Elf workshop in full effect

My family starts arriving in town tomorrow so I decided it was about time to tackle all of this:

Thirty minutes later this was the scene in my living room:

And thennnnn .... I decided to call it quits after my mom called and said she'd help tomorrow. And Ike that, the elf workshop closed shop for the evening. Don't just love Moms? Happy one week to Christmas!!!

P.S. I finally decided to check my mail and put up my Christmas Cards. Like my DIY Christmas card holder? If your answer is yes, here's my tutorial. It's easy, I promise. Good night, I'm off to watch Ashley and JP's wedding on ABC. Cue the tears I'm sure.

A Very Vegas Christmas

Hi! I miss y'all. We're down to the single digits until my family comes to Vegas. In preparation for their arrival, I've added a little Christmas cheer to my humble abode. Like I mentioned in my last post, (which was oh, I dunno ... about 10 years ago), I was looking forward to getting my Christmas tree. It still excites me to come home everyday after work, plug it in and just stare at from my couch. My life truly is that exciting.
Let it be known I got this tree at Home Depot, drove home without it rolling off the hood of my car, got it off the top of my car, put it in a tree stand and drug it into my apartment ALL BY MY LONELY. Let me tell you, it was not easy and I don't recommend doing it yourself, but it can be done. Single girl probs.

OK, so the kind gent at Home Depot helped me tie it to the top of my car, but once I drove out of the parking lot I was all on my own.

Before/After

Angel tree topper

The view of the tree from my couch

I get an ornament every year from my Mamma bear and this is 2012 from Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah, GA

So my tree stood nicely in one corner of my living room until last week when I got the bright idea to buy a new chair for my living room so I had to find a new spot for my tree. I moved it twice before it ended up in this spot:

Dragging a tree across your living room is surprisingly easier than I thought.

I don't have a fireplace, so I got this stocking hanger from Kirkland's on sale. Pretty nifty, huh? Did I just really use the word nifty?

Since I moved my tree, this has found a new home as well.

Christmas tablescape

And last but not least, we have Santa at the top of my stairs:

Ho, Ho, Ho

That about sums up the Christmas cheer in my abode. Now, my Christmas shopping? I literally have not bought one present yet. Hopefully I can get most of my shopping done this weekend. Wish me luck because I need it. I do this to myself every year. I'll never learn.

My Weekend via Instagram (Baked Veggie Egg White Recipe included)

I honestly don't ever use my real camera anymore. The only photos I take are on my iPhone and then 99% of the time, they get Instagramed. BTW - I have over 1,000 Instagram followers. How did this happen?  I have no Earthly idea, but it excites me.

Friday night I saw the magical Magic Mike movie.  It was everything I dreamed about and more.  Our theater was so crazy. We were slow clapping, cheering and screaming. I loved it and felt like I was back at Thunder From Down Under.  If you haven't seen it yet, grab your besties and go immed.

The theater now sells booze and I'm not complaining. 

My BFF Liz and my gubby came with!  And my bros gf but she missed the photo sesh before the movie started.

Saturday morning my college gf Amber hosted a Stella and Dot party for me.  She has the cutest studio apartment I've ever seen. I wish I could take y'all for a tour.

Saturday evening I went to HomeGoods (exciting life) and got a new centerpiece for my dining room table. It was a Cynthia Rowley vase I found on clearance for only $10. The arrangement I put in it was also on clearance for only $10.  All in all, I thought my $20 centerpiece looked pretty good.

Then Sunday morning, Bear did this:

Y'all. I was so mad I could have killed him. I took him by the collar and put him outside for punishment.  He knew he was in trouble!  I swear I am living the real life Marley and Me with this dog.  He is so wild.

After my anger subsided, I took him to the pool with me and let him swim while I drank my coffee and caught up on my mags.

Saturday before I went shopping, I stopped at Which Wich for dinner.  To my surprise, they now have bowls aka salads and I got the Mediterranean Turkey Bowl.  It was so good. Yes, the lady went overkill on my pepper.  I love pepper though so I didn't mind.  And can we talk about banana peppers?  They may be my new favorite thing.

I loved it so much, I made my own version of a Greek salad for lunch Sunday. Spring lettuce, cucumbers (how cute are my flower cucumbers?), grape tomatoes, turkey, Kalamata olives (I die), a little bit of crumbled Feta and Parmesan garlic dressing.

I also made this deelish egg white bake on Sunday for breakfast.  I loved it so much that I'm sharing the recipe. I paired it with a toasted piece of 45 cal Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread and 1/2 C of watermelon. Now that's what I call brunch.

I adapted a recipe I found on SkinnyTaste and here is how I made it.  It's super easy.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Chop about 1/8 C of green and white onion. Spray a small skillet with non-fat cooking spray and heat the onions over med-low heat for a few minutes.

3. Add 1/2 C of baby spinach (large stems removed) to skillet and cook until the spinach wilts. 

4. Spray a small glass baking dish or a skillet with non-fat cooking spray (my preference is the olive oil version) and put the spinach/onion mixture on the bottom.  Next crack 3 eggs whites on top of the spinach and onion.  Add a few tomatoes to the top and salt and pepper.  


5. Bake for 17 minutes and you are done!  A  clean, all-natural and delicious breakfast. Vegetarian friendly, too!

P.S. I'm linking up with S, D and L!

Random snaps

I have some snaps from life so far in February that I thought I'd share today.  

First up we have the many faces of my nephew Reese during Taco Thursday last week. You can get a glimpse into his little personality here.

The fixins:

Can you believe how big our new pup Bear is already?  Reese and Bear chillin with Aunt Lindsey in the Starbucks line.

My mom was in town this weekend and we had some mexican food and skinny girl margs Friday night:

Sunday I had 3 cups of this maple pecan coffee and felt like I was on crack.

Blueberry muffins and turkey bacon. Yum in my tum. 

I thought I'd also show you how my room is coming along.  Well, my bed and vanity area anyway.

This isn't the best picture, but here is where I get pretty. That is an earring holder sans my earrings on the wall. 

Last but not least, here I am looking real rough on Super Bowl Sunday. Forehead wrinkles in the house.   

To: Lindsey ... Love, Santa

This is not a "omg come fawn over what I got for Christmas because I am so awesome and privileged post" (valley girl voice).  Trust. I am not that girl and y'all should know this by now.  I use $5 shampoo and drink gas station wine like it's going out of style. I want to know what YOU got for Christmas, so I figured your pretty little faces might want to see what old St. Nick left for me under the tree.

All right, now that we got that settled, shall we take a look at my goods?

First up is the now infamous cat hat, which was quite a hit in yesterday's post.  If you'd like to embrace your inner feline, you can get your own at your local Target.  Target has it all, but we already knew this.

And to those of you saying I look like a Victoria's Secret model in the first pic: bless you.  You are blind ... i mean kind.

You might be a wine-o if ...

You get three bottles of wine, wine stoppers, a high heeled wine holder, a wine opener, magnetic wine charms, wine tissues, wine napkins and four more of your favorite wine glasses from your family for Christmas. *hangs head in shame*

I don't think I can continue on with this post any longer without showing you my new beloved.  The Michael Kors Gansevoort Large Tote in Teak. It was love at first sight and I've been coddling her like a baby ever since.

My mom and I found this Jewelry Armoire from the Cottage Collection at Target for half off, which matches my new room perfectly . Obvs i had to have.  While we're on the subject, I hope to do a tour of my room soon.  It's almost complete!

Looks like so when opened:

My grandma got me a few new gadgets for the kitchen.  A legit Paula Deen colander because my previous ones from my college days were tiny, plastic and deformed.  Look ma, I'm all grown-up with a big girl colander.

A mashed potato masher because I didn't own one and "every body knows" (Phaedra Parks) a good Southern girl needs to know about to properly mash a tater:

And because I'm obsessed with Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton and they got married on Don Strange Ranch like I want to some day, my Grandma got me this book filled with Don Strange's famous recipes as well as  personal anecdotes by the blog's author and his wife of 48 years.  

I've only had a chance to skim, but I already love it and want to try out so many of his recipes like yesterday.

Speaking of Miranda and Blake,  I also got her latest CD, Four the Record.  I cannot stop listening.  Every girl needs this CD because her songwriting is just beyond.  "The Same Old You" goes out to Lucifer, the ex.

I'm now the owner of this 10-piece baking set perfect for cooking and storing in the same dish. Loves.

Now for the beauty items.  Another new prized possession: a CHI BLOW DRYER!!  This Chi dryer dries my hair so much faster and makes it so much smoother than my old Revlon blow dryer. You don't even know.

When you have ridiculously thick and Amish length hair like me, you need this in your life.

I also got a baby curling iron to match my regular one:

My cousin got me this Fekkai Glossing Starter Kit, which I used for the first time yesterday.  I can't remember the last time my hair felt this soft, so needless to say, I'm now a believer in hair glossing.

I got a much needed refill on my face lotion, the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturing Gel.  The best for oily skin IMHO.  I don't know how I ever went without this every day.

I didn't take pictures of all of my stuff, but I also got a new set of chocolate brown sheets for my bed, all the clothes I asked for on my wish list, jewelry, VS lip gloss and pj bottoms, Starbucks gift cards, e.l.f. make-up, Clinique make-up, scarves and gloves, etc.

I am blessed beyond belief and my family did way too much.  Santa must have put me on top of his nice list this year, but really ... do you blame the guy?  KIDDING.