Christmas, Christmas, Time is here!

This weekend was a flurry of decorating, baking, shopping, cleaning, and eating. 

I promise, by the end of today, you will be exhausted by my multiple posts referencing weekend excitement.

But first, and foremost, let's discuss the big event of the weekend.

The event that officially kicks off the Christmas season at my house.

Miss Ann's Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange.

Have you ever participated in a cookie exchange?

Chances are, you have never participated in a cookie exchange to this caliber! 

This is my 4th year.

And can we say, competition?

Can we say creativity?

First of all, let me introduce you to Ann....

Um, yeah.

She's totally one of my heroes. 

This girl is a domestic goddess.

Her house is totally to die for....

Her decor is immaculate.

And she throws a party like NO ONE else!

Every year for the last 9 years, she has hosted her cookie exchange.  And every year she doles out prizes for the best cookie and the best presentation.

And let me tell you people, the competition is FIERCE!

Tyra thought she had the corner on fierce competition, but she has never seen the likes of 10 women drooling over 1200 cookies in some of the most clever packaging you have ever seen.

Here's a picture of (most of) us (someone had to take the picture obviously...)

The varieties of cookies are always astounding with concoctions like Eggnog Cheesecake Streusel Deliciousness and Rocky Road Dreaminess and Pineapple Upside Down Amazingness. 

Ok, confession time.

I bake, but not exquisitely. 

Pineapple Upside Down Amazingness would never be something that I would just dream up. 

So I stick to basics. 

This year was a Crushed Peanut Butter Cup cookie.  (Which was really a Chocolate Chip Cookie dough with Crushed PB Cups substituted for Chocolate Chips...easy peasy!)

But packaging....

Now there's where I let my creative side take over.

And this year....

This year my cookies arrived in the belly of an Elf....

I thought it was creativity to the Nth degree....

But creativity that is pretty wins over just plain old creativity any day....

And we can't deny that Sue's creative poinsettia holders, are very, very pretty....

Buddy, the Elf may not have gotten many votes from the ladies....

But I'm guessing that the kids that it's going home to, will love it!

And those are the votes that really count!

And with the Cookie Exchange behind me, I can officially announce that Christmas season has arrived. 

My house is filled to the brim with more cookies than I know what to do with.... 

(Especially with 11 lbs of baby weight left...)

My baking has begun.

My heart is warm.

And I love this feeling!

Merry Christmas, all!!!

Weight Update # 9

It's been 2 weeks since my last weigh in.

And last week was a holiday week.

With lots of food.

And little exercise.

Time to check in and see what my trusty scale is saying about the holiday damage.

Well.

Would you look at that? 

It's a LOSS...

Not much of a loss.

Only .8 of a pound.

But still a loss after a holiday week.

I'll take it.

That puts me at just 11.2 lbs above my pre-pregnancy weight.

The goal for next week is to get under the 10 lb. mark. 

It's baby steps, people! 

BABY STEPS.

At this point, I am doing this one week at a time, one pound at a time.

And hopefully, by Valentines day, I will be there.

In the mean time, I am going to try an not focus on the fact that my sister is within 10 lbs of her pre-pregnancy weight at 10 weeks.

Because that kind of thinking could send me into a downward spiral.

And I am already planning on baking this weekend.

Just imagine the damage that kind of thinking could do....

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Num, num, num, num....  Cooooooooooooooookies!

5 Years...What a Trip!

It's hard for me to believe that it's been 5 years since this dude

Became Mr. Leah.

However, calendars don't lie.

Five years ago today, Techy and I tied the knot.

My entire life changed that day.

And since most of you probably couldn't be there for the day, I want to give you a virtual walk-through of the big day.

Some of the finer memories of our wedding....

One of Techy's favorite memories was the moment that his groomsmen and brother-in-laws-to-be coaxed him into going to the bowling alley for a little bachelor party fun.

And then proceeded to accost him

Forcing (read: pushing him out the bathroom door) him to prance around the bowling alley like this.

But then he turned around and willingly made this moment happen...

(It should be noted that there is NO indecency in this photo, despite what it looks like at first glance)

So, I don't know what to do with this info.  Except for obviously publish it on the internet.

One of my favorite memories of our wedding had nothing to do with Techy's humiliation....

And everything to do with the theme of the big day.

In case you don't know, I am theme-y girl. 

I adore themes.

I take them over the top.

And then just that much more.

The over-the-top, most-favoritest memory from my wedding, was our wedding song.

Unlike other brides, my "wedding song" was not the song played or sung DURING our wedding.

Our wedding song, will forever be the song played as my bridesmaids walked down the aisle.

Imagine the sheer magic of the moment.

A darkened church, glowing by candle light and Christmas trees.

And then you hear this....

I still get chills remembering the feeling I had as I heard it come over the intercom in the church. 

Not gonna lie.  I cry almost every time I hear it.

Among other favorite memories of our wedding day:

The hottest wedding reception in history

Snowflakes, everywhere!  (Indoors and out!)

Great friends, both new and old...

The gorgeous cream suit that I forced my mom to break tradition in order to wear...

She's never looked prettier....

Pretty rose petals...

A horse drawn carriage in the snow...

And the infamous spooked horse, that should have been an indication of what marriage is like - bumpy, exciting, and loads of fun!

All in all, the day was beautiful and very memorable.

And Honey, I would do it all over again! 

I love you, Techy!

Thanks for making the last five years, the best!

Yours.

Always.

My little hero

Last night, Little Man and I drove down to Bel Air, MD to have a hot date.

That's right. 

A date.

Without Techy.

We met someone even better (wow, am I going to be in trouble for this!  Just kidding, honey, just kidding!)

We met my little sister.

Have you met my little sister?

She pretty much rocks.

Here she is at dinner with Little Man.

Did I mention that the chick has 3 babies 3 and under?

Yeah, she's a superhero.

Wait!  Did I mention she works full time and has 3 babies 3 and under?

I know.  Amazing.

Even better?  Her husband is a police officer.

Meaning there are alot of nights where she works all day, comes home and has 3 babies 3 and under BY HER SELF.

I know, I know.

It's too much.

She's crazy capable. 

Did I mention that she had her 3rd baby just 10 weeks ago?

And the punk that she is, she's already wearing a size 10?

Um, it's been almost a year for me, and I am JUST NOW in a size 10.

So yeah.

If it weren't for the fact that I am monotheistic, I would pretty much worship her.

My Honest Opinion: Pandora Radio

You may have heard a little bit about my love affair with Pandora Radio...

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Mostly because with the help of Pandora, I have kept picking my feet up for mile after mile for almost 3 months now. 

I attribute my ability to train for even a tiny 5k without losing my mind, to Pandora.

What can I say? I get bored easily!

I make no bones about the fact that I happen to enjoy keeping my mind busy while exercising.

I need stimulation.

And since I can't really read or watch tv while running at the park, music it is.

And I am pretty particular about my music.

It has to have a nice beat (syncopation, anyone???)

I have to know every single word to the songs OR be able to make up words that I THINK are in the songs.  (Lady Gaga, anyone?)

Plus, with Pandora, you just enter in an artist who you like and Pandora will keep a constant flow of similar artists and songs coming. 

(Yes, I am explaining it for the 2 people in the world who do not understand what Pandora is....)

But, by far, the BEST feature of Pandora is that you can easily program your music stations to your liking.  You don't want techno music in your running station?  Just dislike the techno songs until it stops playing them.  (And it will...Trust me.  Pandora catches on twice as fast as Elin did!)

All that to say, I really LOVE Pandora.

And I love using it on my iPad.

It helps me clean toilets, tubs, and all things grody around my house.

Oh, and you know what's even better this time of year???

Pandora's Christmas stations!!!

So yeah.

It's love.

And I am totally in it.

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And that's my honest opinion!

(I kinda wanted to say, "And that's how Sue C's it!" but I thought that might throw the post a little over the top.  You picturing me in a red jogging suit and ranting about some random act of unkindness....  Scary, I know.)

I'm an Artiste!

I drew this for my friend Sarah for her birthday.

Just try to remain unmoved.

Helpful How-To: Vacation Planning

When Techy and I were planning our honeymoon, we daydreamed about exotic locales.

I was fantasizing about lying on a gorgeous white sandy beach in Aruba.

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Techy spent all his time researching some way to get us to Jamaica.

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Did you know that we got married the first week of December?  (If you are in touch with your inner calendar, you would know that that means I might have an anniversary coming up....  And you would be right...moving on....)

Apparently, the first week of December happens to be a big travel week for the Caribbean. 

Odd, huh?

Blame it on the snow-birders/baby boomers.

The boom in travel made all the rates for that week sky high.

And being young, and broke, and not in favor of going into debt for a week when we were going to be spending alot of time indoors, we opted for a more reasonable approach.

We headed to the Florida Keys.

Let me tell you, a flight from Philadelphia to Miami is uber cheapo.

From there we rented a car and proceeded to get-the-heck-outa-M-I-A!

Can I just say, there is nothing more quaint (quainter???) than the Keys at Christmas time.

NOTHING.

We stayed at the most adorable little inn on Marathon Key.

Where our nightly rate was all of $69 a night.

And we had a one bedroom condo to ourselves.

Kitchen included....

The view from our room was a'ight, I guess.  You know, if you are into beach huts and palm trees....

Since it was off season for the Keys (ON season for the Caribbean...), we had a ton of privacy.

There were only about 8 other people staying there, so more often than not, this is what the pool looked like.

And we had plenty of romantic sunsets.

And let's take a look at that bikini ready body:

You can't tell it from this distance, but that was the one and only time I have ever had such amazing looking legs.  Muscles and all....

The Kicker???

I STILL thought I was fat.

Oh, to be that "fat" again....

Now you may be wondering where this is going....

I mean, it is a Helpful How-To...

So where is the How-To....

Well, let me tell you, in planning our honeymoon, we used several strategies that we have continued to use when planning any and all vacations since.

And now, I am going to share them with you.

1.  Don't go into debt.
A vacation is fun.  A vacation is memorable.  But if you (read: we) want to everhave another vacation again, it is wisest to not break the bank from the get-go. 

2.  Roll with the punches.
No.  The Florida keys would not have been either of our first picks, but in the end, it was most definitely the best pick.  We knew that forking over the cold, hard ca$h for a Caribbean vacation while I was unemployed and looking for work in my new home was not a comfortable option for us.  Even with our wedding $$ chilling in the bank, we knew we would need that to live on while I was looking for work.  So we "settled" for a totally doable, adorable and private vacation. 

And I'm so glad we did!

3.  Plan for the occasion with dates in mind.
In this case, we had to work around Crazy Caribbean Snowbird week, but lots of people have other things to work around.  Holidays, School calendars, etc.  For instance, if you want to take a Disney Cruise for your honeymoon, you might not want to plan it for the first week kids are out of school or the last week of summer vacation.  Just saying.

4.  Can we say Hurricane Season????

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There is nothing that can ruin a perfectly good vacation like a hurricane.  If you are heading to a tropical locale during hurricane season, it might be wise to add in the optional hurricane insurance.
Again, totally up to you, we never have (because we are cheap) but there have definitely been times I wished we had!

5.  Just because this isn't the year, doesn't mean it won't happen.
When we had to pass on our dream Caribbean vacation, we started saving. 
We set a deadline, even.
And last year, we went on our dream Caribbean vacation.

And it was soooooooooo worth the wait!

6.  If it's a honeymoon, common sense goes a loooooooooooong way.
Let's face it.  Honeymoons are geared toward one thing.  The goal is to make that one thing as easy as possible.  New places, new foods, new things are not the highlight of a honeymoon.  The goal is to have fun and...well...you know...do IT as much as possible. 

For instance, I had a friend who went on a cruise for her honeymoon.  And got seasick. 

Yeah.

Or one of my friends went to an amusement park.  Where she screamed her head off on every ride all day long.  And wound up with a HUGE migraine.

Again.  Yeah.

So in conclusion, maybe my advice isn't for you.

Maybe that's not how you roll. 

Maybe the idea of having anything less than a dream honeymoon is just incredulous! 

Or maybe you would rather not spend money on vacations at all and just keep it close to home.

Just thought, in preparation for my anniversary this week, I would give you a little insight into what made our honeymoon so stinking amazing.

Hint: We may have done IT a few times, which always makes a vacation of any kind that much better.

Uh oh, TMI alert....

Better go.

Before I get yelled at....