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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Happy New Year's from New Hampshire/Maine
Happy New Year's from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It's a pretty dreary rainy day today but that's ok. Was the perfect weather to sleep in. Going to have lunch in a bit at the Coat and Arms British pub, then going to head over to York, Maine to go to the Stonewall Kitchen store and to see the lighthouse there. After that we will head back and see what time it is. We have dinner reservations at Mombo at Strawberry Banke at 7pm. Should be a delicious dinner hopefully. :)
Yesterday we left Danbury around 7:30am, stopped in New Hampshire at one of their massive liquor stores they have right off the highway (no sales tax-yay). Got a couple of bottles of wine and a bottle of sparkling rose for New Year's. Then headed to Kennebunkport, Maine for lunch. As always Federal Jack's was great, yummy lunch. Afterward we headed back to New Hampshire and checked in at our bed and breakfast in Portsmouth. Relaxed in the room for a bit and then walked into the town center for an early dinner. Had some yummy food at the Portsmouth brewery and then some wine at the Black Trumpet wine bar.
Tomorrow it's already time to go back home again. Can't believe it's already 2012 tomorrow. Hope all of you have a great New Year's and a great start to 2012. Anybody have any New Year's resolutions? Mine are the same as always. Lose some weight, try to work on our backyard, cook more at home, exercise more. Yeah, we will see how that goes. :)
Mail update: Letters going out soon to: Lotte/Denmark, Charles/TN and Jessica/DE. Received letters from/owe replies to: Nicki/OZ, Celia/MA and Sayaka/Japan.
Posted by Hanna at 01:08 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmas Post
Merry belated Christmas every one. :) Hope you all had a nice holiday. Mike & I worked on the 24th but were able to leave around 4pm which wasn't so bad. Plus it was a pretty quiet day. When we got home we arranged our small Christmas Eve feast (brie & baguette, shrimp cocktail, brocooli & ranch dip, pepperjack cheese & crackers and some wine) and caught up on the rest of our shows. Had a nice relaxing night.
Yesterday on the 25th we slept in a little and then opened our gifts with Mike's sister, niece and nephew. Lots of nice gifts. Some fun stuff from around the world including tea, stationery, body spray, soap, ornaments, hand warmers, etc. Both Mike & Kristina got me boxes of sausage/salami and cheese (one from Hickory Farms and one from I Gourmet) :) So I am all set in that department for a little while now. And Mike also got me tickets to see the Kooks in Cincinnati, Ohio on 2/29. Very cool. :)
In the afternoon Mike & I went over to our friend Tim's house and had lots more food and wine. A very enjoyable relaxing afternoon talking, eating and drinking. The holidays definitely seem to make people stuff their faces. :) But there is always January to go on a diet right?
This week it's back to normal and back to work again. But at least it's just a four day week for us since we are going to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for New Year's on Friday. Looking forward to a weekend away from home, just to relax. :) Will be nice. Can't believe it's almost 2012 already now. Where has this year gone?
Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Nicki/OZ, Lotte/Denmark, Jessica/DE and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 05:21 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 18, 2011
NYC Christmas Weekend
One more week until Christmas. Time definitely flies.
Yesterday I had a dentist appointment at 9am which wasn't much fun (not a big fan of dentists). But afterwards we went to New York which is always fun. I love seeing the city at Christmas time, the decorations on 5th Ave, Rockefeller Center, the tree with the skating rink. They also have a pretty Christmas market type place at Bryant Park (right by the NYC Library) with a skating rink and a neat restaurant/bar. Having said all that the one part I don't like about NY at Christmastime are the crowds. But we did our usual loop, saw all the Christmas stuff and then went to Chevy's in Times Square for some yummy food and margaritas. They have this delicious cranberry margarita in December that I really like. Had yummy shrimp fajitas and lots of chips and salsa.
Today we had a pretty relaxed day too. Slept in late, then met up with a few friends in the afternoon. Our friend John just came back from a 2 month trip South America so it was great to catch up with him and hear some of his travel stories. Definitely jealous of all the amazing places he went. :) But definitely just adds to the places I want to go. My travel list definitely never gets any shorter. :)
Mail update: A letter is going out tomorrow to: Celia/MA. Received letters from/owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Jessica/DE and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 08:16 PM in Food and Drink, Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, December 12, 2011
And it's Monday again
And it's already Monday again. Time flies. Last week was fairly uneventful, the usual stuff at work. Managed to take half a day off (Wednesday afternoon) so that was nice. Worked all day Saturday and then went to the movies with a friend at night. Sunday we met our friend Tim for lunch and hung out for a while (the place we went to had $5 pizza and happy hour specials so it ended up being a great deal), then watched some TV shows in the evening.
This week is looking fairly normal at the moment too. Need to get working on the Christmas school break and contact a bunch of the school systems to set up deliveries so they are covered for when they return from their break. Dragging my feet on it at the moment because I really hate doing it. But won't be able to procrastinate much longer.
Making some plans for the upcoming summer next year at the moment. I usually try to go see my parents in Austria over the summer. Working on some travel ideas alongside that for this summer. Don't want to post about the details just yet in case it falls through. Don't want to jinx it. :)
Mail update: A letter went out to: Nina/WA on Thursday. And letters are also going out to: Carmen and Eunice/Malta. Received letters from/owe replies to: Celia/MA and Charles/TN.
Posted by Hanna at 01:17 PM in Holidays, Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, December 04, 2011
It's beginning to look a lot like ...
... Christmas. I don't even know where this year has gone. Only three weeks until Christmas. Spent the day decorating today. Happy to say that all my decorations around the house including the tree are now up. :)
Yesterday we spent the day running some errands, taking care of some other things and today focused on the decorations. Was able to get everything done and set up. Happy with the tree. We went for white lights this year and put up a combination of our and Kristina's decorations on the tree. Came out pretty.
Click here if you want to see a picture of my little Christmas village.
Also all done with my Christmas shopping for the most part. Just need to pick up a couple gift cards and also need to wrap everything. But I am hesitant to put anything under the tree with all the cats around so the wrapping might not happen until Christmas Eve. We will see.
What are everyone's plans for Christmas and New Year's? We will be spending New Year's at a bed and breakfast in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Not sure about Christmas. We will definitely be home in the morning opening our gifts with Mike's sister and kids. Will figure out the rest of the day later.
Mail update: Received letters from/owe replies to: Carmen/Malta, Eunice/Malta and Nina/WA
Posted by Hanna at 05:25 PM in Holidays | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack