Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Whether you found yourself at home or on the road, we hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We recharged our batteries with a visit back East. Unfortunately, Jason came down with not 1, but 2 colds over the 8 day holiday. He buddied up to his bottle of NyQuil and slept a lot. On a positive, we had great luck with our flights; on time all the way, despite the 24 hour blizzard that ripped through Rhode Island and Massachusetts. We were literally one of only a few flights that left that day -- very lucky!

Our trip started in Boston -- as always it did not disappoint. The North End was decorated beautifully for Christmas




We ate lunch in our favorite restaurant, Neptune Oyster -- this cannot possibly be the first time I've mentioned it?! I waited all year for this heavenly lobster feast


obviously I hated it...


I love the style of this restaurant: subway tiles, marble bar, mirrors, vintage details -- it has a clean and modern, but warm feeling.


Or, maybe it was the bubbly warming us...


Not bad for red eye flight and 3 hours of sleep, right?


Rumor is that a scene in The Town was filmed in Neptune Oyster. Haven't confirmed this yet though, but it should be coming soon from Netflix.

We saw the Nutcracker (fantastic!!) in the afternoon and met friends for dinner. Jason and I outside Fig.


The temperature was chill-you-to-the-bone-cold, so we had to indulge in a few pints of Sam Adams Winter Lager and warming conversation at The Beantown Pub before finally getting some sleep.

We took the commuter rail to Providence, RI and spent a few days with Jason's parents, brothers, sister-in-law and our two nieces, Emelie and Juliette.



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Emelie:

From Drop Box

Spending time with my smiley little girl, Juliette. Must be the happiest baby ever...

From Drop Box

We exchanged presents, ate and ate, watched football and tried to stay safe indoors from the blizzard.

From Providence, RI we went to South Carolina to visit my mum, dad and 2 brothers. We opened more presents, continued to eat and just "vegged out" as my mum says. By this point Jason was on for cold #2 so he spent a lot of time in bed:( He did come downstairs for a few marathon t.v. sessions with Tim. I wish I had a picture of this because it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. A lot can be said for staying in your pajamas and cuddling up on the couch until mid-afternoon:) We did get out one night for a few drinks and dinner -- Jason snapped this picture of me with Richard and Tim.



As always, the trip was too short. We especially wish we could have had more time to visit with some more of our wonderful friends in South and North Carolina. Maybe next visit we will have less sickness and more time. Love to everyone back East.

Back here in Flagstaff our Christmas decorations are still up...I can't stand to take them down until at least next weekend:) I didn't have time to post before the holiday, so here are a few snapshots of our decorations.


We pick a new decoration each year. This year it was Big Ben for our 2010 London trip.






Sorry for the longest post ever, I hope you enjoy the pictures. Happy 2011!!

Jingle Bell Run

So if you remember from some earlier posts I set a goal to run a 5K by the end of the year. It took me four months of gradually increasing my running after work and building my confidence, but I finished the Jingle Bell 5K in Phoenix this past Saturday! (And I ran...ok jogged...the whole way!!) Everyone asks my time...let me just say it was slow enough to finish behind more than 1 Phoenix retiree. Jason ran the race also and was gracious enough to run with me, although he could have gone much faster. He won major husband points that day:)

We are packing and getting ready for our Holiday tour through Boston, Providence, and South Carolina. Can't wait to see family and friends, indulge in delicious holiday foods and relax. It's been another eventful year for both Jason and I; we are grateful to see it slow down, if only for 1 week. We'll be back to Flagstaff to ring in the New Year. We'll be sure to post lots of pictures when we return. Happy and safe Holidays to all!!

XOXO - Helen, Jason & Maddie

Beer in the Bathtub Part II

The final product was as delicious as it looks. Blue Ribbon!

Road Trip

Jason's brother Kurt is a lover of history and all things Old West. It was his first trip to Arizona, so we decided to take a road trip south, stopping at random sights along the way to Tombstone, AZ.
Here are some of our stops:

Stop 1: Red Rocks, Sedona, AZ


Stop 2: Waylon Jennings Grave, Mesa, AZ
Jason and Kurt's father is a big fan of Waylon Jennings and other classic country stars. He passed along this love of music to both Kurt and Jason.


Stop 3: Blue Adobe Grill, also in Mesa, Arizona
Yummy salsa, chile rellenos, and enchiladas for our Midwest guests!


Stop 4: Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm, Pinocho, Arizona
Rated a top "road side attraction" we stopped out to stretch our legs and feed some animals half-way from Phoenix to Tucson. The Ostrich were pretty mean little suckers, but the deer and donkey were very sweet.






Feeding the Lorikeets was a little outside my comfort zone, but they LOVED Kasia!


Stop 5: Historic Train stop and Hotel Congress, Tucson, Arizona.
Posing with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday




Stop 6: Bisbee, AZ
Bisbee is an old mining town about 1 hour south of Tucson. The old buildings are built inside and up one side of a canyon, creating some interesting and very steep roadways. We stayed overnight in Bisbee, enjoyed a pint of Johnny's Electric Lager (brewed in Bisbee, AZ) at the Bisbee Grand Hotel Saloon and dinner at the delicious Cafe Roka.




Saturday morning Kasia and I perused the antique stores and unique boutiques before we all enjoyed brunch at The Savory Spot. The weather was gorgeous and it was a great place to unwind after a long day of driving.






Stop 7: Tombstone, AZ

On Saturday we headed over to the main attraction, Tombstone, AZ. Here are some of the different sites:

Boothill Graveyard. We found grave markers for the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton who were shot in the famous gunfight at the OK Corral.


Wyatt Earp's house. The cement structure on the left of the building was the original Earp house. The shingled building on the right was later added. Most of the original houses from the Earp settlement were burned in a fire in 1882; they are continuing to renovate and recreate the original structures.


Before heading home we watched a reenactment of the shootout at OK Corral and walked up and down the main street of Tombstone.




Me and my cowboy!


Jason and I would not have considered a trip to Tombstone on our own, but we are happy we went. It has a pretty heavy "cheese" factor, but we shared a lot of great laughs and interesting experiences with two wonderful people. Jason, I, and Maddie hope that Kasia and Kurt can come back to visit again soon!

xoxo

Thanksgiving 2010

Jason and I have so much to be thankful for this year. Good jobs, supportive family, each other, and not to be forgotten, Maddie. We are also abundantly thankful for a visit from Jason's brother Kurt and his girlfriend Kasia for the Thanksgiving 2010 holiday. Kurt and Kasia live in Chicago so it's a great treat when we get the opportunity to spend time together.


They arrived in Flagstaff Thanksgiving day (sneaking in just behind a snow fall) and we enjoyed a traditional home cooked feast - turkey, stuffing, brussel sprouts, carrots, cranberry sauce, polished off with yummy red wine and a homemade sweet potato pie. Everyone seemed to have a great time and Maddie made a new best friend in Kasia:


The bird:


Sweet potato pie with a meringue topping. It was delicious (if I do say so myself)! Find Paula Dean's old fashioned sweet potato pie recipe on Foodnetwork.com. I followed it pretty closely, but used Splenda for the pie filling
(real sugar in the meringue). I also forgot to add the butter (I found it melted in the microwave the next morning -- haha) and I think it turned out even better than the recipe with butter.


I hope everyone had a fulfilling Thanksgiving Holiday. Jason and I continue to be thankful for each of you throughout the year!

Details in the next post about our post-Thanksgiving road trip to Southern Arizona...

New Guitar

Jason finally spent his birthday money on a new Seagull acoustic guitar. As you can see, it's a beautiful guitar and makes really nice sound. Looking forward to our Hemmer jam sessions!

Baaah-ston

Jason had to work much of the weekend in Boston, but I had plenty of fun for the two of us! My good friend and former coworker at Clemson, Maria, met me Friday evening and I had some dinner and drinks with her and a few other former coworkers. I also got to talk to a few of my former students for a few moments on Friday night and after their game on Saturday. The outcome to the contest vs. Boston College could have been a bit better, but it was really great to see Maria and the boys. I miss them and it's great to be able to keep in touch.


Saturday night we took the T downtown to Faneuil Hall and the North End Italian District. Maria and I outside the Ames Plow Tavern:


We tried to go to my FAVORITE restaurant of all time, Neptune Oyster, but the wait was almost 2 hours:( Luckily Jason and I will be back in Boston December 23rd, and I will be getting their delicious buttered lobster roll for lunch.

The leaves were beautiful in Boston. A little past their peak, but some very gorgeous red, orange and yellow leaves on trees, in the street, and blowing in the wind. This picture is from Boston College's campus, a line of bright red trees.