Caution: Gratuitous Family Photos

So Happy belated Thanksgiving! I am thankful for oh-so-many things including you dear reader .. hi five. Anyway the weekend got wrapped up with mom and I going shopping.

Mom got all kinds of fabulous stuff and we both got fabulous dresses for our New Years Eve soiree at the Kennedy Center in DC. She looked AMAZING and had way too many cocktail dresses from which to choose. Life is so hard, isn't it? :)

We waited until Saturday partially because we were hundreds of miles in any direction from a mall at 3am Friday morning, and partially because we didn't want to be trampled by the stampede of people in an angry mob for discounted electronics and tickle-me-elmos.

On Friday I met up with my lady friends, one of whom was in town from Denver for the Holiday. Picture these people in scarves.
On Wednesday when I burned out of work at 5pm on the dot, the brother and I got home in time to decorate the tree.
My dad in all of his goofiness got us hats. We resisted but secretly liked them. That's right dad, I admit it.
Coming to a Christmas card near you.
After six hours of traveling in one day we finally made it to the family farm in Iowa. I didn't take photos of the food, but the meal looked approximately like this:

My momma and her sisters (shout out to three uncles lounging in the background). Because my mom is one of eleven, the family gatherings generally have about forty or so people. We are a huge family, it's pretty great.

Guess we forgot our pilgrim hats, huh?Around the corner from the farm is the 'graffiti barn' which has existed all of my life though I've never partaken (local high school kids?) this year we decided to brave the 28 degree weather (plus wind, brrrrrr) and make our mark. Hey... the family that sprays together stays together.
At home, early the next morning we went to water aerobics where my sister was the impatient instructor. a) it's not just for old ladies, it's serious business

b) we mostly goofed off.... i.e. 'freestyle'.


At home for our last family meal we had EGGS BENEDICT... mwwwwwwwah. I love it. Mom whipped up the hollandaise and I made sure everyone got one with traditional ham (yadda yadda yadda) and veggie with tomato and spinach leaves. This is becoming one of my favorite meals ever... minus how labor intensive it is.

And that my friends is all she wrote. How many shopping days until Christmas?

All you can eat buffets with all you can drink champagne

So after laboring all week in Vegas.... I left this 35th floor hotel room at Ceasar's Palace with a fantastic view of the Bellagio fountains... For this view.... from the fourth floor of the Mirage. Pretty sure the freeway you see in the background is higher than our room. My, my what a girl will do to get a cheap rate for a weekend trip.

Good thing I had my BFF, new FAVORITE bride to be (I am her MOH, after all), and west-coast-erner join me to do fun things which didn't include sticking around the room.

Bloggable shenanigans include scandalously jumping in to empty, unmanned (by security) fountain for photo ops. I spy.... a cocktail dress by Zeus.

And spending all day .... and afternoon, and partial evenings in the swanky pool area (i think we closed the place down, actually... notice no other pool goers).

Many sugary beverages later we did a photo shoot montage in an abandoned cabana. Good in theory.

But pretty much all looked a bit awkward.

Ahh Vegas. The crazy thing is that while there for work I had some of the most amazingly decadent and pricey meals of my life. With company Execs those are NOT kosher to be taking food photos. However by the time BFF and I were losing $30 at a time at the penny slots... we were reduced to cafeterias / room service/ and an all you can eat buffet. It was considerably less glam... except the part where the buffet served all you could drink champagne. That was pretty awesome.

Homemade food adventures coming soon.... though I must unpack first. Au Revoir.