Beachin' & Shoppin’

Thursday evening, we departed for a great vacation at the beach with our friends Tara and Rick. Even after arriving at almost 11pm, the night would not have been complete without a very tastings of beer!

Friday morning, we were pretty lazy getting up and relishing in the fact our coworkers had been at work for quite awhile while we enjoyed Lemon Poppy seed muffins and fruit salad in our pjs. Our morning also included a quick walk on the beach.

Since it was cloudy and raining we decided on shopping for the day's activity...a little retail therapy was really needed after the week I'd had! The boys were not too thrilled and dropped us off while they went to the movies. Bad mistake! Two girls running around the outlets for almost 4 hours...we did some damage. We ended up buying out most of Ann Taylor Loft, but there were some amazing deals. We each ended up with a new spring wardrobe and I found dresses for the upcoming bridal showers and weddings in the next few months. Ben and Rick were pleasantly surprised when they picked us up that we had gifts for them too! They got a lot of matching things (including matching cowboy hats and beer boxers)!

For dinner, Ben and I introduce the Kups to T-Bonz...our absolute favorite place to eat the beach. The meal would not be complete without an appetizer of Tommy Fries, baked potato wedges smothered with cheese, bacon and ranch dressing. I could barely eat my dinner! We all brought home leftovers.

Friday night was our official beer tasting night. We tried 8 different beers and different they were. It always seems our beer  tastings end up with all Stouts and Porters, but we had quite a few Belgians included this time. For several hours we spent hovered over tasting sheets, making notes and discussing beers like a bunch of nerds!  Here's our list:

Drunkin' Punkin'
1809 Berliner Style Weisse
Thristy Dog Raspberry Ale
Stone Vertical Epic
Struise Pannepot
Żywiec Porter
Terrapin Side Project #4 Dos Cocoas Chocolate Porter
Thristy Dog Siberian Night Imperial Stout

A New Landscape

Today was a particularly bad day…we recently found out I was pregnant and had our first ultrasound this morning, however we did not get news that we were hoping for. The baby did not have a heartbeat and the gestational age was a week off from where it should be. Ben and I are sad, but are looking forward to moving on and have resolved that this just was not the right one for us.

I did not feel like going to work and took off the rest of the week since I’ll be having a D&C tomorrow morning. We did not feel like sitting around the house all day…the weather was too gorgeous for that! All weekend I was itching to get outside, get some new bushes and add some color to our landscape. We figured it’d be a great day to plant some new life in our front yard!

We planted an azalea in the very front in an effort to cover up an ugly utility pole. We also wanted a breed of roses and found these great rose bushes, Double Knockout Roses, that are very low maintenance and grow tons of flowers for most of the year.

Not only did it get our mind of things, but we really enjoyed the great weather and spending some QT together!

Later we also received these gorgeous flowers from my brother, sister in law and parents. So many beautiful flowers in and outside of the house…they really cheer us up!

Human Treats!

After a scare with Freddie earlier this week and his hind leg injured, we went for a check up to the vet. This is another chore I absolutely hate. I love my dog to death, but we tend to put off his annual check ups for as long as possible! Freddie hates the vet, freaks out and becomes a Tasmanian Devil as soon as they touch him. Today was no different! Freddie is only 25 lbs and it still took three people to give him his shots, drawn some blood and cut his nails. In fact, our vet said he’s the only dog under 50lbs that takes 3 people to get anything done to him. I think it affects me more than him. Once he was done and got treats, although he really did not earn them, he was the vet’s best friend.

After we paid our $222 vet bill for them to tell us his hip is tight and he probably hurt it jumping off the bed…we decided we needed a treat of our own for enduring Freddie acting out. So on the way home we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts for a dozen and a Coffee Coolatta…DELICIOUS!

The boys dug right in before I could get a picture of the colorful dozen. I enjoyed a Berries and Cream, but can’t wait to bite into a lemon filled, or the plain, or the Boston Cream. Ben might open the box to find a bit taken out of each one!

Happy Spring!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so anxious for spring and warm weather. When stopping at Harris Teeter to pick up a few things for dinner, I decided to celebrate the day with a few bunches of fresh flowers…tulips and Gerber daisies! Let’s hope the weather continues to improve and stay gorgeous.

Snow Day 2009!

After receiving calls from my manager and auto text from the company regarding the Winter Weather Advisory last night, I still was expecting to go to work this morning. Ben woke me up around 3am and the ground was covered. When I woke up at 642am by the alarm, the roads were covered and I instantly decided today would be a “work-from-home” day! By 730am I was logged in online…I was feeling a little anxious since yesterday was a US holiday and many of my Indian and UK clients were waiting on emails and files. Working from home is so nice and comfy…never mind very productive. It’s amazing to be able to work alternatively on the couch or the dining room table all day by the fire! I enjoyed coffee in a mug and took a quick mid-day break to shower, then one for lunch. I thawed out some turkey soup I had froze many moons ago and it was perfect for a snowy day. Ben worked on school stuff, napped and we both watched the Inauguration all day…which was amazing to see history made regardless what party we belong to, what color our skin is or where we live in the world.

Finally after a little pleading from Ben, we set out for a walk in the snow. Freddie has not really ever seen the snow besides a few flurries and he absolutely hated it. He shivered the entre time and tried to pull back towards the house. For the rest of the afternoon he settled down by the fire for a long nap while we enjoyed a big cup of Hot Chocolate with handmade Peppermint Marshmallows!

We ended up with almost 6 inches of snow, but by the evening it had all melted on the roads. I’m hoping to make it into work tomorrow, but we’ll see how the roads are in the morning…ICE is never a good thing!

Forced Relaxation…

For the first time this week, I was home before 7pm and excited to have a night of TV and Internet surfing. Since the weather turned cold from our crazy weather from yesterday, I was also craving a hot dinner…perhaps an omelet or leftover chili. I guess this is my usual relaxation…

No sooner than I changed out of my work clothes and was checking my home email did the power go out…no TV, no internet! I light candles and waited a while to call the Police Station to report the outage (yeah my little suburban town still does this) and was told they knew of the outage and had a crew working on it, but it would be another 2.5 hours! That’s after my bedtime.

I decided it would be a perfect time to try a new Yoga class I downloaded that KathEats had recommended. I’m really trying to like Yoga better, not only for the relaxation benefits, but in hopes it will improve my flexibility and in turn improve my running. The class was called Gentle Hatha Yoga and is perfect for beginners. I’ve taken yoga classes before at my gym, but I always have felt funny; like I’m not doing the poses correctly. I very much enjoyed taking the class at home. There is a pictorial guide with the poses if you aren’t familiar with them, but Jackie, the instructor, is very descriptive. Best of all, the 20 minute class is free to download and they have tons.

By the time my yoga class was over, I was getting pretty hungry and decided the power would not be on anytime soon to make a hot dinner. So cold cereal and a small peanut butter sandwich sounded only slightly appealing. We keep our heat set very low (66 F) and I was already chilly…it finally dawned on me the hot water heater is gas and still works. So I enjoyed a nice hot bath by candlelight. I even found the salt scrub in the back of my bathroom cabinet…now my arms, hand, feet, legs and chest are perfectly smooth! The bath did the trick in warming me up too.

Now that I was finally relaxed and settled down with my book, Twilight, that I have not been able to put down. I knew it was getting good and honestly just a little scary. I know it’s a teen love story, but really…vampires, night time, attacks and darkness here. I put it down and started blogging! Good thing I downloaded Windows Live Writer yesterday so I could do that and upload my post when the power was back on! One more reason I love this thing.

Just as I was halfway through this the power came back on! I’m still sitting by candlelight with the tv off as I finish this. Sometimes it’s nice to be forced to relax…even if your idea of relaxation isn’t the same. I’m pretty sure I’m more relaxed now after a hot bath with candles, reading, yoga than I would be with the internet and tv!

Happy Friday!

Hello From Windows Live Writer

This is more like a test post than anything. Today I discovered Windows Live Writer and hopefully it will make it easier to post and add pictures. Which means more posts, recipes, pictures and fun updates from us.

If you have a blog, you definitely need to download this. It’s super easy and quick to set up, within 10 minutes of downloading the program I had set up a profile and it found my blog.

Other things I love so far:

• No waiting for the Blogger, Wordpress, etc websites if they are slow. This is a desktop application and essentially uploads or publishes your blog post to your host website.
• A much larger space for blogging rather than the small tiny window that blogger offers
• The drag and drop feature for pictures. No more individually selecting and uploading pictures one by one…

Only two more days left in the week…after this week, I’ll be ready for a nice relaxing weekend. Hopefully we’ll have a few updates and pictures that are blog-worthy since my little sister, Lillie, is having her 6th Birthday Party on Sat. And we’ll be cheering on the Carolina Panthers in the NFL Playoff game Saturday night.

Enjoy the rest of the week and Windows Live Writer! I’m freezing with the winds whipping outside…some Sleepytime Tea sounds so perfect, plus it really does make me sleep better!

A Little Work...A Little Play!

As usual with the New Year, I'm in an organizing mood after the dreaded thought of de-Christmasing the house. Plus, we've been in our house for 8 months and are finding out how our routine works with where things are placed. I've already sorted through my closet, so this weekend we organized the garage. Everything finally has a place and there are different zones on our built in shelves for each specific task...grilling, yard/gardening, tools and sports equipment. While everything was drug out, we swept and used the blower in every nook and cranny to get it really clean. Let's see how long this lasts!

Once the garage was complete, we pulled down all the boxes for the Christmas decor from the attic. We collected all the decorations and organized them as well. We decided not to take down our tree since it's still perfectly fresh and we are still enjoying it so much. We'll officially finish de-decorating next weekend once we take down the tree...but for now we're those people!

Of course the weekend wasn't complete without a little play, especially with some of our new things we received for Christmas. Saturday, Ben's friend Chris, who was just accepted for a Beer Master program in Chicago and Munich, came over for a little celebration of helping Ben brew his next beer. My parents gave Ben a turkey fryer to use for brewing, so it was quite interesting to see the new process. I very much enjoyed my house not smelling of wort! If you're interested in his process, check out his blog: Jamm'n Brews. His next batch is a Double Scottish Ale!!



After a much need grocery shopping trip, I spent most of Saturday engrossed in Twilight...falling in love with Edward Cullen. And today we started off the rainy morning by making pancakes on our new griddle.

I also used my Williams-Sonoma Chopper and my Dutch Oven to make a big pot of chili. It's sitting on the stove cooking now, but it smells wonderful. Since Christmas Day, when we missed a chili dinner at Ben parents, he's been craving chili. We found a 5-star recipe from Cooking Light that includes a bottle of beer. We used Ben's home brewed Cinnamon Oatmeal Stout! I hope it tastes as delicious as it smells.

Smoke's Chili (adapted from Cooking Light)

2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
2 pounds lean, ground beef
3 cups chopped green bell pepper
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (12-ounce) can tomato paste
1 (12-ounce) bottle beer
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
3/4 cup low-fat sour cream
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese

Heat 1/2 teaspoon oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add half of meat. Cook 10 minutes or until browned; remove from heat, and drain. Repeat procedure with 1/2 teaspoon oil and remaining meat; set aside.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium heat. Add bell pepper, onion, red pepper, and garlic; saute 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add chili powder and cumin; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add meat, sugar, and next 5 ingredients (sugar through beer); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes. Add beans, and simmer, uncovered, an additional 40 minutes or until meat is tender. Serve with sour cream and cheese.

Note: To freeze, cool chili, and place in an airtight freezer container or a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag. Freeze chili up to 3 months.

UPDATE!! The Chili was a success in our new DK Clay pasta blows from my parents! It had an interesting flavor that was very complex...lots of spice and a little sweet from the brown sugar. You couldn't really tell it was made with beer, but I guess knowing it's in there is good enough. It was very very filling and I'm going to freeze half of what we have left for dinner in a few weeks. I'm pretty sure this will become our standard chili recipe with a few modifications.

I'm off to spend the rest of the evening with Edward Cullen!

Oh Happy Day!

Today was one fantastic day...and I'm pretty sure it's all because of my run. I haven't really felt myself for about 2 weeks now. I guess with no excercise, horrible eating and holiday stress it's expected. Today I took a vacation day and it was just what I needed. After suffering a headache for 4 days and spending all Sunday evening on the couch popping Excedrins and Advil, I was happy I had built in an Emergency-Finish-Everything-Up-Before-Christmas Day! (Many thanks to my awesome hubby, who made me a steaming hot bath, brought me water and excedrin and cold compresses all evening! I think I finally nipped this one in the bud!)

I normally like to run first thing in the morning, but it was 22 degrees at 8am this morning. So I snuggled in bed for an extra 30 minutes before bundling up to come downstairs and power on the laptop and do one thing for work. After I finished with a big cup of coffee, I cleaned the kitchen and began wrapping all the presents.

I still had a few last minute gifts, mostly stocking stuffers, to buy. So I around 1230pm, I headed out to Target and to get a haircut. One home we set out on our run. As soon as I found my running clothes and shoes my mood lifted! At 3pm, it was still chilly outside and my muscles knew it'd been a while since I used them, but overall it was a good run! My calves cramped up a lot after and I'll be sore tomorrow, but I finally feel good again!

Ben and I usually go to dinner one night before Christmas and we've been wanting to see Four Christmases, so we had a little date tonight. It wasn't much, but just perfect and what we wanted....Cobb Salads at TGI Fridays followed by a movie. The movie was great other than the irritating, immature middle schoolers sitting behind us who clearly weren't there to see a movie.

We're off to finish our evening watching The Polar Express and wrapping the last 2 gifts I bought today. Enjoy the last few days before Christmas!

Running Funk!

I never thought I really LOVED running and I still just like it a lot because of the way it makes me feel. But, I've been in a funk for for a few weeks and have really noticed it the last few days and I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't been on a run since Thanksgiving Day! I might not LOVE running, but I MISS it!

I was planning on the training to help keep those pesky 5 lbs I always gain during the holidays at bay. I'd been doing a great job so far of eating almost anything I wanted and maintaining my weight. After the Holiday parties this past week I just feel icky!

With our trip to Asheville, Holiday parties, Christmas Shopping and squeezing in time for friends thre is no time left on the weekends for a good run. I had originally planned on running the Myrtle Beach Half Marathon on Feb 14. and knew it'd be a stretch to find the time during the winter and holiday season to train. When we realized we were under a tight deadline to sign up for the race, the $60 entrance fee was a little steep at Christmas. I ultimately decided to not run this race, BUT I promised myself I WILL run a half marathon in early 2009. I felt a huge weight lifted off of me.

I'm really looking forward to my time off at Christmas and our really long weekend at the beach to get in some good runs. I can't wait to step onto the beach on a crisp winter beach morning for a run along the surf. Ok...I'm feeling even better just thinking about it!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Today has been a busy day full of time with family. I ate till I was stuffed this afternoon and may have a bite or two of dessert for dinner, but I doubt I can fit anything else in. This is a quick post since I've been busy packing for our trip to Asheville and spending the evening with my sister looking through the Black Friday Ads. We'll be up early to start shopping and be done before 8am!! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Today I'm Thankful for:

~All the delicious food that was prepared today: It's incredibly sad to think so many people went without food today and I stuffed myself until I was miserable.

~Being able to spend Thanksgiving with both of my grandparents...as well as my aunt, cousins, siblings, parents, etc...

~Black Friday Ads: I love shopping and looking through the ads is just as fun

And...my list from Wednesday:

~Having a few days off from work to enjoy with my family, shopping and Ben

~All of the traditions we've established over the years and all of the memories they will bring us!

~Flannel PJ's: I'm packing them to keep warm in the mountains...so cozy!

After a round of early shopping...we're off to Asheville. Have a great weekend.

A little change...

I figured it was time to change up the view a little bit. Don't you love the new blog look? The last template I found was a pain to update and every page element I had was lost, but these new templates were just a click of the mouse! So expect the changes more often from now on.

Today I'm Grateful for:

~This new website for easy blog template updates: Ok it's probably not new to everyone else, but I just recently found it

~Vera Bradley Planners: My mom and I get new ones every year and I love nothing more than spending an evening putting all the new stickers on the holidays and writing in birthdays. Traditionally, we buy them in Williamsburg at the Yankee Candle Flagship store, but this year they were all out. Once home, my mom went to Merle Norman and got us one each. I missed putting everything together with her this year!




~Ice water: Tonight I'm super thirsty from my 40 minutes on the elliptical and I've downed several glasses of ice cold water. It's so refreshing.

Hard economic times...

Today I safely survived the 3rd round of layoffs in the past 7 months at my company! I feel incredibly lucky to still have my job, but still a little unnerved that my time may be coming. If the market does not turn around there will be more...the financial services industry is suffering big time! And they way things are looking, this is just the beginning of the recession.

By 9am this morning, I lost 2 friends at work to the "workforce reduction." It's pretty sad to say, that at 27 years old, I've been there. I was laid off in May 2007, and while it was for the best, it still hurts. All the unknowns are the worst and I really things turn around for my friends, especially right before the holiday season.

Needless to say today has been tense. Tonight I'm being productive in preperation for our busy weekend. My to-do list tonight:

~Unload the dishwasher
~Clean the kitchen and dirty dishes
~Fold the last load and laundry
~Put way all of our clothes
~Set up online bill payments
~Finalize the menu for the dinner party Sat.
~Give Freddie a bath (IF I have time)

So I better get moving....

Today I'm VERY grateful for:

~My job: Sometimes, like last week, my job is stressful and boring, but that fact I still have it today gives me a little bit of security.

~My managers: That they see my talent and intelligence and recognize my hardworking values.

~Myrecipes.com: This is my go-to site for any recipe for any occassion, mostly because it houses all of the Cooking Light recipes which I love.

Exhausted...

It's only Sat. night and it's been a super busy weekend! Finally the week is over and hopefully next week at work will go a little smoother as things begin to settle down.

Friday after work, I was successful in convincing Ben we should paint the living room this weekend. So we headed to Lowe's to pick paint colors and then TGI Fridays for dinner. We headed to bed early so we'd be up early to get started.

We choose a Martha Stewart color, Spiney Sea Urchin (bright green) for the main living room picked goldy-yellow called Delightful Moon. It blended so well with our countertops, as well as the other decor we already have.

So, today we've been taping, painting, cleaning...such a long day and it always takes longer than you plan. I never got my run in, which means I'm running 6 miles tomorrow without any other training this past week. After we got cleaned up from painting, we headed to my mom's for Alex, birthday dinner. He will be 20 on Monday and requested my homemade lasagna for dinner!

Tomorrow is another busy day:
~Run 6 miles
~Paint accent wall
~Laundry
~Get 2 tires fixed
~Sam's to buy special beers for our beer tasting dinner party next Satuday

Since Friday was so busy...my gratitude list includes:

~Jeans: I get to wear them every Friday and it's so easy to pick out a shirt. Plus, they are so comfy!

~Paint colors: Looking at the array of colors gets some excited. I love looking at the paint swatches even when I don't need to pick out any colors.

~Getting in bed at 10pm on a Friday: By the end of the week I'm exhausted and keeping on my schedule helps me to get the weekend off to a great start.

Today I'm grateful for:

~Birthdays: In honor of Alex's birthday, I love getting together with family and friends for any celebration.

~Our House: Ben and I have enjoyed being homeowners and making a house into a home. We're slowly checking off the to-do's to make it personal to our tastes and how we always thought our home would be.

~Photos: As I putting everything back in it's place I got a chance to take more than just a glance at the pictures we display...such happy memories from our wedding, travels, and family events over the past several years.

I Spoke Too Soon!

As many of you know my job revolves around a monthly schedule...they come and go and next thing I know it's the next month. Quarter end closes are the worst and now that the "worst" is over from last month, I thought this month end would be lighter volume, less breaks, and mainly everything would work. I guess I spoke to soon....Murphy's Law!

Nothing seemed to work today...if it wasn't one thing, it was another...slow systems, unexplained breaks, system feed issues...you name it happened. After another 11 hour day and working through lunch I drove home in the dark (again) and wet roads. Nevermind I have an eye infection and my vision is so bad my glasses need updating...AGAIN!

But once home, I enjoyed a big bowl of White Bean Chicken Chili from the crockpot, a corn muffin that Ben made before he left for work, and a big glass of Sauvigon Blanc! I see a trend here...work, food, wine, sleep!

Today I'm grateful for:

~Crockpots: It's an amazing feeling to walk in the door after an 11 hour work day to house filled with good smells and dinner basically on the table! Good thing I got my act together with our meal planning this week.

~Contacts: Without them I don't know how I'd be able to see clearly...just waiting on my eyes to stabilize so I can get LASIK.

~Rain: While I hate it while walking to the car, driving home in it...it's done wonders for our new little grass seedlings. And it saves Ben 30 minutes from watering it every day!

Now, I'm heading towards the couch to finish my glass of wine and watch the Election coverage, although I'm sure it'll be a disappointment. Happy Election Night!

I'm running out of time...

I absolutely-positively hate the time change! Sunday I will admit it was nice to get an extra hour or house chores in. We didn't sleep in...at 630am I was wide awake. So we got up early, I made some delicious Pecan Pumpkin Dessert Squares. I've had some Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter from Williams Sonoma in the pantry since last year.


Pecan Pumpkin Dessert Squares

1 package yellow cake mix; set aside one cup
½ cup butter, melted
3 eggs, large
1 jar of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter
2 tbsp milk
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp sugar
¼ cup butter, softened
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350° F. Divide yellow cake mix, placing all but one cup in a mixing bowl. Stir the melted butter and one egg into the cake mix. Press the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9" × 13" pan. Mix the jar of Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter with two eggs and milk. Pour this result over the cake mix. Stir the reserved cup of cake mix with the flour, sugar, softened butter, and cinnamon. Mix together until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of the pumpkin layer. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown. Cool. Cut into "2 squares. Serves 24.

Once cleaned up in the kitchen, I got the rest of the house spic and span! At 3pm we decided to go on a 5.5 mile run. It definitely was not the best...we ended up on a very busy road without a sidewalk. Plus, I was dehydrated and left with no energy. I really needed some Carb blocks to keep up my energy.

We ended a night with dinner at Ben's parents house. Ben's mom, Susan, made an amazing mexican chicken casserole that was her sister's recipe. We also enjoyed Harrison's (our 4 year old nephew) amazing Greek dip with homemade pita chip for an appetizer. I hadn't seen the Stafford's in many months, so it was great to see most of the family then. I'm not sure where the past 3 months have gone!

Sunday's Gratitude List:

~Food: I love food and cooking and how it brings people together.

~Sidewalks and neighborhoods: We live in a wonderful area with so many neighborhoods to run in...I almost took it for granted until I had to dodge a few cars on a busy street and rolled my ankle one too many times in the ditches while running.

~Fresh air: The fall brings mild days and better quality air. I love when the summer haze is gone and it's so easy to breathe!


Now...a little catch up! The time change as gotten me all of whack. I feel like it's almost midnight. Month end started at work and I usually work late. I rushed home at a 6pm and it was pitch black outside. I'm so sad my evening runs outside are over until spring. After a whirlwind trip to the grocery store and back...I'm pleased to say we only spent $58 for a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners...all homecooked meals!

I've been slack in my cooking lately and I'm so sick of all the frozen and pre-prepared dinners we've been eating. Even though we didn't eat until 845pm...I was so much happier sitting down at a candlelight table eating fresh sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and our favorite crunchy baked chicken. Definitely worth all that hard work!

Today I'm grateful for:

~Fresh veggies: They've been missing from my diet and my body is craving them now. The freshest veggies only need a little seasoning and are so sweet and delicious.

~Wine: I love coming home to a nice glass of wine with dinner. It makes it feel special, even if it is a week night.

~Daylight savings: I hate it being so dark...I get so depressed during winter and wish we had daylight savings time all year long!

Happy Halloween

What a fabulous day! After work tonight, we handed out candy, made pizza just like any regular Friday night. Since we've been married we've sort of established a Pizza Night on Fridays...always homemade pizza too! After the trick or treaters Ben suggested since we didn't have any real Halloween plans, we go to Tyler's for a Pumpkin Beer. While at Tyler's we ran into our friends Tara and Rick...fellow beer snobs. We ended up closing down the Tyler's with them for the rest of the evening.

Friday's Gratitude List:

~Fridays: There is something magical about Friday evenings. You have the entire weekend ahead of you and you know you can sleep in the morning. Ben and I also love our Friday night tradition.

~Pizza: Especially homemade.

~Tyler's Taproom: It has by far the best beer menu in Raleigh and it's great that its our backyard pub just right down the road.

And today was just one big lazy day...after a little cleaning, Ben and I set out for downtown Raleigh for a date night. This summer we had purchased several discounted gift certificates to a few restaurants from restaurant.com. Tonight we had dinner at Sono...it was so nice to order drinks, appetizers, sushi, entrees and dessert! We definitely spoiled ourselves. The total bill was $109 and our gift certificate was worth $100...which we bought for $12! Can't beat that!

Sono was delicious...great atmosphere and located near the Fayetteville Street Mall area downtown. We shared Firecracker Shrimp with Sweet & Sour Sauce, a sushi roll that had crab, avocado, cream cheese & jalapenos, then fried. For entrees I got the Pan-seared Sea Bass with aspargus and rice. Ben had an amazing ribeye steak with wasabi mashed potatoes. And for dessert I had a cappuccino ganache dessert and Ben's was a White Chocolate Raspberry mousse. Everything was delicious and we'll probably go back.

We're relaxing for the rest of the evening...setting our clocks back and getting an extra hour of sleep. Tomorrow must be a productive day which includes a long run!

Today I'm grateful for:

~Dinner out: Everything tastes better when it's gourmet and someone else cooked it.

~Turkish Towels: I put out my favorite chocolate colored towels today that we received for a wedding gift. I love these towels...they are so big and fluffy!

~Lazy Saturdays: The past few weeks have been pretty busy. It was so nice to sleep in and lazily drink coffee on the couch this morning. We had no where to go and nothing else planned other than dinner tonight.

The Shopping Extravaganza!!

I just got back from our Girl's Shopping weekend in Williamsburg. So much fun! It went by way to quickly, but I'm glad to be back home and relaxing a little before the week starts.

Friday we arrived in Williamsburg and hit the Pottery Outlets. It's pretty old and run down, mostly filled with junk, but somewhere in there I picked up some curly branches for a vase for our bedroom, a flatware chest and some goodies from the Pepperidge Farm store. We finished the evening off with dinner at the Stoegbauer's. It was great to see them even if Steph is all the way across the country in Seattle. She called just as we finished dinner...delicious London broil, mushrooms, asparagus and salad.

Saturday we spent shopping all day...and when I say all day, I mean ALL DAY! We left the hotel at 930am and did not return until after 10pm! We did stop for a picnic lunch in the parking lot of the outlets and dinner at Outback.

Sunday we packed up our loot, made a few last minute stops for a few things we missed on the first pass through. Then, met for lunch at TGI Fridays and said our goodbyes until next year...

Shopping wise...I did awesome. I've been saving for this weekend for months now. I pretty much stuck to my list of things I've been meaning to buy and looking for, as well as bought several early birthday and Christmas gifts. Here's the total list!

~Flatware Chest
~Curly branches
~Pepperidge Farm goodies
~Orange Banana Republic Shirt Dress
~Purple Banana Jeweled sweater
~Royal Purple Cowl neck sweater from Banana
~Button funnel neck sweatshirt from Banana (sooo comfy)
~4 new camisoles
~ Gold earrings and long matching necklace
~Beach hat from Columbia
~Fleece headband for running this winter
~Under Armour compression shirt for running
~Metal welcome snowman for the lawn
~Chunky green throw for our new sofas
~Beer Mug Christmas ornament for Ben
~White t-shirts for Ben
~3 new outfits for Laura and Lillie...Christmas and Birthday gifts
~Yankee Candle tarts
~A few other Christmas gifts that I can't say!!

Since I was out of town and left the laptop at home, here's my list of things I'm grateful for for Saturday:

~Text messages: Ben went out to a friend's house and was driving home late a night with a cell phone that was temporiarly out of commission. I went to bed and he texted me at 1am to let me know he was home. I slept so good after that knowing he was home safe and sound.

~Clarks: the most comfortable shoes I own. I knew Sat. would be a long shopping day and these are so comfortable.

~Picnics: Until this year there hasn't been any food places at the Williamsburg outlets. We decided to do a picnic this year. How fun...we had a huge smorgesboard of dips, chips, fruit, sandwiches, crackers, cookies, etc... Perfect fuel for a long shopping day.


Now that I'm home...here's today's Gratitude list:

~The sun for finally coming out behind the clouds again

~MY memory foam pillow: I forgot it this weekend and I really missed it. The hotel pillows were feathery and mushy with no support.

~My FOM pillow from Brookstone: Ben gave me this purple heart shaped pillow almost 4 years ago and I love it. I sleep with it every night and travel with it every where. It's perfect for naps in the car!

A Frosty Fall Weekend!

Our weekends are always jam-packed and this weekend was no different! We definitely could have used an extra day to fit it all in and catch up on our sleep. Friday it finally turned chilly. I snuck away from work a few hours early...Ben fixed homemade pizza with sun-dried tomato chicken sausage, bell peppers and onions. We enjoyed pizza in front of the fire...our gas logs quickly heated up the downstairs so it was nice and cozy.

I was actually delighted to start Saturday morning's run being cold. It was a very nice break from the sweat-drenched runs for the past few months. I'm sure I'll be hating it in a few weeks. My run was fantastic...not my fastest, but a nice relaxed 5.16 miles at a 10:00 pace!

Saturday also included finally picking up our coffee table and end tables. We rushed home and unpacked them before heading to Kim & Jeff's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in North Raleigh and we couldn't be happier for them. After an unfortunate event of losing their reception site one week before the wedding, they found a wonderful site in Wake Forest. Despite being a little chilly, we had a fabulous time. Dinner and the cake was amazing...the cake barely looked like cake!

Sunday we continued our hectic weekend heading to Charlotte for the Panther's game. It was me and the boys this time as we celebrated Shane's birthday. What a great game...we were so excited to see Jake and Company pull out an awesome win. With this crowd...good beer is always plenty. Fun fact: Carolina Beer introduced the Red, Wheat and Blue beer this year at the Panther's game and they haven't lost a home game yet. You know we helped continue that tradition at the game!

Happy Fall Ya'll

This past few days have a been a perfect fall weekend...minus my nasty cold! I hate being sick on the weekends, but I guess it's better than suffering at work. And taking a few days off right now is not an option! I just wish I could have enjoyed the beautiful weekend more...there was no running this weekend.

Before I started feeling so bad, my mom and I enjoyed an evening being serenade'd by Michael Buble. I had no idea how funny and charming he was! She spent the night with us and after a few cups of coffee to get us going, we headed out to Lowe's. She offered to help me paint our new adirondack chairs from Kim & Stephen. We decided on "Piano Brown" for the color and the paint went on pretty fast. I'm so pleased with the color and how it complements the front porch.



While we were busy painting, Ben aerated the lawn and applied some weed and feed. Hopefully this will get our lack of a yard off in the right direction.

Since I was a little under the weather, we spent the rest of the weekend being lazy and watching football in between mulitple naps. Late Sunday afternoon I was itching to get off the couch, so we ran a few errands (mainly to get more cold medicine and Shower Soothers) and picked out our pumpkins. Ben wants to carve them, but I'd love to keep them as our front porch decor through Thanksgiving. We'll probably end up carving them and buying more!