Today was awesome. Slept in, went to yoga (a class put on by one of my favorite instructors done entirely to James Brown, hell yeah), went to the movies and then out for a delicious seafood dinner before coming home and sitting in front of the fire sipping on warm drinks and playing scrabble. Now? To fill the stockings cozy up in bed. Yup, the holidays sure are nice.

Today was pretty quiet around the homefront. Jamie and his mom decided to go shopping around noon (I know, insane, right?) and I stayed home for most of the day working. I'm finishing up a lot of the work I had in 2011 and getting stuff ready for 2012. Oh, but I did compile my favorite 100 photos of 2011, in case you're interested....And how cute is my collie?! Adorable. I know.

This is one of our neighbor's house. What I can't capture on "film" is that a) all of these lights are blinking b) these white reindeer are moving and c) they have a sign telling you to tune into 91.7 to hear their broadcast of Christmas music. Uh... yeah. Hardcore.While I was taking this photo, it was a George Michael song playing over the airwaves. Solid.

Today I was toiling away at work, kinda annoyed at something or other at my office, when I looked up and saw SNOW falling outside! I checked the forecast two days ago, and there was zero snow or possibility of snow in our forecast for the full 10 days, so you can imagine how much this improved my day.Since I was on deadline, I didn't really have time to go out wandering for the perfect shot, but I just headed out to our loading dock at the paper to capture the flakes. So, so pretty. And now it feels like Christmas!

One more day of work before Christmas break! Woot! Er, one more day at the newspaper, anyway. Tonight I met with a friend over at the Modern Cafe in NE (which has always been a favorite of mine) and I snapped a shot of their holiday decor as I was leaving. Then I came home and wrapped presents in this new paper that I got on clearance last year and that, unbeknownst to me, SPREADS GLITTER EVERYWHERE. Seriously, this is the most sparkly my house will ever be. And it's super fine glitter, so not really vacuumable. But whatever. I'll take the glitter SINCE I CAN'T HAVE SNOW, DAMMIT.

Tonight I was over at my buddy Eliesa's studio, and look at how she displayed her photos! I am totally stealing this idea! (Er, "borrowing.) I love how easy it would be to sub out and update pictures and how you have a large array to display. Perfecto! That girl Eliesa, she's got some good ideas. More on that later.

Today it was 45 degrees outside. On December 18. In Minneapolis. Sigh.So yeah, it's looking like a brown Christmas for us, with no snow in the forecast. This afternoon, we decided to throw on our *jackets* and take the dogs for a walk, since it was so "nice" out. It was on this walk that I noticed these lovely... plants? grasses? I'm not sure what they are, but they sure are lovely when dead, eh?

Man, today was so good. First? First we met up with some new friends over in St. Paul for brunch at the Strip Club. Don't worry Mom, it's a Steakhouse -- not an adult club. Clever name though, eh? Anyway, the food was so amazing. I got scrambled eggs with garlic and shrimp and holy cow, was that delicious. And? It was dead and we got fast and amazing service (another reason why it's totally worth the drive to St. Paul for brunch!).Then I spent this afternoon reading design books in front of the fire (score!) before we headed out to the 331 for the drunken spelling bee which provided phenomenal people watching. So how it works is, you are "encouraged" to have a drink between each round. We started with 40 contestants and by round 4 they were down to 2. Jamie and Meredith entered -- I was the designated driver. It was hilarious. They also offer (in round 3) that if you misspell a word, you can try again with the next word if you do it in your underwear. And yes, both a male and female resorted to that. Entertainment for the whole family!After the spelling bee, we mosied over to the Modern Cafe for meatloaf dinner before hitting up a friend's birthday party. I told you it was a good day!