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Ever since I was a little girl, one of my favorite holiday traditions is making a wish list. Even if you don't get anything on your wish list, it's still fun to write one. In the book I'm reading, it says "anticipation of happiness is sometimes greater than the happiness actually experienced. All the more reason to revel in anticipation." If you always got what you wanted how much fun would that be? ;)
For more ideas, check out my pinterest.
The whole night Zac kept saying "are they going to play 'One Big Holiday'?, they better play 'One Big Holiday'!". Toward the end, he looked at me with the saddest face + said "they aren't going to are they?". He said that the last time we saw them he didn't really like them yet + didn't know how great of a song that was, etc., etc. haha. It was their last song + Zac went wild :) We were jumping up + down + clapping. It was so fun :) I think people thought we were nuts.
♥
One of the best nights
I can cross 23. See some great shows off the list for sure now.
Zac + I went to Florida this weekend to visit his Dad + to see My Morning Jacket!!! We had such a great time. It's always too short of a trip.
We flew into West Palm + had our second lunch/snack at Grease Burger Bar. It was yummy + I loved the atmosphere. We sat on the patio since we had a sweet little puppy named Remi with us.
We drove to Boca Raton after that + checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. It was beautiful + I loved the Christmas lights in the palm trees.
We had dinner that night at Seagrill in the hotel. The menu was really fun + I had some of the best fish I've ever had.
Zac fell in love with Remi the first time he laid eyes on him, haha. Everywhere we went people stopped + asked "what kind of dog is that? how big do they get?". It became quite comical. So...if you are wondering (and I'm sure you have to be, haha)...He's a Shibu Inu + will be around 20 lbs. :)
The next day we went for a walk on the beach. There were tons of jelly fish. I've never seen anything like it. There were huge ones + then these smaller blue ones.
We went to Ft. Lauderdale on the third day + took the boat out. We just cruised around the intracoastal waterway. It was a pretty windy day, but it was warm + sunny.
I was super excited to find out that the hotel had a Serendipity:) So I begged Zac to have dinner there before the concert. We all got giant foot long hot dogs + I was the only one who didn't get chili cheese. Zac + I had the frrrozen hot chocolate for dessert. It was really good, but I think you have to be in NYC to have the full experience.
That night was the My Morning Jacket concert + one of our favorite nights of all time :) I think that deserves it's own blog post tomorrow.
I spent my afternoon being pricked + stuck with needles. Fun stuff! I've had allergies + sinus infections for as long as I can remember. This year I decided to have sinus surgery + now start allergy shots to hopefully make things a lot better. Today I had the allergy testing done + it was way more painful than I remembered (I had it done when I was younger). Like more painful than my tattoo painful. Then they make you sit there while the itchy reaction takes over + you're not allowed to scratch. I didn't have a reaction to a few things at first so she had to come back + this time she brought bigger needles to administer more of the allergens. Yep. Needless to say, I'm allergic to everything (which I already knew). Grass + trees were the worst. I started to get really excited at first because dog + cat were not showing up, but no such luck. For the next 3-6 years I will have to get a shot once a week + work myself up to just once a month. My mom has been going for 6-7 years + they told her today that she is done. She was pretty excited. The doctor told me I should sue her for giving this to me, haha.
It's been 6 hours later + my arm is still red. I wonder how long it will last? Do any of you have allergies? Ever taken allergy shots? Do you think it helped? At least it's an excuse to get out of dusting, right?
This month we sketched at the corner of Central + Cooper. It is such a busy intersection + it was also the St. Jude marathon that day. We got a kick out of listening to the cops direct traffic + the drivers that were not happy at all. When it got quiet enough, you could hear the Christmas music playing from Midtown Nursery. I got there an hour early because I mixed up the time. I decided to do a longer sketch with only watercolor of the Mapco from my car:
Then I sketched the nursery on the opposite corner:
One of the cops said we better draw him, so I did (when he would stay still enough):
My last two sketches were of the traffic light + trestle with runners under it (they were my favorites of the day):
On Sunday, we finished decorating the tree + listened to side B of A Very She & Him Christmas.
I love decorating the tree with old ornaments from my childhood + some before I was even born. The past two years, Zac's mom has found some of his ornaments + given them to me. So sweet. We went to the same schools growing up, but he was a year older. I'll pull out an ornament + he'll say "I remember making one of those!". I think it's neat. I wonder how many times our paths have crossed over the years. Don't you wish you could rewind + see?
These are some of my newer favorites (right top: my mom gave us this one last year when we were engaged, middle: our Christmas cards this year, bottom: my maid of honor + bestie gave us that one):
And older favorites:
We also made salt dough ornaments. I'm sure I've made these before but I really don't remember. I've been wanting to make them the past few years. They were really easy + fun to do. I halved this recipe (and still had leftover dough).
We still need to finish painting + varnishing them. I'll show you when we're done :) What are some of your all time favorite ornaments? Do you buy new ones or use vintage ones?
Friday night we bought new white lights for our tree + put them on the tree :) We got twinkly ones. I think we could have used one more strand.
We listened to A Very She + Him Christmas side A.
Zac bought an Air Hog helicopter along with the Christmas tree lights, haha. I had to tease him about it. I'm not sure we ever really grow up, but is that such a bad thing? If you could only see the excitement in his eyes.
Vera got a kick out of it too. She's scared of it, but she likes chasing it (and not when Zac is shooting missiles at her...really?). I don't think she likes it in the condo + neither do I, haha. It's hit the christmas tree ornaments a few times too many ;)
Ahh!!! I just downloaded this + only listened for 2 seconds, but I'm in love. Is there anything better than Jim James' voice singing Christmas carols? I think not! Haha.
We are going to see My Morning Jacket this weekend + I cannot wait!!!
I also just got the new Black Keys- El Camino:
Are you lusting over any albums that came out today?
Thursday night Zac + I got our Christmas Tree :) I was excited all day! We went to Country Gardens again. They are so nice + they serve wassail (a Christmas drink with mulling spices, orange juice, red hots, apple cider, etc.). We knew we wanted a smaller tree, but the 5-6' were too small + the 8' were too big. We found the perfect 7 1/2' skinny (or it seemed skinny at the time, haha) Fraser Fir.
Then we got dinner at our neighborhood Mexican place (Zac is obsessed with Mexican food!). They have a guy that sings every Thursday night + he's pretty good. We had him play "Time of the Season" by the Zombies (our current favorite song since the Yellow Ostrich concert).
Our tree barely fit...We had to cut off a little bit of the top. It appeared much fuller once we brought it inside too, haha.
It was a fun night :) Do you usually get a real tree or artificial? I'm all about the real trees (even though I'm sure I'm allergic!). We always get Fraser Firs too.
It all started in 2009.
This year I printed a calendar to try to do the more time consuming things on the weekend + the easier things on the week days. Plus, we had to schedule around a few things ;)
This year I ordered a download from Draw Pilgrim! You're supposed to make them into match boxes, but I really just wanted to cut them + write the activity on the back + stick into the pockets of our advent calendar. I've been using the same advent calendar since I was little. My mom would always put hershey kisses in the pockets :)
Here is a list of some of the activities we are going to do:
What are your holiday traditions? Do you have a special advent calendar or activity?
