LudaChristmas 2013!

Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! I hope everyone's having a nice holiday, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you're having a fabulous week! I thought I'd celebrate the 24th by sharing some pictures from the Christmas party Brett and I threw on Friday! (Endearingly called LudaChristmas, because of my 30 Rock obsession.)

With the end of my first semester of grad school approaching and our perfectly sized living space, we thought it would be awesome to invite our friends over for a Friendsmas of sorts. Thus, the first annual LudaChristmas was scheduled, ugly sweaters were purchased, and delicious snacks were cooked to share with our bestest of buds. We listened to holiday themed music, played holiday themed games, and had an all-together holiday themed good time!

Two of my very favorite guys :)

Jimmy & Kristen!

 

Jimmy & Tywan getting silly

Ah, yes. The elusive Daniel Bryan photo. The story of this pic takes us back to October when Nick, Louie and I all ran the Hartford Marathon. Almost at every photographer the three of us ran by as a group, we pulled this pose. All of us were excited to receive that photo back from the photography company, as we all planned to buy it, print it, and frame it. Lo and behold, when the race photos were released, this one didn't make the cut. *le sigh* That race just never fails to disappoint. Oh well, at least we have the photo now, right? :P

Can't have a party without a little dance party action, right?

It was a spectacular night, and I hope to turn LudaChristmas into a yearly holiday tradition! :)

A Very Spooky Birthday

Aren't these adorable? My mom hand painted them and gave them to me as a gift!

Last weekend Brett had his 25th birthday! Since I was going to be away for Halloween, we thought what better time to throw a combination Halloween/birthday party than the weekend before? So we invited a few friends over to celebrate with us!

Nerd, Misty, and Wolverine!

Wolverine was feeling a little aggressive

One of the X-Men and a Pokemon trainer... the unlikeliest of couples.

We made a cauldron of witch's brew...

...and when the clock struck midnight and it was *officially* Brett's birthday, I brought out a candle-lit peanut butter cup cupcake and we all sang happy birthday to him. We spent the rest of the night playing N64 and chatting. It was a great, relaxed night with a few close friends and we all had a great time together!

The next morning Rob and I went out to grab Brett some birthday breakfast from Elizabeth's Bagels which Brett had been raving about since we've met, yet somehow we hadn't gotten together yet. (It was delicious.) After breakfast I gave Brett his birthday gifts! I was so excited to finally give them to him (they had been sitting in my office closet for about 3 months just waiting to be opened) and I'd say he was pretty excited to receive them!

I got him some new socks (which he's been asking for), a new pair of sandals (his were falling apart), a basketball hoop he's been wanting, and, of course, a bag of Reese's (his fave!). I'm so happy he liked all of his gifts - he's been playing basketball ever since he unwrapped his hoop! :) We finished the day by heading to his hometown to watch Red Zone at his friend's house, and to visit his family for dinner, cake, and ice cream. It was such a nice day and I'm so happy Brett enjoyed it! :)

A Day at the Beach

Tuesday afternoon, after all of the summertime grown-up responsibilities were taken care of, Brett, Sport, Tywan, and I all piled into Dory and adventured to Hull for a day at the beach! I've been dying for some ocean time this summer, so I was beyond happy. We even invited Brett's older sister Melissa to meet us there, and she gladly took us up on the invitation, bringing along the kids!