Christmas Decor Rundown

Wednesday through Sunday of last week consisted of completely decorating our house for Christmas.  It feels so good to be done and to be able to enjoy it!

My mom would be so proud of my ornament organizational skills...

Mid-process...

All finished! 

This is our family tree.  We've always put it in our family room before, but decided to put it in the formal living this year.  I think I am going to like it in here, even though I wasn't sure of it at first. 

I have already wrapped some presents!  I like to do it the second they come home so that 1. the girls Haley can't peek and 2. I like to enjoy them in all of their wrapped glory and 3. I like them sitting out to torment the girls.  ;)

Here's the tree from the dining room looking into the foyer...

Some of my favorite ornaments:

And here is the family room (sans Christmas tree, but with plenty of garland!)...

I love these glittery poinsettas from Hobby Lobby:

Our office manager makes the most beautiful wreaths...

And here is our entry table.  I found the Christmas Countdown printable here.

Our other tree is in the girls' playroom and is pink and apple green to match the playroom decor...

My favorite ornaments from the girls' tree are...

I have always love love loved Christmas and Christmas decorations.  I can't wait to see pictures of everyone else's as well!

Oh, and don't forget to send me your wildest Christmas wish for the Christmas list blog hop.  You can email me (applesfalling(at)gmail(dot)com) or leave a comment in any post.  I'll list all of the wishes with links to the respective blogs on Wednesday so get them to me by tomorrow (Tuesday) night.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday weekend!

Happy Puppyversary to Us!

Today marks 1 year since we brought Winston home!  He was an early (surprise) Christmas present last year.  :)

Our first meeting:

So sad that we were leaving:

36 hours later, on the way home!  :)

His sisters loved him instantly:

Such a sweet little buddy...

LOVE him!

Best.Christmas.Present.Ever.

Dear Santa,

I am realizing, as it is 2 days before Thanksgiving, that it is time for me to make my Christmas list!  I have had a mental list, up until this point, but I know I am going to (if I haven't already) forget to mention things to those involved until it is too late!  So here goes:

UGG Cardy Classic Knit Boots in Black

I really wanted these last year, but had lots more important things on my Christmas list that were prioritized above them.  I love to wear boots in the winter and end up wearing my leather boots all the time.  I would really like to have something more casual to wear on the weekends and these would be perfect.

The Entire Victoria's Secret Clothing Catalog

Thanks to WorkWear Wednesday, this one probably goes without saying.  I love VS's clothing, so cute and so affordable!  Their loungewear is super cute - the Steelers tee is definitely on my list and I really like the sweatshirt & sweatpants on the top right.  Who am I kidding?  I would like everything!  :)

Somewhere Fancy to go on NYE

So I could wear this dress (or something quite like it)! We haven't been out for NYE in years (other than last year's fail of a dinner at Del Frisco).  I think it would be fun to go to a big party where I would get to wear sparkly cocktail attire.  I'm sure I'll be sporting yoga pants and a t-shirt as usual this year, though.  There's always hope for next year!

Reebok Easy Tone Apparel

I don't usually spend lots of money on work out clothes, but I might make an exception for the new line of Easy Tone Apparel.  Reebok has built resistance bands into the tops and pants in this collection to help increase muscle activation.  Very cool!  I found out about it from chatting with one of the Reebok girls at Dick's Sporting Goods a couple of weeks ago.  I'm all about anything that will help me maximize my workout!

Belkin Pro-Fit Armband for iPhone 4

I am still not completely sold on wearing my iPhone on my arm to work out - the phone is almost as wide as my guns.  My big.scary.guns.  But I digress.  So, this is pretty much the smallest armband I could find, in that it doesn't add to much bulk to the already bulky phone.

8GB iPod Nano in Pink
Just in case my whole strap-an-ipod-the-size-of-a-calculator-to-my-arm thing doesn't work out, I would really love a new 8GB iPod Nano in Pink (of course).  Our first Christmas together when we were dating, husbie bought me the 1st generation Nano, which I still use!  It works like a champ, other than when it sometimes freezes and won't turn off.  This doesn't happen very often and the sucker is 6 years old.  Solid investment!  Now the Nano has cool clips so you don't need above armband for the gym.  

And here comes the section in which I realize I am a completely boring adult...

KitchenAid Porcelain Cookware Set 
We need new cookware baddddd.  We have a combination of our pre-marriage cookware and it has gots to go.  Granted, this is something we could/should just buy for ourselves, but there's always a list of things ahead of it that seem to be more important.   I like that this set is red and got excellent ratings from Target.  Granted, I would really like an ah-may-zing set from Williams-Sonoma, but I don't want to take up that much of the Christmas budget for something boring like cookware!

KitchenAid Riveted 18-pc Knife Block Set

Pretty much the same applies to our knives as our cookware.  Old, mis-matched, not dinner party kosher.  I could buy them for myself, but decor is soooo much more fun than knives.  And the taste of certain gift givers does not affect knife purchases. 

Sony VAIO Signature Collection EA Series in Arabesque Black
This one is really going out to my Work Santa (our CFO).  I'm up for a new laptop in the next few months and I LOVE this one.  I think it would be a really hard sell - since it is SO girly.  It would be pretty funny if I left the company and they hired a dude to take my spot.  Ha!  He'd probably take one look at the laptop and run the other way.  Regardless, if I was buying a personal laptop, I love this one.  Sony also has a 8" netbook in Crocodile Pink.  It is so.freaking.cute. 

Of course there are a million other things that I can think of, but I'm trying to be realistic here.

Let's do a fun blog hop here!  Send an email to me at applesfalling(at)gmail(dot)com with what your wildest Christmas wish would be, along with a link to your blog.  Next Tuesday I will put up everyone's Christmas wishes with hyperlinks to their blogs.  I think everyone enjoyed the last one about 'something not everyone knows about you' and hopefully this one will be fun as well.  Send me your links by 8PM next Monday, December 29.

Presenting...

The Appleby Family Christmas card!  The wind was gusting around 20 mph during our shoot, but we went ahead with it, and I think the pictures turned out pretty cute.  Trying to get Ava AND Winston to look and smile at the same time proved to be challenging.  Thanks to Shutterfly for running such a great promotion for bloggers!

Dazzle And Shine Christmas 5x7 folded card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Girl Crushes

There are a group of girls that husbie calls my 'girl crushes.'  they are all girls I would like to emulate in one way or the other, and each has their own characteristics that I think are fantastic.  And the list is...

TV Personalities

Kelly Ripa

Kelly's probably my longest running girl crush.  I started liking her a lot when I was preggo with Haley - she was preggo at the same time with her daughter.  It also helped that I was a SAHM during this time, so I had plenty of time to watch R&K and All My Children.  She is so adorable - personality, hair, clothes, etc., etc., etc.  I DVR Regis & Kelly every day so that I can see what she is wearing.  I try to pick up workwear that look like a lot of things she wears on the show.  Favorite things about Kelly?  She is a super mom of 3, works out like a fiend and has the body to show it, and she is so funny!  She doesn't take herself too seriously, either, and I think that is my favorite thing about her. 

Melissa Rycroft

Pregnant and adorable.  One thing I was and one thing I wasn't!  :)  I loved her on Making the Squad, The Bachelor, and Dancing with the Starts.  I only watch Good Morning America when she is on (what can I say, I am a Today Show girl!).  She seems so down-to-earth and sweet.  Her and her hubs are adorable and I can only imagine how super cute and adorable their little one is going to be.  How many times can I say super cute and adorable in one paragraph?  Apparently, a lot.

Actresses

Anne Hathaway

If anyone would make me want to color my hair dark again, it's her.  She is gorgeous, classy, and I love her in every movie she has ever done.  Who knew she'd end up as lovely as she is now when she did The Princess Diaries?  I can't wait to see Love & Other Drugs - it looks so good!

 Rachel McAdams 

I think she is great for a lot of the same reasons as Anne Hathaway.  Smart - check.  Beautiful - check.  Classy - check check.  She's been in some of my favorite movies of all time - hello, Notebook & Time Travelers Wife.  She is so graceful and elegant.  Morning Glory is on my list to see, too!  (I don't know how I'm going to scam all of these movies out of husbie).

Sports Chicks

Carling Coffing

If anyone watched The Big Break - Sandals Resorts, you know Carling.  She's just snarky enough to be hilarious without being a B.  She ended up winning (yay, my favorites never seem to win) and quickly became my golf style icon.  I'm still not sure about nixing a collared shirt on the golf course, but I've come up with some pretty cute Carling-esque outfits.  Not to mention my golf side ponytail.  

Lindsey Vonn

Hands-down, my favorite athlete of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.  She kicked total butt with an injury and wiped that smerky smile off of Julia Mancuso's face.  Another bonus point - the absolutely adorable moment she had with her husbie after winning the gold medal.   

Do you have any girl crushes or icons (fashion, professional, or whatever?  Who are they and why?

Christmas Card Time!

It is way past time for Christmas cards!  I would have liked to have already had them signed, sealed and stamped by now but alas, life happens.  So, my sis is coming up to do our pictures this weekend and I've been paging through the hundreds of Christmas card designs that Shutterfly offers trying to find the perfect one.  I have always had great experiences with Shutterfly - we have used them for numerous products and prints and I finally made my first photo book with them for Ava's soccer coaches last month.

I have realized that I have two categories: one photo cards in which I pray that everyone looks, smiles, opens eyes, etc. all in the same picture (which is hard with two squirly girls and a squirly dog, too); and the multiple photo cards in which we can catch everyone at their finest moments and pop them all in individually.  Here are my favorites for each:

One Photo:

Mod Love Stationary Card

Merry Greetings Folded Stationary Card

 

Sweet Holly Folded Stationary Card

  Holiday Love Sketch Folded Stationary Card

Multiple Photos:

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Initially Chic Green Christmas Card

Dazzle & Shine Folded Christmas Card

I think I'm leaning to the last one in each category.  I love how fun and unique-looking they are!  If we go with a very Christmas-y card, I'll probably pick out one of the designs from the holiday card collection to send to our friends who don't celebrate Christmas.  We'll be sending out whichever we choose to our friends and family, of course, as well as our doctors, the girls schools and other people who take good care of us throughout the year. 

Of course, I will have to get address labels to go with the cards.  If we go with the last card, these labels go perfectly!  LOVE them.

Have you picked out your holiday cards yet?  If not and you're a blogger, follow this link to get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly!
 
Wish us luck on Sunday!  Hopefully we'll get some great pictures and have nice weather.  :)