Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Santa Baby

I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to find out what we had for Christmas dinner. Drumroll please....


It was goose!! O's parents always have a traditional Bavarian goose for dinner on Christmas Day. And oh my goodness was it delightful! I must say I'm quite proud of myself because four years ago I don't think I would have touched goose...(this might have stemmed from a fateful trip to the Austin Arboretum where I, as a three year old, innocently tried to feed a goose, and the goose chased me down, bit my finger and I yelled "NO GOOSE, NO!)  but this one tasted AWESOME!


THE GEESE

Dad took a picture of all of us sitting at the table ready to eat that goose!
The Aftermath:


And now, for my favorite presents from Santa:


I received quite an abundance of TCU gear and my favorite of all was this guy:

Yep, that's a TCU santa and he's my good luck charm for the Rose Bowl (fingers and toes crossed!)


The the last present I opened were these:

Uggs! Instyle may poo-poo them but I think they are money! And so much lighter than my last pair! My toasty warm feet thank you Mom and Dad.

Hope you got everything your little Christmas heart desired! 

-Claire

Sunday, December 26, 2010

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

After braving Northpark and a few other stores with fifteen bagillion other people last week, I felt like Christmas would never come. I fully expected that before Christmas could even arrive, I would experience an untimely death via being run over in the Target parking lot by a crazed parent looking for the last tickle me Elmo or whatever the hell the "hot toy" of this year was. But as luck would have it, I made it to Christmas, and had a fantastic one at that! My parents and I, along with O, headed over to his parents house to celebrate. 

In Germany, the children open their presents on Christmas Eve, and I certainly love presents (please try to keep the looks of shock and awe to a minimum), so my family and I obliged and we opened all our presents on the night of the 24th. 





Duke thoroughly enjoys opening presents (just like his doggy mom) and he tries to help out any way that he can!




We missed O's sister Steph who is celebrating Christmas in Brazil with her very cute Brazilian boyfriend (try not to be too jealous girls!), but this was the first year O and I got to spend BOTH holidays with both our families and we feel extremely lucky!! 

Mom and Dad

O's Mom and Dad. Our fabulous hosts!!
More later on Christmas presents and what we had for Christmas Dinner! I'll give you a hint, it has wings and a beak but it is NOT a turkey or a chicken...


Merry Christmas!

-Claire

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Hasta Luego 2010

Like every year at this time, it's hard for me to believe that in a few weeks, another year has gone by. Although, when I look back at 2010, I think to myself, hot dang diggity that was one freakin' awesome year!! So without further ado, here is a photo montage including  just a few of my fav moments from twenty-ten. 

January 

Well, I think this goes without saying!

February


Dress shopping in Austin.

March

Warrior Dash!! The couple that hurtles fire together (and wears these awesome hats), stays together. 

April


Celebrating 24 with the best girls in the world!!

May

Vamos a la playa! With the most badass coworkers ever!!!

June

Off to Washington! Got to tour the Chateau with Mom and Pops.

July

Sonoma, San Fran, and Napa. This picture pretty much sums up the trip...

August

When the men are away... me and my girls will play.

September

Barcelona, beach, champagne, my man- BLISS!! 

October

ACL... enough said

November 

Thanksgiving! Food. Family. Fried Turkey. The best! 
December 

Tacky sweaters+Friends+Booze= Best Holiday Party to date.

So there you have it. The best of 2010. Twenty-eleven is not only the beginning of a new decade, it's the beginning of a new era in our lives. Like, I'll turn a quarter of a century old, O's starts his new position, and oh yea, we're getting married! Twenty-eleven will be a year of adjustments and new experiences but I'm sure by this time next year I'll again be saying to myself "holy cannoli, 2011 flew by at warp speed, I'm married and holy crap, I'm going to be older than a quarter century next year!" 


What are your favorite moments from 2010?




-Claire




Thursday, December 16, 2010

This Calls for a Celebration

For the past six months O and I have been through the emotional yo-yoing of him searching for a new job. For the past six months, I wasn't sure if we would still be living in DFW come January 1st. This uncertainty might not have been so stressful had I not been trying to plan this little wedding for 150+ peeps in April! The stress was heavy, I mean I considered living in Tulsa Oklahoma people (No offense to the local Tulsanites). Now I can say it out loud that what I was hoping and wishing for came true! O got a promotion where we get to stay in Dallas AND since he'll work from home we have the possibility of moving to Austin in the future!! 


So, my friends, this new development in our lives called for a little culinary celebration. I attempted to make short-ribs for the very first time. They took about five hours to make, but considering all I heard while eating them was "mmm babe, yum babe, mmmm babe" coming from O's side of the table, I think they were well worth the time commitment. 



We added a little Veuve to sip on and it was time to celebrate!


Cheers to many more meals here in Texas with all of our family and friends!!

-Claire

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

This is Why I Love my Fiance

O goes to the thrift store on his lunch break last Friday in search of a sweater for our upcoming Tacky Christmas Sweater party. He doesn't find a sweater, but he does come home with these incredibly handy yet still classy items...


Two accent pillows with adult slogans. 


Yes, this hat is both a baseball cap and a santa hat in one. Quite the multi-tasker. 


I'll give you one guess who this horrendous piece was for and where it ended up. 








Hope you guessed right.

Seriously, how could I not love a man like that?

-Claire

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A Very Tacky Christmas

Last Saturday O and I hosted our third annual holiday party. This year we decided that a theme would be appropriate. That theme was none other than Tacky Christmas Sweaters. Not the most original holiday party theme? Possibly. But our friends made up for our lack of originality and each arrived in their very own tacky style.  

There were cocktails:




Friends:












Prizes: 
Most Creative Ensemble
Fugliest Sweater
Sparkliest




And of course a very excitable Tacky Christmas dog:





A good time was had by all. Thanks for the memories!!


-Claire