2023 Continued....

I really need to get better at this, but let's get going as 2024 is half way over already!  So about this time last year, all of the Grubbs got together in Pawleys Island to celebrate as a family Mom & Dad's 50th wedding anniversary.  The weather was perfect.  It was also Nora's 9th birthday.  So fun to see everyone and have great beach adventures!

Happy 9th birthday, Nora! (Now she is 10!)

Whole Family Italian Dinner

All of us on the beach in our Reunion Shirts

Then after the family left, my very good Aussie friend, Edwina arrived.  We took a few days down in Savannah and started a long drive back to PA via a few sites a long the way.  We had amazing food at Common Thread in Savannah.  We stopped in Pawleys for a couple of days to pick up the dog and pack up the house.  

Rooftop Savannah

Food at Common Thread

The Common Thread House - stunning

Back at the Italian restaurant in Pawleys

At the beach in Pawleys

We then headed north and west a bit.  We had a couple days in Hot Springs, Virginia where we just chilled out with our own private hot spring in our backyard.  We headed further north and west to see Fallingwater and then drove back to my house in Philly.  Ed then headed out to NYC, but it was a great road trip!  Gatsby and I had a ton of unpacking to do.  Plus he needed to get acquainted at his new home!

Lots of great food and drink along the way

Gatsby checks out the hot spring

Ed at Fallingwater

Ed's Birthday Shots!

As we settled back in at home, it was time to get back into the Philly lifestyle.  I made it to a few home games for the Phils.  I got to see Wrexham play the Philly Union.  Had a few friends over in the backyard, and Mom & Dad came to see Springsteen.  Unfortunately, he had to cancel, so it turned into just a singalong in the backyard, but we are all rescheduled for this summer!  More to come on that one.

Mom with Cheddar - one of Gatsby's friends

Gatsby and I took off for a few days to central PA to a really fun glamping place called River Mountain.  It was so amazing.  Hoping to get back there again this summer with more friends, but we shall see.  Highly recommend it.  Now that he is a bit older, I think he will enjoy his freedom there a bit more!  I could even work from there so it was really a great time.

On August 31, we celebrated Gatsby's Gotcha Day.  Our first year together was complete.  Can't believe it's fast approaching 2 years together.  

We joined the Bark Social - a dog friendly bar/restaurant where they have staff that monitor the dogs while you hang out.  We go there to work, do trivia, see friends etc.  It's amazing.  They have great dog themed activities including a photo shoot we did one day in his Bryce Harper jersey.  (He is a tiny bit spoiled, my dog!! LOL).

I also managed to get to see Pink do her amazing tour with Connor.  She really is a great performer.  Plus it was at the baseball stadium which was fab.  The flying was fab!

Phillies life took over the fall a bit as the road to the World Series came into play.  But alas it wasn't meant to be sadly.  This year is shaping up to be very exciting, so looking forward to that!

In October, we attended a neighborhood dog festival where Gatsby was runner up in the costume contest for his size dog.  Go dood!  I dressed up too.

End of October, I headed to Anaheim to deliver Blizzcon 2023 which I had been working on for over a year.  It went over very well, and it was nice to spend some time in Anaheim with my great team.  

I took Matt who worked for me to Disneyland for his first time!  It was a marathon day, but I think we hit most things including the Cantina!

As Blizzcon wrapped up, I had quite a bit of reconciliation to do, but I managed to make it to Ohio to see Mom and Dad for Thanksgiving.  We planned Christmas at my place for the first time in a while, so just a quick trip in November to say hi.

In the lead up to Christmas, Gatsby and I went back to the Glamping place with some friends for a holiday craft weekend.  He obviously settled in just fine and became the mascot of the weekend for sure.  

The Grubb family draws names for gifts and makes the gifts for the recipient we drew.  This year I got my nephew and painted this painting of him with their dog, Bodhi.  Before you get super impressed, it was a paint by numbers, but it still was pretty time intensive.  I have one in the works of Gatsby, but it has taken a lot more time to come together without the hard deadline I had for this one!  

A little Christmas Gatsby

Took a quick trip to Cape May, NJ to see the old homes all decorated for Christmas.  It was amazing.  Need to see if I can get down there when the weather is warm, but it can be tricky as it is at the very end of the Jersey Shore.  We shall see.

Mom and Dad ended up unable to come for Christmas as Dad had some knee troubles, but that didn't stop the celebrations.  I spent Christmas eve playing board games with the Brookes family where Gatsby gets lots of love from David.  On Christmas Day, I had my friend Kelly and her son Pat over for Christmas Lasagna.  That was really fun to host again.  I got quite into decorating!

Right before the end of the year, I took my friend Meghan's sons Henry and Emmett to Longwood Gardens to see their fabulous Christmas display.  They really enjoyed it.  Hopefully all of us will get out there this summer to see it in bloom, but we did have a fun evening on New Year's Eve!

At least that wraps up 2023.  Quite a few updates for 2024 already as you can imagine, and I hope to get another post shortly.  

Hope everyone is well.  We are still hanging in Philly so let me know if anyone will be in the area!!

Lots of love,
Sxo