The Southern Belle's Road to New England

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I celebrate as long as I can possibly get away with and look forward to it for the rest of the year. Since we moved into our new home just a few weeks before Christmas, and it would be many weeks after that before we had furniture and paint on the walls, I had to keep my Christmas decorating to a minimum this year. Nevertheless, my Christmas cheer came in full capacity! I was so excited to experience my first holiday as a New England Belle , but I was most excited that for the first time in our entire relationship, Shane and I would be waking up in our own home on Christmas morning. There really was nothing like it. Because of this, Shane and I vowed to have a quiet Christmas morning together with no alarm clock. We soaked it all in by stayed in our pajamas, opening our stockings, and enjoying an easy breakfast. We spent the rest of the day opening gifts, spending time with family, and staying true to a few of our favorite Christm...

My husband and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on May 1. When a dream Ireland trip fell through, we still wanted to go somewhere we've never been to celebrate in style. Since Colorado has always been on my bucket list and we have good friends who used to live there and were gracious with suggestions, we flew into Denver and then spent a few beautiful days in Vail.  When we arrived and picked up our rental car, I noticed a strange object on the front seat. I picked up the long black item curiously, studying it for it's intended purpose. I thought the previous car renters may have left their beloved what's-it behind. Shane caught sight of my confused expression, looked down at what I was holding, and burst into laughter. Echo Lake near Mt. Evans "You've never seen one of those before, have you?" he asked me. "Oh, you are in for a treat if we ever move to the North." My friends, it was a snow scraper/brush and it is true that...