Yes, I Decorate My Office for Christmas

 I LOVE Christmas.  I constantly have Christmas music playing from November until January.  I decorate my home for Christmas, why not my office?  Today I put up some lights and brought in a little tree and some ornaments.  I mean, how can you not enjoy coming to work everyday when your office looks like this?! :)

Well Rested

The hubby with our Christmas tree

 After a CRAZY couple of months, I can finally say I feel well rested.  This four day weekend was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered!  I slept in, ran a couple times and just RELAXED.  Thursday afternoon we went to my co-worker, Ashley's, house for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a fabulous time with her and her family.  We ate yummy food, drank good wine and even played "Dance Party 3".  We are so thankful she took us in for the holiday!

Great shot!

Friday was uneventful...I slept ALL day!  I'm not kidding you when I say that I slept ALL DAY on Friday.  I NEVER do this unless I'm really sick, but I think it was my body's way of telling me I need to take a "chill pill."  I woke up, put on a Christmas movie and then proceeded to fall asleep during the movie.  This cycle continued all day long.

Dave with our mistletoe

Saturday we decided to take advantage of the nice day and head to TopGolf!  It's one of our favorite activities.  It was one of the few times I played consistently well, so I was quite proud of myself. :)  We came home and put up our Christmas tree and some decorations!  I love this time of year!  I wish we were in our new place already so we wouldn't be consumed by boxes of wedding gifts! ;)

Sunday was spent organizing, cleaning, relaxing, running errands and writing thank you notes!

Even though most people would call my weekend "boring", I call it "exactly what I needed."

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend spent with family and friends!

What I'm Thankful For

The Dunns

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would post about what I'm thankful for.  First of all, this Thanksgiving is supposed to be spent at my parents' house (we switch every year between mine and Dave's parents), but since we just got back from being in Charleston and then Jamaica, my mom told us we didn't need to make the drive down this year.  So originally it was going to be just Dave and me for Thanksgiving in our little apartment that is overflowing with gifts, but then my co-worker Ashley was so sweet to invite Dave and me to her house to spend Thanksgiving with her and her family.  I'm so happy because the thought of spending Thanksgiving without our families was getting me down, but now the Dunns have taken us in and I'm thrilled.  It's so nice to have friends who truly care about you and treat you as family.  Thanks Ashley and Vic!! :)

Now onto what I am thankful for (in no particular order) 

1.  Good health
2.  My HUSBAND
3.  My amazing family who have always been there for me, no matter what
4.  My NEW family - I am truly blessed to have married into such a LOVING and CARING family
5.  My amazing friends who truly care about Dave and me.  I love you all
6.  Winnie
7.  The amazing life I lead - I am truly blessed
8.  All the opportunities I am faced with each day

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and take the time to think about what you are thankful for.

XOXO,
Mrs. O'Brien (I just like writing it :) )

I'm Going on a Little Vacation

I'm leaving this afternoon for Charleston, SC.  It's only 4 days until my wedding, so today is my final post for a couple weeks!  I'm taking this time to enjoy my family, friends and my soon-to-be husband!  I'm sure I will have tons to write about when I get back from my honeymoon!  Love to all!

XOXO,
Erin

Spontaneous Date Night

Last night both Dave and I were home early from work.  I asked him if he wanted to go to happy hour since this is a rare occasion that we are both home at a decent time.  So we headed to a local bar down the street, got a couple of beers, played Golden Tee and some games on the counter-top touchscreen at the bar , and had some yummy appetizers.  What an unexpectedly wonderful evening we had together.  I just love him! :)

Bachelorette Weekend

Cute wine labels my sister had made for our wine to drink on the road!

The Group

I know I'm a little late on this post, but I've been a little busy.  A couple weeks ago was my bachelorette party!  I had the best time EVER with the greatest of friends!  All of my bridesmaids were able to make it, which made it even more special!  I had a shower in the morning thrown by my aunt, then in the afternoon we took a shuttle to a few wineries!  We had the coolest driver ever, David!  He sure did make our trip interesting!

At Doukenie Winery

Our first winery was Doukenie Winery.  We had a great time there, but we all decided we won't be returning there anytime soon! ;)

The Group at Notaviva

Next, we went to Breaux Vineyards.  We decided to skip the tasting and just buy some bottle of wines, baguettes, cheese and salami.  We sat at a table and just talked and everyone got to know each other!  When everyone starts Facebooking each other you know it's true friendship! :)  This was the highlight of my afternoon because everyone got along, we talked about anything and everything and new friendships were started.

 Our last winery of the day was Notaviva Vineyards.  We did a tasting here and the staff here was super nice.  This was the most enjoyable tasting of the afternoon.

Our driver, David, is a little lost

We headed home, drinking wine, listening to some jams, and laughing a lot!  What a wonderful afternoon that was!  Thank you, girls for an amazing afternoon!

That night we went out to dinner at Fire Works.  We enjoyed many laughs and pizza.  Then the ones who were left standing, headed to Rumors to finish off the night!  What an amazing day with amazing friends!  Thank you girls for a memorable weekend!! :)

Artists for an Afternoon

My Masterpiece! :)

Yesterday afternoon our tax department went to Brush N Blush.  I've talked about Brush N Blush in an earlier post.  I had the best time with all of my fellow co-workers.  We had an assortment of cheese and crackers, wine and beer.

It was awesome to see everyone out of their element!  We are all used to working with numbers on a day to day basis, so painting was something that didn't come natural to most of us.  However, I am super impressed with how everyone's paintings turned out!  We really did have some artists in our crowd!  I'm even impressed with how the Partners' paintings turned out; way to go Dave and Mike! 

Mmmmmmmm Goooooood!

Oh, and we had Georgetown cupcakes!! YUMMMMMMM!!

I HEART Penguins

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Ever since reading Mr. Popper's Penguins in 3rd grade, I have been slightly obsessed with the tuxedo-like creatures.  I even tried to convince my parents to let me get one as a pet.  I figured we could drill holes in our freezer so he/she could breathe and I would stick an air freshener on him, since they are a tad smelly.  Why wouldn't that work?!?! :)  As you can guess, my parents said no.  So over the years, I've accumulated tons of penguin paraphernalia, including stuffed animals, jewelry, socks, pj's, slippers and a whole lot more!  Even though I am 27, I sleep with my penguin Pillow Pet, Petey.  He is so soft and is my much needed nighttime accessory. My friend even got me a mini penguin Pillow Pet for my honeymoon.  I named him Petey Jr. :)

Courtesy of FAO Schwartz

Today I stumbled across this cute penguin blouse from Anthropologie.  It's a cute pattern that I would ACTUALLY wear, unlike those tacky Christmas sweaters with penguins all over them! ;)  I'll put this on my wish list! 

Ask me any penguin question and I'm sure I'll know the answer!! :)