Repeat the sounding joy.

Christmas was fantastic. We spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with my family in Corona. We opened presents on Christmas eve (something we've never done before) and saved Christmas for church and talking to my brother who's on a mission in Nicaragua. Now that those festivities are winding down, we'll be heading up to a beach house this Thursday with David's family for a few days of fun. Oh, and the detox I'll be doing for the next few days after all the delicious Christmas goodies I've been eating all week. :)

Christmas Photoshoot

I'm officially in love with shooting my friends. We're comfortable around each other and we just get each other. Plus I can make their babies smile! Love the Williams fam!

Christmas things I love.

For the things I haven't gotten to this year, I'm already planning on for next year:

Source: purlbee.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: countryliving.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: blog.giddygiddy.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Source: blogs.babble.com via Natalie on Pinterest

Christmas Cookies

I'm going to do some baking this week and want your best Christmas recipes! I love making a few different types of cookies and delivering them to friends for the holidays. What is your tried and true cookie recipe that everyone gushes over? I'm making my favorite orange-vanilla sugar cookies that are my 3 year old tradition. They have fresh orange zest in the dough AND the frosting. Seriously amazing. Give me your recipes and links here so I have some inspiration!

Dreamsicle Sugar Cookies adapted from The Luna Cafe

1 cups butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
1 egg  

1/2 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

zest of an entire orange (only the skin, not the white pith)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

 

I wish I had a photo of mine, but I haven't made them since Halloween. photo credit

Beat the butter and sugar for at least a few minutes until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, salt and vanilla and mix until combined. Add zest and mix for a few seconds. Now add your baking powder and flour and mix JUST until all of the flour is absorbed. It seriously takes about 30 seconds. Wrap the dough in wax or parchment paper and let it rest in the fridge for a half hour so it's easier to roll out. Sometimes I shape it into a log and wrap it in wax paper, and then just slice rounds and bake them that way. When I'm feeling adventurous I roll the dough out and use my Christmas cookie cutters. Either way, they're amazing! Bake at 350 for about 8 minutes. I don't like any brown on mine because we are a soft cookie family. Plus, they stay fresh longer when they are a little underdone.

For the frosting I do this:
Mix a stick of softened butter with 3 cups of powdered sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add in about 2 Tablespoons of fresh orange juice and the zest of half an orange as well as 2 teaspoons of vanilla (I LOVE lots of vanilla). Sometimes you have to adjust based on the texture you want. I like thick frosting so I barely add any liquid. Top your cooled cookies!

Only in Dreams

                                                                                                                                                  Source: flickr.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

I'm one of those weird people who remember their dreams every night. They've been especially vivid and frequent since with my current job I have at least two times a day when I wake up and the space in between my sleep is at least 4 hours. I most commonly dream about nice things like babies or having a house. Sometimes I dream about slipping down stairs or tripping. I've had very in depth dreams that I thought meant something, but then the next night I'd dream about having to choose between David and my ex-boyfriend, and I feel like those voided anything the "meaningful" ones could have meant because others were so ridiculous.

My sister in law is assured her dreams mean something, and I find it so interesting. She's Korean, and it seems it's an important part of her culture. I love hearing about it. I once had a dream where my mom died and I woke up crying. I told my sister in law about it, and she assured me it meant that my mom would have a long life. Interesting, right? My mom didn't find out what the sex of any of her 4 children were, and she said she dreamed what each of us were and every time it was right.

What made me think of all of this was a dream I had this morning. It's one of the worst. I'm getting ready for school and I can't find my shoes or any of my school books. Then I realize I can't remember what classes I have that day, and I'm searching everywhere for my binder that has my schedule. I then also remember that I haven't been to my math class or done my math homework for over a month and wonder if I should even go to school. I have had the dream about being behind in my math class at LEAST 15 times. Why am I still dreaming about high school??

All I want for Christmas is...

I love love love Christmas! This is definitely our favorite time of year. We spent Friday night picking out and decorating our tree. I even carried it up the stairs by myself! It's making the house smell wonderful.
Yes. I'm greedily posting things that I want for Christmas. If nothing else, maybe it will help some of you pick things out for friends, sisters, moms. I've been pouring over other bloggers lists for ideas and inspiration.
Really the only thing I want for Christmas is a new pair of glasses. That's David's only assignment. But, in a perfect world where he could read my mind (or read my blog more often than once a month), these would be under the tree as well:

I have wanted a glass citrus juicer for who knows how long:

Large metal lettering...maybe "EAT" for the kitchen?

 

The Linus Throw from CB2.

Cute little Folk Garden Calendars:

What are you asking for this Christmas?

Busy time

I've been a bad blogger lately. With work, a photoshoot + editing, nannying and the holidays, I've had no energy to post.  Now that David has entered finals time for school I have some alone time and can get back on track.

 Above: the start of my frame collection for the couch wall.

 David got the iphone 4s (it's mostly his christmas present) and I got his 4.

I was supposed to get one for my birthday so it's like a belated bday for me!

 Getting ready for sleep!

 I like this scripture.

Lunch! It's summery, I know.

Thanksgiving was fantastic. My mom outdid herself as usual and everyone had a great time. Crock pot mashed potatoes were the winner for sure! We got to stay for three days because our car was having major issues and we had to wait to get it fixed, but I didn't mind because we got some quality family hang time in :) I even got Thanksgiving day off of work, one of my two days off (not counting weekends) during the year. Since we came home Saturday night I've been planning on decorating for Christmas, but with David so busy studying we haven't gotten a tree yet. I'm hoping tonight or tomorrow if he can take a long enough break to pick one out! Yay! I love December.