Welcome, 2016

Eeek - I can't believe it's already January 4th and a whole new year.  I've had the best time spending much time with family, celebrating the holiday on repeat, enjoying time off and being lazy these past two weeks but today it's back to reality.  I can't wait to share what we've been up to and get things back to normal later this week but today I think I'll ease in with a short and sweet New Years recap.

First, if you're a Lilly Pulitzer fan and missed my post yesterday, you can check it out here for tips and details on the After Party Sale which goes live at 8:00am this morning! 

We aren't huge New Year's Eve people and are not fans of crowds so having "huge" plans never matters to us.  Originally we thought about taking a little trip for the long weekend but ultimately decided to enjoy a low key break at home (and I'm so glad we did - we were so lazy but also caught up on a few things).  After weighing out some options - an overnight to a town close by, dinner out in the city, staying in alone, etc., we had pretty much decided on a night out with friends in the city.  We kept dragging our feet with the hassle of getting in during the holiday craze and since I'd had a cold that kept me dragging all week when my parents mentioned they might do a surf and turf dinner, that sounded like a winner to us!

Derek and I headed over late afternoon on the 31st to get there in time for both the college playoff games and watched with my parents and brother before they hosted a fabulous New Year's Eve dinner.  We even got to see my aunt, uncle and cousin later on in the night and I snuck away to watch some of the New Year's Eve special on TV - so many times I'm too busy celebrating to actually watch and pay attention.

We started off the night with appetizers including a homemade caesar salad (my parents always make this and it's amazing - I'll have to get the recipe from them soon), shrimp cocktail and a tortellini bar with tortellini skewers to dip in marinara/vodka/alfredo sauces along with parmesan cheese.

I was too eager to fill up my plate then grab a picture of the meal but we enjoyed filet mignon, lobster tails, scalloped potatoes and broccoli for the main course and it was all delicious.  Perfect meal to close out the year.  No New Year's Eve is complete without a champagne bar, right?!

For dessert (which was served right after midnight) we went simple with comfort items - peanut butter blossoms, cake truffles and holiday bark - all recipes coming soon.

It was the perfect way to ring in the new year - I'm not sure that I'll celebrate any way other than in a smaller setting again in the future - I find it much more enjoyable this way.  I'll leave you with a couple casual snapshots of the night.

It feels good to be back! Looking forward to all that 2016 has in store for Christina Lea Loves and continuing to grow this place bigger and better each day.  Thanks for reading!