True Grit, Tiramisu and Secret Santas

There are few things I like better than long weekends, and a long weekend, with your sister in town, snow, dinner with close friends, hot chocolate, Italian desserts and a Christmas Party - I'm at a loss as to what could top that!

Thursday evening we met up with some close friends of ours S&A, and despite not being able to meet too often, we always pick up exactly where we left off ...effortlessly so. Karin was here as well and she has the ability to make everything fun - it was just a lovely winter evening with conversation, good food and the spirit that only the holidays can bring. 

Dinner with S&A and K taking the pic

Friday we spent walking around the city and met up with another set of newly married and not so newly married friends for an Italian dinner topped with Tiramisu and Limoncello at Fiorellis. At midnight, we opened up our presents and clearly I must have done something good this year!

The next evening, we caught True Grit with our friends. I absolutely loved the movie. I thought Jeff Bridges was so charming and his lines were so funny that they often had me laughing out loud, Hailee Steinfeld was excellent as the sprightly, courageous girl and really set the tone for the whole film. It wasn't the usual Coen Brothers fare, a little less quirky and a little more sentimental, but I really enjoyed it and wont be surprised if it gets a few academy nods.

Sunday, we celebrated Christmas with a pot luck dinner, secret Santa revelations and more gifts! I got an adorable kipling bag, that  just puts a smile on my face every time I see it. We had a $25 budget limit just to force everyone to get creative with the presents and it was fun to see what people came up with :)

The Blue Checked Box was the bag I received!

Hope you had a lovely weekend too!