A wrap up in preparation for the new year

As the flurry of activity around the holidays dies down, as Christmas decorations are replaced with Valentine hearts on the store shelves, as we delve deeper into 2011, but before we are again consumed with our studies, I thought I'd take a moment to reflect on the end of 2010. October, November, and December had a lot to offer, and seeing as how I've failed to post since Oct. 4th, I'll try to post lots of pictures and keep the rambling to a minimum. So here goes...

Of course a lot of this was happening in those final months:

But in the midst of test-studying and paper-writing, we did manage to find some time for fun.

Our friends Lucas and Olivia invited us to join them at Lucas's family's cabin on the coast of Maine, in a cute little town called South Bristol. It happened to be Ashley's birthday weekend so it made the trip all that much more special.

The first night we enjoyed a cozy fire

Followed the next morning by breakfast on the back deck with friends (including a couple of Lucas and Olivia's friends who were passing through on their way to Acadia)

While overlooking the bay

Sunning ourselves on the rocks

And oysters at an adorable store we just happened to run across while driving around

The owner showed us how to shuck them

And Ashley managed to get 2 down (with plenty of pepper and lemon juice)

While Josh enjoyed at least 5 with the rest of the group

But of course, we couldn't go to Maine without partaking in some classic Maine lobster. Little did we know how fresh the lobster would be though. While standing around outside the local lobster shop, having found out it was closed, we were greeted by a true Maine lobsterman - long hair, waders, and accent included. He took us down to the docks behind the store and promptly pulled up a cage full of the  wriggling creatures and told us to pick out the ones we wanted.

They made for quite a beautiful, and delectable, meal that night

Followed, naturally, by S'mores

We woke up the next morning and treated ourselves to another delicious breakfast on the back deck

And ended our trip with a ride through the neighboring town of Damariscotta, where they were having their annual Pumpkinfest

Josh, being the amazing husband he is, didn't think an awesome trip to Maine was enough for my birthday apparently, so he treated me to a night out in the North End when we arrived home. Complete with an absolutely delicious Italian dinner at Pomodoro

And a cupcake from the local bakery, appropriately named Kickass Cupcakes

The rest of October we enjoyed weekend brunches at home - one that included pumpkin parfaits

And amazing fall colors on campus

Of course, we didn't forget about the trick-or-treaters on Halloween

Then in rushed November, and with it came a wonderful visit from Josh's mom and brother on the same weekend as the famous Harvard-Yale football game...Go Crimson!

Josh's 26th birthday (unfortunately, no pictures from his special dinner :( ), and our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple :) Since we weren't able to make it back to NC, we had a full Thanksgiving dinner in Somerville. With the help of several family recipes, we prepared (a quite moist) turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, and Tar Heel pie (i.e. chocolate with a few nuts thrown in for good measure). We even got to use our new china! It was a beautiful, and delicious, evening together.

Our semesters finished up on December 17th (we both managed to make great grades in all of our classes, yippee!), and we flew home to NC on the 20th. It was a welcome break and we were so excited to finally see all of our family and friends again. We kept ourselves busy with Christmas festivities

Birthday celebrations for Josh's mom (including a surprise visit from the "cabana boys" while getting our manicures and pedicures)

And dates with friends, including a trip to Charlotte for Ashley to see one of her best friends, Evie. A morning outing to the Paper Source store and a stop in at Amelie's French Bakery have made for a lovely visit so far.

Josh is currently taking his winter session class and Ashley will get to do some much needed work around the apartment and take care of some much needed errands in the next couple weeks. Then we'll get to enjoy our first Boston Celtics basketball game (Josh's Christmas present from Ashley) before we dive into our spring semesters.

2010 was an amazing, beautiful, whirlwind of a year...and we can't wait to see what 2011 has in store!