What to Put in a Stocking

Stockings are under-ratedly tough to do right. When people think stockings, the normal sentiment is "Oh, stockings! They're so fun and easy! Just put in lotsa lil' stuff!"

:: image via pinterest ::

But if you want to do a stocking right, like, "Omg, this stocking is full of good, useful, cool stuff!" it takes a bit more thought.

Speaking on behalf of all ladies, here are 10 things I think we'd all be happy to find in our stockings:
1. A pair of black opaque tights
2. A couple pairs of whatever nicer underwear we tend to wear
3. A pair of athletic socks
4. A good lip balm, like maybe this Fresh one, this Kiehl's one, or a nice shea butter one
5. A book you heard was good that you think we might like
6. A splurge-y special nail polish (aaaah all the colors are so good it's killing me!)
7. An ultra fine-tipped Sharpie and a metallic gold Sharpie
8. A Toblerone bar
9. A mix CD (or some burned CDs you think we might like)
10. A pack of these soft hair ties

What did I miss? What else would make a great stocking stuffer?

Also: Do you wrap gifts that go in stockings? My family always did! We'd wrap even the tiniest thing. Going through the process of unwrapping everything was part of the fun. When I went to spend Christmas with my husband's family I was in shock to learn they didn't! Apparently lots of people don't wrap stocking stuffers. Where do you stand?

P.S. I looooved this post about 10 great things to give. (Don't worry - it's actual things. Not, like, "appreciation." That doesn't count.)

3 Tips to Get Better at Awkward Small Talk

You guys: this is a major Christmas party weekend coming up. And you know what that means: small talk. Ugh.

At a social gathering, I'd always rather just have a long conversation in the corner with a good friend than meet someone new (or someone I don't know well at all) and have to go through all the awkward motions.  Let's face it: it's hard to be friendly at sociable at a party with people you don't really know.  But on the other hand, if it works, it's so fun to make a few friend and feel like you've connected with somebody.

It's important to get comfortable with small talk for 3 reasons:
1. It's polite and nice.
2. You can't make new friends without putting yourself out there through conversation, and it usually needs to start small.
3. We're adults and need to figure this out. Seriously, guys.

:: January Jones being charming at a party, via pinterest ::

I've made an effort to try to improve at the art of small talk over the last year, and I'd like to share some tips with you:

1. Find a small talk role model
Who in your life always seems to handle social situations with warmth and grace and seems friendly and easy to talk to? Stalk that person! Or at least observe him/her when you're in a social situation together. What does he/she do? Body language? Tone? Conversation starters?

My personal role model always seems genuinely to happy to see people... and who can resist when someone is delighted that you're there? It automatically fosters a sense of warmth and familiarity, even if the basis isn't there. Starting with friendliness is a small talk lubricant.

2. Change your mind-set. 
It's not awkward to make small talk, it's a universal kindness. (Remember, the person you hardly know in this conversation probably isn't super-excited to figure out how to talk to you, either.) You are doing a huge social favor by putting yourself out there and helping to move the conversation along.

3. Come prepared.  
It sounds calculated, but come ready with some easy questions you ask. I'll give you a really easy one for this weekend:
What are you doing for the holidays?

Boom. It's so easy. Yes, it's obvious, but it opens things up really easily! You'll find out where people are from, what their families are like, what their holiday traditions are, etc.

I like to avoid asking any question I wouldn't enjoy answering. Those include "So, what have you been up to lately?" and "What do you do for a living?"


So there: you have all my wisdom. How do you handle weird small talk? What are your tips?

Tip Tuesday: Holiday Tipping

This is the time of year when a bunch of articles pop up about holiday tipping etiquette.

These always freak me out at first, because there seems to be a really long list of people who I supposedly owe $100, until I realize I don't have many service providers who are the tip recipient type. (Uh, no Emily Post. I don't have a regular massage therapist, physical trainer, pool cleaner, or doorman.)

:: image via pinterest ::

If you do have regular service providers, the standard guide seems to be "pay an extra time". So, ideally, you'd tip:
- your housekeeper: whatever you pay for a cleaning visit
- your hair stylist: double the tip your normally leave
- your regular babysitter: what you generally pay for a night of services

Pretty straight forward. And expensive. Sigh.

Also, it seems like every year I hear people talk about tipping mail carriers. Heads up, folks: they are federal employees. They can't accept cash or gift cards. (Only gifts clearly under $20 in value or a snack/treat.)

Remember: be a sweetheart of a tipper -- always include a handwritten note with your tip expressing gratitude for services provided throughout the year.

Emily Post's full tipping guide is here.

Who will you be tipping this season?

Game of Thrones: Is Winter Ever Coming?!

...Do you ever feel like Game of Thrones is NEVER going to come back?

Sigh.

:: I picked this picture for the Direwolf puppies.  Also, I really like Bran. ::

At least this video with little interview-ettes with all the new cast members was released recently:

  I haven't read book 3, so this really means nothing to me, but it fires me up.  Especially Gareth from "The Office", the guy with the weird top-knot and all the cute kids.  Can't wait!

Tip Tuesday: A New Way to Think About Holiday Eating

Every internet visit this time of year seems to feature a lot of articles about ways to avoid gaining weight over the holidays.  ("Make a plan before you go out!", "Only allow yourself one dessert!", "Station yourself near the veggie platter!", "Eat before you go!")

I recently read an interesting tip that was initially about weight loss generally, but I thought could be a good intention to set for the month of December.

Instead of making rules around what you can't eat, just make sure to eat 6 servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Back when I was doing my cleanse last February, I followed the same standards, and I noticed that it kind of forces you into healthy choices because it takes effort to eat 6 servings of produce.  If it's 3pm and you realize you haven't had any fruits or vegetables that day, you're going to reach for a piece of fruit instead of a holiday cookie because you've got numbers to hit!

I'm sure this concept wouldn't work for everyone, but I know I'm much better motivated by positive choices rather than deprivation rules.

What do you think?  Would this work for you?

Rainy Weekend

Yay!  I've been hoping for a rainy weekend because it makes it feel okay to be a lazy bones.

With the exception going for an epic-ly long run (I almost cried at the end, it was so long), after which I met two favorite friends for a fun brunch, I lazy bones-ed it up big times.

Some highlights:

1. Watching two (two!) movies, thanks to screeners my husband had...

Flight
Guys, go see it!  I totally liked it.  With the exception of the really good special effects, this movie totally could have been made in 1996, and I mean that as a compliment.  (Weren't the mid-90s like the Golden Age of Cinema for our generation?)  It was just missing Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

This is 40
"This is 40"?  More like "This is What Happens When You Are Successful And People Don't Say No to You So Can't Evaluate if Your Ideas are Good or Not".  Zing!  (Travis had a better pitch: "This is 40... out of 100")

This is how I think this movie got made: Judd and Leslie were out to dinner with some industry friends, telling a story about their kids being adorable and precocious but also driving them nuts (kids!), and their friends went "OMG, this is SO FUNNY.  Seriously, you guys have to write all this down and turn it into a movie!  I'm so serious!"  And then they did.  Without thinking about how a movie should be, like, interesting and maybe have a point.

To be fair, there were a few things I liked in this movie:

• Performances by Iris Apatow, Charlene Yi and Melissa McCarthy
• The whole thing took place in our neighborhood, so it was fun to see where they shot certain scenes
• A few funny moments that felt authentic

But overall, don't go see this.  I was really excited when we got this screener, but listen to me: you don't need to.  It's not very good, and it's very annoying.

Actually, I hope some of you see this so we can get together and talk about what specifically was so annoying about it.  I have theories.

2. Wearing these Lululemon sweatpants all weekend...

My Christmas wish for all of you is that you could have these pants and wear them all the time.  They are so comfortable and snuggly.  (They are mostly sold out online, but they have a few sizes left.)  Yes, they are a very bizarre cut with a gathered elastic ankle, but that is a huge component of what makes them so fantastic to wear.

3. Four episodes of Law & Order: SVU...

These episodes were all from season 2.  Different characters!  Different Mariska haircuts!  I am so glad I got hooked on this show!

4. Sunday New York Times with some especially ridiculous articles...

This Jude Law feature was my favorite.  The article spent a lot of time talking about how Jude Law is 40 now, and what a relief it is for Jude not to be a young pretty boy anymore... Now his looks are fading (I'm serious; this is the article), and he can really just relax and focus on being an actor without the burden of being handsome and stuff, since now he's old and gross.

And then it goes on to show many different pictures of Jude Law looking very, very handsome, per usual.  Amazing.

How did you spend the first December weekend of the year?