Halloween Festivities

I’ll be spending Halloween with my husband and best friend from college. We’re going to a Flyers game this afternoon and then will watch the World Series and hand out candy this evening. What a day!

We kicked up our Halloween celebration yesterday with several activities, including a kids’ costume parade in a neighboring town. One of our at-home activities involved making yummy decorated caramel apples. Seriously, this is an easy project if you buy the caramel apple wraps. We rolled the caramel-wrapped-apples when they were warm in toppings like chocolate chips, sprinkles, and nuts. They are so yummy! I recommend cutting them up to eat so you can share!

Birthday Highlights

Napoleon is Jealous of the Birthday Gifts for Me!

I had a really nice, low-key birthday spent with my husband this year. I wanted to take the time to thank all of my wonderful friends and family who thought of me. I absolutely adored everyone’s cards and gifts. I have so many things to oogle over the weekend, including cool items from Japan, new jewelry and makeup, Amy Butler towels, and books on vegetarianism. Man, so many people know my interests!

Yummy Confections from Betty's Speakeasy

Steve surprised me with cupcakes and fudge from Betty’s Speakeasy, located in South Philly. We split several specialty cupcakes which were delicious! My favorite was the black velvet cake cupcake. So rich and delicious!

My New Vintage Prints

I also received two framed vintage prints from my mom, which she purchased on her cousin’s Etsy site, sylly123. And my mom finished the fingerless gloves for me. I picked out the yarn at Crafty Planet in May and am in love with my new accessory!

Fingerless Gloves Knit by Mom

I am grateful to have such wonderful and caring people in my life and hope that I can reciprocate their thought and generosity at their birthdays.

Happy Holiday Weekend

Olivia's Glow-in-the-Dark Bracelets Make Great Art!

Loved this weekend. It was full of activities/eating/drinking/laughing. I even got so relaxed I am starting to prepare for my big exam on Saturday. Here are some highlights of the weekend:

• A yummy dinner out with family
• A dinner and a movie date with my hubby
• A barbecue and Fourth of July extravaganza with our friends
• Golf/tennis watching and homemade pizza with Teve!
• Fabulous sunny, but not-too-hot weather!

Happy Irish Day!

Cute Shamrock Cookies

Yummy Boiled Foods

To commemorate St. Patty’s Day, Steve and I fixed our favorite Irish dishes tonight. Despite it being one day early (statistics is getting in the way of our celebrating tomorrow), it was a great meal. We made three dishes that involved boiling food, one of which was lentils and though they are not Irish they went well with our cabbage and potatoes.

In the spirit of the day I also bought some store-made shamrock cookies. Generally I am opposed to grocery store-bought confections, but I couldn’t resist these cute cookies.

I heart St. Patty’s.

Happy Birthday Teve!

Yesterday, Steve celebrated his birthday along with Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, and my grandfather. We had a fun day celebrating, starting the morning with a present opening and finishing it at the Flyers game downtown. If only I did not have to go to work today!

Steve’s birthday is always fun because Valentine’s Day is only two days away from his day, so we’re always in a very celebratory mood. I can’t wait for tomorrow when we celebrate Valentine’s Day with a few movies and bites to eat!

I Heart Valentine’s Day

I know we’ve stilll got a week until Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to post this pic of my Valentine’s Day decorations.

Now I need to go buy myself a bag of conversation hearts and watch a cheesy romantic comedy. That’ll be how I beat these winter blahs!

The good news is that I am almost home free on several school projects, so I’ll have some time to myself tonight and tomorrow.

Out of the House

After several days of lounging at home, my parents, Steve, and I have decided to venture outdoors. In the next hour or so we’ll be headed to Longwood Gardens, one of my favorite Philadelphia destinations. I can’t wait to be immersed in flowers! Longwood has the most beautiful indoor flower displays, which offer a great pick-me-up for these colder months.

I enjoyed yesterday’s quietness, and we played lots of Boggle and Scrabble and watched many football games. I think it’s always important to spend New Year’s Day resting. It should be a quiet and peaceful day.

We have many activities planned for the next few days and I look forward to finish sewing my mom’s new purse. We purchased a new Amy Butler purse pattern and I can’t wait to see the project completed!

Post-holiday Projects

I am never allowed to complain about being bored. Right now, I have so many ideas running through my head about projects and other things to do that I don’t ever see how I’ll ever be sitting around twiddling my thumbs.

Sometimes I think the post-holiday time of year is the best time. I have stacks of books I can’t wait to read, I have home decoration ideas for after the holiday decorations are packed away, and I have oodles of nonholiday- and nongift-related projects.

I’ve posted a few pics related to post-Christmas winter projects that I have already started.

First, Steve and I enjoyed spending a few gift cards this weekend to revive our somewhat neglected bedroom. I decided that, since we’ll be celebrating our third wedding anniversary this week, it was time to take down our wedding pictures in the bedroom. We’ve enjoyed so many activities and moments together since our wedding day that I don’t want to be held to that one moment in time forever (although we had one heck of a wedding). We also took down the big gawky mirrors on our hand-me-down dresser and bought a much smaller, sleeker mirror;  framed the card I received from Steve for our anniversary last year that features a Ward Hooper print of Idaho Sweetheart Coffee; and ditched a lot of the clutter on our dresser. These small changes really make our room seem bigger and much more put together.

Second, in addition to sprucing up rooms in the house before my parents arrive in a few days, I am super excited to begin working on some new craft/art projects in 2009. Given that I am only six months away from finishing graduate school, I am salivating at the idea that I may actually have time to work on some large-scale projects again in the near future. Therefore, I am coveting my new project journal given to me by my brother and his girlfriend. Not only is the journal appropriate for my interests, it features art from Nikki McClure, an artist from Olympia, Washington, where my brother went to college. I absolutely love her artwork and, as you can see by a picture I posted, I have long displayed art from one of her old calendars in our bedroom.

Handmade Gifts

I wanted to bring special attention to a few special handmade gifts that we received at Christmas this year. First, I have posted pics of a calendar my mom sent that features pastel drawings done by herself and her longtime friend, Dee. Second, I posted a pic of the hand-knit socks my mom made for Steve. Third, I posted a pic of the handmade bath salts and lipbalms that Steve made for me.

Let’s Go to the Mall!

Well, I am sure that I am not the only person who went to a mall yesterday. I may be the only one who will admit it, but I know that there were thousands of people out with me at the King of Prussia Mall yesterday. In fact, when I spoke to my mom, who lives 2,000 miles away, she mentioned that several national news organizations were filming from the KOP mall.

Now, I don’t go out to malls more than a few times a year, but yesterday Steve and I had to go out for two reasons: One, I needed to get out of the house and get some exercise. Two, I always think of the day after Christmas as “National Buy What You Want Day.” This happens to many of us who have not purchased items for ourselves in a few months and who are now desperate to reoutfit and reorganize our dowdy lives. Plus, now we know what were in those beautiful packages to us under the tree, and it’s time to buy some things that would complement our other new things. (I am sure this is a very American philosophy.)

Needless to say, I had a lot of success at KOP, despite crazy lines and harried shoppers. I bought a new winter coat (my black pea coat that I have been wearing for five-plus years is now officially retired), some outfits for going out this winter, and a beer (well, I didn’t take this home but I did enjoy it while I was out). I then promptly went home and ordered two pairs of shoes online. And I thought the spending tear was over!