Ready for Christmas!!

Although this project is in not-so-sexy Secaucus, NJ, I was made "Social Chair," so I get to plan all the fun activities for our team, including the Holiday Party! I have planned every Holiday Party since joining Accenture over four and a half years ago and it's easily my favorite night of the year. My teammate and I found this great little place in Hoboken, the Kolo Klub, and we had an awesome night of food, drinks and White Elephant gift exchanges.

The party was a Tuesday night, which makes for an exhausting Wednesday, but I decided to take a trip to the Secaucus Rent the Runway warehouse after work. The 160,000 sq ft warehouse opened a few months ago just three miles from my hotel, so I decided it was worth a trip to find a New Years Eve outfit!

Unfortunately, I didn't find any fun dresses for New Years but it was worth the trip! It was a light week in Secaucus since everyone doesn't have to travel until January 5th, so everyone was in good spirits. Andrew is in Breckenridge, Colorado this weekend for a bachelor party, so I headed to my parent's house for a weekend of Christmas celebrations.

Oswald Christmas tree

On Friday my mom and I got the house ready for Christmas and baked in preparation for my Aunt Hallie's annual Christmas party. My mom made her amazing pizza roll bread, with home made spaghetti sauce and venison sausage. 

Baby Nelly snuggling with Louis 

Christmas presents from my Aunt Susan :)

On Saturday we had my mom's friends over to make Christmas cookies with their four sons who are all under the age of 5. I never spend time with kids that age but it was so much fun! I fell in love with the 14-month old Arlo, such a little nug.

On Sunday morning I headed back to Philadelphia early to go to lunch with my grandparents who were visiting from Charleston. After 9 days of being away from home, my cats missed me and we had a ridiculous amount of presents, including my new hat from my friend Will! Love it!!

My sister and I decided to try lunch at Serafina, which is straight up 18th street from our house, AND where Kim Kardashian was spotted when she visited Philly. It was a fun little lunch and afterwards we headed home to look at old pictures my grandparents brought for us.

I am so excited for Andrew to get home from his trip and for us to spend the next two weeks together. The holidays are always madness but it will be nice to spend the time with the family and enjoy the time off from work.

Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

I am not a huge Christmas person - the cold weather, the decorations, the presents - but I love going to Christmas Eve church with my in-laws and spending Christmas day with my entire family. This weekend was our first kicking off the Christmas season and we did it by running with South Philly Striders' Holiday Lights Run on Thursday evening. The 4.5 mile run took us all around South Philadelphia to adorable little neighborhoods that spend a lot of time making their blocks the best for Christmas.

It was a really great run and just what I needed to welcome Christmas 2014. On Friday evening we headed to South Philly again to pick up a little Christmas tree for the house. The guys were super friendly so we were happy to give them our business. 

We picked out an awkward little Christmas tree and loaded it into the car to take home. I even left myself a little surprise from last year - Christmas decorations I bought at the end of the season and hadn't unwrapped! It was a great way to save money on normally overpriced decorations and it made me very happy to find!

We spent the night decorating the tree and watching Frozen, our new favorite holiday Disney movie. The tree isn't perfect and a little awkward but it's a beautiful touch to our living room!

Let's see how long it takes the cats to bring the tree down...

Holiday Parties and More Running!

I decided to kick the weekend off way too early with a night in NYC with my team on Wednesday evening. This is the final push before the holidays and we've all been under some stress, so it was a great night to let off some steam. We had a big group so last minute reservations were tough, but we ended up having a really fun dinner at Mercer Kitchen in SOHO.

We ended the night at one of my all time favorite spots, Beauty & Essex. A good friend of ours took us there when she first moved to New York, so it always makes me nostalgic when I go. The atmosphere is really cool and the drinks are expensive, but the champagne served in the bathroom makes it all worth it!

I headed home early Thursday afternoon to begin getting ready for the annual Breakaway Tri Club End of Season gala. We hosted the party last year, which ended in a carpet disaster, but it's a great group of people and we wanted to host it again. The house looks quite a bit different than last year!

Over 50 people were in and out of our house throughout the night, with no major fiascoes. We ended the evening with a 3am dance party, so I would say it was a success! If you ever need a triathlon coach in Philadelphia, check out Todd at Breakaway, he is the best!

We spent Saturday night watching "Frozen," and "How to Train your Dragon 2," (both awesome) in preparation for Brian's Run in West Chester early Sunday afternoon. Andrew's parents went to high school with Brian when he was paralyzed in a football game. This was the 37th annual run and something the Haughtons have done many times over the years, so it was fun to get out there and run a 5 mile race.

After the race we headed back to my in laws to enjoy a late Thanksgiving dinner. We had a chance to put on the final decorations and spend time catching up, which I always appreciate.

We rushed back to Philly to get ready for the week. I have a big event in NYC tomorrow night, which I am sure will keep me up all night, and Andrew has his annual cookie contest. This year he chose Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Sandwiches. Baking with Andrew was an adventure but I think they may be the winning cookie :)

Two more weeks of traveling before I am home for two weeks for Christmas!!!! I am beyond excited!

Feeling Thankful

I was beyond sore for three days from the marathon, so I was so thankful to have a week at home to relax and recover. We had planned to head to Kutztown on Wednesday but, due to the weather, we headed home Tuesday evening. We ended up getting about 3 inches of snow, meaning we stayed inside and didn't leave our pj's all day on Wednesday.

The PJ crew

We stopped by my Grandma’s house on Thursday morning to pick up the pies and visit her new kitchen. The kitchen was built by the same talented man that built our kitchen and it’s really beautiful. After cooking in the same kitchen for the past 30 years, Grandmas is adjusting to all the new shelves but really loves the new space.

Pop Pop holding down the fort

Grandma in her kitchen

Our Thanksgiving Day was small and wonderful, with only 14 of us at my parent’s for dinner. After doing our own little Turkey Trot, we spent the day cleaning the house, cooking the turkey and stuffing, and relaxing around the house. 

Everyone arrived around 3 and the food we had spent the day cooking was gobbled down in 10 minutes. I hope to be half the chefs my parents are when I grow up :)

Andrew’s family was in the Outer Banks for the holiday, so we Facetimed them after we finished eating. The juggling of the families is never fun but we decided to limit the driving and hang out in Kutztown.

On Friday morning we headed to the Reading SPCA to find a kitten for my parent’s. Their cat, Rosie, passed away a few weeks ago and their male cat, Cole, was very lonely. We found a beautiful little kitten, “Duchess”, who was full of personality and a perfect fit for the animal craziness at my parent’s house. We renamed the pretty kitty “Nelly” and headed back to my parent’s house to introduce her to her new family.

Friday was our big Thanksgiving with the rest of the family. Everyone is getting old and doing their own things with in laws, so it’s great we still had an opportunity to get together. We had over 30 people at the house and did some true family bonding over a game of Liar’s Dice.

Mrs. H. Tells a Lie

The cousins

It was a big first day for Nelly in the new house but she handled it like a champ. We are so happy to have had the opportunity to rescue such a sweet little animal. She will have a wonderful life at Club Mary!

It was quite a weekend of food, drinks, and family, and I cherished every minute of it. December 1^st marks clean eating (prompted by reading The Primal Blueprint) and some soul searching to determine 2015 goals!