New Year's Eve

 The weekend of New Year's was a very special one this year (last year?). I mentioned before that I had friends from all over the world reunite in Chicago and let me tell you, it was a sweet reunion. Christa was back in the states for a few weeks from Bangladesh and it was such a joy to see her!

There were also friends from Europe and all over the United States. It was truly wonderful. We celebrated the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 with  Chicago pizza, Taboo (my favorite game!), laughter, lychee champagne, and general good good times. It was such a good time that there's talk of Fourth of July at the lake... Woo!
 
I spotted this marquee downtown on January 1st. It was so festive! I think that day was one of my favorite so far this year because everybody on the street wished me a happy new year. It was such a friendly day!

Thanksgiving snapshots

My Thanksgiving highlights were... eating, sleeping, couch-ing, playing games, and so much more. Unfortunately, I do not have photos capturing any of those moments. I was enjoying them waaay too much. But trust me, it was relaxing and so much fun. And if anyone tells you that I lost most of the games I played, don't believe them! (Okay, so it might be true but shhh...).

One afternoon we raked many, many leaves. I took a photo of our results, simply because I couldn't believe how many leaves there were!

 

Our last night, we walked around downtown Greenville and took our traditional snapshot on the bridge. Look how gorgeous the colors are!

In sum, it was a wonderful holiday. I really needed the time away and it was so good! I have so much to be thankful for. :)