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?

How I spent my Thanksgiving (mini) Vacation

Thanksgiving weekend was so much fun.  It was filled with family,  new friends, adventures and lots of food (I really mean cake).  Between eating cake on the way to the Thanksgiving dinner and our mini Bob's Burger marathon, we went on a few adventures.

Instead of heading out for the sales,  Eric and I headed to the Manasquan reservoir on Friday afternoon to enjoy the warm November weather.  It was the perfect day to take it the sunshine and be outside. The reservoir was filled with runners, people walking, bike riders and photographers.  The views were spectacular and it was the perfect day to be outside. 

We then headed out for a few errands then after a much needed nap, we got ready to go to Asbury Park for the Status Green show at the Stone Pony. I was eager to see Asbury Park- I've lived in New Jersey my whole life and I have never been there. We parked by the Stone Pony and we decided to explore the boardwalk area before the show. We saw the Wonder Bar, Convention Hall and the shops on the boardwalk. We found this arcade that had vintage pinball machines, Foosball tables, skee ball and other arcade games. We played (and intensely competed) with skee ball, Foosball, this funny basketball game and pin ball. We had so much fun. Its a definitely must see. Check it out HERE. The night was gorgeous; perfect for walking around and so unseasonably warm for November. The waves crashing over the ocean and the full moon was perfect.

After our mini adventure in the Arcade, it was just about time to head to the Stone Pony for the Status Green's Reunion Show. Status Green, a hometown legend from Howell happens to be one of Eric's favorite bands. It wasn't just any show, they had taken a break from playing, this was their first show in 3 years. 

Eric told me about them a few weeks ago and I started listening to their music on Spotify so I was familiar with them before the concert. The show lived up to the hype. Status Green brings such an amazing energy to the stage and their fans match it, song after song. The whole atmosphere and experience had a relaxed, chill vibe. You could tell that everybody was there to have a good time. Like friends you hadn't seen for while, the crowd and the band, picked up where the left off, 3 years earlier. (thanks to Eric for helping me write about Status Green!)  

Eric and I had a wonderful time BUT for us, it was a late night. We didn't get home until 1AM!  The nap earlier in the day was much appreciated at this hour because it let us stay up late and watch one of my favorite shows (bobs burgers) and snack on some cake.

 This has to be one of my favorite photos from the weekend

The whole weekend was so much fun. It made me excited for the whole holiday season. I cannot wait to see what adventures are ahead for us. 

Did you have a fun holiday weekend? Did you score any good deals on Black Friday?