Minted: My 5 Favorite Christmas Cards

This post was sponsored by Minted.com. The thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Now that Halloween almost seems like a distant memory, the holiday season is here - whether you like it or not! I actually heard a Christmas song playing at the mall this weekend, and all the shops I went in have their decorations up. One thing that I think tends to be a really fun tradition around the holidays is sending out and receiving cards. For this post, Minted asked me to share my favorite Christmas designs from their site to help you get inspired. Minted is the online stationery store powered by a global community of designers. I have been a fan of their cards for a long time - they have amazing designs. Here are 5 of my favorites (with images from my year, of course):

1. The winter brush foil pressed holiday card adds a lovely shine to your holiday card. It makes Stevie look even more dashing than usual ; )

2. I love the heaven and nature photo card - it's such a pretty lyric from Joy to the World, and it works perfectly if you have a pretty nature photo to share, like this one from our trip to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

3. The stamped circle Christmas card is great if you have a few photos to share, for example, we don't have any good ones with Stevie, but lots of Stevie!

4. The sophisticate Christmas card is really simple but lovely. I wish I had more pictures of Andrew and me from his sister's wedding!

5. Finally, I think the wreck the halls card is hilarious. Stevie is misrepresented here, because he's actually a very good cat. But I think if you have some naughty pets or kids, this card is for you!

Minted has so many great designs, I don't know what to choose for our holiday card! There are also a million or so great designs that I didn't show here for big events like new babies, an engagement, and other news to share from your year. If you have any questions about Minted, leave them in the comments! And tell me which Christmas card is your favorite : )

Holiday Photobooth

Before the twelve days of Christmas are officially over (I really need to take down the tree this weekend), I just wanted to share a few of my favorite photobooth pictures from a friend's Christmas party! I did help create this photobooth, but I didn't make it the wonder it became. I painted the JOY letters red, though! And I made the reindeer antlers and Santa beards. I was very proud. The dress is from Target in case you wondered! Happy weekend, lovelies!

Private Selections Holiday

My latest BzzCampaign is for Private Selections, which is a brand exclusively available at the Kroger family of stores. They are encouraging us to use their gourmet selections when hosting this holiday season. I tried out a few of the options today, so I wanted to share my thoughts!

I topped the Classic Water Crisp Crackers with some Havarti cheese, cucumber, and tomato with a basil leaf. It was a super fresh and easy appetizer that you could serve while guests are waiting for dinner. The crackers didn't seem like they'd break easily, so that's perfect for preparing an appetizer like this!

I loooove Greek salad, and making this earlier brought me back to all the great salads I enjoyed in Croatia. I used the Authentic Greek Kalamata olives to, well, make it authentic! The only thing I was bummed about was that they are not pitted. They'd probably be less authentic if they were! Still delicious!

I then enjoyed some Costa Rican coffee, yum! It smells and tastes amazing. The perfect ending to a great meal for sure. Private Selections also has a full line of goodies including desserts and ice cream, so preferably I'd include that with the coffee.

This turned out a little dark, oops!

I'd definitely recommend trying out the gourmet Private Selections offerings. I think I will try to utilize the olives and crackers for a holiday party I am providing food for. I have lots of 20% coupons if anyone is interested! It's so fun to make pretty appetizers and a gourmet dinner you can feel proud of, and Private Selections makes it possible. Have you tried anything from the line? I'd sure like to know how the ice cream and the caramel truffle coffee tastes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 I went out last night and had one beer, saw the most important person necessary, and took an adorable picture! Andrew and Laura (Colleen's other best friend and one of the sweetest people I have ever met) were there as well, just no pictures of them!

Ellie is the most photogenic girl. I love getting to see her!

Andrew feels the same way about his dog, Heidi. Aww.

The table spread at Andrew's neighbors' house, where we had our first meal of the day. 

 Andrew's plate, not mine. I didn't eat any turkey, and good thing because it makes you tired and I'm about to go shopping! My crazy mother is at Walmart (and so is my dad, but he works there) trying to get a television. I refused to face that madness, so I am waiting until Macy's opens at midnight, then going to Target at 4am (ugh), and Kohl's tomorrow before the good sales end. Craziness!

What was the best part of your Thanksgiving? The weather here was amazing today, so besides the obvious, that was my favorite part! And are you going Black Friday shopping? It's such a shame so many stores opened on Thanksgiving this year. Hopefully next year they can just open at like 8am and then I won't have to give up sleeping! Have a good night, whatever you're doing!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I would love to know what you decided to dress up as in the comments! Andrew and I went as Suzy and Sam from Moonrise Kingdom! It was a fun costume and mooooost people knew who we were. We didn't take many pictures, but here's what I've got:

Dora the Explorer, Raoul Duke from Fear and Loathing, Suzy Bishop and Sam Shakusky (note Swedish Chef behind us! He was with Honeydew and Beaker, and we also saw a really great Dexter and Mugatu from Zoolander. 

We got extra points for dressing up at trivia! We did not win, so we needed the boost! Another team dressed as the cast of Clue, which was a fun idea! They just didn't have very good costumes.

I already know what I want to be next year! What were you/what clever costumes did you see?

Scrambled Eggs

so i took a break from the blog again, but then i had a meeting yesterday where i was asked by two people if i write. i think they asked because i really like social media, but i was still surprised that they both wondered this. so i told them about this dinky blog and found some motivation from that scenario to update!

team zissou (my trivia team) has been in full swing these last few weeks trying to get invited to the finals. i don't think we will make it, but it's been fun going more often and testing our knowledge. last night at gipper's we won! i mainly contributed on the beatles question, "what huge beatles ballad did paul mccartney call 'scrambled eggs' until he actually wrote the lyrics?" i guessed "yesterday" because of the number of syllables, and scored one for team zissou. i will let you know if we make it to finals this season!

lately i've been keeping busy with meeting lots of new people per nancy's (my steelcase mentor) kindness, helpfulness, and large network of people. everyone has been so helpful and interesting in their own way, and i definitely appreciate people taking the time to talk with me. it's been difficult to make a name for myself in grand rapids because i'm not from here, but i have some hope now! one exciting opportunity that has come out of this is that i am volunteering for mindshare next tuesday. mindshare is an annual event put on by the grand rapids student advancement foundation, which raises money to benefit the grand rapids public school system. without them, many students wouldn't have access to musical instruments, graphing calculators, or new books in the library. it should be a really great event, and i never complain when a vegetarian amway meal is involved: )

more later. cleanin' time!

i leave you with a couple pictures from our easter brunch for dinner. i hope you all had a relaxing easter!