Christmas Recap

Wow, it feels like Christmas was so long ago. But between Christmas, New Year's and then getting strep, I haven't written that much. I had a lot of posts planned out ahead and that saved me. But now, I am getting back to recapping our Christmas. I am recapping the girls birthday and NYE on Wednesday.

Let's back up to Christmas Eve. We had to work that day, so my dad watched the girls. We got off at 3 pm and headed over to my parents house where I painted the girls nails and we waited to go to our family friend's annual Christmas Eve party.

I took one photo that night. I was just too into the moment.

After the party, we headed home and set out the cookies we made for Santa plus some milk and bourbon and then some carrots for his reindeer. This photo was taken after Rory had some of the bites while I was getting things ready.

After we were sure the girls were asleep, we started setting out the gifts and filling the stockings.

And then we watched some Christmas movies and went to bed.

The girls woke up with their clock and eagerly awaited their presents. The girls tore through their gifts in record time. We tried to slow them down, but they were just so excited.

After gifts, the girls played and we made breakfast. We usually do cinnamon rolls, but changed it up this year. We had English muffins with scrambled eggs and bacon. We made sandwiches out of them and had some coffee and mimosas.

After getting ready, we headed over to my in-laws house, so we could spend the day with Walter. We took photos, had snacks, and the girls opened even more gifts.

After a short nap, we had dinner. We had king crab, rolls, broccolini, a sweet potato casserole and a salad. It was all very delicious. Then we had a Buche de Noel for dessert.

After dessert, we headed home as we had to work the next day. Boo.

Thursday, we worked and then headed to Rory's uncles house in the mountains for another Christmas dinner. This has been tradition for years. This time we dined on beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, salad and another veggie dish. For dessert, we brought over the chantilly vanilla cake from Whole Foods which was a hit.

These two pictures were taken a few years apart, but it is very cool to see how the children have grown and new ones added.

We took Friday off, so we got home pretty late Thursday night. But since we are still in the middle of renovations, we headed over to my in-laws house around 9 am to hang out for the day.

My in-laws took the girls to the Discovery Museum and we went to lunch. Then we hung out on the couch and watched football the rest of the day. We had some homemade chili for dinner and it was the perfect ending to the Christmas week!

 My FIL made us Picon's.

Sutton took this photo of my MIL, Walter and I.

How was your Christmas? Did you celebrate all week?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S! I can't believe we are in a new decade. Cheers to 2020 being amazing!!!

Hall Bathroom Renovation Update

We have had a lot of progress since my first hall bathroom renovation post. It is actually done except for the glass enclosure for the shower/bath. That had to be templated and hand cut, so it won't be in for another week. In the meantime, we have a temporary shower curtain. I am saving the reveal and last weeks progress for another post when we have the glass enclosure in.

Last week, our contractors started the master bathroom demo and the shower prep. Yep, they worked Christmas week which meant the days that we took off, were spent at my in-laws house (other than Christmas).

Anyways, let's take a look at the hall bathroom progress.

 That carpet is going away very soon!

 Shower Prep

 My custom cabinets are hidden under there.

 They started tiling! We had a bit of a mishap with the floor tile. The tile guys put Rory's shower bath tile on my floor. The names on the boxes were STMI Grey and STMA Grey. Since they were so close, they didn't realized they grabbed the wrong ones. They were able to fix it and not get too far behind.

 Tiling and grout are done. Now to finish plumbing, the mirror, lights, painting, counter top install, sink install and accessories.

The cabinets, but they haven't been leveled out nor has the hardware been put on.

I had a hard time choosing the light sconces for my bathroom. What I really were sconces that ran $400 to $500 each and I needed two. It didn't seem practical for a house that isn't a mansion. So I chose some that were about $140 each including taxes.

Progress Zura 2 Light Sconce

Have you ever renovated any parts of your home?

Friday Favorites

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I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! I know we did. We are still recovering from all the food, fun and libations.

Onto Friday Favorite and Happenings.

ONE. So this isn't a favorite, but more of an update. About a year ago, I tried the Billie razor. Everyone was raving about it and I wanted to try it out. I hate going to the store to buy new razors, so this seemed like a great deal. Especially since my husband has been using the Dollar Shave Club for years.

Well, after almost a year of use (since February), I have went back to my beloved Gillette razors. I feel like with the Billie razor, I had to try to keep track of how often I used my razor. They said on average, you should change it out every 9 shaves. Well I signed up for the package that ships every 2 months. Basically, I shave once to twice a week. Well at 9 shaves, I rarely remembered to change it out monthly. Or I would change it after 4 uses because I forgot.

I think what pushed me over and back to Gillette was I got razor burn with two different razor heads in a row. And I am talking horrible razor burn on my legs. It hurt to put lotion on them. So I went back to my old one and I will do a subscription on amazon.

I use this one.

TWO. I was looking for a Christmas/Birthday gift for Walter and I came across two things that we needed for him. And so far we love both of them, so I wanted to share them with you. We also got Walter some treats and other fun stuff for his stocking.

Since it has been getting dark earlier, we needed a light on Walter, so we could see him and others could see him at night. I searched on Amazon and other places, but ended up buying this little guy. You can use it on your keys, hook it on your pet's collar or on yourself. Plus it emits a pretty good amount of light. You can push it once for a solid light or twice for a flashing light.

SpotLit LED Pet Light

THREE. Second, we bought Walter a new leash. We have had about 3 leashes over the last 7 1/2 years, but we have always went back to our original one. It is a simple 6 ft leash. But we do use other ones depending on what we are doing. 

A co-worker mentioned that they walk their dog with a bungee leash. That way it give the dog a bit of freedom without the retractable leash which sometimes gets stuck.

So we chose the Kong Bungee Leash in 6 ft.

Kong Bungee 6 ft. Leash

FOUR. Last week the girls had their Christmas dance recital. The dance academy did part Nutcracker and part Christmas theme. The girls were little mice for their song and they nailed it. I have the cutest little video of their part on my IG feed (under dance) plus some photos from the evening. They did two shows and rocked it!!!

FIVE. Funnies for the week.

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Meet @ the Barre and Becky.

Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!

Show Me Your Books

*This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

Well this month has been a bit crazy and I didn't read as many books as I would have liked. I made it through two books and one of the books I had borrowed lapsed before I could even get to it. That is going back on the TBR list. I am currently reading The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda.

Also, can you believe that Christmas is two days away? I can't. And I am working most of the week since they are still at my house renovating. But at least tomorrow is a half day and I am taking Friday off (and we get Wednesday off).

Onto, the books....

November 9 - Colleen Hoover

November 9

This book has always intrigued me, but I never borrowed it. I always went with a different Colleen Hoover book. But this book has 5 stars with over 2,000 reviews, so I know it had to be good. And guess what? It was.

This book is the about the tale of two lives and how November 9th is a day that is so meaningful to them. In good ways and bad ways. I don't want to spoil it, so I won't go into it very much. But I saw bits of pieces coming, but definitely not the big twist. This is an insanely good book that is also just so heartbreaking. Bottom line: read it.

Here is the synopsis:

Fallon meets Ben, an aspiring novelist, the day before her scheduled cross-country move. Their untimely attraction leads them to spend Fallon’s last day in L.A. together, and her eventful life becomes the creative inspiration Ben has always sought for his novel. Over time and amidst the various relationships and tribulations of their own separate lives, they continue to meet on the same date every year. Until one day Fallon becomes unsure if Ben has been telling her the truth or fabricating a perfect reality for the sake of the ultimate plot twist.

Can Ben’s relationship with Fallon—and simultaneously his novel—be considered a love story if it ends in heartbreak?

The Last Time I Lied - Riley Sager

The Last Time I Lied

After reading Final Girls, I wanted to read another Sager book. This reminded me of the show American Horror Story (this last season's) when I read the synopsis, but I only watched two episodes. I read this entire book. 

The book goes back and forth between present day and 15 years ago (similar to the layout of Final Girls). 15 years ago, Emma goes to camp and befriends her new older bunk mates. On the 4th of July, her bunk mates go missing and camp closes. 15 years later, the camp opens up again and Emma goes back to find out answers to why her bunk mates went missing and were never found.

While I was reading the book, I often wondered what happened to the girls. I had my theories and then the end of the book was nearing and I started to feel disappointed. Like the story wasn't being wrapped up like I hoped. And then I realized that there was one more chapter and the author nailed it. 

Here is the synopsis:

Two Truths and a Lie. The girls played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and first-time camper Emma Davis, the youngest of the group. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out of the cabin into the darkness. The last she--or anyone--saw of them was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips.

Now a rising star in the New York art scene, Emma turns her past into paintings--massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches that cover ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of Francesca Harris-White, the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to return to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor. Seeing an opportunity to find out what really happened to her friends all those years ago, Emma agrees.

Familiar faces, unchanged cabins, and the same dark lake haunt Nightingale, even though the camp is opening its doors for the first time since the disappearances. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, but soon discovers a security camera--the only one on the property--pointed directly at its door. Then cryptic clues that Vivian left behind about the camp's twisted origins begin surfacing. As she digs deeper, Emma finds herself sorting through lies from the past while facing mysterious threats in the present. And the closer she gets to the truth about Camp Nightingale and what really happened to those girls, the more she realizes that closure could come at a deadly price.

Christmas Questions

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About two weeks ago, Rebecca posted some fun Christmas questions. With Christmas being a week away, I thought I would join in on the fun and post my answers. Feel free to join in and answer them too!

1. Candy canes. Yes or no? Yes. I like a candy cane here and there. I really like the rainbow ones.

2. Christmas morning early riser or sleep in? Well I used to be an early riser, but now I prefer to sleep in. As a kid, we couldn't wait to get up and open up all of our gifts. Now I like to take the morning in and enjoy it. I like to sleep in, start a fire and enjoy myself. My girls on the other hand, like to get up as early as they can. Thankfully, we have an Ok to Wake Clock that tells them when they can get up.

3. Do you shop on Black Friday? Yes or no? I do not unless it is shopping online on Black Friday. I have done it in the past, but it is not an every year type of thing. Last year and the year before, we were in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving and Rory and I did go Black Friday shopping there. We had some killer deals and it was worth it, but we did not get up early at all. We went around the girls nap time.

4. Christmas trees up in November? Yes or no? Yes. We go cut down our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and then we put it up that Saturday or Sunday.

Our tree this year. We went a little smaller with our renovations going on and the possibility of having to move it before Christmas is over.

5. Do you get holiday ideas from Pinterest? Yes or no? I get some gift guides from there and recipes, so yes I do.

6. Christmas glam or ugly sweater? Ugly sweater all the way. I love getting ugly Christmas sweaters. Last year I bought the best ugly sweater from Christmas Vacation. 

Here is a picture of me wearing it, but it is hard to see the sweater.

Here is the sweater online. Sooo worth it.

Christmas Vacation Ugly Sweater

7. Stocking stuffers: wrapped or unwrapped? Growing up, they were always unwrapped. Then I started dating Rory and he wrapped his. Now I do a mix of wrapped and unwrapped.

8. Tradtional or modern Christmas songs? I like them both. I love the classics more, but I do like some of the more modern songs. I just love Christmas music.

9. Fruitcake? Yes or no? That is a huge NO for me.

10. Is your Christmas shopping finished? Yes or no? Ha. I wish. I have everyone done except some items for the girls and some stocking stuffers for the girls. I do like to get my shopping done early just in case I am missing something or don't have an even amount for the girls.

11. Is there snow in December where you live? This changes every year. Some years we have snow in October and some years, we don't get much or any until January. This year, we have a lot of it. Snow starting falling in November and it has been a pretty wet month since then.

12. Classic show: A Charlie Brown Christmas or Rudolph? I think they are both very cute and watch them both each year.