I’m so excited to say that we’ve moved :)

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Thanks everyone!!

                                                 ….are my favorite.

a brisk winter walk to church in barracks row + a shared Boxcar Brunch in Eastern Market made for a really wonderful start to the Mayo Family Sunday (oh, and our wake up call too of course…).

Last weekend - my brother was in town for a conference (he was on one of the panels) held at the National Harbor in MD. He was super busy with the conference, but we still found time to take him out to brunch, show him our little home, and explore the National Harbor (something that’s been on our list since we moved here). All in all, it was a really nice visit and we look forward to many more!

The National Harbor is really quite beautiful. This Christmas, Jonathan and mom splurged on me and got me an amazing new lens for my digital camera - it was the perfect place to play around with it a little. So far, I LOVE it.

This weekend: Jude says to please get off the computer and let’s do something fun. Not going to be that easy to do as Jonathan has a 6,000 page paper to write (ok ok, it’s actually only a 6,000 word paper, but after I hear the word 6,000 - it pretty much seems the same to me). Judebear, it looks like it’s just me and you buddy - let’s go stock up on treats.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

How can it possibly already be January and only two days before our break from law school is over? December sure went by in a flash for us Mayos. I love giving people the run down:

First, law exams (yuck). Second, a weekend trip to NYC for Jonathan’s Mom’s birthday. One day after that - Charlottesville, VA for a three day OLAS retreat. Five days after that - a 12 hour drive home to Athens, GA for Christmas. Next, straight down to Savannah for a second Christmas and New Years with the Mayo fam. Then, our 12 hour drive back to DC for a week of work and rest. Now, a brand new semester begins on Monday.

That, in a nutshell, was our entire December holiday craziness.

Because it would be ENTIRELY too much to ever write about - here are a few photo highlights:

                                         Happy Birthday Mama Mayo!

A Floyd Family Tradition: the Christmas puzzle from Aunt Jan - officially completed (sans one chewed up weimaraner piece)

                               3 generations of women + the list (yikes)

  Yes, those are chickens and yes, you DO want to hear that story sometime.

                                         Beautiful Mimi + Phoebe

                                          Some dear, dear friends

                                                          Home

                                                 Beautiful Savannah

                                                        Mayo hugs

                                          Tybee New Years dinner toasts

                                                     The drive.

   Here’s to a new year appreciating what matters most. Happy New Year loves!

Getting the ornaments out of the “christmas trunk” is one of my very favorite parts of December. Nostalgia is a huge part of my life - and it’s like Christmas ornaments just exude memories. Each and every one of these ornaments comes with a story - made by dear friends, childhood memories, reminders of a family trip, you name it. One of the hubby and I’s Christmas traditions is to swap ornaments that remind each other of us or a specific memory from that year. I feel like every year I’m drawn to get him woodland creature ornaments…. why is that?! Don’t worry Jonathan, I’m breaking the trend this year - so far I’ve almost gotten you an ornament lobster, a paper mache octopus, and a glass artichoke. It’s a good thing you love me :)

P.S. Jonathan’s last law exam is tomorrow - prayers that he finishes strong and that we can both finally take a few minutes to breathe! Part of me loathes school for having exams so close to Christmas, but then, maybe they just know that we need the extra cheer during exam time :)

x’s and o’s

the husband studies from 8am to 8pm at the law school. we cuddle from 8 to 8

This week we got to experience one of the many things we’ve been wanting to check off of our DC list: the National Christmas Tree Lighting! The tickets are a total lottery - but somehow, we won some! The McNamaras had us sign up, so they were our tree lighting buds for the day :) We got standing room only tickets, which put us pretty dang far away from the tree, the stage, and (intentionally of course) the first family, but regardless it was the perfect way to get us into the Christmas spirit. Guests included: Carson Daly, Ellie Goulding, One Republic, some boy band, some country singer, the Obamas, Kermit the Frog (or as Jonathan knows him, “Kermit E. Frog”), and a few others I didn’t know. Ellie Goulding and Kermit were the highlights (just ask the 3 yr old girl sitting on her dad’s shoulders squealing “Kermit!!” behind us the entire time). Kermit was definitely the true star of the evening, complete with a tag-team reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas with Mrs. Michelle O. Sadly, the original tree (planted and lit by President Coolidge in 1923) blew completely over in a storm last year and this new tree definitely has some growing to do. Still, it’s plenty cheery and hopefully our Ellipse full of people singing christmas carols encouraged it to hold strong against those DC breezes :)

if you look real close, one of those spots on stage should be Obama ;)

We told ourselves that regardless of how crazy it gets this week (ahem… impending law school finals… cough, cough), WE’RE GETTING A CHRISTMAS TREE. So yesterday, we did! There’s just nothing like walking to the outdoor market and carrying your Christmas tree home. Mark that one on the list of things we love about Capitol Hill. We’re not going to be home a ton over the Christmas holiday and we just couldn’t quite justify getting a regular sized tree this year, but we also couldn’t justify not getting one at all :)

                                          Merry Christmas Y’all :)