I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Part I

Hey friends!  December was a crazy hectic month, so please forgive me for my lack of attention to the blog.  I have so many things that I want to write about, so I am breaking this post into two parts!  Grab your favorite blanket and get cozy because this is going to be a long post....


Mom and Dad Came To Visit!  
They were here for just over two days, so we had to get down to business.  Our days were filled to the brim, but it was so much fun to show both of them our new neighborhood and city.  As you know from here mom came to help us right after we moved in; however, our house looked a lot different then than it does now.  And we have a much better grasp on our little neighborhood and the city as a whole.  We did lots of walking: we walked Bo, we walked to lunch, we walked to church, we walked to Macy's, we walked to F A O Schwarz, we walked in Central Park, we walked to Times Square, we walked to Madison Square Garden, we walked to dinner, we walked to the subway, we walked to Lord and Taylor, we walked to Starbucks and we walked to Grand Central Station.  The one thing they wanted to do while up here was see all of the wonderful Christmas lights of the city.  So while Mitch was hard at work, the three of us went on a light tour of the city.  It turned out to be an extremely cold and snowy night, but we had a blast touring the city.  And I found out some really fun facts about New York and Grand Central that I can now share with everyone who comes to visit.  (I even made Mitch chuckle last night at one of my Grand Central facts while we were there grabbing dinner)

Cookie Decorating with Friends!
As some of you may or may not know, Mitch's best friend from Starkville, Ryan, and his wife, Catalina, live about a ten minute walk from our house. Before we went our separate ways for Christmas, we had them over for a Christmas dinner and cookie decorating.  It was a blast, and I hope it will turn into a yearly tradition.  See our handy work below and in case you are wondering, it was also Ryan's birthday thus the "R" and "M" cookies. :)

I would call us impressionist cookie decorators....

Christmas!
I headed back South a week earlier than Mitch so that I could visit a little bit longer with our families at such a special time of year.  I was able to see all sides of our family except for Mama Ree who got snowed into North Alabama.  We did so much that I am going to let pictures tell the story of my time back home.

Off to make dinner for my hubby, so be on the lookout for part II tomorrow!

Rain and Christmas Music

I just experienced one of the trials of living in New York City, the rain!  When I woke up this morning, I noticed that it was extra windy outside, but I didn't think too much about it.  I got ready to take Bo for our morning walk and to doggy daycare and on a last minute thought grabbed my raincoat since there was a chance of rain (I decided against the umbrella because of the wind).  We got outside and it was as windy as predicted and it was misting just a little bit, but no big deal.....until I turned the corner of our block and almost got blown away with a gust of wind and a flood of rain.  I stayed dedicated to the task at hand, get the dog to the park so he can go to the bathroom, but I would be lying if I said that I didn't think about quitting halfway through.  By the time I got Bo to doggy daycare, we were both a wet mess.  The daycare owner took one look at us and couldn't help but chuckle.  By the time I got home, my face was dripping rain and I looked like I had just jumped in a pool.  Needless to say, I will be asking for these rain boots for Christmas because I hear they are the best for rain and snow.  It was quite the experience and luckily made me laugh instead of cry.  


When I got home wet from head to toe, all I wanted to do was throw on sweats, drink a cup of coffee and listen to Christmas music.  So I grabbed one of my Christmas china mugs and had a wonderful cup of coffee spiced with cinnamon and listened to one of my favorite Christmas albums.  These are my two favorite Christmas albums (one and two) what are yours?


The next time when it is raining and all you have to do is run from your house to the car, say a little prayer of thanks because I know I never gave it a second thought....until I was walking down the street soaked in rain and car less.