Jason and Steph’s Wedding
Awesome! The whole week in South Carolina with my family and friends was just awesome. The weather was awesome, Thanksgiving was awesome, and the wedding was awesome....okay I’ll stop with the awesome! ;) But it really was awesome!
Jason and Steph were blessed with a perfect sunny winter day for their ceremony. It was warm and sunny…not a rain cloud in sight! But the Bride was not to be outshined by the sun…she looked especially stunning!
The reception was great fun…we danced all night long…from the electric slide, to ballroom, to bootie, to tribal dancing! I do miss hanging with my American girls!
I am really honored and touched that Jason and Steph included Fint and me into their big day! It meant so much to Fint and I and we are very touched to have been thought of…and I do love my big brother so much!
It was so good seeing all of the family again and friends too. Having Thanksgiving and the wedding to celebrate with them was so nice. Though now I feel a tinge of homesickness! I cannot wait to hang with everyone again…
Wedding Photos!
Steph
JCap getting ready!
Something Borrowed.
The Bridal Party
The Bridal Party
My Lovely Mom!
The Girls!
Steph, her mom and baby Ava
Reception Photos!
Awwww! ;) 
Dewey, Fint and I
YaYa, Fint, My Mom, Baby Ava and Me Getting Our Groove On!
YaYa and I
My Dad and I dancing!
Tribal Dance! (Steph, Me, Laura and JCap)
Stole this photo from YaYa...Thanks! ;)
Girl's Party Photos!
Steph and me getting ready for the girly day
Steph and me getting ready for the girly day
YaYa
Us Girls!
Steph
Pretty YaYa
Showing off our nicknames!
Our painted fingers and toes!
Rehearsal Dinner Photos:
The Golf Club
My Twin Bro Joshua and me
Mom, Dad, Dewey, Joshua, Me, Baby Ava
My mom and I
Biltmore House
Candlelight Christmas Evenings: Beautiful…magical…romantic…amazing at night! This house is so amazing…the all of the decorations for Christmas were beautiful. It was fascinating to walk though a little bit of history, into a time of bliss for the famous American family, the Vanderbilt’s, in the height of their lives.
My favorite room had to be in the basement called the Halloween Room…which was painted with vivid imaginative images by party guests…I can just imagine what was going on during those parties! I also found the Workout Room very amusing…it had “state of the art” work out equipment for the day…which included wooden barbells and a juggling set! The Main Kitchen also caught my attention…this could be because it smelled divine! It had a huge model of the house built completely from gingerbread and candy! The dining room was also very impressive with a 3 fire, fireplace as its main focal point.
I could go on and on though…this house was room after room of visual delights made even more beautiful decorated for the Christmas Season!
What could be better than sitting under a fire lamp, drinking hot mulled apple cider, eating a snickerdoodle cookie, and listening to Christmas Carols in the stables of America’s largest home with the one most dear in your heart? Very romantic…yep…dreamy!
Taken inside the Biltmore House
As hard as it was to tear myself away from this beautiful house and gardens…I knew what was ahead of me…a coastal drive and NYC! So onward and upwards!
More Info:
http://www.biltmore.com/
Charleston
One of my favorite stops on the trip! Charleston is a beautiful, historic town on the ocean. We had beautiful weather for romantic rendezvous’ like a horse carriage ride through the narrow streets…dinner outside under the stars eating delicious low-country food…coffee at little coffee shops with homemade cookies…and long walks through local markets while eating local made candies.
Low Country Food:
Fried green tomatoes, collard greens, roasted duck with polenta…yummy! Modern Southern cuisine at its finest!
Fried green tomatoes, collard greens, roasted duck with polenta…yummy! Modern Southern cuisine at its finest!
Our Hotel Lobby
Fint Facts:
[Fint] A year after he founded Fintan’s High School in 1669, King Charles II of England gave his name to the South Carolina town of Charlestown. Charlestown was designed along a similar plan to Fintan’s favorite town of Kinsale, and even today there is a strong likeness between the two old towns both in architecture and atmosphere.
Sullivan Island and Emerald Island
Beautiful ocean front houses…we will for sure be seeing these homes on the ocean front again…soon!
A major storm hit us and we had to stop traveling the coast…roads were closed due to flooding so we had to abandon our route up the outer banks. . But not to worry, we had big things ahead of us…and we seen a lot of the coastline already…so onwards and upwards to our next stop!
Washington DC
We decided to spend the night in DC so that we could spend the next day seeing the sites. The city really looks like it was cut Rome or Greece with neoclassical buildings everywhere. Every time I saw a man in a suite with dark sunglasses on, I imagined he was part of the secret service! Such a vivid imagination I have!
President Obama had a few things going on that day…he was giving a speech that early afternoon and then that evening he and his family were attending the lighting of the Christmas tree ceremony. So he was officially at home while I was in Washington DC!
We didn’t have a lot of time to explore so we opted for an open top bus tour to have a quick look around…and it did not disappoint. We seen all the major sites…I felt a bit like I was an extra on the set of the movie, National Treasure. ;) I am looking forward to seeing the museums on our next visit. For a whistle stop tour…the double decker bus was the way to go.
The Capitol Building
Union Station
The White House!
Capitol Building
The Washington Monument
The Washington Monument is a 550 foot tall Egyptian style obelisk, visible from almost anywhere in the city, stands opposite the White House in the National Mall.
Lincoln Memorial
The memorial is a Greek style temple, with a column for each of the 32 states in the Union (at the time of construction), which houses a 19 foot tall marble statue of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. Around the interior walls are inscriptions taken from some of Lincoln's most prominent speeches.
I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal. --Lincoln July 10 1858 Speech at Chicago IL
Fint Facts:
The architect of the White House James Hoban was an Irishman living in Charleston, South Carolina after winning a competition beating proposals from eight other architects including Thomas Jefferson, The nation's first president.
The building Hoban designed is verifiably influenced by the first and second floors of Leinster House, in Dublin, Ireland, which later became the seat of the Irish parliament, which it is to this day.
The Big Apple: New York, New York
Let’s set the perfect winter scene…big city…check, glamorous Christmas decorations…check, queue large fluffy snowflakes…queue church bells…now queue Christmas carolers…magical! It really was a fairytale. Walking in Central Park after dark drinking mulled cider…the perfect Christmas holiday!
Rockefeller Center
Black and White Cookies!! I love these cookies…Fint sent them to me from NYC while we were dating and I was so excited to go into the shop and have one in the city that made them famous. I was not disappointed…they are sweet (but not too sweet), they are cakey (but not too cakey), they are huge (on the verge of being too huge) and they are soooooo very tasty!
Mmmmmm!
Give Me Broadway or Give Me Death!
(I didn’t come all the way to New York City to see an off Broadway show!)
Okay…maybe a bit dramatic…but oh well…I love Broadway!
We went to see a very traditional musical called “White Christmas”, a classic. It was so good…and at the end the entire audience sang White Christmas and snow fell from the ceiling onto all of us! Very dreamy!
http://www.whitechristmasthemusical.com/intro.html
We also went and seen the new musical “Rock of Ages”. And it was hilarious! It was done to all 80’s hair bands…Poison, Bon Jovi, Death Leopard, all the great hair band music…and the actors had awesome mullets and tee’s that read “I love boobies!” It was like totally awesome! ;) We laughed, we sang, we drank, Coors Lights…they served them during the show, we rocked! And Constantine Maroulis, from American Idol…rocked!
http://www.rockofagesmusical.com/broadway.php
One window display I would like to comment on, because I thought it was super cool, is the Macy’s on 34th Ave.’s display. They had 2 huge “iPhones” up that were completely touch sensitive…on these phones you wrote an entire letter to Santa by touching and dragging and sliding your finger (just like an iPhone)! After you composed your digital letter you walked down the series of Macy’s windows and watched your letter as it made it’s way to Santa. All of the windows in that series were very imaginative, modern and funny! I had fun writing my letter (asking him for a shopping spree!) and then tracking it as it went to Santa. I am a kid a heart! ;)
What is it about NYC and romance that go hand in hand? Every corner, every shop, every restaurant seems to be beckoning for lovers. This city oozes romance…or at least for me it did. ;) But then again, I am a romantic by heart…and Fint brings out the romantic in me! So the snow…the horses…the park…the shows…everything had my heart spinning!
Rockefeller Center
Statue of Liberty!
View from the top of the Empire State Building
Grand Central Terminal (Station)
Beautiful Ceiling
Laser show for Christmas
Mmmm! NY Hotdogs!
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
NY Tree Pose (in the center of Broadway)!
Irish Tree Pose aka Legless in Manhattan!
Our super comfy bed in NY!
Greenwich Village, NY
I love NYC!
I feel the need...the need for speed!
I didn't try any...
We also went and seen the new musical “Rock of Ages”. And it was hilarious! It was done to all 80’s hair bands…Poison, Bon Jovi, Death Leopard, all the great hair band music…and the actors had awesome mullets and tee’s that read “I love boobies!” It was like totally awesome! ;) We laughed, we sang, we drank, Coors Lights…they served them during the show, we rocked! And Constantine Maroulis, from American Idol…rocked!
http://www.rockofagesmusical.com/broadway.php
One window display I would like to comment on, because I thought it was super cool, is the Macy’s on 34th Ave.’s display. They had 2 huge “iPhones” up that were completely touch sensitive…on these phones you wrote an entire letter to Santa by touching and dragging and sliding your finger (just like an iPhone)! After you composed your digital letter you walked down the series of Macy’s windows and watched your letter as it made it’s way to Santa. All of the windows in that series were very imaginative, modern and funny! I had fun writing my letter (asking him for a shopping spree!) and then tracking it as it went to Santa. I am a kid a heart! ;)
My letter making it way to Santa...thanks to Macy's!
What is it about NYC and romance that go hand in hand? Every corner, every shop, every restaurant seems to be beckoning for lovers. This city oozes romance…or at least for me it did. ;) But then again, I am a romantic by heart…and Fint brings out the romantic in me! So the snow…the horses…the park…the shows…everything had my heart spinning!
Rockefeller Center
Tiffany's on 5th Ave.
Statue of Liberty!
View from the top of the Empire State Building
Greenwich Village, NY
Grand Central Terminal (Station)
Beautiful Ceiling
Laser show for Christmas
Mmmm! NY Hotdogs!
Yay for Victoria's Secret Holiday Sales!
Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
NY Tree Pose (in the center of Broadway)!
Irish Tree Pose aka Legless in Manhattan!
Our super comfy bed in NY!
Greenwich Village, NY
I love NYC!
More Road Trip Photos:
US Navy!
US Navy!
I feel the need...the need for speed!
I didn't try any...
Home Again
Holidays in the tropics again!
It was a fantastic trip…made even more special because I got to share it with Fint. Now we are back to the hum drums of living in a tropical city in the middle of the rainforest jungle. I think I can handle it another year!
Ten Random Things I Love About The USA
1: Family and Friends
2: Coffee with REAL half and half!
3: Extra dirty martinis
4: Wireless Internet EVERYWHERE and FREE!
5: French onion soup loaded with melted cheese
6: Victoria’s Secret!
7: Sephora’s
8: Red Velvet Cake…in HUGE American slices!
9: Snow in NYC
10: Wearing boots!
Holidays in the tropics again!
It was a fantastic trip…made even more special because I got to share it with Fint. Now we are back to the hum drums of living in a tropical city in the middle of the rainforest jungle. I think I can handle it another year!
Ten Random Things I Love About The USA
1: Family and Friends
2: Coffee with REAL half and half!
3: Extra dirty martinis
4: Wireless Internet EVERYWHERE and FREE!
5: French onion soup loaded with melted cheese
6: Victoria’s Secret!
7: Sephora’s
8: Red Velvet Cake…in HUGE American slices!
9: Snow in NYC
10: Wearing boots!
