Wedding! Christmas! New Years! Whew.

We're almost half-way through January 2009 and I'm not even close to catching up with blog stuff from 2008. Lovely. So, instead of lots of long, drawn out posts, how 'bout a marathon one with everything (except the 3 Day Walk, that still deserves it's own post) all thrown together? Good? Good.

* Wedding in New Hampshire
Waaaay back in November, we attended a wedding for Jim's law school buddy. We were only there for a couple of days, but we had a great time. While it might have been raining outside, it definitely didn't dampen the festivities. The couple are very much in love and and it seems only a matter of time before they start expanding their family. Congrats G and J!

Rehearsal Dinner

Getting ready at the hotel. I was allowed to hang out with the guys to serve as photographer. Let me just say that it's tooootally different than girls getting ready before the wedding. Wow.


At the church




The reception took place at a castle. The cocktail hour was held inside and then the dinner was outside in a tent. The only downside was the water that was tracked onto the dance floor. Made dancing a bit treacherous, not that it stopped us or anything.
We also had to play some dollar game that I don't really remember, but it ultimately ended in me and one of the law school buddies having to go up and do a line dance. Um yeah. I look thrilled, no? :| The rest of the evening was much better.

Before we leave the wedding, what, you might be asking is the proper footwear for a chilly, wet New England wedding? Duh. Uggs with your cocktail dress. (Please note, I did change into heels for the ceremony and reception.)

* Christmas
We hosted several parties and then had Christmas Eve at our house for my mom and brother. I spent a large portion of December in my kitchen rockin' out to Christmas music. Some of the fruits of my labor:

Crudite, Prosciutto-wrapped Asparagus

Salted Marble Chocolate with Pecans, Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes, Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese frosting

Jim and I did manage to take some time out to chill by ourselves, too. And what better way to do that than taking advantage of our hot tub. And some booze. And cigars. Wheee!

I was seriously considering not cooking for Christmas Eve, but eventually decided that it'd be worth it. Indeed, it was. No pictures because I was too busy in the kitchen, but we had a full ham dinner made from scratch. It was delish.

We also had fun with presents. My mom told my brother and me that she got us the same exact gift. That scared us. It shouldn't have, seeing as it was a portable GPS for our cars. Yay! Jim got golf lessons at our local course, while my mom got a PB giftcard and a Barefoot dreams blanket that matches the one I have.

Later, Jim and I exchanged gifts alone after everyone had left. However, before we could open gifts, we had to deal with an unexpected visitor. A lady had accidently hit my mom's car. Long story short, it didn't look bad, but she couldn't open the door and had to have a body shop take care of it before she could drive home. Sigh. It turned her short vacation into one that was almost 2 weeks. Yeah. Fun.

Anywho, back to Santa. Jim got me a Nikon D40 (yayayay!), a T3 hair dryer and some other assorted little things. He got an ipod touch and a blu-ray player. See, told you it was a very merry Christmas!

The next day we spent the morning with his family in the South Bay where we got tix to Phantom playing at the Pantages in January and a gift certificate to Cut! Woohoo! That afternoon we trekked out to his aunt's house in the valley for more socialing with the big extended clan. We are now officially the only married couple in the family that either don't have kids or aren't currently pregnant. We're standing strong though! It was a great night (except for one little incident that doesn't need mentioning here) and it was good to see everyone.

* New Year's
Mellow, just the way I like it. No pictures because I wasn't feelin' it. We had dinner and watched TV with some friends at their apartment and it was lovely. Good food, good friends, good conversation. What more do you need to ring in the new year, right?

And there you have it. The end of 2008 -- except for the walk, really the recap is coming soon.

Now I can start fresh and not feel so bad about being so very behind. Yay!