Favorite Photos of 2010

Obviously my favorite subject to shoot this year was Belly Boo, but we were lucky enough to have a trip to the beach, a road trip to Bonnaroo in Tennessee and a trip to Longwood Gardens over the summer to give me a chance to do some other types of photography.  There were a lot more that I could have posted but I didn't want to bombard everyone with photos.

Resolutions 2011

I normally don't go along with the whole "New Years Resolutions" thing because I don't follow through with them or make them either way too easy or way to hard.  However, I feel like I'm old enough now that I can set some resolutions and goals and (hopefully) stick with them and make some changes in my life that will benefit everyone.

I hope that next year at this time I can look back on this list and feel proud of what I've accomplished.

1.  Eat healthier and exercise more.  I know that everyone and their mother says this, but I'm tired of carrying around all this baby weight.  It is something that really brings me down and I beat myself up over.  The Hubs and I just started P90 together, and I'm hoping that the program along with some extra gym time and healthier eating habits will help me get back to where I (almost) was in college.

2.  Finally suck it up and get my driver's license. You are all probably snickering at me right now, and that's okay...but it is time for it to finally happen.  Before Belly Boo's second birthday.  Yes, this goal gets a deadline.

3.  Find a job. I'm not picky, I don't care if it's part time or full time but it's time that I start doing my share to help pay bills and give us some flex money every month.  And pay for car insurance.  I already started working on this goal so hopefully (fingers crossed) something comes my way!

4.  Meet more people. It's kind of sad that I've been living in this area for over a year and only know a handful of people.  Friends aren't just going to show up on my doorstep so I have to go find them....which is hard for me to do but I'll figure it out.

5.  Stick up for myself.

6.  Try new foods.

7.  Take a photography class.

8.  Be the best momma and wife that I can, and have fun doing it.  I need to remember that life isn't a picnic and that not every day is going to be picture perfect.  I need to remember to laugh when Belly Boo does something totally horrible (like spilling a box of Cheerios on the floor tonight or being nice and bringing us a full glass of water while spilling it all over herself).  I need to remember that my Hubs works really hard and deserves a nap on the sofa after dinner every once in awhile.  But I also need to remember to take time for myself and have a little me time.

9.  Read more books, use the internet less.  I want to challenge myself to read two or three books a month.  I used to read tons of books all the time and now that the kiddo is older I want her to realize that books are more fun than watching us on our computers or watching TV.  I love when she picks up a book and sits down on my lap, even if she likes to speed read and skip lots of pages.  I get a big smile on my face when she sits by herself and babbles while turning the pages. 

10.  Enjoy all the curves that life throws at me.  The past few weeks have been kinda rough, and learning to deal with all of the realities of being a grown-up have really hit hard.  But these changes have taught me to be thankful for all the support and love that our family shows us and I want to be able to look back and be really proud of how we dealt with the situations we're put in instead of being upset because of how we handled something. 


That's it.  My 10 resolutions.  Hopefully I can keep them and I'm sure I'll have progress updates on some of them.  I hope that all of you resolution makers have a successful, life changing and Happy New Year!  It can only get better from here!

Santa, Baby....

Merry Christmas everyone!  We've had quite a busy past few days prepping for Christmas Eve and our first Christmas here at home.  I have to admit, it has been so nice staying in my pj's all day and not having to rush out somewhere!

Here are some pictures from the past few days!

Oh Hey!  Belly Boo is wide awake at 2am on Christmas morning!  Haha

The Hubs was realllllly excited about his new coffee grinder.

My new external hard drive from the Hubs.  1 terabyte of goodness to fill up!

My locket watch necklace from the Hubs.  So pretty!

Yummy homemade cappuccino.  Adios Starbucks....for the most part.  Haha 

My first attempt at a full on holiday meal.  Ham, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes & green bean casserole.  Oh so yummy!!!

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Yeah, It's Seriously 1:15 AM

I had this super lightning bolt strike of productivity around 10:30 tonight.  And it's finally ended.  In those three hours I:

-finished my biscotti with the white chocolate drizzle
- wrapped all of Belly Boo's presents
- completely finished unpacking from the weekend travels
- finished writing out our Christmas cards and getting them ready for mailing
- decorated Belly Boo's new stocking
- wrote out this week's to-do list for each day
and
- ate 2 chocolate chip cookies.

Win.

These Brownies Aren't Child's Play

Om nom nom....that's the noise that you're going to make when you bite into one of these Chocolate Crunch Brownies.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
6 Tablespoons baking cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark but use your favorite)
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups Rice Krispie cereal

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13x9 pan.
2. In a mixing bowl cream butter and sugar, add eggs.  Stir in the next four ingredients (baking cocoa, flour, vanilla extract and salt).  Spread the mixture into your greased baking pan.  
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes - until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  Cool.
4. Once the brownies have cooled down (I waited about 15 minutes) spread the marshmallow creme over the brownies.  This takes some patience and is probably the most tedious step.  At least it was for me.  Haha
5. Melt your chocolate chips and peanut butter over low heat and stirring constantly.  Note:  This step smells really good.  I wanted to dip my face in my little sauce pan because it smelled like a warmed up peanut butter cup.
6. Once your chocolate/peanut butter mixture is nice and smooth, remove from the heat and add the cereal.  Spread out the mixture until you have a nice even layer over the marshmallow.
7. Place the brownies in the fridge until you're ready to cut and serve them and enjoy.

If you're not a fan of Rice Krispies or you're just looking for something a little sweeter, try this with Golden Grams.  I bet that it would be slammin'.

Oh yeah, here's a picture...because you probably want to see what they look like finished.

 Special thanks to the Hub's Mom for sharing and letting me make this recipe for a family Christmas party this weekend!

It's Christmas Time

It is officially Christmas time in our house.  We finally braved the cold this evening and picked out our Christmas tree.  It's a cute little thing, and is so much smaller than our tree from last year BUT with Belly Boo being interested in anything that glows and is sparkly, we figured a smaller tree was the best option. 

The only thing I have to do in the next two weeks is put up my outside lights.  Brr.

So!  Pictures!  First up is the Hubs birthday cookie, followed by a bunch of pictures of our tree/house all decorated.  Enjoy!

Om nom nom.  This beast is GOOD!

 

Our little tree all lit up.

The Hub's special ornament.

He's making a list...checking it twice...

My special ornament...love you Nana.

Celebrating our German heritage with the Pickle. 

Our mantle.  Love it!

I <3 snowmen.

Later this week:  My cranberry white chocolate chip biscotti recipe.  You're mouth might water just a little bit.  

Happy Birthday to the Hubs!

The Hubs had his 25 + 1 Birthday yesterday!  Unfortunately since he was so busy I really didn't get to see him for much of it, but we did have a chance to go out for dinner!

After the Hubs was home from spending a night in Philly and his last grad class and meeting for a birthday snack with his momma, he finally came home!  And we took a nap.  I am feeling better than I was on Friday, so we decided to head into town for some dinner. 

We ventured to a Pub, and debated whether we should sit at the bar or a table.  We decided on a table, but since we ventured in at 6 pm, it was pretty crowded.  Anyways, as we're weaving back to our nice little table in the corner our host picks up a cane from an older couple that had fallen.  No big deal.  So we continue on our merry way.

That is until I realize that my coat and jeans are getting wet and that I hit the same stupid cane.  Thus a poor lady's beer is spilling all over the table, her cell phone and me.  Guess we should have sat at the bar.  It isn't until later that we realize that they are family of someone who manages/owns the Pub.  Whoops. 

Anyways, dinner was nice and it was fun to be able to enjoy a dinner without being rushed.  I loved being able to sit and talk.  The walk back was entertaining, too. :-D

I made a gigantic cookie for the Hubs birthday, but we're going to decorate it tomorrow.  Can't wait.

That being said, I'm sleepy and have to be up for church in the morning.  Goodnight!

Oh Hai Wednesday.

So yes.  I realize that it is the middle of the day and I'm blogging, which is rare for me.  But here are some of the humorous (no, frigging hilarious) things that have happened to me so far today.

Last night our dishwasher started leaking again.  Which means that there is currently a plumber in my basement who is replacing pipes that are seriously old and could explode.  Fun times.  Can't wait for that bill.

And on another butt related topic that happened today, Belly Boo woke up from her nap and was seriously stressed out.  I couldn't figure out why until I picked her up.  Her butt was soaking wet.  Upon further butt feeling I noticed that there wasn't a diaper covering her little behind.

Seriously.  

I thought to myself and I knew I was half asleep this morning but I had to have put a diaper on.  I mean, she is nowhere near ready for potty training so why would I skip the diaper?  And I did put one on.  But somehow the diaper made it's way down and was wrapped around her left ankle in her footie pj's.  I laughed and she gave me a nasty look.

But right now I'm enjoying the lovely sounds of pipes being replaced and fixed while watching Sesame Street with Belly Boo.

And it's only 1:30 in the afternoon.  This is not how I pictured my day going but Happy Wednesday everyone.

Christmas Card Time

My blogger pal and former classmate Alyssa tweeted about Christmas card help and I was intrigued.  So I hopped over to her site and saw her little blog post about helping her pick a Christmas card and about a promotion from Shutterfly.com.

So I did some card making of my own.  And it is so hard to pick.  I narrowed it down to three (as of right now anyways, I'll probably change my mind) and I need some help picking which layout ya'll think is the cutest.  I did screen shots of the three cards that i like the best and just plugged in a temporary (but cute!) picture of Belly Boo.

Help me pick!

 

This one is cute.

The Merry Blossoms Christmas Card...I like this one.  The brown/red combo is really pretty.  The only downsides are a) the red font on the brown background is really hard to read and b) it's one of those weird shaped cards that requires extra postage.  Still, ridiculously cute none-the-less.  

 

Oh hey!  This one is cute, too.

The Snow Globe Christmas Card...I am a sucker for light blue/red.  Total sucker.  And it looks oh so perfect with a black and white photo.  And I love black and white photos.  I think this might be my personal front runner.

My kid needs to stop being so cute.

Shimmering Snowflake Tree Christmas Card...I adore that Christmas tree.  It's so cute and the colors are perfect!  My only complaint about this card is that the divide between the tree and the picture is really drastic.  I feel like it needs a frame or something.  Other than that it is adorable.

Here's an updated version of the Shimmering Snowflake Tree Card...I like this one better!

So please help me!  I'll post the card layout that gets the most love with the final picture once I figure out what that will be.  Oh man...I guess this means I can put Belly Boo back in her pretty little dress and take some cuteeeee pictures tomorrow.

If you're still having some problems figuring out what gifts to get for some people on your list check out their adorable photo mugs or calendars.  They'll be sure to make someone smile. :-)

Here's the link if you want to check it out.  Have fun and make sure to spend a good hour or two drooling over the card selection.  I did. :-)

Cookie Dough

Saturday night was Cookie Dough night.  I was a busy bee in the kitchen after Belly Boo went to bed, and I currently have the following chilling in the freezer:

• 1 batch of sugar cookie dough
• a double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough
• 1 batch of chocolate cookies with mint chips

I still have to make my biscotti dough, but I will do that this weekend since I forgot crasins at the store last week.  Whoops!

I also got some sewing done for Christmas gifts (tutorial to follow after the holidays!) but discovered that I really couldn't do as much as I wanted because I need my lining to come in.  Hopefully it is here tomorrow.  Ugh.

Here are some pictures of Annabelle eating a sugar cookie.  It was her first Christmas cookie and I think she liked it.  :-)

I've Been

baking cookies.
packing sales.
paying bills.
making new items for my etsy.
coming up with an inventory/invoice/filing system.

and this weekend i'll be...
baking more cookies.
making Christmas gifts.
making more new items.
cleaning the house.
doing some more decorating.

what are ya'll up to this weekend?

Post-Thanksgiving Wrap-Up

I know that I'm super late on all things Thanksgiving, but with all the traveling we did and my crazy day yesterday, I'm only getting to it now.  So no, I'm not just coming out of my food coma now, I just finally had a few minutes to jot things down.

On Thursday we had Thanksgiving Round 1 with the hubs side of the family.  It was delish.  Seriously.  I almost didn't even have room for dessert....that's saying something.  It was also Belly Boo's first official Thanksgiving Dinner.  She enjoyed her turkey and mashed potatoes and bread.  After dinner we played some intense Monopoly. 

Nom nomming round 1.

On Friday the hubs and I did some Black Friday Shopping.  I got some fabrics and fun things for Christmas presents and some custom orders that I have.  Then we made our way to Reading with a stop to see the hub's grammy.  On Saturday we had Thanksgiving Round 2 with my side.  Some turkey, ham, potato filling, candied sweet potatoes and green bean casserole later I was stuffed.  Literally stuffed.  But I managed to squeeze in some pumpkin roll and chocolate cake.  Then we stopped at the hub's dad's house for a few hours of visiting.

Post dinner round 2 entertainment

On Sunday we stopped at my grandparent's house, then finally made our way back home.  We unpacked, ate a brownie and got back in the car to go grocery shopping.  And I got hair dye, too.  So Sunday night I brought up some Christmas decorations and decorated my mantle/fireplace and and my front door area. 

New hair color!  That doesn't look much different from my old hair color.  Haha

So exciting I know.  Anyways, for some more exciting news go to http://NorthStreetStudio.blogspot.com.  I've been busy with custom orders and packing some sales.  :-)

Music Monday, Vol 2

Yesterday on the drive home from BCo to our humble little home, The Hubs put on Coconut Records.  I had heard some of it before from one of his friends, but it seriously made the best driving music ever.  So here's a little info about 'um.

It's Jason Schwartzman's solo project and it is awesome.  I love his voice.  He worked with a bunch of people, including my favorite, Miss Zooey Deschanel, Kristen Dunst and some people from Incubus.  Seriously, the songs are so upbeat and catchy that I can't pick a favorite from the album.

But I think that "West Coast" is my favorite.  Also check out "Nighttiming" and "It's Not You It's Me."

Find more artists like COCONUT RECORDS at Myspace Music 



So check them out.  Happy Monday!

Is This Your Kid?

I forgot about this little gem of a story from Election Day, but I figured I'd share it now because I'm having one of my "wahhh I clearly birthed my child and she doesn't look anything like me" moments.

So Belly Boo and I made our way to the election building a few blocks down (seriously, so convenient) and I parked her stroller outside.  I made my way in and told them my name, and headed over to sign in.  While I was waiting for them to find my name in the book, the four old ladies at the table told me how cute she was.  I said, "Oh thanks, I just love her" and they all looked dumbfounded.

Then come my favorite comments....

She's yours?...followed by sideways glances checking for validity.
I thought you were her baby sitter.
She doesn't look anything like you.

As if I didn't already know that, thanks for the confidence boost.

So a teensy-weensy review of genetics:

Brown eyes are dominant over any other eye color.  The Hubs has brown eyes, I have blue.  My genes lost out. 

I'm pretty sure if they had won (which I'm convinced they never will) that Belly Boo would look more like me.  But they didn't.  And she has the most beautiful brown eyes that I wouldn't change for anything.

So yes, she is mine, I had something to do with her.  And no, I'm not her baby sitter, I'm her mother. 

Rant over.

This Week...

is going so terribly slow. 

It doesn't help that I'm sick, but still.  So.  Freaking.  Slow.

Maybe it's because I'm looking forward to date night this weekend?  Yeah, that's probably it. 

Saturday night we're going to see my little brother in his production of The Crucible.  I'm ridiculously excited for this, mostly because of his costume.

Yup, those are knickers!  Hahaha

And this guy and I get to go out to dinner.  All by ourselves!  Yay for my awesome aunt who is babysitting for us!

I Want to be a Professional Scrap-booker.

Is that even possible?  I would totally love to have people pay me to scrapbook their memories (after, of course, I finish my own pages).

Over the weekend I was lucky enough to spend time at the beach and crop with some amazing women.  We had a blast creating our pages, exchanging stories and eating some yummy treats for three days.  Belly Boo was a gem and let us get lots of work done, but every time someone used the Cricut we had to hold her so we could watch it cut out our letters and shapes. 

Here are some of my favorite pages that I got done over the weekend...

So much fun!

Music Monday, Vol 1

So in an attempt to start blogging more, I'm going to try picking fun things that I like to blog about.  And since I've seen a few Music Monday posts and I love music, I'm going to give this a try.


I've only got one song this week, but it's been on repeat on my iTunes and it's all I've been listening to.

When My Time Comes - Dawes

I Got Zombi-fied.

Friday night the hubs, our niece and myself attended a Zombie walk in Lebanon, PA with some good old pals from LVC.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, so I just dressed normally (boring...I know) and let the make-up pros do their thing.

The first question I was asked when I sat down in the chair:  "Did you think about how you wanted to die?"

Um.  What?

I hadn't, so I just settled with a gun shot to the head and some blacked out eyes.  I was horrified.  Seriously.  I had nightmares last night.  

Isn't this creepy?  Mary was seriously the best zombie ever.

After hanging out and scaring a few people, we walked our way to our final destination.  It was seriously so much fun.  I'll definitely be Zombie walking again in the near future. 

I'll add more pictures as people post them, but it was seriously a blast!

Happy November.

Okay, seriously, where has this year gone?  I cannot believe it's November already.  So what am I looking forward to this month besides yummy meals?

This weekend:  Friday night zombie walk.  I'm so excited!  Seriously!  We get to act like blood thirsty zombies and I get to see friends from LVC...sounds like a great night to me!

Next weekend:  The beach AND scrap booking all weekend long.  We'll be eating lots of tasty treats (I'm making my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and homemade chicken noodle soup!) while scraping all day long.  I ordered a ton of prints on Snapfish, have some of my pages planned out and can't wait to have fun.

The 19-21:  Back to Berks!  I get to watch my brother tear up the stage in The Crucible and spend some time at home!  I think we'll get to go to a holiday parade, too!  Can't wait to see another wonderful show and watch one of my favorite plays!

Thanksgiving weekend:  Lots of food.  In my belly.  Seeing friends.  Having fun.  Decorating for Christmas.

Life is crazy busy, but so much to look forward to!

A McRib Review...

So I'm not exactly sure how it started, but sometime during my spring semester of freshman year (Note:  beginning of 2008) one of my friends and I become obsessed with finding a McRib sandwich.

Did you know that there was a tracker map online where people would post their McRib sightings across the United States?  Or that people tried to recreate their own sandwiches but could never get something quite right.

Last summer I tweeted to McDonalds and asked if we could get one.  They told me no. 

BUT THEN....a few weeks ago my friend sent me a link to an article, claiming that the McRib sandwich would be available for SIX WHOLE WEEKS starting today. 

I knew my mission.

Find a McRib and see if it was worth the wait and frustration to find one.

Well, over the weekend my mom surprised me and got me one.  I'll be judging the McRib on 4 different catagories; presentation, size, sauce, and overall taste and satisfaction.  Here we go.

Presentation gets 3 out of 5 fries.  The box was cute and made me all excited, but when I opened it, my McRib was totally messy and there was sauce all over the place which was kind of disappointing.

My saucy McRib. 

Size gets 5 out of 5 fries.  It was perfect, not to much bread, not too much meat, and I still had some room for a few fries after I finished it.

Sauce gets 4 out of 5 fries.  There was plenty of sauce on my McRib.  It was McDonalds classic BBQ sauce, which is totally yummy, but does have a little bit of zing and a ton of smokey flavor in large quantities.  I could have done with a little less, hence the loss of a fry.

Overall taste and satisfaction - 3.5 out of 5 fries.  I feel like maybe I hyped up the search and finding of the McRib and put it on a pedestal.  Though it was definitely a good sandwich, I don't think I'll be running to get one a few days a week.  It left me full and satisfied, but was a little messy.  Definitely not a "eat on the run" type of sandwich. 

It gets my thumbs up in approval.

I'd also like to state that I'm not a McDonalds freak.  This past weekend was the first time I've had McDonalds in months, so don't call me a fatty. 

Go get one!