Caroline's 1st Nutcracker

Last week Caroline and I went to see the Nutcracker! All day long she told every person who would listen that she was going to see the Coconut.

I'm pretty sure I'm still on a mama high from the experience. Before I even met Matt I dreamed of the precious mama moments I would have with my future children. This was one of them. Hands down, this was my absolute favorite thing I've ever done with Caroline and I will never ever forget the magic of the night -- and I don't think she will either.

We were invited to attend Charlotte Ballet's Media Night performance, the night before the grand opening, so the theater was completely empty with the exception of a few photographers and guests. Preceding the performance we attended a cocktail reception where mommy grabbed some bubbly and we filled our plates with mini sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres before settling in to our seats.

When the ushers opened the doors they directed us to the main floor. Level one. Front row. I still cannot believe this happened. I've never attended a Nutcracker performance where the dancers looked larger than the size of an ant from my balcony seat. And here we were front row -- an experience I had never imagined I would have with my little girl because let's be honest, I would never pay for a front row ticket for a 3 year old. Not only could we see the facial expressions of the dancers and every detail of the set, our seats looked right into the orchestra. We could even hear every word of the conductor. It. was. unreal. 

I was confident that after a full day of school and a 7 pm performance (her bedtime), that Caroline would make it about 20 minutes before she either passed out or got bored. Nope. At intermission I asked her if she was ready to go home and she looked offended. She was so infatuated with the performance that we decided to stay through Act 2 -- but not before loading up on the special intermission treats!

Peanutcracker ice cream for Caroline & boozy hot chocolate for mama.

At the end of the performance the theater passed out cookies as favors while Caroline passed out in my arms. It was the perfect night with my baby girl.

Five on Friday!

Let me give you two pieces of advice.

1. If you don't use this angle brush and this MAC fluidline (color: Blacktrack) for your eye makeup, you are totally missing out. I've been using both for years and will never use anything else.

2. If you do use that brush...don't try and rush through applying your liner. You may just accidentally poke your eye ball...and then have a blood shot eye for a few days before your husband begs you to go see the eye doctor. And then you'll end up on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory ointment.

Now that we have all that good advice out of the way...

one.  I've had SO many questions about our Tree Collar for our Christmas tree! I am OBSESSED with it. It's so pretty and it is SO much easier to vacuum under the tree without a skirt! There are only a few left in stock so grab yours now!

two. Every single time I make my Total Wine run one of the sales associates talks me in to a new Sauvignon Blanc. And they've never led me wrong. Per their recommendation, I picked up and loved this Cottesbrook Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc! It's $3 more than I normally spend on a bottle but I had a $10 off coupon and it was totally worth it. Highly recommend.

three. I have purchased so many Christmas jammies from Target this season. Earlier this week the deal was buy one ($12) get one 60% off!! We wear Christmas jams all year so it's never too late for me to stock up on a good deal, plus Thomas wears all of Caroline's hand-me-downs one year later. Anyway, you definitely need some Elf and Santa jammies for your family!

 Santa Pajamas

four. Tuesday night a few of my best mama friends got together for a girls night out. We grabbed dinner at Fresh Chef and then went to see Bad Moms Christmas! It was SO funny and almost as good as Bad Moms (#1) which we all went to see together too!

five. **GIVEAWAY** I've talked about my love for Fulton & Roark products a few times lately on the blog, but today I have to share one more amazing gift idea for the man in your life -- a F&R Holiday Dopp Kit (stuffed with luxury man products). This gift is especially perfect if the man in your life travels a lot. Matt doesn't travel a lot, but has been using a terrible old mesh drawstring bag for his toiletries since I've known him. So this Christmas he is getting UPGRADED to the gorgeous F&R Dopp Kit!

And good news! F&R generously offered to giveaway a Dopp Kit to one lucky reader! Enter using the rafflecopter below!!

***GIVEAWAY*** Enter using the rafflecopter below. The contest will run through Dec. 12 and the winner will be picked at random and announced back here on Dec. 13! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want to snag a dopp kit now or some luxury grooming product stocking stuffers? Use code CHARM at checkout to save 15% on your order through 12/31

Progressive Christmas Dinner Party!

I love our neighborhood SO much. SO much in fact, that I agreed to serve on our HOA board as the social committee co-chair and host the last stop of our neighborhood Christmas progressive dinner party on Sunday night. Trust me, that's a lot of love...

We spent the entire weekend festivizing (I just made that word up) our home for Christmas. Since this is our first Christmas in our new home so we had a LOT of new decorations to purchase! Matt and Caroline spent a full day running back and forth from Walmart and Home Depot buying exterior stuff and hanging everything. Meanwhile, Thomas and I ran all the other party errands and got to work festivizing the inside of our home! As fun and exhausting as it was to get ready, I was glad I had the party deadline to get it all done.

I was especially excited to finally break in our dining room! We just started working on this room about six months ago and it's coming together so beautifully. 

After posting to insta-stories I received a TON of questions asking for sources for things so I'm going to break it down for ya:

Table: I had so much fun blowing everyone's mind with the source for our table -- it's the Pottery Barn Banks Dining Table. Just kidding! It's the most perfect dupe of the PB table...from Home Depot. YES! Home Depot. And I actually purchased it for half that price during an amazing sale. Now I just need my dream chairs to go on sale.

Light Fixture: Duh, it's from Wayfair, just like every other light fixture in our house!

Curtains: The curtains are the real reason I don't have dining room chairs. I fell in love with and splurged on gorgeous Calico Wedgewood fabric by Lacefield Designs and had them custom made. They deserve a post on their own because they are sooooooo unbelievably beautiful and worth every last drop of my decorating budget. Who needs chairs anyway?

Okay, back to the party! I made an early bird trip to Trader Joes to raid the eucalyptus delivery on Friday morning before work. I am not even kidding, I visited TJ's three times last week for eucalyptus and they were sold out by lunch every day. So, bright and early I arrived and practically tackled the poor flower man carrying the boxes outside. I bought 10 bunches of eucalyptus for our banister garland and had two bunches left over so I used it for my tablescape. I simply laid it out in piles (loosely) in between the candles and it turned out so pretty. The gold votives are from Michaels and the tall white candles are from Walmart (thanks, Matt). 

The night was a huge success and we had about 35 neighbors attend the progressive party! The first stop of the party was happy hour and appetizers -- hosted by my friend and social co-chair, Brooke! Her fam lives directly across the street from us so it couldn't have been more convenient for all the party goers.

I brought my favorite Hot Corn Dip appetizer!

The next and final stop was our house for dinner and dessert! A huge kudos to Matt for working hard to pry open every painted shut window to hang those wreaths!

For dinner, neighbors brought over SIX crock pots of chilis! Want to know one of the best benefits of hosting the dinner portion of the event? Leftover chili. For daysssssssss.

I made my favorite Wendy's chili and 50 corn bread muffins for the party too. 

We ended the party with a ton of delicious dessert!