Christmas morn

Our elf Candy greeted us perched upon an artificial tree branch.

She's just so damn chipper at 10 am. Or anytime of the day for that matter. Just look at that face.

And yes, we slept in until 10 am on Christmas. 

Christmas Eve Extravaganza

Since the New Year is literally hours away, I wanted to be sure to post about our pretty fantastic Christmas Eve.  

It was awesome.

And amazing.

And alll sorts of fun spent in the company of my best friend (i.e. Clarkman), and some close friends, too!

Annnnnnd so joyous as we prepared for the celebration of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It started out with George Balanchine's The Nutcracker ballet at the Academy of Music in Philly.  I behaved and refrained from taking pictures during the ballet.

We then walked around the Christmas Village at Love Park, where Clark purchased himself a well-deserved Christmas gift.  We also made sure to step into Macy's to watch the organ's Christmas light show.

Art Museum in the distance.

Clark waiting patiently to view some photography prints...

And one came out the winner! Now, no matter where we live in the world, we can take a super cool image of Philly with us (because this photo would be nearly impossible for us to recreate without 1. professional skills 2. a wide-angled lens and 3. LOTS of patience. I mean, the shutter was open for 20 minutes to capture this image and NO photoshop was used to make it more vibrant that it naturally is. This guy is good). 

We then ate a non-traditional Mexican feast at Steven Starr's El Vez with our friends Andrea and Rex. (No pictures). We're excited to try Steven Starr's authentic Mexican restaurant, El Rey in the near future. 

After dinner, we attended Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. (again no pictures, but the basilica was absolutely stunning).

It was a whirlwind of a day, but such a blast to spend the Christmas holiday with my love here in Philly!

Merry Christmas!

But seriously, we feel so much joy on this blessed Christmas day as we remember and reflect upon the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  His sacrifice is and always will be the most amazing gift ever granted unto man.

A billion pictures of waterfalls (ok, that's an exaggeration, but we do have a lot)

Do you wanna see an unnecessary amount of photos of waterfalls??! Of course you do!

In addition to many other things, I just love waterfalls. And since I'm a realist and have come to the conclusion that I may not be able to see Iguazu Falls or Victoria Falls in this lifetime (let's be honest, this world is a big place and there are far too many amazing places to visit that are easily accessible), I was thrilled when Clark agreed to take me to Niagra Falls for a celebration of sorts following the conclusion of my program. We met up with my very good friend/classmate Andrea, and her husband Rex.  Though the weather wasn't ideal and was a bit drizzly, I am so glad we chose to visit during this time of year. Very few tourists and cheap lodging. Can't beat that!

Awww, these two are basically newlyweds. So cute and still so in love.

And wouldn't you know it, we're still in love, too! So, the bonus of seeing the falls from the Canadian side is that you get a good view of both falls at the same time. Magical, indeed.

Couldn't have gotten through the program without her!

Really, there's not a whole lot to keep one from plummeting to the earth or water below.  Just this low, below-the-waist-height railing.

At the Table Rock info center, which is located literally right beside the Horseshoe Falls, we warmed up with hot chocolate and Clark fell in love with this poinsettia Christmas tree.   

Whhhhooooaaaaa!

And all that's between me and waterfall is this wimpy railing...

We stayed in what is considered Ripley's area of Niagra Falls. It reminded me of the strip in Las Vegas, but to a much, much smaller degree. Probably just because of the lights and noise.  Lots of bright lights, horribly inaccurate wax museums and multiple haunted houses (whaaattt?).

Andrea and Rex were on a bit of a different schedule, so after they departed we were left to explore Niagra Falls alone.  Mind you, this is not a geographically vast area. The walk from our hotel to the Horseshoe falls was probably only a half mile. So to spice things up and make our day more interesting, we found alternate routes to get to the falls!

Clark was nervous that he might get raped on this path.

Fortunate for him, his wife can run and hunt down any assailant. Also, there were no other pedestrians actually using this path.

We decided to brave the frigid night air and take some night shots of the falls and surrounding bright lights.

The American Falls, looking quite lovely.

The dreadful Rainbow bridge, aka roadway into and out of America. If you ever travel to Niagra Falls, avoid this bridge at all costs! It took us 50 minutes to cross the bridge on our way in. Needless to say, we found a different route out. I can't even imagine how bad it gets during the summer months. 

So beautiful. 

We knew we couldn't leave without taking a ride up the Skylon tower, and the view from the top did not disappoint! We also couldn't leave without purchasing the novelty photo (at the top of this post). It cracked us up, anyway.

I love when people ask me to take their photo because then I don't mind asking them to return the favor. Thank you, kind tourist!

We had such a great time and I'm so glad we visited during this time of year. Cold, but not unbearable. No crowds or annoying masses of people acting obnoxious. The sweet company of friends. We were only gone three days but it was well worth the drive.

(Just as an aside: on our way back we stopped at Syracuse's Dinosaur BBQ for some ribs.  It. Was. Amazing. I kid you not, the best ribs we've ever had. And I've had bbq in Memphis and St. Louis. This establishment was featured on Man v. Food, and for those of you who know us, you know we still love Adam Richman and will strive to patronize these featured establishments! Here's the video:

Also, I would move to Binghamptom in an instant.  Guess how much a gallon of milk costs regardless of type?!! 

$1.89. Unbelievable!  I could not believe my eyes, and I should have taken a picture of the prices. We stopped at an Aldi to get cash for tolls and some refreshments, and I fell in love with Binghampton based off of milk prices.)

Holiday Festivities

And I'm going alllllll the way back to Thanksgiving, because I never got a chance to showcase the amazing meal I prepared for Clark and myself.  I spent Thanksgiving day alone (Clark worked 7am-7pm), which was  absolutely delightful. Many of you may believe that a Thanksgiving not spent with family is a wasted and dull holiday.  I personally found this not to be the case.  It was an entirely stress-free day that consisted of running, cleaning and cooking. Ahhhh, bliss.

Early December arrived a little elf we like to call Candy. At first we didn't know if it was a he or a she but luckily the box clarified her gender identity.

Candy happens to be a preteen elf and in keeping with the average age of maturation, she surprised us with her very first menstrual cycle! Thanks for allowing us to be part of your growth and maturation, Candy!

Truant Minds (Clark's band) played a show in Atlantic City, and it totally rocked! Seriously, they're a lot of fun to watch. I recorded a couple of songs but I can't seem to load them properly...

We were able to see this little cutie for a short period; she has grown so much since we last saw her in October. Georgie loves to be held and is such a snuggle-bug.

And her siblings love her so much!

Our kitchen table got all decorated with this impressively beautiful gingerbread wreath created by my sister-in-law.  She also made us ornaments (the round balls) to go on our tree as well.  As much as I wanted to eat these decorations, I have refrained from doing so so that I can enjoy them in Christmases to come.

And our house got all decorated, too. Well, our living room did anyway. Next year, we'll get a real tree. Maybe.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season! Somehow, we seem to be evading the cold, winter weather that is hitting other parts of the U.S. so hard.  I was hoping for a white Christmas but it just may not be in the cards this year...