Catch Up

Somehow time got away from me between my birthday, our trip to NY, and Thanksgiving and three weeks have flown past since my last blog. I think this might be the longest stretch I've gone without posting anything. To briefly catch everyone up, here's what's happened since my last posting:

1. I turned 30! Yes, hard to believe, but I'm now what some may refer to as 'over-the-hill'. At first I wanted a big birthday bash to celebrate my milestone, but then as the day grew closer, I decided that I wanted a simple dinner party. Well, I really didn't get either (don't get me started), but none-the-less, I did enjoy my birthday celebrations - a mini party with my family in NY, a dinner and spa day with my mom, and a delicious Melting Pot dinner with Frank on my actual bday. Guess I can't complain too much! ;)
2. Frank and I spent a long overdue weekend on Long Island visiting our families. We made the trip to NY for the baptism of Keith & Deaneen's baby, Thomas, but also got to spend QT with both of our families. I love this picture of Frank & Kate from the weekend:

She's getting so big and is a blast to hang out with! We can't wait for her little sister to get here!
3. We celebrated Thanksgiving at my mom's house in Winchester for the first time in several (I think 3) years. Typically we've been spending Thanksgiving in NY, but this year we've swapped and are doing Christmas in NY. I headed out to Winchester Wednesday afternoon and spent the day baking and prepping with my mom and sister. Frank joined us later that evening since he had to put in a full day at work. After stuffing ourselves silly, Laura & I decided to help the economy by hitting the Hagerstown Outlets when they opened Thanskgiving evening. We shopped from about 10pm to 2:30am Thursday night into Friday morning. I have to say, I was surprised at how awake we were although Laura did get a little grumpy towards the end. ;) All in all, I didn't think the sales were that great - I definitely have had better luck in the past with the outlets on Long Island. We still made out with some good deals and most importantly, got to spent sisterly QT together! After a few hours of sleep, I was able to hang out with my mom all day on Friday - We actually did a bit more shopping and a lot more relaxing at home!
4. Yesterday, Frank & I made our annual trip out to Chantilly (or maybe it's Haymarket) to chop down our Christmas tree. This is the 5th year and it's become somewhat of a tradition now. We typically get our tree on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but since the forecast was calling for rain on Sunday, we decided to push it up a day, so our house is all decked out for the holidays a day early! I'll post some pictures later.

That about sums up the last few weeks - We have Frank's mom coming to visit this weekend, so we're mapping out some fun Christmas things to do around DC. Then our Christmas party is the following weekend...Phew - Looks like December's going to be another busy month for us!