Festival of Lights

Spent the night cruising around James Island County Park looking at the Christmas lights with Alex, Stella, and Victor...loudly proclaiming, "That's new!" (it wasn't) and eavesdropping on the commentary of passengers in other cars. ("I got the snaaails!")

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we met up with Stella's man (Vincent) for drinks at Chucktown Tavern, before I called it a night and walked to Nicholas' apartment to pass out.

Four Corners

My dad wins the "coolest person in this town even though he had to borrow a pair of reading glasses because he can't small words" award for going to Mellow Mushroom Bingo with me tonight. Yup, no other takers. Really, guys? Despite having to work early the next morning, he drank a beer and shared in the dissapointment of losing a game of sheer luck.

pimiento cheese sandwich

i have thoroughly enjoyed having days&days&days off from work to spend with family and friends, particulary nicholas, who i ate lunch with at jim & nick's. and let's not forget the candy cane frozen yogurt at 32 degrees.

 we've been having so much fun together and it'll definitely be hard adjusting back to our friday/saturday night schedule. i think he'll be relieved. i mean, can't you see how much he enjoys me taking pictures of him eating?! 

  

mountain weekend

after five-and-a-half years of dating, nicholas and i had never been on a vacation together. alone, at least. so as soon as my christmas break started, we drove to asheville for a cabin weekend in the mountains. seriously, it was the most perfect thing i could have ever imagined and one of my very favorite things i've ever done. we spent 4 days living in a secluded tri-level castle, playing darts, making smores, soaking in a hot tub, watching stars and sunsets, cooking late night meals (pizza, baked ziti, green bean soup, portobello cheeseteaks) by crank lantern, wearing raccoon hats, climbing ladders (with wine in hand), hiking, and saying, "thisissocool" over and over.

 i absolutely loved being able to spend so much time with him, and had just as much fun drinking and partaking in questionable activities as i did totally sober watching planet earth. did i say it was the best weekend ever? sigh. though i have plenty more photos, here are some of the highlights.

 

home stretch

one more day. one. more. day. at least i'm making my time count by drinking wine, eating cupcakes, watching tv, and enjoying christmas lights while i cut out 1358739857 grinch template pieces to accompany my students' writing prompt for the week. okay, that was an exaggeration but i honestly cut over 1200 pieces of yarn the night before for christmas around the world. quick! remind me again how much i'm getting paid...oh wait, christmas break!

 

i'm a sore loser

though it's easy to fall into the same old latenight "dinner - movie - sleep" routine after nicholas' shifts on friday and saturday nights (cause who are we joking...i wake up daily at 5am!) occasionally, we like to go out to remember what fun feels like.

a favorite of ours? playing pool at tasty thai and drinking beer (by which i mean, raspberry firefly with lemonade).

oh, fair warning: i cheat.

lunch date

i've said it before, and i'll say it again: Eat-a-Pita has some bangin' falafel! whiiich is why i usually recommend it when nicholas and i are weighing our lunch options on king street. 

mmm pitas.

 

Recovery Room

Won 3 out of 4 games of Darts tonight against Nicholas! Technically, I won all 4 but I may or may not have been cheating that game...it was lots of fun!

thanksgiving

one of my favorite yearly traditions is helping my dad cook thanksgiving dinner with the macy's parade on tv. i'm always in charge of the cranberry-orange relish, pumpkin pie, and cran-apple pie (with a few jobs on the side). this year, my dad taught nicholas how to fry a turkey! i hope we'll one day be hosting thanksgiving dinner at our own house, cooking just like my dad, who will be there to help of course!