The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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It’s pretty easy to see why the holiday season is called the most wonderful time of the year. We just spent the last two weeks on vacation and let me tell you it was fabulous. One week in Traverse City, Michigan visiting family and one week at home being productive and enjoying some time as just the three of us.

Our first week in Michigan is what you always want your Christmas to be. It was filled with cookie decorating, chats around the fireplace with family, plenty of play time with the nieces and nephews and of course lots and LOTS of snow.
If you have ever been to Traverse City, you know that they have such a fabulous down town area right on the bay. Every time we visit we make sure to head down there even if its just to walk around and window shop. There is just something about the atmosphere down there that is so inviting. This time 
when we went it started snowing. They were the most beautiful fluffy flakes I have ever seen.
There was tons of ice around the bay. I have only really ever seen Traverse City during the colder months so it’s hard to imagine the bay anything but freezing cold. We hope to visit during the summer this year and go paddle boarding on the bay so I hope the water looks more inviting than this in July. 
Another great thing Traverse City has is their amazing State Theatre. I think we have seen a movie there just about every time we’ve visited. This time we saw Saving Mr. Banks (which is great). The lobby of the theatre is really small so you have to wait outside until the previous showing gets out. I swear these people thought we were in California or something. The cold didn’t seem to phase anybody else while I was freezing. 
Thankfully they have plenty of good coffee shops to grab a warm drink and a bite to eat. We tried out Brew. It seemed to be a pretty hip and happenin’ place, but we managed to get a table and enjoy a good cup of joe. 
On one of our last nights we headed outside to look at the stars. We don’t often get to see too many since there is quite a bit of light pollution on LA. So we took advantage of being out of the city and snapped a few pictures of the stars. 
Then we packed up our things, said our good-byes, and headed back to LA. But I made sure to grab a Chicago Dog during our layover in Chicago. 

Once we got home we hit 2014 hard with lots of decluttering, organizing, cleaning, and Jake even spent some time (ok and lot of time) coding and updating his professional website and our blog (more on that later). Of course there were a few trips to the dog park, visits to yummy restaurants and some time with friends. We’re not THAT boring. But let me tell you it sure does feel good to start the new year refreshed and organized. It makes me feel like I can accomplish anything in 2014. And that’s exactly what we plan to do.

Jamie BartlettThe Most Wonderful Time of the Year