do you want to have a slumber party in my basement?

so a weekend in mystic was juuuust what i needed. i needed the crazy that only one of my second homes could provide. a fabulous weekend with the college roomie that included great friends, alcohol, yummy food and history.

i had a crazy morning on friday - i realized if i was going to europe in 3 weeks i needed to mail my passport like a month ago to get its extra pages. so i did the application and paid to have it expedited and went to the post office to mail it (ps - i can't wait to have it back, so scary to mail it away!) and then headed off for harford where i was meeting a sorority sister of mine for dinner. we met up every few weeks when i was in connecticut this summer for dinner and i've missed seeing her, so it was a great catch up dinner and just chat about life and such.

then on the road to mystic - where it was so great to see everyone. friday night turned out to be fun. another good friend was in town for the weekend as well, so i was excited to see him! we spent the night drinking and card games (where a bunch of random people showed up) and then headed off to a bar downtown. it was full of good conversation and just the random mystic debauchery.

saturday morning amy and i decided to put our inner history nerds on and went up to newport to play in the "cottages" like we did one afternoon this summer. so we enjoyed walking around the elms and marble house and soaking up the lavish summer "cottages" of the rich and famous during the guilded age. and i just love it. both houses were amazing and also decorated for the holidays as well. unfortunately you can't take pictures inside. but they were just gorgeously decorated. and the art collection at the elms was pretty impressive! so i'd recommend these two houses in newport as well as the breakers and rosecliff which we saw over the summer. 

poinsettia christmas tree at the elms - omg the floral arrangements were incredible here!

back view of the elms

amy and i at marble house

after a fun afternoon of playing history nerds we met up with our friends houli and captain and went for some of my favorite pizza in mystic. pizzetta is great and so delish! so we had fun making fun of each other and chatting about everything while enjoying fab pizza. my fav is their mac&cheese pizza. and then the fun began.

so then the 4 of us had a slumber party. it was pretty much your teenage slumber party minus nailpolish plus alcohol. we played played board games, drank wine and alcoholic hot chocolate, acted like 14 year olds and it was a great night. something fun and so relaxed. and since the weather wasn't great the boys stayed over and camped out on the couch and air mattress. and then we proceeded to talk through the walls once we went to bed. it was fun and such a random, low key night. and then the next morning we went to breakfast and i had gingerbread french toast which was like a little bite of heaven.

so it was just what i needed in terms of a weekend away!

and this week should be good. i'm going into nyc on wednesday with my brother for his christmas present. i'm taking him to see the king tut exhibit! which i'm really excited for! and then i'm going into the city on saturday night for suz's christmas party. so lots of fun things going on!

aannnnnnnd i did it! i booked flights and trains today! I'M GOING BACK TO EUROPE! for 3 weeks in january! i'm going to zurich, prague, budapest, vienna, cologne, amsterdam and then ireland. soooooooo excited for this. i need this trip right now. i figured out all the details on sunday night and booked today. so i leave in 3 weeks - which is super soon as christmas in in two weeks, then new years where i'll be in philly and then on jan 3rd i leave. so a lot to do. but i'm going back! i can't wait to go to all these new places and especially my favorite cork! i can't wait to frolic down patricks street, visit friends, drink beamish, get hot chocolate at o'conaills and so many other things! yay!

so how was your weekend? any recommendations for any place i'm going?