Christmas Cookie Exchange

This year, I hosted my second annual Christmas Cookie Exchange.

For 25 years, my mom hosted her own cookie exchange for friends and she has passed the tradition along to me! 

My mom and sister Betsy flew up from Orlando to come to the party which was so special to me to have them here with me.

I used Postable to mail out invitations for the party making it super easy!

(Also used Postable to send our Christmas cards this year)

I asked friends to bring 3 dozen cookies to share. I made homemade Nutmeg Cookie Logs which are a family staple for us at Christmas. They certainly take some time to make but are SO worth it!

It was also helpful to have ladies bring some food to help me, which was a lesson I learned last time.

I had some Christmas music playing in the background from a Spotify playlist I created. When ladies arrived, I had them sign the guestbook (I'm hoping to keep the guest list going each year), then we mingled in the kitchen for a while. My sister helped me make 

a simple and delicious Champagne cocktail which I shared the recipe on the blog last week. 

Then we took our food and sat in the living room while I read the Christmas story out of the Bible in Luke Chapter 2. I enjoy getting to read it at the Cookie Exchange with friends, I rarely get to hear it myself except during church on Christmas Eve so I loved sharing it.

Here are a few pictures from our fun night together!

So special to have my mom and sister Betsy fly up from Orlando just for the Cookie Exchange

Champagne cocktail recipe here

I love hosting and enjoyed having such special friends over!!

xox, A

Christmas Champagne Cocktail Recipe

Last night was my 2nd Annual Christmas Cookie Exchange and I knew I could count on WhitneyA for a brilliant and simple cocktail idea and she didn't disappoint!

Check out the recipe and video below for instructions on how to replicate:

Ingredients

2 bottles champagne/sparkling wine

2 cups pear nectar/juice

2 cups cranberry juice

Garnish with mint leaves and frozen cranberries

Have you had any fun, holiday cocktails recently you'd like to share? 

Please add them in the comments section!

xox, A

PS - I'll share more on the Cookie Exchange later, but wanted to share this cocktail recipe since there were a few requests via Instagram 🎄🍾🍪

New Year, New Goals - 2016

I can't believe it's already 2016 (I know it's February but better late than never, right?!) ! I feel like 2015 just flew by and I'm so excited for what's ahead. We had a lot of major milestones this year, here are a few highlights:

1. We bought our first home!

In February, we closed on our first home. We feel so blessed to have gotten this beautiful home that we can see ourselves in for many, many years to come. I can't believe it's almost been a year since we moved into our little Hough Home. (Anyone notice the blog name-change?!)

2. New jobs for both of us

After 2 year at a great PR/Marketing agency, I decided it was time for a change! I wanted to switch from an agency to corporate setting and completely change what field of marketing. I've been in a marketing role at the Home Depot corporate office for just over 7 months and am absolutely loving it! I miss some great friends from my old job, but knew this was the right career move for me and am so thankful I took this new job.

I work with some really awesome people and am passionate about going to work each day!

Houston also took a new role last year in June. He's been working extremely hard and I'm so proud of him!!

3. Betsy's wedding

My sister Betsy married the love of her life Michael in November! It was absolutely stunning and I wish we could do it all over again!! Here are a few special pictures from their unbelievable photographer Kristen Weaver.

Don't they just look like models?! (insert emoji heart eyes)

4. Trips

We took some really awesome trips this year including Salt Lake City to celebrate our 1st anniversary, Highlands (twice!) to have an Engagement Weekend for Betsy and Michael and then again with Juliann and Daniel for a fun couples weekend, Boston to visit Houston's brother and sister-in-law. Charleston for Betsy's Bachelorette, Louisville for our friends' engagement party, Destin (our favorite place to go to the beach!), Naples to visit grandparents and see one of my best friends get married, Birmingham for another best friend's wedding and St. Simons to celebrate my mom's special birthday.

Here's a few pictures from our trips:

Goals for 2016:
1. More Reading

I feel like I say this every year, but I really am going to try to read more this year and minimize my time on social media. I'm off to a pretty good start! I started reading How To Win at the Sport of Business, a compiling of some of Mark Cuban's blog posts. It's an easy read and really interesting to hear how he became so successful. I'm also re-reading Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life. This book has made such a wonderful impact on my spiritual life. Houston and I actually read this together when we first started dating and it's amazing how you can re-read something and God can speak to you in a completely different way each time.

Any other suggestions of books I should add to my list?!

2. Health

I'm trying to get back into eating healthy and working out consistently. Now that it's officially cold in Atlanta with the snow we had this past weekend my option of running in the neighborhood isn't an option. I joined something called ClassPass and am really enjoying it so far. It lets you go to classes at several different gyms (barre, yoga, kickboxing, etc.) or in different cities if you travel for work. Some cities are Atlanta, Orlando, Chicago, Boston, Nashville, New York, D.C., and many others. Check out if your city offers ClassPass to give it a try! Use this link and you'll get $20 off your first month and I'll get $20 bucks off too, win-win!

I'll write soon on some of my favorites after the first few weeks. It's nice to try new classes and workouts a try that I wouldn't normally try.

3. Opening our home more

Something else we want to do this year is open our home more to have friends over. I grew up with a love for hosting from my momma, who is the hostess with the mostest! We're going to try and make an effort to have people over more often this year.

4. Get a puppy!

So this may not necessarily be a "goal" but I really want to get a puppy this year!!! Houston and I are still working on a breed we can agree on. One day it's big, then small, then a Goldendoodle then a King Charles Spaniel. Also, I still don't think we're fully ready for the responsibility just yet... but we're close :)

So those are my goals for the year! Come on 2016, can't wait to see everything you have in store for our Hough Home! What are some of your goals for this year?!

xox, A

Stock the Bar Party [pictures]

As promised, here are some pictures from the Stock the Bar party we hosted!

Kristin brought these adorable wine glasses to paint their wedding date, 5-31-14!

Check out the yummy recipe from this White Peach Sangria here.

Adorable Kate Spade "his" and "hers" glasses.

The hostesses with the bride! [Missing Whitney!]

Have you hosted or attended a Stock the Bar party before? If so, what are some gift ideas?

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend!

xox,

A

Stock the Bar Party & Sangria Recipe

Even though my new hubby is obviously my roommate now, I think my college roommate Juliann will always be referred to as "my roommate." Well my roommate is getting married at the end of the month (EEEEKKK!) and some of the other bridesmaids and I wanted to host a couples shower for them.

I found these adorable invitations on Etsy and we had the party last weekend at Houston's and my new apartment.

Houston was such an enormous help getting ready, running errands for me, going to the grocery store, the list goes on and on! And I couldn't have done it without my sweet mother-in-law, Kristin, Fallon and Whitney's help too.

I made this yummy sangria recipe I found online and would highly recommend it! (I was nervous about making sangria for the first time for a lot of people, but my friends at work reassured me that you can't mess it up!) 

RECIPE:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
One can of Sprite 
Add the juice of 3-4 limes.  You can heat your limes in the microwave for about 20 seconds to help them let go of their juice.
Stir.
Add your sweet, white wine. I used  Pinot Grigio and pour the entire bottle.
Stir some more.
I used a white grape/peach juice blend.  Any brand is fine, just get one with no sugar added / 100% juice. Add a cup of your juice.
Stir again.
Now it's time to add your fruit. I used fresh strawberries and canned peaches (because they were out of fresh ones) but you can use fresh, frozen, or canned fruits - whatever works best for you!

Definitely let it sit for a few hours, I even made ours the night before so the flavors could soak in!

I'll post some party pictures soon!

xox,
A