Our Traditions

I missed day 1 of the holiday challenge so I am failing already but better late than never right? I love the holidays so I thought this would be fun for me to participate in

Today's topic is:

Favorite Holiday Tradition

Before Christmas I always try to make hubs oreo balls, he loves these things and since he is not a big sweets person this is a big deal, plus he actually likes something I make too = )

Christmas is always a big deal in our house, especially since my birthday is on Christmas Eve. Yes Christmas Eve - and to answer your burning questions... 

Yes I get double presents from my parents. Some are wrapped in birthday paper and the others are wrapped in Christmas paper. 

Yes it does sometimes suck to have your birthday on a holiday

..and to top it off Christmas is the following day, and our wedding anniversary is 3 weeks later how was that for planning??

Anyway back to our traditions...

Every Christmas Eve since I was 1 (so this year will mark the 29th year) my parents have an open house party. All of our friends come over for food, drink, and merriment from as my mom says "noonish to 4ish." In the morning as we are getting ready for the party my cake, champagne, and presents are worked in somehow as well. We always joke that I am just the forgotten child, that we have to just hurry up and pay attention to me for a few minutes then we can go about our day.

We then go to church at 5 as a family, come home and head to another open house party for home made tamales and drinks.

Every year my dad always makes his famous Cuban pork - it is SO good and I look forward to it every year. My parents will call a few days before Christmas Eve asking if I can smell Christmas...which means "can I smell the garlic all the way in my house?"

Christmas day we wake up and have breakfast, mimosas, and open gifts, then head over to my parents neighbors and finish off the drinks from the day before and fry turkeys - YUM!

My mom and dad also make THE best Cuban Sandwiches for lunch on Christmas day - really they will be the best ones you ever have, all of our family and friends rave about them. Hooters also has one that is almost identical to my dads, but they will never match his pork!

 
The boys in our family started their tradition of every year getting each other new beers so on Christmas day their day goes something like this...

I also canot forget that it is Bentley's tradition to sit under the tree as soon as it goes up, and once gifts are under it it is his own tradition to chew on the ribbon...

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Bust a Gut

This photo is from my photo session this past weekend. Mr. Max turned one the week of Thanksgiving and his mom wanted to do some cake smash photos to commemorate this big milestone. Before he tore into his cake she wanted some photos before he was covered in cake, he was a ball of laughter, especially when his family was behind me dancing and making crazy noises. I am sure all these babies think we are nuts seeing the things we do to get a baby to laugh, but it worked and he was definitely busting a gut in this shot!

Check out more bust a gut submissions here

My Thanksgiving

in phone pictures...

Thanksgiving was so busy with my in-laws in town, hosting Thanksgiving at our house, an impromptu Black Friday shopping excursion, painting, photo sessions, etc...

I brined our Turkey the night before we cooked him

My Thanksgiving table

 

The fancee flatware = )

Our table all ready to go

How is that for presentation....seriously the Turkey could say 13 pounds but my dad can totally carve off an extra 5

No Thanksgiving is complete without desserts!
My pumpkin roll and my moms YUMMY guava pie!!!

Brad playing with the photo booth props

Last minute my friend Mindy and I decided to do some Black Friday shopping. I had seen some sheets on sale that we needed so out we went at midnight. We drove past Best Buy just to see, and seriously looked like the apocalypse was headed our way, the line was wrapped around the entire building. We started out at Macy's, Bed Bath and Beyond, then headed to Kohl's, Old Navy, Target, JC Penny, and ended at Home Depot...at 5AM. Here is the trunk and back seat of my car...

Here is one of the ornaments I bought on Black Friday too

Friday my in-laws and I painted our guest bathroom - its so great to have such handy in-laws!

The shower curtain was also a Black Friday purchase

Bearded cat!

He looks happy doesnt he?

Our front door holiday wreathe that I made - I LOVE it, took a couple trips to Micheal's and Hobby Lobby but I love the way it turned out!

and last but not least we got our trees up and decorated!

Canvas People

For the past oh almost three years I have been wanting to do a gallery wall in our house with some of our wedding photos and a few others but me being the procrastinator that I am I had yet to start it, I mean it took me a year to pick out the photos for our already paid for wedding album - picking out photos is hard yall!!

I knew I wanted to do canvases since I love the clean look of them...that's as far as I got...

Last December when I was in New Orleans I did family photos for my cousin and she really wanted a canvas so I told her about Canvas People - I knew that they were really affordable but I had never ordered from them. We went ahead and went to their website and they were having a 40% off and free shipping deal so she ordered a 16x20 it was super easy. I think it took about a week or so to get her canvas and she was really happy with hers. So FINALLY a few weeks ago I got a deal online for a deal on an 11x14 so I bit the bullet and said I needed to get that deal. I ended up choosing this image for our first canvas

*Image courtesy of Nhan Photography

Here it is on our wall:

I received my canvas about 2 weeks later and could not have been happier, they also included a nice little $50 off coupon on my next order. I also got another cousin in on this and she ordered this image for her 11x14 - she should get hers in a few days!

Then to top it off another friend of mine took advantage of another deal they were offering and ordered an 18x24 this week. I am narrowing down some choices for a larger canvas to order soon too.

I also had to call because my promotion code did not go through and I got charged so I talked to their customer service and everything was resolved that day - for the win!

If you are looking for an affordable canvas definitely check Canvas People out!

*I was not compensated for my reviews, I just wanted to share my great experience

It's OK Thursday

I am back again for another edition of Hey It's OK Thursday...




It's OK that I am not that crazy over the Caramel Brulee Latte, just give me my iced coffee with milk, or my Cafe Bustelo

It's OK that from posting about the coffee I just remembered that I need to order the Cafe Bustelo...can't find it in the stores but maybe on a rare occasion

It's OK that every time I have gone shopping in the past week I have bough something Christmas decor related

It's OK that when my in-laws come in town next week there will be gray paint samples painted on their bathroom wall

It's OK that I am excited about hosting Thanksgiving again this year

It's OK that I am mostly excited that we can use our fancy china and our pretty dining room table

The set up will be similar to what I did 2 years ago...well the place setting will be the same!

 It's OK that I have been INSANELY busy shooting, because that just means my client list is growing and I could not be more excited!

Fun With My Phone Monday

I am late to the party but here are my recent phone photos for fun with our phones Monday!

 

Last week my friend Tara, her daughter and I headed to the Houston Dynamo game to cheer them on in the FREEZING cold weather. It was an awesome game and I will definitely be cheering them on on Sunday when they play in the MLS Cup finals - too bad I won't be in LA for the game!

Beanie pic - show me your crazy face!

YAAAAAY Dynamo Win!!

Some of you Pinterest addicts have probly seen this flying around  - I made this last week for dinner, it was delicious!!

YAAAY red starbucks cup on the way to some of my photo sessions!

Hubs got up early this weekend for work - I was clearly still asleep and Bentley somehow got snuggled in too

I also hurt my knee in our last soccer game - BOO

Get the camera out of my face.

Had to get this ornament at World Market - he matches the Santa one I have

I saw this color in my People magazine - Essies Cocktail Bling so I was on the hunt, I ended up getting the last one at the Ulta I went to.