My friend Darcie of Such The Spot challenged me to do this, so here it goes:

1. I found an exercise that I loved, causing me to exercise several times a week.  Finding kettlebells and working out consistently allowed me to get into the best shape of my life.  I’m finally getting my husband on board too!

2. I had fun blogging.  Towards the end of the year, I started participating in several link-ups, Wore I Wore Wednesday and Monday Mingle, that I really enjoyed.  I love writing about fashion and beauty so this was fun and natural for me.

3. I took my daughter to Disneyland, just the two of us.   Since my son was the first born, we have had many outings together, but I think this was the first time my daughter and I did an activity so grand together.  My family goes to Disney often, but as a group the activities skew towards big kid/adult and my daughter keeps up.  At Disneyland I let her set the pace and did whatever she wanted to do.  That meant no roller coasters, but standing in line to meet the fairies in Pixie Hollow.   I loved seeing Disney through her 9 year girly eyes.  We had a fantastic day together and her “thank you Mommy” and big hug at the end of the day was priceless.

4. We took my son to a broadway show.  We went to NYC in October to celebrate my daughter’s 10th birthday and my son’s 16 1/2th (his birthday was back in April).  Our gift to him in April was a broadway show in NYC, since he loves musical theatre. We go to musicals and plays all the time in Atlanta, but there’s something about seeing a production in NYC on broadway–it’s magical.  We used to take him to broadway all the time when he was younger, when we used to live in New Jersey, but they were family musicals like The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan.  This was his first big production, adult broadway musical.  We saw Follies and the look on his face during the musical was pure joy.   That experience was better than any tangible gift we could have given him.

5.  I recorded less and stayed in the moment more.   While I do enjoy sharing my experiences on my blog, sometimes it best to enjoy the moment and be fully present–not thinking about how this would make a good blog post or even how a photo of this moment would look great in the family scrapbook.  During our holiday trip to NYC a few weeks ago, I was trying to take photos of the beautiful holiday window displays on 5th Avenue, but it was difficult because of the reflection.  My daughter said, “Mommy, you can’t get a good photo, so just enjoy the window now.”  She was so right.  I put down my camera and fully enjoyed the windows while I was looking at them.  I may not remember them exactly years from now, but I will never forget that “Christmas in NYC” day with my children.

6.  I traveled often with my family.  We went to Disney World, Club Med Sandpiper, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, London, Paris (twice!), and New York City (twice).   It was the first time that we have traveled to Europe as a family and I was thrilled to show my kids the adventure of traveling internationally.  I think they are hooked and are already talking about our next international trip.

7.  I fell in love with Paris.  I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, but somehow during my European travels as a college student I made it to (southern) France, but missed Paris.   We spent a week in Paris as a family in July and I went again with my husband in December.  Both times I was in heaven.  Isn’t it great when you finally get to experience a place that you’ve been longing to visit and it exceeds your expectations?   I know that some people don’t care for Paris, but for me it was love at first sight (and frankly I just don’t get those people).

8.  I surrendered to motherhood.  This seems silly right?  I’ve been a mother now for over 16 years, so I should have done this long ago.  Well, I did the moment my son was born….and I must continue to surrender all the time.  It’s an on-going process.  Somehow I thought this motherhood thing would get easy with time, when it fact it doesn’t; it just changes.   But as challenging as it is (and it really is right now), I wouldn’t change a thing.   Raising my kids is absolutely without doubt the greatest thing that I have ever had the privilege of doing.

9.  I started taking French lessons.  See, Paris had a huge effect on me!  I plan to go back often, so I figure I should know how to speak the language.

10.  My husband and I celebrated 18 years of marriage.  It’s not a milestone number like 25 years, but 18 seemed like a big deal to us.  It’s a long time!  We woke up that morning and felt the bigness of the number and took the family to an impromptu big, fancy celebration brunch.  It was a really good day.  My husband was even inspired to write a blog post about marriage.

Why was 2011 a good year for you?

© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I stalk MyHabit.com every day at noon, but I never I buy anything for myself.  I do buy clothes for my daughter quite often–very cute clothes at great prices–but I rarely see something for myself or if I do, it’s sold out immediately.  I saw this dress on MyHabit and thought it was so pretty, but alas, it was sold out.  However, I clicked “add to wait list” and would you believe that I got an email several weeks later saying that the dress was available?  I bought it right away and it’s even prettier in real life than it was on the website.

I wanted to wear the dress during my trip to Paris.  My husband and I had planned a romantic dinner for our last night in Paris, but I got violently ill that day and spent the evening in my pajamas instead.  While a Santa Tea isn’t the same as a romantic dinner in Paris, at least I got to wear the dress.  It was very warm today, so I didn’t wear anything on my legs.  I should have–my legs are so pale!

Santa Tea at St. Regis hotel

dress – Byron Lars, MyHabit.com

shoes – Miss Sixty, Bloomingdale’s

I have a holiday party tomorrow night and I’ll funk it up with tights, ankle boots, a clutch and bangles.  I don’t get a chance to look like this often, so I am taking full advantage of this festive season!

boots – Boutique 9, Bloomingdale’s

tights – Nordstrom

clutch – Hobo, Nordstrom

I’m linking up with What I Wore Wednesday , Real Momma, Real Style and Monday Mingle.
        

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I’ve reposted this blog post since 2008 and every year I get some interesting responses.  I would love to hear yours.  The question of the day is:

SANTA CLAUS: DO YOU OR DON’T YOU?

Look at this man; does he give you a warm feeling inside or make you want to spit on the ground in disgust?  The question of the hour is: Santa Claus-do you or don’t you?

I had a magical memory of Santa Claus that stayed with me until just a few years ago.  Long ago when I was a little girl and sleeping on Christmas Eve, I heard a noise in my living room.  I jumped out of bed and peeked in my parents’ room; they were asleep.  Then I looked in the living room and sure enough, there was a figure of a man putting something under the tree.  Well, since I didn’t want Santa to sprinkle pepper in my eyes, I ran back to my bed and stayed in there the rest of the night.  In the morning there were presents under the tree as usual, but I had a secret–I had actually seen Santa Claus!  Even when I grew up and stopped believing in Santa, there was always a part of me that remembered that night and said “but still….there was someone in the living room.”  I never discussed that night with my parents until recently and I wished that I hadn’t; my mother told me that it was my Uncle Robert putting my gift under the tree.  Of course, that makes sense as there had to be some logical explanation.  But it was nice to have that magical memory all these years; to just simply believe.

I don’t remember when I stopped believing or how.  I don’t think it was anything dramatic; I just sort of gradually grew out of it.   There was no drama involved–unlike my son’s revelation.   He was 8 years old when he asked me point blank if there was a Santa Claus.  I looked at him to gauge if he really wanted to know and he asked again straight-up, “Mommy, tell the truth; is there a Santa Claus?”  What else could I say when he asked like that?  I was less nervous telling him where babies come from!  I took a deep breath and told him the truth.  And then he burst into tears.

Months later when Christmas had come and gone and we had a rare moment alone with our son, my husband and I asked him about his reaction to my “confession.”   He then proceeded to rage about how we had lied to him, betrayed him and how he could never trust us again.  Wow; my husband and I were shocked!  Neither one of us had ever felt “betrayed” by our parents about Santa, but now that I have talked to others, I have learned that his reaction is not uncommon.    I have several friends who felt betrayed like our son and consequently do not introduce Santa Claus to their children.   Other friends feel that Santa Claus dilutes the true meaning of Christmas and therefore do not make Santa a part of their Christmas celebration.

While I can appreciate the logic of my friends and honor my son’s feelings, Santa still visits our house every year.   To me, believing in Santa Claus is like going to Disney World; yeah, the rides are fun, but I go to see The Mouse.  Without him and the Disney “magic”, it’s just another amusement park.  My son has since calmed down; he is old enough now to appreciate the magic of Santa Claus through his baby sister’s eyes and he has fun with it.   But even so, we are careful to put Santa Claus in the proper perspective; he is just a fun part of Christmas–not the reason.   We do not go to elaborate extremes to make his presence more real, just some cookies and milk left out on Christmas Eve.  I do take my daughter to see Santa at the mall, but I don’t think she really cares one way or the other; I do it because I am competitive.   See, there is a very popular Santa at the high-end mall here in Atlanta; he has a real white beard and longish white hair and is great with the kids.   The wait to see him used to be hours long, but a few years ago they implemented an online appointment system.  Great idea, but the appointments were booked immediately and I could never get a slot.  It became an (obsessive) goal of mine to secure a space to see this Santa!  Now, for the second year in a row I have been one of the lucky (or crazy) people online the day the appointments open and scored a time to see Santa.   Next I emailed the neighbors to gloat.

I’m certain that I only have a couple more years left for my daughter to sit on Santa’s lap.  An inquisitive child, she is already asking too many questions.  Maybe I can tell her that Santa is like the CIA and only operates on a “need to know” basis.  Do you think that will buy me a few more years?  This is my last child and I want to keep the magic alive!  I want her to believe!

What about you?  Santa Claus: do you or don’t you?  Discuss.

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I love to bake during Christmastime! I don’t bake sweets any other time of the year because my sweet-toothed daughter and husband don’t need any encouragement, but I indulge them during the holiday season. Usually my daughter helps, so we get to spend time together and the results are delicious.

We like to leave cookies for Santa Claus that we have decorated ourselves. Sometimes we make gingerbread men and sometimes we make butter cookies. I know your temptation is to buy the roll of cookie dough at the grocery store, because you’re thinking, “The fun is in decorating, who cares about the taste. Besides, those refrigerator cookies taste pretty good!” Those refrigerator cookies don’t taste too bad, but quality matters. Do you really know what’s in that cookie dough? This recipe is not hard at all and the cookies are delicious. Make the dough a day ahead and then when it’s time to bake and decorate, it’s just as easy as store-bought dough. I’m sure Santa will appreciate the extra effort.

The Best Christmas Cookie Cutter Recipe

These Gingerbread and Lemon Sandwich Cookies are fancier than the butter cookies and they make perfect gifts. I made these cookies last year for my daughter’s teachers. I think these are the best cookies that I have ever made; they are divine! I’m making them again this year for sure.

Gingerbread and Lemon Sandwich Cookies

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© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Funki and oh-so-helpful organizing & life-hacking tips by yours truly. Like McGyver, who could dismantle a bomb with a roll of duct tape, a toothpick and a nail file, I am Ma-Gyver, organizer of everything and life-hacker extraordinaire. From time to time I will be bringing you my tips and tricks for keeping an orderly house and mind.

Christmastime is here, my favorite time of the year! My tree is decorated, the Christmas cards have been sent off and pretty much all the gifts have been bought.

Ugh, you say, she’s “one of those organized types.” Hey, don’t hate me, learn from me! I want to help you get organized for Christmas; it’s not too late!

This is my secret.

Check out these blog posts about how I get organized for Christmas and I promise you can do it too.

A Ma-Gyver Christmas, Part 1

A Ma-Gyver Christmas, Part 2

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.