Christmas List

Christmas is one of my absolute favorite holidays! When I was a little girl, I used to make these elaborate and extremely long Christmas lists with a ridiculous amount of toys, games, and even animals on them (In my defense, didn't everyone ask for a pony once or twice?)
Here's an image to help you imagination:
Eloise at Christmastine has forever been one of my favorite holiday movies!

Now that I'm older, I know that Christmas is about so much more than presents. It's all about family, Jesus, and spreading holiday cheer here in my neck of the woods. 

With that being said, we still exchange gifts and every year my grandma, aunts, and uncles discreetly call my mom asking what it is that I'm in to since they don't know what to buy. I usually put together a list for my mom incase she does't know what to tell them. 

Here's what made the cut this year! 

This one is actually already under the tree. I bought it with my mom at Macy's when she had a coupon so that she could save a bit of money and I could have a link taken out. I can't wait to wear it on Christmas day!

Audrey Hepburn movies are my favorite! When I had a Netflix subscription, they were all that I watched. Now I get them from the library, but this DVD includes three of my favorites: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Roman Holiday, and Sabrina.

I love my EOS eggs, and I really want to try this mint flavored one! It's really the perfect stocking stuffer. 

I've been looking for a good pair of all-white shoes to wear for sorority ritual events, and I think these Jacks would be perfect! I think Jacks are one of the best summer shoes around! I have a pair in platinum and I love them! (They're a little dangerous before they're broken in, though)

5. Pink laptop case
There's no link for this one because I don't know where the best place to buy this is. I want a pink hard shell case for my 13" Macbook air, but buying one for $10 from Amazon seems sketchy and buying one for $50 from the Apple store seems so expensive. I'll just wait and see. 

6. Macarons
I'm not asking Santa to bring me macarons, but I included these on the list because I think they make the best gifts! I plan on whipping up a batch and giving some to my big and grand-big sisters in my sorority (Fingers crossed they aren't reading. Katie and Raleigh, if you are, just act surprised! I promise they'll be tasty!).
p.s. the picture for these Lauduree macarons is from this blog

Christmas Card!

I've wanted a sibling for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I still wish that my parents would have a baby. Around the holidays, I especially envy the girls with big families and little kids around to get excited about Santa. 
I also get a little jealous about the fun Christmas card shoots that some families have *cough cough-College Prepster*

When I was a baby, my parents sent out cards with just me on them, and while it's cute when you're little, it would be pretty awkward to send a picture of just me at age 19. For the past few years, we've been sending a family photo card, but we didn't get around to taking one this year!  

I was pondering this situation yesterday and came up with the perfect solution to my dilemma! 
Yes, that is the same hair bow :)

I designed it myself with Adobe Photoshop Elements because I couldn't find a template on any photo card websites that worked with my vision. 

It still has the little baby cute factor along with the fun of a throwback! 
I couldn't be more excited with the final product! 
They're being addressed and sent off tomorrow! (Yes, I know it's sort of last minute. Welcome to my life.)

What do y'all think? Does anyone else send out fun holiday cards? Any other exciting holiday traditions?

A Night with John Mayer!

It's the middle of finals week for me and I may or may not be going a little crazy with two finals tomorrow and two Tuesday (this post = #procrastinationstation). However, yesterday I took a study break entire day off from studying and went to New Orleans with my mom to see John Mayer in concert! 
We had such a good time! We spent most of the day shopping, had dinner at Acme Oyster House (yum!) and then made our way over to the New Orleans Arena for the show! 
And what a show it was!! Phillip Phillips opened and did an awesome job! I absolutely love the sort of folk/rock/pop combo thing he has going on. You should definitely take a second to check out some of his music (his two big hits are Gone, Gone, Gone, and Home)

As for Mr. Mayer, there was no doubt in my mind that he would put on a spectacular show. He didn't let me down. His guitar skills alone are incredible, and I loved every song he sang. 
Our seats were pretty decent, too. (The last concert I saw at the arena was Taylor Swift and our seats were terrible in the very back and at the tippy top) This time, we were in the first level off the floor and off to the side. 
I'm pretty sure it sounded just as good from where we were as it did in the front row, too ;)

I apologize for the less-than-sub-par pictures. I'm still mastering the art that is iPhone photography and I took mostly videos anyway. 
But pictures don't really do that stage justice anyway. There's no way to capture the way the lights all came together to make your feelings from the songs feel stronger. The images in the background of the night sky and the desert just added so much. I loved the hippie vibe and I think it really matched his two newest albums, but I was over the moon that he played so many of his oldies too! 

Here's a clip of a video I took of John singing Gravity (one of my absolute favorites!). Again, apologies for the terrible video quality. At least it sounds amazing :)