Christmas Gift Guide for Best Friends: Girlfriends and Pets

This is a three part series of the top five gifts for those special people in your life. In the second week, its all about your best friends- Girlfriends and Pets!

Here are my picks for your best friend who deserves something amazing just like her:

Canvas Print  Wine Glasses

 Monogrammed Bracelet  Monogrammed Cell Phone Case

  Cashmere Scarf

 Here is something for your other best friend- Your dog, they deserve something warm and fun:

     Moose Stuffed Toy   Penguin Pajamas 

  Winter Coat  Bowtie Collar

Bed

 

 These are such fun ideas for both of your best friends!  I love giving gifts that I really love to someone special! 

What is the most memorial gift you have ever received?

Christmas Photo Outtakes

On Saturday afternoon, we took our Christmas card photos. We had a lot of fun but of course not all the photos were perfect- we had a lot of goofs! I love these goof photos because they show our fun side.I'll show our Christmas Card in a few weeks but here are some of my favorite goofs!

Do you take Christmas Card photos each year?

Here comes Santa Claus.....

Each year, I look forward to the Santa Breakfast at the local firehouse.

 Source

 This is the 28^th annual breakfast and this will be my 28^th Breakfast (give or take a few years)!! My dad and grandfather took me when I was 11 months old and my dad and I try to go each and every year. I love looking at the past years photos to see how I’ve grown. I’m pretty sure I am the oldest “kid” there (without any children of my own) but its such a great tradition, I cannot not go!

Looking back on the old photos makes me smile. Here is a few from the past years!

               

   

2010

 2011

 2012

 2013

 2014

As you can see, Daddy and I always sit on the same side; Mrs. Claus and I are best friends after all these years. This year was no different.

 2015

This has always been such a special memory for us.  I wonder how many years we will keep this up for!

What is your favorite part of the holiday season?

Christmas Gift Guide: Parents and Grandparents

This is a three part series of the top five gifts for those special people in your life. In this first week, its Parents and Grandparents:

Here are my picks for Mom who deserves something soft and glamorous:

Michael Kors purse///Grey Scarf

Hand and Stone Spa///Winter Hat

Tech Gloves///Home Decor

Here are my picks for Dad who loves the outdoors and adventure:

Jack Black Face Set///Cabela's Gift Card

Cozy Sweater/// Magizine Subscription

Armor All Car Care Gift Pack

Here are my picks for the Grandparents who just want to have fun and giggles with the grandchildren:

Cranium///Wits & Wagers

Frame//Gift card to the Movies

I love all of these ideas; there are so many other ideas for parents and grandparents, sometimes its neat to think outside the box for holiday gifts. 

What is your favorite gift to give this holiday Season?

 

Yabba Dabba Yuletide Night at the Theater

Eric and I ventured to the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank Wednesday night for Brian Setzer's 12^th Annual Christmas Rocks Tour with Eric’s parents, and his brother & his girlfriend. We started the night out at Tommy's Tavern and Tap in Sea Bright. After all the rain, it ended up being a beautiful night.  The restaurant was having  their 1st Annual tree lighting that night; a children's choir sang, they gave out hot coco and roasted chestnuts (so festive!) and Santa arrived on a firetruck. ( I don't know about any other state, but in New Jersey, Santa always arrives on a firetruck!) The kids (myself included) got really excited when we saw Santa! We had a great dinner and the company was the best.

This Christmas tree was beautiful and brightly lit!

 

Santa said I was on the good list this year!

 I wonder if there was mistletoe above us!

Then it was on to the show! I was really excited to see Brian Setzer and his Orchestra live. I have been listening to his music for the past week to get ready for the show. His style of music is swing/rockabilly/big band/rock- Its an interesting combination that works well together. Brian Setzer really put on a great performance. It was non stop music and excitement for almost 2 hours! He sang all the classics- Run Run Rudolph, Jingle Bell Rock, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and the Nutcracker Suite ( That was a unexpected surprise!) He also sang some of his originals too-  Boogie Woogie Santa Claus, Jump Jive and Wail with special guest, Lou Premio Jr. and my favorite/ the one I looked forward to the most- Yabba Dabba Yuletide. He was a great performer over all- between guitar changes, set changes and costume changes he brought great energy for every in the venue.

So excited for the show to start

  The music, the lights and the excitement made this show!

Santa even made an appearance at the end of the show. This was the perfect show to get everyone into the Christmas Spirit. Words cannot describe how excited I am for the Christmas season this year. I have a lot of blessings to count on this year!

What is your favorite way to get into the Christmas Spirit?

Glad you made it DECEMBER, we waited all year for you!

November was a fun month, I had a lot of adventures and celebrated the start of the holidays. Lets check out how I did with my goals for November:

Read 2 books// half completed
I ended up reading 1 book this month that took me a full month to finish. The Rosie Project was not as good as the hype was. I was super disappointed.

List of Daily Gratitude//completed
Every night after dinner, my parents and write down something we are grateful for and put it in the ‘gratitude jar’. I love seeing it fill up during the month. 

Watch what I Eat//sorta completed
I have been doing this almost consistently. Lets face it sometimes, munchkins look better than peaches. I have definitely limited my snacking and sugar intake.

Workout 3x Week//completed 
I completed this again for the third month in a row. Yoga twice a week and my personal training has been a lot of fun. I definitely feel as if I am getting strong each week especially when I attempt crow or tripod. I will continue this throughout December.

A photo a day//completed
I completed this and I absolutely love seeing the end product. Take a look!

November was a great month and I am pretty excited about December. This month  I have decided to keep it simple with my goals; with the holidays just around the corner, I want to have more time to enjoy the beautiful holiday season and to have many festive adventures.

Keeping with the tradition,  I will end my post with my December Goals:

 

Workout 3x a week

Take a photo a day

Read 2 books

Experience as many holiday activities and moments I possibly can 

What are your goals for December? What are you most looking forward to?