Holiday Travels Hiatus

Happy 2013, everyone!  I haven't posted on here since last year ;)  Sorry, favorite New Year's joke!

After a long hiatus due to lots of holiday travel and lack of computer access, I am back home and ready to get back to blogging.  I've very much missed blogging each day, and one of my goals for the new year is to post to this blog 5 times a week (at least!).

I'll get back to my usual format, but first I want to share with you my travels!  I went a lot of different places and had a lot of fun times this holiday season, so let me recap!

Dec. 21-24: Christmas in Richmond
Joe and I spent Thanksgiving with my family, so we decided that we'd both be with his family for Christmas this year.  Since I hadn't seen any of my friends since my wedding day, I flew up to Richmond and spent a few days with my family and friends.

My time there was spent seeing many of my friends from high school at various Christmas gatherings we had.  I also spent a lot of time relaxing with my family (also known as napping for three hours while the TV was on in the afternoon).  We exchanged gifts, and a present from my parents to Joe and me was tickets to the Virginia Tech bowl game!  I knew that was going to happen, but I was still so excited to be able to go to the game.

It was hard to leave my family on Christmas Eve, but I really enjoyed getting to see them around the holiday time.

Dec. 25-27: Christmas in Gainesville/Tifton
It was different but exciting to wake up on Christmas morning with Joe at his mom's house.  I'm such a traditional person that it was hard to not partake in my family's traditions, but I was looking forward to joining in on Joe's family's.

We went over to his sister's house, exchanged gifts, then headed out to his grandparents' horse farm for lunch and some family time.  We then drove to Tifton, GA for Christmas with his dad's side of the family.

First Married Christmas!

There were lots of people, lots of food, and lots of great family times.  When they open presents, everyone goes at once.  At my grandparents, we all go one at a time.  It was interesting to see all the chaos and to try and see what everyone got.

Dec. 28: Virginia Tech football in Orlando
Next stop: Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando!  We met up with my parents, had lunch at this delicious Mediterranean place (wish I had taken a picture of the Lemon Chicken wrap...sooo good!), then headed to the stadium for the game!

Me, Joe, and my mom (Dad was back at their seats)

This game was particularly special because it was my brother's last performance with the marching band.  I was so glad we could all be there to support him and cheer him on.  He's been the captain of the drum line for the last two seasons, and he's pretty awesome at it!

(He's the circled one)

Luckily, the Hokies were able to pull out the win!  I'm was so happy, especially because it started raining about halfway through the game.  I would have been pretty miserable had we lost.  Go Hokies!

Dec. 29-Jan 1: New Year's in New York City
Our last stop of our holiday trip was New York City!  Joe's brother lives three blocks away from Times Square, so he invited us up for New Year's

In Times Square...windy and cold as you can tell!

Some highlights from the trip:

I went to see Avenue Q off-Broadway, which was HILARIOUS!  It's a musical featuring puppets (as well as real people) that documents life on a block in New York City.  With such songs as "It Sucks to Be Me", "The Internet is for Porn," and "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist", you can imagine how much fun this show was.

I got to see the window displays in the department stores, as well as the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

We attended a church service on Sunday at Holy Cross Church, the beautiful church just down the block from Joe's brother's apartment.

Source

And Joe and I actually got to see The Ball drop at midnight to ring in 2013!!

Taken the day before

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the ball dropping on New Year's Eve because I didn't have time to go grab my camera!  Joe and I ran out of his brother's apartment at 11:50 and were able to see the ball from the street in front of the building.  It was a really cool experience, and I'm glad I got to be there to see it!

This is the only picture of Joe and I from New Year's Eve...what a shame, too, because I loved my dress!!

We also got these awesome 2013 light-up glasses for free after midnight.  The street vendors just handed us a box, so we all got rock these for the rest of the evening.

One thing I didn't get to do was go for a run in Central Park.  I planned on doing it New Year's Day before we left, but I was feeling a liiiiittle rough after our NYE party in the city.  I guess that just means I'll have to go back some day (when it's warmer, preferably) to complete that run :)

Overall, we had a busy but fun Christmas/holiday season!  I was quite lazy when it came to exercising, as I only ran one time during these travels.  One of my New Year's resolutions is to continue running, even after my half marathon in February.  I definitely intend on getting back in to my exercise routine (starting today).

I'll be back later with a book review, as well as a regular post about today.