Sponsor Lovin': Scentsy Basket Party and Winner!

Yesterday I had an Avon and Scentsy Open House and Brunch! Some of my closest family and friends came over for a morning full of eating and shopping...seriously, what's not to love about that! My bestie, Katie, is my Scentsy go-to-person. Even in Massachusetts I'm showing her business some lovin'! I'm totally looking forward to my hostess rewards too...I'm just going to need to find room for all my new Scentsy! You can join the fun by visiting my Avon store here and Scentsy party here! And if you're interested in hosting your own basket party visit Live.Love.Scents on Facebook!

It was such a good time! Mom was melting Pima Cotton in her Liberty Warmer...so they were both pretty popular! I had a bunch of Avon samples in the bathroom, I think everyone really loved those! I can't wait until both shipments come in so I can make pretty bags for everyone!

Now for the winner of the Maggie's Closet giveaway! If you haven't visited the Etsy store, make you sure you don't miss it...the hats are too-damn-cute! The lucky winner of a hat of their choice is....random number 13! Mama to be Uncork and Unwined! Please e-mail me at fsc200408@yahoo.com with your choice of hat and address!! Congratulations!

Thank you to all my lovely March sponsors! Please visit all of their websites and start shopping!

Change in Plans...

Today WAS to be devoted to whipping up the cute little apron I showed you in my earlier post. Instead you get to see the crazy fabric combo I decided to select. The main fabric for the apron will be this awesome floral explosion... the pocket and ties will be all dotty! The pics here aren't as great of a representation of how vivid the colors are in the floral...I'm pretty sure you'll be able to see me baking from a mile away!Unfortunately I am convinced that I have an infestation of gremlins in my home...I have now been unable to located two or three random (not frequently used) items, in this case my rotary fabric cutter. I have determined that I am unable to cut a straight line from a bolt of fabric, so I decided to not start stitching until I actually have squares that are square! Tomorrow a trip to Michael's (or some crafty variation thereof) to buy yet another rotary cutter (making it inevitable that I will find the original one on Monday) will be necessary and hopefully I can get the apron finished before the weekend is over.

In other news, I finally committed to a new full size kiln after quiet a few months getting by with just using my little bitty baby kiln. Of course it won't arrive for a little while but there will be beauty shots once it does! I was really pleased with some of the pieces from the last baby kiln load, including this key... Now for something cute... any suggestions for the caption that would go with this photo of my nephew and his furry brother? All I can come up with is the night after a Milk/Milkbone bender!

Fun Filled Weekend!

This was such a great weekend! Friday night I had all the girls over for a Fondue Night. I made a cheese fondue and we had homemade sourdough bread, veggies and apples to dip in it. Then for the chocolate we had marshmallows, pound cake, gorilla bread, strawberries and raspberries. Then, of course, I just had to make some other finger foods...so I put together a cheese tray, chips and dip, and pigs in a blanket with chimichuri sauce. And everything was mmm mmm good! Girls night out might have been an excuse to use all my Food Network serve-ware! But can you believe I didn't take any pictures of the food!? I was having too much fun chit-chatting and enjoying some wine with the girls.

But in true-Nicole-fashion....I did get a photo of all the girls!

I spent Saturday in the kitchen making a homemade ragu...and then transforming that into 18 stuffed peppers (halves.) Holy crap, that's a of stuffed peppers...but we only had 5 leftover! The in-laws came over for dinner, we had the stuffed peppers, salad and homemade Amish bread that Jacque brought over. Miley was super lazy and cuddled with everyone on the couch. She is so exhausted when we bring her home from daycare....and she got groomed too!

I need to step up with my picture-taking. Apparently I'm the only person who gets a new camera and stops taking pictures. Just wait until Disney...I'll need to bring an extra memory card for all the pictures I plan to be traking!

The Happiest Time of Year: CHRISMUKKAH!

This year marks the seventh year I have celebrated Chrismukkah. What started as a college joke has turned into a tradition. Me and my Roomie, Ashley, used to tell people she was half Jewish (when in reality, there's no such thing as being half Jewish...it's passed on your mom's side of the family. You either are Jewish or not. Many religion classes taught me that.) Anyway, people started to believe us...and that's how Chrismukkah was born!

Chrismukkah has changed over the years...in college it was a drunk-fest with our college friends. Since we've graduated it's been celebrated at Chinese restaurants with friends we've met along the way. This year even my parents made an appearance at Chrismukkah!

It was so great getting everyone together! I had some college friends, high school friends, even some friends who recently moved back here from Jacksonville. We had such a great time, my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard!

The best part of Chrismukkah was my Dad and sister winning $1300 playing Keno! I wish I had that kind of luck....but that means I would actually have to play the game to win!

Chrismukkah is one of my favorite holiday traditions and I have a feeling it's going to continue for many more years! What's your favorite made-up holiday tradition?

Very Special Trip Home!

I'm back! I just spent five days in Massachusetts with my family. I went home to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. NO ONE knew I was coming home. Friday (their actual anniversary) morning I went over my grandparents house to surprise them. They kept asking "why are you home?" My answer changed a lot throughout the day..."I was bored" or "to give you your Avon." I couldn't tell them I was home for THEIR surprise party!

Saturday night Mom had dinner at the house. We invited my Uncle and his family and my grandparents. My grandparents, who are always early, showed up exactly on time. I later found out that they thought the surprise party was happening then! We sat Nana and Grampy on the couch and gave them a big 'ol box. Inside...fancy party clothes and a note that said "wear these clothes, be ready at 12:30 tomorrow, and your chariot will be picking you up." Watch the video...they were shocked!

Saturday night was low key, we had an awesome dinner and spent time together as a big family!

 

Fast forward to Sunday, my sister was dressed and ready to go. She drove her Ford Taurus to my grandparents house...when she got there they wanted to know where she was headed..her response.."I'm going clubbing." Soon, their REAL charriot came! I'm still waiting for my sister to put up the pictures of them posing, maybe a "Wordless Wednesday" by the time she gets them to me!

A group of 70 friends and family were waiting for them at the party. They rolled up in the car...and instantly Nana cried! She kept saying "I'm so blessed," over and over again! We all stood around the dance floor, in a circle of love, while they danced their first dance all over again. My Uncle gave a speech and my Nana's closest girlfriends, of over 50 years, gave an amazing speech. It was perfect!

Then it was time for dinner. There was salad, chicken piccata, pot roast, potatoes, veggies...and amazing butternut squash soup! And the dessert...oh.my.God. Besides the wedding cake, there was also cheesecakes and tons of pastries. Sugar coma! And to think, most of the people who were eating it are old and diabetic!

Then there were some games, Nana and Grampy had to choose teams of 9...and had to put numbers in order to get the right answers. Grampy's team cheated...but still won! Then there was newspaper dancing, Uncle Rick and June got quite creative!

There was more dancing and fun, with the same DJ we used for my wedding. They are amazing and I highly recommend them. My cousin kept asking if we had a frequent buyers card! The DJs surprised my Mom with a photographer and DJ, because we are such great customers...and because they love ME. HAHA!

We had a pretty sweet "photo shoot" with the family. It got pretty wild and crazy...it's so us!

When the party was over, my grandparents made their way up to the suite for the  night and everyone went home. It was such a perfect day with family and friends. I love hanging out with everyone. One of the many reasons why I miss living close to home! It was so good to see everyone and to celebrate such an amazing day with my grandparents.

I heard over and over again that I look like my Auntie Lovey...what do you think?

And because I know everyone loves seeing pictures of my great-grandmother...here she is!!!

Congrats Nana and Grampy, I love you!

Mom & Dad in North Carolina!

This weekend went by way too fast! My Mom and Dad came down for the long weekend, my Dad's first time down here since he dropped me off in Carrboro when I moved last June. We had such a fun weekend, I've never laughed so hard!

They flew into Raleigh late Thursday night, so they stayed the night in the city. My parents are early birds so I was expecting them to show up at my front door around 7 Friday morning. Oh no, they decided to sleep in, go out for breakfast, and get stuck in lots of traffic on their way out here. They got stuck in traffic due to "a house in the middle of the road."  Seriously! Mom even sent me a picture.

When they finally got around the house and made it to my house, we headed over to New Bern. We had some lunch at Captain Ratty's, picked up my ball gown (which needs to be altered like crazy...sucks that I'm a midget even with high heels!) and walked around the marina for a little bit. I knew Dad would like seeing all the boats. It was such a beautiful fall day...I love walking around in the cool but sunny weather. We stopped at a make-shift car museum...I decided I will only start driving if I can have a 1966 Ford Mustang Convertible...in blue. How's that sound?

Bright and early Saturday the guys headed out for a day of golf. So what did me and Mom do? Shop, of course! The goal was to get everything for Katie's bridal shower present, but that didn't go as well as I wanted...so now I have two weeks to come up with something perfect! Then we went to Mike's Farm, I was expecting so much more. The country store isn't like the country stores at home, it was mostly candles. But oh.my.goodness...we got lots of fudge! Pumpkin fudge is amazing!

After the farm me and Mom headed to Ruby Tuesday for lunch, just as we were getting ready to leave Danny sent me a text message. I told him we just got done eating lunch and the plan for the night was "to go to Mike's Farm for dinner." Danny and Dad decided not to get lunch, come home and hangout until 3:00 until they were hungry. Me and Mom dropped them off at a bar, did some more shopping, and by the time we picked them up....I knew we wouldn't be going to Mike's Farm. We ended up coming home, hanging out...and decided pretty late that we wanted the Olive Garden. We ate too much, had some wine, Mom and Dad had bellinis, and took some pretty goofy pictures. Mom took pictures of me and Danny "pretending that we liked each other." So of course, I had to take pictures of Mom and Dad..and I think they were making fun of us!

Sunday morning we dropped Miley off at daycare which she loves. Seriously, whenever I bring her there she drags me to the door and runs right to the girl...and doesn't even look back to say "see ya later Mom!" We had some breakfast then headed down to Wilmington for the day!

Our first stop was the Battleship. Since we had so much rain last week everything was so flooded. The parking lot was completely under water. We weren't sure how we were supposed to get to the Battleship, so we decided to just jump the fence. Just as we got over....we saw the shuttle that was bringing people right to the ship. OOPS!

The USS North Carolina is huge. I think this was my third time on it, but every time I find something different. This time, my electronics were going crazy. My camera and phone stopped working at the exact same time..which leads me to believe that it really is haunted. My batteries completly drained, but in the next part of the ship everything was fully charged. CREEPY! We were on the ship for three hours and didn't even see the upper part of it! I could never work on a ship, I'd get so lost.

After the battleship we went to the Front Street Brewery. I think the oatmeal stout is always the mug of the day, good thing its so good! It was that awkward eating time again, 3pm. Lunch, dinner, snack? Either way, we ate too much! The guys went to another bar and me and Mom headed to David's Bridal to pick up my dress for Katie's wedding and...World Market. I seriously love that place. I made my own 6-pack...check out all the good stuff.

Oktoberfest, Raging Bitch, 400 Pound Monkey, Pumpkin Ale, The Poet, and Weeping Willow Witt

Today was their last day. Danny and Dad headed to the golf course again. It was too early for me and Mom to do anything...so we just hungout. Eventually we made our way to Barnes and Noble and Walmart. We made a Halloween package for Kaleb and sent those out. We headed out for a light lunch and picked Miley up. I'm so happy that she loves daycamp because I love that it wears her out!

Mom and Dad just pulled out of the driveway. It will only be five weeks until I see them again! We went all summer without seeing them, and now I feel like we'll be seeing them a lot. I love the holiday season!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Columbus Day weekend! It's not over yet!

Day 4: Beaufort

Even up until this morning I had no idea what we were going to do today. I was thinking maybe Swansboro, Morehead City or Emerald Isle..but really, I've seen all that stuff. I wanted to do something new for all of us!

So where did we end up?

The beautiful town of Beaufort! And it was such a beautiful day on the coast, breezy and sunny! We walked around the town, did a little shopping...and then went on the Water Bug! I was so excited for this..it advertised that you would see dolphins and wild ponies!

If you have read any of Nicholas Sparks books you know that there are wild ponies in the Outerbanks of North Carolina. If you know anything about history you have heard stories about sunken Spanish pirate ships and the horses swimming to shore.

Our boat took us to Carrot Island, where there are 45 wild ponies. They eat the grass, dig holes to collect rainwater and live completely off of mother nature. The only human interaction is when they are given a dose of birth control to help control their population.

Carrot Island is tiny. As we passed by I was starting to get nervous that we wouldn't see any horses. But then I started thinking..if the island is so small and there are only 45 of them..where the heck do they hide!? The water was beautiful, we saw lots of sailboats, birds, nice houses...and finally THE HORSES!

After our tour we went to the Maritime Museum. There were lots of cool Blackbeard things, whaling information and other interesting displayed! Of course we took advantage of the photo op!

We had some lunch, did a little more browsing and then headed back to Jacksonville. Nana wanted to rest, so me and Mom dropped her off and picked up my wedding dress. We finally brought it to the dry cleaner! If it can be saved from the Trash the Dress session I'm going to be giving it away on here (and only charge shipping...which is about $60!) We got some lattes, headed to the mall...and picked up my sleepy puppy! Three straight days of puppy camp has wiped her out! She has been in this position for over an hour!

We are going to order some pizza soon and maybe crack open one of our bottles of wines. We are all so tired from our adventures!