Friday Favorites: Christmas Movies and Songs

Friday Favorites are back for at least two weeks. January is going to be another busy month, so I'm not sure how many Friday Favorites I will be able to complete.

I love Christmas! It's one of my favorite times of year. I especially love the music and the movies. Here are a few of my favorites.

My favorite Christmas songs:
Baby, It's Cold Outside
Santa Baby
Ave Maria
Little Saint Nick
Do You Hear What I Hear
Little Drummer Boy
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
The First Noel
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Breath Of Heaven (Mary’s Song)
Where Are You Christmas
O Holy Night
Ave Maria

Favorite Christmas Movies (in no particular order)

(Dear Santa) PS....

Hey Santa,

Sorry, I have a few extra items to add to my list.

A new umbrella: I realized on my way to get lunch in the rain that my umbrella is really old and kind of broken. A new one would be great!

North Face Coat (black or blue): It's so cold! I really need one of those down coats from North Face (not too puffy). I'm looking for something that's mid thigh or knee length. I'm freezing Santa! Help a girl out.
A new apartment: I would greatly appreciate it if a beautiful four bedroom apartment on the upper west side would open in January! It would really start my year off with a bang. I really just need a bigger room. I want to sleep on a big girl bed (anything larger than a twin!). I feel like I have slept on a twin long enough. Please help!
An arranged marriage (well, maybe a coupon for one): So, I just heard that someone asked for an arranged marriage for Christmas. I didn't know you could ask for this! I would have asked years ago! Well, I don't know if I need an arranged marriage, but I would love to have it as a fall back plan. So, maybe a coupon or something would work. Let me know.

So, I know some of these things are kind of bigger, but if you could give me two out of the four, I would be a very happy and promise to be good girl for the rest of my life!

“You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas” (Davy Crockett)

On my last day in Texas, Sarah took me to see the Alamo. We started at the Rivercenter Mall and walked down the riverwalk to the Alamo. I love the riverwalk. I wish we could have stopped for dinner, but the Salt Lick was calling our names.


I really enjoyed the Alamo. We did an audio guided tour, so we learned a lot. I'm glad we did, because I didn't really remember a whole lot of what happened at the Alamo (except that we lost).


We then went to the Salt Lick Bar-B-Que for dinner. This is one of my favorite places in Texas! It's the best!

I really love Texas. I love visiting with Sarah and her family. I always have such an amazing time.

Just Around the Riverbend...

Day two in Texas Sarah and I went to the lake for a little time on the water. I'm not sure what this is called, but basically we paddled around on surf boards. It was a lot of fun. The man renting them told us that the fall-in rate was very high, so plan on getting wet. I'm proud to announce, that we both didn't fall in! It was really cold, but it was a lot of fun.


We then went shopping while we waited to meet Sarah's parents for dinner. Sarah was kind enough to take me to one of the Tiffany's in Austin. I got a toy soldier Christmas ornament.


We also went to see the bats. Supposedly there are a lot of bats that live under a bridge near downtown Austin. At twilight they all fly out in a line. It's supposed to be very impressive. Unfortunately, the bats had all flown south for the winter, so we didn't see much. I'm hoping to go back in the summer to see these infamous bats.


Sarah surprised me after dinner by taking me to see Esther's Follies. It was hilarious! It's a musical/comedy/magic show. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

Rocking around the Christmas Tree...

We decided to get a tree this year! While we walked several blocks to find the perfect tree, we found one a block from our house. Just like last year! I feel like this is going to be a tradition.


We had our own little Christmas tree lighting party with Karen Z on Monday. We made Christmas ornaments and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas. It was so much fun!

Good game, but I was sitting in the wrong row...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

I got sick the night before, so I didn't get to eat much. My Thanksgiving dinner consisted of water, Cliff drinks, and pretzels. Good stuff. Well, I was too sick to eat, but not too sick to go to the Texas vs Texas A&M football game.


It was so fun! I love football and so does the great state of Texas. The fans were crazy! It was a lot of fun watching everyone get into the game.


Every time A&M scored a guy in the row in front of us walked down the row kissing every women. I realized then and there that it was an error wearing UT gear instead of A&M. I totally would have slipped down to the row below. I will never make that mistake again!


At half time, no one left the stadium. Everyone stayed to watched the bands. They were amazing. The UT band was good, but the A&M band was unbelievable!


I'm so glad Sarah was able to get tickets! We had Show alla blast!

DEAR SANTA,

How are you? How’s the misses? I hope you had a relaxing yet productive year this year. Thanks so much for all of my Christmas gifts last year. You know just what I want/need. You’re the perfect man! Well, I just want you to know that I have been particularly good this year (loads better then the past two years), so I hope you will award me “nice” on your list.

Here are a few things I would like this year.

A cute ornament stand: Something like this. I have some really heavy ornaments that I can’t put on my tree, but I would still like to display them. I would prefer something that’s back or silver, but I will take what I can get.Nalgene Wide-Mouth Loop-Top Round Bottle - 32 fl. Oz: I like the one below. I need this one so it will match the other one I have and you know I’m all about matching.A car: I really don’t care what kind of car, but I think it would be nice to have a set of wheels.

A nice parking spot in the city: I only need this if I get the car :)

Sea To Summit eVent Compression Dry Sack - 7 x 16: Gotta keeps things dry
World peace

New Furniture for my room: I’m tired of sleeping on a twin…I want a big girl bed.
The movie Up

Jewelry: I really want some cute earrings.

Cocoon Cotton Mummy LinerBooks from the Penguin Cloth-bound Classic Series (covers designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith): I only need Wuthering Heights, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, and The Picture of Dorian Gray to complete my collection of all books available in the US.Tickets to the Opera: I keep saying I’m going to see an opera and never do. Maybe if you get me tickets I would actually go.

A knight in shining armor – armor is optional – A prince will do too: I know I have asked for this the past two years…third time’s a charm, Santa!

A cute recipe book

A lifetime supply of Rice to Riches.

Well, I think that will do for this year. Thanks again for everything! You’re the best. Don’t work too hard over the next few weeks. Remember to get your rest.

Merry Christmas!
-erika

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm in Texas with Sarah and her family. I'll make sure to give you a play by play when I get back. Have a great holiday weekend.

Day 2 with Sarah

Is it possible to top the amazing Friday we had? Yes! Sarah and I started off our Saturday with a walk in Central Park. It’s so beautiful in the fall. I really should spend more time in the park.

We then caught the matinee of Hamlet. Wow! I’m not really a fan of Hamlet, but I’m a fan of Jude Law! Yes, Jude Law was playing Hamlet. It was really good. It was so funny! Yeah, I know…Funny? Jude played a very sarcastic, crazy, adorable, prince. It was so fun seeing him in action. His performance took Hamlet to a whole new level for me. There were scenes that I couldn’t remember from previous performances, but the way Jude performed them made them memorable. I’m glad we went.

We then made our way over to Serendipity. We love Serendipity! It was a two hour wait, so Sarah and I got some needed shopping in while we waited. It actually worked out beautifully. We were seated seconds after we returned. The food was amazing! We ended up getting dessert (we didn’t do this the first time we went). We couldn’t decide on what was best so we had the waiter surprise us. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was peanut butter goodness. I really don’t know why I don’t go there more often.

Another great day!

SARAH! Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah...

Sarah came for a short visit this weekend. I have been looking forward to her coming for some time and I'm so excited that she's finally here.
I took Friday afternoon off work so we could go out and play. After lounging about the apartment for awhile we went out to eat at Mughlai. KZ recommended it and I'm sure glad she did, because it was amazing. Sarah and I both love Indian food, so this was the place for us.


We then headed down to Time Square to see A Steady Rain. It's a two man play about two Chicago cops. Oh, and who were the two men playing the cops? Well, that would be Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman (insert high pitch girly scream here). It was amazing! I wasn't so sure how I would like the two man show thing, but these guys pulled it off sooo well. I truly have a new found respect for Daniel Craig. He started talking in his Chicago accent and I couldn't believe that this man was James Bond. He truly is a talented actor. Hugh Jackman did a fabulous job as well. The two had great chemistry. I really enjoyed the play. It kind of jumps around a lot, but I thought it was written so well that you could follow. It had a lot of surprises. Good show!


My favorite part was at the end when both actors came out to do a little blurb about donating money to Broadway Cares (most shows do this this time of year). This show was slightly different because instead of just donating money they had an auction for the two white beaters that Daniel and Hugh were wearing for the show. Sarah and I almost lost it when they started stripping down to the white beaters. Both shirts went for $10k! The people that won got to go back and meet the guys and have their pictures taken with them. They also offered for people to donate $2k to go back and get your picture taken with them. I was so tempted, but I was strong and restrained myself.

It was a great Friday night!