December 31, 2014

time traveling

Every year for Christmas I make my mom a picture calendar for the upcoming year. By every year I mean, every year for the past 4 or 5 years. I know, you were thinking Whoa, Baby Emily must have been a prodigy making picture calendars at age 3. Making these calendars is so fun--organized fun--because I get to sort through a million and a half pictures, figure out what was going on each month of the past year, and then make a collage of what we were doing in January of 2014 so that we can look at and enjoy said collage on the calendar in January of 2015. Repeat for e'rry month. Add in birthdays and anniversaries and the calendar is straight up pimpin. 

See? Organized fun is so fun.

I thought I'd bring some funsies to the blog today and go back for an adventure through my 2014. 

We rang in the new year in Chucktown with my family. That meant lots of sparklers and lots of...Phase 10. When we party, we party hard. 
Also with lots of kisses. Cue the awww's or the ewww's.

January ended with a fabulous ice storm that involved little ice on the roads and lots of ice falling from the big beams on the Ravenal bridge causing us to be landlocked causing us to drive to the beach to see snow on the sand. Snow! On the Sand! What an oxymoron! It's the little things to the Southern No Snow girl, people.
 I mean, it was almost a blizzard. In the nowhere near a blizzard kind of way. 

February consisted of deliciously cheesy Valentine's gifts, the first show I choreographed in Charleston, and seeing Alton Brown Live where I decided I need carbonated chocolate ice cream and I needed it yesterday. 
Chyeah, look at the squatting in a circle dancing I choreographed. 

In March we were like Oh doih, we live at the beach. Why don't we spend more time there? So we went for a blanket sunset snuggle. 

And we celebrated the marriage of Freddie's twin, Jimmie and Jessica, with a lot of dancing. A lot. Footloose and fancy free-ing. 

April was all about visits. Another family visit plus more Phase 10 and a visit from Caroline. Best Friends Forever Until The End and all that biffle BFFalicious stuff. Everyone needs to visit us and, more importantly, eat through visit Charleston. 
Just flashing our best friends rings. That we've had since we were 10. No. Big. Deal. (very big deal). 

May was consumed with Spamalot, but Freddie managed to squeeze in a big boy promotion in the middle of the Spamalot month. Go, Mr. Fancy Pants, Go!

June consisted of 2 off-the-chain/fantastic/best-start-to-the-summer-things ever: a trip to Disney for my mom's birthday and a trip to Atlanta to teach all my lil ol'\\\\ students for a week.

July brought the best trip I've ever taken in my entire short-but-long life (not dramatic at all). I still can't even put into words just how much fun we had in California so I'll show the fun via pictures. And tell you to go read about it here and here and here and here and here and here. Phew. What would you do without my blog life vacation recap diary?
The California scenery is overwhelming in these pictures, I know. Trust me, the Golden Gate is somewhere back there. Behind the layers of fog and family funsies.

In August we celebrated our first anniversary. Say what! What! Shut up! Now we're in the whole oh this is our second married Christmas and our second married New Year's phase and I mean, that sounds like we've practically been married 50 years already, right?

September is when we drove to Georgia in the middle of the night and I crept in my sister's bed waiting to surprise my mom during the run of one of her shows. September is also when...::drumroll::...Freddie and Jimmie turned the big 3-0! Old farts and still as fun as youngins.

October was busy. We moved, my mom came and played interior designer on our new place (thank you, thank you, thank you), we corn mazed and pumpkin carved with friends (hashtag: necessary), and we drove back to Georgia again to see my sister in Rocky Horror. Busy. Bees. Bees? (<<Cards Against Humanity shout out. Represent).

November started the I Wish It Was Already Christmas blues. Along with those came Ann taking our year anniversary pictures, going to the fair (what whaaaat), and of course, eating lots of rolls on Thanksgiving. Also hugging lots of necks on Thanksgiving.

And now here we are, December 2014. Post-Christmas, pre-end of the year. December was so full. Full of parties, friends, family, performances, food, candy, gifts, chocolate, more shows, and more gifts. And more friends and family.

 3 hours later I finished compiling this review and 2 hours later you have finished reading it. Congratulations. You may now pass Go and enter 2015. 

I would like to give a big shout-out to iPhoto, without you I would have only remembered half of this.  Thank you for sorting my pictures by months. You've always been there for me iPhoto, always.

Happy Last Day of 2014!!
Make every second a party. 

December 24, 2014

'twas the morn before christmas

...and the stockings are not hung by the chimney with care.
10% of that being because we don't have a chimney and 90% because my family has the stockings and they won't be arriving until tonight. Just before Santa arrives.

Santa! Love that dude. You know what else I love? The way the tree looks with presents spilling forth from underneath. Pure Christmas bliss! 

I'm off to bake and clean and listen to Christmas music until my ears want to explode...from happiness. It's Christmas freaking Eve! Now, eat a cookie and go do a happy Christmas Eve dance.

...
...
How was it? The cookie and the dance, that is. Both good? Good.

Merry Christmas!
Enjoy every second, every minute, every hour of the day. 
But especially enjoy all the Christmas magic. 
Also enjoy the Weiss family Christmas card from this year. 
^^word to what that card says. Now go have some fun!

December 19, 2014

a christmas must-eat

At 5:15 today I will wish my students a Merry Christmas, pass out some candy canes (gotta keep my place in line for favorite teacher of the year, wink), and chasse out the door. As soon as my pointed toe hits the sidewalk I will officially be on Christmas break.

Christmas break! Christmas break! 2 weeks! 2 weeks! I love kids, but 2 weeks! Christmas break!
Sidebar: I should totally write a song like that, right? I'm sure teachers everywhere would sing it with me. 

I've thought a lot about what I need to do during these 2 weeks. Finish wrapping presents, finish buying presents so that I can finish wrapping said presents, listen to lots of Christmas music, look at lots of Christmas lights, clean the guest room so my family can fit inside the room and not just stand in the hallway and look at it, and...

bake.
Christmas baking is almost as necessary a task as wrapping presents. How can one have Christmas without oodles and bagoodles of sweet treats?! You can't. Santa eats cookies for a reason. And that reason is that they are mandatory on Christmas, for some reason. Since I'm the one hosting Christmas this year (I italicize hosting because I'm sure I won't be doing any of the cooking on Christmas Day and I'm also sure Santa is still delivering all the gifts...), I figured I needed to have the kitchen counter stocked up with all the Christmas goodies so that the instant my family walks in the door they can feast their eyes and bellies on the treats. 

For a hot second let's pretend that I am actually useful and talented in the kitchen. Got your imaginations working? Good. Here is what Baker Extraordinaire Emily will be baking next week:

Double Chocolate Dipped, Peanut Butter Stuffed Pretzels

What a freaking mouthful to type...and a mouthful to eat, I assume. A mouthful of deliciousness to eat, that is. These pretzels literally encompass everything in life that I think is the best: which is mostly just chocolate and peanut butter. Then you add words like double and stuffed and I'm completely smitten.

Monkey Bread

I've already asked Freddie like a million times if we can have monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. For 2 reasons: 1) yum and 2) it's a good alternative from eating cookies for breakfast. So much healthier and all that. 

These Easy And Delicious Things You See All Over Pinterest

You knew what I was talking about before even looking at the picture, didn't you? In my opinion, this kind of baking is the best kind of baking. No mixing or measuring or stirring or whipping or spreading or cutting necessary. Place, press, cook, and eat. Eat some more. Eat even more. The End. 

These last two items are items I am hoping that either my mother will bake in all her free time and bring with her or we will bake together here because these two items are always present at our Christmases and...I wouldn't want to screw them up by making them myself. 

Cheese straws
You get no pictures because it's a top secret family recipe. Shhhhhh. That I don't even know. Shhhhh. 

Spice Cookies
via my mom's Instagram 

These are the cookies that we left for Santa every year. These are the cookies we made for the neighbors every year. These are the cookies that substitute as all of my family's meals during the month of December. These are The Cookies. 

What are you baking for the Holidays?
Happy Friday!

Linking up with Amanda and Karli!

December 17, 2014

scenes around the Christmas home

Christmas time in the Low Country is an interesting thing. If you're dreaming of a White Christmas then good news! The sand on Isle of Palms is a dreamy white color. If you want to conspire by the fire that's cool,
 but you really don't need to because it's 60, maybe 50 degrees out (I won't lie, 50 is cold for me and I turn into a human ice cube). Now, sing with me: Oh, palm trees! Oh, palm trees! How lovely are thy decorated fronds.

You get the idea. Beach time Christmas time is a tad different. But that doesn't mean I treat it any differently. Has the radio been set to the Christmas station since Thanksgiving? You betcha. Are my Christmas jam jammies on my body every night? Yes, m'am. I even add the fuzzy socks and snuggly red blanket to feel really seasonally appropriate. Do I wear a jacket every time I leave the house even when Freddie is wearing a t-shirt? Definitely, because unlike my crazy husband I know that even though the sun is out in Charleston it is not sunny and 75 anymore. Have we driven around ooo-ing and ahh-ing at all the lights and decorations. Yes, because this! Let your heart shaped eyes look at how beautiful Marion Square is!

While I would love to have a 2-story tall lit up Christmas tree in our home, it ain't happening with these confining things some people call ceilings. So here's how we are Christmas-ing it UP in our house... 
I'm counting the new couch as Christmas decor. So festive.  
Target dollar bin bags and homemade tags: no shame in my Christmas wrapping game. 
Even the best pillow ever needs a little touch of Christmas.

My family is coming to Chucktown for Christmas this year, and while I'm sad I won't be doing and seeing all the regular Georgia Christmas things that I love so much (hello, giant Grinch on our neighbor's house, I'm talking to you), I am kind of super excited to go put my cold toes in the sand on Christmas day. 

And yes, as I sit and edit this post I realize how...gray our apartment looks. Holla' at cha favorite color. What whaaaaat!

December 12, 2014

the search

I used to believe that good things take time to accomplish. After all, patience is a virtue and all that. Christmas trees definitely fall into the category of good things, so it is only fitting that the search for the perfect tree should take some time--some good 'ol speak to your Christmas soul time.  

Except sometimes it doesn't.
 You see, this past weekend was a long weekend. The kind of long that deserves all the ooooooo's. Between weekend work to road tripping to ACC Championship football gaming to road tripping back home to decorating for Christmas to going to my students' show...I mean come on, life is hard sometimes when you do fun things on the weekends. 

So there Freddie and I were, in-between just arriving back to Charleston after a quick 24 getaway and going downtown to watch Annie Jr., with 45 minutes to spare. A lot can get done in 45 minutes when said a lot is carefully planned, but picking out the one, the most beautiful and perfect Christmas tree...that is a task that needs a couple more numbers added to the 45 in order to be accomplished. 

Or so I thought.
We drove to the nearest Christmas tree lot because of the whole short on time thing only to find that they had really nice trees. Fat ones, skinny ones, really, really tall ones--all the good trees. (Freddie prefers the rounded fat trees while I prefer the touch-the-ceiling tall ones). Low and behold, 6 minutes into our 45-minute search, and we found one we loved. Just hanging out in the corner by the street. Straight chilling waiting for us to find it. No way! Shut up! I mean, yes the tree was the perfect height and the right amount of roundedness for Freddie without being too round for me. It had no bald spots and no janky twisted branches. But...good things take time! Remember! Time means longer than 6 minutes. 

And it does mean longer than 6 minutes. It means 8 minutes, to be exact. Because those extra 2 minutes equal the time it took the Christmas tree lot workers to get our tree, saw it, net it, and have it tied to our car. Freddie kind of stood there scratching his head and mumbling things like, Oh I can help... and Need this?...oh you got it... and Let me...never mind. Before he got out a full sentence the nice men had finished the work and we were driving out of the parking lot with 35 minutes to spare.

All I can say is thank God for the Christmas trees and workers at the lot off of Six Mile Road. 
And also, thank God the grocery store is by that tree lot. Holla at ya gurl for knocking out Christmas trees and groceries in the same 45 minute time slot.

Tis the season for Christmas miracles. 

December 5, 2014

some soul goodness

Thanksgiving did good to my soul. I never really understood what in the world people were talking about when they used that expression: good to my soul. I mean I got the gist of it like, Wow something was great and wonderful. We get it, sure. But it wasn't until I became a grown-up (according to whom?!) and started worrying about money and jobs and bills and taking care of others and why won't this stain come out of Freddie's dress shirt and why is my car making weird noises again and why am I the worst teacher stress and living away from family woes that I realized my soul needed some goodness. 

And times like Thanksgiving, times when I can sit and relish in nothing but uninterrupted nothingness and family time, that did my soul some real good. I ate. I drank wine. I played Quelf too many times to admit (okay, 4 or 5ish times....). I slept in. I went to Pilates. I had no schedule and no classes to teach, no rehearsals to run, no one to remind to use ballerina manners. It was all so glorious, typing it out just makes my soul want that goodness again (by the way, 14 days until Christmas break, but who's counting?).

^^ all the Moore children together means having mo(o)re fun
^^thankful rolls! 5 of which ended up in my belly

As you can see I'm very thankful for a sister who takes nice pictures because this is Thanksgiving as seen through Emily's iPhone...
^^Playing Quelf
^^More Quelf-ing (or is it just Freddie being Freddie...?) It's Quelf. Don't worry. 

And this, my friends, is a recipe blog post on how to have some good to your soul.
Happy Friday!

December 3, 2014

currently: desperate and darius edition


making
These really adorable thingy-ma-bobs to use as stocking stuffers. I say thingy-ma-bobs not because I can't think of the name of said crafts, but because too many people who will be receiving said crafts in their stockings read my blog. Just know the thingy-ma-bobs are tres cute and Santa told me he's just about ready to go ahead and put them in the stockings. 
listening
Since our former neighbor, D. Ruck, can't come over for sing-alongs every night like he used to (wink) I've taken to listening to his new Christmas album over and over. And over. Sa-woon. Ricky and I have almost got down the right amount of twang+soul+country all mixed together like presents for one's ears. 
wrapping
I've never gone Black Friday shopping and I'm still breathing and living so that's good. I've also never really Cyber Monday shopped, but Holy Never Say Never I spent oodles of money on Cyber Monday this week. The good news is I saved bagooodles of money and everyone knows bagoodles > oodles. Our mailbox is about to explode with Christmas gifts and my wrapping hands are ready to go.  
watching
Desperate Housewives. So bad that it's good. Almost. I just can't get over the ridiculousness of it all and wonder if one day I'll live on a street with psychopaths and strippers and con-artists and all the crazies. One can only hope. 
anticipating
Our new, beautiful, amazing, large-and-in-charge sectional is supposed to be delivered any time from today to next Wednesday. So I vote for tonight...(if only my vote counted for anything). My bootay is anticipating sitting on puffy cloud-like cushions instead of spiky wires. Hashtag booty blessed and all that.
Update: just found out they called and are delivering it on Friday. Friday Yayday. Friday Funday. Friday Fluffy Butt Cushions Day.
!!!

Linking up with Jenna and Anne!

November 26, 2014

on the night before thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is tomorrow which means I'm spending today deciding on if I want to eat 4 or 5 helpings of sweet potatoes at the Thanksgiving feast. Hard decisions take time, people. And by the way, I'm thinking maybe 6 helpings is okay? I don't like turkey so I have to fill that empty part of my Thanksgiving belly with something. Enter the 6 helpings of sweet potato casserole. 

In true I am grateful for lots of things form, I figured today was as good a day as any to write a thankful list. It's also as good a day as any for you to sit down and read my thankful list, obviously.

I am thankful for raincoats.
Umbrellas are cool too, I guess, but I always forget to put them back in my car. While we're on umbrellas, has anyone ever successfully closed and refolded an umbrella? No, they haven't. It is impossible. It has been raining non-stop here in Chucktown so I'm just really really thankful for my trusty 'ole raincoat that keeps me semi-dry as I hop around town. 


I am thankful for children. 
Because of my job I spend 96% of my time with kids. Even though sometimes they make me want to pull out my hair or sit in the middle of the floor and cry while they run around, they are amazing little people full of love and life. They give the best hugs, draw the most stylish stick figure Miss Emily, and they know that one minute of sweetness makes up for sixty minutes of horribleness so...there's that. They're smart and tricky and I love 'em. 

I am thankful for pictures.
If it were up to me, every wall in the house would be covered in wallpaper made from pictures of past and present. I don't think I could put my love for the Timehop app into words. Come on. This is what my sister and I were doing 7 years ago today?! You don't say.
Ann is going to kill me for this, but I mean how sad would my life be if I totally had forgotten this picture existed? Thanks, Timehop, for keeping my life happy and fun. 

 I am thankful for a husband who lets me use his arms as my dance partners on the reg. Oh, you're trying to cook dinner? Let me just steal your right arm there so I can pirouette and arabesque with it. 

 I am thankful for a family who makes life so fun that I get sad at least once daily because I'm not with them.

I am thankful for in-laws who know how to throw down and party, jello shots included. 

I am thankful for friends who remember that I hate talking on the phone and still keep in touch with me by putting up with daily/weekly novel long texts. 

Happy almost Thanksgiving!

May your bellies be as full as your hearts.