It’s almost 2015! I can honestly say 2014 was such a great year. I’m in such a healthy and content place with myself and with people around me. Which makes me that much more excited for what 2015 will bring! I can’t believe it’s here already, but I’m so looking forward to it.
I have a good idea on what I want to focus on in 2015, and I’ll share all of those details tomorrow. For now, I’ll continue soaking up the sun with my family in Mexico. If you haven’t already been following along, you can see all the sunny pics here.
Happy New Year’s Eve to you! I hope you have a great end of 2014, and as always, thank you for reading this little tiny blog. I can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store.
As you’re reading this, I’m currently underway in what I like to call “The Worst Day of the Year”. For those of you that have never traveled from NYC anytime during the holidays, I thought I would provide some insight into all the emotions you’ll definitely feel during what those precious hours are like. And yes, I said ‘hours’.
When your car shows up on time to pick you up at 2 for a 6pm flight!
When the drive is going smooth…until you hit Lincoln Tunnel.
When you’re still in Lincoln Tunnel…
When you see the sun and realize you didn’t die under the Hudson River!
When you step out of the car only to spot the longest line
When you realize you’re behind a family of 8…or a junior basketball team
When you’re the only one with your boarding pass and ID out when you get to the kiosk
When you have to lift all 100 pounds onto the scale
Then when you re-lift all 100 pounds off of the scale because now you are in charge of transporting your luggage down another corridor to a drop off zone…
When you get in line for security
When you’re trying to dab sweat from your temples because you never know what celeb you’ll see
When you realized you’ll never see a celeb
When someone tries small talk with you
When you deal with TSA every. single. time.
When you spot the man in front of you digging through his carry on to produce 4 ziplock baggies…
When the man in front of you realizes he forgot to take his shoes off
When the man in front of you finally makes it through the machine
When you finally make it through the machine only to have it go off because of your bra…or sequins
When TSA wants to look through your bag
And then when TSA throws you your bag and all its’ contents separately after they’ve found nothing
When you spot the nearest bar
And then when you grab the only open seat at the bar!
When you drink your first sip of carbonated bliss
And then when the bill comes
When you finally look at your watch phone and realize your flight is boarding
When you slam down your drink, and the guy next to you is impressed
When you show up to the gate as section Z is boarding
When you finally get to your row, and realize you’re in the middle seat
In the middle of an older couple who won’t switch you a seat
Whatever, because nothing beats the feeling of getting physically OUT of Newark, LAG, or JFK!
All above events are true and factual and have happened to this 20-something before. Reactions may be exaggerated.
I never thought New York City was known for its’ holiday spectacles. Growing up in suburbia, it never even occurred to me that NYC had public Christmas decorations. And it definitely never occurred to me that people would take their vacation days and come to NYC during the December weekends. As I type this, I still don’t fully understand that last part, but to each their own.
Since some of you can’t experience NY during the holiday time, I thought I would bring Christmas in NY to you! Yes, I braved those tourists for you, and yes, an elbow or two may have been thrown 😉
Tree at RockefellerTree at RockefellerTree at RockefellerSaks 5th AvenueRadio City HallHoliday decorations on 6th AveWindow display at AnthropologieShops at Union SquareShops at Union SquareLights at Chelsea MarketWreath on my front doorNY Public LibraryBryant ParkBryant Park
Tiffany’s!Harry WinstonRandom candy canesLights on 55thAdore this hotel lobby
This was literally 5% of all of NY’s Christmas decorations. Next year, I’ll bring you some not so touristy photos 😉
I love cards. Like, really love cards. I love funny cards, sentimental cards, nice and naughty cards, and most of all – holiday cards! I think that paper is just so beautiful and should be on display all of the time. The only problem with that? Space. Which, is my biggest problem about NYC.
I’ve had this blank space on my brick wall that’s been a struggle to decorate. I know you can drill into brick walls, but to be honest, I just don’t want to risk it. I’ve wanted a brick wall in my apartment for so long, that I’m hesitant to do anything that would 1) distract my eye or 2) damage the brick wall. I found this cute gold, sparkly pennant garland from Paper Source, and knew it would look perfect against the brick wall.
I also found the mini red clothespins at Paper Source, and figured they would add a nice holiday touch.
I love this so much that I think I’m going to keep it up past Christmas, and just rotate out cards I receive, or ones I just really want to display.
It’s finally time for Christmas card season, a.k.a my favorite time to make cards!
I’ve clearly fallen in love with gold recently, specifically things with gold dots. I’m pretty sure 75% of my Christmas gifts to people include gold dots somewhere on their item. It’s just so festive, but classy!
This was the first time I embossed something. I’ve had a heat gun for awhile, but it was mostly for making decorative candles. Through many trial and errors, I finally got the act of embossing down, even if my couch and rug don’t necessarily agree.
Last year, I wasn’t as thorough in the production process as this year. So half of my cards were sent out on Christmas Eve! If there was anything I wanted to accomplish this year, it was to at least get the cards in the hands of the recipients before Christmas. The first half were sent out in the mail yesterday, and the second half should be sent out by Friday! Yay for getting Christmas cards actually in the mail!
If you’re not familiar with Bergdorf-Goodman, have no fear! I wasn’t either, until I saw Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorfs a couple years ago. Now, I have the utmost respect and admiration for that store. It’s basically the store for any designer to sell their goods – more so than Saks or Barneys. Obviously, I don’t have any need to walk inside, and in fact I’ve only been inside once, but the windows are just truly spectacular during the holidays.
I meant to go last year, and really there is no excuse because I only live 20 minutes away, but I never made it. This year, I had some of the girls over for dinner and drinks, and we decided to make it even more Christmasy by going to Bergdorfs. So glad we went, and that we saw the windows at night (less people, better pictures!).
The holiday windows at Bergdorfs are often considered in their own right to be a holiday spectacle. And they rightfully should be. Each window takes thousands of hours and hundreds of designers to concept, build and assemble. Each window is filled with such detail, that you could stare at it for ages. I love the mini painting by a couple mice behind the large painting.
This year’s theme was all about The Arts. Each window touched on The Arts, including Architecture, Literature, Painting, Music, Theater, Film, Dance, and Sculpture. You can read more about the inspiration here.
I was wondering the aisles of Michael’s the other day (I swear, recently I’ve been there almost daily), and noticed they carry a bunch of flat wooden pieces that look like they’re from real trees. The inspirational side of me would have rather cut these from a tree in my backyard. Seeing that my backyard is the MTA parking lot, there’s not a lot of trees to choose from. Oh the woos of living in the City (jk!).
I’ve been wanting to do something with these wooden pieces for awhile, but I just wasn’t quite sure what. I love the feeling of being in a cozy cabin, which is where a lot of inspiration for my apartment is coming from (hence this bookshelf). These wooden pieces bring that perfect kind of cozy atmosphere.
I was digging in my randoms drawer last week, and I noticed my 5 pound bag of tea lights. I had completely forgotten I had bought those in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. Obviously, they were not needed during Sandy, but I felt obligated to use them now.
And so a project was born. To be honest, this was the simplest DIY project I’ve ever done. I started and finished it in about 10 minutes on Sunday when I was recovering from our Ugly Sweater Holiday Party.
Supplies Needed:
– Flat, wooden stand
– Clear glass tea light votives
– Hot glue gun
– Tea lights
Directions:
After opening the stand from its’ packaging, dust off the top so that it’s clean and smooth
Figure out where you want to position the tea light votives. I just eyeballed it, but if you are picky you can mark the spot with a pencil
Glue your tea light votives to the wooden stand
Repeat until tea light votives are done
Put tea candles in the votive, light, and enjoy!
One thing I love about this DIY, besides the quickness and ease, is that after it’s finished you can decorate it for any event, and you can use it in many different ways! I don’t have a dining room table (I don’t even have a dining room), but if I did, these would make the perfect center piece.
Over the weekend, we had our 2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Holiday Party! It was a massive success! We hosted it at Alfie’s, which is a bar we frequent quite a lot in Hell’s Kitchen. Obviously, I’ve always wanted to have it at McCoy’s, but McCoy’s isn’t big enough for us all. So, we settled with its sister bar: Alfie’s. It’s also an added bonus that Alfie’s always decorates for the holiday season, no matter what the season is. There were festive lights, garlands and other stuff strung throughout the bar.
Since it’s the giving season, last year we decided to adopt a family from the Salvation Army, and raise funds at the Ugly Sweater Holiday Party for gifts for that family. We decided to do the same thing again this year. We ended up raising over $400, which is so fantastic! We’ll definitely be able to get the family everything on their list, and then some.
Paul won this years Best Ugly Sweater – not that it’s a competition. And best thing about this sweater? It’s from his grandma!I’m still not quite sure why either one of us aren’t models? Also, if you couldn’t tell from similarities of the tree decorating episode, Roman is the photographerThe finished product
I think I forgot how much I love to host parties! Especially my own parties, because then I know everyone coming. But seriously, I was on cloud nine with all of my closest people around me. I also love to connect different friend groups together, to make it one big group. I love the feeling of your friends meeting your other friends, and then they become friends themselves. Spread the love, people!
Julie’s dad stopped by and was the nicest person! He even agreed to take about 50 takes of 1 photo 🙂
Thank you to everyone who came and contributed! It was seriously such a fun, fun party, and I’m so happy we’re able to come together to give back!
You guys – this is my first real life Christmas tree that I’ve purchased on my own! My mom is a huge fan of real Christmas trees, so we always had a huge tree in our house. She usually put up 10 or more trees, but I’m pretty sure dad limited her to only having one real tree from their first Christmas. While secretly he loves Christmas, he does turn into a little bit of a Grinch when it comes to putting up a tree. As you’ll see, my tree was super easy to put up, so I’m not sure what he’s complaining about 😉 Just kidding! Mom’s tree is usually at least 10 feet tall, requires a truck to bring it home, and the base is still required to be put on the tree.
So after years of enduring that torture Christmas experience, I was hesitant to buy a real one. I figured transporting it home wouldn’t be that big of a deal, since they’re sold only a couple blocks away. Plus, I knew I wasn’t going to be getting one over five feet tall. I was especially worried about the base. How the heck do you put one on? But, as I soon realized, I didn’t need to do that! And besides, if you can financially and physically fit a tree in your life at Christmas, how can you pass it up? That tree smell! No candle does it justice (although this Anthro one almost comes close).
The deli at 51st & 9th was selling trees, and since that’s closest to my apartment, Whitnie, Roman & I went over there to scope out prices. I had set a budget of $60 for tree + base, and I refused to go over it. The tree stands on 8th were going for $80 for a 4 foot tree! Insert my mother’s frugality still embedded within me here.
Buying the tree at the deli on 51st & 9th. Only in NYC. Also, it’s “Fraser Fir”, which fits in well with my Outlander love.
I have to go on a little rant about Whitnie and Roman. If you are as lucky to have great friends like these two in your lives, then you should repeatedly tell said friends how much you love and respect them. They are seriously the best friends a girl could ask for, and they are the first to come through in an emergency, drama venting, or that one time I bought an AC unit and didn’t realize I couldn’t lift it up the three flights of stairs. This tree extravaganza was no exception. After I purchased the tree, and the man “wrapped” it, they both just picked up an end and started walking with it. After protests and offerings that I should be the one to carry at least one end of it, we agreed that I would hold all of our Michael’s bags and open doors. Seriously, bless them. They are the greatest. If you two are reading this, thank you again so much for all of your help! I love and respect you two to the moon, and couldn’t imagine my life without either of you.
My amazing helpersCarrying the tree up the stairs
Once we got it upstairs, I was pretty quick and efficient with setting it up. I knew I wanted to wrap the base in burlap, and I found this great chevron burlap at Michaels. That was my first thing to tackle. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the red wire ribbon like I thought I did, so I settled for blue snowman ribbon. I wish I could do a how-to for this, but I didn’t have the patience, or really the knowledge. I figured out how much burlap I would need, cut that down to size, and then wrapped it up around the tree, cutting holes and sliding ribbon through where needed to hold it up. I left enough room to stick my hand/glass in the base in order to fill it with water.
It made it into the living room & the stand is decorated!
After the base was all set, I untied the tree, shook out the limbs so they would fall a bit, and then filled the base up with water.
Now it was all set to finally decorate! I will say hanging lights on the tree is semi a hassle. But, I only had three strands to deal with, and I could reach my arm up and over the tree, which helped. I’ve been hoarding collecting ornaments for my eventual real tree since the days I worked at Michaels (circa 2007 – holy cow, 7 years!). I’m pretty sure my brother got the best end of that collection, as I can only manage to store a handful of what I had bought over the years in NYC. The rest is at his apartment in Nebraska.
the lights have been strung – well kind of. They’ll be adjusted in photos further down.
Decorating was the best part, although the fastest part. Since we’ve established Whitnie & Roman are amazing, they agreed to take photos of my decorating the tree. Mainly for my eventual Project Life about this, but also for the blog. Dude, it is hard to take a photo of ones self decorating a tree. Insert friends here 🙂 Needless to say, they had different shooting modes. I wanted Whitnie to get a couple of me ‘decorating’ the tree, which she did. But, Roman wasn’t having it. “Guys, we need action, we need movement. Cori, stop being so stiff”. So, he took the camera, Whitnie became his assistant with the ‘lighting’, and he shot away. As you can tell, shenanigans. But, these photos are some of my favorite for that memory alone. Can you picture him with the camera, shouting “Work it, Cor, work it. Decorate that tree!”? Because that’s what made me laugh so hard in these photos.
Roman’s photoshoot – as shenanigans start, the blurriness starts, ha!
All ornaments shown are from Michaels. As you can seen, in my previous years, I went through a red and gold phase, which is still one of my favorite Christmas themes. Currently, I’m leaning a little more rustic-woodsy theme in my life though – which explains the burlap and little snowman & owl that look like they belong in a cabin. I made the ornaments with musical notes on them (how-to coming here soon!), and those are some of my favorites. Simple, and adds that balance between all the red, gold, and rusticness going on. I didn’t get a tree topper, but I’ve just never been a huge fan of tree toppers. I’m a huge believer in just doing what works for you, so I personally decided I didn’t need one.
I still think it needs another strand of lights, and some more ornaments, but I’ve got the rest of December, or next year, to add on!
Following our tradition from last year, we decided to host Friendsgiving numero dos at Jake’s apartment in Boston. It’s convenient because it’s the largest of all of our apartments, and it’s a great chance to get out of the city..
We arrived late Wednesday night, and thankfully, encountered no terrible weather along the way. Inspired by A Beautiful Mess (but seriously, when am I not?), I was planning to make these before we left NYC. However, my pilot’s light in my oven went out, so I have no access to my oven. I even called Roberto, my handyman/bee killer, to come help light it, but sadly he’s not qualified in ovens. Insert sad adult moment face here.
A Beautiful Mess Pie Crust Cookies – these turned out a little more pastry than pie crust, but still delicious.The friends that bake together, stay together
Since it was 2am by the time they were finished, we definitely ate them within 5 minutes of coming out of the oven. Thanksgiving fail? Technically no. And, they were delicious.
We started cooking Thanksgiving at 8am. And by cooking, I mean everyone decided to cook when they felt like it, which for me, was totally fine. We were scheduled to eat at 1pm (who eats Thanksgiving that early?!), but we ended up eating around a normal time of 3:30pm. Jake did a great job on the turkey this year, even if that meant setting off the smoke alarm for 30 minutes (no worries – nothing burned but the bottom of the pan). Everyone else contributed to a couple different side dishes or drink concoctions. Interestingly, the corn casserole was one of my favorite dishes! I made rosemary bread and pumpkin pie. Prepping for dinner, and actually eating dinner was a hilarious and entertaining 7 hours, to say the least.
Scramble those eggs Jake! 🙂
Last year, we started a tradition of crafting at Thanksgiving, because duh. This year, Jake’s mom sent us a huge tablecloth of things to color!You’re never too old to colorMy mom’s amazing pumpkin pie recipe. Unfortunately, mine are never as fluffy as hers. And yes, those are my PJs. “Allie, if I ask you to take this specific photo of me, please don’t judge me”. Yes, this was staged.The simplest bread I’ve ever madeCooking my contribution early had its’ advantages – i.e. overseeing the food while drinking wine. (no this photo wasn’t staged).You know how some people smile when they’re in a field of lovely things in nature? Yeah, this is that, but in a field of Thanksgiving food.
Becoming the Staff Director of the Kitchen. Obviously if the Queen had a position, this would be it.
At 4pm, I claimed my spot on the couch and completely zonked out until 6ish. Only to wake and discover everyone else was cuddled together on the couch dozing in and out of a movie. I can proudly say no one moved from their spots until pie time (aka – 10ish). Being the super adults that we are, we decided plates were overrated and just another dish to wash. So, we ate both pies family style.
We ended the night watching Home Alone and falling back asleep for good.
Post-Thanksgiving might have been more fun than actual Thanksgiving. Like any good Nebraska alumni, we went to a bar called Lincoln (right?!) to watch the game. They have the best breakfast pizza and bloody marys. The rest of the day and night were spent drinking and dancing, hence no other photos to share 😉
The only group photo, and we’re still missing people!
I almost got frostbite trying to take this sunset photo, so apologies that it’s blurry. Jake’s neighborhood sure does boast an awesome view overlooking Boston though.
Cori's Corner 