Home for the Holidays

Hi!

Alex and I had such a great two-week vacation visiting our families!  We went to Tucson for one week and then to St. Louis, MO, and Decatur and Lincoln, IL, for another week.  We got to spend so much time with our families and do so many fun things!  I'll write more detailed posts about some of the things we did, but here's an overview!  :)

In Tucson, we went to a lot of our favorite local restaurants and stores!  Here's a list of some of them:

Robert's - This is our favorite place to get breakfast food
Rosa's - This is our favorite Mexican food restaurant!  But there are so many good ones.
Blue Willow - This is a yummy place to have any meal!  They also have a very cute gift shop in the front.
The Hungry Fox - This was my first time there and it was very good!  They also have a fun gift shop up front.
Eegee's - This is a chain that is just in Arizona (mostly Tucson).  They have sandwiches, salads, pretzels, and yummy, fruity, icy drinks.
Bookman's - This is a Buy Sell Trade book, music, etc store.  They have multiple locations and you can bring in your old stuff and if they want it, they give you store credit!  We've gone here since I was little.
Antigone Books - This is a super cool independent bookstore on 4th Avenue.  They have tons of good books, of course, and also lots of other cool, sometimes locally-made, things for sale.
Caruso's - This is a yummy Italian restaurant, also on 4th Avenue.
La Encantada - This is a high-end outdoor shopping mall in the foothills of Tucson.
SAS Fabrics - I love this fabric store!  I've gone here since I was little and my mom and I used to go.  It's brighter and probably cleaner now, but it's kind of like a Harry Potter-looking shop with all kinds of stuff.  I like to get fold over elastic there to make my hair ties!
Arizona Inn - This is the historic hotel where I worked for four years until we moved to Baltimore.  I ran in one day to say hi to everybody!  That was fun :)

We played lots of games, went to an engagement party, a Christmas Eve brunch, and a dinner party, made some cute things and some yummy things, had a great Christmas, got our nails done, and had so much fun spending time with everybody!  We got to see my aunt Chris and have lunch with her, too!  We stayed in Tucson until the day after Christmas and then flew to St. Louis!

We had another Christmas the night we got to St. Louis with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend!  We spend a few nights in Decatur, IL at my grandparents' house and got to see all of my aunts, uncles, and several cousins there!  We did Secret Santa for the first time and that was really fun :)

We went to Del's Popcorn Shop, our favorite, which opened in the 1930s!  My aunt taught me to crochet and then I taught my cousins, we played card games with my grandpa, my grandma French braided my hair, my mom did my cousin Brooklyn's hair, and we ate lots of yummy meals!  We also drove to Lincoln, IL to see my aunt Brenda's Victorian house decorated for Christmas.  So pretty!

Once we were back in St. Louis, we went to some fun antique shops, went shopping at the Galleria mall and other stores near my parents' condo, watched fun movies, ate yummy food, relaxed, went to see my aunt and uncle's new house, and we went to see Night at the Museum!  We had such a great time!

What a wonderful two weeks!  I'm so happy we were able to visit our families for so long!  Alex still has about two weeks until he goes back to school :)  It's getting so cold here!  Tonight the temps are getting very low and it's supposed to snow tomorrow.

Today was day three of my 10 Day Pop Physique Challenge!  I hope tomorrow isn't too cold to walk there!

Thanks for reading!