Go Pens!

So Sunday me and my brothers all went to the Penguins game! It was absolutely amazing! We had club level seats and sat on the glass. Seriously I will never be able to watch a game from anywhere except on the glass. The ref threw a puck over the glass for my little brother. We got free food at the concession stands, and the Pens scored 4 of the 5 goals right in front of the goal we sat by. The only thing that could have made it better would have been Sidney Crosby proposing marriage to me on the blue line. Great game though! WOOOOO!

~Sean, Scott and Me~


~ Brandon (my favorite Brother;)~

~This Girl Loves Some Hockey~

~Kris LeTang~

~Maxime Talbot.... SOOO HOT~

~Pens Win~


~this is what waiting for Marta looks like~

Playoffs start tomorrow! Go Pens!

may your days be merry and bright..

...and may all your Christmas' be 'in January'.

I have been blessed with a great group of friends. Friends that have insane schedules. So for our little group we kept having to push back our annual Christmas party. This past weekend they all came to my house (which still holds a fully decorated Christmas tree) to open gifts, eat and drink. Here are some highlights.

~a little ambiance~

~snacks~



~GO PENS~

~ELLO POPPET~

~My Best Girls~

~Merry Christmas~

Christmas with my friends was great! I got some very lovely gifts, picture frames, books, clothes, socks, dvds, some really cute stationary, musical draydels, and candles. It was so fun to see everyone. Now this weekend hopefully I can dismantle my Christmas tree..or.. should I just leave it up? After all there is only about 11 months till next Christmas. Bonne Noel!

This Christmas

Christmas has finally come and gone. I say this every year and I'll say it again.. I love love love Christmas.. but I never seem to get to enjoy it. Its always such a stressful time for me at work ; I always find myself scrambling to get presents bought and wrapped, Desserts made, and stressing over having an outfit to wear to church. So this Christmas I went home on Christmas Eve to go to mass with the family. We then feasted on the usual Amanda favorites , hoagies and hotwings. YUM!! Followed by Its A Wonderful Life.


Christmas morning we all woke up to open presents.. I got a LOT of lovely gifts, shoes, a beautiful mirror, clothes, new DVD player, movies, jewelery and PENS TICKETS:) We ate a lovely meal and watched Beckham play with all his toys. Its was a nice holiday.




And now its back to work.. only 342 days until next Christmas.. maybe I should start my shopping now so I'm more prepared.

where i've been

Today is the first day I have had off work since my last post. Work is insane and the 70+ hour work weeks are taking their toll on me. So here is what has been going on with me at work.. Cookies, Brownies, Bread Puddings, Petit fours, ice creams, banana's foster, Chocolate Mousse Cakes, Pumpkin Pie, Apple Frangipan Tarts, Creme Brulee.. the list goes on. I have not had any time to enjoy my favorite season yet. All I want to do is curl up on my couch, stare at my lovely Christmas tree while It's A Wonderful Life plays on the tv in the background. But alas I have one more stressful week of work left, and this year I am actually getting Christmas Eve off. Hooray! So I have 10 days left to get my presents bought and wrapped, I wish I had more time. Tis the season:)

I love Christmas music... pa rump a pum pum!!

Its the first of December and I am already feeling the Christmas work load. Today I started production of Yule Logs, Christmas Cookies and Peppermint Mousse Cakes. We have at least 4 holiday parties a day and it's going to be a busy month. I am pretty sure that the two days of Christmas music I had on the radio at work was enough for most of the people I work with, but I loved it and I wanted more. Unfortunately I have been limited to only one hour of Holiday tunes a day (it was put to a vote in the kitchen, petitions were made..yadda yadda yadda). So what are some of your favorite holiday tunes? Here is a fun light hearted xmas song to start of the month with... Dominick the Italian Donkey.

A New Moon & A Christmas Tree

I love days like today..

Today I woke up relaxed and excited. Up at 8:30 I was ready to start my day. I started out doing a little Christmas shopping before meeting Brittany and Lauren for Lunch at Tin Lizzy's followed by ... NEW MOON! I had been anxiously awaiting this movie to come out all year and today I finally saw it.

~Tin Lizzy's..Ohh how I love thee soft tacos~

~The moment we've been waiting for~

~I love the New Moon Cups~

As you can probably tell by now I am a huge 'TwiHard' (thats the name for twilight fans). How was New Moon you may ask? It was great. For me it was 10x better than the first movie and it followed the book much more closely. Edwards skin glittered as I imagined it would and although I think Edward Cullen is absolutely fabulous, Taylor Lautner as Jacob Black was equally delicious. So which team would I choose?? Since I can't choose between the two.. I'll just take Bella's dad Charlie. I love me some Billy Burke. This movie left me feeling satisfied, and I look forward to seeing Eclipse in May.

After the movie Brittany came back to my house to partake in our tradition of decorating my Christmas tree. I told her today that when we are 60 years old and I have my own family I'm still going to call her to come over and help me trim my tree. I remember when I was little putting up the Christmas tree in my house meant that the holiday was finally close. We would all hide in the other room while my parents put the lights on the tree (something always seemed to go wrong during this part)... but then we would all line up in front of my Dad as he handed us each ornaments to adorn the tree with. My Dad would put his favorite icicles on the tree followed by candy canes and tinsel. As soon as all the ornaments where on we would all stand back and enjoy the beautifully decorated tree.

~Me and My Christmas Tree~

~hanging the ornaments~

~Traditional ode to Twilight photo~


~Brittany puts the star on the top~

On my Christmas tree I went with a gold and red motif... all except for one special ornament. You've heard the legend of the Christmas Pickle.

LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS PICKLE
A pickle is used as decoration on the Christmas tree seems odd at first, but it is an old German tradition. When decorating the Christmas tree, it is traditional to hang the pickle last, hidden among the branches. The first child on Christmas Day to find the Christmas pickle receives a special blessing for the year and an extra gift! Great tradition to share with your family this year and for years to come!

Well as much as I love pickles I decided to go with something I love even more. So you may ask,"what do I hide deep among the branches of my tree?" Well folks... Sidney Crosby.. and what's in store for the person who finds him ..well if I had my way it would be a lifetime of waking up to find him sleeping in the bed with me. But alas..we will just say that the person who finds him gets a year of luck and happiness.

~My Very Own Sidney Crosby~

And now.. fa la la la la.. and VOILA! My Tree is up and I say " Let the festivus begin"!

40 days

There are 40 days until Christmas, how can this be? I'm not ready for it yet, I haven't started Christmas Shopping, I haven't started saving money for the presents, and today it was 75 degrees outside. So I ask again, How can this be??

Yesterday I was in the mall and all the Christmas decorations were in full effect as children were waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap. I'm not even ready for it to be Thanksgiving yet. I'm so behind and today the panic hit me. How on earth will I get everything done in time. All the shopping and decorating, while its the busiest time for me at work. Next week starts my descend into Pumpkin Pie oblivion. I need to bake 25 pumpkin pies just to get through Thursday of next week. Is that insane? I think so. Oh how I wish I had one of those jobs that allowed me to enjoy the holidays. I wish I didn't have to worry about scheduling, and flambe stations, and Christmas cookies for thousands of people. But alas this is what I signed up for.

So What have I had time for... a little on-line perusing. Are you looking for a special gift for someone? Here are some things I think are great. First up a charming little owl tee from FredFlare.

Or how about some fun sleep masks.













What are some things on your list for Santa?

I did it again..

That's right everyone.. you may remember last year around this time I Elf'ed' me and Sidney Crosby into a holiday jig. Well in honor of Twilight coming out on Friday I decided to Elf myself with Edward Cullen and Jacob Black.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Holidays!