Christmas 2012

For Christmas this year, we were able to squeeze in some time with both families. We started out by visiting with the Tuck's in Hillsborough from Thursday-Saturday morning. The weather on Thursday was terrible and made for a very long drive. But we arrived safely- albeit 2 hours later than expected.
We did our family gift giving on Friday morning and then a late afternoon lunch followed by a night full of X-Box rafting :) On Saturday, we woke up, had breakfast downstairs, played MORE X-box (but this time it included dancing) and then we headed out.

We did our Tinsley family gift giving on Saturday night. We also did a White Elephant exchange with my relatives that was a lot of fun. Thomas ended up with a lazy susan remote holder (which I at first did not care for, but it has slowly grown on me) and I chose a box that had 3 scratch off tickets. The only stipulation was that you had to drink the mini bottle of tequila that was included before you could scratch them. I decided it was a risk worth taking, but in the end, NONE were winners. Bummer! There were lots of other fun gifts handed out- most of which will probably end up in the trash at some point in the near future :)

All of my relatives headed out on Sunday and the rest of us had a lazy day of Christmas movies. That's what vacation is all about right?? I got a new sewing machine from my parents for christmas, so I spent some time playing with that also :)

Thomas and I headed back home on Christmas Eve. The drive was great! One of our easiest drives yet.  And we made it home in enough time to quickly unpack, hit the grocery store before they closed, go to our Christmas Eve service, and drop by a friends Christmas Eve Party.

On Christmas Day, we woke up, made a big breakfast, and had our 3rd annual Tuck Family Christmas with just the 4 of us. Our presents to each other weren't supposed to be big this year, but Thomas surprised me and told me that I'll be able to get Lasik in 2013. I've had such issues with my eyes lately I know it will be money well spent. And in order to find out thats what I got, he sent up on a little hunt to gather all the letters. It took me a little while to unscramble them, but I was excited when I figured out what it was. Later in the afternoon, we gathered with some of our neighbors for a pot luck lunch. It was a nice relaxing Christmas Day!

I'm off for a few more days so I'm attempting to get our lives back in order and ready for the New Year! Hopefully everyone enjoyed their Christmas as much as we did!

The Big Apple!

For my birthday this year, we made a trip to NYC with some friends of ours! We left on Thursday, the 13th and returned on Sunday, the 16th. It was a little chilly, but a lot of fun.

Thursday

We picked up our friends on the way to the airport, and because of the typical downtown congestion, we were high tailing it by the time we got there. Luckily, we got there just in time to board our flight. And thanks to Thomas and his plethora of free vouchers, we all enjoyed a cocktail and snack box. We also had a really nice flight attendant on the flight. At one point, I got up to use the restroom and when I came back, she and Thomas were chatting. Come to find out, he had mentioned my birthday was the next day so she provided us with a good amount of wine to take with us off the plane. A nice way to start the trip off right?

Once we got into the city, we dropped our luggage, freshened up, and headed out for a really late dinner at a nearby burger bar. After burgers, we decided to check out a local cupcake shop (Crumbs) that stays open until 12am or 1am (depending on the night). Luckily we just made it and all picked out a cupcake to take back to our room before they closed up for the night. 

Friday

We woke this morning and decided we were going to do an open top bus tour of the city. It was a hop on/hop off tour and we were able to use it all 3 days we were in the city. On this particular day, we decided to explore the lower side of Manhatten (China Town, Little Italy, Wall Street, etc.). We got on and off a few times for lunch, a little shopping at Bloomingdales, and some first hand sight seeing in China Town and Little Italy. 

Towards the end of the day, our intention was to get off the bus at Rockefellar Center to see the tree. But at that point we were frozen solid. Therefore, the only picture we ended up taking was from the top of the bus. But it didn't turn out too bad!

SLIGHTLY more crowded than they depict in movies, right??

The only downside to an otherwise fun day was our dinner experience that night. We managed to pick a french restaurant for dinner where the wait was too long, the food was over priced, and not even that tasty. We definitely learned our lesson :) Nothing a little Karaoke couldn't fix though. Thomas was able to entertain us for a couple hours and raise our spirits back up!

Saturday

On this day, we headed towards upper Manhattan. We managed to fit in The American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, Shake Shack (mmmmmm), and also an early dinner and Improv Comedy Show! This was one of our best shots of the trip (and the only group picture, I think).

Sunday

Luckily, this was our only day of rain. We woke up, packed our things and left them with the concierge, and then we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a great thing to do on a rainy day. What was NOT great was trying to catch a cab after the fact- and then to actually find one that would travel back towards Time Square. Eventually, we got one and headed back towards our hotel. We met up with a friend from college and his girlfriend at a restaurant called Beer Authority. It was nice catching up with good friends!

After lunch, we took the subway to JFK for our flight back home. Since the weather was bad, we had quite a few delay's getting out, but eventually we made it home. And lucky for Thomas and myself, we were upgraded. So that made the flight that much easier. 

Overall, a great trip, but we're definitely happy to be back home in the suburbs where there are A LOT less people :)