day people kept telling me if only I had known I could have worn my purple sweater that day instead.  Oh well, I would rather have had the surprise than an outfit that matched the decorations.

There was even a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers to decorate my desk.

Later in the day a delicious spread of food appeared while I was in a meeting.  Cheese and crackers are good at all times of the day.

All celebrations at work involve cake and this one was no different.  The cake was some kind of spice cake and it was delicious.

I have some awesome coworkers who planned this little wedding shower for me and I appreciate all the work that went into it.  I have to go to work everyday so it is always good to get to spend my days with fabulous coworkers.  

More wedding posts coming soon but in the mean time:

Shower by my sister in laws

A little preview

Oh So Many Wedding Posts Coming Soon!

There are so many things over the last few weeks that I don't want to forget so there will be no shortage of wedding posts coming up.  I wrote about my little shower that my sister in laws threw me last week and had a work shower too.  I am sure there are many pictures of all the events leading up to my wedding and of the wedding day out there on people's cameras (also known as phones) so once I gather them up I will go wedding post crazy. 

In the meantime enjoy a preview!

A Little Shower

Last week my two future sister in laws threw me a little bridal shower/bachelorette party thing.  It will come as no surprise that there was a lot of purple involved in this party. I will let the pictures do the talking and won't bore you with too many words this time!

Purple nail polish party favors

Super fun veil and sash for me to wear

As part of getting married I not only gain brother and sister in laws but I get a niece.  Why, yes it is perfectly appropriate that she is holding a box of wine glasses.

All of my local cousins and one of my sisters (the local one) were able to come help me celebrate.  My other sister was missed but I am so glad she is able to come for the main event!

My new sister in laws and niece

Someone knows me well and got me a wine glass with a top and a straw in it.

Super cute placemats to use at the reception

My two wonderful sister-in-laws who threw this wonderful party for me!

Many more wedding related posts to come in the next few weeks!