Christmas is over!

Isn’t it ridiculous, all the planning, thoughtfulness, errand running, generosity and  cheer… then the stress sets in… and you’re so happy it’s all over? I managed to survive with only one meltdown!

I hope everyone’s holiday was happy. Things were great around here.

Last Christmas was on a weekday and since I spend weekdays taking care of my mom, David and I opened presents at midnight. I was hoping to do a normal Christmas morning opening of gifts this year but at 9pm on Saturday, we both lost all control. We’re friggin adults and adults get to do what they want, right? Damn right!

So yeah! Presents! Then on Christmas morning I got up early while he was still in bed, got restless and went to my parents’ house earlier than planned. I spent about 4 hours there, picked up Chinese food (best idea ever!) and chowed down with them, brought more presents home & Chinese for the bf, took a long bath, watched tv and took it easy. Then we went for a walk.

a Christmas peacock!

alley cat

indoor cat

love!

Plans for Monday are hitting up Target and Wal-Mart for some after Christmas clearance shopping. I need more bows, tags & tissue paper.

So… onto the good stuff!

My fave gifts from mom were those brown leather boots and a train case for my make-up. (Finally! I had been putting it off but the cat keeps knocking my stuff over, in the middle of the night, of course.) The boots gave me a wicked blister on our walk but they need to be broken in eventually.

From David, I got the Emjoi Micro-pedi foot buffer thing (love love this!), an ice cream maker (plus a mini pie maker from his sis – they’re trying to kill me!)… and apparently, a few other things didn’t get here on time. Drats!

What did you do and what did you guys get for Christmas!!??

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• Thanksgiving is OVER! We all made it out alive and now it’s time for Christmas!

• The after Christmas clearance sales are where I get ALL my wrapping paper, bows, bags, decorations for the tree and house, dinnerware (lots of stuff you can use year round), and any other random thing that’s marked down to 90% off. I love getting my boxes out to decorate and finding all the things I got last year that I had forgotten about. It’s like an early Christmas! Check out this awesome ceramic platter I got for $1 last year!

• Kelly from Let’s Die Friends made it to Design Sponge!! So stoked! Her dining area looks awesome!
• Design Sponge also updated my town’s guide! Pretty nifty! The 1st pic – that church is right behind my apartment!
• Did you go out for Black Friday? I usually have no intention to but I needed to pick up a few things and popped into Bath and Body Works since I had a coupon. I cleaned up on random gifts for lady folk. It was a madhouse but everyone was cheerful. There really don’t seem to be many amazing deals out there. 15% off is NOT a Black Friday sale people!
• I did my minimal decorating for Christmas on Friday night. I slapped the same big bow on our front door, did up the mantle in the bedroom with my bf’s 12 Days of Christmas presents….

and we had to put the tree on the radiator in the hallway where Ulti can’t get to it (and anchor it to the wall with fishing line and a Command strip hook just in case). I can’t even plug it in this year!

 I’ve been slowly working on a woodland creature ornament collection.

• not gonna complain! I’m in a super fantastic mood!

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The weather in Richmond was absolutely perfect today. 70 degrees, sunny and breezy. We went to Maymont Park, my favorite place in the city, other than Hollywood Cemetery.

The Dooley family owned the 100 acre property of Maymont park until 1925 when they donated it to the city. I can’t begin to imagine living there. Well, yes I can. I would run around at night naked. That’s how I imagine living there. My fave parts are the Italian and Japanese gardens. That’s where we went today.

I’ve always thought about getting married here.

The Dooley Mansion

one way down the steep hill to the Japanese garden

who’s that?

The Italian garden is up at the top. Usually there’s a waterfall.

we climbed and I almost died

Here are pics I took there last Summer. We didn’t visit the animal part today.

Then we drove to Alamo for bbq. I was starved and didn’t take any pics but the pork sandwich with spicy slaw and the jalapeno mac & cheese are my faves. Here’s a lil review. We sat out in the sun and ate. Now the bf is passed out on the couch and I refuse to go into a food coma. It was a good day!

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• I would never get a formal engagement photo done but this whole zombie concept is fantastic and I’d love it for a wedding pic. I can’t take formal pictures seriously. (source and the whole amazing series here)

• So I gave myself that shopping ban… failing to admit that I won’t be able to stay away from thrifting once in a while. I scored on Tuesday! This bitchin vintage ski jacket was in the men’s section but fit me. It’s from the ooooold Montgomery Ward. So cute and in perfect condition.

I also learned that some Goodwills are buying Target’s extra stock and selling it. I got these brand new shoes as well. $15 total.

• My friend Marisa came to visit last week from Austin, after grabbing her man up in NY. It was super nice to meet him and see her for a few hours. We ate at the new 821 but this kitty is at the entrance to the old one down the block.

pic by Marisa after me yelling, “Take a picture of the kitty!”

• When I was little I collected Breyer horses I’d find at antique shows my parents took me to. It was a ton of fun until my dad kinda ruined the thrill of the hunt by getting me a huge box of them for dirt cheap at the local flea market. Anyhow, they’re all in his garage attic and I really need him to get them out for me. I have to do this to just one:

via

• So much laundry to do after my parents got their power back (9 days later!). I do our laundry there during the week and between the 4 of us and all our clothes, towels and bedding… omg. I seriously did laundry from 8am until 4pm and I’m still not done.

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Well, we made it through Hurricane Irene in one piece!

Actually, we never lost power, while 75% of my city did.

I’m not gonna lie. I was freaked the hell out. I have always braced every major natural disaster with my family. My dad built their home with his own hands almost 40 years ago. Every tool, supply, generator, anything you could need is there. I know that home can withstand anything but I knew nothing about my apartment building. It’s old. The landlord is slack. Parts of our roof starting blowing off.

Actually these sharp metal parts banged around for a good while above our heads before they finally crashed two floors down to the ground between buildings. It was an awful racket that lasted for way too long.

We figured the wind would pick them up and cause some Final Destination disaster to the morons playing in the back parking lot so we would run down and grab them one by one (about 5 different times), dodged one as it was falling, getting soaked and throwing them down the basement steps.

Thankfully our roof never leaked but my nerves were shot.

Our old windows rattled like crazy and wind gusts were shooting down the fireplace in the bedroom. It was really freaky.

There are trees down all over my city, cars smooshed, etc. Here are some pics I didn’t take, 2 blocks from my place.

via

via

So, my parents lost power but they have 3 generators. They also lost phone service so I went over there 1st thing Sunday morning to make sure they weren’t swept to OZ. A tree fell but didn’t hit anything. They’re fine. I hope that power comes back on soon though. I have to be there every weekday.

The bf’s parents near DC are fine and his sister’s family in Jersey lost power but they’re all fine as well. Bff Jen’s house at VA Beach is in one piece and friends in NY made it through. That’s something to be super thankful for.

I hope you’re all safe and sound as well!

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• This past Sunday we went to Broad Appétit, a food festival in Richmond on Broad Street. Over 60 chefs from local restaurants set up booths offering $3 sample plates of 2-4 dishes from their establishments. The portions were generous, the street was packed, and the weather was perfect. My fave dish was the mango glazed prawns with a bean salad and beet sauce from an Indian place called Lehja. It ended up making 2nd place in the competition! I wish this festival was twice a year.

photo (and a great review) via

another review here

• I got the Poketo! Clover planner in mint! It’s going to be a life saver and is soooooo cute!

The only thing it needs are some divider tabs. How cute are these index stickers!?

• I used to look up to these rock video babes for fashion, hair and makeup inspiration when I was little! Ha! My mom’s friend’s daughter was about 10 years older than me and a major hair metal chick – crazy black hair and perfect cat eyes. She ended up giving me her glow-in-the-dark leopard Chuck Taylors and a motorcycle jacket when I was about 12. She was my hero.
• Hey y’all! You need to keep one of these in your purse! Just rub it on your foot where your shoe is irritating and voila! (It’s called either Rub Relief or Miracle Shield – I think they’ve changed the name.)

• A sweet little collection of Anjelica Huston pics. Love her!

• The Casey Anthony murder trial – I’m completely obsessed and she’s guilty as sin.
• Because of this, my Nancy Grace impersonation is getting to be spot-on.
• I’m gonna sound catty but whatever – I can’t stand seeing a major blogger “discover” something I wrote about 2 years ago and everyone goes apeshit over it. The end.

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• I kinda want a planner to stay organized. I haven’t used one since high school and don’t like the ones with the dates printed in them. This one from Poketo is adorable.

• My friend Jen (The Checkout Girl & Fuck Yeah Motherhood) (the chick we got the ukelele for) has been doing a UStream of herself sleeping. I think it’s fantastic!
• Dads are the Original Hipsters (via)
• Why in god’s name do I want this romper… by Baby Phat?!!!!!

• Nicole posted about this doable photo challenge. I’m thinking about it!

• I don’t even want to talk about it. Really. I’ve gotten suckered into going to Herndon Fest again with the bf and his parents this weekend. It’s going to be hot as balls. I will sweat and get sunburned. We’re going to have to haul chairs and blankets and god knows what else to some grassy area to watch crappy bands that people our parents’ age listen to. I will walk across searing asphalt to have a woman with her Jeep-sized stroller stop dead in front of me and look around aimlessly. There will be screaming kids, long lines, and a long walk uphill both ways if we want to escape, but we can’t because we have to help haul everything. The only thing I have to look forward to is chicken on a stick and the best onion rings I’ve ever had in my life. We also need to haul ass back to Richmond so I don’t miss Broad Appetit on Sunday!

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In my town, when you want modern furniture, the only large selection in Richmond is LaDifference. EQ3 used to be here but closed. IKEA is over an hour away although I hear rumors of one coming closer to Richmond in the next year.

We’re still on a sofa hunt. I don’t think the friend at the furniture store is going to be able to find something in our style where she works. We went to LaDiff today and sat on everything. There’s always that problem of form over comfort. We want something streamlined but today, in our butt testing, they weren’t all that comfy.

We fell in love with this sectional but it’s too large and they don’t make it in just a sofa without the chaise. It’s exactly what we want if only…

I adore this sofa. Super expensive and not something you want to curl up and watch a movie on:

Sofa hunting was a big disappointment so, we browsed around and I took some pics.

plastic but a great diy idea for any old chair

so many colorful chairs

fell in love with this acrylic side table!

always a goofball

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it’s what’s for dinner!

Warm weather, walks, light snacking dinner. Today has been a good day.

Oh, and this is my favorite house on Monument Ave:

We also discovered a gorgeous courtyard with a secluded garden beyond. Want.

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We just had a crazy storm here in Richmond and as soon as people started tweeting about rainbows, I put on some pants, grabbed my camera, and ran around the neighborhood again. These are mainly on Monument and West Ave.

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