Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas to all!

What a lovely and relaxing Christmas! This year Megan, Neil and I headed to Doylestown on the 22nd to spend the week with my parents. I always love going to my parents house. My mom does such a great job making our house feel so inviting and cozy. We arrived to a hot pot of chili waiting for us and our wine.com order chilling in the fridge.

Christmas Eve turned out a little differently than I had planned because I ended up working the majority of the day and even missed church with my family. That said, I am SO LUCKY to work for a company that allows us to work from home and are very flexible with our schedules.

I did sneak out for a bit to get our annual picture with Santa Claus! This year, Neil was our special guest star and our theme this year. This was our 13th picture with Santa and every year it's a mad rush to get the picture done, but we are so happy afterwards because it's such a fun tradition.

After wrapping up work we did our traditional Christmas Eve dinner which consists of a ton of apps!

                          Because I am a fat girl I only took pictures of food. Seriously, not one picture of humans.

                                                   Home made mac n' cheese. YUMMMM

                                                                                   Best. Hoagies. EVER!

Christmas day was a very chill, relaxing day! My family decided not to do presents this year after the insanely expensive year we all had (sorry, guys). It was nice not to stress over money, etc, but at the same token, it did feel like something was missing a bit!

                                                                                   Christmas Dinner!

The day after Christmas we were going to walk around Doylestown, see a movie, something fun, but I came down with SARS. Ok, maybe it wasn't SARS, but I felt terrible. Thankfully, P.S. I love you was on TV so my dad, Neil and I watched that while Megan perfected her Gingerbreak Shale (fancy house).

We left bright and early on Friday and I still felt like garbage. On the way to the airport we hit standstill traffic for awhile, which resulted in us running to the gate to make our flight with 4 minutes to spare! While we were catching our breath the flight attendant asked if anyone wanted to move to the front of the plane, so Neil and I took one for the team and were moved into first class which was a great way to end a great week!!

Since coming home I haven't done much  besides cough and clean. I was getting so stir crazy that I had to do SOMETHING so I just started deep cleaning our apartment (over, closets, cabinets, all the gross stuff). Great way to start the new year!

I Heart December

I really love December, and this weekend was a great Christmas weekend!

Friday morning I woke up to this

An absolutely beautiful way to start the weekend off!

Friday after work Neil and I met Mary Kate and Kirk for an Italian feast at Balena (one of my favorite places in Chicago). It was so great to catch up with them and hear some Abby stories! I am so lucky to have Mary Kate as a friend and her husband Kirk is amazing. He cracks me up and is such a genuinely nice person. Neil and I always love hanging out with them.

Saturday was our 5th annual Christmas walk! I got up early and cleaned the apartment (mainly the guest room which has become my arch nemesis) and took Clark to the park. Then we began our trip. It seems each year we follow the same path: Start at the Christkindlmarket, head over to Macy's and walk around, stop at a hotel for a drink (the hotel always changes), walk up State Parkway and look at the insanely gorgeous houses, make our way to zoo lights and then end with dinner. Sadly, this was our first year that weather really got in the way. We made it all the way to the hotel, where we stopped at the Penninsula for a a drink (or two, or three) and we had to pump the breaks on the walk.

 Our jeans were wet (worst feeling ever), it was chilly and we just couldn't imagine walking another 3 or 4 miles in that weather. So, we officially called it and headed over to my all time favorite restaurant for dinner. We then met up our friends George and Brian for a few drinks at Twisted Spoke.

Though we didn't stick to our original route, it was still a blast and we will chalk it up to another successful Christmas Walk!

Yesterday we met my sister Megan for brunch and then she and I went to get a mani/pedi. After that I came home with the best intentions of packing and cleaning. Instead we watched about 8 episodes of House Hunters International. I mean, doesn't this look cozy?

          I was cleaning the sheets and the pup feel asleep on top of all the pillows and blankets. So comfortable! 





Today we leave for Philly to celebrate Christmas and I can't wait!!

Really, Clark?

After having surgery to take a small tennis ball out of his belly, you think Clark would stay clear of tennis balls.

Nope, the pup loves him some tennis balls!

Well, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen

Lamar, you lied.

I'm pretty sad about Khlo and Lam Lam splitting. Though I'm happy that she's leaving him because he's acting like a dirt ball lately, I did love them together when things were good! She loved her some Lam Lam and it makes me sad for her that he was so awful to her.

Neil and I are scared now. If a Kardashian can't make their marriage last what chance do we have?

Christmas is Here!

What a fun filled, festive weekend!!

Friday after work Neil and I met my cousins Jim, Syd and their two boys for drinks at Gibson's in the Gold coast. It was a very fun night! The gold coast looked so festive and we laughed and caught up (mostly about the wedding) over some cocktails (the boys had Ginger Ale)! I love seeing Cameron and Brandon and it's been so fun to see them grow up over the years, they are two sweet, fun and funny little boys!

After drinks Neil went to dinner with his friend Nick and I headed home because there were cookies to be made for Saturday morning!

Saturday we headed to Christmas off Campus. Each year, the University of Dayton alumni association hosts this and it's a blase to see everyone and help out for the morning. Pattie Brosnan always does an amazing job and each year gets better and better!

After COC Neil and I went to lunch with Mary Kate, her sister Bridget and Miss Abby. It was such a great lunch and great to chat and catch up. It was snowing outside and the perfect winter day!

                                             How cute is this baby?! I LOVE the Christmas outfit!

                                                       Aunt Bridget and the little nugget

Saturday night my sister Megan hosted a wine tasting party and it was SO.MUCH.FUN!! John, our wine expert was a lot of fun and brought about 12 bottles over for us all to taste. Every wine we tasted was delicious and it was so fun to catch up with Megan's friends. One of the couples there just got back from South Africa as well, so we chatted about that ALL NIGHT LONG! Megan is an amazing host and everything was perfect! 

                                                                            Selfie!

                                                                         Meg's spread. It was all amazing!! 

Shockingly, after a night of wine tasting Neil and I were pretty useless on Sunday and we just lounged and watched Christmas movies (and 16 and Pregnant. What else puts you in the Holiday spirit?!)

Oh, we got boots for Clark this weekend because the salt always gets in his paws and hurts him. They were the definition of a failure. Sadly I did not record a video, but watching him walk in those boots was classic.

Also, last week Neil and I went through our guest book and I found this pic: 

Might be one of my fave's from the whole day!  

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

No, wait, it's FREEZING!!

Winter is officially here in Chicago and everyone hates it. The only small potential silver lining is that we are supposed to get more snow! Yippie!! In the meantime, this is not right...

Also, I found a funny picture of Clark watching Neil pour a beer...

Post Gobble Gobble

My pants don't fit. Signs of a great weekend!!

As previously mentioned, I did not travel to Doylestown for Thanksgiving this year. While I missed my family and the comfort of my parents house, I did NOT miss traveling one bit. I loved the relaxed day and weekend and really wish every weekend could be this great!

Neil and I went to his parents house on Thursday for our official Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was yummy and I was in a serious food coma when we got home that night. Still being a bit jet lagged Neil and I crashed early.

Friday morning we went over to Crate and Barrel to get some items off of our registry and then we picked up our first Christmas tree; my first REAL Christmas tree!! It smells amazing and it was super fun picking it up!

 

Pre Decorations  

Busted the Santa Suit out as well, doesn't really fit like it did last year when he was about 50 lbs smaller. 

After decorating, cooking and cleaning we headed back to Neil's parents house because they were hosting Neil's moms side of the family for dinner. It was great to see everyone and rehash the wedding and honeymoon! Neil and I crashed early again right when we got home. 

Saturday morning started off with the Ditka Dash! My sister, our friend Nick and I all met to "run" this new 5K. Everyone gets mustaches and aviators to look like "Da Coach." It was a blast and a great way to start the day! 

                                                       I know I look like a man, that was actually the point!

When we got home we got right to cooking since a few people were coming over for Friendsgiving! 

 All total we had 9 people come over to recreate Thanksgiving. Everyone brought amazing food and drinks and Neil and I cooked turkey with all the fixins'. The night was a blast! It was great catching up with everyone! They all allowed Neil and I to share our honeymoon pictures and stories, too! 

I am so thankful for so much this year! It's going to be very hard to ever top 2013!