We wish you a merry christmas

This year, I felt so fortunate. I got to spend time with both my family and Mike's family. We shared delicious food, (cannolis, beer bread and dip, butternut squash,lasagna, etc.) we had lots of laughs playing Apples to Apples, and gave and received beautiful gifts.

My favorite gift was from Mike- a Kindle Fire.

All I plan to do on this vacation is read read read!

My mom gave me new pots and pans to cook with. What I was using was awful! It was so not on the Anti-Cancer list, so these should be much better and healthier for cooking. The only non-stick item is the top one and my mom said it came free with the other purchase.

My aunt's house looked lovely, as always. She had a gorgeous, full tree, which I chose not to have this year. :( I'm blaming that on Tom's wedding.

Happy Holidays!!!

My first picture

Mike and I got each other cameras for Christmas. Both of us wanted different types of cameras, so I now have a nice tiny one and he has a huge one with 2 different lenses. I thought the pictures that I took at my brother's wedding weren't as clear as I would have liked. That camera is great, but I'm hoping this will be fantastic!

Christmas Eve

Last night, we went to visit Mike's family and then my mom, Mike, and I went to the 10pm church service. If I look a little tired in these pictures, I am! I'm usually in bed around 8:30pm- no later than 9pm! Mike and I got to light the Christ candle during the service. This was Mike's first time doing this. When we got up to the advent wreath, the parson asked us to switch places with him. As we passed each other in the tight space, he handed the candle to Mike which began to fumble between the 3 of us. THANKFULLY- the parson caught it.

God was watching over us. :)

Going to the chapel...

This weekend, my little brother got married. I believe they have been together for about 10 years and they are 26. Pretty amazing! Here was my date:

Well, I wish he was invited, but he wasn't. So, I went with my dad and handsome husband.

The church and the reception hall were all decorated for the holidays. For you wedding planners, maybe a holiday wedding is a good idea to cut down on decorating costs? Anyway, the church was the most beautiful part of the entire wedding. I loved it!

The reception was fantastic! Great music and great food. Surf 'n' turf! What a great idea!

Mommy and me.

Mike and his favorite police officer.

The first dance.

Tom and Nicole made the best man and maid of honor come out dressed in elf costumes! It was so funny! When Tom was in Alan's wedding, he had to come out as one of the village people, so this was payback!

Congratulations Tom and Nicole!

Where did fall go?

When I wrote the date on the chalkboard at school (I can't believe I still use a chalkboard!) I was shocked that December was already here! Where was I for the month of November?

Since I missed that month, I figured I should just get started with Christmas. I bought a BEAUTIFUL wreath to hang above my mantle. I wanted something a little different and I love the purple color instead of the traditional red.

As we were hanging it up, Mike said "You wish there was a beam to finish the mantle, don't you?" Well, it's true. I do. Maybe one of these days he will get the beam up there. He is a perfectionist about his work, so I keep that in mind when things take a long time.

I like the wreath so much, I might not even do a Christmas tree. Is that bad? I just don't have room for one. However, I am looking for a creative way to hang some of my favorite ornaments, so if you have a good idea, please let me know.

On another note, this innocent looking creature jumped on that ottoman like a diving board to launch himself into that chair he is sitting on. He sent the ottoman flying across the room down the stairs to the basement and put a hole in the basement door. He is getting coal in his stocking.

Thank God The Power Is Back!

We had a bizarre October snow storm. We get snow in October, but usually not a lot of heavy snow that lands on the trees that have lots of leaves on them this time of year. That resulted in lots of trees going down and well over 800,000 people in Connecticut losing power. How many people are there in Connecticut, anyway? Doesn't that seem like it must be everyone? I would say half of my family is still out after 7 days. Yikes! Thank goodness it was only 4 days for us.

This is the view out our window! Crazy for October, right? They cancelled Halloween because of too many downed wires. It feels so weird that we didn't have it.

Poor Pucky is trying to stay warm without heat. Luckily, we had a generator.

Of course, Mike and I got a terrible stomach bug in the middle of the darkness. Mike had to go to the hospital. What a mess.

But before all that, Mike and I got to taste a new ice cream flavor. The local news station was saying that many grocery stores will not carry it because of the name. But, I knew that I would be able to find it in my town. I live in the Valley! The Valley is all about this kind of thing! The one positive thing about living here!

I'm Back!

I've been MIA, as usual. But, I'm going to try to make more of an effort to blog. Here I am at a baby shower for my friend, Kristine. Baby Jack is expected to arrive in November.

She's glowing! :)

It was an afternoon tea party and I had the most delicious tea I've ever had. I'm going to order some.

Mighty Leaf Tea

I had the organic mint and a friend had vanilla bean. They were so delicious and the tea bags were so pretty. If you love tea, you should try them!

Earthquake? In Connecticut?

I had such a CRAZY experience yesterday that I HAVE to blog about it. I went to a beach in Fairfield, CT with my sister-in-law. What a beautiful, perfect day! The sun was shining, there were a few puffy, white clouds in the sky, a cooling breeze, and just the right amount of heat to make it warm and not hot. The Sound was cool to put your feet in and the birds pretty much left me alone.

I was laying on my back looking up at the clouds when I thought that I was feeling dizzy. Then I realized my legs were shaking. I wondered Am I having a heat stroke? Then I realized that I was having plenty of water and wondered how I could really feel that sick laying down. I pulled my knees up and sat up on my elbows only to watch my legs and body literally rocking back and forth. Of course, since I was on the beach, I couldn't see anything else moving besides my body. Probably because I was laying directly on the ground it felt so intense to me. People were saying, "What was that? What is going on? Was that an earthquake? An explosion?" Naturally, we are all hooked up to the internet by phones so within a minute someone yelled, "There was an earthquake in Virginia 5 minutes ago!" At that point, some people started leaving the beach. Other people just continued their conversations about going back to school. My sister-in-law was wondering if we should be on the beach in case of a tsunami. ???

I think this is the one of 3 times I have been to a beach in Connecticut and it is certainly the first time in at least 10+ years. And of course, I get to experience the earthquake laying on the ground! Last night I was laying in bed STILL in shock that I felt an earthquake on the East coast! Unreal.

Kayaking

Believe it or not, I have not used the kayaks this year until now! It's so sad because I absolutely LOVE to kayak. I went with my good friend, Dawn, who I didn't get a picture of. :( She was using my kayak so I used Mike's green one. We spent 2 and a half hours on the lake. It was a beautiful day and a nice break from the rain. I probably should have remembered the sun block.

Stress Free Moose

Our last night out, we went to the Stress Free Moose.

Everyone was giving me the "thumbs up".

According to his ID, he is really 21.

Are we having fun, or what?

I was not sick on the way home, but someone else was. Frankly, I'm just glad it wasn't me and didn't get in my car.

Vacation

Boy, I really needed a vacation! After all my classes, I was done! It was in the 60's and rainy most of the time in Maine, but at least I got away, got a lot of much needed sleep, and a good game of Monopoly in.

The car was packed and very dirty by the end of the week.

When it was nice in Maine, we got out and enjoyed it as much as we could.

We took the dogs to a nice park for a walk. I love birch trees!

We did a 40 mile quad ride. Sun!

We ate a lot of s'mores. If it was raining and we couldn't make a fire, we cooked them on the gas stove.

We taught Willie to swim. As Mike put it, he swims like he's playing the bongos. However, he was much better by the end of the week.

I pulled a muscle carrying him out into the water so he could practice swimming in. It was cloudy and cold.

All in all, a nice week!

Amazing!

I don't get all pumped up for sporting events. If we go to watch sporting events with friends, I'm either talking or texting while stuffing my face- the entire time. But not for USA soccer, especially the women's team. I'm usually in comfy clothes on the couch, glued to the tv, and I get so stressed during the games that I go from sitting on the edge of my seat to just standing right in front of the television. This was the most stressful game I have ever watched. I felt exhausted when it was over. But it was awesome!

Way to go, USA!

Ryan and Melissa's Wedding

The Bride and Groom:

Taylar looks very pretty in blue:

The bridal party (very festive for the 4th of July):

My date:

These feet were tired by the end of the night!: