A Proud Older Sister

My sisters and I are super close and I am so grateful for the relationship we have.  I know we are very lucky and not everyone has such a close relationship.  My youngest sister Kelly is in school for nursing and she is a wonderful mother to my beautiful little neice Peyton and nephew Paxton.  I am so proud of the way she turned her life around and the woman she has grown into.  She is beautiful, funny, hardworking, and loving. My other sister Kaitlin is 4 years younger than me (Kelly is 8 years younger than me) so when we were growing up we went through phases.  When she was a baby I couldn't get enough of her, when I was  a pre-teen I thought she was a pest.  I think that just happens, Kate and Kelly went through the same thing.  After the teen years we developed a wonderful relationship.  My sister Kaitlin lives in DC with her boyfriend Brett (who I adore).  She has a great job that she loves.  Well guess what?  They want her to go to India for 6 weeks this summer to train a team of employees.  I am so proud and very excited for her adventure.  Funny side note- Kate is a VERY picky eater, I think she lived off of grilled chicken, rice and goldfish crackers (only the original flavor)  for a good 10+ years.  Well one of the first things I said was "OMG, you are going to be so skinny because you won't eat anything!"  and she said "That was one of my first thoughts, can't wait"  Really can't ask for anything better than a 6 week trip to a new country AND a built in diet, sounds like a win to me!  Needless to say, I am very proud of my sisters and love them to the moon and back.



Kaitlin, Me, Kelly




Kelly, Me, Kate

Kate, Kelly, Me

Kate & Me

Me & Kelly

Kristin, Kelly & Kate



Barrett's 31st Birthday in NYC- December 17, 2011

This post is a little late, but hey what's new?  For Barrett's birthday this year we decided to go to NYC for the weekend.  (we just can't stay away)  We went out to dinner with Lauren, Ryan, Marc, Allison (who we just found out is pregnant, so excited for them) and Dan.  We decided on an Italian Restaurant in the West Village called Morandi, it was fantastic.  After dinner we had an impromptu Christmas Caroling session on the corner and a bunch of people joined in, it was very silly but a lot of fun.  We went back to Lauren & Ryan's, drank some beers and went to bed.  It was a great night!  Here is a pic of the birthday boy.

Gotta love the thumbs up

The next morning I went to brunch with two of my bestie's Amanda & Britt.  We went to The Coffee Shop in Union Square, the food wasn't very good but the company was.  Britt and Amanda are both pregnant so it was fun seeing those cute little bumps.  Britt is do in a week and a half and Amanda is due in early May, both are having boys.  I can't wait to meet my new nephews.  I feel like their pregnancies have flown by, maybe not to them but for me it has been so fast.  They are really amazing friends and I know they are going to be really amazing mothers.   

Wow...I suck!



I can't believe I haven't been keeping up with this.  I honestly really thought I would, promise!  I am giving it another go, so here goes nothing. 



I really don't know where to start given the oh 4 MONTHS since my last post.  I mean it's ridiculous.  Let's play a little catch up.  October was great (I love fall and this time of year), we went to a Halloween party with one of my HS girlfriends and her fiancee.  We had a really great time.  Barrett and I went as Wipeout contestants, have you ever seen it?  It.is.hilarious.  My dream is to rent out the course and invite all of our friends/family, I mean it's funny enough watching a complete stranger get thrown off a giant ball but could you imagine your husband/bff/sister etc, ugh I die, so funny!  I digress, the costume was easy, comfy and didn't require a lot of work.  Another night we went to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly, they do a haunted tour of the penitentiary.  It was so scary and I really didn't see most of it because my face was burried in my husband's arm the whole time.  I literally screamed the whole time and to make it worse we were with all of my husbands co-workers...shoot me.  I used to LOVE scary movies, haunted houses/hayrides etc, now it gives me nightmares for days.







Eastern State Penitentiary



Not much to report in November.  We ended up going to our friends house,The Regan's (Karen & Jeff) for dinner.  We had an awesome time and even brought our new friends Dan & Jess (more on them later).  The food was amazing, the games were a riot and the house was unbelievable (Jeff & Karen have one of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen, they have a ballroom IN their house which they made the dining room for Thanksgiving.)  Karen is something else, I want to be her when I grow up, no really, she made huge homemade gingerbread houses for all the young adults and kids to make and had a million things to use for decoration.  After they were done, all the adults got to judge the houses.  It was a blast.



Now that's a Thanksgiving Table!

I love December, something about the holidays is so magical.  We met some really great friends a couple of months ago, Dan & Jess.  They are SO fun and I am so greatful we met them.  They live like five minutes from us and we all get along great.  Dan grew up in the area so every Christmas he would go to Macy's (Wanamaker's) to see the lights show.  We decided to go with Jess & Dan and it was so fun.  After the lights show we went to the Ritz Carlton for drinks and apps, wish I would have taken a picture, it is a beautiful building too!



Macy's Light Show



Jess & Dan

I get so excited when I can countdown the days until Christmas because it means time with family and since we don't have family very close by I always look forward to seeing them. The past two years we have gone to Cleveland to see Barrett's family and this year we spent Christmas in Virginia with my family.  Here are a few pics from Christmas.

My sisters Kate and Kelly and my nephew Paxton and niece Peyton.

My sisters Kelly & Kaitlin, and Barrett on Christmas morning.



The Gingerbread House my sister Kate and I made after a few glasses of wine....don't judge we had to use graham crackers because Kelly broke the gingerbread house.

Happy New Year!  Ok on to January...We spent New Years Eve with our very good friends Drew & Eric.  It was supposed to be a low key, early to bed kind of night but we should have known better.  We decided to stay in and cook, ring in the new year and head to bed.  Well about 2am and a couple bottles of wine later, we actually went to bed.  We spent New Years Day at the Union League in Philadelphia.  It was so beautiful and elegant, we had so much fun that day.  (side note- my parents had their wedding reception at the Union League and apparently my Grandfather has his portrait hanging somewhere inside).  I wish I had some pictures but sadly I don't.  We also went to the Academy Ball on January 28th which was a lot of fun.  Well any excuse to get all dressed up and dance is fun in my book.  We got to see the Philadelphia Orchestra with a special guest...Yo Yo Ma, that man is a musical genious, what an honor to see him play.



Academy Ball- Barrett, Me, Eric, Drew, Sally and Sam.



The Academy of Music

Oh my dear lord....did I forget one of the most important things that happened in January???  I started a new job.  Geeze what is wrong with me.  Well I'm not going to post too much about it because mixing business with personal, never a good idea (for me) so let's just say it is for a great company and I am enjoying it so far.