Let’s Gab: December 2021

And just like that, we’ve reached the 1st anniversary of our very first Let’s Gab! It was a colorful, hectic, beautiful year, and I’m so happy you were a part of it!

With it being the first Christmas that sister and I have lived together, we dove headfirst into the Christmas sprit – i.e. we purged Goodwill of all their Christmas decor and splattered it into every corner of the house.

The best thrifted find was our 10-foot Christmas tree, a $780 pre-lit artificial tree that we scored for $70. Was it sold as-is, with no allowance for returns? Yes. Was I too enamored with to care? Also yes. Did the lights on the top third of the tree not work? Triple yes.

But with some carefully matched strings of lights we fixed her right up. Safe to say, this tree will be up until February.

And with great tree comes great responsibility, so it took very little pressure for us to be convinced to host the 1st Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater White Elephant, complete with a makeshift photo booth (I finally figured out the lighting setup).

Despite any trace of snow, Christmas time in Denver was pretty magical! We went to Christmas pop-up bars and the Christkindlmarket and every restaurant was an explosion of jolly.

But if we’re talking about Christmas miracles, well that happened at one of the most non-jolly places you could imagine – emo night.

“Emonite” is a DJ-led party of sorts where they basically just play recordings of all of the guilty pleasure emo songs we listened to in high school. They only happen in Denver every now and then, so we got tickets and went to go sing our hearts out to the likes of All Time Low and Fallout Boy.

Midshow the DJ announced a special surprise guest, none other than the lead singer of my favorite band, Mayday Parade (remember my costume last month?) So I nudged my way to the front and sang every word and it was magical.

At the end of his set, the he leaned down and handed me his guitar pick. I died and went to heaven and am currently writing this from the clouds.

Anyways, half of our group contracted covid that night. The forcefield between me and Mayday Parade (along with my booster shot) prevented me from catching it, but I did spend the remainder of the month in quarantine after multiple unexpected exposures. So emo!

I managed to squeeze in a few days on the slopes (before knowing I’d been exposed to the Big Rona). I was excited to find a hotel that would allow Rhubarb to come along. She was less excited after learning firsthand the meaning of “snow squall”.

She’d rather stick to the ice fishing on Evergreen Lake.

Winter Project: Wallpaper everything

With very little closet space in our new crib, I had to get a dresser for the first time in years. I found this IKEA dresser at Goodwill (of course), meaning not only was it cheaper, but I didn’t have to put the damn thing together – double win!

But despite my love of emo night, black isn’t really my color. So I plastered the drawers in a faux-wood wallpaper, and thus discovered a new obsession.

You basically just apply wallpaper glue to the furniture, lay the wallpaper on, then smooth it out! It totally revamped the dresser, along with this ugly but functional piece that we use as a front entry way bench!

In the kitchen

I finally hit my stride with the new lighting setup! While the new house seems light and airy in person, it isn’t all that conducive to natural light photography. I’ve been transitioning over to artificial lights to help out, and it’s been a total game changer. Like, I can shoot recipes at night now rather than at 10 am! I can eat warm dinners! Mind blown.

And I’m very excited about the recipes I’ve got coming up. For the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, we’ll be cooking with THIS elusive ingredient. Know what it is?!

And that’s all the gab for this month (and year)! I’m so happy to have you in our little online family, and hope you have the happiest of New Years. May your fridge be stocked, your Christmas tree be up until February, and your table be surrounded by the ones you love!