One Year Wedding Anniversary!!

I can't believe that yesterday marked Tripp and I's first wedding anniversary. It has been an amazing year and we can't wait to celebrate many more years together!!

To celebrate, we planned a Houston "stay-cation." Saturday night we stayed at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Houston. The hotel was beautiful with amazing service. The room was gorgeous and they even upgraded us to a room with a view of the pool and a private entry to the pool. Even though it was not pool weather, the view was pretty.

That night we had a nice dinner at Samba Grille. We had their specialty, the churrascaria which is fire-roasted meats and seafood carved at your table. It was served with delicious sides and vegetables and was incredible.

Sunday morning, we had brunch at Quattro, the restaurant in the Four Seasons. The brunch included fruits, salads, breakfast items, soups, sushi, bread, pastas, carving stations, vegetables, desserts, and drinks. It was fabulous!! While eating we even saw George Foreman with his clan of children/grandchildren.

After brunch, we experienced our first symphony with the Houston Symphony. The music was beautiful!

Once home, we sat together and watched the highlights of our wedding video while eating the top of our wedding cake, and drinking some champagne. It was a perfect weekend!!

New Table!!

After lots of waiting.....our new table and chairs arrived last night!! We love it so far! Here's to many breakfasts, lunches, dinner, time with family, and time with friends!!

Fun Saturday!

Yesterday, I spent the day with my friend Stefanie painting! Yes, I know it may sound wierd since I am not a painter but there's what happened. Stefanie just moved into a beautiful new home and wanted to add some pizazz to her 19 month old daughter's room. She wanted to add a tree to finish off her owl/bird themed room.

With a broad sense of what we were doing and some "skills" learned in a class at Painting with a Twist, we were off. It came out better than I expected and I think Adalyn loved her tree!

2011

 

 I can't believe that 2010 is over! 2010 brought us an amazing year full of events that we will never forget. Some of the highlights of the year include: our wedding, friends' weddings, birth of our first niece, graduations, new friendships, time with family, time with friends, exploring Houston, honeymoon in Mexico, vacation to Italy, loss of a friend, illness in family members, strengthening friendships, and the list could continue. It has been a fantastic year, but we are looking forward to another year filled with more memories!!

We spent this New Year's Eve with some new friends we made this year. We went to dinner, hung out at their house, and then went to watch a beautiful fireworks display.

I typically don't really make resolutions for the new year, but this year I am using the fresh start to focus on a few things in my life.

1. Renew my faith by making Sunday mass a priority in my life and renewing my prayer life.

2. Making exercise part of my routine again. I hope to incorporate exercise 3-4 times a week.

3. Get back to healthier eating. What they say about gaining weight in your first year of marriage is unfortunately true!

4.Explore more of what Houston has to offer us from the beautiful parks to the great theater productions.

5. Read more books!

We hope that our New Year's Day lunch of ham, black eyed pea patties, and cabbage coleslaw will get us off to a great start to 2011!! Happy New Year!!!

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!!!