2nd annual voight christmas party

okay - time to get serious and focus back on christmas.

the second weekend of december was the second annual voight christmas party. this year, it was a little more "homey" since i have had some time to make my mark on the house (last year brandt had just moved in and it was still very "bachelor").

we had many wonderful friends and family stop by over the course of the evening. after several days (okay, so maybe since thanksgiving) of decorating, making and planning - here is how it turned out!

the living room (note the new mantle we added just the weekend before!)

got this idea from a magazine (sad to report, milo has since discovered this and ate one of the presents!)the hot chocolate station in the nook!chocolate peppermint martinis!the spread, atop the christmas runner i made (there are bells hanging if you can't see!)we had to move some things around to create some space - the empty plate was waiting for a warm plate of the miller family traditional "spicy bites" an awesome feta/hummus/cream cheese/veggie spread that brandt ate by the loadred pepper/asparagus crostinis (in shapes of stars compliments of my mom's tools!)

my favorite (and new) creation - cream cheese stuffed black olives - aka christmas penguins!

something other than christmas

i know - that seems crazy and absurd! i love christmas.

but i also love my amazing husband who just sent me flowers while i am here in tampa for work! it was not only a great surprise, but a well needed note of encouragement.

so though i believe we should fully embrace the spirit of christmas beginning immediately after thanksgiving, i also think i need to take a moment from posting about our cute christmas cottage and remember the amazing man who makes help me make that house a home.

it almost makes me feel bad for wearing flip flops today and him having to order pizza for dinner tonight. almost...

aint it a beauty?

below is the official 2009 voight light display installed by mr. voight himself (with the assistance of his own vanna white holding the extension ladder sturdy!)

this year, i am proud to say my husband made it to the VERY top with the lights! perhaps he was more skilled this year as a "husband" instead of a "fiance"? didn't he do such a great job?

i am waiting for the time to come when we have inflatable christmas characters and flashing lights all over...shucks, my own mr. griswold

best sleep-talking story EVER

and may be one of the shortest stories you will ever hear me tell. it goes like this...

2:30 a.m., thursday morning

brandt: I LOVE THE LITTLE MERMAID!!! (said in an almost defensive tone)

p.s. he swears he has never seen this disney classic before...

'tis the season!

the only change from when i took the two photos below is that our tree has almost ALL of our gifts under it now (wrapped of course!) i just love this wine rack more and more each day and season! what else to post, you ask? photos of the outside lights of course....perhaps tomorrow! for now, you can find me sitting on our couch each night, staring at our cute little home :)

almost december

it is almost december and officially time to begin basking in joy of the christmas season! yesterday we picked out our tree (named doug) at sullivans, which has become our tradition over the last three years , and got him all gussied up. the perfect day was topped off with some hot chocolate in a new (belated part of a wedding gift) "V" mug!

it is official...

they are friends!

shaggedy shag

...is actual name of the rug we purchased [finally] for our bedroom. slightly odd, but i'll take it...considering it is fun to say and oh-so-soft.

after positioning and re-positioning the rug, we have finally figured out how to optimize the room layout and the dimensions of the new rug.

milo seems very happy about this new purchase. as you can imagine, we made sure to stick around this time to mediate, in case the bedroom rug said something nasty to the poor innocent dog (as it turns out, shaggedy sag is nothing like that mean oriental living room rug).

you see, adding rugs to the house not only helps keep in heat and make us look like more pulled together homeowners, but it helps the little buddy on many aspects of life. for example, before life with rugs, milo couldn't chew bones -the little boogers would slip right away. he also couldn't take immediate naps in the middle of the room because it was too cold of a surface for his prissy self. needless to say, i'm not sure what this dog will do if our next house has carpet...

i always did love horses....

this past sunday night we were lucky enough to go to the infamous colts v patriots game with some of our friends. needless to say it was a night full of emotions (and good company!) and is something that i'm pretty sure brandt will credit his "lucky" jeans to for the years to come.

our friend megan is a wonderful photographer here in indy and documented the whole night on her blog - check it out to read up a little more on our crazy night and see some awesome photos.

for your immediate gratification, below is the one photo taken with my iPhone...does anyone know what is about to come? oh yes, yet another shameless plug for that new digital SLR for christmas....i mean, it is slightly embarrassing when you compare quality :)

if you are still thinking about "man-poo"...

...you aren't alone!

our weekend trip to evansville was full of some great blog talk. as it turns out, many people really enjoyed the man-poo post from a few months ago.

as it also turns out, many people now think of us/brandt during their daily shower regiment....in a not-so-weird-or-creepy-way. i enjoy the fact that we can challenge you, as loyal readers, to stop and think about your own actions and how they may or may not impact the flow of shampoo (or lack thereof) of your loved ones.

during what was truly the most unique dinner experience i have had in a long while (including discussions of steinmart deals, crazy coffee cocktails and out of control sandwich swapping) i took a few notes from conversations...again, all going back to the man-poo.

unidentified person #1: i mean, when you think body wash you think loofah...and that just doesn't really look good walking into the freshmen dorms....

unidentified person #2: you're right - i mean, they have loofah with bunnies on them, cats, lambs...it can come off a little wrong. i don't blame you

unidentified person #3: yeah, i used to use ivory soap until i heard it solves leg cramps if you put it under your pillow. so now i use bar soap for my leg cramps and liquid soap in the shower