Thankful

Today I am thankful for all the love I have in my life. I am thankful that I have people who I can lean on and who support me. I am thankful that I started this blog last year that has given me a creative outlet to voice my opinion. I am thankful that you are reading this! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Favorite Things

I can only imagine how it must feel being in the Oprah audience when you realize that you are on her favorite things episode. "Oh. My. God." Must be the first thought followed by sheer happiness for yourself and the loot you are about to get. I love Oprah's favorite things because watching everyone freak on the show makes me feel happy for them. Here are my top 10 picks (in order) of my favorite Oprah gifts!

1. The 2012 VW Bug (duh.)

2. The Cruise

3. The Nikon Camera

4. The Ipad

5.The Diamond Earrings

6. The Nordstrom Lingerie $500 Gift Card for you and a friend

7. The Ralph Lauren Cashmere Blanket and Sweater

8. The Le Creuset Set

9. The Lafco candle set

10. Elfa Closet System

The Life of Mabry, Part I

Don't feel bad for this dog. The day in 2003 that I picked him up, out of the back of an early 1980s pick-up truck, he hit the doggy jackpot. You see he was the only puppy not being held so me, being the responsible 20 year old that I was, thought it was only right that I hold him... 3 minutes later I told the nice farmer that I would take him (I'm really not sure if the guy was a farmer but it makes the story nicer since we were at a Walmart) and off we were... yes it only took me 3 minutes to make a decision that would change my life, and pocket book, significantly in the years to come (some of you may see that as a weakness but trust me it is my greatest strength). For those of you out there saying, "Something is terribly wrong with the proportion of body to leg height on that animal" stop judging my animal- he is loving and kind and everything a girl could hope for in a mutt... Mabry is a Lab Bassethound Mix (a Bassador if you will) and he got his height from his Dad- the Basset. This could be the best accidentally bred dog of all time. He is incredibly good looking (i may be a little biased) and tempered like a lab but has the energy of a Basset (read: incredibly lazy and sleeps all the time) When we are out with Mabry we always get stopped and asked the same two questions: "Is that a European bread?" "Is your dog a puppy?" When we explain he is a Basset mixed we always get a puzzled look like "how the heck did the manage that?!" I'm not really sure myself.

Mabry has been treated like a king, now I am not saying that was the right way to raise a dog, but none the less he has never had a tough day in his life...except yesterday when I thought it would be fun to try to get a picture of him covered in Christmas lights. To say he was not amused would be an understatement. Like any good owner, I only humiliated him until I took 130 pictures to try to get a good one. Note to self: Photographing a lazy dog is not easy. They don't like to stand for long. All-in-all Mabry was a good sport. I told him 100,000 times that he was the best looking dog on the planet...shocking that didn't help his spirits!

Confession

{Photo courtesy of Amazon.com}

As Thanksgiving approaches, and Dallas starts to decorate for the Holidays, I have a confession:

I love colored Christmas lights

There- I said it. Man do I feel better. This came up last weekend during a family dinner at Matt's parents house and everyone seemed shocked that I love colored Christmas lights. Don't get me wrong, white lights are beautiful but there is something about a house covered in colored lights that makes me feel excited. I also am a huge fan of the red and white "peppermint" lights- which will be going up on our little balcony this weekend as our only outside decor since we live in an apartment. If you are so bold to use the big fat old timey colored lights you earn even more points in my book! I think that those are by far the best lights out there! I hope that everyone has a great weekend decorating!

Best Dessert I've ever made

{I didn't snap a photo before we dug into the one I made but we will pretend it looked like this one from afarmgirldabbles on Tasty Kitchen}

I will say that it doesn't take much to qualify for this- I love to cook but baking isn't my strong point. I found this pumpkin chessecake recipe on Tasty Kitchen and gave it a test run yesterday just to double check that I could manage it for Thanksgiving. It is. by far. the best. cheesecake ever. Enjoy!

Sur la Table vs. Williams-Sonoma

{All from Sur La Table and under $50}

If you read this blog then you have probably caught on that I enjoy cooking. I look forward to getting the Williams-Sonoma catalog every month so I can look at all the things that I don't have and need. Over the past year or so I have noticed that there is just less and less from WS that I need or want. I have also noticed that there is no longer "affordable" luxuries. Somewhere along the way I feel like WS has become too much about "the best" and less about what the customer is looking to spend. About 2 miles from my house there is a Sur La Table. At first, I felt over whelmed because they carry about 4 times as much than Williams Sonoma. Last week during partners card I stumbled in there because they were listed and took my time to just walk through. I am now a fan. Sur La Table basically has everything WS has it just has so much more and the prices are way better. For instance the cow creamer, adorable- yes?! WS- $28 SLT- $3.50 Now I'm sure the WS cow is french but really how often are you going to use that cow? Exactly. If you have a Sur La Table in your area and you need to kill some time- give them a chance! I think you'll see what I'm talking about!

It's Christmas Time

On One Kings Lane today. I just ordered this Mr. Boddington Studio Christmas card and I have to tell you... I would have paid full price for this. Happy Shopping!

ATX

We are headed to Austin for the weekend! Thought I would leave you with this- next week I'll jot about some of my favorite stores in this great town and what I have been doing this week with my Partners Card! Hope you have a great weekend!