Christmas Vacay!

So now that I'm a working girl I used the first of my vacation days and took the week after Christmas off.  I headed home on Christmas Eve and spent the next few days with the fam.  We had a great Christmas, church, yummy Christmas dinner, Marley & Me and some other good movies.  After the family time I headed to Birmingham, Alabama to meet up with the "Core Four" aka Sarah, Melissa and Karen.  The girls and I met up for one night of fun!  We went shopping, ate at Outback and then headed out to the Five Points area of Birmingham.  Little did we know that there was a bowl game going on in Birmingham the next day, Rutgers vs. NC State.  People didn't understand that we weren't there for the game.  It was so good to see the girls.  One of the few things I don't like about DC is that they're not here!

After returning from Birmingham, my Mom and I headed to Atlanta to watch the Tigers play in the Chick Fil A Bowl.  We met up with some friends from Baton Rouge and headed to the Atlanta Civic Center to see a King Tut exhibit.  No photos from that, but it was amazing to see all the ancient jewelry and other things in the collection.  That night we headed to the Atlanta Aquarium.  I won't lie...I LOVE aquariums.  I think they're absolutely beautiful and I love watching the fish swim around.  The Atlanta Aquarium was particularly nice, with lots of interesting exhibits.

The next morning we headed to the Chick Fil A Bowl parade.  It was fun, a few too many Shriners in tiny cars.  The best part of parade was of course the LSU Band!  After the parade we went to Fanfest where I met up with Melinda and her family!  We watched Les Miles and the team walk through and listened to the band play some more.  Then we got our faces painted...I just got a Tiger on one cheek and Melinda got her whole face painted--just like 2005!  Post-Fanfest we headed to our ozone layer seats...seriously they were so high up!  

What a game!  Sorry George Tech, LSU finally came together as a team!  Looks like we found a quarterback!  Since it was New Year's Eve, after the game we headed back to the hotel just in time to get some gin and tonics and watch the ball drop.  The next morning we headed back to Irmo and a few days later I headed back to DC!  

What a great vacation!  Not relaxing at all, but soooo much fun!

(Photos coming soon!!)

Christmas...DC and Beyond!

Hi everyone!  Sorry to be so late with this Christmas blog, but as soon as Christmas was over it was back to the real world and I got busy.  Now let's talk about Christmas!  Thanks again to Michelle for beginning the festivities with her Christmas cookie party. The next weekend, Sarah, Amy and I headed north...to the Big Apple!  It was my first trip to NYC and we had a GREAT time!  We left bright and early on Saturday morning, taking the DC to NY bus.  BTW the bus is the way to go...much cheaper than the train and almost as fast.  We didn't hit any traffic until the Lincoln Tunnel.  Our bus driver made the trip a great one...he said such memorable phrases as "we do what we do" and "make sure you get back on the right bus, you'll know because it's the cool bus."  

And the bus was called "Destiny" so of course we made of lot of "it must be destiny" jokes.

Once we arrived in the city (and walked past Macy's) we were starving, so after hopping off 

of the subway we looked around for a place to eat.  We stumbled upon a diner called Eat Here Now.  So we did.  Then we headed to the apartment we rented. It was great!  Right on Lexington Ave., a block from the subway...

awesome!  After dropping off our stuff we headed to Rockefeller Center to be the ultimate New York tourists.  We walked inside 30 Rock and all around the outside.  We saw the tree and the ice skating rink.  There were sooooo many people.  I've never experienced human gridlock...YIKES!  

Before leaving the area we stopped by Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes...it was just like Lazy Sunday.  We loved those cupcakes like 

McAdams loves Gosling.

After Rockefeller we headed to Times Square.  By this time our feet were frozen so we made

 our way into the Virgin Records store and looked around for awhile.  

While there I got a call from my cousin Dana.  After figuring out where Dana and my other cousin Meredith live we headed to the East Village to meet up with them.  

After hanging out at their place for a little while we headed to a delicious sushi restaurant.  After dinner we were exhausted so we headed back to the apartment and caught some ZZZs.

The next day we woke up and headed to breakfast at Alice's Tea Cup, an Alice in Wonderland

themed restaurant.  Our breakfast was so good...and the tea was delish! After breakfast we headed to 5th Avenue to see the Christmas windows. Our favorite was the Cartier window...jewels popping out of animatronic boxes...yes please!  We decided to hit up Bergdorf's (I felt like I was in Gossip Girl!).  Sarah and I both picked up some Lollia hand creme...it's awesome and smells great.  We then hit Central Park.  It's so beautiful!  

After grabbing some delicious hot dogs and awful pretzels we headed back to the apartment to pick up our stuff.  We then caught the bus and headed back to DC. New York was fun, but DC truly is home sweet home.  And don't get me started on the NYC subway system...I LOVE THE METRO!

After all the fun we had in NYC, I needed some DC Christmas in my life.  So one day after work, Amy and I headed over to the National Christmas tree.  That's one of the coolest things about working in DC...we're only one block away from the White House and just around the corner from the Washington Monument.  

The National Christmas tree was so beautiful and covered in tons lights.  There were also Christmas trees from all 50 states and all US provinces.  I made sure to look for the trees of my favorite states...South Carolina, Louisiana and my new home state, Maryland.  There was also a nice, warm fire....a Yule Log, or as we like to call it...a Mule Log.