Five Things: Christmas Break Edition

It's my finals week and as you may be able to tell from my increased posting, I'm taking any little break I can get from studying. The only thing keeping me sane is looking forward to my month long Christmas break, which starts on Wednesday. Here are the top five things I'm looking forward to.
1. Getting to spend time with my whole family. I haven't seen Alissa or Justin since the summer and I haven't seen Joe since the spring. We all haven't been together since last Christmas, so it will definitely be nice to have everyone home.

2. Christmas morning. I love Christmas and all of the traditions that come with it. My favorite Christmas traditions are our morning breakfast and stockings.

3. Possible snow and being cuddled up inside my cozy house. I miss my house and my bed!

4. Spending time with this little guy. He's just so sweet and I miss playing with him. Benny has a cute little Christmas hat that we put on him every year...he hates it, but he looks so funny!

5. Baking. Alissa and I want to try these s'mores bars and I would like to try to make some peppermint bark. I love the William and Sonoma kind, but it's so expensive!

What are you looking forward to about Christmas?

Stress Eater

I bought these mint chocolate M&M's today to fuel me through studying for finals. I've ate a fourth of the bag, but have done no studying yet. Bad idea.

A Gift Every Hour

As I mentioned last week, my mom and Alissa planned my birthday gifts this year so that I would open one each hour. The gifts started at 11:50am and went until 10:50pm. I was born at 3:50am, hence the reason for the :50's. It made my birthday so exciting and I had a lot of fun opening a gift each hour. I documented each gift, so get ready for a ton of pictures! This is the stack of gifts for the day. It was definitely hard for me not to tear into those earlier in the week, but I'm glad I waited.

11:50am

My favorite Victoria Secret lotion, Pink Fresh and Clean from my mom.

12:50pm

I was in the car with Beth on our way to the Greene to redeem some of my birthday freebies.

A Victoria Secret bra from my mom. I love the print and lace! So pretty!

1:50pm

Now I'm at the Greene, sitting on a bench. It was definitely funny to stop and open gifts wherever I was.

A green Target cardigan from my mom. That shade of green is one of my favorite colors. I'm excited to wear it soon!

2:50pm

In the car, on our way back to campus.

Black Aerie leggings from my mom! I really needed a pair.

Things got a little silly.

3:50pm was a 3 pack of my favorite Five gum. I didn't remember to snap a picture.

4:50pm

A purple/maroon Ann Taylor Loft cardigan from my mom. I love this color and the fabric is so soft.

5:50pm

In the car with my friends, on our way to Columbus for my birthday dinner.

Just so excited to see what it is! haha A Loft infinity scarf from Alissa! This is sadly the best picture I could get of it in the car. I really wanted a chunk, sweater scarf, so I was excited.

6:50pm

Waiting at Bodega to be seated. We had an hour wait, so a present was a welcome distraction for everyone. I didn't end of taking a picture of the gift, but it was OPI nail polish in Mermaid Tears from my mom. It's such a cool color...I'm going to paint my nails with it this weekend.

7:50pm

Finally seated at Bodega and ready to open my 7:50pm gift from Alissa.

Just so excited. haha. I need to work on my expressions while opening gifts. I noticed a trend in all these pictures. I guess I just really love getting presents. Notice Beth's judgment.

The Maybelline Falsies mascara that I use. It was time for a new tube. Alissa introduced me to this mascara and I love it. I used to use $20 mascara and I actually like this one better.

Bonus gift from Beth that I opened during dinner. A jean shirt! I really wanted one and I guess she took a hint from all my pinning of them on Pinterest.

8:50pm

Another gift from Alissa.

I was a weird shape and really tiny, so I was trying to guess what it could be.

It's a little blinking light to wear when running at night! I run outside at night by myself a lot and Alissa always tells me to be careful. Now I can wear this light to protect myself! We all were entertained by it.

9:50pm

Alissa's friend Renee sent me over a package from Bloomingdales where she works. It was so sweet of her and fun to get a surprise box in the mail.

She sent me BCBG perfume, a wallet, and a little jewelry box. So nice of her!

10:50pm

This was my last gift. We just got back from Columbus and were settling in to watch the Sex and the City movie.

My mom sent me a calendar for next year with the inscription to "have a great year"! What a perfect last gift!

I had an amazing perfect and absolutely LOVED opening a gift every hour! Thanks Alissa and Mom for planning this! I love you both!

Birthday Freebies

I always make sure to sign up for all the birthday clubs at my favorite restaurants and stores so I can get free stuff! Here are some of the freebies I redeemed last week for my birthday...
I got a free trio at Noodles and Co. on my birthday, which included Pesto Cavatappi and Tomato Basil soup. I usually get mac and cheese there, but I decided to try something new because it was totally free. I loved it! Definitely will order this next time. I shared some with my friend Beth since there was a lot of food and she was sitting there watching me eat it all. I didn't want to be a total pig.

Then we walked over to Caribou coffee to redeem my free drink coupon. I got a white peppermint mocha and it was really good! They gave me a generous large size that I never ended up finishing.

Next, I headed over to Yogurt Mountain and got my free fro yo creation.

I decided on a combo of cake batter and candy cane fro yo with Andi Candy pieces and Reese's Cup chunks. I was very happy with my decision. I did end of feeling kind of sick after all that though.

Earlier in the week, I went to Panera and redeemed my free pastry off my Panera card. I decided on a huge Cobblestone muffin. It was good, but so big that I only ended up eating half.

On Sunday afternoon, I went to Bd's Mongolian Grill with my friend Laura who's birthday was also this weekend. We both had a free stir fry bowl coupon to redeem, so we went there for lunch. I got some chicken and lots of veggies with a pesto sauce. I guess I'm really liking pesto since Friday.

I also went to Sephora and got a free Philosophy body wash from using my Insider card.

I still have a free coffee at Dunkin Donuts to get, so I plan on going sometime this weekend! I definitely recommend signing up for all the birthday clubs online! It makes for a great week or even month of free food.

Birthday Outfit

Here are some pictures my friend Kathryn took of my friends and I before we headed out for my birthday. I wore a light pink Francesca's dress, gray bow belt from Anthropologie, and nude grayish Steve Madden heels. It was so cold out, so I ended up putting on a black sweater from Loft to keep warm!

So there's just a little sneak peek of my birthday outfit. Get ready for a few more birthday posts coming this week!