December in Pictures {and words}

 

In December...

I stuck it out through finals season.
At school we celebrated the holidays Silliman style.
We managed some very efficient Christmas gift shopping.
I caught up with some high school friends.
We walked around the city. 
I took pictures of practically every holiday decoration to be seen.
I drank some amazing hot chocolate and egg nog.
We moved into our new kitchen (hours before the holiday party!)
and I picked out some new flowers for the kitchen.
I found a Hanukkah gingerbread house.
It snowed!
We waited for santa claus.
Our neighbors gave us a beautiful christmas cake.
I snagged a few post-holiday deals at Lush, Hollister and Loft. 
We will ring in the New Year with some sushi and champagne.

Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Any special plans?

P.S. I found this video so cool-- so much has happened and it's crazy the things we forget! 

2012, the year in review

I don't quite know how to describe 2012. It just kind of hit me, you know? Even thinking about this past semester, and all that's happened, I can't get my head around it.

In some ways 2012 was so, so good. It was one of the best years, I think, in terms of personal growth, my academic life and all the other amazing things that have happened. Unfortunately, 2012 was also one of the worst for my family. It was a series of ups and downs, and while everyone goes through ups and downs, I think we experienced it a bit more than we did in the past years. 2012 was an important year for us; I just wish I had been more prepared.

But now's the time to focus on the positives. I want to enter the new year with a peaceful mindset, thinking about the good things and not the bad things. so, I give you:

2012, the year in review

In January, I started my second semester at Yale, and read and absolutely loved The Hunger Games

In February, New Haven had a huge snowstorm, I drank the best hot chocolate of my life, my love for cultural anthropology grew, and I ate tons and tons of sushi. My anxiety over summer plans was put to rest as I was offered an internship right in my home town, so I'd be able to still see my family. I was also a bit MIA from the blog. :(

In March, I celebrated my 19th birthday, visited Harry Potter World and my grandparents in Florida, completed all of my reading for intro pscyh (such a win) and became a very proud Kappa.

In April, I managed to squeeze in a little extra time with my parents and brother, here and here, I prepared for my second round of college finals, learned about flow, and we finalized our rooming plans for next year (it was quite the ordeal). 

In May, I headed home, did nothing but watch Vampire Diaries for two weeks, finally got to reading some books for pure fun, saw a Dave Matthews concert, visited my parents' pre-babies neighborhood and became a complete photo-mom for my brother's last prom.

In June, I had my first finger printing in preparation for my internship, baked tons of lemon squares and mixed our new favorite sangria, changed up lots of things around the blog (like the banner and the name!), hopped on the bandwagon and read Fifty Shades (p.s. I still haven't been able to get myself to sit down and finish the second...), and basically slept downstairs all month because of the heat. 

In July, we spent the fourth up in beautiful Vermont, I cracked open my first lobster, had a fun day in the city, helped coach softball Monday nights, and always came home exhausted but happy from my internship. I also got in a lot of driving practice. :)

In August, I successfully finished my first Instagram photo-a-day, I finished up my internship (but not before being asked where babies come from!), I discovered my love for oysters (and deep-fried oreos) at the Jersey Shore, and I moved in for sophomore year at school.

In September, I ate lots of Wenzels, settled in to my third semester in college, and finally bought a mint green nail polish.

In October, I voted in my first-ever election, made it through a rather tough week of midterms, enjoyed Yale's first ever fall break, and survived hurricane sandy.

In November, I said goodbye to a very inspiring, strong woman in my life, spent some quality time with extended family and (more than in any other year) really took a moment to stop and think about how much I appreciate my family, our health and our strong bond.

In December, I finished off the semester (sans a couple final exams), experienced Christmas in the city, helped host our 11th annual Dahl family holiday party, baked cookies for Santa and am currently (at press time) awaiting the new year. plus, we finally found out if the Mayans were right about the end of the world.

2012, it's been real.

how was your year? what are you looking forward to in 2013?

life lately: snow, egg nog and movies

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday and stayed cozy. I'm just finishing up my second week of break. Christmas was wonderfully relaxing and low-key this year. I stayed in my pajamas all day and got good use out of my new shea-infused socks from Bath and Body Works. :)

On Wednesday we regretfully found out that no, we did not become millionaires from the lottery tickets stuffed in our stockings. :( But it's okay, Santa can't grant us everything.

The rest of the days have been spent lunching with friends, checking out the after-holidays sales and exploring new things to do with my hair (you know these are lazy days when you see me thinking about possible hairstyles for the day--aside from the go-to bun or ponytail). I think Blair Waldorf's headband style has really gotten to me lately.

I'm trying with all my might to keep studying and working on school things. But sometimes it's just too easy to spend the day reading (something fun, for once, since I don't get to read for pleasure at school) or running around town in the snow.

Speaking of snow...I see it every year, multiple times, and I still can't get over how beautiful and magical it is. I hope we get plenty more of it. 

 

hot chocolate at cafe mozart... 

 

 

half of the household is unfortunately sick, so we've been spending our evenings snacking, drinking an illegal amount of egg nog and watching netflix movies. so far, we've seen Sleepless in Seattle (love!), Limitless, and Clue. I recommend all of them. 

only two more days of 2012! it's all been so crazy. have any good new year's eve plans?

Merry Christmas!

 

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Enjoy the day with family, good food and good fun!

Love, Marisol

Cookies for Santa

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

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Today was filled with last-minute shopping, some Christmas song-listening, a little dancing, a bit of baking, egg nog-drinking and Christmas movie-watching.

I really do hope Santa likes the chocolate chip cookies we baked (even though they're a little hard...). We used one of the first recipes that popped up on google. The recipe seemed very Santa-worthy; I think I may have added a little too much flour. 

It was the first Christmas eve that we've had alone in quite a while. It was kind of nice, hanging out around the house, just the four of us (plus Harry the dog).

I realized today that this would be my last Christmas as a teenager. This isn't a big deal in itself, but it made me think about how the Christmas experience changes throughout the years. I remember our first Christmas in this house--I was seven years old, had a pink-painted room, Harry was just a puppy. I could barely sleep that night and my brother and I woke up to new boom boxes (yes!), wicker hampers and the Abba Gold album.

Now I help my mom prepare for the holiday party. My room turns into Santa's workshop, as that is where we wrap and keep mostly all the gifts (except mine). At night, after my brother goes to sleep, I help fill the stockings and set the presents under the tree. These past few years I've enjoyed this new role.

But some things never get old. We still set out milk and cookies for Santa, we gather as a family to read The Night Before Christmas, and after I'm done helping out my parents send me upstairs so I won't see them put my gifts under the tree. Oh Santa, we still believe.

How did you spend your Christmas eve?

Happy Holidays, everyone. No matter where you are or what you believe in, let's all take a moment to appreciate the love and good fortune we have in our lives.

xx Marisol

p.s. it's snowing! it's going to be a white Christmas!

scenes from this evening

today was our annual family holiday party. this year, we decided to do things a bit differently, and ended up inviting family friends and school friends for one big open house. It was awesome seeing so many loved ones and catching up with them. I invited some high school friends whom I don't get to see often--is it too soon to start talking about the "good ol' days" of high school? :)

anyway, there was tons of food (we have enough cookies to last us the rest of the winter), some christmas music, present swapping, excessive snapchatting and general merriment.

I love this party; it's one of my favorite traditions. and one of my favorite parts is winding down at the very end, when its just me, my parents and my brother, sitting around the living amidst wrapping paper, crackers, empty wine glasses and three different cheese spreads. we collapse on the sofa and enjoy the feeling of happiness for another successful party mixed with relief that our hostess roles are done for the night.

here are some snapshots of what my post-part evening looks like...

1. a bow I tied to a stair rail. 2. fire embers to keep us warm. 3. a lovely gift from family, a white Gap cowlneck that I can't wait to wear. 4. the december issue of Glamour. 5. a very tired reindeer-dog. 6. a christmas candle.

 hope you all have a wonderful sleep...for t'was the night before the night before christmas...

 Marisol

p.s. who else is super-excited that the Pantone color of the year for 2013 is emerald?

Christmas in the City

Last night we trained into the city to see the tree and all the holiday window displays. We first visited the holiday bazaar at Grand Central and all the shops at Bryant park. we bough some gorgeous glass ornaments for our tree and picked up some gifts for others along the way. we made our way over to Rockefeller and then walked along Madison and Fifth Avenues. It's become a family tradition--you can check out last year's pictures here. 

p.s. did any of you know about the Christmas pickle tradition or La Befana? 

 inside and outside views of grand central terminal.

 

the tree at bryant park. 

 

the most delicious donuts ever.

     

All the holiday window displays were beautiful. I particularly loved the ones at Tiffany and Co. -- they were so small and intricate!

 

finished off the night with some oysters. we were lucky the weather was fairly mild. 

Happy Winter (and the end of the world)!

what are your favorite holiday traditions?

Home!

Right now I am sitting on the couch, next to our beautiful Christmas tree, and just enjoying the feeling that tonight I can sleep and not wake up dreadfully early to start another paper or keep studying for a test.

It feels so good to be home. I'm done with finals (for now...) and I have about a month off for winter break and I'm just really really looking forward to spending it with my family and celebrating the holidays.

If you didn't get the hint from my last few posts, I'm kind of a Christmas geek. And now that I'm not at school anymore, I very much intend on spending the next few days totally immersed in all things Chrismassy.

This basically sums it all up:

 

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I'm hoping this break will be that wonderful mix of relaxing but productive. I don't have much that has to get done, but I do want to start in on a few things. So try to hold me to these, will you?

This winter break, I would very much like to:

• get super ahead in my studying for neuroscience and econ finals
• read all my December magazines...in the month of December (because really, who likes reading old horoscopes?) 
• declare a major (I know!)
• formulate a game plan for attacking summer internship/opportunity applications
• update my resume
• take Harry my dog out for walks around the neighborhood
• start in on a few extracurricular projects 
• update this blog much more often! 
• also change a few things on the blog that have needed updating...
• reading for fun!
• stay updated on the news every day
• catch up with high school friends 
• make avocado fritters
• find a new hobby (any suggestions?)
• organize my iTunes library (what do you all think of the new iTunes? I like it!)

But for now, I shall gently fall asleep to the sounds of Vampire Diaries.

If you're not a big Vampire Diaries fan, then I suggest nodding off to this, my new favorite Christmas song: 

good night!

Christmas Wishlist, 2012

Christmas Wishlist - 2012 by marisoldahl

Victoria's Secret thermal t-shirts / Hollister Co. skinny fit jeans / Vince Camuto Boots / Victoria's Secret backpack / Speck iPhone cover in snakebite green / Big Shampoo by Lush / Capri Blue Candle-In-A-Jar / Astray by Emma Donoghue/ QuickieChick's Cheat Sheet to Life, Love, Food, Fitness, Fashion, and Finance on a Less-than-Fabulous Budget by Laurel House /2013 Daily Planner 

one can dream! what's on your material wish list this year? 

December!

Can I just say how excited I am that it's December? Snow, starbucks holiday blends, santa, warm fires, new year's, the charlie brown christmas special. There are so many good things about this month.

And now I'd like to share my favorite picture ever.

and since I've had this picture so long on my computer, I actually forgot where it came from. but you know, a quick search on weheartit and there's about 2385792 users with the same photo. obviously many people are appreciating the cuteness.

My first search was on google images. I oh-so-cleverly typed in "reindeer cat" thinking of course this would give me the photo I was looking for. I didn't realize how many pictures there were of cats with reindeer antlers on.   This one can be made into a custom invitation card!