Merry Christmas 2016!

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Hannukah, too! I wanted to blog a bit about our Christmas morning very quickly before we go over my parents' house for dinner. We saw Andrew's parents yesterday before we went over my parent's house for the Seven Fish Feast (which was delicious by the way!). Then we settled in for the night to wait for Santa to visit! Jk, I had presents under the tree for weeks before Christmas actually happened. The photo below is off the gifts I bought for my family! (Ok, and the black bag in the left back is a gift I bought myself...)

This morning we cam out and A had added gifts for me under our tree! I didn't get to snap a photo though since we got into Christmas-morning-gift-opening-breakfast-plotting mode. Oh! And what was for breakfast you might ask? This pants-droppingly delicious and not-so-diet-friendly Cinnamon Baked French Toast from the Pioneer Woman:

It's so easy to make (just don't think about how much butter you're using...) and it has quickly become one of our favorite special morning breakfasts. We have every intention of making this on New Year's day too!

Slap on some powdered sugar, whipped cream, and sausage links and call it a day. Yumm!

I hope you have a wonderful holiday with your special ones!

My Wedding: Shoe Selection

Now that I have finally decided on a dress (I can't stop googling it and looking at photos of it by the way--I'm obsessed) I can start looking for jewelry and, even more fun for me, shoes! I've been combing the internet trying to find the perfect pair and I've come across these:

They are both from the Blue by Betsy Johnson line and I like them because they're silver, sparkly, and have a pretty blue sole. They can serve as my "something blue" on the wedding day. The pair on the right are called Teena the and the pair on the left is the Tee heels. I think I'm leaning toward the Teenas BUT there were some other options too.

The ones on the left are called The Harlow by Touch Ups. I like them in the white but they also have them in silver. I'm thinking if I don't choose these for the wedding day I could always choose them for my friend's wedding in May. The shoes on the right are the Golda pumps by Adrianna Papell. Interesting fact, Adriana Papell is the designer of the bridesmaids dresses Sarah choose for us to wear in her wedding. I really like these because of the rhinestone bottom -- the shoe itself is pretty simple but then there's tat a little bit of glitz.

It's funny when planning a wedding. Things that otherwise would be unimportant (I mean really, who cares what shoes I wear?!) become these monumental decisions. Too funny. 266 days until the wedding!

Swatch: Essie Fall In Line

I painted m nails tonight because they got so gnarly and chipped and I haven't had an opportunity to re-do them. Finally, as part of my quiet night in I painted them! I chose Essie Fall In Line because it's this gorgeous, calming sage green. It's perfect for the fall.

Quiet Tuesday Night

I caught myself thinking is it really only Tuesday? multiple times today at work. Is the week dragging for anyone else? Between phone calls, emails, motions that need to be filed, medical records that need to be reviewed, and billing, billing, billing (always billing), I feel like I'm running a marathon this week! And it's only Tuesday. That's one of the reasons I cherished the quiet, relaxing night I had once I got home from work. Andrew is working late tonight so I was able to come home, change into comfortable clothes, talk on the phone with my sister for a bit, and decide what to make for dinner. I've been in a pasta mood lately (which is surprising because I'm usually not too huge a fan of pasta. Don't get me wrong--pasta is delicious--I just find myself leaning toward other things more often) so I settled on preparing a cavatappi with meatball and vodka sauce. Now, before it goes sounding all impressive--I used frozen meatballs and prepackaged gravies. Ah, yes I call it gravy. I'm Italian! I made dinner, poured myself a glass of wine, and settled in to watch some TV on my laptop and paint my nails. I'll probably post a swatch post later but for now it's just me, my laptop, and my dinner!

My Wedding: Wedding Dress Shopping

This is probably one of the most exciting posts to do about my wedding.....I found my wedding dress!! Here are some nails that I painted for the occasion:

Believe me, I'm dying to post a photo of the dress and share it on here but who knows who reads this and I don't want to ruin anything before the big day! Trust me, I will blog about it just as soon as I can after the wedding next September! So, which silhouette do you think I went with??

Although I can't tell you the details about the dress I will say this: when I tried it on I smiled bigger than when I tried on any of the other dresses. I went to two stores total and found my dress at the second store. I loved it! Can't wait to share it with you all!!

Christmas at Longwood

Hoooray! It's officially holiday season! I know this time of year can be challenging for people but for me I really enjoy the whole ramp up to New Year's Eve. I enjoy the shopping, the cookies, the good food and good times, and last but not least, the decorations! Christmas trees, ornaments, lights, oh my! We put up our Christmas tree on Friday (another post about that later!) and yesterday we visited Longwood Gardens for their Christmas Lights display. This is the second time Andrew and I have gone to the Christmas Lights and, if you remember back to April here on the blog, this is the first time we've returned since he proposed to me there!! Here are some of the photos we took while walking around:

And the stunningly gorgeous trees:

They have more than just lights though. There also had a short show featuring an organ player. Have you ever seen an organ? It's sort of intense and I have no clue how one plays it. I did learn that organists (is that the word?) wear special heeled shoes so they can play the organ comfortably. Who knew?

They also had a huge train set up with a couple different train lines running. One was Thomas the Train, lol.

There was also a few fire pits which was a good spot to rest and warm up our hands since it was a tad chilly!

And of course, there's the flowers that Longwood Gardens is known for...including these roses!

Yikes this is a photo-heavy post!! No wonder it took so long to type out! Are there any Christmas traditions you do?

To My American Visitors:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all spend this day with cherished family and/or friends. As for me, I am going to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade (as is tradition) and then go to my fiance's nana's house for some delicious Thanksgiving dinner. From there we'll head over to my parents' house for some dessert. What are you thankful for?? I saw this photo online and it's pretty spot on if you think about it. 

Most of all, I am indescribably grateful and appreciative that I have a loving, patient, thoughtful, and gentle fiance who this time next year I will be lucky enough to call my husband! I'm also thankful for my supporting family, for having an opportunity to practice in a field I went to school 7 years for (even though my job can be time-consuming and challenging), for the warm apartment I come home to each night, and for my crew of crazy but wonderful friends who squeeze me into their busy lives. Lastly, I'm thankful for the small luxuries of having free time to pursue my creative interests, whether it's here on the blog sharing my nail photos and/or life updates with all of you, or privately cross-stitching on my couch. I hope to never take anything for granted, as I know everything we get in life is a gift. What are you thankful for this year?

Random Fall Outfit of the Day

Fall is easily my most favorite time of the year. The weather in the Northeast becomes more comfortable after a usually steamy summer, I can unearth my boots and scarves from the depths of my closet, the changing leaves are spectacularly colorful and beautiful to look at, and it's only a matter of weeks before we launch head first into the holiday season! Which, if you ask me, really is the happiest time of the year. For today, I have a short and sweet post that features....one of my favorite fall outfits.

Apologies for the bathroom-mirror-head-cut-off-selfie. I need more practice with taking photos of things other than my nails... Anyway, I love this outfit and it's one of my "go to" fall outfits for a comfy day shopping, a dinner out, or that oh-so-loved casual Friday at work. The outfit can't get any easier than throwing on any black pants, off-white long sleeve tee, leopard print infinity scarf, and cognac boots. Voila, an outfit that took literally five seconds to throw together but looks like you may have put more time into it. I throw my hair in a bun, slap on my watch, and out the door I go. Which is what I have to do now! I'm taking today off to hang out with my handsome fiance before Thanksgiving!

Traveling Woes

I travel a lot for work. And I don't mean I travel to any cool places like Europe or Asia. Instead I'm schlepping to and from courthouses all throughout the state, trying not to drop files, juggle an umbrella so I (and my file--most importantly my file) won't get drenched, and every now and then getting lost...in the courthouse, in the parking garage before I get to the courthouse, and/or in teh town before I get to the parking garage. I've become accustomed to not really knowing where I am or how to get home. And I don't even mind logging almost 4500 miles on my car in a matter of 2-3 months. However, this week was by far the worst since I started, as I was driving no less than one hour away for every single thing. It's a good thing I really enjoy driving...because I sure do a lot of it:

I also do a fair amount of eating in my car while on the go. Not always fun. And typically very messy.

I believe the noshing session photographed above cost me my black and white striped shirt. I'm a messy eater...

And this sucked too. It poured on the way home from a court appearance. I took about 2.5 when it should have taken about an hour and twenty minutes. Ugh!!

Simply Shopping

Every year right around this time of the year I go through a bit of shopping madness. Can you blame me? Between holiday sales, end of the year sales, black Friday sales, there are so many great sales and shopping to be had! So what is on my shopping list this year? Well, the usual. Jackets, coats, blazers, and shoes!

1. London Fog Faux-Fur-Trim Hooded Puffer Coat

2. Kenzie Notched-collar One Button Blazer

3. The North Face Resolve Waterproof Jacket

4. The North Face Fave LFC Full Zip Hoodie

5. Burberry Kencott Quilted Jacket

6. Bernardo Zip Front Leather Biker Jacket

And of course we can't go into winter in the northeast without the perfect pair of winter boots, right? All throughout college and law school I just used my $20 TJ Maxx rain boots as my winter boots but now I feel like it's time to invest in a legitimate pair of winter boots. Plus, I just bought my Hunter boots and I'm going to save those for just the rain! Here are the contenders for now:

7. Sorel Joan of Arctic Moonstone Boot

8. Sorel Joan of Arctic Boot

Ahhh, I really can't decide which one. I love the periwinkle laces but I can't decide if I would like the tan or the gray more! I know what you're thinking...why not just buy both?...and I hear you but having never had true winter boots I can't justify two at once. Maybe one this year and one next year? I don't know, do you really need TWO sets of winter boots? I don't live in Alaska! Pennsylvania/New Jersey gets snow and the last few year boy has it gotten snow but usually it's just two or three big storms and we're done. Ah! Which should I choose?! Cast your vote in the comments!

Enough about winter boots, here are other shoes I'm drooling over:

1. Lucky Brand Archh Flats

2. Vince Camuto Caprice Pump

3. Coach Oswald Round-Toe Ballet Flats

4. Tommy Hilfiger Pearla2 Ballet Flats

Lastly, I need a small black crossbody bag. I'm thinking these are good options:

1. Kate Spade New York Cedar Street Cami Crossbody 

2. Kate Spade New York Cobble Hill Lelie Crossbody

3. MICHAEL Michael Kors Fulton Small Crossbody