The 6th Annual Christmas Party!

My friend Jordan and I (see the above pic? That's us!) hosted our 6th annual holiday soiree last weekend and I say this every year but think it was the best year yet!

Instead of a sit down dinner with place cards and hams and potatoes and lots of stress, we did a cocktail-style event and it was fabulous! We had cabaret tables and about 20 different appetizers and desserts, not to mention holiday punch and of course, the white elephant gift exchange! 

This year might have been the best year when it comes to the... um... variety of the white elephant gifts haha and seriously it was such a blast. 

I ended up with a Christmas clock that plays holiday songs every hour and some other lucky winners went home with a 49ers snuggy, a homemade twinky machine, and a pickle (to name a few!) 

This party is one that I look forward to each year - it's the best way to get all our friends from the past 6+ years together and spend a fabulous evening mingling and chatting and catching up. 

This year we had over 50 people come (!!!) and a new addition to the festivities included a photo backdrop that was made by Jordan's sister Kendel - it was maybe the most amazing backdrop I've ever seen and she also was the unofficial photographer of the night and took everyone's pictures in front of it! (seriously Kendel, you're a champ) I didn't even manage to take any photos of the centerpieces, the food, or the decor because I was too busy chatting and then suddenly 4 hours had passed and the party was over. 

What a night! Without any snow around it had hardly felt like Christmas, but after this party I was catapulted right into the Christmas spirit!

And thank you to everyone who came!

And I apologize in advance if your picture didn't make this post! There were  a lot to sort through and some most likely definitely slipped through the cracks!

^^^ Look at how amazing this made-from-scratch-and-held-together-with-3-nails backdrop is!

See previous years HERE and HERE!

So so thankful in 2014:

A few things I'm thankful for this year:

(yes, it's halfway through December but there was no way this post was going to get written in the middle of finals week - which I survived, by the way. 

So Happy very-late Thanksgiving! Hope yours was grand.)

>>> A husband who is unbelievably supportive of me and my dreams and also equally willing and excited to plan adventures around the world or just binge-watch Game of Thrones in our apartment. 

>>> The fact that I'm somehow in medical school and learning to be a doctor! I have a moment at least weekly where I can't believe this is my life - SO GRATEFUL!

>>> My family (and especially my parents!) that not only do I love, but I love being around! I love our hilarious group chats and face-timing at midnight and how I know they've always got my back - they're my people, and I am thankful for it. 

>>> Friends - new and old - that care about my life and make me realize how wonderful people can be (and are so much fun to buy Christmas presents for!)

>>> Our little apartment that is in the perfect location and is the perfect size for me and JP - not to mention the fabulous family that is renting it to us!

And now, a few pictures from our Thanksgiving, including but not limited to matching sweaters, deep fried turkey, and black and white checkered McKenzie Child dinnerware:

Things that happen when I should be studying:

Hello!

It's finals week, which means I'm basically a hermit. I wake up early, study, go to class, study, eat, study, and stay up late studying more. 

I eat terribly, consume wayyyy too much caffeine, and discover weird things online when I'm taking studying breaks. 

(I also do things like design and order Christmas cards at 2 AM.... so that happened).

BUT, some good has come of my mindless web browsing that occurs when I can't remember even one more equation or commit one more metabolic pathway to memory and they are THE YEAR-END MASHUPS. 

I live for these. December rolls around and random awesome people combine all the top songs from the year into one song and it's PURE MAGIC. 

So, without further ado (and because the allotted time I've given myself for a study break is up) here are my favs thus far!

THIS ONE is my favorite - their talent is unbelievable. 

THIS ONE is a classic. 

And THIS ONE might be a 100% Taylor Swift mashup but.... It's amazing so you should definitely listen to it. #1989

Also, here are some medical school pictures, because I'm almost 1/8 a doctor and I haven't posted any proof at all on my blog:

#picsoritdidn'thappen

^^^ we learned how to put casts on each other! 

^^^ this was probably the coolest day of my life 

^^^ I have a friend who takes pictures of me every time I fall asleep in class.... 

The 4th Annual Pie Party!

This party is JP's baby. 

Ever since the first year we were married, he's made sure we've never missed a year. 

The premise is fairly simple - bring a homemade pie, make sure you sample all the entries, and then there's the vote - & no voting for your own pie, of course. 

The coveted pilgrim trophy has been passed down through all the generations of the pie party and this year the grand winner was a Samoan-Girl-Scout-Cookie-Pie and it was delish!!

At one count we had 14 pies entered, making this our most successful pie party ever! 

See previous years' parties HERE, HERE, and HERE!

The winning chef!!

A Weekend in Park City:

This past weekend JP and I went up to Park City with our friends Eric and Kimmi for a weekend getaway!

We headed up on Friday and continued our halloween tradition of getting Chinese takeout for dinner. 

We played games and went hot tubbing, watched movies and the boys played a lot of FIFA. On Saturday we lounged around and explored shops on mainstreet, followed by dinner at Zoom!

Then, probably the best moment of all was waking up to SNOW on Sunday! It was seriously magical. 

And now we're trying to come up with a reason to go back this weekend haha

The Annual Halloween Party!

So I'm averaging two blog posts a month... which is totally pathetic. But hopefully this post will make up for the complete lack of posting during the month of October 

(let me catch you up -- studying, eating out late at night, watching all the seasons of "New Girl", studying some more, taking a million tests, not sleeping, occasionally cleaning my apartment, and going on a drive to look at fall leaves only to discover we were about 1 week too late haha)

Anyways, one thing we did manage to fit in was our annual Halloween party!

And my goodness, it was such a fun time. 

We had the best turnout, completely halloween-themed treats, and played the most hilarious party game (in which the boys beat us twice but I try not to think about that). 

JP and I were Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, and seriously people's costumes were absolutely amazing -- I was so impressed!

Check out last year's party here!

And our costumes from 2012 here!