New Years Eve in Jamaica

After our fun, white Christmas, we hopped on a plane and headed to Jamaica!  We found a last minute deal and decided a couple weeks before Christmas to go on a trip.  It is my last big chunk of vacation time, and the last chance to go on a just us vacation before the baby, so we went for it.  We flew in to Montego Bay, Jamaica and took a short shuttle ride to Sandals Montego Bay.  The day we got there it was overcast and rainy, and we were very sad.  We got checked in and ate some food and checked out the resort and had a nice dinner that night.  The next morning we woke up to a beautiful, bright, sunny day and the rest of the trip the weather was perfect!  We had a great time.  We had been to Couples Swept Away in Negril for our honeymoon and it was fantastic.  Sandals Montego Bay was nice and we had a great time, but it wasn't as nice as Couples, so if you're heading to Jamaica check out Couples Swept Away first.  The nice part is that it was very close to the airport so we made the most of the time we had and didn't spend any time getting there.  The food was good.  They had about 5 different restaurants that you could choose from for dinner.  We liked the Stewfish restaurant.  It was a small open air pavillion with a thatch roof right on the the water.  We had a great dinner and enjoyed being at our picnic table right on the beach for the sunset:

During the day, we relaxed and enjoyed the warm weather.

We really liked the beds by the pool!  We had fun getting dressed up and trying all the different dinner spots.

We got upgraded to a room with a patio.  It was nice.  It was right on the lawn that you walked across to get to a pool with a swim up bar and the beach.  It was nice!

On New Year's Eve they had a big buffet outside with crab claws, grilled lobster, ham, prime rib, and lots of yummy desserts.  It was really good.  They had live music and a big countdown to New Year's.  We had fun, but had a hard time staying awake.  I think I'm officially getting old.  I had a lot of different smoothies and mocktails, but its not quite the same as a real cocktail!

Grilled lobster!

Desserts!!

And our cheesy Sandals New Years picture that we just had to buy because Brian's face is so funny.  That's his ohmygosh we're having a baby in 2011 face.

It was a perfect way to spend the New Year, and to get a tan in the middle of some seriously cold weather.  Now back to reality....

Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas break filled with fun and snow and then sunshine!  We headed to Clarksville on the 23rd and had a nice Christmas with Brian's parents, then got up and headed to Chattanooga.  We went to the Christmas Eve service at church that I always love, then had a nice dinner with the family and hit the sack.  Around 6 am Christmas morning, I woke up (not sure why I woke up so early) to look and saw SNOW!!!

It was great to wake up and see all this Christmas snow, and it just got better!  We got out of bed and had Christmas breakfast, then opened up our presents.  Since we were little we've always sat at the top of the stairs and gotten a picture or video of us running down the stairs, and this year wasn't any different!  Now we've got a husband and fiance and a baby on the way added to the crew, plus a few Bloody Marys! 

We opened our presents, then mom and dad opened their presents.  Many years ago, we were shopping for Christmas presents for my mom and we (my dad and two sisters) decided to split up and each buy some smaller things, then get back together and see what we came up with.  Dad and Jennifer met back up with what they thought was a great present- the Miracle Thaw.  We weren't so sure, but we wrapped it and gave it to her.  And like every mom does, she smiled, said "Oh this is neat!" and continued on her way.  Her critical error was that the next year, we brought down our Christmas decorations and there it was, still in its original wrapper.  Soooo we decided we'd show her, and we wrapped it back up and gave it to her again.  She was not so excited the second time around.  And thus began our Miracle Thaw tradition.  Every year since then, we have found some new way to re-wrap and re-gift mom with the Miracle Thaw.  Sometimes in a big box, sometimes in a small box, each year something new.  She always tries to hide it, but we find it.  We had a house fire a couple years ago and we thought all was lost.  But, my sister's fiance, Geoff was now in on the secret and had a genius idea.  He ordered a new Miracle Thaw since the original Miracle Thaw was lost and last year he wrapped it up and presented it to mom himself.  Got her!!  This year, Brian and I happened to be at a thrift store in Memphis and came across ANOTHER Miracle Thaw.  We decided this year we would change things up and give the Miracle Thaw from us, thennnn give the second Miracle Thaw from us.  We gave mom our presents and she opened up the Miracle Thaw:

Then, in a different, larger box a few presents later the second one....

Got her!!  After opening presents, we decided to walk down to the golf course and go sledding!  First time I've ever been sledding on Christmas!  And even though its probably not the greatest pregnant thing to do, I couldn't miss it!

 

We came back to the house for Christmas lunch with the family, and I have to give mom some props for the beautiful Christmas decorations.  Everything was so pretty!  Especially with the snow!

Pretty Christmas table

All in all a great, pretty, white Christmas!!!



Pedo Tacky Christmas Party at Sarah and Josh's House

This weekend we had a Pedo Tacky Christmas Party at Sarah and Josh's house.  We went to lots of thrift stores to perfect our look, but it all paid off in the end!  Sarah and Josh had a make your own pizza station for dinner.  Such a cute idea.  They had the crust and all the toppings laid out for everyone to put together their own pizza!

Everyone represented with some killer tacky Christmas outifts.  Pretty impressive:

Karen and Tyler in killer matching pleated green pants and sweaters

Brian enjoying some yummy pizza

Scott, Lauren and Leah

Summer and Clark in Killer Plaid 

Brian and I Sporting some fabulous finds

Sarah, Summer, and I

The Kunkels

Some Serious Studs

Tyler, Karen, and baby Katelynn

We finished up the evening with some yummy cakeballs that Summer made, and a Dirty Santa/White/Elephant/Chinese Auction/Whatever you Want to Call It Gift Exchange.  It was a fun night with fun people!!



Thanksgiving in Clarksville

This year, we spent Thanksgiving in Clarksville with Brian's family!  We had a nice long weekend break from Memphis, so we loaded the doggies up in the car and headed to Clarksville.  We had a great time getting together with Brian's mom, dad, sister and her husband, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousin for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner.  Coco and Ayla had fun because Brian's parents' dog Maggie and sister's dogs Alley and BitBit were all in there for the occasion.  We were stuffed by the end of it.  We even got a little snow!  And we went to the Clarksville TJMaxx, which always has great stuff!  Brian's sister is due three weeks before me with her first baby too, so that was fun to get together and talk about babies on the way!

Brian and his Granny

Yummy Thanksgiving Dinner

Brian and Sandra

Brian and a few Doggy Admirers

 

Coco and Ayla enjoying in the dusting of snow

Music Monday: Rogue Wave- Eyes

This is a song I just heard in an LG commercial.  I went on a search for it, and it was a little hard to find.  I think its been in some tv shows lately too.  Its called Eyes by Rogue Wave:

Memphis Eats: Downtown Dining Week

Since we left Memphis, they have started an annual Downtown Dining Week. 

Its pretty cool.  All the good downtown restaurants feature three course meals for $20.10 (I think this year because its 2010).  Monday night, Sarah, Josh, Brian, and I ate at Itta Bena that I've mentioned in an earlier post.  Cool atmosphere, delicious food, right on Beale Street above BB King's.  Its a good place to eat if you're visiting Memphis.  I had the shrimp and grits which were pretty good.  Brian had the ribeye which he thought was good but a little small.  We started out with the She Crab Soup which was delicious.  We all had the brownie with ice cream for dessert and it was yummy.

On Thursday, Jennifer and I had a girls night at Hunt Phelan.  Hunt Phelan is a restored 1828 antebellum mansion at the end of Beale Street.  It has a really nice restaurant, an inn, and apartments.  It is a kind of hidden little gem in downtown Memphis, and makes a nice date night.  When its not Downtown Dining Week, they usually have coupons on Restaurant.com so you can still get a pretty good deal.  Anyway Jenn and I started out with the salad, then she had the shrimp and grits and I had the short ribs.  Jenn said the shrimp and grits were yummy.  The short ribs were AMAZING.  The waiter said that the slow cook them all day.  It was like a super flavorful pot roast that melted in your mouth.  So, so tender.  I want to go back and have it again.  For dessert, I had the chocolate toffee tart and Jenn had the white chocolate bread pudding.  Both were good, but I liked her bread pudding the best! 

Tonight we're heading to Chez Phillipe with Summer, Clark, Josh, and Sarah for dinner so can't wait to see how that is.  So far Downtown Dining Week has turned out to be great deals and delicious food.  Can't wait until next year!

The Last Few Weeks

I have been slacking on the blogging lately, but here's a catchup. Weekend before last, Chad and Emily came into town for a visit from Poplar Bluff, Missouri. Chad is Brian's friend from college and roommate during dental school. While Brian was in dental school in Memphis, Chad was in law school so they were roommates along with JJ. Chad married Emily right at the end of living in Memphis, so Emily and I have gotten to hang out more since we moved from Memphis than we did when we lived here in dental school! They are sooo much fun and we had a great weekend. We had a yummy dinner at Itta Bena, which is a restaurant above BB Kings on Beale Street. It has a great atmosphere and delicious food. Its kind of hidden up a stairway behind BB Kings and I don't think it even has a sign or anything. The inside is filled with old black and white photos and the windows look out to Beale Street. On Saturday, we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy snuggies because it was FREEZING and we were going to the UT Memphis game that night at 7. Best purchase ever! We went to the game and were nice and warm. The only (almost) Snuggie disaster occured when Emily and I went to the restroom and she had her Snuggie hanging over the bathroom door. Someone walked along and GRABBED her Snuggie!! Luckily a fellow Snuggie enthusiast was in line waiting for a stall and yelled at the girl "Drop that snuggie! Its not yours!" She saved the day and Emily's Snuggie and all was well in Snuggieland. Here are some pics from the game...although it wasn't much of a game because Tennessee stomped on Memphis.