Goodbye 2017 - Welcome 2018

And now it is 2018. Wow. 2017, what an interesting year. 2017 brought the 3rd year of living on the east coast. How has it been 3 years? I am truly thankful for this experience, but part of me is ready to go back home. I think in under 2 years I will have accomplished everything I sit out to do out here and I can leave knowing that I was blessed with this experience, blessed with amazing people I met along this journey and blessed for the people that have stuck by me the entire time.
As always, I like to recap the year -

• January: A crazy conversation with Tuf about moving into an apartment lead to apartment searching and signing a lease on an apartment; went to Texas for Kimberly and Marcos wedding reception 
•  February: Moved into the apartment in Rockville, MD; Kimberly & Marcos visited; Karen visited
• March: Zach and Hailey visited for 2 weeks and it was amazing, we did all things imaginable in the DC area, went to NYC and the ocean - in 2 weeks they visited 6 states and the District 
• April: Cherry Blossom fireworks (no cherry blossoms because they froze) 
• May: Another random conversation with Tuf led us on a quick two day trip to Niagara Falls, 2 Great Lakes and the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
• June: my 37th birthday; chilled at the pool a lot
• July: hosted my first get together with friends - pool party! Finally saw the most amazing fireworks on the National Mall 
• August: Tuf's birthday, a wonderful trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland with Karen and family
• September : Still in Northern Ireland for a few days; Mark and Karen visit DC; Karen & I go to Virginia Beach, Virginia for a couple days
• October: 3rd annual trip to Idaho! 
•  November: Still in Idaho for a few more day; hosted another yummy Thanksgiving; matching cousin tattoos; apartment hunted
• December: Christmas Tree's in DC; memorable trip to NYC on Christmas Eve 

Overall 2017 was another good year and 2018 will bring on a whole another year of adventures and new things.Thank you 2017 and welcome 2018.

End of 2017

How is this the end of 2017? Crazy how much happened in 2017 and how much we are looking forward to 2018. In the randomness of December I somehow scratched myself in my sleep and didn't wait up nor do I remember it.

 On Saturday, December 30 I had a yummy southern lunch in Old Town Alexandria with my dear friends Jennifer, Whitney and Whitney's son Liam. It is always fun to get together with these girls that I am so thankful to have in my life.

 Oh east coast - you are slowly killing the undercarriage of Bumblebee with the insane amount of salt you put on the roads. 

 Look at this great penmanship of a 7 year old Meredith - I know my only talent is my perfect penmanship but I had no idea I had it at such a young age - haha!

 Princess is so adorable! 

 New Year's Eve - where you celebrate the year that was and excitably await the year that is coming. I have never been a huge fan of New Year's Eve - everyone expects you to do something fun and crazy and I am like can I stay at home in my PJ's and watch the ball drop on TV. At least I had seen the ball twice this year in real life and FYI the ball doesn't drop that much in Time Square. 

This year, Tuf and I chilled at home and played games - we played Phase 10 and Ticket to Ride. It was just the way I like it!

Christmas Day

Christmas day was a relaxing morning at home. We sleep in a little after our busy Christmas Eve in NYC. We had biscuits and gravy for breakfast. After breakfast we Skyped with friends and family and then we opened our gifts from one another. We take after our grandma and go all out on Christmas. 

This was in my stocking! Wow!

Tuf's stocking: 

My amazing gifts! It looks like I am going out on my own for the first time with all the new kitchen gadgets and makeup/perfume :) And isn't my umbrella beautiful!

Tuf's gifts:

For two people, we sure made a mess of our living room (yes, we use Netflix for the fireplace - it's a tradition we have each Christmas on the east).

The animals had a rough Christmas and needed naps. Look how cute they are all sleeping on one part of the couch.

During the day of Christmas we vegged on the couch, ate spaghetti for dinner and just relaxed. 

It was another great Christmas in the books.

Christmas Eve - NYC - Part 4

After seeing the tree we walked over to Saks 5th Avenue to see the window displays. Part of Christmastime in NYC is the window displays. I guess we missed part of Saks 5th Avenue display because to me it was just weird high end fashion displays.

Our next stop was the Macy window displays via walking through Time Square and seeing this adorable NYPD Smart Car - I find it hilarious! And I think, "Beep, beep" :)

Macy's window displays (I liked these displays way better than Saks):

A look insides the store and the decorations inside (we did not go in).

After looking at the window displays we found a yummy Italian restaurant where we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner.

After dinner we had some time before our train so we decided to walk over to Lord and Taylor to see their window displays because my boss had mentioned that Lord and Taylor and really good displays and he was right! Lord and Taylor did not disappoint.

After Lord and Taylor we needed to walk back to Penn Station to catch our 9pm train back home. On our way back to Penn Station we walked past a parking garage...and never again will I complain about parking prices in DC and I will always be thankful to Boise and their $5 event parking.

I have been to NYC a lot so I didn't take the classic NYC photos, like in Time Square, but look at the Empire State Park building all festive.

Walking back by Macy's and the beautiful Believe on the side of the building.

It was a whirlwind day but we did so much, made amazing memories and had a wonderful Christmas Eve. We left our apartment at 5am on Christmas Eve morning and arrived back at our home at 1am on Christmas Day - 20 hour day - long day - but wonderful. Happy last Christmas on the east coast.