throwback christmas card

Every Thanksgiving, I help Grandma Bev put together her nativity arrangement in her dining room.  It's one of my favorite traditions.  This year, we needed something in the basement, when I stumbled upon a family photo from 1978.  One thing led to another, and I designed a fun throwback Christmas card for Grandma Bev.  She mailed out 100 cards, and received probably that many cards or phone calls about the card.  I'm so glad it was a hit.  She's already planning what she wants her card for 2014 to be.

2013 christmas card

I like to put a lot of time and effort into Christmas cards (see our 2012 card here).  It's oftentimes the only point of contact I have with friends and family who live far away.  This year, Sophie wrote another engaging letter (she's such a creative little pup), and we used some photos my sister took for us back in November.  Here's to a wonderful 2014!

plaid and polka dots

Last weekend, my sister took our family pictures.  I am starting to work our Christmas card (so many design choices!), and the first step was a nice family photo.  Since I found Sophie's navy and pink sweater first (thank you, TJ Maxx), I built the wardrobe for me and Josh around that.  (Isn't that what everyone does?  Plans their wardrobe based on what their dog is wearing?  Ok, maybe not, but I do.)  I opted for plaid for Josh and polka dots for me.  I like how they work together.  I'll like it even more once Sophie writes her annual Christmas letter (see 2012's card here) and I finish designing the Christmas card...

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 28-31

I did it.  I completed the Capture December Pinterest Challenge.  Below are days 28-31 (see days 1-9 here, 10-18 here, and 19-27 here).  The challenge was fun and I'm proud of myself for sticking with something.

28. Words - I'm reading Wheat Belly.  It's awesome.  If you haven't read it, you should.
29. Sky View - Sophie loved sitting on Josh's lap at the Haugo Family Christmas.
30. Your Winter Wonderland - Thanks to the awesome blizzard, the oustside of my house looked like this.  Beautiful, isn't it?
31. Fun - Iowa State played in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Even though they lost, they are still my favorite team.  Go State!

And herein ends my daily December Instagram updates.

Christmas Festivities

Josh and I attended a beautiful candelight church service on Sunday morning.  The service was quite special and I'm so glad I had this opportunity.  Also, I could have spent the whole morning singing the beautiful Christmas songs.  The song service is always my favorite part of church services, but Christmas songs have a special place in my heart and I could sing along for a while.

Then, I spent some time  Sunday evening wrapping gifts.  I love taking care to wrap gifts beautifully, and it was quite a luxury to have enough time to do this.  I also like it when my gifts under the tree coordinate, so I get metallic wrapping paper on sale at Target every year, and then spice up things with ribbon.  Since I had quite a lot of ribbon leftover from Cassie's wedding programs back in August, I used the ribbon to adorn the gifts.  I'm a little partial, but I think it turned out quite lovely.

Last week, we had a blizzard...which makes everything feel like Christmas (I posted about the storm as it was happening here).  I love how beautiful the icicles and fluffy snow looks in frozen tundra.

On Christmas, we were up in Minneapolis with the Huntley side of the family (see our Thanksgiving festivities here).  To spice things up, I challenged all the cousins to wear ugly sweaters (I had my awesome shirt from this holiday party earlier in December).  I think we should do this every year. 

We're one good-looking bunch

Yummy desserts

Awkward family photos

Josh rocks this sweater.

A toast to our Kappa legacy!

We ended the night at Josh's parents' farm with a game of Monopoly.  It's kind of a tradition to play as a family during the holidays.  I'm not competitive, yet I won this year.  Score!  $20 for me!

Winning.

We still have two Christmas celebrations this week.  Sophie can't wait to wear her Mrs. Claus outfit for them.

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 19-27

Here's an update to my Capture December Pinterest Challenge (see days 10-18 here and days 1-9 here).  I'm still loving it.  The challenge forces me to take photos of things other than Sophie (however, she still makes cameos in some of my photos).

19. Candy canes - I still haven't made anything with them, but I might dress up a dessert this weekend with them.
20. Tree topper - Thanks to Target's Christmas clearance a few years back, I scored our tree topper.  I love it.
21. Peace - I'm on vacation until January 3...so the alarm is set to "off" until then.
22. Tradition - Water with three lemons - that's how I like to order my water at restaurants.  My mom and sister also subscribe to this...and we all got the same thing when we were out to dinner at El Azteca.
23. Scarf - Sophie scored her festive holiday scarf when she got her haircut last week.  She was a little shy about showing it off.
24. Favorite part of Christmas Eve - Josh and I like to watch a movie together on Christmas Eve (last year we went to the movie theater; this year we stayed in). 
25. Morning - We spent most of Christmas Day on the road (first two hours up to my in-laws' farm, then two more hours up to Minneapolis, then back to the farm).
26. Grateful - My mother-in-law put together a scrapbook for my sister-in-law with all of Kalli's noteworthy photos from her childhood.  Since Kalli is pregnant (with a Kappa legacy!), Pam thought it would be fun for Kalli to have this to share with her little girl.  I love thoughtful gifts like this.
28. Nighttime - I'm in relax mode and enjoying a lovely cup of Amy's Blend Tea from Caribou is a perfect way to end the day.

Christmas is Almost Here!

Christmas is in three days, and I can't wait.  I'm pretty pumped.  Though I'm not totally done with my Christmas shopping, I'm close (closer now that I spent the majority of today getting some last-minute gifts).  Before I went shopping with my mom, sister and niece, my sister snapped these pictures for us.  Every year, I put a small picture in an ornament for our Christmas tree, and I needed one for this year's ornament.  Thanks for the pictures, Dina!

My niece also wanted to take a couple of pictures with me...a "normal" picture and a "fun" picture.  You can guess which is which.

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 10-18

It's December 20, and I haven't missed a day yet of the Capture December Pinterest Challenge (read my original post here, and days 1-9 here) from A Content Housewife.  Below are days 10-18.  Enjoy!

10. Wrapping paper - a look into my gift wrap box (thanks to awesome prop sales over the years)
11. Green - Chat Packs from my Christmas work party
12. A beautiful sight - Sophie in a Mrs. Claus outfit is truly a beautiful sight!
13. Family - we're planning our Christmas plans...it's a bit hectic
14. Christmas tree - one of the trees in the lobby at work
15. Favorite holiday song - Joy to the World screenshot from wikipedia
16. Outside Christmas lights - Josh and I drove around the neighborhood and found some beautiful lights.
17. Presents - I haven't wrapped anything yet, but I do have these awesome Lisa Frank name tags to put on my presents once they're wrapped.
18. Stockings - I dream of matching stockings, but until our family is complete, I just can't justify them.

Holiday Parties

Saturday night, I attended my first holiday party of the season - an ugly Christmas sweater party.  I love these parties.  You don't have to get stressed out trying to look your best; instead, you get to have fun dressing a little goofy.  It's stress-free.  Anyway, a college friend, Rachel, invited me to the party and it was great reconnecting with a few friends from undergrad as well as meeting new friends.  I don't really get out much, so this was a nice break for me.

Learn more about the earrings here

Then, tonight was our department Christmas party at work.  It was held at the Gramercy Tap in the Kirkwood Hotel building downtown.  Lindsay, one of my favorite co-workers who has been on maternity leave since October, was there and it was so fun seeing her.  She doesn't look like she just had a baby - I'll need to get some pointers from her one day!

My little buddy, Nick

Deanne (she's a Kappa, too!), Lindsay, me and Brittainey

Deanne, Barb, me, Lindsay, and Leah

Christmas conversation starters, perfect for Christmas parties

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 1-9

I've been faithfully participating in the ACH Blogger Challenge (I mentioned it back here). Below are my pictures from Days 1-9. I like how the Instagram photos fill nicely in this grid from PicFrame. It also makes it easier for you (my reader) to not have to scroll through so many photos (I'm thoughtful like that). It's been fun to try to take a photo each day of a new thing. I take a lot of pictures anyway (iCloud loves me), so this makes it fun to do it for a purpose.

1. Your view today - assembling Christmas cards (they turned out as beautifully as I had thought here)
2. Favorite Holiday movie - Elf (here's a link to my favorite clip)
3. Red - who doesn't love a little Stella and Dot?
4. Joyous - Sophie was yawning and we were both about to go to bed. It was the most joyous part of our day.
5. Today's temperature - the grass is still green here in Des Moines and the temperature was in the 50s
6. Shopping - The Mara Mi line at Target is one of my favorites!
7. Bright - I had a photo shoot and it was supposed to feel like summer...so everything was bright!
8. Ornaments - Wal-Mart saved the day for my ugly sweater party where I scored an awesome snowman shirt and these stunning Christmas tree earrings
9. Something your reading - Real Simple's The Simple List is my favorite part of any magazine and I look forward to it every month (and a cup of Amy's Blend tea from Caribou makes it even better!)

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the month.

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Pinterest Challenge: Capture December

I saw this on Pinterest yesterday, and think it's a challenge I can actually complete.  So, here I go, accepting a Pinterest Challenge.  Lianne from A Content Housewife posted a Photo-A-Day Challenge where you take one photo every day that embodies the month of December.  Seems simple enough, right?  I'm already a lover of Instagram, so I don't think it should be too difficult, however I will have to remember to link to her Twitter hashtag: #ACHdecember. The challenge starts in three days.  I should start practicing now... 

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Christmas Front Door

I did a little decorating tonight. After driving around almost the entire Des Moines metro area, I finally found a little (fresh) tree and some white lights for it. I planted the tree in a planter box I already had (this is what it looked like in the summer), which is conveniently located near an exterior outlet. I need to find a timer to put the lights on, but the only I ones I've found are $20, and I'm too cheap for that. The wreath is from about three years ago. I made it from crafty things at Michael's. The skeleton key door mat is from Target. I hope to get the rest of the front porch area decorated tomorrow. I love Christmas!

Fab Finds: Easy Holiday Decorating Ideas

Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost here!  I love the holidays - food, family, pretty decorations - it really doesn't get much better than that!  Here are some of my favorite easy holiday decorating ideas this year (and yes, I'll even be making a couple of them).

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Styling Decisions

When I style a photo shoot, I always hope my shoots don't end up on Catalog Living's site.  Today, I was working on a Christmas story (politically correct version: Holiday story).  It is a front porch scene.  We used fake snow to make it feel like Christmas.  It was also inside the photo studio (even though the photo will look like it's outside).  Here's a picture of the box of fake snow I used.  It smelled like a mix of dirt and laundry detergent.  Not every day is glamorous.  For instance, today I had to make an emergency visit to the nurse's office.  Turns out I'm allergic to dwarf pine trees.  This, I'm convinced, is proof I shouldn't go outside and cements the fact in my head that I'm NOT a tree lover. 

I'm pretty sure this box is from 1989.  It smells about that old.