Cocktails for a Cause and What I Wore to Wal-Mart

Every year, for the past several years, my Mother and I have “adopted” a family for Christmas. We do still exchange gifts but it just seems more fun to buy gifts for the less fortunate. Am I right?

This year a friend of mine set up an event to help raise money with her co-workers for adopting an angel family. They set up a “wine tasting and brewery tour.” You maybe thinking that’s sounds different… as was I. It turned out I may have been told it was a "wine tasting" because everyone knows I am anything but a beer drinker… can we say waste of calories? #DietVodkaSodaPlease 

So back to the BEER tasting at the Brewery…

We tasted all the Bunny Food grains. 

The “don’t embarrass me with talk about Bunny Brewery Hops” look.  (While we were tasting Hops.)

We learned about filtering… and learned that you should NOT wear suede kitten heels on Brewery Tours. 

I have to admit the foam on a fresh beer is pretty tasty! 

Then after an Italian Feast and some Birthday Toasts we headed to Wal-Mart for some late night shopping. Yes, this really happened. #WhenInWalmart

The donations for the Brewery Tour raised enough money to purchase everything on the list for the needy family. I am so proud to have such thoughtful and generous friends. Do y'all have any good ideas for charity event?

 On a side note last week a coworker told me "You are so the girl on the TV show 2 Broke Girls" during a conversation about my unreasonable obsession with vintage furs. This did not sound like anything I wanted to be associated with. So I watched the Christmas Episode on Christmas day.... and ohhhh sis was she right. I am can not wait to write about this topic! Get excited!

Cheers! XOXO

Elle

Not Your Traditional Holiday Game

Hope y’all had a fabulous holiday!!! The past two weeks have been such a blur! I love all of the holiday parties with Friends and Family (and getting dressed up for causal events and it totally being acceptable.) This year we had a cocktail party for Friendsmas. It was similar to Friendsgiving but with a traditional game that was pretty amazing. 

Have you heard of “White Elephant” or Ornament Exchanges? Well we don’t do those. ;) We play a game that I high suggest for wine drinkers. It requires all guests bring 2 glasses of wine and have a lot of fun!

Here is how it is played:

• Every player brings 2 bottles of wine that are the same.
• One bottle is wrapped in a paper bag and numbered. The matching bottles of wine are set aside as prizes.
• Everyone keeps a score card and grades each bottle of wine. Use whatever system works for you. I graded them A+ to F-- as any good teacher would. Others took a more emotional approach: “Good” to “Not Bad” to “Yuck” to “Smells like Marijuana” to “Worst Imaginable”  to “Worse than Worst Imaginable.”
• Once you have tried all the wines collect the ballots. If your scoring system only makes sense to you then mark your favorite and runner up and the bottom one.
• Tally the scores for the best, second best and worst. (Only use the  runner up votes as a tie breaker to keep it simple.)

Score cards revealed!

Prizes...

The worst should be named first, that way you can show them the door. Only kidding. They get their bottle of wine back… because no one else will want it. 

The runner up gets their bottle of wine back to take home and selects another bottle of their choice.

The winner takes home all the remaining bottles. Yes I said ALL. In some cases there maybe enough to fill a wine rack.

 Image Via

Here is a little hint…

 if you are with a large group a sweet white or even blush will always win. I would bring a nice red but I would likely be one of the few who would enjoy it. Here are my recommendations if you want to be the  winner: Schmitt Sohne Blue Bottle Spatlese or Berringer White Zinfandel.

Have you tried this game before? SOOO much better than "White Elephant" am I right?

Cheers to only 364 More days till Christmas!!! 

XOXO, Elle 

Christmas Shopping on Christmas Eve?

So I am incredibly behind on my Christmas Shopping this year... Shocked? I blame the egg nog! This year I am getting all of the co-worker and friends gifts at Lush. I love Lush products! They are perfect for the person who has everything... AKA me! (Hint, Hint!) They are a mixture between upscale beauty products and hippy handmade products. Have you tried any of their products? I have only recently discovered this gem of a store and I want to try EVERYTHING! (Actually that is a lie... they make all natural hair dye... no thanks! Give me some bleach!)

Below are some of the Christmas seasonal items that I picked up for some of the ladies. They are all for a limited time only.. :) I have heard A-MAZ-ING things about the Popcorn Sugar Scrub, and I love trying all the Bath Bombs! The best part is that they have a descent selection of gift wrap gifts for under $20! Genius!

Clockwise:

Christmas Eve Bath bomb here.

Mr. Punch Soap here.

Popcorn Sugar Scrub here.

Had A very shiny Nose here.

Happy Hanukka here.

Merry Holidays Ladies! 
XOXO,

Elle

Shady Hook Memorial

This week I had full intentions of doing a Birthday Recap… in light of the tragedy in Shady Hook I had decided to postpone that. I am someone who typically deals with situations with humor and distraction but I just can’t bring myself to type any witty or sarcastic jokes in this post. This is a situation that for me hits very close to my home. For 5 years I taught kindergarten…  during my final year of teaching the teacher across the hall took her own life. It has brought back the overwhelming emotions: “What could we have done to stop it?” It brought back the phone call. It brought back the children’s tears. It brought back the feeling of helplessness. How do we make sense of something senseless to children? As adults we have all of the answers: Why is the sky blue? Why is it warm in summer? But why did this happen? Are they safe at school? What will happen to their Christmas presents under the tree? We do not have these answers.

The only answer I do have is prayer and love. It is a reminder that for those of us still here, that life is short and uncertain. Hug those you love. Reach out to those around you because you never know what personal battles they are fighting. Do not dwell on the past but make an effort to not let it repeat itself. Please take time to say more than hello to a co work or neighbor who seems off. Your simple act of kindness could stop a tragedy. Most of all remember...

Teachers are truly amazing people. These teachers were more than amazing… they were heroes. They will be in my prayers. 

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

 Rachel D'Avino, 29

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

Victoria Soto, 27

 Mary Sherlach, 56

 Charlotte Bacon, 6

Olivia Engel, 6

Dylan Hockley, 6

Jesse Lewis, 6

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

Grace McDonnell, 7

Emilie Parker, 6

Noah Pozner, 6

Jessica Rekos, 6

Daniel Barden, 7

Josephine Gay, 7

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Catherine Hubbard, 6

Chase Kowalski, 7

James Mattioli, 6

Jack Pinto, 6

Caroline Previdi, 6

Avielle Richman, 6

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Allison Wyatt, 6.

 If you are like me the first thing I think of is how can I help? I have located several ways to donate through a simple Google search to the memorial funds, funeral funds, or families of the victims here are some locations I have found to do so. There are also many more Facebook pages create to funnel donations. Here are some I found:

Noah's Ark of Hope Fund

Newtown United Way Fund

To send a card to the victims: P.O. Box 3700, Newtown, CT 06470

XOXO, Elle