First Christmas!!

Believe it or not, this was Tripp and I's first Christmas spent together. We were excited to share our first Christmas together!! After brunch on Christmas Eve, we spent time at my parents' house hanging out with the family and helping get things ready for Christmas. That evening, me, Tripp, mom, dad, Claire, Laura, Darr, and Aunt Peggy had a fabulous dinner at Tony Angelo's. We opted to get the "Feed Me" where we were able to sample many of the chef's favorites from the menu. We had marinated mushrooms, shrimp, salad, homemade pasta, pork, rosemary chicken, fried catfish, and more.

After dinner, we went to visit Aunt Peggy's husband Tim who was working Christmas Eve and Christmas at the firestation. He showed us around the station and even took us for a spin around the block in the firetruck. Once back at the station, we played around in the truck taking pictures and goofing off. Pictures to come!!


Christmas morning, we had breakfast of scones and cappuccino and began opening presents. We all got some really nice gifts and had a great time as a family. Once the mess of all of the wrapping paper was cleaned up, we got ready for family to come over. Many relatives came over for lunch and visiting. The holiday celebration ended with a game of "White Elephant." Tripp and I stole with strategy and lucked out getting $25 cash and a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card!

We then left for another visit with members of my dad's family at Aunt Peggy's house. We visited, snacked, and played another round of "White Elephant." This time, I left with a set of 4 New Orleans themed glasses. Tripp got a cool shooting game, but wound up giving it to a family friend who had stopped by during the game. He was so excited to get such a cool present.

Throughout the day, Tripp and I talked to Tripp's parents and siblings who were celebrating in Mentone, Alabama. They were surprised with a white Christmas. The pictures they sent we beautiful with over 6 inches of snow on the ground! We missed seeing the Griffith clan!

It was a wonderful first Christmas!!

Yummy brunch with great friends!

Tripp and I arrived in New Orleans late Thursday night and kicked off our Christmas celebration Christmas eve morning with a delicious brunch. Months ago, my closest friends since high school (Meghan, Amanda, and Vanessa) started planning a get together for Christmas. We decided to go to brunch at The Court of Two Sisters with the girls and our husbands/boyfriend.

Yum!

Dessert!!

We met up to ride together down to the French Quarter. We were seated next to a three man jazz band and immediately ordered a table full of bloody marys and mimosas. Our waiter explained the brunch to us and rattled off a never ending list of yummy foods on the buffet. The list included: fruit, salads, meats, cheeses, eggs, omlets, bacon, spinach, veggies, hashbrowns, biscuits, sausage, carving stations, shrimp creole, grits and grillades, turtle soup, bananas foster, bread pudding, homemade ice cream, and much more. We tried a little of a lot on the buffet and were stuffed, but we of course saved room for dessert! Our waiter suggested bread pudding topped with homemade vanilla ice cream, topped with bananas foster. I don't want to know the calories, fat, or sugar, but man was it delicious!!!


Once we were finished, we went out to the courtyard to take some pictures. The boys made it interesting of course. It was a fun morning with great friends!!

We had to try to get a "creative" picture

The group

The girls-Vanessa, Meghan, me, and Amanda

The boys-Ray, Trevor, Prad, and Tripp

Just Dance!!

Tripp bought himself a Christmas gift last weekend with a gift card he got as a gift and a gift card we had for recycling an old television. He bought a new game for the Wii called Just Dance 2 that we had been seeing on commercials over the last few weeks. We immediately began playing when we got home and have to say it has been our evening entertainment this week. It is super fun and quite a workout! I snuck a picture of Tripp as he was breaking it down :)

We can't wait to challenge mom, dad, Claire, Laura, and Darr when we are in New Orleans for Christmas!!!

Owners of a new table and chairs!!

After looking at a few more tables, we finally decided on a table and chairs that we love! Thanks to a Christmas present from my parents and money we were budgeting for the table, we made the big purchase! Here is a picture of the table. We can't wait until it arrives next week. More pictures to come once it is in our apartment!!

Christmas Cookies

I tried my hand at sugar cookies with flooded icing this Christmas and I have to say that it was a success!! I whipped up two batches of homemade sugar cookies which made about 80 cookies. The lucky recipents of these yummy cookies were my dear co-workers!! It was the least I could do for being amazing friends that I get to work with.

I wound up choosing to do trees, bells, and stars. I planned out my designs, baked, cooled, made icing, and began the decorating process.

Here are some pictures of the messy but fun process:

They were delicious, pretty, and someone asked if they were store bought which I took as a giant compliment. What should I try next???

Italia!!!

Where do I begin to summarize our amazing trip to Italia?? Since I could probably write a short book on all the amazing sights and memories from our 10 day trip, I will hit the highlights from the three cities we explored and share some of my favorite pictures. To see almost all of our other pictures, check out my facebook albums.

Days 1-4:
City: Houston, TX; Frankfort, Germany; Rome Italy

Sights: Trevi Foutain, Ancient Rome-Colosseum, Roman Forum, Panthenon, Piazza Navona, Vatican City-Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Borgehese Gammery, Spanish Steps, Campo di Fiori, the Metro (subway), beautiful scenery

Food: German "hot dog," pizza, lots of gelato, lots of cappauccino, delicious pasta, lots of wine, amazing veal

Days 5-7
City: Florence, Italy; Pisa, Italy

Sights: locals on bicycles, archways, shops, Accademia--The David, Duomo, Baptistry, Bell Tower, Galileo Science Museum, Ponte Vecchio, market, Leaning Tower of Pisa

Food: tons of gelato, lots of wine, incredible veal, pasta, bean soups, olives, amazing sandiches, cappuccino, osso bucco

Days: 8-10
City: Venice, Italy

Sights: water!!, canals, gondolas, water taxis, flooded streets, platforms to walk on when the streets were flooded, winding streets, no cars, bridges, the Bridge of Sighs, St. Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace, Clock Tower, Carnival masks, Correr Museum, pigeons

Food: amazing lasagna, pasta, veal, lots of wine, gelato, pizza

Favorite Rome Pictures:

Favorite Florence Pictures:

Favorite Venice Pictures:

Another family visit

We were so excited that Tripp's parents had planned a weekend to visit us in Houston. They arrived Friday evening and the weekend began with a dinner at home of bakd chicken, pasta, salad, and was topped off with an apple crumble. We visited the rest of the evening and made plans for Saturday.

This visit was for two reasons, to visit us and family and to take some furniture back to Alabama. Saturday morning after a pancake breakfast, we went to rent a moving truck. That process took some interesting turns once we arrived to pick up the reserved truck to find out that it was not available (not sure how you reserve something and then they don't have it but...). After researching a few other options, we left with a much larger truck than needed. We dropped off the truck at our apartment and went to Captain Tom's for lunch. Captain Tom's is one of our favorite seafood restaurants here in Houston. It has a unique atmosphere and great seafood!


Once lunch was finished, we loaded the truck with an arm chair, kitchen table, and chairs. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon before getting ready for a family dinner/get together at Tripp's cousin's house. All of the Houston relatives had gathered at JJ and Jerry's house for margaritas, Mexican  food, and visiting. The kids roped Tripp, Mr. Wesley, and Jon into helping them "wrap" a friend's house with toilet paper to end the night.

Sunday morning, we got up early, went to another cousin's house to pick up another table and baby jogger, and direct Ms. Kat and Mr. Wesley to the interstate. It was a great visit!

That afternoon, Tripp and I left again to see 9 to 5: The Musical. It was a fun show filled with comedy, great music, and wonderful dancing!