New Years Preparations

My boyfriend called me "Susie Homemaker" in this dress. I can see where he is coming from. But today that isn't totally untrue. I'm having a small NYE party here tonight and I had to go out and get some items to prep for it. I told everyone just to bring finger foods since the party is starting later than dinner time. I bought some guacamole, shrimp cocktail, and I'm making a beer-cheese dip. I made this dip a few months ago and brought it to a BBQ and everyone went crazy over it, it's sooooo good. I brought pretzels to dip in it but then we started dipping carrots in it and it was even better!

The recipe is:
-16oz shredded chedder
-16oz whipped cream cheese
(trust me, buying it already whipped makes mixing so much easier!)
-1/2 cup of beer
(I always use Guiness, extra stout, and also I splash a little bit extra especially if you aren't using whipped cream cheese)
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-I usually add a little bit of chopped green onion too
MIX UNTIL SMOOTH, SERVE WITH CARROTS/BREAD/PRETZELS

Rodarte & Ralph

Last night we made last minute plans to go out because my friend is leaving to go back to vet school tomorrow and her friend was in from AZ and he wanted to have a "Miami" night out. Unfortunately, Tuesday night is probably one of the worst nights of the week to go out, absolutely nothing is happening. We drove the the Gables and had a few drinks at Fritz & Franz, but it closed at midnight so we got last called. We then aimless wondered around until we found The Bar (yes, it's simply called, The Bar). We stayed there for a few hours and I even ran into some old HS classmates, although I'm pretty sure one of them I never spoke to before in my life, and we ended up having a 10 minute long conversation, really random. I guess you never know who you'll run into, and you never know how many people are out drinking on a Tuesday night.

(Ralph Lauren blazer, Christian Dior shoes, F21 jeans, Rodarte for Target top)

SLR!

My mom told me I could pick out a "big" gift since my sister is getting a nice ring, so I decided to get a nice camera. I still have so much to learn, but I already love it. It's a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, 12.2 megapixels. I let it charge for about 20 minutes before I ran outside to shoot some pictures, of course the dogs were my models.

Amelie:

Patrick (he was after a Lizard in the bushes):






playing with the self timer:

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was rather quiet this year. I stayed up pretty late the night before so we didn't start any festivities until after 11am. My grandparents came over and exchanged gifts with us, we exchanged gifts with my dad (he bought my sister and I a new trampoline, yes, we are 19 and 22 years old), I exchanged gifts with my boyfriend, and then my mom, my sister, and I exchanged gifts. I really think that they liked all the gifts I gave them. My sister especially liked the Chanel nail polish I got her, even though it's costs like 3 to 5 times as much as anyone should ever spend on nail polish, it was a nice treat, and plus, I get to use it too! The rest of the day was spent watching movies and then my mom cooked us some shrimp scampi and we drank champagne.

Blair Waldorf-esque headband

Rodarte for Target dress, Christian Louboutin wedges


Dinner

Gifts:

Cosmetics


Rings


Clothes


Kate Spade bag from my boyfriend's mom


new TV from my boyfriend


Garmin from my dad


Michael Kors boots

Christmas Eve Outfit

I wore this Rodarte for Target dress and Prada shoes to Christmas Eve church service and then to my aunt & uncle's house. I was having camera issues at the time unfortunetely since my batteries were dying and there were none in the house, I could only snap this photo. As you can see in the right hand corner though, we dressed up the doggies! My aunt made so much delcious food, she made this butternut squash soup that was just so delecious we were all licking our bowls, and for dessert she made this triple chocolate truffle cake with homemade whip cream that was amazing. After we came home my sister and I exchanged a gift with each other and then we watched Christmas movies until about 3am.

Merry Christmas (Eve)

I've always liked Christmas eve better than Christmas day. There is just something more magical about it, possibly because of anticipation as a child, but more because of Christmas eve spent with my mom's side of the family - spending hours opening stacks of gifts, playing silly games, and singing karaoke into the night. However, in the last few years my Christmas eves have not been spent the way they used to, mostly due to people getting older and busier, we now celebrate a few days early. So, wwo years ago we had a nice dinner with my family and my boyfriend's family, which was pretty nice I must say. Last year I was in New York City so I spent Christmas eve shopping and playing in snow in Central Park, then I had dinner at Shula's Steakhouse (leave it to my family to eat dinner in NYC at a Miami restaurant). This year, things have changed with my family, and I will be spending Christmas eve going to church with my grandparents and then accompanying my dad to that side of the family's Christmas eve party. I'm not sure what is going on during Christmas day besides exchanging gifts with my mom and sister, and also with my boyfriend.

Here is our tree and colorful gifts! I wore this on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. The tweed (!!!) dress is from Charlotte Russe (so random) and here is proof again that I've pretty much lived in these cardigans. My shoes are Manolo Blahnik and they are the perfect Christmas shoe - green, satin, with a beautiful little gemstone on it.

Last Minute Shopping & Lunch

I dared to venture out this week since there was still a little bit of shopping to finish up, but now I am officially finished! Yesterday I accompanied my mother to Target and Best Buy, and she also wanted to grab some lunch. I've been wanting to go get some dim sum for a really long time and not many places in Miami have it. We were by a place that does offer it and my mom said we should go! I seriously love trying new foods so of course I was game. We pretty much only got shrimp dishes since I only eat fish, but everything was pretty yummy and it was quick - as soon as we sat down the carts started lining up, and we were out of there and on our Christmas shopping way in no time at all...

(Cardigan - Mango, Dress - F21, Belt - Betsey Johnson, Shoes - Steve Madden)

'tis the season.

Just as things finally slowed down it seems now it's Christmas party after Christmas party.. it all kicked off on Saturday night when my friends and I celebrated with each other. We had a pot luck dinner and it was a blast.

This is what I wore, slightly modified:

Then my friend had gotten me this adorable Eiffel Tower earrings from etsy and we thought it would be cute to take a "French" photo complete with wine, beret, and of course my French bulldog!

Here are some more of the party/my friends:

Backed Up

Well, lucky me, I've been sick since I last updated! I have been leaving the house though, mainly to shop - Christmas is so close and still have a bunch of shopping to do. Here are some of my shopping outfits. The cardigans in them are the same ones, ugh I love them I want to go back to Target and get them in every color. They are the perfect length.

Christmas Shopping!

I went Christmas shopping today. I seriously had only one person done before today. I got 2 more done and I got a part of a gift and a present for my sister's birthday. Still sooo much more to do though...

HELLO LOVERRRRRRRRRRRRSSS!

Whats in the bag you ask?
Well...

My new babies <3 Let me introduce you all...

Hi, beautiful Miu Mius

How are you doing, Christian Louboutin?

Long time no see, Manolo Blahnik!

Nice to meet you, Lanvin.

The pleasure is all mine, Prada.

UNISA's original designer shoe sample sale! My aunt works there and tipped me off on the sale. All the shoes are either $50 or $80, and the boots are $75 or $100. Ugh, if you are a size 6, this is shoe heaven. I'm usually a 6.5-7, but I tried my luck with some of these shoes and surprisingly all the shoes except the Lanvin's are all size 6. I think my favorites are the Miu Miu's, so adorable and girly, but yet still sexy, too bad it's not spring. The Prada's are love, I've been wanting them since I saw them on the runway, I even have faux ones from Aldo.

Like Christmas Morning..

I finished my one and only final! I just need to do a final glance over some papers and submit them, but I consider my brain already on vacation. On Black Friday I did some online shopping and I picked up some great (and super on sale cheap!) clothes from Tulle. They make adorable vintage inspired clothes and I'm so happy I got to pick up a bunch of it. To make today even more great, my package arrived! It came in this huge box and it was so enjoyable to go through all the layers to discover another new color or patterned piece.

It's me and the moon she says...

On Monday several facebook statuses urged me to go look at the moon. There was a large ring around it that was a little bit creepy, but I took some pictures of it.