Archive of ‘Life & Adventures’ category

Photo of the Week – Week 5

This past weekend we celebrated Dianna’s upcoming wedding with a Bridal Shower. This was the first of many exciting events to come in the next few months. Along with the bridesmaids, Dianna’s mom planned a lovely afternoon brunch for Dianna and her closest ladies. Even a few of Di’s best college friends made the trip up from downstate to help celebrate!

Dianna has a larger bridal party, so it was nice to have the afternoon to spend together before the Big Day. We were just missing two bridesmaids who live out of town, however this is one of my favorite moments from the day.

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Photo of the Week – Week 3

For Cara’s birthday, she decided she wanted to head north to her old stomping grounds and spend a few days skiing. Back in high school and college she used to be a ski instructor with her Dad, in fact her Dad still is! Liz and I took a day off work and met Cara and her husband Chris up at the mountain. It was a great day! We had beautiful conditions and being that it was in the middle of a non-holiday week, we basically had the mountain to ourselves.

After lunch we were hit with some fresh snow. It made for awesome skiing! At the top of the mountain, Cara and I stopped for a quick photo in front of one of the more difficult trails. We refrained from taking a run down, well mostly because of the CAUTION sign. Not to mention the fact that this was my first time on a mountain in about three years. I was not quite ready for such difficult terrain. This picture really just shows how hard the snow was coming down at this point. Still a fun, memorable shot!

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Photo of the Week – Week 1

You will see “Photo of the Week” all over the internet; whether it be on a blog, a social media page, or a major news website. It is a great way to reminisce on the week behind you and remember your favorite moment. I decided to create my own blog series to sort of document my year in photos. I think it will be fun to look back after week 52 and see how my year went. So here you have it folks. My first posting of Photo of the Week.

Last week I celebrated my 28th birthday. There were a few delicious meals, an assortment of great gifts, and lots of cake. I feel that I had more cake last week than I can ever remember having in one week’s time. The girls at work brought in cupcakes, a friend of mine and Nick’s brought me a chocolate raspberry cake on my actual birthday, AND the girls night crew had a chocolatey fudge cake for our weekly dinner. I mean, that is a lot of cake. My photo for this week though is of the beautiful flowers that my parents had delivered to my work. They never forget a special holiday!

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USA Food Tour: Massachusetts

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When I started the USA Food Tour series I knew I wanted to conquer Massachusetts during the holiday season. My sister Michele lives in Boston and last year I discovered how wonderful the city is this time of the year. Once we settled on a weekend, I started my research to discover exactly what Massachusetts is known for. (more…)

A Build-Your-Own-Pizza Girls Night

 

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It’s that time of the month again. My turn to host Girls Night! I went back and forth on what to make for our meal. With some input from a friend, I decided to do a “build your own pizza” night. This way the girls could create their favorite pie.  Doing this would also take some of the tasks off of me; just some simple prep work for toppings and dough. (more…)

Talula’s Garden

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I talked about my trip to Philadelphia in the past few posts. One of my favorite stops on our itinerary was Talula’s Garden. I decided to write up a review to illustrate our experience. 

“A garden brings life to the table.” These are the words scripted onto the walls of Talula’s Garden in Washington Square, Philadelphia. This phrase rings true to owner Aimee Olexy who dreamed up this restaurant while reminiscing about her childhood playing in the gardens of her parents home.  Aimee teamed up with restaurateur Stephen Starr to create a magical location where guests can savor fresh, yet unique plates while enjoying a serene atmosphere. We were greeted as soon as we walked through the gates of the garden strung with twinkling lights. Fortunately we had made a reservation earlier in the day, which is highly recommended if not necessary. (more…)

Touring through the City of Brotherly Love

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As I’ve recently posted, last weekend I spent with one of my younger sisters in Philadelphia. I had been trying to get down to visit her and tour the city for the past five years. I know, I know. That’s a long time. We finally settled on a weekend and stuck to our plans.

I arrived early in the afternoon on Friday to give ourselves a full day. Melissa showed me around her new apartment and then we were off to explore the neighborhood. We ended up walking through the UPenn campus. This university was founded in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin. The profound buildings really illustrate the beauty of the architecture during that era. (more…)

USA Food Tour: Pennsylvania

IMG_5331My sister Melissa is attending graduate school in Philadelphia. I had been craving a weekend down in the city of Brotherly Love for some time now; this was actually well overdue. We finally settled on a weekend and I decided to incorporate this into my USA Food Tour. It would be a weekend full of historical sites, sisterly bonding, and of course enjoyable food.

You will probably assume and almost guarantee that the food of Pennsylvania has to be the Philly Cheesesteak. Well, you’re right. The iconic Philly Cheesesteak is one of the top items on any Pennsylvania food list. However, for those of you who know me, I am not a steak lover. I originally thought I could do a non-traditional “cheesesteak” substituted with chicken or pork but I realized that defeats the purpose of this whole food tour. (more…)

A Tapas Kind of Girl’s Night

As my week for Girl’s Night was approaching I pondered what sort of menu I should create. There really are so many options, especially with fall peaking through. I have a board on my Pinterest page with all sorts of ideas. However, nothing on there was really speaking to me.  We had been talking about doing a cocktails and tapas night in the past. So I decided to take a stab at it. (more…)

USA Food Tour: Maine

IMG_5337I wanted to get one more summer getaway in before the weather starts to turn and the cool air rolls in. Nick pretty much left it in my hands as to where we would take an overnight trip. Of course I turned to my USA Food Tour check list and narrowed down the list to locations within driving distance. I decided that Maine was the best choice for the time of year, specifically the seaside town of Portland. (more…)

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