Holiday Randoms

We've done a lot of fun, random things throughout the holiday season and I thought would just post them all in once place:

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to see the Raleigh Christmas parade. It was FREEZING! But a lot of fun, I haven't been in years. 

While we were gone I got a message from my neighbor saying that we had a fence breach and our dogs and her dog were having a blast running back and forth between the two yards. It was pretty hilarious, they were definitely enjoying themselves. They were sad when we fixed the fence! 

 

Trey built cornhole boards for a friend's husbands birthday gift.

My good friend at work, Connie, had a precious baby girl on Halloween and I spent a few afternoongs hanging out with them and taking her food. Love baby snuggles!

We had Christmas in Delaware one of the first weekends in December with the Sutton family. That always calls for a stop at the Dogfish Head Brewery.

We had a bonfire at our friend Andy's house along with some homemade pizza. 

Christy (the BFF, not me) went to Munich and got me an ornament from the Christmas market!

Two Christmas parties in one night! We went to one at Andy's and played lots of fun games, Trey actually won the game where you put a plate on your head and draw (without being able to see what you are drawing, obviously). 

Chad had his annual Christmas ugly sweater party. 

We had dinner for Chad's birthday at my house with lots of family! 

Trey went Christmas shopping for the dogs and brought home a bag from Petsmart. Tyson knew exactly what was in there without us saying a word. Little stinker. He sat and stared and whined. Until his daddy gave in and gave them their presents early. 

Thanksgiving 2014

For Thanksgiving we headed up to my aunt and uncle's cabin in Valle Crucis. 

We lounged around... a lot! 

We went to pick out and cut down our Christmas trees in the same place as last year! And it was snowing, so pretty!

We had a delicious meal prepared by my mom, aunt and Nana. 

                           Loved having Lucky around for the holidays this year :)

Instead of Black Friday shopping we went snowboarding! It was a gorgeous but chilly day. Trey and I only lasted half of the day and were exhausted. 

We headed back to the cabin and showered, then met Sadler and Katherine for lunch at The Dan'l Boone Inn. They were in town for the afternoon to cut down a fresh Christmas tree. 

Friday night we went in to Blowing Rock to see the lighting of the tree/town and shop around in some of the cute stores. 

It was a wonderful holiday spent hanging out with family! We love the tradition of all cramming in at the cabin and spending so much time together. 

Etched Glass DIY

I recently etched designs on to pint glasses and thought I would share my wisdom in doing it... a few mistakes I made that maybe you won't!

I bought Armour Etch from Michael's and used a foam paint brush to brush it on. 

I used pint glasses I found in Target for $1 each! 

And you need a stencil of some sort. I used my silhouette cameo to cut a dogfish and used the outside of the design as the stencil. Here's where lesson #1 comes in - leave a LOT of extra vinyl/sticker space on the outside to block runoff cream from the glass. 

Apply the vinyl/sticker to the glass wherever you want the design, make sure it is smooth and stuck down good. 

Use the foam paint brush to apply the etching cream nice and thick. 

Since the glasses are curved, it was going to run down the side in some manner, this is why you need a lot of extra vinyl around. The first time I attempted this I accidentally let it run off the sides while it was sitting there drying (that's what I get for doing too much at one time) and it also etched the glass in a different location... no good! 

The jar says to let the cream sit for 5 minutes, I let it sit for more like 10 minutes just to be safe. Then take it to the sink and use a wet washcloth to wipe off the excess cream. Then remove the sticker and voila! 

DIY Ring Dish

I was trying to come up with some cute gift ideas that I could use my silhouette cameo to make and came across this on pinterest. I figured that would be pretty easy!

So I ordered the "tasting bowls" by Libbey on Amazon prime and they were here in no time!

Then I had to get to designing in the silhouette studio. I went to dafont.com and downloaded KK monogram font for free to use. I designed them similarly to the post I got the idea from, but the curly monogram font didn't come out well when cut so small. Maybe I should have set it at a slower speed but the letters were so thin that they got picked up/torn, etc. So back to the drawing board I went. 

I did a couple of "plain" monograms, just the letters with cute fonts. Then I found a tutorial on pinterest for circle monograms using whatever font you want. I tried that, but with certain letters it just looked weird, so then I added my own circle around it (2 circles, one larger and one smaller). I was pretty satisfied with that so I cut the vinyl and put it in the dish using transfer paper!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

I got this recipe from my friend Connie a few years ago. It's so delicious I can't believe I'm just now posting it, but I made it again this weekend and realized it wasn't on my blog yet, so here is the most amazing spinach artichoke dip I have ever had:

 What You Need:
1/3 c fat-free mayo
2 garlic cloves, minced (1 tsp)
1 8 oz pkg 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 8 oz pkg fat free cream cheese
2/3 c fresh Parmesan cheese
1 14 oz can quartered artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry



What You Do:
Preheat oven to 350
Place mayo, garlic, and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a
mixer at medium speed until well blended and creamy.  Stir in 1/2 c
Parmesan cheese, artichoke hearts, and spinach.  Spread into an 11x7
inch greased baking dish.  Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese on top.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Serve with bagel chips or pita chips.