December Daily {Monday, December 24 + Tuesday, December 25}

Happy Friday everyone!

I know normally I post my Project Life pages on Friday, but I couldn't fit my PL stuff in my over-packed suitcase.

But, digital scrapbooking goes everywhere my computer goes, so I have my digital December Daily pages!

That is me in that picture! My hair is straight! I got a haircut and had a blow out. It was fun to have a different style for Christmas Eve!

We don't do much to celebrate on Christmas Day. Usually just a nice dinner, because our big celebration is on Christmas Eve. This year, I woke everyone up after waking up every half hour because I was so excited to give my parents their present!

I cannot believe how quickly this week at home has flown by! I've had a really nice trip home, it is fun to be back in New York. But I am also excited to go home to Chicago for AJ's birthday! And New Year's Eve.

We don't have much going on for New Year's Eve, and I am so thankful! I am going to use my new dessert set to make 4 different mini desserts. I think we will have one every hour leading up to midnight! How fun will that be?

Do you have any big party plans for New Year's, or are you going to stay home and celebrate quietly like us?

December Daily {Saturday, December 22 + Sunday, December 23}

The two days before Christmas were crazy! We were hosting Christmas Eve at my house, so we had tons of last minute errands to run. But isn't that how it always is when you are hosting?

We needed lots of random things, like taper candles and a new wallet (thank you hot chocolate that exploded in my bag!). But it was fun going to the mall and running errands with my parents!

Plus, we got to do some fun Christmas-y things too! Saturday night, after dinner, we drove around to check out the lights!

Do you find yourself running around like crazy just before a party?

December Daily {Thursday, December 20 + Friday, December 21}

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm really happy that I have my December Daily to look back on, because I have no idea where this month went!

To be honest, I'm a little sad that Christmas is over! How was your Christmas? Did your December fly by too?

Project Life 25 {Week 27}

Its ICE CREAM MAKING DAY!

Hahaha, can you tell that I am very excited about that?

I am also super excited because I will be going home tonight! And then Christmas is in only three days!

Top Row: Sunrise from our window
Middle Row: Acorn Cookies
Bottom Row: Losing weight ~ My glasses

I included an insert this week about R.A. Dickey winning the Cy Young. He used to be a Met, but now he is a Toronto Blue Jay.

Top Row: Me and AJ at "Friendsgiving" ~ Everyone gathered around the table at "Friendsgiving"

Middle Row: AJ emptying the dishwasher ~ Relaxing on the couch

Bottom Row: Apple cake pops ~ Holding hands

Are you traveling for Christmas this year? I always try to travel as much before Christmas as possible, just in case it snows or something. Although, despite predictions, Chicago was left out of the snow!

Third Thursday Scrapbook Stories + December Daily {Wednesday, December 19}

Happy Weekend Eve!

This is an especially happy weekend eve, because its the last one that I have to work for two weeks!

I cannot wait for Christmas break :)

This is also a super exciting weekend eve because I have two things on going!

I'm sharing the rest of this 12x12 layout over at A Beautiful Day....

And, I have my December Daily page from yesterday that I'm linking up with Ali Edwards.

Well, that's it for me today. I'm going to go do a snow dance, because right now, we are having lots and lots of rain in Chicago, but no snow!

Do you prefer snow or rain?

December Daily {Saturday, December 15 + Sunday, December 16 + Monday, December 17 + Tuesday, December 18}

3 days.

There are 3 days left until Christmas break.

And I'm not counting Friday as a real day since we are doing the always awesome ice cream making lab.

So, there are 2 real days until Christmas break + 1 awesome day that involves ice cream!

I loved this picture of the tree so much, I decided to let it speak for itself and not journal for Saturday. But if I did journal, it would read something like this:
"Katey, Jim, AJ and I wanted to visit some of the Christmas attractions in Chicago. We went to Macy's on State Street, and the Christkindlemarket in Daley Plaza. We were supposed to head over to the Lincoln Park Zoo for Zoo Lights, but the rain had other plans for us! So, we stayed home, ordered in a pizza and played lots of board games instead!"

The beauty of doing Project Life at the same time as December Daily is that I can document that story in PL, and I can feature just this picture (that I love) here in DD!

 Sunday I did journal :)

And Monday too! I had such a fun time making these ornaments, and I think AJ did too, although he did feel that his art skills were a bit rusty! But look at how hard he is concentrating there!

I didn't take a picture of my kids at their Christmas concert, but I thought that the Charlie Brown kids were a great stand in :)

Have you started your Christmas countdown this year...or your Christmas break countdown? Both of mine are in full swing!

Linking up with Ali Edwards

Sandy Hook {12.14.2012}

December Daily {Thursday, December 13 + Friday, December 14}

Can you believe there is only 1 week until Christmas Eve? I have barely touched my Christmas to do list, so I am a bit nervous about that!

But, I'm sure it will all get done, it always does!

This was another "Oops! I forgot to take a picture!" days. But, I love all the digital stickers in this Shutterfly kit, so I just went with one of those!

Friday I had a nail appointment - my last manicure before Christmas. So, as tradition would have it, I got my favorite "Santa hats" manicure. The girl who did my nails back in school suggested this around Christmas time one year, and I've been doing it even since. Its like a signal - Christmas is really almost here!

Do you have any funny little traditions like my Santa manicure?

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {12.16.2012}

Before I start sharing my Savenger Hunt Sunday photos, I wanted to take a moment to remember Sandy Hook Elementary School. My thoughts and prayer are with everyone who was affected by this tragedy. 

Sparkly 

We had guests come to stay with us, and we tried to do some Christmas-y things in Chicago. Unfortunately, the rain got in our way! We went to Daley Plaza to see the tree and Chriskindlemarket. Even though it was very rainy, the tree still sparkled!

Door

I loved this little entryway in the Tiffany display :)

Decorate

This plate reflects the lights from our tree. I'm really glad I decided to put in on the entertainment center instead of on the coffee table this year!

Stripes

All of the booths at the Chriskindlemarket have striped roofs. I had a little trouble capturing it with all of the umbrellas in the way, but I still liked how it came out!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Scrabble, AJ, wine, the tree and Christmas Vacation. Just a few of my favorite things last Sunday evening!

Hopefully AJ and I will be able to go to the Zoo Lights tonight after we drop our friends off at the airport. I was so disappointed that we couldn't go yesterday, but it just wasn't possible in the rain!

I'll be back tomorrow with more December Daily :)

Project Life 25 {Week 26}

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm taking a Friday break from December Daily to share my Project Life pages!

This is from Week 26 (November 5-11). This was a really exciting week for us because we send out our wedding Save the Dates!

Top Row: Setting up the Save the Dates to be mailed
Middle Row: AJ stamping and return address-ing the envelopes ~ A cope of the save the date
Bottom Row: Scrapping at my work desk around 5pm, while waiting for open house to begin at 7pm.

I also included an insert this week. This one tracks my daily commute. I did blur out the actual stops, just in case! The 12x12 paper for this kit included a dark blue sheet covered with light blue outlined words. I had this scrap left over, with the word commute perfectly placed! I colored it in with a shimmer marker as my title card. I love when things work out so perfectly!

I included the article written about David Wright signing a huge contract with the Mets on the back of the insert. Of course, I realized after that I put this in the wrong week, but I'm just going to be okay with that.

Top Row: Felt gingerbread mean drying
Middle Row: AJ going off to work on a Sunday night
Bottom Row: Cleaning up :)

I can't believe that Christmas is in less than two weeks!

Tonight, we are having friends fly in, and one has never been to Chicago! We are looking forward to doing some very Christmas-y things with them, like the Chriskindlemarket and Zoo Lights...as long as the rain holds off!

Do you have any holiday related plans this weekend?

December Daily {Monday, December 10 + Tuesday, December 11 + Wednesday, December 12}

Happy Weekend Eve everyone!

I'm super behind in sharing my December Daily pages this week! I've got three to share!

This has been a crazy week!

I left work early yesterday (and by early, I mean about 20 minutes after I got there) with a migraine and some pain in my leg. To be honest, I shouldn't have even gone in. I was very dizzy when I woke up, but because I was off on Tuesday, I tried to push myself a little too much!

But I am going in today, and I am really excited because we are doing a CSI lab. It is one of my favorite labs, students are given three unknown powders found near a make believe "crime scene" (a stolen painting), then they run tests on the powders to determine who stole the painting!

It is so much fun, and the kids really get into deciding who committed the crime. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to get my camera ready for today - this would be perfect for our school's newsletter!

Oh well. I may try to take some cell phone pictures!

What do you do when you forget your camera?

linking up with Ali Edwards

December Daily {Tutorial}

Hi everyone!

Today, I am over at rukristin papercrafts sharing a tutorial on how to create a digital December Daily book on Shutterfly!

I'll be back tomorrow with my December Daily pages for December 11, 10 and 12!

December Daily {Saturday, December 8 + Sunday, December 9}

Happy Tuesday!

Its a happy Tuesday for me, because I'm home. I've decided to focus on that silver lining instead of the stitches in my leg.

Now, they really aren't a big deal. I just had a weird thing that I wanted to get taken off before the wedding and in all honesty, I mean before the honeymoon where I will be shorts, not the wedding, where I will be wearing a gown But it required some stitches. And not wearing tight pants or putting pressure on (aka. standing on) my leg for 24-48 hours. So I'm home today, scrapping on the couch!

And sharing my December Daily pages for the weekend!

Sunday at work we had a crafting event for the elementary school kids (K-3). It sounded like a really good idea on paper. Students would go to three stations:
Puzzle piece snowflake ornaments: puzzle pieces painted red, green and white and glued together like a snowflake
Coasters: color in 4 4x4 in boxes with Christmas scenes, mod podge them onto tiles as Christmas coasters
Tree skirts: I'm not entirely sure what this was, but it involved glitter and felt

So, there were supposed to be a bunch of high school kids there to help out. Each room should have had two teachers plus 3-4 students. That is not what happened. Most of the helper kids didn't show up! It was a crazy mess!

Fortunately, the students had a great time. And once I got home, and had some wine and pizza and played scrabble with AJ, I had a better time too!

December Daily {Thursday, December 6 + Friday, December 7}

Oh man, two posts in one day.

I don't normally like to do that, but I was so behind yesterday, I didn't get my Scavenger Hunt posted, and I'm on a pretty tight December Daily schedule, so here it is!

Did you have a good weekend?

We had our crafting workshop at school. I'll share more details about it tomorrow when I post that December Daily page, but let's just say I'm super excited to have a half day today so I can go to the doctor!