Picture 30

I feel like I should have taken a picture of something more exciting for picture 30, but I neglected to do so.  I went to A.C. Moore and bought these candies to make something for work.  And there you have my 30 Pictures in 30 Days.  Back to recipes in the next blog.  :)

Picture 29

I went to a Boston College hockey game. 

Picture 28

One of my friends organized a Biggest Loser challenge so I've been trying to be better about exercising and healthy eating.  On this day, I did some free weights after my ballet class.

 

Picture 27

My fiance and I went to a bridal show on the night that picture 27 took place.  We got a ton of flyers, which are in this bag.  Lots of information, but much of it was helpful so I guess it was worth the trip (even if we didn't win any of the prizes :-)).

Picture 26

Why do I have a picture of a sink pipe you ask?  Well, there's a "funny" story to that one.  When my dryer was finally repaired for real (Jan. 7th I think), the man who fixed it accidentally broke the pipe of my sink.  Oops!  So he came back the next day and fixed it then.  So yes, now I have a functional dryer (again) and a functional sink (again). 

Picture 25

I really dislike taking down Christmas decorations.  I LOVE putting them up, but taking them down dperesses me, but alas they must come down sometime so I finally started taking them down the weekend of Jan. 5th and on Jan. 7th, it was time to start to take down the Christmas tree.  Now the area that houses the Christmas tree is back to normal. 

Picture 24

I promised some people at work that I would make them gingerbread cookies.  So on Jan. 6th, I made the cookies and brought them to work the next day.  This was the first time I'd ever made gingerbread cookies (can you believe that?!) so yep, you guessed it, they will appear again in a recipe blog.  :-)

Picture 23

I had my fiance's parents and my parents over for dinner on Jan. 5th.  For dessert I made carrot cake (for the first time).  On a side note, this picture will probably appear again in a future blog (shh, pretend to be surprised when you see it) since this was a dish in my 52 Recipes in 52 Weeks recently. Of course since I am so far behind on blogging about that, it may be April before I get to it so perhaps you'll have forgotten by then.  hee hee

Picture 22

On Jan. 4th, my fiance invited two of his friends over.  The plan was to have Chinese food and watch a movie.  He also wanted his friend to help him set up his new Blu ray player.  The picture is supposed to be of his new blu ray player, but it didn't come out that great. 

Picture 21

I don't really have anything cool to say about Jan. 3rd.  I went to my weekly ballet class, hence the picture of my ballet shoes.  :) 

Picture 20

I didn't technically take this picture on Jan. 2nd, but it symbolizes that once again on Jan. 2nd someone had to come check my dryer to see what the problem was since it was not fixed correctly so I was air-drying a lot of my clothes (some of them I air-dry anyway, but you get the point). 

Picture 19=2013

New Year's Day my fiance and I were supposed to go out to breakfast.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but he did take our DD gift card and buy me a delicious bagel and hot chocolate.  His parents live near our friends who had the NYE party so instead of driving all the way back home at 1:30 am we stayed at his parents house.  However, they were on vacation and had been for a couple of days so when we got there we couldn't get in to the driveway because of the snow.  So he shoveled 'til about 3:00am and hence missed breakfast. 

Picture 18 NYE.

It wasn't on purpose, but somehow one of my friends and I both wore purple to our New Year's Eve festivities. 

Picture 17

One of my colleague's birthday is Dec. 30th or 31st, but we celebrated on the 30th. When I got to the bar, someone had a pretty drink. It was Malibu, Pineapple, and Grenadine. Clearly, I had to try one. I like Malibu and Pineapple, but hadn't had it with grenadine. It was good. :-)

Picture 16

A friend of mine was home from the Air Force at Christmas time.  He'll be away for a couple of years so I was excited to see him.  Despite the weather, we (and my fiance) went out to dinner (picture 16)and had some good laughs (and good food). 

Picture 15

Someone gave me a gift card to Bertucci's so my fiance and I went out to eat there on day 15 of 30 Pictures in 30 Days.  We brought home some leftovers in this box...

Picture 14 Dec. 27th

Having a week off at Christmas time is WONDERFUL, but I'm getting a little too used to being lazy.  It's going to make facing reality (a.k.a. going back to work) rough.  I was feeling a little guilty for being so lazy, but after talking to some people about this, I was reminded that I work hard, bring work home, etc so it's totally fine to be lazy when given the opporunity.  Plus I'm supposed to be saving money for a wedding anyway and blogging, reading, sleeping late, and watching movies don't cost much.  I was slightly productive today though; I did some cleaning, washed the walls in the family room, and shoveled.  Re the pick:  its is a pic of the couch to symbolize the lazy part of the day (lounging on the couch watching tv and reading a book) and one of the walls I washed (the productive part of the day). 

Picture 13 Boxing Day

Okay so I don't really celebrate Boxing Day or know more than a few sentences about it.  It was either that or "Picture 13 The First Day of Kwanzaa: because you know why would I do something normal and write Picture 13 Dec. 26th.  Do you know I have read several books about Kwanzaa, but never yet met anyone that celebrates it.  I know people celebrate it, I just haven't met anyone who does.  And the reason for all this rambling?  Well, truth be told, it's because I don't have a great picture to share.  I had a LAZY day.  I slept in, got some stuff (aka very little) done around the house, and went to the gym.  I also found out the reason my dryer isn't drying properly is because something is wrong with the cord, I believe it short-circuited or something like that.  So instead of a picture of me still in my pjs at 11:30am, here is a pic of the misbehaving (new) dryer. 

Picture 12 Christmas

Can you tell I love Christmas?  And I love decorating for Christmas.  So it probably won't come as a surprise to you that I have a Christmas village in my house.  One of my Christmas presents from my parents was a new piece for the Christmas village.  It was a diner.  You can see it in the picture below. 

Picture 11 Christmas Eve

Usually I take a few pictures on Christmas Eve, but I dropped the ball this year.  I spent Christmas Eve with my fiance's family, including his adorable 1-year-old nephew.  I am SHOCKED that I did not take any pictures of him.  I always take pics of him, but not this time I guess.  So instead a picture of this gift will have to do.  My fiance told me it was time to get rid of my VCR since I have a DVD player and I rarely use my VCR.  I told him I have a lot of good chick flicks on tape, but not on DVD so I asked for a few of them for Christmas.  Well, my fiance told his mother which ones I wanted.  I guess she shared the list with his sister and they both bought me the same one.  Oops.

 

Picture 10 Dec. 23rd

I hosted two gatherings on Day 9 of 30 Days of Pictures.  The first one was supposed to be with three of my friends and their significant others, but two of the significant others had to work.  So it ended up just being 6 of us.  Although I've seen each of the girls since then, the four of us haven't all been together in the same room in over 3 years--too long.  Later that evening, I hosted the annual (well, almost annual, last year it didn't happen) "Christmas With The Girls," although this year, we let the boys come too.  The four of us try to get together every year just before or just after Christmas for food, drinks, fun, and sometimes gifts.  We used to always go to Kate's mom's house, but two of the past three years, I've hosted at my place.  I couldn't decide which gathering to include a picture from so I did both. 

PIcture 9 Dec. 22nd

Today I went to a chocolate fest with a good friend of mine.  Santa was there as you can see from the pic.  That night I went to The Nutcracker (early Christmas present from my fiance).  A good day! 

Picture 8 Dec. 21st

Had a great day at work (and on a random note, I learned how to make hot chocolate in a crockpot).  Then had a nice evening at home.  I did a little cleaning and baking and I also enjoyed reading this year's Christmas book, Trading Christmas.  Every year around Christmas, I read a holiday book, that was this year's choice.  Anyway, today's pic is of a few gifts I got from people at work. 

Picture 7 Dec. 20th

Such a cute idea for a gift!

Picture 6 Dec. 19th

I call this my, I sort of forgot to take a picture of anything from today so here is a pic of my ponsettia, which is living much better and longer than the one from last year. 

Picture 5 Dec. 18th

I was planning to deliver my baked goodies at lunch time on Dec. 19th.  To celebrate the event, on the evening of the 18th I made this dessert for us to enjoy (yes, in addition to all those baked goodies).     

Picture 4 Dec. 17th

I did a lot of baking the week of Dec. 16th.  I was up 'til after 11 on the 17th and up 'til after midnight on the 18th (yeah, that's smart when you have to get up for work at 6:30am).  Anyway, the reason for all this baking?  Gifts for co-workers and I was hosting two holiday gatherings that upcoming Sunday (plus more baking I'd have to do for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).  I made a variety of sweets, including my reindeer cookies. 

Picture 3 Dec. 16th

Dec. 16th, I did my annual holiday meal with two friends from college (we usually do dinner, but had to do lunch this year due to busy schedules, I guess I'm mostly to blame, but it turned out to be for the best because it started snowing that day and the roads were a mess by late afternoon so I wouldn't have wanted to go out that night).  Then I did a little holiday shopping (and the roads started getting snowy and slippery so I was a wreck, but thankfully, NO accidents, though there were a few scary moments).  Anyway, due to bad roads, I only did a little shopping then came home and our holiday plans including to look at holiday lights with another couple were postponed so this is all an excuse for why I didn't take a good pic that day. Instead here is the ol' holiday stand by, a picture of my Christmas tree.  At the top, you might be able to see the angel I bought in Iceland.  :-) 

Picture 2 Dec. 15th

I guess you could say Dec. 14th/15th was the weekend of holiday parties.  I went to one with my high school friends on the 14th.  Two of my friends from college host a party every year, which was Dec. 15th.  Here is a pic of three of us from that party.  As usual, this party was a good time (good friends, good food, and a good Yankee Swap gift).

30 Pictures in 30 Days (Dec. 14th) Picture 1

Last December/January, I did 30 pictures in 30 days in my blog.  I really liked this idea and decided to do it again this year.  (I can't take credit for the idea, one of my friends told me about it).  However, like last year, I started taking the pictures a few days before I blogged about them.  I took my first picture on Dec. 14th and it's well past that, but better late than never.  So basically, my December pictures should take me through January and then I'll be back on track for February.  In other words come Feb, I will return to blogs on my 52 dishes in 52 weeks, wedding plans, and various other random blog topics; for now, here is Picture 1.
 I went to an annual Holiday Party and made this dish (which I confess you will see in a future blog because it was dish number 20 something in 52 dishes in 52 weeks).   And by the way, the party was great.  I laughed so hard several times that my stomach literally hurt.  Good food, good friends, and some really random Yankee Swap gifts. 

Happy Reflections on 2012

I often see people reflect on the previous year and think ahead to the next year at this time of year.  I'm jumping on the bandwagon.  I was going to do highlights and lowlights, but I changed my mind.  Instead of whining about broken cars and appliances, let's think about happy things intead.  It's more fun.  :) 
-Getting engaged (okay technically that happened in 2011), but it was SO close to 2012 and many people didn't find out about it 'til 2012 that I'm mentioning it now.
-My friend's annual birthday weekend at a lakehouse--mind you this happens in winter so there is no real "lake time" so the weekend consists of eating too much food, drink good drinks, watching movies, playing board games, hanging out, reading, and being LAZY.  2012 was the second (or maybe 3rd???) time we'd done this, it's a tradition I'm quite liking (and one of the few things I like about the month of January)
-Not getting a lot of snow in winter
-A baby shower (friend from work), 2 bridal showers (friend from college and friend from home), and 2 retirement parties (fiance's mom and colleague)
-Two bachelorette parties
-Looking at wedding reception venues
-My friend's fabulous wedding in March
-My second annual friends St. Patrick's Day party
-My first annual (I hope) family St. Patrick's Day party
-Hosting Easter brunch/dinner for the first time ever
-Quality time with some good friends at various points throughout the year
-Gaining a fake mom and a fake sister (long, funny story)
-Celebrating my grandmother's 80th birthday with my relatives at a beach house in VA
-Visting a good friend in VA
-Another friend's fabulous wedding in July
-Iceland and Greenland
-Hosting a few dinners (including a big one in November)
-Two of my friends really fun Halloween themed wedding (I went as Raggedy Ann and my fianec was Raggedy Andy)
-Thanksgiving
-Dueling piano bar (and dinner) to celebrate my birthday
-Chocolate Buffet
-The Nutcracker
-Christmas
-New Year's Eve
I hope for a fabulous 2013 and I wish you all a wonderful year.