The life, thoughts and general comments of a Preppy Girl at heart adjusting to life in the Real World
Friday, December 22, 2006
It's Time!
Happy Holidays to everyone! I'm only working 1/2 day today and then I'm off for 12 days for some serious Christmas celebration with a little vacation to Phoinex, AZ at the end! I hope everyone has a great few days and takes time to do something really, really gratifying.
I don't think I'll be checking in too much until I'm back, so...Until Then! :)
If you want to check in I would love to hear about everyone's favorite gift they received and gave!
It has been completely crazy around here lately! The Holidays are CHAOS in my line of work and this week has proven that assessment...10 fold. I love being busy though and I just soak in the Holiday Season so I actually enjoy it a little. :) Even better, my boyfriend arrived yesterday!!!!!!!! He landed at 12pm but I was swamped at work so I couldn't see him until 7 last night when I finally left, but it was worth the (long, long, 5 week) wait! We'll be together for the next 16 days and I am *so* excited!
Last night we had a great family dinner and went through three bottles of wine- - how does that happen so easily?!? Today is another long day at work for me, but I came in last Sunday night to help some people out so I am "permitted" to leave at noon tomorrow. As soon as that clock strikes 12 I'm OUTTA here!!!!
I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! What are everyone's plans?
I don't watch ungodly amounts of tv (aside from my obsession with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune) but I am quite partial to my various television times throughout the week. One show that I have become completely attached to is Daybreak with Taye Diggs and- - just yesterday- - they announced that they would be cancelling it. For lack of something more articluate to say... Damn it.
Is it just me or is there something completing satisfying about soothing the hotness of soup with bubbly diet coke?!? For some reason, this is a perfect combination for me... and I promise, no more weird posts at least for the day!
Thanks for the suggestions about what to send my sister's boyfriend's family. I decided to go with a Fresh Vermont Wreath from Calyx & Corolla along with a little something else (see below) I figured we would send them a little piece of Vermont to have in Colorado... is that skewed thinking? My best friend and roomate in college always said that she has never met any person with more state pride than people from Vermont. I've always wondered if that is true. I know there are all kinds of stereotypes about Vermont and the crazy, tree-hugging, pot-smoking, birkenstock-wearing, hippies who live here but there are a lot of other things about this state that just aren't so. Whenever I think about that though, it does seem that regardless of the "type" of person who lives here, we all do have that commonality of thinking that this is the best damn place on earth and, if you don't agree, get the heck out because we don't need you anyway! Perhaps being able to find love and appreciation for a place that is normally below zero degrees in the winter does make us somewhat fanatical. Or, perhaps it's the inability to be able to decipher one Vermonter from another. You never hear the excuse, "Oh, those NORTHERN Vermonters." We're all the same. There is no difference between the type of people in Vermont like you may find in other New Englad states (i.e. the differences between City/Upsate/Northcountry/Western NY; Western/Eastern, MA; the North/South shore, anywhere OTHER than Fairfield County CT; and Northern/Southern NH). Maybe we all are tree-hugging hippies... :)
On another note, my sister is coming home from school today and our friend is flying in from Italy and should arrive around 8pm, my boyfriend will be arriving on Wednesday. Are you all ready out there? Welcome to the HOLIDAYS! :)
Hi there- - I was just sitting in my office doing some random/boring/Friday afternoon type of things when the delivery man came a-knocking. He brought me a box from a business that we partner with that I'm the head of account for. The box, first, is huge. Secondly, it's FILLED with LOTS of fun stuff such as designer wrapping paper and tissue paper, notecards, gift tags, an apple cake AND a centerpiece. Wow. I am feeling the love. What a great pick-me-up for a boring afternoon!
I have nothing exciting (do I EVER??) to discuss/report today so, I'll just tell you what my weekend plans are! Lucky you, I know! Tonight I'm hosting a Holiday gathering for my friends/roomates from college. Some live very far away now and won't be able to make it which is too bad, I would love to see everyone, but it should be very fun! For the rest of the weekend I'll just be finishing (how many times have I said THIS?!?) my Christmas shopping and wrapping so I can finally get everything under the tree. Do you guys put your gifts under the tree before Christmas or do you wait until Christmas Eve? I always get them under as soon as possible so I don't have to keep them in the closet!
Oh, and I would love some assistance coming up with a great gift idea... my sister's boyfriend's family lives in Greenwich, CT but always celebrates Christmas in Steamboat Springs, CO. I know that they are sending all of my sisters and I a small gift and I would love to think of something great to send before we receive theirs so it seems like I really thought of something ahead of time! (So sneaky... ha.) I would *love* to send the entire family matching pajamas from PajamaGram, but that is a little "Creepy" and very overwhelming so I need something small, but really thoughtful. Usually in instances such as these I put together a Vermont Shaped Gift Basket filled with everything from Vermont- - Cabot Cheese, Lake Champlain Chocolates, Green Mountain Coffee, REAL Maple Syrup, etc but that's what we sent LAST year! I thought about a Fresh Vermont Wreath (I can buy them locally, but you can buy one from Calyx & Corolla) or a Harrington's Ham but my sister thought receiving meat from UPS was slightly weird. Anyway, if there is anything you guys can think of, I would really appreciate it! The family consists of two parents, and 3 sons aged 17-24. THANKS!
You are all probably sick of seeing my Christmas Gifts, but I picked up a few more things last night that I thought I would share! My mom is a total Oprah fan and has her dvd collection, and as all of you Oprah followers out there know, if you like Oprah you like Dr. Oz as well! Last night I ran to Costco quickly and they had You-- The Owner's Manual and You- - On a Diet so I picked both of them up for her because I know she'll feel a little closer to that Harpo stage once she has read them. :) While I was there they had Tony Bennett's 50 years of Songs 5-disc series and Tony Bennett duets with currently popular artists such as the Dixie Chicks, Michael Buble, Diana Krall and John Legend. My Dad will totally love both of these so I picked them up for him! Now I REALLY only have a few things left to purchase-- a set of pliers, Tune Transfer (this WONDERFUL software that let's you put songs FROM your ipod onto any computer-WOOHOO) and one more gift for a friend. If any of you have any suggestions for a 24 year old American male who is living it Italy until May, let me know! :) I wish I could say that, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" but it's 50 degrees and sunny so... "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" will have to do!
Okay, I'm slightly embarrassed to post about this because it started so weirdly. Anyway, I'm doing some reseach on the "Man Laws" (I don't know if anyone has heard of these, but if you have, you know what I'm talking about) and I was wondering if there are the same sort of standards for being Preppy. We all, of course, know that there ARE but I'm looking for something more definitive. Of course, the Preppy Handbook could be the Preppy counterpart for "Man-Laws" but it's a little dated and I was hoping for a website that a little more modern. So... in my search for this I pull up Google and type in, "What is Preppy" and, on the response page I get this: "Did you mean: what is creepy"? Um. No.
Hahahahahahahahaha! I know all of you Preppy People out there will appreciate this!
Good Monday Morning Everyone! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend! Mine was *great*! (If a run-down of details bores you... skip on through this one!) Friday night I met one of my roommates from college and friends of ours out for drinks that turned into a whole night of fun! We decided to go to a bar closer to us rather than all the way downtown. This time of year you can’t go anywhere without seeing at least 10 people you know from High School and Church Street is always PACKED with shoppers!
Of course, going out at this time of year I am always reminded of etiquette and basic, polite behavior. When I arrived at the bar there was a rather loud group in the back corner and I couldn’t help overhearing their conversation. I think I was paying attention because the voices sounded *so* familiar. I started to recognize the names of the people they we talking about and then it hit me! The group consisted of local djs from the most popular radio station in the area and they were TOTALLY talking badly about one of their co-hosts. I would have thought they would be more careful in their “listening area”! If anything, it just serves as a reminder to always be aware of your surroundings especially if you’re not going to say something nice!
I don’t know if I’ve told you all here or not, but I’ve decided to become an Instructor for Jazzercise! If you don’t know what that is, you can go to www.jazzercise.com and check it out. I love it and I’m really excited about the possibility of having my own classes! My goal is to become certified at the February workshop but that might be slightly ambitious as I haven’t even received the training dvd yet, but this is all aside from the point. As a new member of the Jazzercise employee crew I was invited to the Holiday Party on Saturday night. And, there is no better way to get to know your new co-workers than over food and alcohol! I really had a great time and had an ever BETTER outfit so I was totally excited! On Saturday I was out running some errands and came across this really simple, totally GORGEOUS sweater-dress. It has a scoop-neck and ends about 3inches above the knee. This dress is a *total* classic and when I wrapped a bright red belt around it, the whole outfit came together! I don’t have any pictures, but I’ll try to find something similar to show you!
I went to my Body Sculpting class last night cleverly titled- - Butts and Guts while the Holidays are NUTS! Ha. My boyfriend affectionately refers to is as my “Ass and Abs” class. Whatever the name, I love it and wish it was offered more than once a week. I’m trying to start a class where women can bring their husbands or boyfriends, or significant others to class with them- - can anyone out there think of a catchy name for the class? “Jazz up your Love Life” sounds really cheesy but it’s a good as I could get!
Last night I wrapped all of my Christmas presents and got them under the tree so I’m really getting into the Spirit now! I only have a couple of more things to pick up and I’m done shopping- - well, other than for myself.
Oh, and just so no one is worrying... my sister's do NOT ready this and when I try to tell them stories about the Blogging World they just look at each other like, "Thank God we have other Sisters around because this one's gone CRAZY!"
AND for one of my readers wondering about the "Christmas Perals"- - they came from a local Jewelry store in Burlington. They don't have website, so I'm not sure how you could see/order them. HOWEVER, I don't know if you have a Costco- - don't think I'm crazy, I love this store- - they actually have a FANTASTIC jewelry department with a lot of great options. You could check there!
I haven't been very good about posting or having very exciting posts lately so I thought that I would share today some purchases that I have made for this Holiday Season!
I got this Gap bag for one of my sisters. She needed something to carry her books to class in, apparently no one uses Backpacks anymore...?
I ordered these in pink, brown and blue for each of my sisters because they are heading to Italy the day after Christmas to visit our very good friend who is playing professional basketball there. For two of them, this is their first international trip so I think they will be very excited about this! For those of you concerned that I'm left out, don't worry, my boyfriend and I will be in Arizona with his family visiting the Grand Canyon the same week!
I got these for one of my sisters who is ALWAYS borrowing my pearls. I figured if I bought her her own set she would stop raiding my jewelry box! :) Somehow, I don't think this is going to work...
I got this pink Nike tennis dress for my youngest sister. Her favorite color is pink and she plays tennis, so it was really a perfect match! (No pun intended. :)) This isn't a great picture, but it has rhinestones on the two inner straps that look very glamorous. This sister is *much* more hip and trendy than my preppy self so she will definately appreciate not receiving something with a collar/plaid/houndstooth from myself.
This is for my other sister who does pilates and doesn't have a mat yet. She's been wanting one for a long time but her school isn't in a very...populated...area so she hasn't found one! I'm hoping to find a yoga bag to go with it before Christmas, but I'm pretty much done shopping now so I don't know if I really want to fight the crowds anytime soon.
I also bought my sisters a few books about Italy, Milan and Rome for their upcoming trip!
I'm actually giving my boyfriend the quilt that I made just recently. It's my first quilt, EVER, and I picked out the fabric with him in mind. Total cost was about what I would have spent on a gift but the hours I spent on are in the upper 30's so I hope that he appreciates it! I just have to finish putting the edges on but once I've done that I'll photograph it and get it up here. He will also be at my house from December 20th until we leave for AZ so this will be the first Christmas that we've had someone other than the 6 of us for Christmas morning. It should be interesting!
I hope that all of you are well and enjoying this holiday season! More to come later!
I know everyone out there is concentrating on their holiday cards, but when I see something I love- - especially when it's a card/preppy- - I can't resist. I ordered these cards last week from iomoi they arrived yesterday, I *love* them AND they were seriously on sale! They are still available on their website so if you haven't ordered any yet, I really recommend it! The tennis cards come with envelopes, the others do not, but click on over to iomoi, quickly!
I'm sure many of you know about these already but there are some pretty great discounts for this weekend and some of my favorite places!
Polo: Receive 30% any regular price or sale item at stores or online. Code: Hol2006 through 12/4 Banana Republic: 30% off code: QDBHCZD797C4 through 12/3 Gap: 30% off code: D1QTCW77L8KP through 12/3 Old Navy: 20% off code: D1ZLF9QBRSDX through 12/3
Happy Shopping!
If you want me to forward the email so you can bring it into the store let me know!
