Christmas in New England

Happy New Year, friends!  Mike and I got back to South Carolina on Saturday night, just in time for New Year's Eve.  Prior to that, we were in New England for the week of Christmas, visiting family and friends.  We love spending this time of year up north!

We started our adventures in Connecticut and were greeted by a perfect Christmas Eve snowfall.  My sister-in-law and brother-in-law brought their beagle puppy home with them, and he was adorable in the snow.  We had a lot of fun figuring out our new camera.  As you can see, no photos of the pup (still working on motion - haha), but the snow was moving slowly enough to capture it.  Afterwards, there were the perfect snowflakes, and now I am in search of a macro lens to get better close-up shots - any suggestions?

 After Christmas Day with Mike's family, we headed down to Rhode Island to see my family for a couple of days.  By this point, it was freezing (and didn't get much about 10 degrees for the rest of our trip), but we still went for a few walks around town.  It's my favorite time of year here!

After leaving Rhode Island, we headed to Boston to see our friends.  Winter sunsets in Boston are so pretty! 

The last stop of the trip was back in Connecticut to see more friends before flying out.  We visited 7 breweries in 2 days, and I can't wait to share more about our favorites next week!  Plus, we got so many of our favorite people together for bowling, and Mike was asked to be the best man in one of our friends' weddings.  There are going to be a few trips back this spring and summer for weddings - can't wait!

I hope everyone has a happy first week of 2018!  I'm back to work today but looking forward to a slow one as we ease into a new year!

Where is the closest "Cheeburger" again?

Seriously, that question is how our weekend began, and it wasn't even a question from this weekend.  Last weekend, while we were sitting at IHOP, debating what to do that current weekend and the following weekend [one weekend with nothing to do: insane, two in a row: unspeakable], I asked Mike that very question.  You see, there is this "cheeburger" place we adore in Florida [Mike is a cheeseburger aficionado] called Cheeburger Cheeburger, but there aren't a whole bunch in the country or in our area.  We've been talking about going to one forever and this weekend just seemed like the perfect one for an adventure.  Well, we found one in Brooklyn, and the planning [over all-you-can-eat pancakes] started:

"Let's go to the Brooklyn Brewery, too!" 

"Let's see if Phil [groomsman] wants to join us!" 

"Oh, Phil wants us to stay the weekend!" 

"Let's invite Dave [former roommate who just moved back from L.A.]!" 

"Let's call my college friends in the area and have them do the brewery with us too!"

So there you have it, over a breakfast at IHOP, a fantastic weekend adventure was planned:

 

Friday night Cribbage and Cran-brrr-itas

sweet city view from Phil's apartment

MetLife getting ready for the Super Bowl!

 his and hers besties!

on the tour

Awesome drunk selfie, if I do say so myself

 

So much beer

WE MADE IT TO CHEEBURGER!!

[all the lights in the restaurant are pink... if you couldn't guess]

 Phil and his gf were taking selfies, so we did the same... and crashed at his apartment watching Archer [day drinking in your mid 20s is SO different than college...]

 

New Jersey bagels and the GW on the way home

Linking up for Funday Monday, Mingle Monday, Monday Morning Gossip. and This Weekend I...!

Christmas Crazies: The Outside

I hope you all understand my love for Christmas lights.  Like seriously, y'all.  This was the photo I put on IG on October 10th:

Home Depot had an awesome selection this year, but I promise, we did not purchase anything that day and waited until after Thanksgiving to start our decorating.  In case you're new around here, the bottom photo was our light display last year - more on that here.  
We even have too many lights inside our house... here's my post on our inside decor from last week.  Now, here's the start to the 2013 lights: icicles then windows:

Each year, we have to add to what we did the previous year.  So, this year we upgraded our Bumble, added a cardinal to our front porch, more lights around the windows, and lights around our shed.  Here what it looks like this year:

and some of our little "scenes..."

Is this excessive? Yes.  Do we love it? Yes.  It's just so much fun to put together and to watch all the people slow down when they drive by!  Finally, here's everything after last night's snow storm [the third in a week... what is going on in CT?!]:

our friends got a little buried...

Will You Be His Groomsman?

Not only did we have a fun way for me to ask my bridesmaids to be in our wedding, but we wanted to do something unique for the guys, too.  Here are the boxes we created for the men.  I hope some of you get the joke...

Now for the men [as you can see, it was impossible to get them all at the same place at the same time]: 

David and Jeff:

David [left] is Mike's childhood friend who lived down the street from him, and Mike met Jeff [right] in college.  They've been friends ever since and Jeff was one of our old roommates.  

And yes, he asked them in the middle of a restaurant parking lot...

James:

James and Mike have been friends since high school when they were both lifeguards, and during junior year of college, they were suite mates at UConn.  James is our weekly "Monday Night Football" buddy.

Kane:

Mike met Kane and Jeff at the same time in college.  He's the one who we can count on to do anything fun.  He and Mike go skiing, and I ran the Electric Run with him this summer.  

Phil:

 Phil and Mike met at church when they were little.  They've made mischief together for the last 15 years, and Phil was one of Mike's first roommates in our house.  I remember the very first night Mike moved this house: he, Phil, and I ate Chinese food on the floor, in the middle of the dining room, under the chandelier, before they had a dining room table... or any furniture.

As you can see, they all definitely enjoyed their "icing"s - okay, maybe not, but it was a memorable way to ask them!

Here's what we did: Meg and Mike's Wedding: The Proposal Will You Be Our Flower Girl? Will You Be My Bridesmaid? October Wedding List Update
Linking up for a couple of Wedding Wednesdays with Kristyn & Mary and Meredith!