Three December events to look forward to in the Lambert/Hiott/Dahl family!

Every December there are many social and family obligations for everyone (not just me)!
Here are photo updates of the three parties i look forward to each year.

1) MUSC ENT Christmas Party-
Each year the ENT Christmas Party is held at my parents house. My father (the ENT Chairman) buys cases of wine, my mom cleans our house and decorates it to the hilt, and then Poogan's Porch caters the whole affair! The invite list has hundreds of guests and the family is lucky enough to be able to attend (and come early for food and wine sampling).
Here are some pics- all take by Taylor, who is so camera talented!


The delish food!

My beautiful neice Ava!

My lovely grandmother-Neannie

Me, Clo, and Neannie. Clo is my dad's assistant- the brains behind the operation!

Three generations!

My parents!

Me and my mom!

Erika and Ava

The fabulous cook- his spicy shrimp is to DIE for!

More refreshments!

At the end of the night, we all gather around the piano and sing christmas carols.

It is really a wonderful Christmas party!


2) Christmas Eve Dinner

It has been a tradition- either our 3rd or 4th year (we can't remember)- to have the family over for Christmas Eve Dinner. We cook for 15-20 people, fill the house with our family, good food smells, and lots of love and laughter. This year we had bbq turkey, buternut squash mac and cheese, stuffing, brussel sprouts, slow cooker pears, and burbon pecan pie.

AMAZING!
Added bonus about this year- i got to cook it in my new kitchen!

The ladies enjoying our (early) dinner.

Our other young lady enjoying her dinner.

Such a sweetie!

Erika, Paul, me and Berry

Robert and Brittany and Anne

The happy couple (Mary and Paul)- see a few blog posts below if you haven't heard about their engagement. And Mike!

The aftermath- thank goodness Camille and Berry cleaned it all up. When i came home from work on Christmas morning, the whole kitchen was sparkling clean!

3) Christmas day at the Lambert house-

We usually spend Christmas morning at Mary's apartment (with the Hiott family) and then Christmas afternoon with the Lamberts. Unfortunately because there were REALLY sick people in the ER on christmas eve, i got no sleep that night and once i got home, i passed out and slept til 12pm- so no Christmas morning with Mary. :(

That afternoon, after opening up presents from B- a blueray player for the family(!)- we headed over to the parents house. I don't have pictures from yesterday downloaded to the computer but the afternoon was great. Pa-paul and Marie and Neannie joined us, all three Lambert kids were home (and the spouses), and the latest Lambert grandkid (Ava), and Cassie still knows how to beg at the table, despite being 11 years old!

Here is the calm before the storm!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My sous chef/dish washer

This is Tiberius (you might live under a rock if you don't know who he is)


Today i was making cheesecake for our Christmas Eve Dinner and decided to let him lick the bowl (that contained creamcheese, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and sugar).
Apparently he loved it.....and was a sticky mess!

He was so cute that i had to take a video.

Hope you enjoy it and have a Merry Christmas Eve!!

The SIL is engaged!

Here is a wonderful story to share during this holiday season.

This is Paul Nutter, his son Colin, and my SIL Mary Hiott.

Here is the sign Paul made for Mary on Sunday, December 18th as he proposed to Mary (finally!)

Here is Paul, Mary, and Paige (the one who helped Paul pull it all off) after the deed had been done.

Here is the happy couple!

And there was an engagement party afterwards that was also a surprise for Mary! Paul and i had talked about doing something after the engagement MONTHS ago and when it hadn't happened by the beginning of december, i had given up on him. Well, just about two weeks ago, he FBed me and said "how about the 18th?" And my planning went into full swing! Invites, making sure people kept this secret, cooking, and cleaning! It was so exciting!!! You know how i LOVE to plan and Mary deserves so much happiness that it was so much fun to do!

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride....

......oh wait, that isn't right.

In my past 14 years, i actually have been a bride more than i have been a bridesmaid. Now, i know that sounds bad, but i actually have only been a bridesmaid once (thank you Drea) and that was in 2002. And as most of you know, i have been a bride twice. And that isn't a bad thing.......and that is all i am going to say about that.


Well, thankfully for my SIL, i get to be a bridesmaid again, which make the score even. 2 all.
And one of the best parts of being a bridesmaid this time (besides taking part in a wonderful wedding), is that we get to choose our own dresses! The only requirement is that they are black....and that they won't be more glamorous than the bride's dress!

Here are the three i have found so far. I need feedback and votes, so let me know what you think.

1) Modcloth dress. $90


2) Nordstrom dress. $100

3. J Crew. $160

Thoughts? Comments?

Where else should i look?

Picture Catch-Up

I realized i hadn't downloaded any pictures from the past month....so are a select few:

1st- Angel Oak
Berry went to Angel Oak one day this past month. It is 65 feet high, and has shaded John's Island, South Carolina, for over 1400 years and is therefore considered to be the oldest living "thing" this side of the Mississippi.

2nd- Ahhh- the baby!

Ava turned 8 months old on Dec 11th. Here she is at the end of December at her mom's basketball game. And of course, she loves her cousin Taylor!

3rd Berry cooked us an awesome dinner! Duck and potato rounds cooked in duck fat. Yumm-o.

There was also broccoli but i didn't take a picture of it....only because it was a typical green veggie and really who wants to see a picture of that!?!?!?

4th- Christmas lights- they are actually up and our house looks festive!

Here is our palm tree with lights on it. :) Very "southern."


Here is our front door- with candy cane stripes and lighted garland (Berry and his mom put this up, which is really great and looks so good!)

And here is the Christmas wreath that i acutally MADE (yes, i made it)! It is hot pink and neon blue and not typical christmas colors but super fun and festive!

There are still lots of pictures that i need to download (thanksgiving and the ENT christmas party). Those will come soon!!!

Bah Humbug!

Woah.......when did it get to be december? And what happened to the summer, halloween, and thanksgiving???

I am obviously not ready for it to be december.
And even worse, i have no christmas spirit. We have no decorations up at our house, i cringe at the thought of having to listen to christmas music, and the idea of shopping makes me want to vomit! I will NOT be sending out christmas cards this year (last year, i thought our puppy picture was cute, but apparently my family did not think it was appropriate because it said "happy holidays."). And working on Christmas sounds appealing- hey, it is time and a half- not too bad!

I know i will "snap out" of this funk soon. I just need A LOT of sleep and to decorate my house. And i need for it to get cold.....80 degrees in Charleston today does NOT put me into the christmas spirit!

101st post

This is my 101st post!
Wow! 101 blogs written over the past 2 years.

At first i thought that was a lot but when you consider:
2 years= 730 days
100 blogs
100/730= .13 blogs/day = NOT GOOD and POOR EFFORT!

I can't promise that i am going to write more posts, as it appears my schedule is getting more busy, life is getting busy (taylor driving, weddings being planned, and apparently everyone is getting pregnant), and i am turning into a grown up, which means i am trying to keep my mouth shut and not give an opinion on everything.
But i can promise that when i do write, it will be fun, free, and most of all......me!

On a side note- yesterday was Cyber Monday- the BEST ONLINE SHOPPING DAY OF THE YEAR! (also known as my little piece of heaven).

And. I. Did. Not. Buy. Anything.

Nothing!!!

I didn't shop on Ebay.com.

Or Express.com.

Or Amazon.com.

Or on stevemadden.com.

Or on Reddressboutique.com.

What is wrong with me??!?!?!?!

Charleston drivers- beware!

Taylor is a proud owner of a South Carolina learners permit as of 11/21/11 at 4:15 pm.

This means:

1) Taylor can drive 6 a.m.-midnight with any licensed driver 21 years or older accompanying her in the front passenger seat.

2) Taylor must practice a minimum of 40 hours while holding your permit, with 10 of those hours being driven at night. This practice time counts only when she is being supervised by your parent or legal guardian.

3) Taylor must keep her permit for at least 180 days before applying for a regular driver's license.

What this means for me (and the rest of charleston drivers):

1) We are getting OLD- i can't believe my little girl is driving!

2) I am going to invest in a football helmet and padding, especially for my neck because she breaks so hard

3) For Charleston drivers- WATCH OUT for the blue Mazda Tribute driving down the road with a red headed teenager driving and a passenger wearing a football helmet...and possibly screaming....and praying at the same time!

My daughter, the reader

I love that my daugher reads.
Especially since the only thing i read now are:
1) pulmonary books,
2) trashy magazines, and
3) recipes.
*not a great example

Anyway, this past weekend (before the clumsy bump and subsequent CT scan), my daugher asked if we could take her downtown to King Street so that she could get some books signed and get extra credit for her creative writing grade. I didn't even care what it was- extra credit is always good.

So Saturday afternoon, we took a trip to downtown Charleston, so that Taylor could attend "YALLFest." YALL as in Young Adult Literature (plus an L), hosted by Blue Bicycle Books, which hosted about 20 authors who write teen novels. And let me tell you- it appeared to be a sucess- and it was all because of books! There were hundred of teens roaming the street, listening to talks by the authors, and then going to book signings.

To read more about it, go here:
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/charleston/yallfest-brings-the-yas-out-in-force/Content?oid=3643838


AND....check out the picture of my famous daughter! Her picture is in the paper! WHOO HOO!

ps- all those books in her hands- they got signed- plus the 4 others in her purse! i love that she loves to read!!!

My brain is ok

I am not a hypochondriac and i do NOT like going to the doctor, let alone the ER.
This comes from me, the girl who never thought she had a disease in med school, and the girl who rarely goes to the doctor unless i think i am dying.

Well, this morning, i thought i was dying....or at least had something wrong with my head.
So last night while trying to get my super cute new boots on, i bent down to fiddle with the zipper and came up quickly and *BAM*- i hit the top of my head on an open dresser drawer. It hit pretty close to my shunt (yes, i have a shunt- it feels weird and i always warn my hairstylist when she washes my hair so it doesn't gross her out) and it hurt A LOT! I took ibuprofen, pouted a bit, and then went on with my evening.

I had a headache when i went to bed but took my usual 1 gram of ibuprofen and hoped it would go away. I was wrong. This morning my headache was worse, i was nauseated, and had blurred vision. I took more advil, ate breakfast and had to get ready for work (i was on call today starting at 7 am). But the advil didn't help and i felt worse as i was getting ready.....and it made me nervous. AND my head had been bleeding- not a lot but there was blood and that is never good. I have been slack in the past about getting my shunt looked at (suppose to get a MRI once a year) but hitting my head could mean bad things. In my mind my headache, nausea, and blurred vision either meant:

1) the shunt stopped working because of the hit or
2) a hematoma (collection of blood) in my brain that was making me feel bad

So, i did what any normal person would do after taking 2 grams of ibuprofen and still had a headache, nausea and blurred vision- i went to the ER and made them do a CT scan of my brain.
:)
Now, the very very nice ER attending agreed that it was a good idea to do it- better to be safe than sorry- and a CT scan would show blood and if the shunt was working.

Well guess what?

My head CT is normal.

This is my actual brain- and the big white thing in the center is my shunt- working very well thank you. And there is no blood. And my brain is normal (much to the argument of my brother and co-worker). And then i felt like a fool. A big hypochondriac fool.

I still have a headache- despite more medications. And i still feel nauseated (no, i am not pregnant). But i think i am going to feel even more sick when i get the bill from the ER.....