Merry Christmas friends!

Sitting here on the other side of Christmas, presents opened, tree taken down and decorations put away, I'm thinking back at this 2013 year.  My goodness what a whirlwind it has been.  New job, lots of work travel, some fun personal travel, buying and selling a house and moving...it's almost a blur!

Before we look at 2014, I want to enjoy the holidays for just a little bit longer.  We have a had a great week celebrating Christmas with friends and family, and here's a little peek.

M's mother came up and spent a couple of days with us before Christmas.  We did some shopping, went to Christmas Eve service, had a big Christmas Eve dinner and opened presents on Christmas morning.  Then she went to visit some friends while we headed over to Maryland to see my cousins, aunt and uncle, and parents! 

The minute we walked in, my cousin Kris and her husband called us into another room for a minute to ask us a very important question.  They asked M and me to be Godparents for their adorable little boy!  M and I are so touched and honored, and of course said yes.  Happy to introduce our new Godson, Ryder!

Since we have several photos of the cousins from various different weddings and get togethers, we thought we should finally get one with the spouses, too.

And one of the kids!

This was the end of an era, and the last year that my aunt will be hosting Christmas.  We have gone there for Christmas almost every year since I was 10.  The host for next year is still up in the air, but it'll either be Kris or me!

We took every opportunity we got to snuggle with the giggling baby! 

After a wonderful Christmas day, on our way back to NoVa, we met up with some close friends from Elon for lunch, who happened to be driving north to visit their family. 

Once we got home, my parents arrived shortly after to spend a couple of days at our house.  We opened presents, poked around the new house looking at all of the new things since they'd last visited, went out to eat and enjoyed a couple of days together.

They left Saturday afternoon, and by the time we went to bed that night, Christmas was over and the decorations were packed up tight until next year.  While the holidays can be such a hectic time, I love that we have a week to celebrate and enjoy the season with friends and family. 

I hope yours was as nice as ours.  One of my goals for 2014 is to get back to the blog more often.  I've missed it!  So stay tuned...enjoy the last few hours of 2013!

What we did this summer...besides move

This summer went by in a blur!  Since it's officially fall now, I figured what better time than this week to recap our summer.  Besides the move, and traveling all over the country for work, we managed to squeeze a bunch of fun things over the last few months.

 In June, I took our annual trip up to an Orioles game with a great group of friends.

In between work trips to Boston (for me) and Dallas (for M), we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!  Time sure flies.  We had dinner downtown at a fantastic, relatively new restaurant called Mintwood Place, and used a free rewards night to stay downtown at the Park Hyatt.  Cady was still at Camp Grandma's from having the house on the market, so it worked out nicely!  

For the 4th of July, we went over to Ocean City for a couple of days at my cousin's condo.  While we didn't make it to the beach, we had a great time splashing around in the pool and ate some delicious food.  We also went to M.R. Ducks and 3 of the 4 of us participated in their Chug-a-Duck tradition.

On the way home from OC, we stopped and met the newest member of our family, beautiful baby boy Ryder!  He was only 8 days when we met him.  

Despite a tropical storm on the original date of the Elon golf tournament, we were able to reschedule - and got the round in despite more rain on the make up date!  It was awesome to have Coach Swepson, Coach Hill, and Jon come up from campus for the annual event. 

With only one summer weekend that worked for all 3 of us, LR, CC and I were able to continue our tradition of a girls summer get together.  This year, we meet in Charlotte - we shopped, ate, drank, laughed, and had a great time!

Dave came to town again this summer, and we were jamming in the pit at the show.

I was on the softball team again this summer - not sure you can call what I do playing - and the tournament did not disappoint.  This year, we were lucky that we had perfect weather both days, and the Elon team was out in full force. 

My work travel has taken me all over the country this summer - Denver, Boston twice, Kansas City, Houston, LA twice, San Francisco, NYC a few times, and Chicago.  Luckily in a few cities, I was able to enjoy the surroundings a bit.  In Newport, we rented a little dingy boat for an hour cruise of the harbor - it was just beautiful!

In Boston (on both trips!) I was able to catch up with old roommate Kimbo.  It's been a few years since we've seen each other, so it was great fun to reconnect...and on this night, my coworkers and I saved her from a looser date!  Glad we could be of assistance!

In August, both M and I celebrated our birthdays.  With the house and all of the new house purchases we're making, they were both pretty low key.  We did have dinner with 3 of our favorite DC couples one night, and on separate weekends our parents visited - I think more to see the new house than to celebrate our birthdays :)  

While my parents were up, we all went across the bay to Kent Island for another baby cousin visit!  It was a great afternoon, it was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone without the chaos that is the holidays, when we usually visit.

Over Labor Day weekend, I think I had the surprise of my life.  I knew M's best friend KT was coming up from Alabama to visit for the weekend...what I didn't know was that MY best friend Lola was on her way too!  The three of us were checking in with the hostess at a restaurant on Friday night, and she asked if we still had 4....confused a bit, I said no, three, and turned around to confirm with M.  Walking in the door right behind me was Lola!!  She had planned this trip with M back in July, and left her 2 small children and husband back in Miami for a surprise weekend in DC.  Rumor has it I screamed really loud when I saw her, but I think they're exaggerating a bit... :) 

It was great to have the 2 of them in town with us for the weekend.  On Saturday, the boys went out to Catoctin Creek and Lost Rhino, while we went to an Elon game watch party.  Then we met up with some other friends to watch football, and Sunday we drug them around couch shopping with us, and fed them a big, delicious brunch at Ted's before we took them back to the airport.  

What a fantastic end to a great summer!

RVA weekend

I love when we're in RVA for the weekend visiting parents and get to try some of the new, cool places in town.  The weekend after Thanksgiving was one of the best we've had - good food, some culture at the museum, and a new local brewery! 

Friday night, after a couple of drinks with friends at Havanna 59, we headed over to Pasture on Grace Street for dinner.  

We mostly just had a handful of  'snacks' and 'small plates' to share.  We had the pimento cheese with Ritz crackers, fried okra, Brussels sprouts, and steak tartar, as well as a few others.  Everything was delicious - and they had a great beer list with tons of local/VA craft brews to choose from.

Saturday afternoon, following morning coffee with friends and some shopping, Mom and I went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.  They were hosting a special exhibit of glass artist Dale Chihuly.  

In May 2010, the museum completed a massive expansion with beautiful gardens.  It was a gorgeous fall day, and dozens of people were enjoy the sunshine and setting.

The pieces were just amazing.  These photos don't even begin to show the mass and beauty of these displays.  If you ever get a chance to see a Chihuly exhibit, don't miss the opportunity.  Here are just a few photos I took from our afternoon at the museum.  

That evening, we made our first trip out to Hardywood Park Brewery.  The place was packed and they had a live band playing.  What a great addition to the Richmond craft beer scene!  We got a few samplers, which was great - we all got to try several different beers!  

In addition to visiting the brewery, you can find their beers in dozens of restaurants and stores around town.  Highly recommend, and looking forward to getting back to town to try some of their new releases!

Richmond is such a vibrant town with so many cool things going on and places to go.  We always enjoy getting back home to visit family and friends and explore the city!

Thanksgiving in Richmond

One of my favorite holidays of the year is Thanksgiving, and I can't believe it has already come and gone.  Time this year is just flying by.  As we do every year, we celebrated Thanksgiving in Richmond.  We split time with both parents, and then my mom hosts my aunt, uncle cousins and kids for the big dinner on Thursday.

The delicious turkey and cousin Jason's creative and beautiful turkey plate

The calm before the storm dinner!

Cheers to another wonderful meal!

Makes me hungry again just looking at it!

When cousin Kristin and husband Steve showed up wearing their favorite sports jerseys for the big Skins-Dallas game that afternoon, Dad dug in the back of his dresser for this beauty.  I proudly wore it all day - Go Skins!

After all of the delicious food, it was time for dessert!  Including the ice cream turkey.

I made MK's delicious pumpkin spiced cannoli dip - it was a huge hit!

Quick family photo op

You can't forget cutie Pearly Sue, my parents sweet dog.

Cady was definitely tuckered out after the big day chasing kids, playing ball, and catching any food before it hit the floor (or Pearl got it).  She slept for days after Thanksgiving!

There's so much to be thankful for this year...I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

And before we know it, it'll be Christmas!