Deck the Halls

Today was a super fantastic day! As soon as we finished breakfast, we headed out to do some holiday shopping and we are nearly finished. Just one more small gift and the finishing touches for another. I LOVE shopping this time of year.

Rusty got into the spirit with a peppermint brownie and a mocha from Starbucks.


After shopping, we decorated our house. Here is Rusty putting up our tree.


A star for the top.


What would this blog be without a self-portrait by the tree?


Our decorated living room, including our newly purchased couch pillows, garland and berries.


We finished the night off with a mug of sugar-free hot cocoa, which tastes just a great as regular (thank you Costco for selling it in bulk).


On a side note, Rusty tried on a sparkly hat (for New Year's Eve I presume) at Target this afternoon. He has been walking around with glitter on his face ever since and does not seem to mind one bit.

Random Camera Photos

Two blogs in one day? Yes, I am playing catch-up.

The day after we returned to Portland from our honeymoon, Rusty left for 2 weeks for work. Boo! I used one of our free tickets and headed to Chicago to spend some time with Mom, Jimmy, Adam, Terese, Grandma, Lindsay, Seana, Jami and others.

Here is the only photo I have from my trip - Seana's baby Kamryn. We had a girls shopping day.


Here are a few photos I copied from Lindsay's Facebook. Lindsay and I at her Griffin Party:


Seana and Jami karaoke:


The day after we returned to Portland, we attended the Northwest Food and Wine Festival with our friends Nathan and Beija. One word - DELICIOUS!



Bill Simmons aka as The Sports Guy aka as Rusty's idol and man-crush is on a book tour that made it's way through Portland, so of course we had to go. I
do not despise him though, since he encourages shows like The Ruins and Jersey Shore on MTV to be watched in my house. I have an addiction to crap-TV that usually doesn't get fulfilled in my house, so I will take my fix any way I can.


Next, we were off to Utah for Thanksgiving. We stayed with Randy and Annie this time, which was nice because I feel like I got a chance to know Hank and Max. They are probably the people on the Griffin side that I have spent the least amount of time with, until now. Although the drive is awful, 12 hours in a car is 4 hours too many for my liking, it sure is fun to be with the whole bunch!

Once again, I do not have many pictures. Most of the pictures I took include photos of Max, since he likes to have his picture taken, look at it on the camera, and then repeat, over and over.

Rusty and the Griffin kids:


Me and Max:


Pie and games and Grandma and Grandpa Griffins on Thanksgiving Eve:


Rusty and his brothers:


Sorry there were not more pictures, I guess after the hundreds taken on the honeymoon I have been slacking.

Honeymooners

We went on our honeymoon, which was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S, minus the fact Rusty was slightly sick. Here are the highlights:

Spent a few days on a pre-honeymoon in Long Beach with our friends Kevin and Kelly. We rode beach cruisers, stand-up paddle boarded, surfed (Rusty), went to a comedy show and a dueling piano bar, and ate. We really miss having them as neighbors!


Next off was our Mexican Riviera cruise - Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. We read out by the pool, ate, attended an ice show, ate, snorkeled, ate, kayaked, ate, hiked through the jungle, ate, attended an audience participation game show, ate, listened to some sweet entertainers, tasted tequilas, ate and then we ate more.

The biggest highlights of the cruise we being on the Love & Marriage Game Show similar to the Newlywed Game, minus it being newlyweds only) and I won $2,000 on my first pull at a slot machine! The game show made us cruise celebrities and the money paid for most of our vacation! Here are a few photos of the trip:

Formal night 1:


Cabo San Lucas:


Mazatlan:


Love & Marriage Game Show Night:


Puerto Vallarta:


Formal night 2:


$2,000 Jackpot:


Sorry for all of the self-portraits, but it is easy. Also, the one photo I have taken by a random guy has Rusty's head chopped off. Oh well.