Build-a-Hello Kitty

For Christmas, Kennedy wanted a stuffed animal from Build-a-Bear Workshop. Since it's something she would have to pick out, herself, Santa couldn't bring it, so it was a mommy gift.

We went to redeem her gift card this morning.

Whoever thought of this idea was a genius. She got to pick out her own lifeless stuffed animal (sans the stuffing), choose a noise for it to make (like when you push their hand and they make a sound), pick out a little heart to put inside of it, and then the person who works there stuffed it and sewed it up for her.  Then she got to give it a "bath", dress it up, and create a birth certificate for it.

And she took it home in its very own box.

Presenting: The meowing Hello Kitty named Selena.

(I won a lot of brownie points for giving her this present. Take THAT, Santa.)

Christmas vacation

Merry 3 days after Christmas, everyone! I hope your holiday was splendid and full of love, laughter and figgy pudding (if anyone even eats that stuff, anymore).

I spent some quality time with family on Christmas Eve, and then Kennedy opened her Santa gifts on Christmas morning. She was thrilled.

Her dad voiced some concern when she received some makeup she had asked for. But his concerns quickly dissolved and were replaced with rapture when she used that makeup to look like a zombie:

After the joy of opening presents was over, Kennedy went with her dad for the remainder of the day. And the next day. I found myself with nothing to do for 2 days...Vegas, anyone?

So I hopped a plane (it's nice being related to someone in the airline industry so I can have free flight benefits) to visit some friends in good ol' Las Vegas.

We went to the wax museum, where I chilled with some of my peeps.

We went to the Bellagio and saw the beautiful Christmas decorations.

(this little house is made completely out of flowers, pinecones, and evergreens)

And, of course, you can't go to Vegas without seeing the fountain show.

The pinnacle of the mini vacation, however, revolved around food. Because I love to eat. And because it was just awesome. My friend's husband is from France, and he is a sous chef at a French restaurant called Mix, which is located on the 64th floor of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay.

Here is a picture of the inside of the restaurant (you should click on that link above to see more pictures).

Honestly? Wow. It is the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to in my life. It was one of those restaurants where if you walk away from the table to go to the bathroom, they will fold your napkin for you and put it back on the table.

Speaking of bathrooms, I could have spent some quality time in these ones. The view from the pot was amazing.
(Try to ignore my reflection in the window. Yes I'm urinating. You're so welcome.)

You think the view out that window is nice? Check out this one.

Wow, right?

The food was phenomenal beyond description. (I was proud of myself for tasting food even when I couldn't pronounce the name of it. I felt like a genuine adult.) The atmosphere was elegant and just incredible. The service was spectacular. And of course it felt pretty cool to say that I knew the chef. Thanks Alex!

  

I'm glad I got away for a few days to enjoy some good company, good food, good times and some non-freezing temperatures. Merry Christmas to me!

Happy.

I'm happy.

Happy to be healthy.

Happy to have good friends.

Happy because it's snowing. (Weird, I know.)

Happy because my friend got a new puppy and I got to play with him
("One cannot help but smile when they say the word 'puppy'")

Happy because it's almost Christmas!

Happy because Kennedy is happy.

Happy because I can love.

Happy about life.

Happy that I can be happy for no particular reason.

I'm happy. And it feels so good.

("Reunited and it feeeeels so good!")
(Come on, you can't tell me that song didn't immediately pop into your head when you read that last line...)

(No? ...Just me? Oh, fine.)

Remember Halloween?

I think I might have ADD. I get distracted easily. Like "Hey, I'm going to take these pictures on Halloween and totally blog about it."  And then "Oh look! Glitter!" ...and suddenly the Halloween blog post is long forgotten.

This evening, while looking at pictures I took for my friend's wedding, I found these neglected photos I took on Halloween, and quickly remembered that I was going to blog about it. 

I give you a ghost, banana and a witch.  Marie's costume is my favorite. At one point in the night, her ghost face was sliding, and she exclaimed "I can't find my EYE!!"

We had a good chuckle.

Hey, wait a minute... didn't these two have a baby, somewhere?

Oh look! There she is.

Happy (really late) Halloween!

And yeah... I kinda got distracted and forgot about editing my friend's wedding photos. I'll do it tomorrow. If I remember.

Oh look! Shiny stuff!