On Repeat

It's been so long since I blogged that I am about to blog about the same thing I did two posts ago, except it's a year later. Oops.

As you know by now, Charlotte is my fashionista. In fact, she got a "red carpet" from Santa this year. It even lights up!

So while my friend and I watched the celebs walking the red carpet for the Golden Globes, Charlotte and her friend strutted their stuff again on her new carpet. I let her rummage through my shoes and jewelry, which she probably wears for playing more than I wear for real.

The theme was of course "fancy," since we were watching an awards show. But you'll see a few regular outfits made the cut. I think if we had time, she would have come out in her sport shorts and cleats.

Note the first one is the same dress (my old prom dress) that she wore last year.

I must say I'm partial to this last one, probably because it looks like something I'd wear! It is my sweater, necklace, and shoes after all.

And in case you were thinking, "How did she grow up so quickly?" Anson went for his 12-year-old checkup today and has grown 4.5 inches in the past year. 

Hi There Strangers

Remember me?

I'm here to share a few pictures from the latter part of 2014. I suppose this year I put down the camera and just lived in the moment more than usual. It's nice to do that, and not worry about getting shots of everything. Plus, the kids are just old enough now that they don't want their pictures taken!

This Thanksgiving we went to Suffolk and shared Thanksgiving with Sally, Philip, and the Norcross family at their house. As usual, it was a beautiful setup with family and good friends.

Charlotte and I posed for a few pictures...

She's a huge fan of mashed potatoes, so wasted no time loading up her plate.

There were so many of us that we had to split up between three tables. You found your dinner partner by matching up your half of a postcard with another. I got Anson!

The view out the back of the Norcross house was beautiful.

And before we knew it, it was time for Christmas.

Can you tell Charlotte isn't as camera shy as Anson these days? She put the start on the top of our tree, and helped me make a Christmas joke advent calendar for some friends.

I'm in charge of a program at Charlotte's school that helps families in need, and she helped me set up our school Angel tree.

Did I say Anson was camera shy now? I did capture this shot of him and a friend ordering burgers at the local diner. He's the one on the left.

 A selfie of me, about all I could find from the holidays!

Charlotte joined the school chorus and they performed a holiday concert. That's her in the middle with the blonde hair and the big grin.

Silly with a friend...

Sweet...

She's also taking dance, and here she is with her holiday dance outfit on. (The last class before the holidays they could wear something fun.)

We did some decorating around here.

 And some cooking. It's those mashed potatoes again!

 Charlotte's best friend on the street, Kathryn, came by for some Christmas Eve "cocktails."

I just didn't take ANY photos at Christmas otherwise but these two. One of Anson surrounded by discarded wrappings...

...and one of Charlotte with a new gift. She loves dressing up, so Santa brought her a light-up red carpet. Here she's showing us her supermodel pose. She IS wearing makeup for fun; don't worry, I don't let her out of the house with it!

We caught a Carolina Hurricanes game as a family. Anson thought I was totally weird and embarrassing for trying to take a family selfie.

And then, it was time to wind down and take a breather, before New Year's and Charlotte's birthday!

Walking the Red Carpet in Vintage

You know the awards season wouldn't be complete without Charlotte walking the red carpet at home a few times. Sunday night during the Oscars pre-game show, she strutted her stuff in my vintage prom dress.

In case you were wondering what it looked like in its heyday, here I am wearing it circa 1989 (all I could find on the fly). I remember tucking in the one side strap, just to "make it mine." Good thing I did, because I remember someone else at prom had the exact same dress, but wore it the way it was supposed to look. 

I see I survived the 80s without going to prom with big hair, just a big bow holding it back. That's what is sticking out the sides at the back. I certainly did have big hair otherwise. :) I guess that hair bow matched the humungous one on my hip. At least it's black!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas in Almost February

Happy New Year! I'm so behind I'm going to focus on the holidays first.

We spent Thanksgiving at the lake house, starting with a classically American meal, fast food Chinese.

I "dressed up" in jeans and a Native American inspired shirt.

Russell deep fried the turkey. We just started doing this a year or two ago, and what a difference it makes in the day. It takes only a few hours, and tastes delicious. No more spending the entire day int the kitchen.

What American meal is complete without a bow and arrow activity afterwards.

Ooh, so close, but it only nicked the apple.

Finally, success!

Before we knew it, it was Christmas. I wish I could say this is how I spent most of it, but I cherished those quiet moments when I could.

And our "elf-on-the-shelf" Sydney arrived. She went fishing for trout in the sink, and lo and behold, she caught one!

Our tradition of decorating gingerbread houses continued. (As well as the tradition of making ourselves sick sampling the decorations.)

Charlotte and I attended a holiday event at a museum downtown (with her friend Sofia).

Since Sally and Philip were traveling to England for Christmas, they visited Raleigh early in the month and we had a "Christmas" dinner together.

Russell and I attended a number of holiday soirees (here's a little selfie of me). 

One party was called "Lashes and 'Staches," where the women wore falsh eyelashes and the men fake mustaches.

The holidays finally arrived! Charlotte and I baked my dad a Queen's Cake from the recipe at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery in Colonial Williamsburg.

Another Christmas dinner, another tablescape...

A homemade apple pie from my mom's recipe was a big hit. It doesn't look pretty, but it sure tasted great!

I was so glad to have my Dad and Emma here with us this year.

Emma brought a favorite dip of ours, but this year she got creative with the presentation.

And then, like that, it was over. The kids did claim it was the "best Christmas ever." Put a smile on my face for sure!

Hope your holidays were as lovely as ours.