Life Lately

Hello y'all!  Happy Monday!  This is my first Monday of Winter Break and I am looking forward to the time off.  I wouldn't mind if it were a little warmer though.  For real Texas, it was 17 degrees when I was driving home from barre this morning.  I guess it's practice for when Phillip and I head to Rhode Island later this week.  So much going on!  Christmas is right around the corner and we had a fun weekend here celebrating a little bit before we travel for the holiday.  Here's a peek into what we've been up to lately.

Monday morning, bright and early!  Barre class to start the week!  And I mean early...5:15am class, y'all.  #lifttoneburn #ilovebarre

On Monday I had a holiday breakfast at work and during the trivia portion of the event, I won this beautiful bouquet of candy bars an peppermints.  #ohmy #allthesugar

I got a fun surprise in the mail at work from my friend Mathew.  I used to be very active in an organization called NEACURH when I was in college and the Moose was our mascot.  After all these years it was fun to get this in the mail.  I love it!

Kate taking up residence in her usual nightly spot - next to me on the couch.  She'll never be a lap cat, although I really wish she was.  She wants to be right next you though. Close enough, I guess.

top | jeans | booties | necklace | watch

This week was a little casual at work.  I didn't have a ton of meetings so I got to wear jeans most days.  I love this top.  If you do too, it's $19.99 plus an additional 40% off!  For real.  Go buy one.  It comes in several colors.  I am loving the white though.  And the necklace was a Christmas gift from my guy. 

And more barre...for real I know talk about barre all the time.  I do.  But I love it.  I love the way I feel after. I love how much my core has strengthened in the months I've been doing it.  My arms and shoulders look amazing.  And I cannot say enough about the instructors.  It's some of my favorite "me time" of the week.

Wednesday night I went for a walk around the lake.  It was a beautiful night.  The coldness hadn't crept in yet so I was able to get in a couple of miles.  I love living on Lake Carolyn. Having this path around the lake makes running or walking more enjoyable.

top (similar) | jeans | boots | scarf (similar) | necklace

Finally Friday!  The last day of the work week and the last day before Winter Break.  Y'all, I was ready.  I had plans to accomplish some projects and clean out my inbox.  Most of it went according to plan.

Until 4:58pm when a panicked student called.  I won't go into the details of the situation, but suffice it to say, I had to stick around an extra hour after we closed for break.  I know, I know, I'm on break now for two weeks.  It was just a little tough to have to wait it out an additional hour when I really wanted to get out of there.  By the time I left at 6, the parking lot looked like this.

#vacationgoals Comfy pants?  Check.  Hot cocoa?  Check.  Relaxing night watching Top Chef and The Great American Baking Show?  Check, check, check!

Repping the Alma Mater (at least one of them anyway) when I hit the gym Saturday morning before Weight Watchers.

Have y'all tried this flavor yet?  So delicious.  It warms you from the inside.  Almost like a snickerdoodle.

My new 2017 planner came in the mail!  Woohoo!  I started putting it together and getting things on the calendar.  With a wedding in 10 months, I am going to need this more than I usually do.  This particular planner is a Passion Planner.
  I love it.  My sister uses them too.  I love the layout and the way it helps me plan, organize, dream, and imagine.

Saturday afternoon I had an appointment for a facial at a spa at Southlake Town Square.  I took the opportunity to grab a few last minute gifts and popped into Victoria's Secret where I was smacked in the face with the fact that the 90s are back y'all.  I don't know if I can relive these fashions again.

Saturday night we went to Studio Movie Grill to see Rogue One.  Y'all, it was so good.  Great addition to the Star Wars family of movies.  Excellent cast, great action, I loved it.  To my family and friends in Rhode Island, I wish you all had Alamo Drafthouse or Studio Movie Grill.  It is the epitome of dinner and a movie.  And drinks :)

Saturday afternoon an arctic cold front moved in and we have been FREEZING here in Texas ever since.  As I said on facebook, go home Texas, you're drunk!  Seriously.  It felt like 4 degrees on Saturday night.  And it's pretty much hovered there ever since.

About 95% of the time I color my hair at home.  I tried a new kind of at home color this weekend and I LOVED it.  It's from Madison Reed and it was probably the best I've ever used.  No crazy hair dye smell, great gloves (none of those huge plastic things you get in the hair color you buy at Target), barrier cream and a cleansing wipe.  If you aren't a dark brunette like me, you probably don't know the horror of getting hair dye around your hairline and waiting for it to go away.  I had no problems with this at all and definitely plan on using it again.

And as usual, Kate opted for a snooze next to me on the couch.

On Sunday, Phillip and I exchanged our Christmas gifts.  We are traveling to Rhode Island for Christmas this year and we didn't want to take gifts with us for each other to open, so we planned to do our Christmas here in Texas on Sunday. I made an appetizer (arancini) and we exchanged gifts.

sweater | top | jeans | slippers | watch

I thought a glass of wine was in order. 

One of the things Phillip got me this year was this cookbook and I cannot tell you how excited I am to try these recipes.  First of all, how cute are Ina and Jeffrey?  Secondly, the recipes look amazing.  I've never made a Barefoot Contessa recipe that hasn't turned out well.

Another one of my gifts.  Squeee!  And in time for our trip north later this week.  The color is gorgeous and it fits perfectly.

And then it was time for the Cowboys game.  We'd had a good dinner of goat cheese and sun dried tomato ravioli and garlic bread. We watched the game for a bit before I started dessert.

How cute are these little individual cast iron skillets?  I rarely make dessert.  We just don't indulge like that very often.  Since it was a special occasion though, I went for it.  Skillet brownies with vanilla ice cream. 

I mean come on, how delicious does that look?  #itwas #sogood

After that dinner last night I made sure to get my butt to barre this morning!  Great class!  I love Monday mornings with Niki at Pure Barre Las Colinas.

That's a look at life lately around here...what have you all been up to?

Come back Wednesday for our last What's Up Wednesday of 2016!

xoxoxoxo