life lately: holidays so far

I've been posting on Instagram mostly, these days. It's like mini-blogging, and all I seem to have inspiration for.  To be honest, I'm not sure what direction I want to take this blog in, so I'm mulling it over through the remainder of 2013... maybe I'll be back with a vengeance in the New Year...

Last weekend I went down to Log Town Farm for Christmas tree cutting, wreath making, and a trip to the Hyde Park Opera House to see "It's a Wonderful Life." K stayed home, since he was buried in finals week (but he's finished now, thank goodness!).  Now we have our tree up and lit in the living room, and the holiday season can truly begin!

2013: happy new year!

I have a marvelous New Year's :)  K planned a surprise getaway to Albany, New York, and booked a room (the inn equivalent of a penthouse, on the top floor) at this amaaaaaaaaaaazing "Mansion Row" inn called the Morgan State House.  As soon as we reached the top of the stairs and I looked through the French doors to see the spacious room with that incredible skylight, I was in heaven.

We arrived around 3 PM, and spent the first few hours of our stay relaxing, sipping champagne, and reading up on the history of the inn.  I was even more enchanted by the room after learning that the house had been owned by Alice Morgan Wright, a renowned sculptor and activist who spent time in prison for her participation in the women's suffragist movement in the early 1900s, and was an active advocate for women's rights until the mid-1940s, when she switched her focus to animal rights.  We spent the night in what once was her art studio. Pretty. Awesome.  Around six, I got gussied up and K took pictures of my outfit.

Seriously, I love this dress SO MUCH.  I found it for two dollars at the Bargain Boutique and it fit PERFECTLY.  It is homemade brocade.  I've been saving it for months because I knew it would be perfect for NYE, and now I plan to wear it all the time! :)  We left the room only briefly to enjoy a delicious meal at the Jewel of India, conveniently located right around the corner (so my bare legs didn't take much of a beating).  It's become something of a tradition for K and I to have Indian on NYE (when he's around). OMG so good, I want it again right now.

After dinner we headed back to the room to indulge in chocolate and champagne (and whiskey and coke for K), take advantage of that awesome tub, and watch House Hunters and catch the end of Taylor Swift's unfortunate performance before the ball dropped in Times Square.  The next morning we had breakfast at the only diner that was open in town and headed back to Vermont, where we had milkshakes for dinner.  Our holiday season is always pretty party-heavy, so it's nice to be able to get away from it all and spend that last night of the year exploring a new place with K. I had such a great time, and if the 'eve was any indication, I'm in for a pretty spectacular year, with a pretty spectacular fellow by my side :)

2012 was a good year, but I just KNOW that 2013 is going to be GREAT!

life lately: christmas

1-4: caroling on christmas eve

5: christmas morning mystery date

6: puppy dog

7-10: skating on christmas day

life lately: o christmas tree!

Sadly, K wasn't able to participate in the tree-cutting festivities this year because he was in the midst of the madness of finals week (and my youngest brother didn't make it up from Boston), so it was a small but celebratory crew.  We had mimosas and fruit salad and mom's special egg dish and then went up to the Christmas tree field to cut the tree for my apartment before coming back down to cut down the monstrosity behind the house for mom and dad (please note: the hacksaw wasn't cutting it [ha, literally...] so dad had to get out the chainsaw, and then the tree almost fell on mom--ha!).  Then we went back inside for eggnog and cookie baking (and I took a nap--too much day drinking) before heading into town for a performance of David Budbill's play "Two for Christmas" (he taught my Young Playwright's workshop for several years in middle and high school, but I had never seen any of his plays before--whoops!)

I finally got home around midnight and K and I got the tree up and lit, but we didn't end up decorating it until a week later, when his finals were over and he could finally relax.  I love having the tree in our apartment--it makes everything look so cozy :)

life lately: thanksgiving

I know I'm more than a little bit behind on this Thanksgiving post, but better late than never, right? (Right?) I've had some... issues lately. First of all, I did buy K's Nikon D3000 from him and have been using it sporadically (these photos were the first batch!) but I'm a little afraid to break it. Also the memory card on my point and shoot got corrupted somehow and I didn't get around to buying a new one until yesterday evening! So basically, I'm finally up and running again. Or at least strolling. Problem #3 is that the CD-ROM drive on my laptop decided to stop working, so I can't install the software to transfer files from the new Nikon to my computer, so I had to get K to put the files on his computer and then transport them to mine with his USB. Anyway, all that = delay. In other news, this is the pie we ate:

I'll be back soon with photos from the Christmas tree cutting!