Best Christmas Ever!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was absolutely amazing. I'm sure that it was my favorite Christmas so far! My mom surprised me with a homemade hand embroidered replica of the blankie I had as a child.

When I was younger I brought "tickly blankie" everywhere, and couldn't sleep without her! I picked at it and cuddled it until it disintegrated into a few shreds of worn down fabric. It was a sad day at age 20 when I packed blankie away into my closet, only to be taken out a few times over the past few years to help me cope with a fight with my boyfriend or a bad basketball game.

Here is a picture of me and my 2 older sisters hanging out on blankie. That's me, hittin the bottle hard! Haha.

So this Christmas we decided to reenact the photo with new blankie!

Thank you mom for the wonderful surprise Christmas gift! It rocks my socks.

Antique Shops in Cornelius, NC

This weekend mom and I went shopping all around Charlotte, NC! She was familiar with a few antique and crafty shops in Cornelius, so we went shopping! Now "shopping" is a term I use loosely.

I follow a few rules when I shop.

1 - The item of desire must be immediately and completely useful and necessary to me, otherwise I'm not going to buy it.
2 - The item of my desire must be dirt cheap, otherwise I'm not going to buy it.
2 - The the item of my desire must be impossible to make or replicate, otherwise, you guessed it, I'm not going to buy it.

So needless to say, we didn't buy anything on this specific shopping trip, but we did do a lot of ooooing and ahhhing. We are that annoying mother-daughter pair you hear yelling across the shop to "Come look at this!" or "Oh my gosh you have to see this!"

So we started our browsing expedition at Oak Street Mill Antique & Collectibles. It was your typical random collection of goodies, but I really shouldn't ever use the word "typical" to describe an antique shop. Alongside your usual antique dishes, outdated how-to books and porcelain doll collections sat the world's most hilarious handmade Christmas ornaments and hand-painted cheetah print vases.

Christmas Jello Shot Stains & Ugly Sweaters

This weekend I held my now famous Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. We made tons of treats for people to nibble on during the party, including my fabulous green and red Christmas colored jello shots!

While making the jello cups on Friday night, I spilled an entire ladle full of boiling hot jello mix across my counter! I quickly tried to soak up the spill, but it was too late... my entire counter top had turned red.

Elly Googled jello stain removal and we found two tips that really worked:

1 - Mr. Clean Magic Eraser pads
2 - Borax

I scrubbed out the stain, leaving behind an unnoticeable red tinted countertop.

Now for pictures!!!! Look at all the hideous sweaters!!

Roommates: Me, Elly & Heather

Curtis didn't have an ugly sweater so I wrote "Hairy Christmas" on his shirt with stocking stickers...

Chris, Mike & Kevin decked out in their creative Christmas gear. Mike & Kevin spent 3+ hours on their sweaters... Chris was an impostor, but ugly just the same.

Thanks everyone for making my party so much fun!

Easy Christmas Treats

At my 3rd Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party on Saturday, we served a few easy treats, including Christmas colored jello shots. One snack that was a huge hit was the Christmas pretzel bites, which we renamed at the party to the inappropriate "Christmas nip bits" ... cuz well, you see.

Janice and I followed this recipe from Disney Family Fun Magazine to make this salty and sweet pretzel-chocolate combos.

Ingredients
Waffle-shaped pretzels - I used Snyder's Of Hanover Butter Snap Pretzels
Hershey's Kisses
Red and Green M&M's

Instructions
Heat the oven to 170F. Set waffle-shaped pretzels in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, then top each pretzel with an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss. Bake for 5 minutes or until the chocolates feel soft when touched with a wooden spoon. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and quickly (and carefully) press an M&M into the center of each Kiss. Allow the treats to cool for a few minutes, then place them in the refrigerator to set, about 10 minutes. Serve to guests while wearing your ugliest Christmas sweater vest.

My Homemade Christmas Wreath

Mike and I cut down our Christmas tree last weekend and set it up in my living room! Pics to come, obviously. But I made a super sweet wreath with the trimmings... check it out!

Thanks for teaching me how to make this Mike!

Gluten Free Chinese Dumplings

http://jeanetteshealthyliving.com/2011/04/gluten-free-recipe-for-chinese-dumplings.html

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