Christmas!

Oh my goodness, Christmas went by so quickly!!  I can't believe that December is almost over, and that Christmas is over!  McGee and I went to CA this year for Christmas, and it was so amazing to be with my family for the holiday.  It was perfect! The time flew by SO fast though, so that's always sad.  It felt like we arrived and blinked, and then it was time to get on the flight back to PA!  We were busy, but we also had some relaxation time.  It was so great to get to see some friends and family while we were in CA!  The time always goes by way too quickly.

The day after we arrived in CA we drove to Yosemite!  We had never seen Yosemite in the winter, my dad felt up for the drive, and we had one free day, so we went for it!!  The weather looked a little iffy, but not tooooo bad, so we figured we'd go for it.  Well, the weather turned out to be worse than predicted.  It was snowing before we got to the gate of Yosemite, but luckily the road was in pretty good shape thanks to all of the snowplows.  Well... Turns out the snowplows don't run INSIDE the gate of Yosemite.  So we got to the gates, the roads were TERRIBLE, and the park ranger said that the roads would be like that all the way to Yosemite Valley.  People were trying to put chains on their tires, but were having trouble even getting enough traction to get the chains on... so we made the decision to turn around.  It would have been amazing to drive to Yosemite Valley and see everything all covered in snow, but that drive would have been really long and dangerous.  We had my parents' dog Maggie with us though, and she had never seen the snow, so we had a ton of fun introducing her to the snow!  She loved it.

 

Maggie's first time in the snow!!  She was so excited! 

 

This is the front gate of Yosemite!!  The plows went right up to those buildings (where the Rangers are to take entrance fees, etc.), and then past that point was totally un-plowed! 

Maggie! 

Me and McGee!

My mom and dad and Maggie!! 

Sweet Maggie getting some much-deserved sleep!!  She's such a sweet pup.

My parents' Christmas tree!!  Love it. 

I was terrible about taking pictures of present opening!  I only got this one picture of my cousin Nick and Kim and their little guy CJ (you can only see the back of his head...), and then Cassidy and Addison are helping him open a gift! And my mom is in the background! 

Luckily, Amanda took this amazing picture of Addison and Cassidy with CJ!!  This is SUCH a cute picture, so I just had to steal a copy of it :) 

And now I'll just post some pictures from our time in PA before we went to CA!!   

This is our window at our house a few weeks ago!  We had a nice snowstorm.

Our new glasses from my parents! So cute.  We thoroughly enjoyed these on our snow day.

Guinness looooves the snow! 

Our fireplace!! 

Kevin was wrapping the gifts for his staff, and Guinness decided to try to help! 

Guinness checking out his stocking! 

We got him a tennis ball bone!  He's obsessed with tennis balls, so we knew this would blow his mind.

I hope you all had a great Christmas!!!  I can't believe 2018 is almost here!!!  

Christmas is Coming!

Wow, it's December 10th already!!  I have been soooo busy trying to finish up my last 2 weeks at my previous job, and starting my new job!!  Time has just been flying by.  My previous job gave me a HUGE project for my last two weeks of work, so I had a LOT of really long days trying to finish that. And I started my new job last Monday (so I had no break between the two jobs... haha), and it is going GREAT so far!!  I'm really liking the job and the people and the environment, and I think it's gonna be SUCH a great change for me.

Other than job stuff, we've been keeping busy with the holidays!! Thanksgiving was tons of fun - It was quite relaxing and the food was great. On December 1st we drove to Frederick, MD so I could drop off my work equipment (that was technically my last day of work)!  Kevin took the day off and drove there with me, and it was so nice to have him there for that last step of that horrible job.  While we were driving back home that evening, we decided to stop and buy our Christmas tree!!  That was such a fun way to end the day.  We were too tired to decorate it that night, but we got it in its stand and everything. 

That Saturday afternoon we went to see our friend Timmy's show!  He's in the Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus, and they had a Christmas show that was AMAZING!!!  They were seriously SO talented and awesome.  They sang lots of classics and some newer songs too, and it really put us in the Christmas spirit!  The show was at this really cool theater in the city, and it was right near the Philadelphia Christmas Market!  So, we stopped by after the show and walked around for a bit.  It was soooo pretty and Christmassy! After that we caught the train to go back home!   

These amazing and hilarious dancers came out for a few songs!  This one was Jingle Bell Rock, and they did all of the choreography from Mean Girls.  It was FANTASTIC.  And you can see Timmy's face in this one!  If you see the dancer on the right, Timmy is JUST to the left of that guy's face. 

And this one was All I Want For Christmas Is You, and this guy's voice was SPECTACULAR.  Everyone's jaws dropped in the audience as soon as this guy started singing!!  Oh and the dancers were back for this one!!  They were super fun. 

There's Timmy!  He's like the 3rd row up, and the 2nd guy from the left? 

Timmy again!  He was so great! He's right in the middle of this one. 

City Hall looking beautiful for the Christmas Market! 

Christmas Market! 

Christmas Market! 

The light show on the side of City Hall at the Christmas Market! They had fun music and everything.

That night we listened to some Christmas music (Bing Crosby... oh that voice), and decorated our Christmas tree!!  It was such a fun evening, and our tree is so pretty :) 

Our tree!  With Bumble on top!  

This weekend we had quite a snowy weekend!  December is kinda early for snow here!  I'll do a separate post in a day or two about this weekend!  It's been kind of amazing and so relaxing. I hope you're all doing really well, and having a great December so far!!  

Exciting News!!

Well, I have some EXCITING news!!  I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!  I start on December 4.  It's an awesome job with a nonprofit that does research for hospitals, and I'm so excited about it!  I'll mostly be doing a ton of data analysis (especially Excel), which is the stuff I love about my current job!  So, I think this is going to be a great fit for me. My current job was NOT happy when I gave my two-weeks notice (it was actually just over two weeks notice...) though, especially since one of my other coworkers had just given notice the day before I gave mine!  So, it was terrible timing and I do feel bad about that... but it couldn't be helped. It was definitely just time for this change. So, my work has had me BUSY!! They gave me a REALLY massive project that I was supposed to have 5 weeks to do, but instead I have about 2 weeks.  It's been chaos. I think I'm on track to finish it though thanks to some crazy long hours...

You guys, tomorrow is Thanksgiving!! HOW did that happen?  I have no idea... It really snuck up on me this year.  I'd even bought some Thanksgiving cards for my family and friends, and I totally dropped the ball on mailing them :(  I'm so sorry, you guys. I feel awful about that... The days have just been a total blur with super long work hours. Literally this morning I was like "Oh my gosh, I didn't mail the cards... " and I also realized this morning that I didn't have any of the supplies for the pies I'm supposed to make tomorrow.  So, my dear sweet husband braved the grocery store today to get pie supplies for me while I worked.

A few weekends ago I went to visit my dear friend Melissa in Georgia!  She was living in Texas, but she recently-ish moved to Georgia, which is a pretty quick/easy flight from Philly!  I flew there on a Friday night after work, and then we hung out all day Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon I flew to San Francisco for a 1-day work trip.  Yes, a 1-day work trip.  I got to SF on Sunday night, and then Monday I had a meeting alllllll day, and then first thing Tuesday morning I flew back to PA.  It was chaos.  But anyways, back to my fun weekend with Melissa!  We went to an amazing winery in the mountains that has a wine cave!  The cave wasn't as cave-like as we were expecting, but it was still awesome and the tour was SO fun and they had some GREAT wines!  On our way back we stopped by a little town that I cannot remember the name of and did lots of shopping in their downtown area!  It was such a fun day, and I miss Melissa already!

The fireplace at the winery! 

Grapes! 

Melissa and a LOT of wine! 

Our tour guide getting ready to open the doors to the wine cave

The wine cave!  It's kind of more like a bunker.. but it was still awesome.

Me and Melissa! 

Me and Melissa! 

Beautiful! 

Last weekend McGee and I had our mini Thanksgiving dinner with just the two of us!  Our menu consisted of turkey breast (it turned out amazing!), mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and I also made an apple pie.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but it was a lovely meal! Tomorrow is the big Thanksgiving meal with McGee's family, and we're in charge of bringing two pies.  I'm going to make apple pie and pecan pie, because I feel very comfortable making both of those and I've been too stressed out about work to be brave and try something new :)  haha. 

And with that, I think my Fall Bucket List is complete except for watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, which we will watch tomorrow.  Tomorrow is also the Thanksgiving Parade!  I've been keeping an eye on the weather in NYC because I always enjoy the parade more if the weather is a little crappy (it adds some excitement!), but I think the weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow.  So... dang it.  Haha :)  And yes, I realize it makes me a horrible person that I hope for bad weather for a parade...

I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!!  I miss you all, and I'll be thinking of you. 

Wow, November is flying by!!

You guys!!  It's the 10th of November already?!  Time is flying by!  The weather has been sooo weird lately, so I think it's quite clear that we've broken the earth.  Last weekend it was warm and humid - highs were in the 70s.  Today the low is 19 degrees.  So... yeah.  The earth is broken.  It's mostly feeling like Fall though, and the trees are looking beautiful!! 

Our house! 

Last weekend was SO busy.  McGee's dad came over on Saturday, and the two of them worked on installing a drainage system in our side yard.  We are on a VERY steep hill, and the side yard gets sooo flooded every time we get heavy rain (which is fairly often). It's been impossible to grow grass, and it's always a soggy muddy mess. So, they spent all day working SO hard!!

Once evening rolled around, McGee had to quickly get changed and then the two of us headed into Philly to go to his work's Harvest Ball!  We went last year too, and it's a really fun time.  It's super fancy and it's kinda fun to get all dressed up.  We did a lot more dancing this year, so that was fun!!  It was quite a late night!

Kevin's dancing while waiting in line for the open bar!

 

Me and my handsome husband!  We had so much fun. 

Pretty Philly! 

On Sunday we were EXHAUSTED!! But McGee and his dad weren't quite done with the drainage project yet, so they worked on that a bit more!  But after that we didn't do too much. We did some work around the house, and that's about it!!  Oh and I decorated for Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone's November is going well so far!!