Sisters/Spaces: The Christmas Countdown is ON!

I have always loved surveys (remember how they were SO popular to send to your friends through e-mail?), so I was pumped when I saw this survey today from Clean Eating Chelsey.  Needless to say, we are about to survey it up!

Does Santa wrap presents, or just set them under the tree?

Amy: Clearly, it is the elves job to wrap.  Santa is much to old and much to busy for that business!

Ashley:  Of course not!  The gifts were made by him, someone else can do the wrapping!

Colored lights on the tree/house or white?

Amy: Well, I have both going on right now, but I prefer white.

Ashley:  I'd prefer white lights as well.  That's what I have on my tree and outside this year.

Do you hang mistletoe?

Amy: Nope.

Ashley:  Not usually.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?

Amy: I love this jello/applesauce/red hots stuff my aunt makes, but she doesn't make it every year.  I am definitely a turkey fan...so I'll go with that otherwise.

Ashley:  I'd have to say I'm a fan of the potatoes.  Not exclusive to Christmas however...

Favorite holiday memory as a child?

Amy: Riding my new bike through the neighborhood on Christmas morning, even though it was freezing.  Or, making noise so my dad would get up so we could open presents.

Ashley:  As a response to Amy's bike comment- I got the same bike on the same Christmas morning, however too terrified to ride it, I sat on it in the living room for months!  My favorite Christmas memory is playing dolls with my cousins on Christmas eve because I would usually get a new doll and was ecstatic to have someone that wanted to play dolls with me. 

Snow- love it or dread it?

Amy: Generally, I would say dread it.  I love looking at it on Christmas, but would rather go without because it makes it hard for people to travel to be together.

Ashley:  Dread it!  I like to look at it when its all clean white and smooth on the grass but after a few pictures I'm ready for Summer!

Real tree or fake tree?

Amy: Fake...our mom is allergic.

Ashley:  Agree with Amy!

What is the most important thing about Christmas for you?

Amy: Spending time with family.

Yay for Elf Yourself!  This picture cracks me up every time!

Ashley: Being together with family and making the memories to talk about for years.

What is your favorite holiday dessert?

Amy: Um...all of them.  Haha...if I HAD to choose I would go with just about anything pumpkin.

Ashley: Peanut Butter cookies with a Hershey kiss on top!

What is your favorite tradition?

Amy: I LOVE our Christmas Eve gathering with my mom's side of the family.  There are tons of people in a house that isn't quite big enough for everyone, but I love that we are ALL together and the house is full of laughter.

Ashley:  I love Christmas Eve as well, but my absolute favorite is setting up my ceramic Christmas village my grandma painted for me.  She had one when I was a kid, gifted one to my mom and then to Amy and I when we moved to our own places!

What tops your tree?

Amy: A silver, glittery star.  Follows my decorating theme!

Ashley:  We don't have anything this year!  I would like an angel in the years to come. 

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Amy: Do You Hear What I Hear...the Glee version makes me cry and get goosebumps on my face...lol.

Ashley:  Oh my this is a hard question... I think I enjoy all of them but Little Drummer Boy probably tops the list followed by Silent Night.

What do you leave for Santa?

Amy: Nothing anymore.  Used to be cookies.

Ashley:  Cookies!

Do you have a Christmas morning tradition?

Amy: My family always eats cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning...yum!

Ashley:  We eat Cinnamon rolls while Amy and I watch the Macy's parade.

Do you prefer to shop online or at the mall?

Amy: I like to take at least one good mall trip of the season to get the holiday shopping experience.  I've been doing more and more shopping online in the past couple of years, which I find to be much less stress.

Ashley:  I have done a lot of shopping online.  I love Black Friday shopping however after that I do most shopping online with a few trips out here and there.

And that concludes our Holiday Survey!  We'd love to hear some of your fun holiday traditions!

Midweek Photos!

Sorry for the delay folks! 
  Here are my December photo challenge days 5-14.  This group of photos was a challenge and I really had to think outside of the box to be "different"  but here goes.....

Day 5:  Something warm and tasty-  Thanks Amy for modeling your Starbucks!

Day 6:  A Candy Cane (or many)

So they arent candy canes but they are very yummy sweet treats!! 

We all know what a candy cane looks like....

Day 7 :  A wreath with a red bow-  Since this is a very generic holiday decoration I decided to just snap a picture of an animated wreath with a red bow on a gift bag I had in my house.   Using a custom color setting on my camera I made the wreath look 3D when in actuality it is not a 3-dimensional image.

Day 8: Stamped and Addressed Christmas cards-  Matt and I mailed out our cards before I snapped a picture of them, therefore next best option,  a card we recieved!  Address covered for privacy of course.

Day 9:  Santa Claus

Day 10:  Away in a manger----- I slacked and don't have a photo to go for day 10!   Sorry

Day 11:  Ribbons and Bows

                                    Displayed in an adorable christmas penguin dish from Amy!

Day 12:  Something Sticky:

    Matt and I built a gingerbread town... have you ever built a gingerbread house?  Can't think of many more things that are more sticky than frosting and candy!
Day 13:  Reindeer:  Hand (and footprint) made from some kiddos very "deer" to my heart.  (True work from a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old)

Day 14: A Decked hall.... (or how about a staircase)

And thats all for now....

Among the other things she is successful at I'd like to throw out a quick shout out to the other half of this blog;  As AMY she has just completed her final class to earn a Masters degree!! 

Thumbs up!  Great Job!

Stay tuned for photo challenge days 15 and on!

Sisters: Crafts!

A friend of Amy's and mine suggested the idea of a "craft club"--at least that is what we call it.  You take the idea of a book club and tweak it to make it into a craft club.  Tonight, we got a small group got together to make the same craft.  Since it was our friends idea she picked the craft, she picked jute wreaths.  They were time-consuming, but the final product looks fantastic!!  We used cardboard letters that matched the first letter of our last names, and hot glue guns and felt squares to make the rosettes.  You can use ribbon to create a bow as seen in the tutorial or you can opt to not add a bow.   I used ribbon to create a hanging loop.  Some of the other ladies made a bow that is shown in the final product of the tutorial.  All in all, we agreed it was fun!

Here is my letter prior to adding the rosettes.

And it's complete!  I plan to hang it in my newly-painted powder room and will post a picture of it hung up as soon as it's on the wall.

Amy's work-in-progress

Drumroll please...

The finished product!

The colors went perfectly with Amy's bedrom color scheme, and she's been wanting something above the bed...so this is it!  Now, she just needs a headboard!

Spaces: Christmas Work-In-Progress

When I moved into this house, I didn't (and still don't) have much Christmas decor (I feel so swanky typing that, haha) of my own.  So, this year is definitely a work-in-progress sort of year when it comes to decorating.

I love that this year I get to kind of create my own "style" when it comes to Christmas decorating.  I have a white and silver "vision," but I believe it's sort of impossible to truly stick to a vision when it comes to Christmas decorating, because there is just so much cute stuff!  So, here is what I've got going on so far in my casa this year.

Ashley and Matt got a new tree, so they were so kind as to pass their old one along to me.  I think it's adorable.  It's pre-lit, which I've never had before and think it AWESOME.  I have a few of my own ornaments, but most are some plain or glittery silver balls.

The night I put it up, I sat in the dark for like 45 minutes because I thought it was so pretty lit up, haha.

I have this weird ledge in my living room, so I thought it would be a good place for the Christmas village my grandma made for me a couple of years ago.  Doesn't fit the white and silver theme, but looks cute!  I'm using the other part of the ledge to display my Christmas cards...at least until they start falling down and driving me crazy!

You may notice that most of my decorations are in the same room.  :)  I think my TV stand is cute.  I have a santa statue I got from a student a few years ago, the terra cotta pot Christmas tree I made at the Craft-stravaganza, and a couple of snowmen my mom and I made a couple of years ago.

On to the kitchen...and this one is probably my favorite.  I have been seeing this ornaments-in-vases thing all over blogs and Pinterest, so I had to try it.  I definitely love it!

I've got some other trinkets here and there around the house, but these are my favorites.  I'm looking forward to building a collection of things I love!  Now, on to sprucing up the outside of my house!

Stuff: Fitness Survey

Happy Tuesday!  I am in this weird post-half marathon mental place, so when I saw this fitness survey on Carrots 'n Cake, I thought it would be good for me to do and get me back in gear.  :)

Five Fitness Things I Can't Live Without
1. My Runkeeper App on my phone

2. Races (this is abundantly clear now that I seem to find excuses NOT to run that I never found before)

3. My compression jacket with thumb holes from Old Navy

4. Hip stretches

5. Music

Most embarassing song I listen to while working out
When my BIL made me an amazing playlist for my half marathon, I made a special request for the Glee version of "Hey Soul Sister."  I ADORE it...strange.

Favorite pre-workout snack or meal
Oatmeal squares with a little almond milk and a banana...the recipe for a great long run.

On my fitness bucket list...

• Try a spin class
• Join a rec. volleyball league
• Run a sub-2:00 half marathon

Must-have Tech Tools
Right now, I'm not very techie when it comes to fitness.  I NEED my Runkeeper App and iPod...but would love a Garmin (did ya hear that Santa?)

Top Fitness Gear

• Spibelt
• Asics running shoes
• Features socks

Motivational Mantra
"You are capable of doing and becoming more than you realize."  Thanks Pinterest!

Favorite Cardio Exercise
Distance running...hands down.

Favorite Strength Moves

• Planks
• Crunches on the ball
• Tricep dips
• Plie squats

Thanks for putting up with my survey!  Feel free to play along!

Stuff: Photo Challenge Update!

Hello Readers!  A few days have passed during my photo challenge so I figured now is a great time to update!  Since the month started in the middle of the week my updates have been more often than they may be the rest of the month.  I will now update my photos 1 time a week, this will leave Amy and I the space to blog about our day-to-day activities!!

My goal for this challenge is to step outside the box with my photos, while keeping a holiday theme, stray away from the typical things you may think of when you see the theme.  (If I can that is!)  So,
 Day 2:  A List-  Many people think a list written by a child to Santa Claus, and I thought of that as well, however after some thinking I took a twist of displaying a recipe as my "list," because it has a list of ingredients and then a list of steps. 

Day 3:  The Christmas tree:

Day 4:  Presents under the tree:

Thanks for following along with this challenge!  Stay Tuned and Check back this week for re-caps of fun activities going on with Amy and I, as well as photo challenge days 5-9! 

Happy December!

Hello Readers!  Ashley here,

November 2011 has come and gone, and is now leaving us the hustle and bustle of the holiday season!  Our shopping is underway, gifts are wrapped leaving us no choice but to put up our Christmas tree for the first time in our new house leaving us plenty of time to enjoy it!  

Matt and I started with this process on Sunday with the brand new tree.  Here is what we had prior to beginning. 

                                                  Finished product put up still needing to be decorated.

and its complete! 

You all will probably see this tree and some more accessories once our twice more this month. 

I will be participating in a daily photo challenge that Amy found for me on Pinterest but the original idea is from this site.  I love photography and even though I don't have a fancy expensive camera or great lights and props, I think I will really enjoy this challenge!

Instead of posting daily I will combine my photos and post them once a week.  I will fill in the day number and theme of the photo. 

Here is Day #1 which was "Something Red" and this is what I took.  A closeup of a red rose.