Wedding and Honeymoon Time!

Well, its hard to believe that the time has officially come, but yes, it is almost New Year's Eve, which also means it's time for me to become a wife!  Yes, Nick and I are getting married this weekend!

Engagement Photos!

Needless to say today is a bit busy, wrapping up months of planning and doing and final prep for the wedding!  Honestly, the past 10 months have flown by.

Boston Common by Moonlight

This weekend we are ready to enjoy spending time with our families and best friends and dance the night away.  Lucky for us, we will have plenty of time to rest up in the Maldives and Dubai (sorry to those who have to head back to work!).

Needless to say, I will be taking a bit of a blogging break - maybe, depending on how good the pictures are, I will post a few shots of our ocean views.  Upon my return, I will have plenty of wedding photos, but also share with you some of the things I learned along the wedding planning way.  That and some of the terrific vendors I worked with.  The engagement photos above are courtesy of Holly Redmond - I can't wait to see what she does at the wedding!

I wish everyone a fun and safe New Year!!  Next time I write I will be a Mrs. - CRAZY!

Sweet Cheeks! New BBQ in Boston

I figured my final topical post of 2011 should be a good one, and what better way to finish than with one of the more talked about restaurant openings - Sweet Cheeks.  Sweet Cheeks is the new restaurant from Tiffany Faison of Top Chef fame and formerly of Rocca.  When Rocca suddenly closed, the Boston food community was a little worried it may lose one of its newer celebrity chefs, but Tiffany quickly settled the matter by telling her public that she was already working on a new restaurant in Boston.  When it turned out to be BBQ I am sure I was not the only one who was super excited about having another reliable BBQ option in Boston. 

Outside Sweet Cheeks

When given the opportunity to taste Sweet Cheeks' offerings with some fellow bloggers and the great people over at Tasted Menu, I needed no arm twisting - I was in!  For those who don't remember, Tasted Menu is the new go-to website for finding what the best dishes are at a restaurant, or where the best place is to go get your favorite food.

Happy Holidays!!

Hard to believe it is already Christmas!  With all the wedding planning going on, it's needless to say that Christmas sort of snuck up on me!  Luckily Nick LOVES Christmas and decorating the tree.  So even though things were a bit hectic, the Sunday after Thanksgiving our tree was up, lit and decorated.

All Lit Up!

Barroco - Cozy in Old Montreal

When my two friends and I arrived in Montreal on Friday, it was starting to get late so we did a little recon on restaurants while we settled in and got our acts together.  We didn't want to have to travel too far away from the hotel, so after a little Urbanspoon neighborhood searching, A stumbled upon Barroco, which had glowing reviews and was about a 10 minute walk - perfect!

Outside Barroco

After navigating the streets of Old Montreal we ended up in front of a perfect small stone building that looked like it should in an old English village.  Upon entering we were greeted by the friendly host who said we were welcome to grab a drink at the bar while a table cleared up for our group.

Scenes from Old Montreal!

Its hard to believe, but in less than two weeks I will be a married lady.  I can't believe it was only about 9 months ago that I got engaged!  To say time has flown by is an understatement.  Around Thanksgiving I got an email from my friends A and M saying they were going to steal me away for a weekend in December for a girls trip to locations unknown.  I was told certain things that I would have to pack for a complete weekend and that was it.  So, on the Friday of that weekend I was picked up and we were off, still none the wiser of the destination.  I did have a strategy of guessing based on what roads we followed.  When we finally turned on 89N I assumed we were going to Burlington, Vermont because other than that, there was not too much going on that way and any further north required a passport!  Turns out I have a sneaky fiance and friends, they had actually gotten my passport from Nick earlier that week, so we were off to Montreal!

Notre-Dame Basilica

Gaslight

Last weekend Nick and I decided to head over to the South End to go to the SoWa Winter Market and see if we could get caught up on some Christmas shopping.  To say Christmas snuck up on us this year is putting it mildly - the wedding has been the first thing on my mind and so I have been scrambling a bit to make sure I get Christmas set.  Luckily, I think I finished this weekend!

When we arrived at the Market last weekend the line to get in was wrapped around the building.  Since it was open until 7, we decided to head over to the shops at the traditional SoWa Market like Galvin-ized Headware and Bobby from Boston and then grab some lunch.  Having heard so many great things about Gaslight, and considering it was right up the street, it seemed the perfect time to give it a go.

When we arrived it was like walking into the perfect french bistro, complete with lots of white subway tiles and small marble cafe tables.  After being seated we perused the menu and had a bit of trouble choosing what we wanted to eat - there were so many delicious options.  Before having to make any difficult decisions, we selected a couple of drinks to get us started.  I went with something a bit different and ordered the Belle de Brillet paired with French Brandy and cream and spiced with a nutmeg finish.  I was not sure what to expect, but loved this drink!  I am not a traditional brandy person, but with the cream and nutmeg it was perfect!   Beware - it is cold, not warm.

Brandy Lait

Nick went with the Bloody Mary (in true Nick fashion).  There was plenty of spice and garnish to more than satisfy him.