Christmas 2010 - Hooray!

Yay!! Christmas photos! We ended up having a wonderful WONDERFUL Christmas, and here are the pictures to show it. Enjoy! :)


My big sister, Amber. I'm so glad she could fly in from New York, although her and her boyfriend got stuck here a little while longer than expected since NYC got 29" of snow over the weekend! WOWZA! We were happy to have them longer, of course.

My little sister Taryn, nom nom noming away on a Christmas cookie.

Taryn made herself a Christmas cocktail - vodka with a peppermint stir stick. I'm not a fan of peppermint, so I took her word for it that it was good!

Amber and her boyfriend Rob decided to cook us all a traditional Italian night-before-Christmas dinner. I guess they do 7 fishes - 4 for uhm... something... and 3 for the Holy Trinity. They accidentally miscounted and we ended up only having 6... well, if you count goldfish crackers as 1. Hey, they tried! :)

Rob is a good cook, from the front AND the back! Haha!



Tuna & olive tapenade, lox, and crabcakes - oh my!

Yeah, that's one yummy meal. Luckily none of us got mercury poisoning!


This is my kitty Dimitri. He lives with my parents for the time being. Isn't he the cutest?


WOOHOO - BOOTY SHORTS!!! I can't wait to wear these to derby practice - I love them!! :)

I love stockings, and all of the goodies that come inside of them!

Mmmmmmmmmmm.......Egg casserole! A family tradition. Of course, originally we only made one type with eggs, cheese, milk and sausage. Now we have a vegetarian (me) and a lactose-intolerant (Taryn). So we make 3!

Rob was very excited to get his little toys!



Awwwwwwww - a "thank you" smooch! Rob got Amber a "Nook" so that she could read books all the time just by downloading them. It's also much lighter to carry around while she's hoofing all over the Big Apple!

Amber & Rob got us all buttons at Comic Con. This one is one of my favorites!



More buttons! For reals, these crack me up! Taryn's says "lump" and Amber's is a tornado with a mustache.

The "Nook" thank-you sequence.




BUBBLES!!!
The wreckage!

My mom trying to remember who a certain box was for.... I guess she forgot to write it down!


Mmm... iPod shuffles are yummy!

Grandma's gifts to the family - she painted them just for us.


OH, and knitted them just for us too. :)


My mom MADE these for me - aren't they awesome?? She printed my derby name off on a bunch of bumper stickers! I was so surprised and impressed. I told her I wouldn't even give her crap that it's a rollerblade, and not a skate. Although I kinda did. ;)

One of my favoritest Amber photos to date.

A new Christmas ornament for my tree at home! Isn't he hilarious? His arms wiggle around too because they're on springs. I could not stop cracking up at it.


A pre-walk nappy nap.

Playing with the new toys!


Taryn - she has no idea how cute she is!!

Look ma! I'm riding an imaginary bicycle with no hands!

Hey everyone! Come and see how good we look!

Hi-YAH!!! I love that both of their bellies popped out in this one. Haha!

These guys are such hams.

I can't stop laughing at this photo!! It's totally one of my favorites. The expression on my mom's face is priceless. We kept telling her to jump, and she kept saying "no". Then we just counted "ONE....TWO....THREE!" and this is what she did. Hilarious!!

Yeah, I'm cool.


I love sun-glare!



She stuck a feather in her hair and called it macaroni!!




We really like to jump in photos!

Check out that view of the Rockies! Holy cow!




Hope you all had as wonderful a Christmas as I did, and that you have a very happy & safe New Year's! :)

The Holidays & New Year's Eve 2010

I had a WONDERFUL Christmas with my family, and I hope you all did too! We had such a wonderful & warm day, went for a walk, ate egg casserole (a family tradition), drank egg nog lattes (My little sister makes the best!), opened gifts, played with our new stuff, ate WAY too much, played games with friends, drank wine - it was really really beautiful!

Next up is New Year's Eve! Looking back, 2010 was a pretty awesome year. I made some new friends, lost some weight, gained some weight, learned some things, discovered new foods & recipes, took some trips, and discovered my love for Roller Derby. All in all, it's been great!

Surprisingly, I didn't hear of any people having any kind of big NYE bash this year. I hate going into the city for this holiday - the crowds, the cost (bars LOVE taking advantage of the people out & about this time of year), and the DUIs. YIKES! I usually stick to parties, but there just don't seem to be any happening!

But you know what? That's A-OK with me. I'm going to get together with some of my closest pals, drink some wine, play some games, and take it easy this time around. Who says the new year has to be kicked off with a huge bash? I'll be spending it with the people I love, and that's what matters the most.

My Christmas morning pictures will be up soon, but until then, have a wonderfully happy & safe New Year! :)

Holiday Oreo Cookie Snowballs

I made this recipe over the weekend, and was shocked at how easy it was! They came out delicious too, and everyone has really enjoyed them. I also made some cinnamon & sugar roasted pecans & almonds this weekend as well - and I gotta say, nothing is funnier than saying "would you like a ball or a nut?"

Hehe! Yes, I'm a child.


Holiday Oreo Cookie Snowballs
- 1 package of oreo cookies
- 1 package of cream cheese
- 1 package of white chocolate almond bark (the recipe called for 8oz, but I used much more than that because I kept messing up the dipping process. You can find this in the baking aisle of the grocery store)
- red & green sprinkles

Pulse cookies in a food processor until they're all crumbles.
Add cream cheese and pulse until it forms a dough.
Refrigerate for 15 mins.
Roll the dough into bite-sized balls, and refrigerate again on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper for another 15 mins (trust me, this step helps!)
Microwave the almond bark in a bowl (start with low heat), and stir until smooth.
I had trouble with the "dipping" process, but after a few different attempts realized that the best way to do this would be to drop each ball into the chocolate, flop it over a few times with a spoon, then scoop it out and set each back onto the wax paper.
Get the sprinkles on top before the chocolate hardens, then pop 'em in the fridge! YUM!

Photo borrowed from this flickr site, since I didn't think to take a photo of mine! :)