Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas from the Spencer Family!

The Ladies on Christmas Eve!

The Guys on Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve, we decided to do an ugly Christmas sweater theme!  As you can see, everyone participated! My cousin Matt ended up winning- his sweater had lights, sang Feliz Navidad and was decked out in ornaments and pictures.  Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with next year!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!! Happy New Year to everyone! 

the seasons are changing....

The end of summer always, always brings fall... leaves change, pumpkins become the new "it" vegetable to bake with, cook with, and have fun with, apples and cider are a plenty, and the weather gets that perfect chill to it.  I wanted to recap my start of fall with you.. a lot has happened, and because I've been so busy with my new job and training, I apologize for not keeping you more up to date...

So let's start at the beginning...

Back at the end of summer, Arielle and I got tickets to go see Jimmy Fallon live in Rockefeller Center!  It was amazing- we were literally in the front row and got to see Al Roker, and Lenny Kravitz.  I even shook his hand at the end of the show when he came around to say thank you to everyone!! He is absolutely hysterical, and now I even watch his show!

I went to Fashion's Night Out again this year with a bunch of friends.  This is a picture of my friend Kevin and I drinking champagne in the Michael Kor's store on 5th Ave.  Fashion's Night Out is a great time to just go out and experience things you wouldn't necessarily experience in New York City.  I saw Kate Walsh, spotted Khris Humpries that same day, and got lots of free champagne and treats from the various stores we visited!

Arielle, her family, and I took a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge and at the end we had Sicilian Pizza at Ignazio's.  It was definitely not as good as Grimaldi's, but it was pretty delicious.  And I love the Brooklyn Bridge, so I definitely can't complain!

We had Ice Cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory.  It's located directly under the Brooklyn Bridge and it is so yummy!

Coca-Cola Bottles!

The Bridge from the Brooklyn side

View of the Manhattan Bridge from downtown Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo.

Arielle and I on the bridge!

the walkway on the bridge

Brooklyn Bridge!

A few weeks later I got to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge again!  This time I did so with my good friends Kate & Michaela and their family!  We did a 3 mile walk for the National Eating Disorder Association to raise awareness for these terrible diseases.

Team Michaela's Sidekicks!

Leave it to us to start a kick-line at the end of the walk... Sinatra's New York song came on, so we kick-lined it in front of the entire crowd- Let's go Michaela's Sidekicks!

last glimpse of summer colors before the fall sets in...

The Memorial getting there!! This was taken just a couple of weeks ago and it looks amazing! I'm going to the Memorial this Saturday with my Dad so I'l be sure to post pictures from the inside!

Occupy Wall Street is in full swing as you can see... don't get me started on it....

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted it's Light the Night Walk just a couple of weeks ago.  I worked the registration table checking people in, but it was a beautiful experience.  Our special events committee puts three walks on and this one is the biggest of the three. The red balloons are for those who are supporting the cause, gold is for those in honor of someone who has passed from blood cancer, and white is for those who are currently undergoing treatment or for our survivors!  The walk brought in 6,000 walkers and raised over $1.7 million!  It was an amazing night for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and our mission!

We had a yard sale at my house last weekend to raise money for my Miami Marathon!  Proud to say we raised over $600- all going to blood cancer research!  I took some pictures around the house with my new camera lens that I got from my birthday.  This is the sun on the side of our house- no it was not for sale.

Records- and The Boss!

mickey mouse tie

Mom, Dad and I went to the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular last weekend at the Roger Williams Park Zoo.  The pumpkin carvings were amazing! I loved the faces!  There were over 5,000 faces.. my only suggestion- go later when all the screaming children have gone to bed and people get less pushy!  

pumpkins- we made sure it was a very pumpkin filled weekend... pumpkin cream cheese on bagels, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkins for carving, pumpkins for seeing, pumpkins for collecting, pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins....

On Monday, Mom Dad and I stopped in at the Scituate Art Festival.  These glass blown pumpkins caught my eye...

And so did the waves...

View of the church in town from the graveyard behind it... Very old historic graveyard, very beautiful tombstones.

I was, in fact, so inspired by the Spectacular that I wanted to carve my own pumpkins.  So this weekend went like this for me- Friday I watched Hocus Pocus.  Saturday I got up and ran 6 miles with the Miami Team and then went out to brunch!  Saturday afternoon I went to the Union Square Farmer's Market where I bought my pumpkins, apples, apple cider, fresh broccoli and heirloom tomatoes.  I came home, made Broccoli Cheddar soup and had a caprese salad with my tomatoes!  Sunday morning I got up and went for a run, bought some new running sneakers (highly suggest the Nike Lunarglides), and came home to watch the Pats and carved my pumpkins.  Some weekends are just the absolute best when you have them all to yourself!

Needless to say, fall has been busy, busy already!  I'm in full swing with my new job- I'm coordinating the Manhattan Half Marathon for the winter season and running the Miami Marathon.  I'm getting to meet everyone and my co workers are just amazing people!  I absolutely have never been happier- I wake up and am so excited to get to the office, it truly doesn't even feel like work.  And I am loving training for the marathon- can't wait to run those 26.2 miles again!

In other news, this week is all training and then Dad comes to visit on Friday!  Can't wait!! I'll keep you up to date with all the fun things I have planned for the rest of October!! Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Holidays!

Candles burning low,
Lot's of mistletoe.
Lot's of snow and ice,
Everywhere we go.
Choirs singing carols,
Right outside my door.
All these things and more...
That's what Christmas means to me...

This Christmas was the first time I was coming home not as a student, but as a grown up with a grown up job.  Weird, I know, because I still talk about Santa like he's real, and I'm a huge cookie connoisseur.  But, I did take off a few extra days from work and the big city and came home to spend time with my family!  I had a ton of fun baking cookies, cooking and getting ready for Christmas Eve and even going to the Bruins game up at the Garden on the 23rd!

 
The Bruins ended up beating the Thrashers 4-1, Thornton almost had a hat trick and he managed a fight right at the start of the first period.  It was an exciting game and a ton of fun to be at the Garden!

Christmas Eve was the big day this year; we had the entire family over and the Friday was spent icing cookies, preparing a ham and cooking different appetizers for the evening!  Of course, I was cursing the cookies the whole time while they were actually baking, but after icing them, they began to look more like the animals they should look like.  Martha Stewart is a God if she really got her cookies to look like what the magazine looked like.  I'm convinced she iced cardboard cut-outs of cookies, because there is no way cookies could look that perfect.

I mean, mine came out pretty good- had to get creative before the icing dried!

That night we had the whole family over for food, pomegranate punch and fun!  Here are some pictures of my wonderful family!

 The Guys!

 The cousins!

 The Flaxington Clan

 The Spencer Clan

 Mimi, Poppa and the grandchildren!

The Lovely Ladies

 Bud and Dad having some fun!

Cheers to a successful Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day I spent with my family; we opened presents in the morning and then had an amazing dinner!  The highlight of my day was receiving a nook from my parents!  I'm so excited to just go crazy and read on this thing for the rest of my life.  Books and books and books; sadly I won't be able to create a library like the one in Beauty and the Beast, but maybe if I use my imagination, that's what my Nook library can eventually look like!  Of course it will be electronic, but you can imagine anything.. right?

After Christmas dinner with Mimi & Poppa we had dessert; White Chocolate Mousse that I slaved over!  Just kidding, it was literally 2 ingredients!

You melt white chocolate with 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream and let it cool to room temperature stirring occasionally.  In a chilled bowl whip 1 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form.  Fold in the white chocolate mixture.  Chill until ready to serve; garnish with mint and the berries of your choice.  In our case, we used blackberries! Yumm!  It was light, refreshing and decadent!

Christmas night I went over to the Luther's and exchanged gifts with Derek!  And... I am going to see the Lion King in February at PPAC in unbelievable seats!! I am so excited; not only have I wanted to see it since the 5th grade, but who doesn't love Disney?

And then of course we got hit with a blizzard.  So lucky me; my bus was canceled Sunday AND Monday and I got to spend those days playing board games and cards with Derek and purchasing a new pair of snow boots.  And thank god I did because New York City literally looked like "The Day After Tomorrow."  I'm not going to bore you with more pictures of snow because they have been plastered all over the news, but never in all my life have I seen such a mess!  Cars were covered in 6 feet of snow, side streets haven't been plowed, sidewalks are not cleared, and the plows are even taking out cars!  It's really unbelievable.  I heard that for every inch of snow the city gets it costs about $1 Million to remove it, so in that case, $20 million later, it's no wonder it's still a disaster.

But, my friends, the holidays are not over yet, and I will be making a return this weekend for New Year's Eve, the Winter Classic game ( if it doesn't get rained out.. and no I'm not going, I'm watching it at home on TV with lots of food) and Mimi's birthday party!

Merry Christmas!!!  Get ready to ring in 2011!

a weekend at home!

This weekend, I was able to come home and visit with everyone!  I got in Friday night, which was the same night my brother got in from school!  Although it was really late when we got in, I was able to see him and Ben; his ride home!  It's really unbelievable how much the two of them have grown up!  Just crazy to think that they've come a long way from kindergarten, now being freshmen in college.  Where does the time go!!??

On Saturday, I hung out with Derek and we watched Inception; starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  While I know I don't usually write about the movies I watch, if I could tell you one to watch, watch this.  By all means pay attention or you might be completely lost, but if you're a Leo fan, like me, you'll love it!

On Sunday, we had a mini family reunion with my mom's side of the family!  I was able to meet my cousins from Indiana and visit with family who I had not seen in a while!  We all got together at my Mimi's house and had a ton of fun!  Here's some of the pictures from that day!

Dad, Zack and Poppa!

Matt, Aunt Lynn, Mom, Me, Kelsey and Zack- love them all!

Me and Mimi! I love this picture!

Christmas card? and yes, we were all sitting in Poppa's chair on Dad's lap!

"the originals"

our cousins!!

Aunt Terry, Mimi and Poppa!

We really need to get together like this more often!  And Jay- we all know you weren't there!! Now you owe Mimi a trip to Florida and a family reunion! Haha- only kidding... sorta.  It really was great being able to see everyone; Christmas Eve is going to be a blast!  See you all then!

a time for giving thanks!

Coming home for Thanksgiving remains to be one of the times of the year I look forward to the most.  Seeing as how I'm usually always away this time of year, with being at school the last four years and now in New York, coming home to celebrate the kickoff of the holiday season really makes me happy!  Thanksgiving to me is all about family, and there is no better way to spend the holidays than with the people you love!  This year, my cousin and his girlfriend had Thanksgiving at their house... their brand new house!! And now, come on people, you can't say you weren't impressed!!

They moved in a few months ago and hosted the rowdiest bunch of people I know!  And it was amazing; I was so proud of my cousin.  I honestly remember Jay and I being little and sitting side by side in a recliner because we were both so skinny... or going camping and learning how to play the infamous card game, spit... or the four of us cousins playing hide and seek, until Matt and Zack have to break the rules!! It seems like just yesterday we were growing up, playing with teenage mutant ninja turtles, rushing upstairs to play playstation while the grownups talked through the holidays and sitting at the kids table during Thanksgiving.

Well guess what; for the first time in 22 years, Jay wasn't at the kids table!! Nostalgic really, when you think about it!  We're all growing up... we really aren't kids anymore!  But at the end of the day, whether I'm 5 or 22, I can say I am most thankful for my amazing family.  They are amazing people and have taught me all that I know about how to love and how to be a good person.  I consider myself extremely lucky that I have such an amazing family and that I know they will be there for me every step of the way.

Jay and Jill with their delicious turkey- credit to Jill on this photo!  Amazing job, both of you!

Zack, Jay and Mimi!- So excited that Mimi & Poppa came home for the holidays!! It's never the same without you!

me, mom and dad!

mom and dad!

Mimi and I :]

me and Zack!

Matt and Kelsey!

mom and i

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and congrats to Jay & Jill!