Winter Break, Recaptured

Finals week exhaustion was in full swing... at least I was looking cute in my RL cable-knit

Aprés finals week, I headed straight north because Santa Claus was coming to town. A good 3 weeks in Pittsburgh, and lots and lots of food, friends, family, and fun. First, it started off by returning to lots and lots of snow, and I don't think it stopped snowing until the day after Christmas (During the winter, Pittsburgh is a tundra, and the sun really never shines, nonetheless, I still love it). Then I got reunited with high school friends!

 This was a BlackBerry pic of a gingerbread man that I made at one of my bff's house. She hosts a Christmas party every year! I tried to make him "fratty" but was limited to icing colors. If you can tell, he has an oxford button down, the green sprinkles are supposed to be a needlepoint belt, and khakis, and the yellow feet are supposed to be boat shoes... I tried...

BS, OV, and I posing during a night out!

After re-uniting with friends, I had some last minute shopping to do and had to run some errands for my aunt. One of the errands was to stop at the mall and get a gift card from Game Stop for my 12 year old cousin, M. I can honestly say I had never been in the store before, and as soon as I walked in, I felt stares. It was as if I were walking into a party uninvited. I actually think I may have been the only girl in the store... it was definitely a new experience, but ya learn something new everyday! Then Christmas Eve! 

cCm and daddy. My daddy wore a traditional Irish kilt... down to the shoes and socks. We kept joking that his "skirt" was shorter than our mothers and that his "fanny pack" didn't have a lot of room. Nonetheless, he pulled it off (if you are wondering, we are Scottish and that tartan has a name, which is unbeknownst to me, but it is "our specific clan's" tartan)

Here I am with my kilted father. I guess this was the year where we wore "different" things considering my dress was something I wore when I was about 12. My mother was going through our storage and picking out things to give to Goodwill, and I saw that dress and remembered how much I loved it. I just had to try it on, and it fit.. of course a whole lot shorter and tighter than it originally was, but I made it work. 

 Christmas day came, and I guess Santa thought I was a good girl all year long because I was one lucky girl! cCm got me the Brooks Brothers bear, isn't he darling?!

And.. I think Santa knew I had a obsession thing for watches because he got me the Brooks Brothers watch with changeable bands. The two bands to the left of the watch are new, and then Santa was also kind enough to give me my dad's old bands from when he was my age.

Santa also knows about my favorite TV shows...12 months of mad men and 30 episodes of Bewitched, not bad Santa, not bad at all.

I also think Santa knows about the little problem I have of always being cold. The fleece is Patagonia (it's the men's, they don't make this color for women... why Patagonia, why?! we women enjoy a nice "natural" color with fun blue accents every once in a while!) and the green fleece is from LL Bean and the black down jacket is from Lands End... I recommend all three of these things. However, LL Bean won't monogram their trail model fleeces and Lands End won't monogram their down jackets, not a fan of their decision making. Therefore, they had to be taken to the monogrammer to get monogrammed--LLBean and Lands End, step up your game!

Since I am always cold, we cozied up by the fire while we opened presents. Mac got the best seat in the house and was so pleased to open his stocking to find toys and treats! The first Christmas we had Mac, we were helping him open his stocking and I guess he go so overwhelmed, he took one of his presents, headed straight for the back door, so we let him out. He went right outside and dug through the snow and into the ground and buried his brand new toy. We had never had a dog before and we were all just standing at the window starting. Once we saw him bury it, we laughed SO hard. It was one of the funniest Christmas memories ever.

I guess Santa also knew about my pearl collection, and knew I didn't have a multicolored strand...boy was he right. I think he was also aware of the little relationship I have going with Lilly Pulitzer.

I am in absolute awe of how he knew that my shoe closet was lacking tan riding boots? It's as if I made a list.. I also opened a whopping 10 dresses; some casual, some cocktail, and some sundresses. And some gorgeous jewelry... that Santa has great taste.

Then of course, I had to eat all of my Pittsburgh favorites while I was at home. My favorite pizza, Moes for the fajita burrito, my favorite sushi restaurant, my favorite Italian restaurant, and you can't forget about the good ol' country club for a Shirley temple and the chicken Caesar salad....yum.

And what's Pittsburgh without a ride on the incline?!

And what winter break would be complete without post Christmas shopping and a giant Bean Boot sighting...

Last but not least, I read a book and I highly recommend it. "When Character Was King" by Peggy Noonan

If you read the novel of a post and are still with me, today is the first day of classes...but not mine! I have no Monday classes... This could be a good thing, or a bad thing.. only time will tell! Good luck to all who started their spring classes this semester and have a fabulous day!

Yours, 

sCe