It's a tie

A tie for the coldest I've ever been in my life: The Seahawks game. Sitting outside in sub-zero weather for 4+ hours is not natural.

Tied with waiting outside of the Today Show in New York for hours upon hours, just for the opportunity for the camera to pan across us.

Tied with freezing our asses off at EuroDisney in Paris. Mickey is sooo not worth that.

Tied with a rather amateur mistake: camping in a tepee in Central Oregon in March. A tepee that had concrete floors that held the freezing temperatures (which we slept on without pads) and a door that flapped open and closed all night. A night where temperatures dropped into the teens. (hmm, that actually might top the list.)

But in the end, it was an awesome game! Compliments of good ol' Phil Burt (Thanks Phil!). The excitement boiled down to the last two seconds when they scored the game-winning field goal. Perfect.

Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer!

(Orrrrr, Phil and me)

Go Hawks!

Dear [insert your name here],

Happy Holidays! Hope they are filled with family, friends and laughter!

Love,
Petes

(so I don't think I'm going to get around to sending Christmas cards, so I thought I would let you all know that you rock through an e-card blog post?... If I was on top of things, I would have ordered these awesome cards from this Etsy shop.)

(I also really like this one from another Etsy shop.)

Baby, it's cold outside

And inside my office.
My apartment.
My car for three-quarters of my 2.5 mile commute.
Inside my shoes. (need thicker socks)
And even inside my Lean Cuisine quesadilla. (note: microwave longer next time...)

AND, if you haven't already heard: Seattle is expecting snow next week! Better prepare myself with more food at my place and a hefty heating bill!

But it all brings me to one of my favorite holiday songs. One of the two versions below. What is your favorite holiday/Christmas song?

"I skate like Tonya Harding"

Yes, I accidentally said that to someone the other night. What I was trying to imply was that I skate beautifully. (More like, say, a Michelle Kwan?) Not that was I was going take someone out by whacking them in the knee.

Last night, I (along with the appreciated assistance of Ms. Doherty) chaperoned an ice skating event for the Chi O chapter. Contrary to Maddie's take, I'm a rather intimidating advisor. Sort of like this. In actuality, this was the most well-behaved event I've ever chaperoned. I felt a little useless - which is fine by me considering the alternative would be, well, sending entire buses home. I've done it once (as Maddie mentions: the Winter Formal from Hell 2k5) and I would do it again.

It was super fun to chat about how different we now are from then, how the chapter has evolved over the few short years we've been out, who looks like who from our class and how crazy it was to see 100 people in Uggs. Seriously. Like the whole chapter.

Enjoying our hot cocoa from the sidelines before we hit the ice.

Da da da da da da da DA da da.

Do do do do do...

[insert Nutcracker music here]

Of course, all of the girls are mingling in the middle.
Perfect. Gives us a chance to get a better look at them.
We approve. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

A Holiday Tradition

This year marks the 4th Annual Christmas ornament exchange with all the lovely women I traveled with as a National Consultant for Chi Omega.

We're now all over the country, with a heavy emphasis in the south and east coast. There's been a lot of toasting and singing in the last year with all of the marriages and recent engagements! Last summer, Rachel came out to Seattle and I was able to give her the quickie, half day tour - driving through UW Greek houses, Seattle houseboats, Fremont Troll, Golden Gardens, Pike Place Market and more. It was a whirlwind of a day!

This was the first ornament I received from Meghan Tighe. I think I have a lot in common with this ornament:

1. We both have reddish hair
2. We both like high heels
3. We both have a lot of holiday cheer
4. We both have incredibly skinny, long legs (right...)
5. People should never let us pour cocktails because we might end up sitting in one at the end of the night

A Seasonal Petes Speaks

I've decided that I love the holidays so much, that Petes Speaks needed a seasonal remodel.

What do you think?

Before...


AFTER! (doesn't it just make you want to turn on the Christmas tunes?!)

(I'm pretty proud of my paint abilities, even if it looks like a 4-year-old did it.)

Best. Christmas lights. EVER.

via