Happy Halloween!!!

I'm still struggling with finding enough time to blog, but I couldn't let the last day of October pass by without a little recap of some of the fun stuff we've been up to this month :)

A few weekends ago, Peter and I took a little trip to Woodbine, MD, to do some apple picking and pumpkin selecting at Larriland Farm.

 Obviously, we were not the only people at Larriland Farm that day :) It was quite the happenin' spot!

I had never been apple picking before, and I loved it! Part of the reason I loved it was probably because we only spend about a half-hour picking. Some of my fellow apple-pickers looked like they had been there all day and had bushels and bushels of apples. I wondered what they were going to do with all of those apples?!!!

Searching for only the best!

Gotcha!

We also visited the punkin' patch which I had not done since I was a Brownie in Girl Scouts. We had some trouble picking our pumpkins so we created a pumpkin line up of sorts :)

And the winner is ...

We also made sure to sample the apple fritters that the local high-school cheerleading team was selling as a fund-raiser. Yum! So much appley goodness!!!

Last weekend the carving of the pumpkins and the roasting of the pumpkin seeds took place :)

 Pumpkin guts seriously make me want to throw up, but Peter is definitely OK with them. Gross!!!

The finished products. Mine is supposed to be winking. Peter's is supposed to have been maimed in some kind of pumpkin brawl :)

We also roasted pumpkin seeds which Peter always did growing up. It was super easy, and the roasted seeds were pretty tasty (and I'm assuming extremely healthy). We washed them off really well, sauteed them in a couple of tablespoons of butter, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and then roasted them for 45 minutes in a 200 degree oven. Ta-da!!!

Whatever your plans are for tonight (trick-or-treating, handing out candy, awesome costume party, etc.), I hope that you have a very fun Halloween :)

A First Taste of Fall ...

I know that autumn doesn't officially start until this Friday (Sept. 23), but I caught a glimpse of it this weekend when Peter and I went canoeing in Seneca Creek State Park.

I was so excited to see that little bit of red foliage! Fall's a'comin' :)

 Except for the persistent cloud cover, this weekend's weather was great - temps in the 60s every day! I wore my first long-sleeved shirt and fleece jacket of the season :)

I haven't been canoeing since our St. Mary's 7th grade (or was it 6th grade?) class trip to Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky (where my friends and I were stuck on the lake for hours since none of us could figure out how to paddle back to shore!) so we thought it best if Peter handled the steering (very capably too - I might add).

I became quite the nature photographer on this trip. I expect National Geographic to be calling me with job offers any minute now :)

This crane (or heron? I never know the difference between the two) let us get really close to him and never flew away. It must be because of my awesome photography skills and Peter's awesome steering :)

 If you look really closely, you can see two really cute, little wood ducks standing on that log in the water. And yes - the water around the log is fairly disgusting - partly from algae and partly from garbage that people have chosen to decorate the lake with (Seriously, people! Find a trash can!)

We call these "the ducks that kind of have heads and necks like snakes," but I'm pretty sure that's not their real name :) These guys were very nervous as we approached but tried their hardest to pretend to be cool with it!

I'm looking forward to other fall activities - long hikes in the woods, apple picking, a trip to the pumpkin patch, etc. And, of course, sipping my first Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks of the season :) What are you looking forward to this fall? 

Weekend Recap

We spent a lot of time at home this weekend - mostly because we were anticipating and then experiencing Hurricane Irene. Last week was a very eventful one for natural disasters on the East Coast :) On Friday morning, Peter and I had a little breakfast date at Starbucks before he went to work (and where I forgot to take any pictures!) and then I went to stock up on provisions before the coming storm since it was my day off of work. Oh my goodness - what a shopping adventure! I have never seen such craziness. I thought that I was going to be killed for my parking space at Trader Joes!!! Calm down, people!!! I did need to buy a few non-perishables for the storm, but I also needed to buy some things (like milk) that we just out of, but there was no milk to be had in a 10-mile radius of my apartment. I also saw that flashlights, batteries, and candles were in very short supply. It definitely pays to be prepared well ahead of any kind of  storm! Yikes!!!

On Saturday, I ran a few more short errands and then went to my friend, RAM's, house so that she could cut my hair. A hurricane might be coming, but a girl's gotta look her best, right? :) The rain started around noon, but it wasn't heavy at all and I had no problems driving home. Peter helped one of our friends from church move into his new place that morning and returned home around 2:00. From then on, we just hung out at our place - cleaning up a bit and organizing, reading (we're still working our way through all 7 Harry Potter books!), and watching baseball. We had leftovers for dinner, and then watched the British movie, Wild Target, with Bill Nighy whom I think is the bees' knees :)

(image via IMDB)

Didn't quite live up to the previews, but still had some very funny moments! We were so thankful to still have power when the movie was over around 10:00pm, and we thought that we might make it out of the storm with our electricity "intact" since it was only raining moderately and the wind wasn't fierce at all. It wasn't meant to be, however, because our power went out around 4:00 Sunday morning (Boo!).

We weren't sure if we would have church on Sunday morning or not since there were widespread power outages in our area, but we did and it was kind of neat to have Sunday School and a worship service in a semi-darkened church :) We won't let a little thing like lack of electricity stop us from praising God! I have to say that both Peter and I were a little sleepy during church, though, because we were not able to have coffee on Sunday morning.

(image via Google)

Our coffee-maker was obviously not working without electricity, and we don't keep instant coffee on hand (which is something I need to quickly remedy!). We were hoping that the church would have power and have some coffee ready and waiting, but that hope wasn't fulfilled since the church didn't have power either. So after church we embarked on a quest for coffee that took us through many intersections with non-functioning street lights (always a scary experience in our area!) and darkened shopping centers. Not a Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds, Panera, 7-11, etc. with power! So we returned home and drank some very strongly brewed tea instead. Not quite the same, but better than nothing :) We ate lunch, went for a LONG walk, and did a happy dance when we returned to an apartment with electricity!!! It kind of makes me sad that we're SO dependent on electricity for everything and that it dramatically changes our lives when we don't have it, but I guess that's just the way it is. I'm praying for those in our area and in other states like North Carolina and Vermont who still don't have power and who have much worse damage to deal with than we do. I just hope that we can have a quiet week with no more natural disasters!!!

Weekend Recap

Friday was a day off of work for me (I heart 3-day weekends!), and I spent most of the day running around doing errands and picking up supplies for Peter's birthday party later this month. At 6:00, we met my sister, JMC, at Jazz in the Garden at the National Gallery of Art in DC.

(image from The National Gallery of Art)

Every Friday night during the summer the Gallery offers a free jazz concert outside in the Scupture Garden. Lots of people come right after work to meet friends and enjoy a picnic dinner. We had gorgeous weather on Friday so it was super fun to spend some time outside - listening to music, people-watching, and eating some yummy deli sandwiches. Jazz is not my favorite type of music, but the concert was free so I'm not complaining :) The performer this past Friday played a vibraphone (yeah - I had no idea what that was either!) which was kind of like a really big xylophone. Interesting! Do y'all remember the Miss America pageants when contestants would play xylophone for the talent competition? I always thought that looked like so much fun! :)

After dinner, we set off to find Pinkberry, the frozen yogurt shop that everyone is raving about. And it definitely deserves some raving! That stuff is dangerously delicious!!! I ordered the chocolate with toffee crumbles and almonds, and Peter and JMC got the salted caramel flavor with lots of different toppings. We will certainly be back sometime soon :)

(image from Pinkberry)

On Saturday, Peter made some oh-so-yummy omlettes for breakfast, and then I ran some more errands and did some stuff around the house until it was time to meet friends for dinner. Two of our friends from church are returning to China in a few weeks so the dinner was a little farewell party for them. We went to PJ's Rice Bistro  which was a new restaurant for me. One of the new dishes that we tried was shrimp with pineapple, and, let me tell you, I could eat a plate of that every day! (I won't, but I could!)

Peter and I had planned to go to Seneca Creek State Park to hike and maybe canoe for a bit on Sunday, but it was a rainy day in the DC area so we decided to postpone that trip until next weekend. My fingers are crossed for better weather next Sunday!

(image from Google)

In lieu of hiking and canoeing, we read, watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,  and I made Pineapple Bliss Cupcakes from Gina's Skinny Recipes.

(image from Skinny Taste)

I was really looking forward to these because I love me some pineapple, but I thought the cupcakes turned out just OK. I don't think that I would make them again. The frosting is very runny and not very flavorful (kind of a bad combo!). The recipe made 24 so I might need to find someone to take some off of my hands!



Weekend Recap

Peter and I had really busy, rather stressful work weeks so this past weekend we just wanted some good old- fashioned downtime :) On Friday night, we played tennis after work, and then we watched the 5th Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) since I had finished reading the 5th book last week. We also made these for dessert.

(Sorry for my serious lack of food photography skills. Not quite up to Pioneer Woman's level!)

Mmmm ... root beer floats (a.k.a. heaven in a glass!) :) I havn't had a root beer float in quite awhile, and it was a wonderful summer treat.

On Saturday, I ran some necessary but rather boring errands (library, Target, grocery store, etc.), and when I came home, these beauties were waiting for me on our dining room table :)

Peter has good taste, huh? And I have one sweet, thoughtful husband :) Surprise flowers are my favorite!

I made Baked Ziti and Summer Veggies from last month's issue of Cooking Light.

(I obviously did not take this picture! Image via Cooking Light)

Peter declared this recipe a winner after he put the first forkful in his mouth so I guess I'll be making this again sometime soon! After dinner, we watched Secretariat.

(Image via IMDB)

The movie was OK, but the tailored, 60s fashions that Diane Lane wore throughout the movie were great! Part of me really wishes that white gloves and hats were still expected accessories for women :)

On Sunday, we went to church, ate lunch, and then headed to a local driving range. Peter had not practiced his golf swing in forever and I have never even attempted a golf swing (except for the mini-golf kind!) so we thought it was high time that we went. Peter did really well; he was hitting balls 150 feet and even farther. You can't see it in the picture very well, but there was an old car sitting in the grass that Peter was trying to hit. He never did, but he definitely came close. We wondered if you won some kind of prize if you hit it :)

I was not hitting them quite so far (maybe 50 feet?), but I did manage to hit a few :)

(This is not one of the times I managed to hit the ball 50 feet. If you look near my foot, you can see that the ball did not get very far.)

After running one more errand, we went home, ate leftovers for dinner, and read for awhile. A relaxing end to a relaxing weekend :)

Weekend Recap

It was blazing HOT this past weekend in DC which is to be expected in late July, but it seems like I never get used to it. This is the part of summer that I don't like - when I start to "glisten" every time that I walk out of my front door, when my swim in a sizeable swimming pool isn't very refreshing because the outside temp has heated the water to a nice tepid 80 degrees, when my glasses fog every time I exit my car because of the difference in temp between the air-conditioned interior and outside, etc., etc., etc. You would think that this weather would actually make me feel all happy and nostalgic since I grew up in Memphis where summers are generally unbearable, but I didn't really enjoy summer weather growing up in the South either. I love all of the things that come with summer - sundresses, the beach, sangria - just not the sweltering heat and humidity :)

On Friday night, I celebrated my friend, KJB's, birthday with our other friend, LRC, at the Cheesecake Factory. I always forget how much I like cheesecake until I go to the Cheesecake Factory again :) We were seated on the patio which is probably why I forgot to take any pictures since I was so boiling hot, but we had a lot of fun eating and chatting! I always love a girls night out with two of my favorite girls :)

On Saturday I visited a new produce stand in our area. It's called Gorman Produce Farm, and it's attached to a small family farm.

(image from Gorman Produce Farm)

I was a little surprised at how crowded the stand was (parking was scarce!), but it was really fun to look at all of the fruits and veggies on offer. I left with some peaches and a jar of local honey, and I think I'll return this weekend for some tomatoes and probably some more peaches. It was in such a pretty area too; I loved driving through some green countryside on the way there :) After running some errands, I returned home, and Peter and I went for a swim (in a pool that felt more like a hot tub!). I made Skillet Pork Chop Saute with Peaches from Cooking Light for dinner, and it was yummy! As was the Sangria Blanco from Southern Living that I also made to go with dinner :)

(image from Cooking Light)

On Saturday night, we watched Country Strong with Gwyneth Paltrow.

(image from IMDB)

Ugh!!! I had high expectations for this movie since I usually love Gwyneth and the previews looked really good (and I really like country music!), but this movie just fell flat. It could have been good; the acting was decent and the juxtaposition of the young couple just starting out on the country music scene and the older couple who were country music vets was interesting. The plot was confusing and unbelievable, though, and the ending was awful. Disappointing to say the least :(

Sunday was just a relaxing day at home after church. Nothing particuarly exciting, but we did get really involved in watching a nature program on a couple of orphaned cheetah cubs in Africa (Peter and I love our nature programs!) and we made some oh-so-delicious peach milkshakes for dessert. If you have never blended fresh peaches with vanilla ice cream, you need to do so ASAP. One of my favorite summer treats :)

Weekend Recap

Happy Tuesday! I'm a little late with the weekend recap again this week, but I had a serious case of the Monday blahs yesterday and couldn't motivate myself to do anything that wasn't absolutely necessary :( I feel much brighter today, though, so here goes:

Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day here (75 degrees and sunny!) so Peter and I took full advantage of the weather after work and played tennis for an hour and then took a dip in the pool. For dinner, I made dirty rice from a recipe I got from Kate at Elefantitas Alegres.

(image from Internet Cooking Princess) 

The original recipe is so aptly named "I Heart Dirty Rice." Amen! I love me some dirty rice for sure :) After dinner, we read our respective Harry Potter books (2nd for Peter, 5th for me) in preparation for seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II on Saturday!!!

(image from IMDB)

As you can tell from my previous statement, I did not meet my goal of reading all seven HP books before the last movie came out :( I seriously considered putting off seeing the movie until I had read all 7, but this past weekend was the only time that our other friends/fellow HP fans could go with us so I just decided to go. And I don't regret that decision because it was pretty exciting to go see the movie on the opening weekend! The theater was packed, of course, and everyone was cheering for HP throughout the film :) After the movie, we went to Z Pizza which I had never tried before, and I highly recommend it. I discovered that I really like artichoke hearts on pizza :)

(image from Z Pizza)

Sunday was church and then a run to Target and the grocery store. I made the Tortellini and Tomato Salad from this month's issue of Southern Living for dinner. Yum!!! Two thumbs up for a nice, light summer salad :)

(image from Southern Living)

I realize that I included a lot of pictures of food in today's post :) Oh well! Peter and I certainly enjoy eating!!! I hope that you had a great weekend filled with good food too!

Weekend Recap

This past weekend, Peter and I made a pilgrimage to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Philadelphia Phillies :) And I say "pilgrimage" because my husband is quite the Phillies devotee, along with the rest of his family (and the rest of Philadelphia)! Since I married into a family of such ardent baseball fans, I've become an honorary Phillies supporter too, and on Friday night I attended my first at-home game. The game was sold out (Phillies fans are known for their dedication!), and the crowd was just a mass of blue and red. I don't think I spotted a single Atlanta Braves fan (I would have been really scared to wear any Braves gear at that game!!!) It was pouring cats and dogs on Friday night so the game was delayed until 8:30 when the rain finally stopped; I was truly impressed that so many fans came out to the game in the rain and stayed until it started (it was sold out)!

Peter's brother was able to drive down from Boston and meet us at the game, and it was really fun to see him and catch up :)

We had really good seats, and it was an exciting game - especially since they won 4 to 3!!!!

I finally got to see the Phillies Phanatic in action, and let me just say - best. mascot. ever! My new life goal is to take a picture with this guy :)

On Saturday, we took a long hike with my father-in-law and ran some errands with my mother-in-law. My sister-in-law's family (who live in Lancaster County, PA) invited us over for dinner that night, and it was great to see them again! They live next door to an Amish farm, and while we were dining outside on their deck, we watched their neighbor work his fields with horses and an old-fashioned cultivator. I had never seen anything like that before so it was pretty neat :)

On Sunday, we went to church in the city and then enjoyed lunch with my in-laws before we headed home to good ole MD. On the drive back, Peter was already talking about how excited he is to watch the Phillies play in tonight's All Star Game :)

Happy (Belated) 4th of July!!!

(image via Google)

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday weekend :) I know that I did! Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. Cookouts, parades, fireworks, patriotism - what's not to love?

Peter and I have spent the last three Independence Day weekends with either my family or his family so this was our first Fourth at home in awhile. It was kind of nice not to travel and just to be able to relax and enjoy some downtime! Our community pool finally opened on Friday (they were building a new poolhouse and there were some delays) so we had a very refreshing swim after work and then we made homemade pizza. This was the first time that I made my own crust! Pioneer Woman's recipe was easy and excellent, and I highly recommend it (as if there was a PW recipe that I don't highly recommend!).

(image from Pioneer Woman)

After stuffing ourselves with pizza, we watched the third Harry Potter movie, Prisoner of Azkaban. I had finished the third HP book last week and wanted to watch the movie version. Peter had never seen the third movie, and he got really into it. So into it that he started reading the HP series on Sat. (Finally!) :)

On Saturday, we made omlettes for breakfast (Peter's specialty!), and then Peter headed off to work and I headed off to the local outlet mall for some shopping. Another advantage to staying local for the holiday weekend was being able to take advantage of some of the awesome holiday sales! I found several cute pieces for work so it was a successful shopping day! When we returned home, Peter and I played tennis for about an hour, and then I made a taco salad for dinner. Every so often I really crave taco salad and just have to make one. And I always laugh at myself because I end up making an enormous salad! I think we could have fed 8 people easily with the salad that I made :) We definitely had leftovers for a few days! We then watched the fourth Harry Potter movie, Goblet of Fire, at Peter's request. I think that I can safely say that he's an HP fan now :)

(image from IMDB)

On Sunday after church, we made BLT's for lunch (Yum!) and took a walk around our neighborhood which was cut short by a thunderstorm. So we read and talked with our parents while it rained. I honestly can't remember anything else we did that day! It was just a nice, laidback day at home :)

On Monday, I attempted to make scones for breakfast but accidentally added too much milk so they turned out rather "interesting." Edible but "interesting." We then headed to the store to pick up some groceries for a cookout later that day and to pick up some screws and nosepads for Peter's glasses which were sort of coming apart over the weekend! After that, we just cleaned a bit around the house, I ironed a mountain of clothing (I seriously thought I would never get through that pile! Ironing is one of my least-liked chores!), and Peter repaired his glasses. Then we went to our friends' house for a backyard BBQ which was a combination Fourth of July celebration and birthday party :) And then we went to our town's fireworks show which Peter and I had never attended. We were impressed! The finale was especially good :)

I'm really bummed that I don't have pictures from this weekend! My camera is only working about half the time now so I havn't been using it that much since it's such a hassle. A Canon Rebel is at the top of my birthday wish list for sure :)

(image from Amazon)

Weekend Recap

I know that my past Friday night might not sound very exciting to some, but it was fun for me :) After work, Peter and I made dinner, and then we read all night until we went to bed. A librarian's dream date night :) I'm currently trying to re-read the Harry Potter series before the new movie comes out in July, and I was able to finish the third book on Friday night so I felt pretty good about that!

On Saturday, I went to the grocery store and tidied up around the house. I made Oven-Fried Coconut Chicken from Cooking Light for dinner.

(image from Cooking Light)

I've been wanting to find a "healthy" version of fried chicken because I get cravings for it sometimes but traditional recipes are so greasy (delicious but greasy!). Peter has been requesting coconut shrimp so I thought this recipe might be the best of both worlds. Peter really liked it, but I thought it was only "so-so."  The search continues for the perfect healthy fried chicken recipe :) After dinner, we went to see Cars 2 with a couple of friends. 

(image from IMDB)

We had read some reviews beforehand that weren't glowing, but we all really enjoyed it. It was James Bond-themed, and while I'm not a huge James Bond fan, I thought it worked. I especially loved the car representing the queen of England :) We went to Rita's Italian Ice after the movie, and I had my first Gelati of the summer, fat-free vanilla custard with black cherry ice. Yum! That might be my new favorite combo!

(image from Rita's)

Peter tried the Blendini which is sort of like a Dairy Queen Blizzard but with the addition of Italian Ice. It sounded kind of gross to me, but I tasted some of Peter's and was pleasantly surprised :)

I developed a bit of a cold on Saturday so on Sunday, I didn't feel that great. We went to church and then went for a short walk since it was such a nice day and then I spent some quality time on the couch. I feel better today so the week ahead is looking brighter!

Weekend Recap

What a nice, restful weekend :) I feel like I can't usually describe my weekends that way, but this weekend was indeed nice and restful!

After work on Friday, I made Shrimp Cobb Salad from Cooking Light. This salad was the cover photo for the May issue, and it looked too good to pass up! Peter liked it more than I did, but I would certainly make it again.

(image from Cooking Light)

Does anyone know a trick for preventing avocado from turning brown after it's cut? I've tried leaving the avocado pit in the storage container with the avocado, but that doesn't seem to help.

After dinner, we popped some popcorn and watched The Fighter.

(image from IMBD)

I liked it, but boxing scenes are hard for me to watch. I'm really glad that Peter is not a professional boxer! I could not handle watching his matches!!! I also had a hard time understanding what the characters were saying through the thick Boston accents. A trip to Boston might be in order so that I can learn the local language :)

On Saturday, I ran some errands and went to the mall to pick up a few make-up and skincare items that I had run out of, and then that night, Peter and I went to see the Royal Danish Ballet perform Napoli at The Kennedy Center in DC.

Waiting outside of the Kennedy Center before the performance. I love that we have identical squints in this picture (we were staring straight into the sun when this was taken!) :)

I took ballet lessons at Ballet Memphis when I was younger, and I thoroughly enjoy going to see performances now. Peter did not take ballet lessons when he was younger :) , but he's still a good sport to go with me and likes the performances too. This was my first time to see the Danish Royal Ballet and to see Napoli performed. The male dancers with the DRB were especially good!

On Sunday after church, we did nothing which felt pretty good. Naps and reading on the couch and watching baseball games on TV were made for Sunday afternoons, I think :)