It seems I've been pretty consistent with my "Year in review" posts over the past several years so no reason to break the cycle now! Besides, 2013 was a pretty awesome year! Let's review:
In January and February, I spent the cold days making things:
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| Lemon birthday cake for a friend |
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| I crocheted this rainbow blanket for myself while watching Lost |
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Also in February, one of my friends got this pup, Louis, and I got to play with him!
I was apparently a bad blogger and didn't blog in March but in that time, I celebrated my birthday! My friends took me to a lovely restaurant with a wonderful gluten free menu. We then did some wine tasting and finished off with some gluten free cupcakes from my favorite bakery!
In April, my favorite little guy turned 1!
It's been so fun watching him grow up.
Alex and I began our raised beds for vegetables and spread some seeds in April. Our spinach began sprouting shortly after! In the next coming months, we would put in tomato plants, carrots, and peppers. Alex also began growing hops.
In mid-April, I took a weekend trip to Pittsburgh to meet up with a good friend of mine; we spent the weekend eating awesome food, visiting cemeteries, and taking lots of pictures. You'll have to forgive all the pictures, I never actually posted them to my blog until now.
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| On my way to Pittsburgh, I stopped off to see Falling Water |
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| Such an amazing house! |
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| Here's where we stayed in Pittsburgh |
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| We mostly have pictures of each other taking pictures... |
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| I found the BEST cupcake place ever; Vanilla Pastry Studio |
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| I let myself be Jill's subject for practicing manual exposure with hilarious results...you're welcome... |
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| Yeah, we posed like statues at an observatory...so what |
In May, my garden really sprung into action and everything was blooming.
Alex and I began thinking about planning a trip to Peru later that year so we upped our game and started doing some more hikes around our area.
Alex's younger brother graduated college from Auburn so we made a double trip; a couple days in Savannah and then graduation at Auburn.
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| Forsyth Park |
In June, Alex and I attended the first DC Burger Battle. There were 10 competitors and 10 different burgers. We stuffed ourselves silly...
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| It was also unlimited beer |
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| A compilation of all the burgers we ate that day |
Our tomato plants really took off and we had more cherry tomatoes than we knew what to do with!
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| I made a lot of tomato tarts with our tomatoes |
In July, Alex and I did some more hikes in prep for Peru:
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| Three Ridges hike |
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| Post-hike brews at Wild Wolf in Afton, VA |
Also in July, Alex and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary at the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, VA. We stayed one night at the Foster Harris House and had dinner at the Inn.
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| They made personalized menus for us! |
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| We got to see the kitchen and meet the chef, Patrick O'Connell |
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| Beautiful Washington, VA. |
Upon returning from Washington, VA, we celebrated a friend's engagement and of course, I baked cupcakes.
In August, using our new Patrick O'Connell cookbook, we hosted a dinner party (of sorts).
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| The menu! |
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| These mini ham sandwiches with pepper jelly were a total hit! |
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| Dessert, courtesy of yours truly. |
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We continued to reap the benefits of our garden through the rest of the summer! I shared more cherry tomatoes than I thought I'd ever need to! I did mostly just snack on them while working in the garden, too. I've never had such sweet tomatoes.
In September, I had the pleasure of doing photos for a dear friend of mine and her new husband. I also baked them a mini wedding cake.
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| White almond sour cream cake |
In late September, we made a trip to NYC for the weekend to visit some friends. More pictures I never posted from that weekend. We visited the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and I was in love!
In early October, I baked this cake for my best friend's birthday:
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| Cherry chocolate chip cake (gluten free) |
In late October, Alex and I traveled to Peru! We spent 10 days in Peru; 5 in Cusco and 5 hiking through the valley to Machu Picchu. We did the Salkantay Trek, which takes you along the Salkantay Pass.
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| Our trekking group! |
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| Machu Picchu |
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I am still in awe that Alex and I actually made it to Machu Picchu. It was the most fascinating trip I've ever taken and I can't believe it's already over. We have some fantastic memories from that trip and learned a lot along the way.
We hosted a lot of Alex's family for the Thanksgiving holiday. In preparation, I did some work in our guest bath.
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| Sink before |
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| Before |
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| Testing out paint color |
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| Building picture frame paneling...in progress |
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| In progress |
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| Complete |
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| All done |
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| Complete |
And for some Thanksgiving photos:
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| Bourbon pecan pie I made |
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| Bourbon butterscotch pumpkin pie I made |
In early December, we got a snow storm!
In mid December, Alex left for a business trip and I began work on his Christmas present:
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| Sans beer |
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| Filled with beer! |
I wasn't quite as active on my blog this year as I had been in previous years but 2013 was pretty awesome! Alex and I are anxious to plan our next trip! We don't know where this next year will take us but we're excited to find out
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Mom W.