Christmas Wonderland at the Jungle

I've been meaning to get a Christmas Decoration post up for some time now, and with Wild as a Mink's comment on my last post of " I bet your place is all decked out", I felt now was only the appropriate time to do so!!!

Our main tree this year is a little 3 footer graciously donated by the Wanhainen clan, which we've got up on a wrapped 'present' on the end table and decorated with a variety of ornaments. A few of them are these adorable little candy canes that say "IU" all over them, given to us by our friend Lauryn (Unfortunately I don't have a picture of them specifically!). I'm not sure where her mom found them, but I'm pretty sure I'll be needing to get some more next year!

I also went and bought a few little ornaments from Target, such as the penguin (Of course- I'm really obsessed!!!) and the little mitten pictured below. The leopard print martini glass is from the Lolita collection- they make the full sized painted martini glasses that I collect (Really cute idea for presents! Check them out at any Hallmark store!). The little clay A with the candy cane is one Kel (Sew Me Some Love) made and also has a matching red K somewhere on the tree.

Our table center piece consists of my itty bitty hot pink tree complete with miniature ornaments, both bought at Urban Outfitters two years ago for a pretty decent price, though I can't remember exactly how much. Kelly bought some "Christmas Light" Ornaments from Target that we have thrown into our candles to complete the look. (As if you haven't already figured it out, MOST of our decor is from Target, and we really could be the Target poster children for holiday decorating)

I personally am a sucker for Garland, so we've got the kind with silver tinsel hung over every door and window in the house for the most part, complete with red bows in the kitchen/living room and blue bows in my room. The kitchen window has the multi colored snowflakes above it, and I've got the pink sparkly snowflakes scattered throughout my room in various places. My favorite garland spot, however, might be the half wall between the dining room and living room, shown above. It's definitely perfect with the little IU Snowman Kelly's mom gave us that a friend of theirs made!

The THIRD tree in our house can be found in my room. This little approximately 2' Hallmark tree has been a growing collection of miniature ornaments ever since I was born. The highlights include my little snowflake fairies and the whole cast of the Wizard of Oz (And yes, I've got the whole cast and then some on the big tree at my parents' house too). It also has a few different little Santa/Mrs. Claus couples and some rocking horses. I think both grandmas have contributed to this collection somewhere along the way! One of the legs holding the tree up unfortunately broke a few years ago, but I'm not ready to give it up just yet so I pulled a real classy move and duct taped it together under the tree skirt. Oh well, out of sight, so no one can tell!While I love every part of our decorations, one of my very favorites is our little snow village on the bookshelf in our living room. I also have a few houses in my room, and Kelly has a little toy factory in hers. I stole this from my mom, because she's got a great collection of the, but never wants to put them up at home because she doesn't like having to put them away! (I did manage to sneak a few of them up at her house, though.) We've got the fake snow under them, as well as the sprinkly kind on top of THAT!

Yes, those are fake presents wrapped next to the bookshelf. And yes, we know, we (mostly me) are out of control, but there are few things in this world I love more than decorating for holidays. Not to mention that this was only a highlight, there are still lights up elsewhere, a homemade wreath on the front door, the wreaths on our doors seen in the previous post, wrapping paper wrapped doors, and more!!!

Hopefully you've enjoyed that mini tour through the Jungle, aka the North Pole. I hope you all have a great holiday season and enjoy any time off work or school and time spent with family and friends!! Additionally, please feel free to comment with any stories of excessive holiday decorations to feel like we're not the only crazy ones ;-)

WalMart Holiday Finds!

I know I tend to throw Wal Mart to the side of my mind with preference for Target, but over Thanksgiving break I went in to get outdoor Christmas lights for my parents house and stumbled across a few things. Their Christmas section was a bit picked over but they still had a lot of cute stuff, and as always, for really low prices!!

This glittery "Let It Snow" ornament was only a dollar, and I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to put it when I bought it (It's definitely too big for our bitty 3' tree at the apartment). It ended up fitting perfectly into the center of the wreath on my bedroom door. I actually made this wreath last year out of stuff I found in the dollar or holiday sections at Target, and I think the whole thing together only cost about 7 dollars!

I also bought this five dollar towel set (We usually have decorative towels hanging on our oven door handle) that came with a hand towel and a wash cloth sized towel. They had other sets that came with a dish scrubber for the same price, but I personally loved the penguin and couldn't really tear myself away from him!

FINALLY!

After a month of finals and the ICORE case, and three months without a laptop, the semester is finally over, AND I HAVE A LAPTOP AGAIN!

Saying I have my laptop 'back' is really not true at all- because it's basically an entirely new computer for the price of repair, because mine was apparently 'fried'. Either way... THANK GOD! This one is even a little smaller and lighter, so I'm REALLY happy about that.

But it goes without saying now I can finally really be back to posting regularly, and I'll try to get a post of some substance sometime tonight. My brother's at Santa Switch (he's so cute all dressed up!) and the parents are going out to a Christmas party, so it looks like it will just be me and Penske hanging out here tonight having a much needed recuperation from this whirlwind of a semester, and probably a much needed cocktail!

The Penske Chronicles

My dog, Penske, is an 11 year old boxer who still thinks she's a lapdog and a total puppy. This dog has all the personality in the world and is truly one of the best dogs I've ever seen in my life. She is most known for sleeping all day every day, but of course her sleeping locale depends on what's going on around the house. Her new favorite game is trying to trick her way into getting more treats by wanting to go outside, waiting on the deck for a minute, and then coming back in and expecting to get one. We think she's finally catching on that we're not going to fall for it, but she keeps trying none the less. Here are a few pictures I managed to catch of her holiday adventures this week.

This is Penske cuddled up in my bed. She usually gets up at the crack of dawn with my mother, but after going out, eating her breakfast, and scoping out what's going on around the house, she can usually be found in bed with me until close to noon for her morning nap.

Here we have Penske in her typical favorite spot, RIGHT in the middle of all the action. To be more specific, sleeping on top of the strand of lights we were attempting to put onto the christmas tree. She hardly flinched as we tried to pull them from in front of her and then just plopped her head down on top of them without a care in the world.

Penske can also be quite a dainty little lady, and here she is with her paws crossed laying under the table post-Thanksgiving dinner patiently waiting for a scrap of the food that she is apparently unaware is no longer even on the table.

I guess she realized the "patiently waiting" part wasn't working out so well, because here she is taking a proactive stance (and possibly working on her imitation of a mountain goat) trying to sneak some pie from my dad.

The BUCKET GAME!

We'll start this with my acceptance of the fact that IU lost this year. Again. Honestly, whatever. I enjoy the bragging rights that carry over for the year following the game, but I truly just have never been good at following sports or really caring about them, so I'm really not that concerned. Plus as I have stated multiple times, IU is still better at partying, hence the fact that most of us don't really even remember losing (but mostly Lauryn). I will warn you this one's going to be a little long, but probably worth your reading none the less if you've got the time.

Regardless- the day was entertaining in all sorts of ways. It was great to take a break from studying. We had a bit of a last minute issue with not having appropriate tailgating supplies, but scrounged up enough of a variety to get us where we wanted to go. I think you all know what I'm talking about here.

I obviously had to rock my "Puck Furdue" shirt- which led Kelly and I to the realization that we probably will be needing to make some flat out "FUCK PURDUE" shirts in the near future. My goal for next year's tailgating season (that's all I'm really concerned with) is to get an oversized IU football jersey on sale now that the season's winding down so I can just throw on leggings and UGGs and be good to go. Well, UGGs or Cowboy boots, since we somehow just now figured out that they're both perfect for the sneaking of flasks into games.

We also happened to tailgate with THREE of our teachers from high school. And let me tell you- when you're drinking, this always seems to be the most entertaining thought. On our way into the game we happened to stumble on this befittingly decorated tree. What better ornaments for a tree at an IU tailgate? I think Lindsay even added one of our empty IU Bud Light cans to it.

When we got in, we found out that since the student section was "full" thanks to so many Purdue kids, they were redirecting those with student tickets to the COMPLETE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE STADIUM in a section next to the Purdue band. I'm sorry. I was not having any of this. We bought those tickets months ahead of time and last time I checked WE are the ones whose tuition goes to that school! At that point I was a little rowdy and was ready to throw down with an usher or physically remove the first five people I could locate wearing black and gold so we could have their seats. Thankfully the ushers were telling everyone to only go in "if you already have seats" to which I responded "OF COURSE WE DO" and pushed our way right past. Granted, the seats we got weren't anything wonderful, but at least they were not next to the Purdue band.


Now, note the blue sunglasses on the head in front of the camera. At some point Lauryn thought it would be funny to try to take them off her head, and after a few failed attempts the girl's friend finally caught on and the girl held them in her hands for the rest of the game. I admit it, we're really awful people that sometimes shouldn't be allowed out of the house.

THEN Lauryn and I decided we would try to go get some food. This was a great idea since on top of our pregame and tailgate we had managed to sneak a few beers in through a hole in the liner of her purse on top of the flask in Kelly's UGGs, and at that point Lauryn was basically not aware of anything going on. We ATTEMPTED to order a hot dog, a chicken sandwich, nachos, a slice of pizza, and a drink. Good thing they were out of practically everything, because we ended up with just a hot dog, nachos, a bottle of water and a diet coke between the two of us.


On our way back to the seats, we seemingly went in the wrong entrance, and found ourselves having NO clue where we even were. Trust me, this is not a drunk thing, but really just the fact that I had been paying no attention to where we were actually sitting in the first place. After several texts to Kelly sounding something like "We're Lost! Come find us!" we were able to find our way back to the seats.

After this, we went back to the apartment and I slept for probably around 15 hours, only to get up to study yet again. All in all, I'd say it was a good day. And definitely representative of how we do it here at IU. Wildly, and obnoxiously, but definitely chock full of fun. And what can I say, I'm not the least bit embarrassed, because with the semester I had and only being able to tailgate and go to TWO of the home games, what else would you expect?

New Hair! New Jacket!

I was luckily able to get a last minute "'trim" in with my stylist Lacey yesterday, and ended up going for a trim on the ends, more layering on the left, and finally doing something about those bangs. I had been trying to grow them out but that mostly consisted of constantly clipping them to the side, and it occurred to me that I didn't really know what I was planning on doing with them once they got grown out anyways. So, we're back to last year's winter bangs!

I also decided that I was sick and tired of laying around in sweatpants and sweatshirts for the last two weeks of studying, and decided to get myself in an actual outfit to cocktail at my best friend Steven's apartment. The outfit worked nicely with the new purple bomber jacket I FINALLY got around to buying from Target.

(I know it probably doesn't appear purple in these pictures, it's a really dark, subtle purple, which is nice, since I was originally aiming for black.)

Bomber Jacket- Target
Dress- Target
Zippered Leggings- Target
Black ankle booties- Payless
(One hell of a cheap outfit!!!)

It had originally bothered me when I couldn't find a single pair of solid colored leggings without a zipper on them, but I'm starting to become kind of fond of them. They went nicely with these shoes- which I bought months ago and have not had the occasion to wear until now!!

I'm still just counting down the days until I have either a webcam or a real camera back to get some better pictures! This has not been a good tech-related semester!

Forever 21 Sales!

Meant to post this a while ago and have of course been without a computer and caught up in the frenzy of studying and stressing for finals. This is a picture of one of the dresses I got on MEGA CLEARANCE at Forever 21. And by that I mean... around $5. Which, even for Forever 21, is quite the steal. I also got one in the same pattern but purple, because as far as I'm concerned you cannot have too many summer dresses, especially when they're only five dollars.

This one I wore with brown leggings, my trusty Durango Cowboy Boots, and I also wore my brown Old Navy CardiCoat over it. I didn't get a picture with the sweater, but here's one of the dress. It's super fun and flowy and I think will pair well with a million things I've got in my closet, so I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm ALSO pretty excited about the fact that I got to my parents house today to see that my two pairs of Steve Maddens that my mom ordered me for Christmas have arrived! Of course I had to try them on to be sure they fit. The gold Merriees fit LIKE A GLOVE. The Fiesstaas are a little bit more loose as far as what I'm used to in high heels, in that they don't seem to offer as much support. I still love them, and can't wait to get used to them.

I was a little disappointed that they weren't as pink as the looked in the picture. In this picture they look almost purple, but they are definitely a fuschia. In all fairness, that's what the color was listed as on the website... but the pictures all made them look HOT pink.

Regardless, I do still love them, and can't wait until Christmas when I get to unwrap them and WEAR THEM!!!! It's going to be a high heeled Christmas in Alex's Wonderland, that's for sure!

HARD CANDY!

Had to share this with you- because it is my absolute favorite nail polish ever! It's called Hard Candy, and I actually got it in a set of lipgloss/lipstick/nail polish from my friend Jenna for Christmas a year or two ago. AND I LOVE IT!!!!

The shade I have is a really good red color, and kind of deep once you put on a few layers. It's also got the embedded shimmer so it's not too out of control but subtly sparkles!

I really like it because I'm not a fan of the nail polishes that go on too thick or gloppy and are hard to get even, smooth coats with. This one is perfect. I'm not completely sure where all you can get it, but I did just read that it is now available at Wal Mart... which is AWESOME, as it is listed online at only $5! So if you're frustrated with any nail polishes you've been using- definitely check this brand out!

TGIT!

(Thank god it's Thanksgiving! Or, Thanksgiving break, rather.)

Finals have FINALLY finished. Thank goodness. I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out of them alive or not. I did, which I guess I will have to be Thankful for on Thursday, but I don't think my GPA will be so lucky. Either way, ICORE is almost all said and done, with the exception of the 10 day case coming up between Thanksgiving and Christmas Breaks. I am hoping my group can some how rise to the occasion and pull of an A so I maybe have SOME hope of an A in at least one of my classes and not have to settle for all B's! Though, when all is said and done, I guess I would be ok with that.

I am also hoping I'll be back to a more regular blogging pace here in the near future. I am crossing my fingers that I'll have my laptop back by the end of this week, but we will see!! Regardless, being home in good old Newburgh, Indiana at my parent's house for the week, there will at least be quite a few updates coming to you in the next few days!

My main priority is going to be to get a Bucket Game blog out there, because Saturday was full of all sorts of interesting little tidbits and pictures I HAVE to share. So hopefully that will be to you later tonight or tomorrow!!

A few picture updates!

Just wanted to share some of the pictures I've uploaded from my phone from Chicago. I'm sure there will still be another once I get home this weekend and get my camera uploaded. Also- I've updated a few posts over at Wonderland Kitchen so if you aren't following that yet you should check it out. Again I'll apologize for the so far vagueness of ingredient amounts- I promise I'll start keeping better track!!!

My dad's AMAZING lamb osso bucco, winter root vegetable mash, and sauteed spinach!

Soldier Field and Lake Michigan from the roof of my Dad's apartment building.

On the roof of my Dad's apartment building- awesome views!

My sauteed garlic shrimp downtown at Joe's Stone Crab- SO delicious!!!

Chicago sunset from my Dad's balcony.