Crusing the Caribbean for Christmas!

Yesterday I hinted that we have BIG Christmas plans...

Because we're going on a 7 day Caribbean Cruise!


Last year I had a pretty crappy Christmas, so this year I wanted to do something different and fun! So I convinced the Mr. and my parents to forgo Christmas presents this year and instead do a week long cruise together as our presents to each other.

We'll be on the Celebrity Eclipse ship...


Staying in "Aqua Class"...


And visiting the islands of Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, and St. Kitt's!


Here's what we're thinking about doing in each place:
- Puerto Rico: Bacardi Tour
- St. Maarten: Kayaking and Snorkel Adventure in the morning, shopping in the afternoon
- St. Kitt's: Rainforest ziplines in the morning, beach in the afternoon

But if you have been to any of these destinations and have tips on things to do or see, let me know! I'd love some advice.

Thanksgiving in Oregon Recap

Hope that you all had wonderful Thanksgivings! As usual we went to Oregon to spend 3 days with the Mr's family.

Thanksgiving itself was pretty low key. As usual, the Mr. and I were in charge of the mashed potatoes.



I ate so so much! We had all the traditional fare -- turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green been casserole, sweet potato casserole, and lots of pies!

The day after thanksgiving we went to Mike's U-Cut Christmas Tree farm and cut down trees for my in-laws and brother in-law's homes.


The Mr's family has gone to this Christmas tree farm for the last 15 years, because it's seriously a great deal. You pick your own tree and cut it down for just $10. But I guess pine trees are pretty easy to come by in Oregon. Ha!

As usual the Mr. and his brothers were up to all kinds of mischief at the Christmas tree farm. I love this picture of him laughing.


Speaking of pictures I like, I took this at the Christmas tree farm and liked it so much that it's my new computer desktop background until Christmas. I thought it was festive for December.


Saturday we flew back to LA and watched USC beat UCLA 50-0. Take that bRuins!

(source)

Sunday we decorated our house for Christmas and did Christmas cards! More to come on that.

Thanksgiving was fun but Christmas this year is going to be seriously amazing! More to come on that too!

Work work work. And a some play too...

Remember back in July when I said I was starting a new project at Large Consulting Firm. Well I did. And while it’s been so great and rewarding, this project has been crazy! Like working 12+ hours a day and weekends crazy. We’re now entering phase two of the project and I am getting a little bit of my life back. Woo-hoo!

Because I’m at work so much I decided to make it a little more enjoyable with some fashionable new work clothes.

I picked up two skirts from Classiques Entier at Nordstom.

This one is still online here



BTW- Classiques is pretty much my new favorite brand a of work clothes. How did it take me so long to discover that I love this brand?

I also got some Classiques blouses and some blouses/sweaters from Banana Republic and Express. Having some fun new wardrobe pieces has definitely made work a little more enjoyable!


But, it hasn’t been all work either...

The Mr. and I went to Vegas last month. We stayed at TheHotel at Mandalay, partied at Aria's Haze, and saw the Beatles Love show. So fun!


We went to an October Fest in Huntington Beach with a bunch of friends


We've been to a bunch of fun USC Games and Game Watch parties. Did anyone catch that USC win vs. Oregon?! Amazing!



And most recently, last weekend, we went to vintage/1920s-themed wedding where guests were encourage to dress in clothing of the 1920s. The wedding was in the hills outside of Carmel, CA. SO pretty!


And, tomorrow I'm off to Oregon for Thanksgiving.

So tell me, how do you maintain a work/life balance? Are you good at maintaining that balance?

Help me pick my 2011 Christmas Cards!

It's no secret that one of my favorite things about the holidays are Christmas Cards! I just love getting real mail every day in December.

Shutterfly* has been my "go-to" place for Christmas cards for the last three years. They have so many great designs and their cards are really affordable.

Shutterfly has a huge selection of Holiday greeting cards , Christmas cards, Holiday party invitations, and much much more.

Let's take a little trip down Christmas Card memory lane, shall we...

Here is our 2008 Christmas Card/Wedding Thank You Card:


Here is our 2009 Christmas Card:


And here is our 2010 Christmas Card:

I really liked our 2010 card because it was all of my favorite pictures from our Europe Trip.

I'm deciding between two cards for 2011.

#1 - It's a collage of all the weddings we went to this year since we've been to 7 weddings in 2011!

Or #2 - It's just random favorite pics from 2011 collage.

So, which one do you like better? #1 or #2?

*Note: Shutterly is giving me 25 free cards for posting this post but honestly I like Shutterfly Christmas cards so much that I would use them even if they didn't give me free cards.

Matrimony at 10,000 Feet

Last month we went to Eagle/Vail/Edwards, Colorado for my friend's wedding

We stayed the Westin Beaver Creek. SUCH a gorgeous hotel. Check out this view from our room...


We got upgrade to an amazing suite which was seriously almost as big as our condo. It even had a washer/dryer that the Mr. clearly liked.


The wedding was at the The Lodge at Cordillera. It's a super gorgeous property! This was view from the wedding site...


Crazy fact -- this hotel was made famous by the whole Kobe Bryant scandal.


The ceremony was wonderful and the bride looked amazing.


They even had their Chocolate Labrador as their ring bearer. So cute!


This was their getaway "car" that dragged kegs behind it. The bride and groom own a brewery so it was very fitting.


Here I am with the Bride and bunch of the Bridesmaids. A bunch of my friends were Bridesmaids so it was fun to hang out with all of them!


The reception was rockin' and filled with lots of beer. Here's the bride and groom's first dance...


The day after the wedding the new Mr. and Mrs. threw a BBQ at their brewery. Fun times and great beer!


I've been to a TON of weddings this year. The next one is a couple of weeks. I think that will bring me to a total of 8 weddings in 2011. Whew!