Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. I’m spending the holidays at my parents’ house in South Jersey. I’ve been here for less than 24 hours and I’ve already ate some delicious meals cooked by my mama, stopped at my favorite thrift store, annnnd done four loads of laundry. Tonight, we’re hosting a Christmas Eve get-together and I am still in need of an outfit decision . . . time is ticking.
My sister’s puppy, Ellie, is pretty much my BFF normally, but not when we were getting her into this sweater. We recreated last year’s photo shoot (and risked losing our fingers/hands) to wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas. Enjoy your week! xx
Philly Guy Gift Guide 2014
Even though I have resisted putting on my *NSYNC Home For Christmas Pandora station so far this year, there’s no avoiding it – the holidays are pretty much here. My shopping has not been that productive thus far, so I was really excited to put together a little bit of inspiration in the form of my annual Philadelphia gift guides. This year I expanded my recommendations to 10 whole ideas to gift your boyfriend, brother, friend, cool boss, cooler dad, etc. for the holidays this year. Most of the items can be shopped online or picked up around town, so let’s get shopping!
Merry Christmas, Philadelphia!
Happy Christmas Eve, Philly ladies! I will be spending the next few days hanging with the fam at home in South Jersey. Last year, we were welcoming this little Christmas nugget into our lives, and I’m loving hanging with her for the week. We dressed Ellie up in her Christmas sweater from Doggie Style (2102 South Street) and managed to get a few good shots before she ripped it off.
Wishing each of you a very happy holiday with your family & friends. Merry Christmas, ladies! xx
A Holiday Recap
I was really trying to hold myself to a blog every other day, but it seems the holidays let that get away from me. Here are some of my favorite moments during the time I spent in South Jersey during the my favorite season!
Christmas Eve is becoming one of the best days of the year for me. My sister & I get to exchange our gifts, we go to a great party with good friends, and finish it off with the 10pm candlelight church service. This year, Lindsay got me a massage at AVA Wellness, and I can’t wait to use it! My dress is the Harlow Faux Wrap Dress by Kiyonna from a fabulous new rental service I am trying out, Gwynnie Bee. If anyone would like a review of their service, let me know!
On Christmas morning, my family & I opened gifts, made a yummy breakfast, laughed, and spent some wonderful quality time with each other. Don’t let this photo of the sleeping Ellie fool you, she was a maniac with all of the wrapping paper and boxes on the floor. One of my favorite gifts was presented like this (a stunning photo of the Trunchbull courtesy of my mom) … tickets to see Matilda on Broadway!
Christmas dinner was delicious and fun as usual. My Aunt Edie is a Pinterest pro and she makes the most amazing apps & drinks from recipes she finds there. This is her second time whipping up some sangria, and it was awesome. We finished dinner with a celebratory Christmas shot of Three Olives Chocolate, and let’s just say, I’ve found a new Three Olives vodka to add to my existing stash of Cherry.
During the rest of my time at home, we had more lovely get-togethers with friends. One night, our family friend Stephanie brought over her 3 boys. We got them K’nex Lego toys for Christmas, and it took me approx 1.5 hours to finish the above beauty. #icanthaveaboy
We also enjoyed our time with our neighbors during our annual get together. Our “Chinese Auction” is always the most fun, and to my surprise, the hottest gift this year was Chuey, a stuffed Chihuahua that sings La Bamba (which Jordan got me as a gift once… and I might have put him in the donation pile last month… and my mom might have taken him out for this game… and Jordan was the one to open him. Oops.).
Here is Chuey, if you were wondering:
How were your holidays? To everyone in the city of Philly, hope you’re enjoying this rainy snow-ish day! 🙂
Christmas Eve Blessings
I love being home for the holidays. The longer I am living away from home, the more and more I appreciate the house I grew up in. So, as we spend the week eating, drinking and enjoying each other’s company, I had a little time to reflect on the things I feel very blessed to have this season.
- An amazing family who I love spending time with.
- My wonderful boyfriend who can always make me laugh and put a smile on my face.
- My awesome career, in a fabulous industry. It doesn’t hurt that I also have literally the best co-workers on the planet.
- A bunch of friendships I have continued from high school & college with a great group of caring, intelligent & hilarious women.
- A cute little apartment in the city I love, and an opportunity to share all of my explorations with you!
I found this video during one of my usual YouTube marathons, and it made me smile.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! XOXO
A Christmas Nugget
Everyone meet Ellie, my sister’s early Christmas present. We’ve never had a dog before, and she is absolutely perfect. Within an hour of meeting her at my parent’s house this holiday season, I had about 50 photos of her on my phone.
Plus, Ellie obviously loves reading Her Philly 🙂 Happy Holidays everyone!
1 Week Until Christmas!
Ugly Christmas Sweaters, thrifed. T-Rexmas Men’s Tee, Cheesesteaktees (506 South Street)
Happy Holidays!
Macy’s Christmas Light Show
When I was younger, my family and I frequently made a stop at Macy’s (1300 Market St) during the holidays to see the Christmas Light Show. I remember loving the festivities and have wanted to give the show a try in my adult years. Since two of my girlfriends from college stopped by the city on Saturday for a little holiday shopping & sightseeing, so we thought we would give it a go.
When we walked in, the store was a literal madhouse. Now, it was one of the only two Saturdays left before Christmas, but I’m talking, can’t even walk madhouse. We stopped on the 3rd floor to find a bathroom for our friend and couldn’t seem to even find a place to stop & wait where we were not in anyone’s way.
We got a decent spot behind two rows of people and got ready to watch the show. From the 3rd floor, it was a bit hard to hear, and we couldn’t see the bottom of the set. However, it was still beautiful and still looked just like I remembered it!
If you are thinking of going to see a show, my tips are as follows: 1) Go on a weekday. Just, trust me :] 2) Sit/stand on the bottom floor, even if it means you have to wait a bit longer for the show to start 3) Remove all jackets/scarves/gloves before you get into position to watch, it does get a little warm! 4) Take a child. I think while venturing to see this as an adult it had lost a little of it’s luster. I don’t know if I’ll go back for it until I have kids of my own.
The show runs every hour through the end of December. You can get the full schedule over on VisitPhilly. Have you ever attended the Macy’s Christmas Light Show? What did you think of it?