Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

Well, we survived 2 meals on Thanksgiving! It was a busy day, but fun to see so many loved ones in one day. Luckily our families live close by so we never have to drive far or fly to visit.

On Friday, J hung out with his friend C. They hit up the new tap room at Intuition Ale. J got one of his Christmas presents from me early, as I bought him a membership to Intuition Ale's Mug Club. Pretty unique present, in my opinion! They also played video game and generally did the whole male bonding thing! I headed up to Savannah for the day with C's girlfriend, KT. We had lunch at Mrs. Wilkes, which was the best Southern food I've never had. It was completely worth the line!! After lunch, we walked around some of the squares and shopped around the historic district. Some of the places we visited included:



One Fish Two Fish , which is next door to Mrs. Wilkes. Loved the seaside themed decor. I especially loved the etched wine glasses, with designs such as a starfish and compass. They also sold Sailcloth bags, which Kate of Nautical by Nature would have loved!



DC2 Design Interior and Cafe - a fun, modern Marie Antoinette meets Southern traditions style store. Not everything would be my style, per se, however you can't help but be inspired by the style!


The Paris Market - Another fun place for style inspiration and shopping! I wish I had taken a picture of the amazing holiday decor. This place is a must see for any gal who has an affection for French design.

On Saturday, I visited with my parents. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I visit my parents every Saturday morning (unless we are out of town). My dad got really sick a few years ago and while he is better now, I make sure to see him and my mom as much as I can. It was been really great. On this particular Saturday, I danced with my dad to the oldies station. Yup, love them!! J and I had plans to go out with friends Saturday night, but I was feeling really worn out. I opted to stay home and finally watched Sex and the City 2. Well, it was silly in parts, serious in others. Glad I saw it but don't think it's one I need to own.

So here we are on Sunday. J is making pizza (yum!) and I plan to test out a rugelach recipe for my cookie party in a few weeks. I may decorate our tree too! It's finally chilly in Northeast Florida, so maybe it is time :)

Happy Sunday :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I apologize for the blogging absence. This time of the year is busy! But I did want to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Our day will be spent having two meals: Thanksgiving lunch with my family (as my mom has to work tonight) and Thanksgiving dinner with J's family and their friends. Trying to come up with an eating plan so I don't explode by tonight is challenging. There is bound to be delicious dishes at both meals, so I'll have to practice some restraint!

As for the rest of the long weekend, I'm going to Savannah tomorrow with a good friend for some lunch and shopping. For the weekend, we are celebrating a friend's birthday, watching football and decorating the tree!

Hope you all have a great holiday!

Boston recap

This will be a fashionless and long post. Consider yourself warned! Instead, just wanted to let y'all know we are back from Boston,. We had a great, but way too short, vacation. We haven't uploaded the pics from our SLR, so I only have a few from my little camera.

Thursday

We arrived and headed to the apartment we rented in the North End. This was our first experience utilizing HomeAway.com. It was a very positive experience! Fun fact: our apartment was on the same block where the nun back robber scene was filmed in "The Town". The "bank" is actually a laundrymat!! Here is a pic of inside the apartment.



As I am a super planner, we already knew where we were having dinner while on vacation. On Thursday, we ate at No 9 Park in Beacon Hill. We had a great table, overlooking Boston Common. The meal and the restaurant as a whole was incredibly refined and decadent.



Friday

We spent the morning in Plymouth at the Plimoth Plantation. We enjoyed interacting with the folks at the Plantation. We also loved seeing all the animals and the vegetable gardens!

Thanks to KBelle at A Yankee Belle, we had a lunch recommendation. We had delicious lobster rolls at the Blue Eyed Crab



Friday evening, we headed back to Boston and jumped on the Green line to travel to my cousin's house. We had a fabulous time with the whole family, which includes 3 kids (11 year old, 8 year old and 3 year old).

Saturday

We booked a food tour of the North End. It was very informative and fun! Not only was the food tastings great, the storekeepers were all fabulous! Here are some pictures from our tour.


Lovely Italian cookies at Maria's Pastry


Meats and Cheeses at Monica's Mercado

After the food tour, we decided to walk through the Boston Common to the Public Gardens. We ended up walking much further--all the way down Bolyston and back up on Newbury. J mapped the route and we had walked around 4 miles by the time we got back to our apartment. Here is a little snapshot, taken while we took a short break in the Common.



We headed to Cambridge for dinner. After a pre-dinner beer at Miracle of Science, we had a lovely dinner at Rendezvous in Central Square.

Sunday

We got up early and enjoyed cappuccino and cannolis at Caffe Graffiti. We walked around the area around Faneuil Hall. We visited the Holocaust Memorial, which was amazing.


Entrance to the Holocaust Memorial

We had lunch in Quincy Market with a good friend of mine and her family who live in Maine. After a fun lunch of laughs and catching up, J and I headed back up to Cambridge. This time, we made it up to Harvard Square. Being the dork I am, we found Widener Library. Anyone else love the movie "With Honors"? This is the library where Joe Pesci lived in the basement.



After working up an appetite from walking around and from Harvard Square down to Central Square, we stopped by Miracle of Science again to catch some football games before dinner.

Dinner was at Craigie on Main. AMAZING!!! We sat in the bar area, just so I could order this:


Yes, that is the Craigie on Main burger on the cover of Bon Appetit's September 2010 issue. It really was that gorgeous and delicious!!

Boston was really just a fantastic location for our short vacation. The city is charming. The weather was beautiful. The food was outstanding. I'm already dreaming of our next vacation! We are thinking of staying in the South, maybe Asheville. :)

Tuesday, 11/2 and Wednesday 11/3

Only a week till our vacation!! I can't wait! I've already begun to pack!!

Tuesday's outfit



My hair had a mind of its on in this pic!

Cardi: Bealls
Shirt: Merona
Skirt: Antonio Melani, Dillard's Clearance Center
Shoes: Naturalizer
Bracelet: Premier

Wednesday's outfit



Sorry for the blurriness! I really thought I learned how to take these pics :)

Shirt: Ross, (Old!)
Skirt: Talbots
Shoes; Jessica Simpson
Cardi: (not pictured) Merona

Monday 11.1

I bought this dress before I started my shopping diet. It's just been so hot here that I couldn't wear it!



Dress: Ross
Shoes: Antonio Melani, Dillard's Clearance Center
Earrings: Kohl's
Headband: My b/w feather one

Oh, and look who I found....



Shirt: J Crew
Jeans: Gap
Shoes: Clark's Desert Boots