December Wrap-Up

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas season! Our seasonal festivities have come to an end and we are looking to get back to our regular routine in the upcoming week. I know I've been on a little hiatus from blogging for a little while, but I'm ready to jump back in and keep this thing rolling! It's been months since I last posted so I'd like to catch up a little before moving forward.

I feel like these past couple of months have been lived in fast-forward. There has been a whirlwind since about Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends in Birmingham before going home for the holiday. Kelsey cooked the turkey and the rest of us sparked our culinary skills to create quite the spread.

We went home to Luverne for a few days during Thanksgiving and spent some much-needed time with our families! After returning to Birmingham I prepared for the last couple of weeks of the semester and final exams. And then, of course, the Christmas festivities began. Our community group had our final get together of the year where we swapped gifts by playing Dirty Santa. We opted for getting good, creative gifts instead of funny/cheesy ones, so everyone left with something nice. Four of us with Steel City Pops gift cards - the ultimate Christmas gift!

In celebration of the end of my school semester we got together with Mike and Kelsey to watch one of her favorite Christmas classics: White Christmas. This was the first time Jesse and I had watched it, and I loved it! The night was complete with hot cocoa and cookies.  :)

We went home for Christmas with my side of the family for the weekend where my mom had prepared a delicious brunch full of all the dishes we crave for this annual gathering! We had a great day catching up with my sister and her family and exchanging gifts. Tara gave us the most unique present we received - a photo-collage puzzle of our summer vacation from Shutterfly! Such a neat gift!

A little more back and forth brought Christmas with Jesse's side of the family. We had the annual Christmas Eve seven-fish dinner with his parents, brother, and sister-in-law. Then woke up Christmas morning to exchange gifts and eat a yummy fondue lunch. We then spent Christmas evening with all of my mom's side of the family for dinner and our second round of Dirty Santa. The women do a nice job with gifts here, but you never know what will come out of the men's side of the tree. Last year Jesse came home with kindling wood; this year there was a pooping-snowman.

For the day after Christmas, Marilyn had planned for us to go to the Fantasy of Lights at Callaway Gardens. We arrived a little early and had time to admire the Butterfly Conservatory. Next, we took a walk through Christmas Village, grabbed some kettle corn, then lined up for the drive through the light show. Although we were a car full of adults, there is something warm and sentimental about Christmas lights.

 Sometime in the midst of all this, Jesse and I exchanged our gifts to each other. He can be difficult to buy for and surprise, but I got him this year with an unexpected suitcase and finally framed some street art we got last year in NYC.  He got me a few things I'd asked for and a couple of surprises as well. My little organized heart did a flutter when I opened the label maker.

More blogging coming soon in 2015!!!

Happy New Year 2014

We rang in the new year with lots of our friends. We started at a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, then gathered at our friends Mike and Kelsey's home until the midnight countdown. Kelsey had a couple of activities planned and a chocolate fondue with a few other snacks to keep us going until midnight. And what's a party without a photobooth and props?

(that was apparently after we had devoured most of it) 

(the host and hostess)

A few of us stuck around and played a new game afterwards.

I'm so glad we have shared so many fun times and made so many memories in 2013 with these friends! Can't wait to see what 2014 has in store!

Christmas Round-Up

A quick review from some of my favorite (captured) moments this Christmas season.  Thankfully Jesse had the week off for Christmas too, so we went to Luverne to start the Christmas rounds. It was a busy time, going from house to house to visit different parts of our families, but I love spending time with everyone. It doesn't happen that often.

I got coal for Christmas!! And Jesse's stocking for packed full. :( 

Not really.  Jesse and I only did stockings this year, which was fun to see what little goodies we would pull out next.

Moseley Christmas

SO glad we got to see ALL of these faces, especially Ethan and Amy from California.

Yay, my parents got new towels for Christmas! :)

Hatcher Christmas. There were lots of surprises and a little danger...

...and cuteness. Just look at that face!

Wilson Christmas

Budraitis Christmas
(I promise Matt was there, just behind the camera!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

New York Vacation - Day 5

It was kindly brought to my attention that I haven't gotten around to posting the last day of our trip. (Which means I have at least one reader! :)  )
We didn't have much time for any major sight seeing before our flight out of NY, so we split up for breakfast and a little exploring. It was nice to have the morning just me and Jesse. Vacationing with others is often more fun, but it's good to have a little time to ourselves too.  The last morning was perfect for this since there was no plans or no where to be except the airport later.  Jesse found an aquarium shop to visit, so we walked in it's direction to find breakfast first. We found a little nook in the wall place called the Fiat Cafe. I had french toast with a deliciously foamy latte and Jesse had egg's benedict with smoked salmon. 

I had said that I would include a list of our top favorite things, but to be honest everything was amazing! I'm glad we did, ate, and drank every single thing. So I made a map on Pinterest (because you can do that now) of everything we did (which has pretty much been included in these posts) is on there. View it HERE. Maybe you can use it one day to plan your own trip. New York is definitely worth seeing once in your life - if you have the chance, take it!

Catch the beginning post of this trip, starting with Day One. 

A thrill of Hope

It's the time of year that we can get wrapped up in gift-giving and receiving, and cooking and cleaning for family to get together. But none of that has to do with the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas began in the middle of the night thousands of years ago when an amazing thing happened. A simple, normal woman gave birth to a baby boy, that was the most special baby boy there could ever be - Jesus- a Savior for all. He would walk this earth for only a short time before he became the ultimate sacrifice to save each of us from our ugly sin. That's why I love this song. No matter where I am, I love to stop and listen to these beautiful words, and take in the emphasis of each word as I try to imagine what that night was like.

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;

It is the night of the dear Savoir's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of HOPE, the weary soul rejoices,

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall.... on your knees,

Oh hear the angel voices!

O night...

DIVINE...

O night, when Christ was born!

O night!

O holy night,

O night divine!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...  I just realized I could truthfully say that this year. Jesse and I finally both have stockings, and we have a chimney!

I decorated the mantel with Christmas trimmings, instead of a tree again this year. We decided that there's not much room for a tree, and we aren't even there for Christmas anyway, so a tree is not necessary.  Well, really... Jesse has talked me out of a tree for two years in a row for those reasons. I relent at the beginning, but then see his logic and agree. So I made the most of decorating the mantel, reusing a lot of last years decor.

The frame (thrift store), you remember from the fall mantel; the large snowflake and the tinsel were from Christmas 2 years ago in Auburn (when we had a tree); the garland was from last year ("borrowed" from my mother-in-law); I found the stocking hangers this year at Goodwill (they were from Target; I has almost purchased them last year but Jesse had no stocking); Jesse's stocking came from Target this year (a Christmas miracle he found one he liked... I didn't know men could be so picky about a hanging sock), along with the twinkle lights we added to the garland. The ornaments were from last year's Christmas mantel decor, as well as the metal Christmas trees (a yard sale find). The hanging bags are part of an advent set (with a book) made and written by a couple of people in our church.  We had hoped to read the daily message for advent each day, but I'll be honest and confess that we only made it through a few days. I shouldn't be too busy to focus on Jesus each day of December, but that happened. We hope to complete it next year.

I loved being able to pull different pieces together I already have to create something completely different from last year. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

New York Vacation - Day 4

We're almost through our vacation! I'm typing this as I'm taking breaks from studying for finals, and I'm already wishing I was on another vacation. Or just still there instead of stuck at my desk or in the library. But it's fun to "re-live."

If you need to catch up:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

Day 4 - our last full day!
We started the morning on a Subway ride into Brooklyn so that we could walk the Brooklyn Bridge back into Manhattan. It was a beautiful day for this, and actually warm enough to take my hat off without freezing my ears at times. It was funny because there is a lane for pedestrians and a lane for bicyclists, but all the tourists were walking in both lanes at times, and bikers would come whizzing through ringing their bells for everyone to move out of their way. The walk was fun, and it is beautiful to see the city line along the water.

Not too far from the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge is China Town and Little Italy. China Town came up first, so we walked through there and ate lunch at a place Matt had heard of. It turned out that it had been featured with Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations on the Travel Channel.

Then Heidi and I did a little shopping, and tried some bubble tea (not my favorite).

Next came Little Italy. However, the two really just run together for a bit. So you have chinese restaurants and shops mixed in with Italian places. Not exactly what I expected, but there was plenty to look at all over each area. Little Italy was already decorated for Christmas.

(of course, we ate one of these...)

And then we stopped at a well-known cheesecake place - Eileen's Special Cheesecakes and got some to-go.

We went back home to rest our feet for a while, then headed out to Central Park. We had came across it before, but it was dark and we wanted to see it in better lighting (and safety).

Next up was more pizza for dinner, and then Top of the Rock. Thankfully Bouchon Bakery had another location near the Rockafeller Center, so we were able to try more macarons! They were amazing! My favorite dessert of the trip.

The city is even more beautiful at night! We had to kind of rush to see this though, because the next stop was Broadway and we didn't want to be late for our show! We split up from here. Heidi and Matt saw the Phantom and of the Opera, and Jesse and I saw Wicked.  Both shows were exceptional! I was so glad we got to see a play while there - it was high on my list of things to do. I would highly recommend Wicked - it was entertaining and funny, and the costumes were beautiful. I also enjoyed the fact that it is it's own story, and there is no movie you could watch prior to know what to expect. It was a brand new story line to us. Our seats were in the top mezzanine, which was perfectly fine for watching the show, but we took binoculars as well to see their facial expressions and details from the costumes and stage.

It was a late night after the shows were over, so we met back up and headed home.

Only a little time left the next day, so stay tuned for Day 5 and a list of our absolute favorite things of NYC!