last night, my best friend k., her boyfriend, her family and i headed over to the always-beautiful selby gardens for its annual "lights in bloom" holiday event. even though i've lived in sarasota for four years now, sunday was my first time at "lights in bloom," and it was beautiful -- we spent the majority of our time at the gardens walking through its outdoor paths, sipping hot chocolate, and ooh-ing and aah-ing at all the pretty, twinkly christmas lights. all the shots i tried to take outdoors turned out crappily (must get better at taking pictures at night), but i did manage to snap some photographs of selby's renowned orchids, which were just lovely.
"lights in bloom" was one highlight in what was overall a really pleasant, definitively holiday-ish weekend. on friday night, i finished up my christmas shopping, went to see a movie and then came home and relaxed. on saturday, i whipped up a batch of nichole's chocolate crinkle cookies, which i think should be renamed "brownie bites from heaven" -- they were delicious. and on saturday night, i took my cookies to an ugly sweater party, drank good wine (the hosts are wine distributors), chatted with new friends, and generally had a great time.
a good weekend, indeed.
and now this is a short week for me -- i have friday off, and i'm heading up to my parents' house on thursday night -- and i have to say, the timing couldn't be better. i'm excited to have a few days off, excited for the holiday, excited most of all to see a lot of my extended family.
so with that, here are my commitments for the week:
+ stay positive. chin up and all that good stuff.
+ keep focusing on remaining free from the rampant materialism that's going on right now
+ bake the nutella cookies i discovered in katie's amazing christmas magazine.
+ give my house a good scrubdown early in the week so i don't have to worry about it when i'm trying to fly out the door on thursday night.
+ spend some quality time with my favorite sarasota people.
+ continuing thinking about what i want 2011 to be.
and you, friends? tell me, and i'll see you back here tomorrow! xoxo
photos by me
Such a good list! I can't believe a new year is about to start. There are so many possibilities as to what I could fill it with, I get a little overwhelmed. I need to think about that some. xo.
ReplyDeleteA very good list! Beautiful orchids too! I need to finish baking all of my cookies to give to my friends at our holiday party tomorrow. I need to wrap the remaining Christmas gifts for my in-laws. Clean the house so it's nice and clean and cozy upon our return next week. Pack. Watch Christmas Vacation before Christmas is here. And if I could squeeze in A Christmas Story, that would be great too. I seriously can't believe that 2010 is almost over. It's been such a huge year for me but I can only see 2011 being even bigger. With a move into our very own house and hopefully starting a business in a new city...it's sure to be something good!
ReplyDeleteIsn't Katie magazine just the best. I love it. I just don't know what to start with though.
ReplyDeleteHave an amazing long weekend.