Bring on the games!

Is it Saturday already? My vacation is almost over. NOOOOO!!!! I'm not ready to for this to end yet! I could use another week off. I'm not even kidding!

Anyways. How about we pick up where I left off last night? Sound good? I had a BLAST and I have lots of FIERY and SPARKLY pictures to share.

We SLOWLY drove through the HORRIBLE snow storm and made it to Nick's mom's house safely. The roads were incredibly bad. We didn't see a single plow or salt truck all the way there. BAH! This years tree was even bigger than last years.


We waited on a few friends to show up and then dove into the "decorating". We attached roughly 250 sparklers, 30 roman candles and spinning stars as toppers. Awe, so pretty and violent looking.


The boys were so pleased with the tree that they busted out a Polka. No.... I have no explanation for this.


After the decorations were done we stopped to eat. There was so much food. Here is my plate. Sauerkraut and pork loin, sauerkraut balls, stuffed mushrooms and some cheesy potatoes.


After dinner the boys drug the tree out and tied it safely to the yard before starting the fire.


It took a while for the whole thing to catch fire and get crazy. Honestly, these pictures do it no justice. HA!


The boys played with some more fireworks while the tree continued to burn. ;)


After the tree was burnt to a crisp, we gathered inside and toasted with a little champagne and chatted till almost midnight. We had the best time! The drive home however was SUPER BAD! We made it safely though. YAY!

That was last night, here is today.

For breakfast this morning I had another delicious bowl of oats.

• 1/2 cup Irish oats
• 1 cup chocolate Almond Breeze
• 1/2 banana
• small handful of raisins
• 1 tbs coconut flakes
• dash cinnamon
• dash salt
• 2 packets splenda
• 1 tbs chocolate peanut butter

YUM-YUM! Oats cooked on the stove are SO much better than in the microwave. I wish I had access to a stove at work.

After breakfast Nick and I busted out several board and card games and spent ALL afternoon hanging out in our pajamas. It was so nice to relax and do NOTHING!

At about 2:00 we stopped to make lunch. Nick had leftovers that we brought home from his mom's last night. I had some veggies with hummus, pickles and a chicken breast sandwich on an Ezekiel bun with fat free American cheese and spinach. It was nice to have an extra chicken breast leftover from last night. Both of our lunches were ready in a matter of minutes.


Like some sort of gaming machines we started playing more games and didn't stop until almost 8:00 at night. I don't think either ones of us wanted to set foot outside today. We just wanted to be lazy! Not to mention the high today is 15 degrees. I don't want to be anywhere NEAR that frigid cold weather! It was nice and cozy inside. Basically the entire day was perfect. ;)

For dinner we had Taco Salad (you can find the recipe ***HERE***). I thought I would make it tonight and surprise Nick since we didn't have it on Friday night as usual. It's his favorite.


Well, I think we just decided to play more games. HA! Enjoy the rest of your Saturday night. We're such nerds!!!

A day FULL of joy!

THE FUN REFUSES TO STOP! My fragile fun lovin little heart can barely stand it. Somehow I'm managing though! Yesterday with the folks was fabulous and today was just as amazing. I got to give presents to people I love AGAIN and managed to snag up some AWESOME goodies as well. Can I just say again how much I LOVE Christmas!!!! The word "love" doesn't really describe it my friends. There are no words!

This morning I woke up super early as usual. My anxious self refused to fall back asleep. It was still dark out for Pete's sake! Absurd! I glanced over at what I assumed would be a sleeping Nick but ALAS, he was staring back at me. I guess we were both too excited to sleep! We came downstairs, I made some coffee and we relaxed for a bit with Mr. Oliver Cat. We found ourselves stretching the inevitable gift opening session out a bit longer. Clearly we both love the torture! Don't we look tired? HA!


About an hour later it was time to DIVE IN!


Nick loved all his goodies. I got him a paper shredder. I know this seems lame but if you could just see his office, it would ALL begin to make sense! I think perhaps this was a present for the BOTH of us. I HATE CLUTTER! I also got him a beard trimmer, a WARM hoodie, some drill bits, pajama pants, a hat and some other odds and ends.


Soooooooo, the long wait is over! Want to know what I got? I GOT THE MOST AWESOME KNIFE SET IN THE WORLD! Four star quality brand G.A. Henckels knives at that!! I cook a LOT and my current knives SUCK a lot. He knew that I would NEVER indulge and buy myself a set of good quality knives so he went ahead and spent a small fortune on this set. CRAZY ADORABLE MR. MAN OF MINE!

I look deranged in all of these pictures by the way. HA!


What can I say, we're both into practical gifts! Perhaps these are signs of getting older??? HA!

We also gave Oliver cat (fur baby) his presents (treats, toys and catnip). He went WILD with excitement. HAHAHAHA!


After Nick and I wrapped up our present tearing session it was nearing 10:30. GOOD GRIEF how did that happen? I never even had breakfast and now it's too late to have it. I was expecting Ann by 11:00-ish and we had planned to have lunch together. Oh well, it's not like I was starving or anything.

Nick was heading out the door to visit his Aunt at the exact time that Ann showed up. Oh man, Ann had a bag of goodies for me. Crazy lady! Sometimes I just feel so spoiled! I love my family. DO YOU HEAR ME CRAZY PEOPLE? I LOVE YOU GUYS!! YEAH!!!

I made Ann and I a pot of Raspberry truffle coffee (yeah, it tasted just as good as it sounded) and we pondered over what to have for lunch. After some serious deliberation we decided to have chicken sandwiches. We piled fresh chicken breast on Ezekiel buns with pepper-jack cheese and cran-apple butter and also had a small side salad with soy nuts and cranberries. It was delicious!


After our mini feast it was time to open presents. I couldn't wait to give her all her goodies. I don't know why but I love the gift exchange with the sis-sis the most. It's not that I don't absolutely adore giving my parents their presents, or Nick for that matter. There's just something special about when Ann and I do it. Probably because we know each other so well. Like we can read each others minds. We're so alike it's almost scary. It's like she is my miniature doppelganger. HA! My little mini-me. HA-HA-HA!!

Once again I got hooked the heck up. She got me an awesome and PINK (I love pink) gym bag and matching workout gloves. LOVE! I also got an awesome apron.... I LOVE THE APRON ANN!


I also got a bunch of other goodies. INCLUDING A SANDISK MP3 player. OMG. I no longer have to use my crappy phone to listen to music at the gym. Which by the way I had to hold in my hand or pocket, making working out while listening to music damn near impossible!! YOU CAN'T BEGIN TO IMAGINE HOW AWESOME THIS PRESENT IS! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU ANN! I was so happy I sang a song. A sweet, sweet song of JOY!


I mean, I just had SO much to sing about. LOOK. A polka dot water bottle. I LOVE IT!


I think Ann enjoyed her presents too. She looked happy anyways! :)


This Christmas has been ridiculous! I feel spoiled to a disgusting degree! After the present invasion we enjoyed some more coffee. Actually I made a pot of Chocolate Chip Cookie flavored coffee, courtesy of yet another amazing present from Ann. Uhm, it was delicious! After coffee we hung out and chatted for a while and just vegged out on the couch. It was such a nice and relaxing day. It was at about 3:30 that Ann decided to go home. This has been such a fun day!!!

After Ann left you will never believe what I did next. I CLEANED AND ORGANIZED! HA! I put all of my presents away, cleaned the kitchen, dining room and living room. I instantly felt better!! I should explain. Every year after Christmas I go through uncontrollable "CLEAN AND TOSS" phase. I tend to organize a lot and I get rid of a lot of old things. It's probably a combination of making room for my new things and having time off from work to get things done. IT FELT GREAT! LIBERATING! I will probably do this a few more times before I go back to work. I think my closet is next, and yes, I AM scared!!

Nick and his brother Dan got back to the house at about 6:30. I should mention that his brother Dan got a bottle of Captain from one of his family members for Christmas and they walked into the house lovingly cradling the bottle. Clearly they were about to enjoy the heck out of this Holiday weekend a bit more. HA! I decided to immediately start on dinner. I wanted to get some food into the boys before they started on the bottle of avoid a disaster!! And of course it was Friday which could mean nothing other than TACO SALAD NIGHT!

I made the boys a huge serving of taco meat with beef and made myself a small serving of my usual Morning Star Farms mix (click **HERE** for the recipe). To make the cooking experience a bit more magical, I busted out my AMAZING new santoku knife. Here is the bad boy in action. It glided through the veggies so gracefully and easily. WOW!!


You know what else it glided through with grace and ease? MY FREAKING FINGERNAIL! I will save you from the GORY pictures and just show you the bandaged finger! It delicately sliced off a thin layer of nail along with the flesh below it. Yeah, it DID hurt!


OMG LOL! I can laugh at it now because the pain has passed (mostly). It happened SO FAST. I'm not used to knives as sharp as razor blades. Holy my goodness! I could lose a finger with these freaking things. I will need to get used to working with QUALITY cutlery, that's for sure!

I can hear my Mama screaming now. There is this Hungarian tradition where you can't give anyone a knife as a present without poking them first with each one. This ensures that the person you gift it to will never cut themselves with the knives. I made Nick GENTLY stab/poke me with each one after babying my finger for a bit, smothering it with triple antibiotic ointment and bandaids. OUCH! :)


Ok, back to dinner now that the bleeding has stopped. I finished the chopping of the veggies and dinner was served. I made sure that both boys had PLENTY of food in them. I also told Dan that if he drank too much he was sleeping on the couch. NO EXCUSES! ;)

Dinner was amazing. I had it with chips this time. I was starving and I was craving a bit of carbs. I had a handful of Food Should Taste Good multi grain chips. Oh man, I haven't had taco salad with chips in MONTHS! SO GOOD!


After dinner the boys started playing Castle Crashers (Xbox 360 game) while sipping on Captain Morgan. I think this is going to be a long night. :)

Goodnight everyone! I hope you all had a WONDERFULL Christmas. Mine has been FANTASTIC!

xoxoxox!!!