Mother's Day, First Edition

I was bursting with love this Mother's Day. It was my very first as a new mom to this sweet little girl, my own mom has been able to drop everything and come take care of my little family and experience the sweetness and peace of loving on a brand new baby. There was a soft rain on Sunday and being holed up at home for most of the day, sipping tea and working our way through childhood Disney live action favorites, three generations all together and snuggled on the couch, was pretty special.  

All you mommas out there, I hope you had a peaceful and love-filled day celebrating the joy of family and motherhood!

Family Visit

Happy New Year! I can't tell you guys all the goodies yet, but 2013 is going to be a really, really good one!

So, these crazies were here for a nice long weekend. And I'm so grateful for all the family time we were able to pack in. We had a fire in the chiminea and said goodbye to the hideously neon orange tee that was My Guy's first swiped article of clothing from my family (big darn deal to have a gifted hand-me-down shirt from my dad when we were dating in high school) and my family got to know our neighbors and their pups. We went to the Menil Collection and my mom got to ogle the amazing collection of artifacts and art. We ate Lucky Burger (our favorite local burger place where the blue cheese burger is heaven on earth and you can order a side of fried rice and the owner knows us on the phone by voice and asks if we want to do a take-out order of "the usual") and Thai Pepper (where the green curry is magically spicy with a deep, slow heat that makes you sniffle like mad). There was a round of tennis ball golf (played on campus with a cooler of beer in tow). My dad was king of the beautiful sailing shot, perfectly in line with the target, only to be gobbled up by a column, a tree, an archway. I kind of couldn't believe how horrible his luck was in beaming light posts and tree limbs. We even hit up Valhalla, the on-campus grad bar that serves $.95 beers, a weekly tradition for us that I'm so glad my dad got to experience with us. My brother and I got lots of snuggling time in, we snacked our way through the weekend, my dad got to experience lots more of our lives here (mom and brother were here a few summers ago). I'm so happy we spent so much and such good connecting time together.

And, to you all- I haven't been active in the blogging community for the last week or so, but I've been reading all of your goodies and have been really enjoying and have been very inspired by the loving family posts, the joyful celebration posts, the insightful resolution posts, the cheerful and hopeful greeting of the New Year. I treasure this community, I so enjoy and appreciate the friendships I've formed with some of you and look forward to what the next year has in store!

XOXO

Merry, Merry!

Okay, okay, I'm a day late. Merriest Christmas to you all and your darling families! Christmas eve, we did my family's make-a-gift exchange via webcam with the whole group- us in Houston, my sister in Hong Kong, and rest of the gang at my aunt and uncles' in New Mexico! The highlight of the exchange was the gift created by my mom for my dad- over 30 years worth of family funnies and quotes assembled with photos from the family archives in a bound book. She and I had a riot talking through all the goodies over the phone. Then Christmas morning rolled around. We had a lovely day- breakfast (waffles and homemade lemon curd!) with our neighbors, complete with coffee with a dash of cinnamon and the Christmas Story on loop. And an afternoon and evening with our friends, along with so much food we nearly exploded. So much love, time well spent with people near and dear.

We also gave a family photo a shot. A little squirrely, a little dog yawn, a little cat eye contact avoidance. Not as bad as our last Christmas on our own back in 2008- my merry little gift to you all!

Holiday Look Link Up

Skirt: Target...Turtleneck: J Crew Factory...Blazer: J Crew via Buffalo Exchange...Belt: Target...Shoes: Steve Madden...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Festive, bright, but not blatant? Huzzah! This blazer may be more versatile than I was expecting it to be.

We had an awesome night with neighbors last evening! We were supposed to do a potluck outside in the courtyard, but the temps are dropping (overnight low of 33!! last night) and we didn't want to freeze our buns, so we aaaalmost cancelled. And that would have been a bummer, so 10 of us and 3 dogs packed into our place, gathered a bunch of tasty food, sipped wine, chatted, and enjoyed each others' company for the evening. What an awesome jumpstart on the holiday weekend! (P.S.- I'm glad the Mayans were wrong.)

So, what have you been wearing or plotting for Holiday Festive Wear? Link it up and meet some new friends! The link's going aaaaaall the way through next week- hook up your day of Christmas look, Saturday party looks, whatever you want.

Here's the rules for the Holiday Look Link Up:
Follow The Perpetual Student's Wife (via Google Friend Connect or BlogLovin')
Link the URL to a specific recent-ish post showing off your favorite holiday themed or holiday party look.
Link back to The Perpetual Student's Wife so your new friends can navigate easily.
Ummm.... that's it! Can't wait to see what you all are rockin' for Holiday Festivities.

Baking Skillz

Skirt: Target...Tee: Target...Blazer: J Crew via Buffalo Exchange...Shoes: Naturalizer...Belt: Target...Tights: Gap...Necklaces: thrifted...Bag: knockoff Longchamp

Day two, what I actually wore to the evening Young Professionals mixer last week. Festive, one of the only red articles of clothing I own, a slim olive weave running through the plaid... Meant for Christmas!  PS- do you notice the plaid lined up perfectly on the pocket? Mmm, I love details.

I baked Russian Tea Cakes/Snowballs/Sand Tarts last night. They turned out better than I thought they would, fortunately (the reason for baking at all is to send them to someone... They had to turn out okay). Here's the scoop: I am NOT a baker. I can cook, I can make up dinners from crap we have on hand, I can saute any number of things like a pro. But, I can't bake my way out of a brownie box. Two part problem: As a cook, I have leeway to play with proportion of veggie and quinoa to garlic. With baking, if I use my normal dash-of-baking-powder-in-my-palm measuring method, cookies fall flat. Shocker. I don't "do" recipes. Part two is that my oven is pretty much an easy bake oven. Tiny apartment sized ovens don't really heat things to a consistant temperature.

Is anyone else buying that blame game? Okay, okay, I suck at baking.

Can't wait to see what you all are planning for Friday's Holiday Look link up. Start plotting- I expect a sequin or two!

Buffalo Plaid

Pants: Gap Really Skinny...Sweater: Target...Shoes: LeSportsac via DSW...Hat: Target Men's...Bag: Longchamp knockoff

Welcome to my week of lead up to the Christmas Holiday! I jump started my moderate excitement with a little over a week to go by way of this silly Buffalo Plaid men's hat on Saturday. 3rd day hair makes a hat Saturday a simple choice, and this funny little number I picked up last year before our holiday trip home to Ohio was the perfect holiday tie in (not to mention the addition of gold shoes helped push it along). I even got motivated enough to put up our two tiny 3-footer trees. One using classy white tones with mini bulbs, icicles and my grandma's starched crochet snowflakes. The other with bright glitter mini bulbs and a blue glitter string art on top. We also put up the Peanuts nativity. Peanuts are a holiday "must" around this house.

BTW, did you catch wind that I'm going to do a Friday Holiday Look link up? I've never hosted a link up before, I didn't really pre-plan, it's just kind of my way to hold myself accountable to getting in the Holiday Spirit by way of fashion... and I know some of you all will join me, so why not get festive together?! (Speaking of fun link ups- Bri Marie at Work Clothes, I Suppose is hosting a Third Thursday  Thread Winter White themed link up this Thursday. And I can't wait!)

H A Double-L O Double-U Double-E N

Skirt: Target...Cardigan: Target...Belt: Gap...Scarf: Target...Shoes: via Buffalo Exchange...Bag: D&B via Buffalo Exchange...Earrings: Old Navy

Happy Halloween a day late! I've never been a Halloween enthusiast or costume wear-er, but here's a little homage.

I didn't really notice until we moved to Houston, but I really don't "do" holidays. Thanksgiving is the only one I can get into- eating all day and spending cheerful, grateful time with loved ones, it's always been the only holiday I really "celebrate". Christmas? Eh, hang a wreath, maybe. Valentine's Day? We're lucky if I pull out a red or maroon article of clothing. And Halloween really requires waaay too much effort. So, there I was. In orange and black. Whoop-dee-do.

I do want to see what you guys were all up to last night! Looking forward to my Reader feed during the next few days!