Festive Friday Favorites

Hello & Happy Friday!

Are you ready for Christmas now?

Me neither :/

With that said I am making this post short and sweet,

getting all the office work done that I can,

and then finishing up some last minute shopping before tackling all the wrapping this evening.

I don't have a full day ahead of me at all 🙄

My mom came down to watch X on Saturday evening for us to celebrate my birthday.
Of course X could not wait for me to open this giant box from her!

More on it next week, but she filled it with #allthethings
That means 40+ things from my 40 years!
She is the best!


I shared about turning 40 and my celebration here :)

Those wonderful friends of mine showered me with some gift cards to my favorite places, a spa certificate, jewelry, etc.
Look at this cute thing...

Remember my first ever girls trip earlier this year?
Haley made my card and added some of the photos from that trip!
And she had a magnet made too!!!
So stinkin' sweet!



 Monday I shared some of my favorite songs, movies, and more for Christmas.
Head here to see what that image below is from ;)

Another week, more happy mail!
I just can't get enough earrings from Baubles by B!
These are the silver and gold (2 inch size)that are absolutely perfect for NYE!

I snagged these shiny red ones (2 inch size) too!
I mean red is my favorite color!
And they are perfect for Christmas!

Yesterday, I helped out with X's class Christmas party.
Those kids had so much fun!
They fished for candy canes...

They tossed rings on the reindeer antlers...

 And they played a kid version of beer pong, I mean Jingle Bell toss! 😜

He loved every minute of it!

And I love the fact that I have the ability to be at all these things with him 😍

We finished the party with a little dancing!

 And look at these super cute goodies that came home with X this week!
My very own Elf!!!!

X drew both of these pictures in Art class.

Love these!
We sure love that Art substitute that he has had for the last few months as well :)


More basketball games and practice for this guy this week too!
It is hard to see, but he is super focused with that tongue sticking out 😜

 I will share the recipe someday, but I have to at least share a picture of my favorite Christmas cookies!

They are a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread with frosting in the middle.
I call them sandwich cookies.
Nothing special, but SO SO GOOD!
These were apart of that birthday box above :)



We settled in last night after practice and watched The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix.
Oh my goodness is it good!

 And that is it!
I hope you all have had a great week!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! 🎄
I'll be back later next week :)

XOXO ~ Vanessa

Linking up with The Blended Blog, Andrea, Narci & Erika!

Hello Forty!

I feel like you all already know, but in case you didn't...

I celebrated turning forty years old over the weekend.

Birthdays come and go, but this one has stuck with me a bit more.
Honestly, I was (and still am) excited to turn 40.

I have never been one to lie about my age, feel sad about getting older, etc.

About the only thing that trips me up about my age is the fact that at 40 years old I have a 7 year old first grader.

When my parents were 40 years old I graduated high school :/

While I couldn't imagine things being reversed or even the same, it still gets to me from time to time.

Moving on...

I celebrated my birthday on Saturday evening with some close friends down in Columbus.

We enjoyed dinner at Matt The Miller's Tavern (Polaris location).

Mic and I have always loved the Dublin location, so we decided to give this one a try since it was so close to our hotel and the bar we were going to after dinner.

The food was good, but the company was even better :)

We finished our meals and headed to Tequila Cowboy just before the Cleveland Browns game started.

X was actually worried that I wouldn't get to see the game since I wasn't at home,

so I snapped a pic of one of the bar TV's to let him know I was OK ;)

While we watched the game, we had to take some pictures to document the night ;)

These two crack me up!

Whenever you give Vinnie the camera to take your picture, he must get a selfie first! lol!

I will admit, the karaoke section was just OK.

Looking back now, I wish I would have skipped it and just danced to the live music while we watched the game.

Oh well!

And we were really bummed because the mechanical bull was broken :(

But the Cleveland Browns came away with a big birthday win for me,

we enjoyed some adult beverages,

and splurged on some camo cake :)

I do have a question for you all...

Do you do shots?

I didn't realize that wasn't a thing everyone does.

Seriously.

Back where I come from... that is totally normal!

I did drink a few shots, so everything was good :)

And I may have converted a few others with how tasty the shot I picked was ;)

And just like that the evening was over.

Mic and I spent the night in a huge king size bed at our hotel, before heading back home the next morning.

Thank you again to all of you for the birthday wishes on here,

Facebook, Instagram, text, etc.

You sure know how to make a girl feel loved!

I thought about sharing 40 things about myself, but I feel like everything I would list you already know.
So I am opening it up to you!
What is something you don't know or wonder about me?

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

XOXO ~ Vanessa