our home smells like christmas.

i almost leaked myself saturday when i finally saw the men selling trees on the corner. 

i would have bought one 3 months ago if available,

but for some reason they feel it necessary to wait one month before christmas to bring them out!

 in our three christmas's together, we'd never bought a real tree,

just had our sad {yet slightly adorable} charlie brown tree. 

but this year, i put my foot down.

i wanted, no needed, a christmas tree!

upon sight of the first tree i shouted, "beautiful! we'll take it!",

 but hubs had to quickly reel me back seeing that i was a little uneducated
in the whole tree-buying business. {my mom was a big believer in the costco trees}.

who knew you had to evaluate every single attribute: needle length, branch thickness, 

sturdiness, and the list goes on...

but after finding our pretty little thing, we sang christmas carols all the way home,
followed by a bit of home alone action as we decorated.

macy's day parade

every thanksgiving, my dad and the boys would play football

while my mom and i stayed home to prepare dinner and

watch the macy's day parade on tv. 

and every year, i would dream about one day being able to go to the parade in person.

this year, my childhood dream came true!

since my work is on the parade route, they welcomed all employees to the 

building for breakfast and front row seats!

we waved hi to jimmy fallon, jessica simpson, kanye west, 

oh, and the power rangers!

just one more thing to add to my thankful list.

we laughed until we cried.

 

after a long week, sometimes you just need a good dose of girl time.

easy as that.

fortunately, angie's birthday celebration provided just that. 

not only was it the perfect time to celebrate beautiful angie, 

but it also gave the girls an excuse to get out on the town for a night and just talk. 

girl talk.

{as much as todd loves his girl talk, he never quite seems to initiate it...}

but seriously, i love these girls.

after a carb-filled dinner at carmine's,

we walked to alexa's adorable studio where we laughed so hard that we were literally crying. 

mix that with a little bit of alexa's delicious red velvet cake, 

and I almost didn't want to come home.

a beautiful "i do".

grabbing a quick pic before the action goes down

 

when i heard todd's cousin was flying in town to surprise his girlfriend with a ring,

i of course jumped at the chance to document!

he at first planned to propose on the rockefeller ice rink,

but once that plan foiled,

we opted for the closest alternative—top of the rock.

{and in my opinion, the better option!}

a friend of the gf was aware of the plan

and coaxed her into paying the money to come up to the top,

where, little did she know, her future husband awaited.

he knelt. he proposed. she said yes. we cried. 

it was beautiful!!!

buttoned up giveaway!

 I'm very excited to announce Buttoned Up's first giveaway!!

My good friend, fashion photographer,  and recent client, Angie, is hosting the giveaway on her blog.

Head over to her site {here}to read the details and enter!

……….

Good luck!!

friday. the end.

is anyone else having a hard time with this time change?

it's killing me. seriously killing me.
every day seems so. much. longer—

whenever i think my workday must be half over, i look down and it's only 10:30!!

needless to say, this has been a long week.

fortunately, i've almost made it, and i'm really looking forward
to the next couple days. i'll be busy...

(1) documenting a surprise engagement at rockefeller (2) giving a closet consultation to a good friend
(3) convincing my hubs into brunch at norma's (4) sleeping + lots of cuddling (5) scouting out a
christmas tree (6) and baking. yes, lots of baking.

i hope you enjoy your weekend as much as i will!

lights and other shiny things.

as much as a love my birthday, christmas is by far my favorite holiday!

the lights, the decorations, the treats, the smells, the SHOPPING—

what isn't to love about this season!?

that's why i decided to get started early this year!

 

the way i see it, as soon as macy's brings out their christmas decor and 

the holiday commercials bombard the airways, it's go time!

 

so last night, my friend bing helped me kick off the season

with a little christmas ditty as i baked cookies, decorated my charlie brown tree, 

and cut out snowflakes.

tis the season, folks!

double rainbow all the way.

{photos courtesy of angie. she's got more on her blog. here.}

the four beautiful birthday girls

this past weekend, four of my friends had a rainbow-themed party

in celebration of their birthdays!

it was quite the festive event as we partook of delicious rainbow cake, 

rainbow jello, a rainbow fruit platter, and other rainbow-y things.

it was quite the fabulous party!

i won i won i won!

i'm going to the super bowl - for free! in dallas! with my husby!

last week, i came home to an unexpected fedex package at my door. 

upon opening, i found i was the grand prize winner of a super bowl sweepstakes

that i had entered a few months back. 

what the WHAT!?

who does that even happen to?

not only do i have 2 tickets to the super bowl, but i also get 100,000 AA miles, 

2 pre-game party tix, 2 gala tix, and $1500 cash. 

and even better, the game is in dallas, so i get to see my family!

it's ridiculous!

but let's be honest, i should have seen this coming ever since

i won disney on ice tickets in the 5th grade.

when the freaks come out to play.

the city has definitely changed how i perceive "halloween". 

past memories include family pumpkin carvings, 

neighborhoods banding together, and kids skipping to and fro

with pillow-made candy bags in tow.

but out here, it's simple:

nyc + halloween = freaks {and lots of 'em} 

so this year we went to the west village halloween parade

not to watch the parade, but rather the people.

much more entertaining.

dare to dream.

buttoned up was recently featured in our first guest post, thanks to the all inspiring whitney johnson.

after leaving wall street at the top of her game, whitney launched dare to dream,

a blog which encourages women to act upon their goals and aspirations.

if you'd like to check out our full post and see how buttoned up began, go here.