MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Merry Christmas everyone! This is our tree this morning post-present-opening. Yes, that is the "Sounds of the Season" channel on the tv. We were feeling festive! All of the gifts were a great success. We were able to split the day up perfectly between both of our families and it was an overall perfect day.

We went to my Grandpa's house, brought over placemats, window decorations and holiday plates. Talked to my aunt in Tucson, grabbed some presents and clean clothes for my Grandma and drove over to see her. My cousin Giac and his girlfriend (it seems so ridiculous to call her that, they're going to have been together for 25 years) Kim were already there so we sat around and talked. Gave her her gifts, she seemed to like them! My aunt sent her a really soft nightgown and I got her a ceramic candle holder with cardinals and pinecones on it. We left and headed back over to my Grandpa's. By that time my cousin and aunt showed up and everyone else was already there so we broke out the antipasto and started eating. I gave my Grandpa his sweater (he loved it, thank god) and my cousin her earrings and ring (she loved them, too...her aunt was there and said they were "So Julie") and she gave me my gift, a dark red patent leather bag and a really pretty decorative candle holder that is 100% my taste and will look perfect in my living room. We stayed and hung out for awhile then left for Brooklyn.


Saw a beautiful sunset on the way down. Brian took this out of my car window on the Henry Hudson going into Manhattan.

Got to his aunt's house just in time to start opening presents! All of our gifts were very well received, and we got great gifts in return. My favorites were:

*gift cards to Pottery Barn, Urban Outfitters, American Eagle, Ruehl and Cheesecake Factory
*a set of votive candles scented like all different teas from Brian's parents
*a Hello Kitty sailor t-shirt, Hello Kitty knee socks and a pink perfume atomizer from Sephora from my Chris Kringle, Courtney
*a bunch of super cute ornaments, my favorite is Pearl from Finding Nemo

Brian got a bunch of really good stuff, too, like an oldschool Brooklyn Dodgers hoodie, a Rangers fitted, Rock Band 2, this thing called Popcorn Hour (I'm not entirely sure what it is, some sort of geeky gadget that lets you watch movies you've downloaded directly from it. Sort of like an external hard drive just for movies. I think.) and some Amex giftcards.

As far as our gifts for each other, Brian and I did pretty well. I got him Alife Timberland boots and a t-shirt, a Supreme duffel bag, a Flight Club hoodie, a pair of Jordan 3's, an Undftd hat, a HUF hat and some other random stuff. He got me a new bag (SO nice), a longer chain for a necklace he bought me awhile back, some makeup, a tokidoki toy, Beautiful Katamari for XBox 360, a Hello Kitty x tokidoki plush and a signed kozyndan bunnyfish! He says there are 2 more things coming so XMas tomorrow, too.

I forgot to mention this but Brian's aunt lives in Dyker Heights. If you're familiar with New York it's on that block in Brooklyn where everyone does crazy Christmas light displays.

Brian's Aunt's house.

Another house up the street.

This house has a GIANT Santa that "talks" (the guy sits inside with a microphone and talks like santa), huge toy soldiers and big moving reindeer on either side of Santa.

Almost done!

My Christmas shopping is finally almost done. Last night my friend Carla and I went to the mall to knock out some last minute gifts and we did an awesome job! We were very regimented and focused. I bought myself a Hello Kitty keycap:

and a San Diego t-shirt:

She bought herself a cross necklace (I can't find a picture but it was really cute), and the rest of our purchases were for other people.

She bought her boyfriend:

A Keurig one-cup coffee maker with a box of assorted coffees to make in it. I reallllly want one after seeing it in person! I have a Starbucks Barista one-cup and I'm the worst at measuring the coffee. It never comes out right.

She also got him:
A Margaritaville machine! It makes Margaritas and frozen drinks perfectly. So awesome!

I got:

Anna Sui -Sui Dreams perfume for Brian's mom. I gave her a bottle of this a few years ago when I was working at Sephora and she just finished it up. Unfortunately it was discontinued but I finally found a bottle.

For my Grandpa:
This sweater but in navy blue. He's very basic and easy to shop for. Something warm with a crew neck, or something NY Jets related.

Over the weekend Brian and I went shopping and finished a few things up, too.

For his Aunt Jaime and Uncle Dave:


They're just a few years old than us and into anything sort of new-wavey, electro or British. We thought this giant English Depot clock would be cool for their new apartment.

For his Aunt Paula (also his Godmother):

Pretty earrings.

For Nanny:
More pretty earrings. Instead of emeralds they have onyx.
A music box from the San Francisco Music Box Company. Brian's bought her one every year since he was a little kid.

For his Aunt Elena:

His family loves Lenox (so do I) and this is a good sized dish to put candy in.

For Sean:

A-Life "Most High" shirt in black. Very fitting.

For Kiera:
A big pink "K" for her pink room, and a supercute ice cream keycap.

For my cousin Julie:

A ring and a pair of earrings. The photos make them look like they don't match, but they do perfectly.

I really can't wait to post what I bought Brian (I always get so excited about his gifts, I totally live vicariously through him and buy him all the dude-stuff I'd love to be able to wear.)

Starbucks Espresso Truffle

Let me tell you about my newest obsession:

Starbucks Espresso Truffle

It's like hot chocolate and espresso, mixed together, only richer. It's delicious! Plus every time you buy one you're supporting (RED)! I think I've recommended this to everyone I know.

Christmas shopping

So, it's December 20th. I'm not even close to being done with my Christmas shopping! Last night we went to the mall trying to start/finish our shopping. Unfortunately it didn't work out as planned at all. Since the weather was so terrible the majority of the stores closed early. We were only able to a few before everything started closing. This is what I've been able to accomplish so far:

For my Dad:

All 4 James Bond box sets on DVD. I figure they're in the middle of nowhere, he's going to want to watch movies at some point. He used to always DVR any James Bond movie whenever it was on TV, plus he just questioned if I were his daughter because I've never seen a James Bond movie.

Coasters for the boat with charts of New York Harbor printed on them, made out of Italian marble. That way whenever he's off traveling he'll always have a reminder of home.

For Brian's Dad:

He seriously runs through cologne! We got him this set of popular men's fragrance samples so he can try a bunch of different scents out, and it comes with a gift certificate for a full-size of whichever one he likes the best.

For Brian's Mom:

A wreath with butterflies on it. I also bought her a few ornaments that look like butterflies on the wreath (she obviously loves butterflies).

For Brian's Aunt Paula & Uncle Chuck:

A set of stemless red wine glasses from Lenox. They love Merlot and Lenox so we thought this set was perfect.

For my cousin Sarah in CA:

This shirt and sweatpants (in grey). I wanted to get her a bag from a fun designer like Marc by Marc Jacobs or See by Chloe but she's only 14 so I don't know if she'd like/know/appreciate it yet. I have plenty of years left to spoil her.

For Brian's cousin Alessandra:

Brian's family is so big that all the cousins do Chris Kringle so we only have to buy for one person. For the millionth year (or 2nd or 3rd) I picked Alessandra. I love shopping for her because really it's like shopping for myself. I got her a 3-pack of Juicy knee socks and a MAC makeup bag.

For Sean:

Sean's one of my best friends. He's obsessed with the NY Jets. He doesn't drink alcohol but loves diet soda, so I got him a glass with his name and the Jets logo on it.

I also bought a few things for Brian but he will probably read this and ruin Christmas (again...he already did twice so far), so I'm not going to post about that until Christmas is over.

That's it. I have so many people left to shop for:

My Mom
My Grandpa
Brian's Nanny
Brian's Aunt Elena & Uncle Jerry
My cousin Julie
My cousin Luke
A few more things for Brian
Something else for Brian's Mom
Something else for Brian's Dad
Possibly something for Robby & Carla
Something else for Sean

Snow. Great.

Reason #1 why I hate winter:

SNOW!

That's what I see when I look out the window at work. It's gross. We already shoveled the sidewalk in front of the store twice, salted it twice and it's already covered again. The hardware store is totally banking on snow-related products today. $21 for a container of salt? Insane. I'd love to leave early but a few people have already come in and a couple more called to see if we would be open. I don't really mind staying open, we only have 3 hours left, plus we stopped by my parents' house and grabbed my dad's truck so at least we'll be safe getting home. Gotta love 4-wheel drive.

Today hasn't been too bad, though. I got to wear my favorite rain boots:

They were a Christmas present from Brian 2 years ago, I still love them. They're the only things that make snow semi-tolerable.

One of the best parts of my job during the holidays is receiving Christmas baskets! Around the holidays the companies we do business with send us gift baskets as a little "thank you". For Thanksgiving we got a box of the most delicious brownies. For Christmas this is what we've received so far:

From Harry & David. It has fresh pears, apples, some cookies, nuts, 3 fruit preserves, truffles (my favorite ever), cheese and some smoked salmon that I already gave away to a customer.

So far I like this one the best. They decided to be clever and send us "The New Yorker" basket. It comes in a pretty brown suede basket/tray (hello martinis) and has caviar, biscotti, more truffles, cocoa, camembert cheese, garlic and rosemary crackers and a bunch of other delicious snacks. With the amount of business we give these companies these little baskets of goodness are really the least they can do, but they're very much appreciated.

Hershey!

This past weekend Brian (my boyfriend) and I drove down to Hershey, Pennsylvania to meet up with his family. His aunt's birthday was the 13th and she wanted to take a weekend trip with everyone. The store is open on Saturday until 3pm so we had his cousin meet us here (he plays basketball for Xavier high school in the city and had a game in the morning), loaded up the iPod with good movies and headed down. It didn't take too long to get there, maybe 2-3 hours. Some highlights of the weekend included seeing real reindeer, going on a car ride through the woods to see giant Christmas light displays and finding a perfect Christmas ornament (a sparkly slice of pizza).

On the way home we stopped at Woodbury Common, outdoor outlets in upstate NY. Our main goal was for me to find a new bag that Brian could give to me for Christmas. I unfortunately did not find a bag (I saw a few I liked but I want to shop around first), but I found a bunch of other great deals. My favorite purchase is a pair of Fendi sunglasses for myself. They're white and very summery but I'm going to be visiting my parents in the Bahamas next week for the holidays and I can wear them then and "put them on ice," as Brian says about his sneakers, until the summer. I also bought a sweater and a hat (the hat's part of my xmas gift) from Barney's, a jacket and a shirt from Juicy and a shirt from Theory. All for relatively cheap. I love outlets. Before you hear "Juicy" and go judging me, I am usually not a fan of their clothes. I was actually very surprised to find what I bought. They're very plain and not emblazoned with giant crowns and rhinestones and words like "princess".

I feel a little guilty having bought things for myself when I have a ton of Christmas shopping to do still! The only person I've finished shopping for is my dad. I've bought a few things here and there for other people but I'm nowhere even close to being finished. I want to go either tonight or tomorrow and try to get everyone done but that probably won't happen.

Introductions

Hi, so this is my first post. I've always had journals online (my first being a Diaryland, then 2 Livejournals) and now this is my first official "blog". How fancy. Usually I create a new journal when I've just finished going through a transitional period in my life. It's not done with intent, it just inevitably happens. I guess it's the whole closing one door and opening another thing...trying to compartmentalize different eras. This recent change in my life has been a crazy one.

I just took over the family business so my parents could live aboard their boat and travel around eastern United States and the Caribbean. I love that I'm able to do this but it's overwhelming at times. I have to take care of my own things, my parents' things, my grandparents' things and business things. All while working 6 days a week. I fortunately love what I do, which only makes it slightly easier. I've been doing my best while I'm at it and trying extremely hard to distract myself when I'm not. So far it's been a decent balance.

There have been a ton of other things going on and many more transitions I've had to deal with lately but I'll save those for another date. This was intended to be more of an introduction post, anyway. So, about me:

I'm Lindsey, 25, female. I live in New York with my boyfriend who I've been with for over 7 years. I work constantly. I try my hardest to be a positive person but living in NY and dealing with people every day makes it sort of difficult. I'm extremely loyal, almost to a fault, unless you break my trust. I take trust and respect very seriously. I love eating! Pizza is my favorite food, Italian is my favorite cuisine (Japanese and Thai take a close second, though). I am very close with my parents and my small extended family. I love cheesy girly movies (Thirteen Going on Thirty, Uptown Girls...), stupid funny movies (Grandma's Boy, Superbad...) and mobster/crime movies (Goodfellas, Scarface, The Godfather(s)...). I try not to watch TOO much TV but I'm a sucker for crime dramas (I watch every CSI, Law and Order, Without a Trace, etc.) and cheesy teenage girl shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill. I love any type of fun dancey music, thought-provoking music, anything with a good beat. I don't have a favorite color but I like green and brown a lot. I love the summer, hate the winter (but I love wearing boots!) and am ok with the spring and fall.

Those are the basics but I will obviously reveal more over time.