In the words of my sister.....

"OK! We get it - you like Jackson's....next post!!!" I know, I know - I've been ignoring my blog. I'm making it my New Years resolution to keep it more updated. I think I have a better chance of sticking to that than the "I'm going to exercise and eat healthy" - let's be honest here! HA! Dear Crazy!

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday. Our 1st Christmas with Taylor was tons of fun! She had no idea what was going on but it was entertaining to watch her play with the wrapping paper and try to eat the bags. She got lots of new toys between us and our parents! Next year Ben and I are asking for a new house so we have a place to put them all! ;0) It was also our 1st Christmas with Todd! He got to experience all of the crazy Dadiani traditions - Christmas Eve lasagna, Christmas morning fight over free Clinique/Lancome makeup, yummy brunch.....and no dinner! What!?! No dinner!? Those of you that know my parents shouldn't be surprised at all about this. We have a big brunch and then maybe pick at leftovers later on in the day. Well - that changed this year.....the rents actually made dinner! Nice work Todd! Personally - this is never a problem for me as Ben and I spend the afternoon and evening at the Bradley's so we get a 2nd meal!

The next day - Taylor and I went to lunch with Aunt Heather and our friends Leslie and Chris who were in town from Indianapolis! I hadn't seen them since the baby shower in May so it was such a treat to get some one on one time with them. We ended up being able to go out for a little while that night to see them again - Thanks Lauren!!!!

Saturday we went over to Melissa's house for Kiara's 2nd bday party! I can't believe she is 2 already. Amazing. Today is her actual bday so Melissa - give her a big hug for me!!

Speaking of "amazing" and "birthdays" - Taylor is 7 months old today! Where is the time going!?! She's getting so big and full of personality. I'll post some pics soon - just gotta get them off of my camera. One thing at a time here guys - I finally updated the blog - pictures are next!

Finally - I want to wish you all a safe and Happy New Year! See you all in 2009!!

Jacksons!

For all of you local readers - I just had to post a note about my dinner last night because it was amazing and I do believe you all need to get to Jackson's as soon as possible!! It's located at Reston Town Center - in yet another new section. It's right across the street from Big Bowl and Rio Grande and has a free parking garage right next to it. Very convenient! We got there early and didn't have to wait for a table - but when we were leaving about 2 hours later - the lobby was standing room only!

The food was nothing short of FABULOUS!! For apps we got the Spinach, Parmesan & Artichoke dip - yumm and the Deviled Eggs w/Spiced Pecans and Sugar Cured Bacon - OMG amazing! The Bacon had big pieces of sugar on them....made 'em taste like they were dipped in maple syrup. I had the Lobster Roll as my entree. I substituted fries for the potato salad and it also came with a grilled ear of corn. Now let me tell you - I can grill a good ear of corn but theirs totally killed mine!

We skipped dessert to go and sit outside on their patio to enjoy a beer.....on a December night! Perfect ending to a delicious night!

That's my PSA for a local restaurant!

Santa Baby!

We took Taylor to meet Santa on Saturday! He was at our Credit Union and it was nice to be the 2nd person in line and not have to wait but a minute for our turn! :)

She did really well! She didn't give us one of her big smiles....she was more interested in staring at Santa and tugging on his beard. The pictures are still cute though and I wouldn't have changed the experience one bit!

Later that day we headed over to Aunt Jack and Uncle Todd's house. We had Ben's company holiday dinner that night and it was less than 2 miles away from them so they graciously offered to play with Taylor while we went. Thanks guys!!! :)

Today was your average Sunday......watched the Skins lose and family trip to Super Target. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night - meeting Donna, Kathy, Sandy and Debbie for dinner at Jackson's in Reston Town Center. I haven't been there yet but I hear it's great! Really....how could it not be since it's part of the Sweetwater/Coastal Flats family! YUMM-O!!

Catching up

Well - I actually had a few things to write about this week but I felt like I got hit by a mack truck and was layed up for a few days! :( All better now - and not a moment too soon!

Last weekend Ben and I had a date!! It was so nice to go out just the two of us. We had a delicious dinner at Bonefish Grill - it was our anniversary present from his parents - we were just a few months late. ;0) Thanks Scott & Leslie....for dinner and for watching Taylor!

After dinner we went over to Jen & Josh's to hang out for a bit with everyone that was there to watch the fight. We left before the fight started as we wanted to get Taylor and get home at somewhat of a decent time. All in all - it was a great date night! :)

The next few days were the sicky days.....I won't go into details!

Wednesday night we went to Portrait Innovations to have our family picture taken and our Christmas cards made! I think they turned out GREAT!! You would never know Ben and I weren't feeling well. HA! Here are a few of the pictures that were taken that night......

We've got a big day tomorrow. Santa is coming to the Credit Union so we're taking Taylor over there to see him. I'm excited to see how she likes him. Then tomorrow night we have Ben's company Holiday dinner. Taylor is going to spend some time over at Aunt Jack's & Uncle Todd's house! She's really looking forward to it since she hasn't seen them since Thanksgiving and she can't wait to hear about their trip to Hawaii! ;0)

Happy Friday everyone - hope you have a great weekend!

Taylor's 6 month appt

We took Taylor in for her 6 month appt on Wednesday! Weight - 17/Head - 17/Height - 27! The nurse said we should play the lottery with all those 7's! HA!
All in all the appt went well.....until the doctor looked in her ear to find she had an ear infection. We were all a little surprised as she was just happy as a clam. We got another perscription for antibiotics and things seem to be fine with her. I wish I could say the same for myself - I've got a little head cold that I'm looking forward to getting rid of. :(

That's it for me! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Where has the time gone?

Wow - the saying is true - time DOES fly when you're having fun! It's been a while since my last post and I've gotten a little bit of grief for it! I promise I'll try to be more on top of things. ;0)

The last two weeks have just been a blur. It's been a lot of fun - despite work being insanly busy. The weekend before last - Ben, Taylor and I went to the rents house for a get together with my cousins. They hadn't seen Taylor since she was 4 weeks old and Denise's daughter Kendall had never met her. We finally had a day when we were all free and it worked out really well. We don't get to see Denise and Donna too often so it's always nice when we can get together. I'm hoping Denise got some good pics from that day cause I was a slacker.....hint hint!

The few days before Thanksgiving were crazy - long hours and not a lot of sleep made for some hard days so I welcomed the holiday break with open arms! Wednesday evening - Jen, Ian and Jonathan arrived for their long weekend. We were so excited to have them staying here as we always have so much fun with them.

Thanksgiving day we went to my parents house with Jac, Todd, Todd's parents from Michigan, Ben's parents and brother Billy. It was a full house and we had a great time. Great food and the whole family being together - you can't go wrong! Even TP got to enjoy some "home cooked" goodness. Grandpa John made her some carrots the night before since she has been having "solids" for a few weeks now. Apparently it wasn't as easy as he thought and it took a while to puree them to a consistancy appropriate for her but it was worth it in the end. She gobbled (no pun intended) them all up along with her banana that Aunt Jack mashed up for her. Thanks guys!!

Group Shot from Thanksgiving

Antonio and Lauren came over that night and we played a few games of Pictionary. I did not remember that game being so much fun. You put 6 competitive people together with a big dry erase board and markers - watch out. We had a lot of laughs.....just ask me about my Bill Clinton drawing! HA!!

Friday morning started EARLY with me meeting up with my mom and sister at the outlets at 6:30AM for a little Black Friday shopping. Believe it or not - they weren't too crowded. All of the other crazies went when they opened at midnight! There were lots of good deals but I mainly went to hang out with them. I wanted a little big of time with Jac since she and Todd left the next morning for their 12 day honeymoon in Hawaii! Yeah - we don't really like them right now. ;)

The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. Taylor and I had lunch with Amanda at Sweetwater on Saturday. Taylor had her fun restaurant chair and had a blast hanging out and flirting with our male server. She and I went to the mall after lunch just to walk around.....well - I wanted to walk around since she fell asleep as soon as we got in the car - she got a nice long nap and I got to see what kind of deals were there.

Yesterday was a gross day - perfect for staying inside and watching football. Too bad the Skins made it hard to enjoy. Oh well!

So today it was time to say goodbye to the Elliott's and get back to work. This week shouldn't be as crazy so I'll check in later.....Taylor goes for her 6 month check up on Wednesday! I'll let you all know how that goes.

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday!

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