Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year!

Well friends, 2012 is almost history. It has been a good year for the Ms; so much so that I almost hate to see it go.
This year brought our first anniversary, an amazing trip to San Francisco and the Napa Valley, multiple beach trips, more fun concerts, two trips to New York City, a new job for me, and more everday fun with Mr. M. This newlywed(ish) life suits us well, and the only part of letting 2012 go that isn't so bad, is the hope that 2013 will be just as fun!

I wish you all a safe and fun New Year's Eve and all the happiness in 2013!

Before I go- as much as I love the Christmas season, I hate seeing it end even more. The Miller High house is officially Christmas-free. So while I'm mourning the loss of all of my festive decor, here are a few around-the-house Christmas phone photos before it's the new year and Christmas 2012 is truly past tense.

My baby tree in the family room


Before and After

Ornament from our 1st Anniversary trip to California

New ornament to celebrate 2012 SEC Championship


Another new addition this year- from our December 2012 NYC trip


Another fave- gift last year on our 1st Christmas as The Millers

Pinterest project!

Terrible quality, but you can see some of our lights

Favorite Christmas candle- Nest "Holiday"

Hanging boxwood balls


Another pinterest project- ornament wreath


And another favorite part of Christmas- greetings from loved ones

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

~love~

link-up

Today I can only think of one thing I'm loving:
Christmas.

I try to keep perspective on how many things I have to be thankful for throughout the entire year, but there's nothing quite like the Christmas season to make you realize just how truly blessed you are. While it was certainly a whirlwind of travel across the state of Alabama, we had a wonderful Christmas with our loved ones. It all flew by so quickly, splitting time between my family and Mr. M's family, but we did manage to see a few friends as well. Of course the last few days were loaded with tons of delicious food, lots of laughs, more great memories, and an abundance of love. And with all the fun and chaos I barely took a single picture. Below are just a few that I found on my phone.
I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas celebration as well!

White Christmas - a new seasonal favorite

Mom's kitty Charlie

Mom's other kitty Jaxie

Christmas cookies!

Loved having this cutie swing by for a visit

Granny's tree

Mr. M's family tree with tons of childhood ornaments

Crab Pie- a Christmas appetizer tradition

more Christmas goodies

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!

Sending a very Merry Christmas from our home to your's!

May you all have a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and food!


Peace, Love & Joy this Christmas season!

Friday, December 21, 2012

2012 Christmas Card

Despite being much later this year than normal, I managed to throw together our Christmas card and get them in the mail just in the nick of time. I'm usually a "week after Thanksgiving" type of girl when it comes to our Christmas cards, but this year seemed to be busier than last and the holiday season has simply flown by. Now that everything is successfully in the mail or delivered to loved ones' homes, I wanted to share this year's Christmas card. Unfortunately time and budget don't allow us to send a card to everyone, but we wish you all a very Merry Christmas nonetheless!


Front

Back

May the rest of your holiday season be filled with love, laughter and great memories!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

favorite things

Last Sunday evening I invited a handful of girls over for a Favorite Things party. I initially got the party idea from a friend but relied on Pinterest for more information. It seems like anytime we have guests over to the Miller High Life house, I'm always so busy running around and talking to people that I never remember to take any pictures. That said, here's the Favorite Things party recap with very limited visual aides.

Invitation draft
 As soon as I decided to go through with the party, my first step was to get busy on an invitation. Candace has never let me down before, so as usual I reached out to her for design expertise. While a Favorite Things party can be held at any time for any reason, I knew mine would be somewhat Christmas-y given the time of year. I wanted an invitation that featured some classic Christmas colors but also had a fun girly touch. Enter a Christmas chevron pattern with some hot pink touches- perfection. I had the invitations printed on brown craft paper card stock and tied each one up with red and white bakers twine - an ode to the famous song lyric "brown paper packages tied up with string".


Invites printed and ready to be mailed


I asked each girl to bring 3 of her favorite things, as well as a favorite dessert or appetizer to share. Technically guests should pick one favorite thing, and then buy 3 of that thing, not spending more than $20 total on all items. We had a little confusion about this, but it worked just fine to have a couple of people bring 3 different things. It just meant we got to learn about even more favorite things!


Food and Favorite Things table

I wish I had more pictures of the food and favorite things - so many delicious treats and fun things. For my 3 favorite things, I made a little bundle of two of my favorite items: colorful cozy socks (because no one likes frosty feet in the winter) and the best Sally Hansen top coat (dries fast and prevents chips).

Favorite Things bags
Keeping with the "brown paper packages" theme, I bought brown craft bags and tied them with a gift tag that read "These are a few of our Favorite Things". I gave the girls these bags to put their gifts in to take home. Also in the bag, I included a small party favor: a bright colored frame with a quote from one of my favorite Christmas movies!

Framed quote

Since the girls were bringing snacks and desserts, I opted to make a hearty soup and cider. Taking another cue from Pinterest, I had some frozen red rasberries for the girls to add a little Christmas cheer to their wine or wine spritzers. I've shared the soup and cider recipes below.

Crockpot Apple Cider
  • 1 gallon apple cider
  • 4-5 whole cinnamon sticks
  • 1 tablespoon whole cloves
  • 1 tablespoon whole all spice
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 orange sliced
Add all ingredients to the crockpot and cook on high for at least 2 hours. Reduce heat to warm and let sit 30 minutes. Serve.

Tortellini Sausage Soup
  • 3-4 links of Italian sausage
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 15oz. cans of chicken broth
  • 1 16oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1 8oz. can totmato sauce
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1 tsp. dried basil
  • 2 Tbsp. dried parsley
  • 2 medium zucchini, grated
  • 10oz. package of cheese tortelli
Remove the link sausage from the casing. Brown sausage in skillet. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is clear. After draining, add this to crockpot. Add all other ingredients except the zucchini, tortellini, and parsley to the crockpot. Cook on high for a half hour.
Add the remaining ingredients and continue to cook on high for another 15 minutes or until tortellini is tender.
Reduce heat to warm and let sit 30 minutes. Serve.

Delicious cider

Serving area for soup, cider, and wine spritzers

After some eating and visiting, we kicked off the game. As girls came in, I had them write down their name three times on seperate pieces of paper and place them in a bowl. As the hostess, I started things off my drawing three names from the bowl and passing out my favorite thing bundles to the 3 girls. As I distributed them, I explained why I chose each of the items as my favorite. From there, the last name that I drew went next and proceeded to draw another 3 names, making sure not to choose her own name or 2 of the same name. Everyone ended up with 3 new favorite things, and I thought it was so fun to hear about everyone's favorite things as the game progressed. Items ranged from shampoo to nail polish to coffee to wine to etc.

Favorite Things Questionnaire Game
After everyone had passed our their favorite things and received 3 new favorite things, we had one more game on the agenda. I passed of the above questionnaires to all the girls and asked them to answer a series of questions about their favorite things. When everyone was done, we read each question out loud and took turns sharing. If anyone had written down the same favorite thing as you, you crossed it off your list (similar to Scattegories). We continued this for each question on the list, and at the end, the person with the most items NOT crossed off won an additional prize. For our winner, the additional prize happened to be more of my favorite things: a large Bath & Body Works "Winter" candle and Reese's Christmas Trees!

The only picture I got with any of the guests

It was such a fun time, and now that I understand how it works, I cannot wait to host another favorite things party!

What item would you take to a Favorite Things Party?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

fall, friends, football, fun

Our fall was filled with lots of friends, lots of football, and lots of fun. Here's a very brief look at some of the things we were up to during that long disappearance.



First game of the season! RTR





Too much post-game fun at Billy's!




Two of my favorite people

And one of the many reasons why they are my favorites










SEC Championship at Otey's

 
A trip to Pensacola for this sweet couple's gorgeous wedding


My project for Mr. M's birthday



Ta-da!


Girls' Night at Miranda Lambert!




Eric Church concert fun!


Bumped into Santa at the Midnight Premiere of Breaking Dawn: Part 2