cute stuff

Isn't this awesome?




$39.99 table in a bag, from crate & barrel

It would be awesome for camping, don't you think? or the beach!



I also like this color..it's Here's Looking at Hue by China Glaze. Just my style.

NYC notes

Harlem Bed & Breakfast

Metro card

Rockefeller center; ice rink, radio city music hall

Central Park

Times Square

Majestic Theatre

Empire State Building

Chinatown

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Tiffany's

Tom's Restaurant (for the photo of the outside..hello, seinfeld)

Natural History Museum

Grand Central Terminal

New York Public Library

Staten Island Ferry

Daniel's Bagels (569 3rd Ave [37th/38th Sts)

Economy Candy (108 Rivington Street)

Hello Mr. Spider

For a while now we have had this little friend outside of our door. Well, he's not really little.





He has been making webs every day all around our front window. Earlier this year I walked out the front door to go to work and walked right through some big nasty spider webs. I was scared and felt like I was pulling cobwebs off of me all day at work.

I am sure the culprit was this guy.




He was hanging out in plain sight on Sunday after I returned from apple picking. I tried to snap some photos of him while it was still light enough outside.


In other news, I am all ready for Halloween. I have my big old red pyrex 404 bowl filled with candy just for trick or treaters.



We have sour patch kids, swedish fish, twizzlers, twix bars, and whoppers (not pictured). I am looking forward to seeing all of the little kids in their costumes.

Last night we watched another scary movie- The Last Man on Earth. It's from 1964, starring Vincent Price (the guy who narrated Michael Jackson's Thriller; one of his last roles was in Edward Scissorhands).

To sum it up, everyone on earth gets sick with this disease that ends up turning people into the living dead. After they die from the disease they come back to life as vampires. The first part of the movie starts out showing how the main character Dr. Morgan (Price) protects his house from the vampires..later on it flashbacks to when he had a family, and then shows how his family died from the disease. There is a lot more to the film..but I won't spoil it for you. It really is a classic horror movie that you should see if you haven't (and you're into horror movies).

Recycled dress

10 years ago, I was a bridesmaid in my sister Bonnie's wedding. (We just celebrated their milestone anniversary this past Saturday by having a really nice dinner party that Kristen & I planned.)


Here is me and my sister Bonnie at her wedding:




Bridesmaids at the wedding with the bride:




I wanted to be able to wear the dress again in the future. I wore it for my senior prom back in high school, and it looked great back then. But I wanted to change it up a bit and make it wearable for other events, too. I decided that I wanted to be strapless and tea-length. I went to the perfect person for help: my mother-in-law, Fayth.

Fayth took all of the necessary measurements, cut the dress, turned it completely inside out and re-did pretty much everything on it. She worked so hard on it and it came out beautifully. I love my dress even more now! It was something I would never part with before, and now I don't have to feel bad keeping it in my closet because it's actually something I will wear again. I love it.

Here is my dress today:



Me & Daniel at the dinner party last Saturday:



Thank you Fayth, for doing such an awesome job on my dress. It is amazing and I have already gotten lots of compliments on it.

Apple Picking!

Me and my friend David went apple picking on Sunday. We drove out to Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, VA.



We walked along the entire orchard looking for apples and just taking in the gorgeous scenic views from the mountain. The orchard was booming, I guess since it's one of the last weekends for apple picking. There weren't very many apples left on the trees but we still got some good ones and had fun!


Me with an apple:





An apple in a tree:





Pink Lady apples:






Here is a cool overgrown building on the orchard:





Me & David:



After we got our apples, I got some cold apple cider and an apple cider donut, both of which David was too scared to try (he is really picky, hah). They were sooo good!


Then we drove back to the River city and went to have brunch at Kitchen 64.


Here are my apples:



2 Fujis, a pink lady, a jonagold, and a red delicious. We didn't get a lot, because we didn't want to carry a bunch of heavy bushels around the mountain. It was just fun picking the ones we did!

After we went our separate ways, I picked up another pumpkin to put on our steps.

Hi

Hello there, fall.




I love it when you sneak up on me. I know you've been around, even if you haven't shown yourself much. I am eagerly awaiting your arrival. It definitely feels like you are around; I can feel your presence in the air and sometimes there is evidence left behind.

I love stumbling upon your glorious art.

So, come on out. Please stay for a while.

Tide to Go!

Your worst nightmare at work:


A chocolate mess on a pair of khaki pants.


What to do????

I had one small piece of chocolate today. It was hollow, but the inside was oozey chocolate. It must be really warm in the office or something because I bit into it and chocolate oozed everywhere on me. Landed right on my pants. On the day that I wear khakis (which is a very rare day indeed).

Thank goodness for this:




So glad the girl who had this desk before me left one here. I am totally buying more. It took out EVERYTHING! No one will ever suspect a thing.

Getting to know you better...

Katie posted an entry on her blog called "Getting to know you better." It was really cute, so I thought I would follow in her footsteps and share my answers too.


What is your favorite time of the day?

Late afternoon/evening. Like around 5 or 6 ish. Just something about being able to go home after work that I really like. I like the way the natural light is that time of night, especially in the fall. It's like candlelight sometimes. (and I really like lighting candles, too)




Where and when did you meet the love of your life?

I saw Daniel for the first time at middle school. Hilarious, huh? He was on stage playing piano at a school talent show. I remember that he was the only one with real talent up there on stage. I was in 6th grade and he was in 8th grade. I was 10-11 years old. Even weirder-I knew his brother when we were in elementary school. Since 3rd grade.

Later, we actually met in high school, where we became friends.



Our elementary school



Our middle school



Our high school


What 3 words would your friends use to describe you?

funny, generous, diligent




What country would you like to visit and why?

I would love to visit Italy..I studied Italian for a little bit in college and just love the whole ancient scene. It would be really cool to see Rome and Venice..




What is your favorite dish to cook?

I like to cook really anything. This year my favorite has been PDub's white chicken enchiladas.




Salt or sugar?

Both! Chocolate covered pretzel rods..the perfect blend of sweet and salty.




What are your must have make-up or beauty items?

Lip gloss of course. and then my regular makeup too. (I think I already posted about this stuff a while back)




What are your favorite flowers?

Chrysanthemums. And tulips. and zinnias. daisies.




What do you think are your worst vices, honestly?

Maybe sometimes I care too much about things that are out of my control..I really need to just accept things for what they are and move on.



It is what it is.


At what time of your life were you the happiest and why?

Probably right now, where I am in life. Especially since I know it can only get better from here on out.

Pandora

My Pandora mix is interesting. You can choose stations and they will play music by artists who are similar to the ones you chose for your stations.






I have the following stations:


Damien Rice
Jack Johnson
Rufus Wainwright
Dave Matthews Band
Counting Crows
Tori Amos
Radiohead
Foo Fighters
U2
Howie Day
Matt Nathanson
Modest Mouse


Sometimes Johnny Cash will pop up. Other times I get a lot of Jason Mraz. And a lot of Smashing Pumpkins. And Fuel. And Tom Petty. Random.

It's weird though, because I hear pretty much all of my stations on every station..and my stations are not even blended together. Pandora really has a cool way of determining stuff you might like.

I always thought I had a wide variety of music..and I know pretty much every song that's ever on the radio at a given time. But my Pandora stations make it seem like I only like a certain type of music..when really I like a lot. Daniel doesn't get how I can have such a huge musical library in my head. It's so big, that I recognize notes in songs and can compare them to other songs, even classical piano songs. He says I have a good ear. I like to think I have a diverse taste in music.

My purchases from the J.Crew sale

This weekend I managed to get back over to the J.Crew regional warehouse sale before it ended. I went with my friend Anna. We spent a good amount of time digging through everything and just tossing things in our bags. Once we were done, we dumped everything out and made decisions on what we actually wanted, and made final inspections on everything. I ended up with 1 coat, 2 dresses, and 1 pair of shoes. A little treat to myself, all for an awesome deal.


Red coat..it's 100% wool and really comfy. Lots of pockets on it, too. I love it!



Brown dress


Black dress (the same as the brown one)


Cute shoes..such a steal. They are really comfortable too!


So glad I went to the warehouse sale.

Spices!

I love spices.




I really love Penzeys Spices. http://www.penzeys.com/
They have every sort of spice you could ever imagine. Walking into the store is amazing-the smell is so good. It really inspires you to cook, too. They also have all sorts of awesome gift sets..so the next wedding we go to, we'll be bringing a spice set from Penzeys with us!

We went last on Saturday when Jackie was visiting with us. She got us the greek seasoning spice, so I am looking forward to cooking with that one. Daniel also picked out some minty hot chocolate mix but I'm not usually a big fan of hot chocolate..I'm sure he will love it though.

There is one in Richmond-in Carytown. It was there a few years ago and then moved near Libbie/Grove area, but it's back in Carytown now.

If you're ever in the area, you must go to Penzeys.

My Chicken Chili

Last night's dinner was my chicken chili. We wanted something hearty and warm for dinner since it's been dreary and rainy here this week. This was perfect!



I had some white chicken chili mix, so I cooked a few (thin & cubed) chicken breasts. We added water, the chili mix, a can of great northern (white) beans, a can of black beans, and a can of mexicorn (corn with some red pepper). Once it boiled, we covered it and reduced the heat & simmered for about 10 minutes. Served topped with cheese.



It was so delicious and easy to make. We cooked it together. Daniel cubed the chicken and helped wash the dishes while I measured out what we needed/opened the cans, etc. Easy! Only really a one person job but cooking is so much more fun with someone you love.

J.Crew Regional Warehouse Sale!!

http://www.richmondbargains.com/blog/2010/10/09/jcrew-regional-warehouse-sale/

There is a J.Crew regional warehouse sale going on in Richmond! It's running from 10/7 through 10/17.

The location & hours are:
Former Good Wood store
TJMaxx shopping center
9125 W Broad St
Richmond, VA

10am to 8pm now through October 17th


Some of the prices:

Non-sweater tops $10
Shorts/skirts/pants/capris $20
Men’s chino’s $15
Cashmere sweaters $40
Other sweaters $20
Dresses (non-wedding) $25
Jewelry $10
Other accessories $8
Leather handbags $30
Non-leather handbags $20
Swimwear per piece $3
Jackets/coats $50
Shoes $30
Sandals/espadrilles $20
Leather/suede boots $50
Rubber flip flops $2
Red line items $5

There were some wedding sample dresses too which all looked beautiful..


If you've ever shopped at J.Crew then you know what the prices are like regularly. The fact that I can get a good pair of leather boots for 30% off the warehouse sale price (I got a coupon!!) is sooo awesome.

I was there yesterday to stake things out-going back on Saturday with a friend after our big work event before it's all gone.



Also..
does anyone else think this j.crew model has hairy legs?

Cargotrike Cupcakes

A couple months ago I noticed a cupcake cart near my office..but hesitated before buying anything. The day I first saw it, it looked pretty cool..so it has been in the back of my mind.

Yesterday I was out on lunch and walked by the cart again. This time there was a sign out with the flavors of the day, as well as some other merchandise for sale (like crocheted cupcakes!).

The special cupcake yesterday was pumpkin..so I got one.



It came packaged in this cute little natural brown kraft box, tied with yarn. It was very neat and simple. The cupcake was $2.50.

When I got back to the office I took some photos..



The cupcake was so perfect looking, and it tasted perfect too. The cake was just right-the picture doesn't even show it, but it was sooo soft and just perfect. It didn't crumble apart, either. Everything stayed intact and was just right.



They have a website: http://cargotrikecupcakes.com/

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From the website:

"CargoTrike Cupcakes sells cupcakes that are 100% homemade from scratch. In order to promote sustainability, CargoTrike Cupcakes are transported using only alternative transportation(mostly with a cargo tricycle) and unbleached Natural Kraft paper boxes were used for packaging.

Started out as a girl’s silly ambition of one day owning a bakery, CargoTrike Cupcakes has developed into an idea that promotes sustainability and the DIY culture while selling delicious cupcakes. As a recent graduate from Virginia Commonwealth University, a Richmonder of 10 years and an immigrant, I consider myself deeply rooted in the River City. I came to appreciate it’s history and unique culture, and CargoTrike Cupcakes is aimed to become a part of Richmond’s novel vibe."

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It's such a cute idea and I really hope the business is successful. I definitely think these cupcakes are way better than any of the other cupcake shoppes in Richmond. Props to Cargotrike Cupcakes!!

Candlestick

Remember the candlestick?




Here it is now, a little blurry, but you get the idea:



I spray painted it white and it's good as new! I love the look of it. It's now sitting on our bar counter.




By the way, I hate our light in the nook area. It looks so ugly and trashy! Any ideas on how I can change it up? We can't install a new light there since we're renting & can't really mess with the electrical components. I would love to have a chandelier or something there though.. :(

Our Kitchen

Here's our kitchen:




The potrack..Look at how nice and clean they are! Barkeeper's Friend works miracles! (but I spilled paint on my rug.. :( so I think I'll be getting a new one sometime)





The window..I moved the jelly jars :)






Cannisters






My pyrex cabinet..





The top inside of my pyrex cabinet for October.




View of fridge/laundry closet.





Another view of the kitchen..



I love it-it is so much bigger than the last kitchen we had. & it has color and lots of retro feel to it.