My Christmas Wish List

I'm home sick today with either 1. A bad reaction to sushi or 2. The Norovirus which is taking over Chicago at the moment.

Either way, it's not fun.

What is fun, is making my Christmas List.

If I got every singe item on here, I would be a very, very happy girl.

Micellany Monday

1. I finally got to talk to my best friend Claire for the first time in weeks. Claire is living in Italy and with the time change, its been so hard to sit down and catch up. When she is on this side of the Atlantic, we talk everyday, but with her abroad I'm lucky to get to talk to her once a week. I don't want to rush her time in Italy but I am really ready for her to get back here.

2. I'm attempting a craft. A big craft. And, I'm not a craft person (even though I really want to be).
I'll do a whole post on it when it's all done but tonight was step one.

3. I'm hungrily awaiting for my chili to finish up.

4. Today is day 1 [retail] shopping freeze until Black Friday. I will be making one exception for my mom's birthday present but other than that everything is off limits for the next week.

5. Work was beyond, beyond slow today, which makes for a very long day.

6. I'm ready to bring out the Christmas decorations but that too is going to wait until after Thanksgiving.

7. My cousin Amanda and best friend Sara just found out that their application for an apartment here in Chicago was accepted and are set to move in January. I'm so excited for two of my best friends to soon become best friends themselves.

8. I am so happy that I am working in the corporate world but I miss kids so much my heart actually aches when I think about it. I love their spunk, freshness, and outlook. My office would be the most perfect place on earth if a batch of kids came in everyday for an hour or two to hang out with me.

9. Joel and I are going to see Joshua Radin next Wednesday!!
YouTube him. He's amazing.

10. I miss Bethenny Frankel and I can't wait for Season 2 of her show

wardrobe roundup

Best part of this weekend? The lite started playing Christmas music!

Here is what I am wearing in November in Chicago.







And with surprise guest.......Joel!

Have a fab weekend.

P.S. I just ran 3 miles! 50% of the plan complete.

Good Morgan!

Good morning ladies.

It's 6:30 in the morning and I can pretty much tell you that the last thing I want to do right now (besides walk out the door and go to work) is upload pictures. I have worn some cute outfits this week, if I do say so myself, but I'll get them up here later.

So instead, I'll tell you what's on my mind right now.

I just signed up for a Turkey Trot 8k on Thanksgiving morning. I normally do a 5k, but Joel pushed me to do the 8k and now, like it or not, I'm running the damn 8k.

Since the time change (which happens to be a great excuse) it's been so hard for me to go out after work and run. It's literally pitch black out at 5pm.

I managed a 2 miler on Monday, and since then, I haven't batted an eyelash in the direction of any sort of gym shoe.

Instead I am splitting pitchers of sangria with Joel.

Plus, I've put on 3 pounds that won't go away.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm splitting pitchers of Sangria on a Wednesday night? ......you don't say!


SO---here's my goal.

• Saturday I will run 3 miles
• Sunday I will run 4 miles

I shouldn't even say goal because there is wiggle room in that word. Goal is not binding. It's just what you are shooting for. Scratch goal to plan.

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Does is it feel like a Friday to anyone else?

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and now I would like to present a new addition to Tea Time with Tess.....

Who Nailed It and Who Failed It?



Carrie Underwood = FAIL

Joanna Garcia = NAIL

Sara Evans = NAIL

Jennifer Nettles = NAIL

Nicole Kidman = FAIL

My favorite of the night goes to Joanna Garcia.

Do you agree? Who do you think nailed it or failed it?

Adios Amigos.
Have a great Thursday!

The best part of the season

“Giving always opens the way for receiving.”

Since I was a little girl, my mom has taught us to live by the idea that to whom much is given; much is required.

As a very blessed, fortunate, and lucky young woman, it is important to give to others who are in need.

I have the resources, the ability, and the duty to give to those who are less fortunate than I am. And I plan to do so, for the rest of my life.

This year, I will be Santa Claus to a little girl in a very rough area of Chicago. The company I work for is teaming up with a non-profit group to provide Christmas presents to children in need.

Today at work we got to pick out a child whose needs fit our budget. Some of the older children are hoping for bicycles, computers, or Ipods, which I do not have the funds to provide for them. I was touched today when three of my bosses decided that together they would gift a child in need with a new bike.

Here is the "Gift Card" I received on my little princess:




I cannot wait to find some goodies for Carrie. Most of the children are cared for by single mothers who have a high school degree or less of education and are far below the poverty level. With Joel, we hope to provide Carrie with a very special Christmas package including everything that she wants, and maybe some needed extra's like some socks and mittens, and maybe a few extra toys.

This is a great tradition that I hope we can continue for years to come.



I also hope to truly allow this experience to teach me exactly what is important about this holiday season.

Don't be tarday for the partay

It's November 9th - do you know what your wearing for your holiday party???

I decided to put together 3 holiday looks that would work for any party, at three totally different budgets.




I'm working more within the Frugal Fashionista's budget, but it's comforting to know that you can pull together a fabulous look for under $100 dollars. I think I'm going to try and pop into Forever 21 and try and locate that dress. And hopefully, in a few (or twenty) years, I'll be rocking the Loubs at the neighborhood holiday pot luck! ;)

pumpkin cupcake

I'm about to give you a very, very nice holiday present in the form of a pumpkin cupcake recipe.

I promise you will not be disappointed in these bad boys.

They're festive, delish, and an over all party hit.

Here's what you need

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 can of pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 cup of canola or vegetable oil
1 tsp of baking soda
2 tsp of cinnamon

Mix together


Give it about 50 good stirs so you can get out all of the lumps and bumps

Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full


Bake at 350 for 15 minutes



As far as frosting is concerned:

• First, have a cupcake without frosting, right out of the oven. You'll die.
• Second, find the easiest cream cheese frosting (I use this) you can and put a dollop on each cupcake. Don't over do it. The cupcakes speak for themselves here.
• I made this batch of cupcakes to bring to a family party on Sunday. I don't want to frost them yet because I don't want the frosting to harden, or make make the cake soggy.

Enjoy - You can thank me later ;)

outfits

I have been trying to channel Katherine Heigel's sweater chicness and I'm loving it. With the colder temps, I love that there are tons of different options in sweaters. Here are a few different sweaters that I'm loving in the stores :

Gap $80.00

Paul & Joe $425
Paul and Joe $400
Forever 21 $29.00

*I'm going to stand on a soapbox here for like twenty seconds. I am a sale shopper. I like nice things, but I HATE to spend full price. I do have to say that with sweaters, you get what you pay for. You want sweaters to feeeel good, and you'll see the difference when you compare a 30 dollar knit from target, to a 300 dollar knit from Jcrew.

Here's my advice. Thin sweaters, like the one above - go ahead and pick up at Forever, or Target. If you are going to get cashmere or a knit....splurge a little.


I found two new chunky knits, and I'm still on the hunt for more. I think they add so much style to your outfit and they can be paired with any bottom - dress paints, jeans, leggings, dresses, skirts.....and ya gotta love that kind of versatility!

this is new sweater #1 from Ann Taylor.

new sweater #2 from good 'ol tj.maxx

Halloween Shindig

I love to host parties

However - it's not an easy job! I was finally able to see why my mom was/is always a bat outta hell the days leading up to any major holiday that we were hosting or any party that we had at our house.

It takes a lot of hours, and ideas, and preparation, and money.

Those above necessities to make a good party are limited here at my house so I got as creative as I could for a party of 25 that was going to take place in my less than 1,000sq foot apartment.

On Friday night, Sara (the other awesome party host) and I took a trip over to Target. Wouldn't have been a big deal, except that we went on Friday at 5:30, which is major rush hour in Chicago, so it took us a good 40 minutes to get there....which, by the way, it's about 4 miles away.

We were working on a tight schedule since it took us a day and half to get there, so we were literally running through the isles throwing things into our cart.

When we got home, we got to work. (after eating pizza and having a few beers....target was emotionally draining!)

****I have to apologize that I don't have good pictures to show all of our cute details. If my mom/dad is reading this right now, I REALLY need a new camera for Christmas!*****

We made jello shots and put gummy worms in the cup. The dixie cups were boring so we wrapped each cup in different Halloween scrapbook paper. They ended up being my favorite craft we did. The cups were adorable and everyone loved the surprise worm that was made its way into the shot.

We made a bunch of banners and set up food for our Orange buffet.
Whenever you have an "orange" buffet, you can pretty much rest assured that you are dealing with over-processed, high fat, high sugar, deliciousness.





Saturday was the big party.

I tried to keep my cool and with all of the help I had, the party turned out to be as cute as possible and was so much fun. I think it is the first Halloween party of many.

I was a "social" butterfly. Get it? Get it?

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween to you and yours from me and mine

Falling in love

This fall I am all about chunky knits, boots, layers, and warm colors. We hear about all of the fall trends to follow but rarely seen these looks pulled together in an effortless, comfortable, chic way. Well, lets give it up to Katherine Heigl for showing us just how its done:









Every look is just perfect in my mind. She has great boots and does a flawless job of dressing her body. She looks so chic and pulled together while still very approachable and appropriate. She is my fashion icon this fall for sure.

Weekend recap

This weekend was exactly what I needed. Friday after work Joel and I met my parents at Montarra Grill, a knock-out five star restaurant.

We had a great bottle of wine, lobster stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer, and I ordered walleye with a lump crab sauce. It was out of control good.

The best part was having my parents all to myself this weekend. With two other sisters, family that lives all around, and a large circle of family friends, it's honestly rare that I get the two of them on their own. I took full advantage :)


Saturday my mom and I took my sweet furbaby Haley to get her first hair cut. Haley is just about 8 months old and is a WILD puppy.

I wish I had a picture of the "before" because she was literally a fluff ball, but just imagine this little thing with about 10 extra pounds of curly goodness:

Doesn't she look like the cutest little lamb?

After Haley's haircut my mom and I headed over to my Aunt Peggy's to bake apple pies.

My family does this every year and freezes the pies so that we have them for the whole year and are able to easily pull them out at famiy dinners, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.



After pies, some of the girls went to see Like As We Know It. It was a cute chick flick, which are the only movies I see, and I thorogugly enjoyed it.

Katherine Heigel looked great (a post on her fashion later, if I can find some pics) and the house they filmed in was my absolute dream house.

After the movie, my mom and I had dinner with my dad who cooked us a great dinner while we were at the movie and welcomed us home with two glasses of red wine in his hands.

My mom and I watched The Back Up Plan --(with Jennifer Lopez)--which is a HORRIBLE movie. Not good in any way, shape, or form!

Sunday I had brunch with Joel's family, did some shopping with my momma, and stayed home for Sunday night dinner.

It was the most perfect family filled weekend you can get.


It is starting to catch up with me that Joel and I are never at our home on the weekends just laying low.

Our life is really, really fast paced right now. Blessedly, it is filled with all good things, all of my favorite things really, so this is NOT me complaining but I could definitely use a staycation.