Sharing Christmas 2012

When I read a friends blog post announcing she was hosting a Sharing Christmas blog event this year  I was soooo in!  It gave me motivation to blog and document all of the Christmas-y things I did this year. Like I have said before, this blog is more to keep a record of the crazy ride Jake and I call life, so any motivation and topic suggestions are welcome!

How does it work?  Courtney posed the invite a few weeks ago on her blog, check it out - she has a pretty awesome blog.  Basically, I did my Christmas thing all month long and took pictures along the way to share with all of you. Anything from decorations, recipes, gift wrap and everyday holiday nonsense can be shared.

I love to snoop around blogs and check out what other people are up to in the privacy of their own homes, to this sounded right up my alley. So, here's a little look into my Christmas world this year!

Deck the Halls
This year decorating was a bit understated at my house, you can't really have your house covered head to toe in snowman trinkets when it's on the market to sell. So I pulled out a few small things and left the bulk of the decorations in their boxes.

I put candles in the front windows in lieu of Christmas lights covering the bushes in the front yard. These candles are amazing by the way, no cords and turn on when it get's dark outside - oh, the joy of solar power!

At house number 2 (Jake's), we ramped up the decorating a bit.

We had plans to cut down a christmas tree, rather than pick one out from Lowe's but when we rolled up to Hozak's Christmas Tree Farm - the 'cut your own tree' section - we were intimated. There were lumber jack looking guys carrying trees on their backs and all of the families were definitely regulars.  They had gloves, boots, rope, bungie cords and saws. All of which we own, but none of which we thought to bring. So, we did a quick swing through the parking lot and right back out... luckily the farm has a section where you can pick out a tree, much more our speed this year.  We got a 7' fraser fir and they tied it to the roof of the car for us. We also left with some holly branches, pine branches, pine wreath and I asked for some tree stumps left over from other people's trees.

Jake at the farm (note: Jake is on the right)

The wreath promptly died, so I need to get another one and hang it on the outside of the storm door, a good tip to know before your $30 wreath turns brown and shrivels up.

Jake and I differ on our decorating styles, but we have a collection of ornaments from every city we have been to over the past few years and have those on the tree this year. We plan to collect ornaments everywhere we travel together, it's fun hunting down ornaments that remind of us of our trip.

ornament we bought when visiting my brother  in the Navy

I am not a huge fan of Christmas looking ornaments - if that makes sense.  I am actually not a fan of any traditional Christmas decorations like Santa, snowman or reindeer. I would be happy with pine, candles and some vintage glittery things BUT Jake loves an elf (cartoons and the movie), so this year our tree is a combination of the ornaments that our mothers collected for us over the last 35 years and the ones we have collected on our travels. I love it!

childhood ornaments 

Cards

One of my favorite holiday treats is cards, this time of year I love going to the mailbox to see how many cards we got that day! They are all so special in their own way, it's like opening up a gift every day for the entire month of December. Picture cards are my favorite, seeing pictures of kids and families that we don't see very often is so fun!

I hung the cards on the bannister so we can look at them for the next few weeks.

We sent our first card together this year, I created it on minted. A stationary website I cannot get enough of recently. I used a photo from our engagement shoot and kept it simple. For as long as I can remember I have sent handwritten Christmas cards, after this year I may never handwrite them again. I know it takes a bit of the personalization out of them but for bulk mailing this is the way to go!

Wrapping

Similar to the past 2 years I used craft paper to wrap most of my gifts. I just love the simplicity of this paper and it can easily be dressed up with ribbon, bows, stamps and glitter. Yes, glitter! I have the Martha Stewart glitter set and I use it every chance I get.

For our families I stuck with craft paper and white, silver and tinsel ribbons all stamped with the initials or name of the person receiving the gift. I wrapped gifts for friends and my grandparents in simple pattern paper. My grandfather would not understand the craft paper thing, I'm almost positive he would think I was giving him a frozen pork shoulder wrapped in brown paper.  We gave a few magazine subscriptions this year so I made cards to give, since you can't physically open a subscription.

Jake and I decided to scale it back this year, we have a wedding coming up and if you don't already know they are ridiculously expensive!  We had a few rules, under a certain $ amount and gifts that fall into the following categories - want, need, wear, read and feed.

I typically don't have issues thinking of gift ideas but this is a great way to narrow down the ideas and save you from buying things last minute that have no meaning to the person receiving the gift.  I used craft paper, neon green bakers twine and glitter - so simple and easy.

the glitter makes up for my terrible penmanship, kinda?

Party Time

This year, like last, both my office and Jake's office Holiday parties fell on the same day.  We decided to go to his because it was at the Carnegie Museum and I was not allowed to bring a guest to mine. We had a blast eating and eating. It was nice to get all dolled up and spend a night out together. His department has another holiday party this year and so does mine ... shocking but they are on the same day again!  Jake's boss and his boss's wife (who I love) have a party every year and it's a great time. They have a gift exchange and it gets hysterical.

My friend from work, who also happens to be my boss, had a gingerbread house party. Such a great idea - I was totally a kid and made a crazy looking house with a pool! She had pre-made the houses (the hard part!) and we all picked from tons of candy and created our own masterpiece. Jake and I ate so much candy, we crashed hard from our sugar high when we got home.

Most important part of the Holidays, the food
Last year Jake and I spent an entire day baking cookies - well, me baking and Jake cleaning up after me and running the mixer. This year we picked 4 recipes and kept it to an evening of making the dough and an hour or so baking the next day. This year is a bit crazier and as much as I wanted to make more, 4 is enough!

We landed on peanut butter oatmeal, cream cheese pistachio, butter sugar and cornmeal lime stars. I found the recipes in a magazine and have to say the simple sugar cookies with sprinkles are the best.

Just when I began to think I  made all of my holiday goodies and did not even use chocolate (what?!) I picked the next two recipes for a dinner at a friends house and our annual AE Visual department Holiday potluck lunch.

brownie bite santa hats
I altered a recipe I found here and used a buttercream frosting I found here.  I am definitely not opposed to taking a recipe and using a few bought items, rather than making it all from scratch. Rather than making the brownie bites I found little bags of brownie bites at the grocery store, what could be easier!

carmel chocolate cashew pretzel popcorn clusters
I made up the name, and it's beyond delicious. I used this recipe and this recipe, two because the second one I failed miserably at. Something happened with the carmel part, it was looking good and all of the sudden it turned into a pile of ... I don't even know, the carmel dried out and the pot basically looked like I had filled it with sand. Sooooo I pulled up the backup recipe I saved and actually had all the ingredients on hand. The recipe was so easy and only used the microwave. With a little help from Jake handling the super hot carmel I poured the carmel over the dry ingredients, melted some chocolate to drizzle over top and that was it - really easy gift idea!

There are still a few days to go until Christmas, so there's still plenty of time for more holiday decorations and holiday foods!  Time to get the creative thoughts revved up again, I am looking forward to seeing what all of you have been up to.

Family Traditions

Most families have traditions - some traditional and some not so traditional. Most of my family's traditions originated around the holiday season and many of mine and Jake's traditions fall between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For years, I spent the day after Thanksgiving at my great Aunt Kass's house. She lived 2 doors up from my house in Dormont and is practically my 3rd grandmother. As she got older it became harder for her to get lights and a tree up herself. So we did it with her!

She would cook a huge meal (yes, another huge meal the day after we just ate a huge meal), and we would bring all the decorations out and dress up her house. Different family members would come in and out as the day went on and it would never be the same crowed year after year. It all depended who was around and not getting in on Black Friday deals. This year, she is 92 years old. I went over to her nursing home with my mom and set up her little tree and all her Christmas knick-knacks. The past few years she has not been able to cook a huge meal, so I brought over some Arby's, and we decorated just like we had for the past 25 years before that. I recall being 15 years old and complaining about having to put up her decorations, as any teen would. Now that I am older, I am very thankful for those days spent together.

On Christmas eve The Kmick family goes to church, has a gag gift exchange and eats breakfast for dinner. That's right breakfast - dippy eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels and the like.

For as long as I can remember we have rotated the festivities between my house, my dad's sister's and my dad's brother's house. We start the evening at a Christmas Eve mass, rarely going to the same church every year. After mass we head to someone's house to hang out, eat, and goof around.

Usually there is a ham in the oven and the guy of the house starts cooking the eggs shortly after everyone arrives. It's always been a joke about how many dippy eggs can be made without breaking a yolk. Someone is put on toast duty and is in charge of toasting and buttering, this person can't fall behind and must have toast ready when eggs are ready!

Breakfast is usually filled with a lot of joking around, sarcasm and making fun of one another - all stemming from love for each other, of course.

After dinner we lounge around watching movies and have a gag gift exchange. This is where things usually get crazy. Each person brings a gag gift to exchange, anywhere from $0-$20. We rotate around the room, usually oldest to youngest opening, trading and stealing gifts. Over the past 5 years or so a huge jar of pickles has shown up in the gift exchange hidden in boxes or bags. It also evolved into being hidden in someones house. At this point I have no idea who has the pickles, but they would probably kill you if you ate them.

Here's a few good gag gift pics...

Somewhere along the line, outdoor lights and decorations started to be stolen from each others houses and put up somewhere else, in the middle of the night. One year, an 8-foot reindeer was handmade from wood and put up in my Uncle Toms front yard. A few years ago half the family surrendered, in the hopes that their candy cane lights would not be stolen in the middle of the night.

Towards the end of the night all the cousins get on the couch for a photo. We have pictures ever year from about 1979 on. Every so often a cousin or two misses a picture - with my brother being in the Navy and my cousin rotating holidays with his wife's family there's a few years where all 8 of us are not shown.

Some winners...

I can imagine as we all get older and start to get married it will be hard to capture all of us in these pictures. I love that my cousins wife and Jake spend holidays with us. It's nice to see our family grow and our Christmas Eve traditions passed onto our own families.

Jake loves these Kmick traditions and we plan to carry them into our family along with Cooper family traditions - we wouldn't have it any other way!

To Grandmother's House we go, literally...
Christmas day has traditionally been with my mom's side of the family. My Gram and Pap live in Indiana, PA, so we usually take the 2 hour drive through the country and spend the day there. When Adam and I were little we would stay a few days there over the holidays. I have a lot of great memories at their house - good food, warm fireplace, fun presents and the Festival of Lights tour in Blue Spruce park. It's nice to be out of the city, in fresh country air and with my grandparents.

I'm looking forward to creating our own traditions but sticking with the traditions our families already have, it gives us something to look forward to!
11 days to go!
I hope everyone is getting pumped up for time with loved ones, food, gifts and time off from work!

Hello-Goodbye

Hello-Goodbye, a Beatles song title that reminds me of the relationship I have with my house.
I bought a house and one minute later (well, 1 year and 5 months) I'm selling it!
That's right, it's on the market!

We are currently splitting time between our homes and to be honest, I hate it. Jake bought a townhouse before I met him, during April before I bought my house. At the time he moved we were dating but he had agreed to buy it several months before we met.  Definitely not ready to make decisions about living together then. As time went on we knew the day would come where one house would have to go and we would both live in the other house.

I knew it would be easier to sell my house and that there was more room for us in his, but I hated the thought of giving up the place where I spent so much time renovating. My dad custom made my entire kitchen, my mom and I spent endless hours together painting, staining and decorating, there are a lot of memories! I mean Jake and I got engaged on the front porch! How could I sell it less than two years later!?

Well, it's time and i'm itching for a new house project.

Move in Ready is not something I know much about... check it out...

wallpaper stinks

rockie loved being covered in paint

hour after hour they were on the job

small bathroom, big pain

no joke, the kitchen was gutted

sander that made my body shake for a week

before

after

It took me a few months to wrap my mind around the idea of calling a real estate agent. I considered renting but decided against it - I cannot bare the idea of having a messy hoarder living in my house! Plus the time Jake and I have together would be more fun spent in our new home rather than fixing a broken AC unit at a rental.

I had a breakdown about a week ago because I was over it.  It might sound fun to own two homes (if you are Oprah) but paying bills, cleaning and keeping up with daily chores for two houses is just too much. I felt like I was packing a bag every-other day and only living in my house 3-4 days a week. We had to put an end to the madness, we need one place to live - one place to call home.

I called an agent on a Monday and 5 days later my house was listed online and I had an open house. It was a bit stressful getting all the paperwork in order and getting the house ready to sell in just 5 days but I'm glad it did not linger and we got it posted sooner than later.

Jake's friend is interested in buying his house so getting rid of mine first will make it easier when he sells his... and the most exciting part, we have been looking for our new place!

The logistics of this are daunting to think about - how will the timing line up, will my house be on the market forever, will we be homeless at any point? Homeless, dramatic I know but a thought that crossed my mind.  I have no idea how this will work and can only plan so far in advance - something I am not exactly comfortable (I admit, I am a control freak) but Jake has been very calm about the entire situation and has tried to keep me grounded. Ultimately we know everything will work out.

There are thousands of people in this country out of work or legitimacy homeless I feel so blessed to be in this position. We definitely don't take any part of this adventure for granted. It's a great 'problem' to have and I would not want to trek though this with anyone other than Jake.

Cross your fingers my little gem in the city sells quickly!

Things That Are Great

I found this print at Handmade Arcade this weekend, thought i'd share!
I would switch out Beets with Jake, that's all.
Happy Weekend!

Crazy Groupon Lady

Yes, that's me. Crazy Groupon Lady. If there were a TLC show about people obcessed with Groupon I would be the star.

If you don't get the daily emails or have the app, sign up right now! No, I don't work for them or even care to promote them I just love the concept and thought I'd share my experiences.  It's a gift giving time a year so why not take a peek, you might find something someone on your gift list would love.

So how does it work? It's so easy... every day an email arrives in your inbox (around noon) with daily deals in the these categories; nearby, featured, goods, Grouponicus and getaways. They pride themselves on showcasing deals on the best things to do, see and eat in a specific city. When you sign up they ask for your geographical location so the daily deals are tailored to where you live. I usually scroll through 'nearby' and 'featured' sections. I find the 'goods' section to be a bunch of junk like cubic zerconia jewelry, custom bobble-heads and pre packaged weight management frozen meals. I stay away from 'getaways' section because I am very nervous about booking a trip through a discount website, seems too good to be true and I actually have no idea what the 'Grouponicus' section is - my guess is more junk.

Groupons do expire but you never lose the money you paid for it, you can always go to the business and use the Groupon as cash and not get the deal.

What I love the most about Groupon is it gives small business a boost. What's better for a business then a new customer coming in, loving the product, returning and spreading the good word?!
I have found some great places from Groupon and a few duds... check them out!

Wins...
(8) massages and facials - best deals around! These are expensive without a deal but I have had a few really great massages for under $50 from Groupon, without the deal that would get you a 20 minute so-so massage. These are also amazing gifts to give.

(9) Shutterfly photo books - the runner up!  I have made 9 photo books for myself and my family. My grandparents love them! I documented my house renovations and lots of pictures of Jake and I. I love flipping through them - it's much nicer to have a hard copy then to flip through your phones camera roll.

(6) FTD and Proflowers - I send flowers to my Grandma and my great aunt all the time ... Why not get $30 worth of flowers for only $15? Yes please!

Merry Maids - This was to die for, for $70 I had every room of my house cleaned. Really cleaned, not just a quick dust job, they made the bed. I wish they did more of these deals.

(4) magazine subscriptions - I love a good magazine so why not get them for $5 a year?

Cardboard castle - Sounds crazy but for $25 I knew a little lady who just had to get this for her birthday. Plus we had a blast putting it together and decorating it.

Photo session with prints from Kmart - another great gift for my friends daughters to get some Spring pics taken.

Ties.com - $15 for $50 worth of ties, this was a no brainer. Just look at who I am going to marry.

Beer Nutz - Near Jake's house, yummy bar food.

Yarns by Design - I got my mom a bunch of knitting tools and yarn for about half the price.

Bagel Factory - We love to get breakfast here, half off!

Square Cafe - Also a great breakfast spot, 2 meals for $10!

Szmidt's Deli - $20 for a 5 sandwich punch card. I can walk here from my house and they have huge delicious sandwiches, perogies and grilled cheese. Their sandwiches are anywhere from $5-$8 so this is a great deal. My mom also bought one so we are currently working on 10 sandwiches.

(2) Pita Pit - Right by my office, I am actually sick of this place but at the time the Groupons saved me a few bucks.

(2) laser hair removal - So, these were amazing. I only bought these because I had a ton on Groupon credits from a refund. I had 3 sessions at one place and 6 sessions at another place. Both waaaaaay less then if I had called and made an appointment without the Groupon.

(5) Kayak Pittsburgh - This was a blast, my friends and I kayaked on the 3 Rivers a  bunch of time with these deals.

Three 12x18 canvas photo frames from Fabness - Pretty much in love with these, I got 3 frames for $69. The original price would have been over $200. I have been looking at these for a few years but it's not really something you want to buy and use your iPhone photos for. Good professions photos are a must. These guys are patiently awaiting new house walls to be hung on.

Perogies  Plus - Heaven, cheesy potato heaven. Kind of a haul to Mckees Rocks but a dozen homemaide perogies for $10 was a steal.

Fails...
Jiffy Lube oil change - still need to use this one, the deal is over but my paid value is still valid. SO I didn't lose money by not using it.

Bead making class - What was I thinking? I bought 2, my mom and I never got around to this.

(2) Bed sheets - Ughhh, sandpaper sheets, queen size did not fit our queen bed.  That should be a standard size, you would think!

(2) Hot air balloon ride - This is only a part fail. I bought deal for what I thought was a hot air balloon rides for two people. No, it was for one person. I now read the fine print a bit closer! I ended up having to buy another one because it was going to be a gift for my parents. By the way who would do this alone!? My parents ended up not being able to use it so Jake and I took the 4 hour drive to Lancaster PA. That's right, Amish country. The balloon ride ended up being cancelled due to weather but we spent the weekend in a nice bead & breakfast, ate at a restaurant featured on MAN VS. FOOD (Plain & Fancy Farm), and hung with the Amish. So it was really a win.

In the end I called Groupon to complain about USA Hot Air Balloons and they ends up refunding me the entire cost, hence the laser hair removal Groupons.

Bowling at Forward Lanes - Would have been a win but I never used it.

MumPower Massage - Good Lord! Learned my lesson here, ALWAYS research the salon or 'spa' before purchasing the Groupon. I was greated at the 'spa' door by an old woman and her labradoodle then lead to the dining room for my massage. I was practically on the dining room table. An ok massage but let's be serious - I am not into getting massages anywhere other than a legit spa.

$50 to the Gap - The Gap stinks.  I could barely find anything I wanted to buy, regardless of cost.

Like I said before, it's totally worth signing up for the daily emails.  I may have had a few dud Groupons, but you will get that with anything. I learned along the way and have had a ton of fun with most of them. I won't be stopping anytime soon, I'm actually going to buy my Gram flowers right now with a Groupon!