Thursday, October 28, 2010

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.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

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)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Hello Mr. Spider

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


IMG_8542


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.


IMG_8546

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.

IMG_8347

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).

Monday, October 25, 2010

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:

096


Bridesmaids at the wedding with the bride:

014


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:

IMG_8355

Me & Daniel at the dinner party last Saturday:

IMG_8416

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.

IMG_8466

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:

74332_10150090555535289_638440288_7417747_5676414_n



An apple in a tree:

67440_10150090555740289_638440288_7417753_6406246_n



Pink Lady apples:

IMG_8522


IMG_8484

Here is a cool overgrown building on the orchard:

72242_10150090555175289_638440288_7417735_7129059_n



Me & David:

74661_10150090571380289_638440288_7418056_4609654_n

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:

IMG_8539

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.

IMG_8538

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Hi

Hello there, fall.

IMG_8339


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.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

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)

Albrecht-135


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

homemadesalsa


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.

IMG_8120


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.

IMG_7155


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.

IMG_7990

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.

Picture 258

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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.

Monday, October 18, 2010

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.

IMG_8300
Red coat..it's 100% wool and really comfy. Lots of pockets on it, too. I love it!


IMG_8302
Brown dress

IMG_8301
Black dress (the same as the brown one)

IMG_8296
Cute shoes..such a steal. They are really comfortable too!


So glad I went to the warehouse sale.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Spices!

I love spices.

IMG_8272


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!

IMG_8261

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.

IMG_8275

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.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

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?

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

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.

IMG_8245

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..

IMG_8247

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.

IMG_8249

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

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Candlestick

Remember the candlestick?

IMG_8033


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

IMG_8090

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.


IMG_8101

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:

IMG_8064


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)

IMG_8079



The window..I moved the jelly jars :)

IMG_8077




Cannisters

IMG_8069




My pyrex cabinet..

IMG_8094



The top inside of my pyrex cabinet for October.

IMG_8096


View of fridge/laundry closet.

IMG_8065



Another view of the kitchen..

IMG_8089

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