Life In the Burg!

Photo-A-Day

2012-02-23T16:23:00.001-05:00

I'm annoyed with trying to figure out how to create and import a nice little collage into Blogger--a.k.a. how to make everything look pretty on the page. Never mind the fact that my blog is in need of a radical makeover. Reset...after searching apps and blogs for a bit, I've been experimenting with the app PicFrame on iPhone and Mac--it'll hopefully give me a little bit of leeway in sharing gobs of photos with you, the reader (read: now you won't have to scroll so much through my posts). This is WAY new to me as I have about zero experience in design, layout, or marketing...so any of you folks out there with information on tips, tricks, programs, or apps...I'd absolutely love to hear your advice!

Anyhow, without further hesitation, here are the first half of my pics from the February Photo-A-Day Challenge. So far, I've pretty much failed at this task...for me, it should be called the "Photo-Whenever-Lyndsey-Gets-Her-Butt-In-Gear-and-Remembers-to-Take-Photos-Challenge". Needless to say, some of the photos weren't actually taken on the day they were supposed to be and a few may have already been on my computer and/or found online. Oops! It's still been fun though :-)

Route 322 Eastbound to Hershey, PA. My drive to work in the AM. There's a really pretty spot at the top of the hill where you can look out and see all sorts of stuff...the picture just doesn't do a justice.

Best words ever. A few of my favorite things...found on the bottom of a Lululemon tote bag! There will be plenty of yoga, running, and sushi when we hit up Vancouver in August!

Porcelain glove molds. Want.Want.Want. Mike says they're creepy. Why haven't I ordered them yet?

A blast from the past, but a stranger in the fact that I've never actually met him. My FAVORITE Twin growing up, TOM BRUNANSKY!!! AJ sent me this fabulous photo for x-mas this year--LOVE IT!

My little man...Tank. Always so studly. Can usually be found tucked under a blanket napping at 10 AM.

A go-to favorite. I could live on sushi. EVERYDAY. Sushi in my belly makes me one happy girl :-)

7.
Probably my most-favorite button of all time. I <3 the push-button start in my Prius...best button ever!

8.
Doesn't get much better. These guys can't wait for summer...they could lie in the sun ALL DAY LONG!

9.
Our new front door. We're still organizing, decorating, and putting artwork on the walls. I owe you guys a photo tour of our new home...hopefully coming to the blog soon so keep your eye out!!

10.
Me. At home on a day off. Had to get our gorgeous brick wall in the background. A little blurry.

11.
My love, Mikey...always, always, always makes me HAPPY! Taking in a WILD game in Philly :-)

12.
The clothes in my closet. Usually forgotten. Hardly ever worn. I pretty much live in royal blue scrubs, long-sleeve tees, and cardigans at work...and sweats or Lulu stretch pants on my days off (cleaning and blogging, yay!). Still love the hangers I inherited way back when I was working at Victoria's Secret!

13.

Blue. Such a happy MN. I saw this print when I first joined Pinterest (pretty sure I re-pinned it from Kels' board) and loved it so much that I bought one. Now I'm searching for the perfect place to hang it!

14.

Heart. So, this obviously was supposed to be a photo of a heart (for Valentine's Day, duh!). But, while I was out on Valentine's Day I drove by Harbour House Crabs on the Carlisle Pike and about lost it when I saw their sign! Totally had to stop and document their unique marketing. Give your Valentine Crabs <3

15.

I <3 my iPhone. So lovely. If you have one, you know what I mean; if you don't, you should own one.

Stay tuned for the second half of the photos from this month. Feel free to join in on the fun if you'd like! Here is my original post about the challenge, and as always this month's subjects (and next) can be found over at FatMumSlim...happy hunting!

A Bread in the Oven (Yes...Bread, not a Bun)

2012-02-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's baking day...and I must say, the house smells fabulous! By the time you read this it really won't be baking day at all, but you can pretend...and I'll be eating a slice of my newest creation for breakfast :-)

I had a few neglected bananas sitting on the kitchen counter getting themselves all soft and brown. They were just screaming for me to turn them into some sort of yummtastic banana bread. Gourmet tummy yummy banana bread. I'm always up for a new recipe or two, so I took a little time and found a lovely little recipe from Angela over at OSG; a new twist on an old-time favorite. Drumroll, please...and enter Cherry, Banana, Coconut Butter Bread in all it's glory.

Cherry, Banana, Coconut Butter Bread from Oh She Glows
OSG always has GREAT photos to make your mouth water...even before you start prepping the ingredients!

I made a quick Wegmans stop this morning to pick up a few ingredients. I might have spent just a little more perusing the aisles than I needed to because I <3 grocery shopping (especially if it's one of my favorite stores...yes, I'm a little strange...I can spend a good hour walking the aisles looking for new and exciting products to try)! After that I had my recipe in hand and the photo above for inspiration...I was set to whip up some yum. Just before the bread hit the oven I tweaked the original recipe a tad by throwing a handful both sliced almonds and ghirardelli dark chocolate chips into the batter. What doesn't taste better with a little added chocolate and almonds? Bananas, cherries, chocolate, and almonds...topped with coconut...YES PLEASE! You don't have to ask me twice!

I love, love, love the fact that breads like this are quick & easy to make, freeze well, and are a great option for breakfast on-the-go. Just slice, wrap, and freeze! I usually throw a piece or two in my bag on work days. Oh yeah, forgot to mention the fact that Mike definitely approves, too! He's a big fan of my experiments in the kitchen and is always willing to be a taste tester :-)

I was ready to sneak a crumb or two the moment this baby came out of the oven...let me tell you, it was difficult to let it sit on the counter and cool. This was my first attempt at baking with spelt flour and I definitely noticed just a slightly different taste--not sure I can put my finger on exactly what it tastes like, but it was good. Overall, the bread itself turned out nice and moist, a little crumbly, slightly sweet, mostly hearty, and nicely crispy on the outside. If you're up for it I'd definitely recommend giving this recipe a try--you won't be disappointed. Someday soon I'll have to share my favorite go-to bread...Clean Eating's Nutmeg Infused Pumpkin Bread. That too is amazing...for now, Happy Eating!!

Somebody Say Fauschnaut?

2012-02-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Fauschnaut. Fasnact. Faschnacht. Fosnot. Fosnaught. Fauschnaut = fatty donut. Made with potato flour. No hole in the middle. Traditionally fried in lard. Sprinkled with sugar. Sounds enjoyable and totally healthy. Up until a couple of weeks ago I'd never heard of a fauschnaut, and as I write this I still haven't seen one...yet. That might just change as we celebrate our first Fauschnaut Day since moving to Central PA. It's the way the locals celebrate the Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday tradition. Generally, I don't have much knowledge or experience with either. So anyway...happy whatever it is you celebrate day! My goal is to find, photograph, and devour a fauschnaut :-)

Aloha & Mahalo!

2012-02-20T10:16:00.001-05:00

I have a love affair with the islands...the Hawaiian Islands that is. Of all the places I've been (realistically, the list probably isn't that long, LOL), Hawaii is one of those places I just can't get enough of. I'd go back again and again, and again, and again...well, you get the idea. I just can't turn down the sun, the sand, and the entire vibe the island embodies. I say this cause the 'rents are headed to Kona for a little island adventure of their own!! I'm beyond excited that they're taking a little time to themselves to relax and recharge; it's been a number of years since they've taken a true vacation and they totally deserve it!

In honor of this trip (and me wishing that I was heading there for a getaway myself) I thought I'd share a few photos of my past Hawaii trips with you all. I actually had to trek up the stairs, into the closet, and page through a couple of photo albums to find these babies...yup, pre-digital era! Actually had to take 'em to get developed, how times have changed!! Major Disclaimer: I will warn you ahead of time so you don't burn your retinas looking through these...apparently clothing and hairstyles really do look pretty outdated after ten years. We were totally cool, though. Trust me.

Spring Break 2002.
KONA.
Fabulous trip with Sarah, my mom, and Cindy. Had to add the dorky photos for a few laughs! I was a little lazy and didn't want to scan them all, taking pictures of pictures with the iPhone was definitely more convenient. Enjoy!

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Hawaii Island, HI (also known as the Big Island)

Snorkel Bobs.

Pretty grainy, but cute. Wish I was there now!

Hands down, the best photo of the trip.
Driving around the island--side of the road--all sorts of handmade pottery.
Biggest Pot Dealer...obviously.

Honeymoon 2007.
MAUI and KONA.
Somewhere around 10-13 days of sun and bliss (I don't remember exactly how long we stayed...pretty sure it was closer to two weeks). Introduced Mike to the Islands and showed him a few of my favorites places, while exploring all sorts of new stuff at the same time!

Hotel balcony in Maui. Little dude tagged along.

Couldn't be better.

Pineapple sunsets.

Gorgeous sky and palm trees. Ahhhh...

Tradition--gotta get a tattoo while on the islands. I've done it twice.

Second trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Totally made Mike pose with the 'volcanic fumes' sign too :-)

It's been almost five years since we last visited...I think I'm about due (or overdue for that matter). For now, I'll have to live vicariously through all of the pictures my parents take and all of the stories they accumulate! This post probably should have been written on an Aloha Friday...instead, hope you all have a great start to a new week...Happy Monday! Aloha & Mahalo!

Superfood

2012-02-18T08:00:00.000-05:00

It's lean. It's green. It's mean. It also happens to be downright delicious and equally as versatile in the kitchen. Give up yet? I'm talking about KALE. A while back, Mike and I decided to experiment in the kitchen with homemade kale chips. Let me tell you, from that moment on we were hooked. Needless to say, I was way excited when I came across a post last week from friend and blogger, Ella Modern.

Image vía Ella Modern...head on over to check out the blog and grab the recipe!!

I grabbed a few ingredients at the store and with just a little slicing and dicing, viola! I ended up with a delicious little lunch salad full of some of my favorite things! The carrots add just a little sweetness, the avocado is nice and buttery, and the sunflower seeds add just enough crunch. Mike and I both enjoyed it so much, I figured I should let the rest of you know, too! Believe me, there's already another batch in the fridge to get me through my weekend at work.

I'd be more than happy to hear about other KALE recipes you've tried and loved or for that matter, any other recipes worth trying! I'm always in the mood to try something new! Enjoy the weekend :-)

Vancouver, BC Bound

2012-02-17T12:24:00.000-05:00

Lululemon SeaWheeze says: Come see why the West Coast is the best coast…mountains, beaches and sunsets that could make Hawaii blush.

Lyndsey replies: O.K. Sure. Why not. I like Hawaii. Sounds fun!

My last post was a bit deceptive. I was doing my usual Lyndsey-is-type-A-always-plans-everything-in-her-life-so-things-work-out-perfectly-and-fit-nicely-together stuff. Well, right before I actually posted that blog for you to read, I basically said BLEEEEEEEEP! Expletive edited out of my blog post :) Long story short, take a look at the fantastic confirmation emails Mike and I just received into our inboxes...

Best of all, an exciting little present from Lululemon coming to my door and a (presumably fantastic) piece of technical running gear as part of our race packets in August. YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! Now we've got until early August to plan the details and make sure I don't have to work. Did I mention that Vancouver is also a big SUSHI city? Of course it is...just another reason I should probably live there someday.

175 Days to Go!
No chickening out now...
Happy Friday everyone!!

So...you're thinking about running a race

2012-02-17T11:49:00.000-05:00

Mike and I have been throwing out the idea of running a half marathon together lately. We've been loosely thinking about it for a while, but we've really started to get serious about it as the winter pounds have been piling on. It's time to get back into running and get back into shape!

The last (and only) half-marathons I ran were back in October 2010 when I ran the Mankato Half and the Monster Dash on two subsequent Saturdays...what the crap was I thinking!?! Mike's always wanted to tackle a race together, so we figured there's no better time but the present (and/or the near future)!

The Mankato crew! Notice a couple of us are missing #'s.
We totally missed the registration deadline...oops!

Missing from the picture above--my mom and Mike, a.k.a our cheering squad. They totally cheered us on along the course in Mankato. Loosely speaking, by "cheering us on" I also mean that they took some time to indulge in a few Bloody Mary's near the finish line...wow was I jealous when I heard that!

Last few miles of the Monster Dash in Minneapolis...
couldn't wait for that race to be over!

My dad surprised me and ran the last few miles of the Monster Dash with me...I definitely needed a pick-me-up, cause my body was not happy that morning. Oh yeah, it looks gorgeously sunny in the photo, but my feet were definitely frozen for the first couple of miles--it was a chilly fall morning in MN...great course around the lakes in Minneapolis though :-)

That brings me to the real reason I wanted to write this post. We're trying to decide on a race and of course Mike and I couldn't make it simple or easy cause that just wouldn't be fun. So we're debating making a sort of mini-race-vacation type of thing. We were throwing out a number of ideas (including the Niagara Falls International Marathon--starts in Buffalo, ends at Niagara Falls in Ontario--way cool!) until we came across the SeaWheeze Lululemon Half Marathon...'nuff said. August 11, 2012. From what I can tell, the course looks amazing and I'm pretty sure I don't really need any more convincing than I've already had.

Pretty city. Big smile :-)

All sorts of running on the water in Vancouver, BC!

I have always, always wanted to take some time to explore Vancouver as I've heard the area and it's surroundings are absolutely G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S beyond belief and because, well, I'm pretty much in love with anything CANADA. Did I mention that I also have an affliction for Lululemon? Perfect. Not to mention that if we plan it correctly, we could make the trip a Seattle slash Vancouver trip...why not!?! Seattle is another place I tend to drool over (especially the Pike Place Fish Market, totally want to go there...eeeekkk!). The planning begins. Now I just have to determine whether or not I can get the time off work (unfortunately I've already missed the long-term vacation request deadline at work...BOO) and hope that registration will still be open. Fingers crossed.

HVD!!

2012-02-14T09:56:00.002-05:00

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Hey peeps! Just wanted to drop by and say HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to you and yours on this Tuesday morning. I'm really bad at sending cards and I'm so not a romantic (I know, shocking to all of you who know me!) so consider this your celebratory shout-out....and yes, hubby...that means you too! And now, for the Valentine's Day inspiration...

Awesome little valentine card, courtesy of DeuceCities Henhouse...another blog to put on your list, too!

HVD!!! I saw this and was instantly in love with the abbreviation. This is the one and only way that I'll be referring to the holiday from here on out, hence the title of this post...I <3 abbreviations :-)

I <3 you...anatomy style. Found via Pinterest.

Who doesn't love a little anatomy!?! I thought this was great, great, great! Someday I would love to have a collection of vintage anatomy posters (obviously not quite like this reproduction) and vintage medical photos displayed in a room of my home...it might take me some time to get Mike on board though (or he might just steer clear of that room all together), not sure he feels the same way as I do.

Graffiti love on bright red brick.

DesignSponge

Clever and pretty Valentine boxes for the DIY crowd...I'd rather just show you the picture and/or have one sent to my house. I just don't know how these people think of such creative ideas and make them turn out so fabulously fantastic and polished looking, JEALOUS!

And now for the most important project and adventure of the day, these little yummies I saw while watching the Rachael Ray show yesterday...Red Velvet Waffskies! The recipe name doesn't mention the fact that they're are also topped with boozy soaked berries. Nom. Nom. Nom. I'm not even a huge fan of red velvet cake (I've maybe tried it once or twice in my life), but the idea of cake batter made into waffles in FIVE MINUTES + RED & WHITE for V-Day = PERFECT!! Can't wait to share how they turn out! If you're in or around HBG, feel free to stop on by for a waffskie or two...if they haven't already been eaten :-)

Red Velvet Waffles with Cream Cheese Icing Drizzle

Kels...this is purrfect for you!
Click here for a t-rex of your own :-)

Last but not least, the most fantastic animation Mike sent to me this morning with my V-Day email. Eeeekkkkk! There's a t-rex running around rampant on my blog...FANTASTIC! I couldn't help but laugh out loud and keep the image up on my screen all morning (and perhaps all day)!

Once again, HVD to all of our family, friends, and neighbors near and far...you're all AMAZING!!! Keep your loved ones close and give 'em a great big hug for us! XOXOXOXO

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Why can't every day be a DAY OFF?

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

My life is divided...into days that I work and days that I don't work. It doesn't get any simpler than that. I don't have a typical "office job" and therefore I don't spend all week waiting for the weekend because, well in reality, I work 50% of any and all weekends that exist. This is definitely not a complaint though, because I must tell you that I do, indeed, enjoy my time off during the week (yay me!). One of the perks of working a condensed work week with a fluctuating schedule! Those days off tend to be one extreme or the other...feast or famine, if you'd like to call it that. I'm either entirely productive (i.e. I get stuff done and therefore you don't see any new blog posts for a while) or I spend the majority of my time plopped on the couch with my lovely chihuahuas (watching daytime TV, blogging, and searching interest and DIY blogs for new home decor ideas)...all of the above make me a happy girl :-)

As I'm taking a few moments out of my day to blog a bit (apparently I've been a bit too productive lately and haven't focused enough time to BLOGGING), here's a few things that I'm loving, thinking about, and have been excited for recently...

Bertoia Diamond Chair by Knoll with a lovely gray fabric cover...drool!

I've had a recently acquired obsession with chairs--chairs of the vintage and mid-century design to be exact. Out of the blue the other day, I stumbled across a pair of black Bertoia side chairs at a local antique store. I have to say, it took everything in my power NOT to grab them up immediately! And...I've been thinking about them everyday since! However, after much thought I've decided to keep my eyes peeled for a Bertoia Diamond Chair (or two) instead...a bit larger and more of a statement piece to add to our home! Thinking of setting up a nice little reading nook in one of our bay windows :-)

I don't know which I like more...the dresser itself or the gorgeous turquoise-grey color on the walls!

This gorgeous little dresser will be making it's way to Harrisburg in the next week or two. If you remember, Mike and I bought a new bed frame for our master bedroom last fall (before our first set of Minnesota visitors came). Well, at that time, we solely bought the bed frame and currently have a pretty lonely looking master bedroom. We were definitely in need of (at least) a dresser, if not more furniture to accentuate the room. After months of searching the web for vintage pieces and just not finding the perfect dresser, we finally decided to buy a coordinating piece from Room & Board. Their furniture is definitely on the pricey side, but we're looking at it as an investment...and are more than happy about the fantastic quality and solid wood construction. We <3 our bed, so I'm that much more excited for the dresser to arrive!!

Stay classy, Bemidji!

I have to say that I'm totally loving the fact that my little brother has taken his leap into the blogging world. Much to my surprise, I woke up this morning to see the inaugural posting of the B-town Adventures...so cool! I'm incredibly excited to follow AJ's adventures in blogging, but I'm really hoping that Ron Burgundy's eyes don't stare into my soul with each post he writes, LOL. Who knew that me, of all people, would be the one to start a family freight-train of blogging!

Well folks, it's back to the grind...another work day on Friday. Stay tuned for a few more blog posts about what we've been up to in the 'Burg lately. After all, we've been through a recent move so you have to get acquainted with our new abode and we've definitely checked out a few new restaurants around town (new to us anyway) and found some great food along the way!! Oh yeah, still working on that whole Photo-a-Day thing too...it might take me through the weekend to get caught up. If you have any suggestions on content you'd like to see posted, feel free to let me know...I'd love an idea or two!! For all you nine-to-fivers out there, enjoy your Friday and have a fantastically happy weekend :-)

Challenge!

2012-02-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm going to give it a try...a month and two days behind, but FatMumSlim's Photo a Day Challenge. Hopefully it'll give me a way to get back into taking photos and maybe, just maybe learn a little about my camera and how to work it, too! Keep your eyes out, you may end up seeing a few of my photos posted to the blog as well. If you're interested, head over to FatMumSlim's blog and join in on the fun...I'd love to see your photos, and I just HOPE I can remember to take mine :-) Happy February!

2.2.2012

2012-02-02T09:21:00.002-05:00

Happy Groundhog's Day or Happy Woodchuck Day as Jen would say!!! I'm still trying to figure out how Phil saw his shadow this morning. I mean, really...there's nothing but cloud cover outside...not even a hint of sun! Clearly, my own prediction was wrong. Good thing I'm not the official groundhog :-) Although, I have to say that if I would have known Punxsutawney Phil's track record over the years, it may have swayed me a bit. He's only not seen his shadow like a total of 16 times since they started keeping track back in 1886. If I had to make an educated guess, I think Phil's just lazy and wants to go burrow back in his hole for a few more weeks--and us damn crazy people just keep waking him at the crack of dawn. How rude! Anyhow, I guess winter hasn't been so bad anyway so we should be able to handle six more weeks.

BTW...we're totally going to make plans to head up to Gobbler's Knob for the big Gorundhog Day celebration next year. Gates open at 3 AM. Lots of food, drinks, and all sorts of dressed up groundhog day groupies to be sure. Seriously. I figure I have to experience it at least once in my life...since we live so (relatively) close and since I'm technically a groundhog :-) If you're crazy like us and want to tag along, let me know.

Fast forward...as I've been writing this post and searching the net for photos of Phil, I've read a little about the legend and folklore that is Punxsutawney Phil. Apparently he is the one and only official groundhog and been predicting the weather for a whopping 126 years. Immortal groundhog. How does he do it, you say?? The Elixir of Life. I should have known. Needless to say, in addition to the few photos of Phil I found, I had to look through many, many more of the crazy-intense people who are way, way, way too into it! Woah. We might not know what we're getting into.

Just a quick question...why is Phil being bribed with a mint milano?

Monday.

2012-01-23T13:51:00.001-05:00

Currently, I'm in my "oh-dear-I-worked-all-weekend-so-I'll-take-Monday-to-be-super-lazy-and-relax-around-the-house-yet-there's-a-billion-things-I-want-to-get-done-but-I'm-still-too-much-of-a-bum" mode. Yup, you heard right. It's seriously all too common. It is kind of a grey day outside, so I suppose that accounts for something. Plus--my lovely husband has the day off as well, so he's more than happy to oblige when it comes to relaxing.

Saturday marked the second snowstorm of the season for this part of the world (our crazy Halloween blizzard was the last time we saw snow on the ground here, although it didn't end up sticking around for more than a day or two). Kaia and Tank were thoroughly un-impressed; in fact, I don't think they'd mind if they didn't see any additional frozen precipitation for the rest of their lives. I think the only clear solution to their problem would be to pack up and move to Maui :-) As much as people love to hate snow and cold weather, I have to say I've kind of missed it this winter cause after all, it reminds me of home.

Since I'm being so lazy and not so creative, here are a few photos to sum up the weekend...enjoy!

Mike made this fabulous Red Lentil Soup from WholeLiving
on Friday...the house smelled great and the soup was beyond
fantastic (and he said it was super easy)!!

Had to clear a little snow off the car before heading to
work on Saturday morning!

We had a delicious dinner at Jake & Jen's last night...
oh yeah, Tank and Arnold got to spend a little quality time
together, too! How cute are they??

A makeshift tribute that surfaced at the hospital after
word of Joe Paterno's death made media headlines Sunday.
The nittany lion that sits in our rotunda was shrouded in a black shawl, complete with a black tear.

Farm Show or BUST...

2012-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

I should start by saying that I can't even believe I'm sharing this with you...and then I'm going to bust into my very own PSA about trusting your instincts. People always say you should "trust your gut" when making big decisions or in the context of personal safety. Let me just say, all that goes out the window when the Pennsylvania Farm Show is in town. Ugggghhhh. I'm sighing as I write this. Despite all of the intellect and education we have between the six of us, somehow we still came to the conclusion that a trip to the Farm Show was appropriate...and perhaps even, fun?

Mike looks amazed at the size of that combine. Dave is clearly putting on his best "surprised" face and in complete awe of the beauteous machine. And yet, at the same time, I'm pretty confident I can hear the exact words going through Jake's head at that very moment (although I'll let you fill in the blank and feel free to use your own artistic license). I mean, let's be serious...do we really look like Farm Show material? Not dressing appropriately may have been our first mistake :-)

There were plenty of animals. We just walked on by while trying to find the wine.

Just in case you were ever in need of these handy tips...well, now you KNOW.
It's definitely a relief to know that duct tape sticks to brick walls...what a gorgeous poster display.

Cow butts.

For you Minnesotans out there, I don't know that I can really draw a great comparision between the Farm Show and the MN State Fair; much of the same stuff as far as the animals and agriculture goes, but definitely on a mini-scale. Animals...check (complete with associated smells and concrete covered in wet hay...gag), fried food...check (although the planning and layout of the "lines" for the food stands were subpar--as in the "lines" were just mobs of people within a large warehouse--definitely a cause for frustration, especially when hungry), and agricultural competitions...check (with more pumpkins, mushrooms, apples, honey, etc., etc., etc., than you ever expect to see).

Needless to say, I didn't take many photos. We were only at the Farm Show for about a total of an hour or so. In fact, we spent most of our time trying to wander through the sea of people moving throughout the buildings and hallways at insidiously slow speeds. We had a few chicken nuggets, french fries, a turkey barbecue, and a strawberry surprise to tide our stomachs over, and walked out the door with a trio of wine bottles from one of Jen's favorite wineries while watching children play in piles of corn. Clearly, it's now been instilled in us that we are definitely not farm show material!

A little bit of chocolate, a lotta bit crazy!

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

Uh oh, sugar world...err, I mean CHOCOLATE WORLD! We've lived in PA for like six months, but this was only our
first trip to the big hoopla that is the crazy, touristy world of Hershey, PA (other than my almost-daily drive to the medical
center...hahaha). Karen was SO, SO, SO excited to visit!!!

Yay! HERSHEY. PLANET. LOVE.

The theme-park-like ride that takes you through the fake Hershey factory...yup, we did it!

Do not attempt to eat the fake chocolate!

I told you she was excited!!!

Love him :-)

Kisses all around...

OK, so perhaps I made him make crazy faces with all of the candy...
he is a big fan of Reese's though (can you tell, he's groping them)!
What you don't see behind the Mikey is the slew of crazy, sugar-high, little children visiting
Chocolate World a week and a half before Christmas...enough to make anyone run for the hills!!

...OR...drive lightning-speed to the nearby, newly opened Troegs Brewery!

for a few adult beverages...

I heart reflection photos! Mike just thinks we look like ghosts...

The place is set up so visitors can take a self-guided tour. Basically, the entire brewery is behind a gigantic wall
of plexiglass...and there are some really neat artistic renderings of their signature beer styles scattered about the place.

They wish they were behind the plexiglass, swimming through the wall of kegs! Oh, how they wish!

I have to say, amongst my most favorite parts...how amazingly clean and organized everything was! The equipment and building were beyond clean and shiny...(obvioso, that is because the whole place had only been open for a month or two, but I don't care, cause I <3 clean and organized)!

1 of THESE = 600 of THESE = 84,000 of THESE

OK, we'll take one!

After a short little self-tour, we headed to the scratch-house, tasting room.

Growlers & Fill station :-)

Fell in love with this neato, blade-like ceiling fan...and it was bright green!

That is Karen, drinking a crafty beer! Pretty sure Pat was loving the fact that Mike and I like to drink the beeahhh!!!

As always...CHEERS!

A WILD time in Philly

2012-01-18T11:30:00.001-05:00

Oooohhhhhh...it's HOCKEY TIME!

So glad Rob was able to take in the game with us...it's always fun to see him while he's out on the East Coast!
I mean, look at that crew...how fantastic are we?!?!
However...one of these things is not like the other...I'm not really sure how that Flyers fan
was able to sneak into the photo or how he managed to commandeer a ride to the game :-)

Had to try the Crabfries from Chickie's & Pete's...mmmmm!
They were definitely demolished before the puck dropped
(mostly thanks to yours truly) so I had to insert a stock photo of
'em to share with you...they were delish!!!

There he is again!
Jen, I'm pretty sure he must have been holding my beer
while I was snapping photos...I had no control of him once
we went to our seats though!

Referee chit-chat and/or pre-game cheer...1, 2, 3...go refs!

Love the guy in the corner with the "You'll Choke" sign...LOL!

I have to say, I was diggin' Bryzgalov's vintage-styled pads...AWESOME!

A whole suite of Wild dad's in the house...intently watching their boys.

Just in case you feel like breaking out a few disco moves while you're at the game.

Nothing like a good little squabble...I think the ref just wants a hug!

This guy has a pretty important job...

Thanks for the tickets Kels & Mike...we had a fabulous time!!!

Fun Patrol...who knew!?!?

Catwoman, too! Woah...
Seriously though, who put's CATWOMAN on the back of their Flyers jersey??
Some kind of joke that I'm just not getting...

The Flyers Ice Girls...and the exact words of the 40-something woman sitting next to us...
Ice girls, I didn't know they had ice girls!
(a little bit of time passes...)
My favorite part of hockey...the fighting! My second favorite part of hockey...the ice girls!
I'm putting that on my Facebook status...(as she types away on some sort of Droid-type device)
Yup...ice girls! (snaps a photo and turns to her girlfriend) Don't worry honey, they don't hold a candle to you, though...
She definitely didn't stop talking about the ice girls the rest of the night.

Look what the Fun Patrol brought us! Our row won food $$ to a local Philadelphia casino. Winners!

The sight lines at the Wells Fargo Center were not exactly spectacular
(probably partially because the place is also used for 76ers games--the lower level seating is very shallow)
and the the SEAMS on the boards definitely ended up in the majority of my photos!
Guess I've totally been spoiled all these years watching games at the X!

The one and only Wild goal of the night...yeah boys!
Too many goals by the boys in orange though. We ended up 4 short :-/

The netting in this place was never-ending...and white!

More white netting...

One of these days I'm going to get a nice, big smile out of McSurdy...

Mike was busy drooling over the bubble hockey machines scattered throughout the arena!

We had a fantastic time at the game, even though it would have been nice to see the Wild put a few more in the back of the net. It would have been great to see KOIVU out on the ice too, but he was out with an upper body injury (insert sadface here). As always, I would have enjoyed a little Oh, Canada! too...but I guess I'll have to save that for a trip to Toronto :-) Kelsey Andreen and Mike Grosse...I think you guys take the cake for exciting and awesometastic birthday presents!! Thanks so much for making it possible for the two of us to see the Wild in the city of brotherly love, we had a blast!!!

Wild Fans, it's Time to Drop the Puck...

2012-01-17T15:41:00.000-05:00

Tonight. Making the trek to Philadelphia to see the Wild take on the Flyers. Woohoo! This girl (and guy) haven't seen the puck drop live, in person, and up close in quite some time. I mean, NHL Gamecenter has been keeping us in the loop, but that's nothing compared to the real thing. Needless to say, we're pretty excited :-) Shout out to Kelsey and Mike for the great combination birthday present for Mike and me...THANKS, THANKS, THANKS...we're sure to enjoy! (Oh, and we might just sneak a cheesesteak in, too!) Don't worry, I'll try to take lots of photos to share with you later in the week.

Coffee local.

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

I know I've told you before about the fantastically lovely new coffee roaster in our neighborhood. Little Amps. We (and I say that loosely, because I'm pretty sure this includes anyone in the immediate vicinity of Olde Uptown and/or Harrisburg) love with the place. Or it's possible that Mike and I have turned into [slight] coffee snobs as we've grown up over the years. What do you expect when you have a mom who's a coffee goddess? I'm hooked on good coffee. It's so nice to be able to walk down the street and grab some delicious HOT coffee (or other coffee-like beverage of your choice) and some equally as fabulous, fresh-baked sandwiches, cookies, and all sorts of other goodies hand-baked and packaged with love...yummmm. Fresh. Local. Caffeine.

This past weekend, the Patriot News in Harrisburg did a big lifestyle story on Little Amps, which you can read here. It just so happens that we were enjoying a few coffees on opening day when the photographer from The Patriot stopped in and felt an impromptu photo-session was in store. It was 8AM on a Saturday morning, so none of us were appropriately dressed or freshened up to pose for photos, but hey...it was fun! Nothing like some neighborhood kids "acting normal" and pretending there wasn't a photographer in the room. We follow directions well :-)

Since I've already made this into a longer story than it needs to be...you can probably guess that one of the pictures ended up being used online and in print. That's right, our faces in newsprint. Mike looks seriously interested in whatever it is that Jake was saying at the time, while Jake looks seriously engaged in staring at his coffee. Take time to peek through the photos and read the article. I can assure you that if you and yours take a trip to Harrisburg and spend any amount of time staying with Mike and I, you'll end up sauntering over to Little Amps at least once or twice, I promise.

Photo originally posted on Pennlive.com.
Click to see this and check out the rest of the gallery and see some pretty awesome pics.

Crafty beer love, Lancaster style.

2012-01-03T08:00:00.000-05:00

So we meet again. Another long, drawn out set of blog posts...by the time I finish posting pics and stories about Karen and Pat's visit, it'll be about that time that they'll be out for another visit. Just kidding, I guess that's a bit dramatic. But...their visit was last year already. While in Lancaster, we decided to hit up the LBC (Lancaster Brewing Company) as the photos below show for some mid-day food and brew. Oh yeah, and in case I forgot to mention, the weekend was Karen's whirlwind introduction to the vast world of craft beer :-)

I'm oddly in love with words, signs, and graffiti things painted on brick buildings...

Mmmmm...beeeeeerrrr! Mike is all smiles, of course :-)

This is fabulous!

Kind of a fun little bar area...the stainless steel stuff you see in the
background are the same containers you see on the left side of the photo below.

It's a cute little brew-pub (if that's the correct term)...and by little, I mean little.
This pic was taken from one end of the brewery, looking toward the other.
The entire right side of the building (both floors) are the gigantic stainless steel brewing devices you see pictured here
Everything to the left of the photo was the restaurant and bar (on the upper level) and
storage of raw brewing ingredients...yes...beer before it becomes yummy in your tummy!

We were ever so lucky to take a brewery tour...i.e. like a quick little 10-minute lowdown from the brewmaster himself...
always fun though! We'd had beer from LBC prior to our visit and it's readily available at any of the beer distributors in our area, but the place was so dang small, it left me wondering how exactly all of the beer is made and bottled there.
Mr. Brewmaster answered my question at the very, very end of his tour when he informed the group that NO bottling is done at the Lancaster facility, rather, all of the commercial brewing and bottling is done at a brewery near Wilkes Barre.

I could make a lot of soup in that pot!

We did. And then some.
Mike's car and the group in the background, getting ready to head home for the afternoon.

A happy Mike...and a stomach full of beer :-)
Oh yeah, we had some pretty banging lunch there, too!

Strawberries falling from the sky.

2012-01-01T20:34:00.000-05:00

It's 2012. Happy New Year! Our first New Years Eve in the Eastern timezone. Last night we totally watched a giant strawberry rappel down the side of a hotel. You heard me right, it was a giant STRAWBERRY! I can't say that in all of my years I've heard of anything "dropping" other than the iconic crystal ball in Times Square in NYC. Seriously. Come to think of it, it's the first time in recent memory that we haven't watched the New Years celebration or ball drop on TV in some fashion or another. Nope, we watched the Harrisburg Strawberry Drop live and in person instead.

We didn't bring our actual camera, so all we were only able to snap a few quick iPhone pics,
which is why you aren't seeing any strawberry close-ups.

NYE Fireworks!

Much to my amazement, as I searched the internet for a photo of said strawberry to share with you, I came across an article enticing central Pennsylvanian's to "Pick their drop". That's code for--there's apparently a lot of crazy things that drop in this part of the country on NYE--so find a town or municipality near you and go watch something crazy drop from the side of a building. Here were your choices to ring in 2012: a strawberry, a mini Indy car (not sure how mini we're talking), a pickle (in Dillsburg, PA of course), and a ten-and-a-half foot wrench (in Mechanicsburg, PA so I guess it's fitting). I also heard on TV the other day something about a large (not sure how large we're talking) bologna dropping somewhere. To add to the list, apparently missing from this year's celebrations were a giant shoe, a pair of yellow britches, and a sphoctogon...I can deduce what it may have looked like from deciphering the word, but I'm not really sure, quite exactly, what it is or was. Pure craziness. But I have to say it's kind of fun that PA is so into things dropping on New Years, cause I get to tell you all about it :-)

For one last 2012 thought, I decided that I have to share this with you, too. Only because I'm sure we're all going to hear about the end of the world more than enough this year...(cue the frightened gasps and scared faces) a la the Mayan calendar and it's insightful predictions. A little 2012 humor for us all...

Here's to wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, wholesome, exciting, enjoyable and meaningful 2012-- spend it making all sorts of crazy memories! CHEERS!!

Lang-kiss-tur, PA

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hi again! Mike and I are still here, stuck somewhere between Christmas and New Years. Actually, we're both sitting in the dining room, sipping on our morning coffee. I have a stretch of a few days off before working New Years Eve and Mike, well, Mike's just working from home today with an extra appendage of a dog (Kaia) on his lap...if only he could bring the dogs to work with him every day ;-) I can't believe it's already been two weeks since Karen and Pat came to check out the 'Burg. I was hoping to get these up sooner, but sometime's life is just a bit crazy...here you go, enjoy!

Thursday afternoon (yes, two weeks ago Thursday the 15th) Mike and I made the short trip
to Harrisburg International Airport to pick up our travelers...

Let's just say the place is quiet, calm, and totally void of stress...
the entire airport is comparable to the Humphrey Terminal at MSP.

Thursday was Jen's birthday, so we headed downtown HBG to celebrate at Miyako on Second Street for some delicious birthday SUSHI! I mean, who doesn't <3 sushi! I'm glad to have friends and neighbors who truly appreciate the world of raw fish :-) Sadly, I don't have any pictures from dinner since I've been a bit lax on the whole picture taking thing lately...but it could also be the fact that everything was so yummtastic that the items on our plates disappeared faster than I would have anticipated. After dinner (and a few 22oz Sapporos) we headed next door (literally out one door and in the other) to Anthony's Micropub for a few more beers and some darts.

Some stock photos of Anthony's...I've never seen it this bright or this shiny!

Gotta love the selection of craft beer on tap (or...draft as they like to say here)!

The one un-fuzzy iPhone photo I have from the night...
the birthday girl and Jase posing it up and on display in the front window!

Friday morning, after a few cups of coffee and homemade breakfast at Little Amps, we headed south to Lancaster to peruse the city streets and do a little window shopping. On a side note...I ventured down to Lancaster a couple of weeks ago (for the first time) on a day off to check out the city. Cute, quaint little downtown with some fun shops...so, I thought it would be a fun morning/afternoon activity for guests!

Downtown Lancaster...Queen Street bus station

All decorated for the holidays...no snow in sight, though.

Fun little sign...I assume radio or TV station of some sort.

I was so, so, so glad that I could snap a quick picture of this to share with all of you.
The name of the city is LANCASTER...so I assume the normal pronunciation would be lan-cast-er, eh?
Well, you'd be totally wrong, it's lang-kiss-tur as the photo shows...or as people really say it link-iss-tur.
Needless to say to the dismay of many central PA natives, I remain stubborn and utilize my midwestern pronunciation :-)

Building Character, a collection of shops/booths selling just about anything
and everything. Love the unique, repurposed, and vintage items scattered about...
and they have a great architectural salvage area with tons of old keys, knobs, doors,
signs, windows, etc., etc., etc.

Byfar my most-favorite store in all of Lancaster...Mommalicious & My Aunt Debbie.
Sort of a combination small-scale Anthropologie meets Hunt & Gather
(a south Minneapolis must if you haven't already been there...I promise, you won't be disappointed),
but much, much less congested. I wish this store was right down the block from me!

Hehehe...cute little awning poles all
wrapped up in old sweaters. L<3VE!!

Oh my, antler love in the front window!! I'm not all about the hunting/trophy head on the wall
of your home, however for some odd reason, I'm extremely interested and intrigued by the
quirky and kitschy "decorate with antlers around your home" trend!!

Awning/ceiling above the sidewalk in front of the store...decorated with old doors, too cute!!

Another reason I first headed down to Lancaster. Green Scene...a variety of different
green and eco-friendly products for use around the home. I'll be going back again soon
to stock up on their CommonGood laundry and cleaning products...sold in BULK and refillable bottles!

Can't forget about Occupy Lancaster...Pat was cheering them on :-)

Cute little intersection at the heart of downtown Lancaster...all decorated for Christmas!

The mounted police kinda add to the small-town nostalgia

What you don't see here is the whole host of other small little vintage shops tucked in and around the city. Once I started looking for them, they seemed to pop up out of nowhere...you just have to look! Mike and I definitely need some time to go and do some more vintage exploring at some point in the near future. Oh yeah, and we'll most likely be heading back to the Lancaster Central Market to pick up some kitchen goods and mouthwatering grass-fed, free-range meats and homemade cheeses (had a really, really, hard time passing by the guys selling their homemade goat cheese...it looked delicious)!

!YADHTRIB YPPAH

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

***DARNNIT...some of you may have gotten a sneak peek of this on the 29th, while I was writing it. Guess my fingers clicked the button a little too soon, as it wasn't supposed to be posted until today, the 30th. Hope there wasn't too much confusion!***

It's a special day in the Andreen household...one of those days where we all come together to CELEBRATE!! Why, you ask? Well...the time has come to wish my DAD another

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

On this day, not more than a few moons ago, he entered this lovely world :-)

Dad--I hope you have a fantastic birthday...a day to relax (at least a little bit @ some point during the day) and take in everything around you...and I hope you picked something delicious to eat for your birthday dinner (if I had to make an educated guess, I'd say mock chow mein, although I'm guessing you guys may head out for happy hour and apps somewhere). Either way, enjoy your day! But before you go, a few entirely random birthday facts...of which I can't 100% verify their accuracy, but I don't really care cause they're still fun!

Since your last birthday, 31,536,000 seconds have passed

The world population has grown by around 76,570,430 since your last birthday. In the time it takes you to read this, another five babies will have been born.

You just so happen to share your
birthday with pro-golfer Tiger Woods
and Today Show anchor Matt Lauer
--whom you can proclaim is, indeed,
older than you are

...although Tiger Woods is not :-)

In 1817, the first coffee was planted in Kona, Hawaii...good thing, too, cause coffee is delicious and Hawaii is amazing!

In 1954, the 24-second shot clock was first
introduced in professional basketball
(in a game where Rochester played Boston)

On this day back in 1981,
Wayne Gretzky sets an NHL record
for scoring his 50th goal,
just 39 games into the season...woah!

From PA, the four of us (fur kids included) are wishing you

A VERY HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY We love you and miss you!!!

Lords and Ladies

2011-12-29T11:48:00.001-05:00

Not that really any of you care, but I thought I'd share my excitement with you anyway...this afternoon, I'm FINALLY heading out to get my hair done. This girl is in dire need of a nice cut and color, cause let me tell you, right now my hair is downright nasty...I can hardly handle it! Eeeekkkkk! Driving down Second Street in downtown Harrisburg on my way home from work each day, I one day noticed a cute little place--the exterior paint and awning drew my attention right away--just so happens it turns out to be a salon. Viola! Why not give it a try, right?!?! Here's a sneak peak...

Lords and Ladies Salon, Harrisburg. I mean, really!?!?!
I'm so in love with the silver, feathery, art piece above the door...
coupled with black paint. Love the color palette...fantastic!

OK, so as I write this today, I've already been to the salon once...but...today, I'm trying a different stylist. And, since I have absolutely no freaking idea what to do with my hair (and absolutely no artistic eye or ability to visualize what might look good or not so good), I've decided to defer to someone who knows best...and hand over the artistic control to the stylist in hopes that he'll make my hair look fabulous! I know, right...can you believe I'm uttering those words out of my mouth? What's gotten into me? I know the ICU; a good stylist knows hair...I don't expect anyone to come into the hospital and tell me how to care for someone with an EVD on a ventilator (although you better believe that it does happen sometimes), so I'm not gonna pretend I know what's best for my looks ;-) Keep your fingers crossed...let's hope I walk outta there with a bangin' new hair style!! Happy Thursday, friends!!

Adventures of the Furkids

2011-12-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Some updated photos of the fur kids, since some of you have been asking...
Tank totally excited for the hockey season or he just found a very comfortable spot on the bed to take a nap.
FYI, we were apparently in the midst of putting away clean laundry
cause our 2nd bedroom definitely doesn't look like that on a regular basis!

Kelsey sent a care package for Halloween! Kaia's not so sure about the whole costume thing.

Maybe she just really wanted to be a frog instead of a chicken.
I'm pretty sure the majority of our dog clothes/costumes come compliments of Kels!
Now, if only I could find some costumes for her kitties...

Ah yes, Tank the chicken. I don't think he's fooling anyone.

Basking in the sun...it's what chihuahuas do best :)

Waiting patiently on a recent trip to the vet.

The Random, The Bizarre, and The Hilarious

2011-12-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

Apparently I've acquired a weird knack for finding crazy, random signage scattered around town. I guess it probably comes from my skills of observation and attention to details. Here are a few wacky things I've seen of late...don't get me wrong NONE of these are as funny as the "dolphins rape people" sticker we saw in NYC, but they're still good for a laugh! Consider this your disclaimer...there may or may not be a few inappropriate words and phrases contained in the following pictures :) Happy Monday...hope you all have a fantastic week (and one last week to countdown to Christmas)!!

Found on a garbage can on Second Street in Harrisburg.
I have to agree...smoking trout sounds a bit more delicious than smoking crack.
Probably a bit more legal and less hazardous to your health as well. Either way, well said.

For those of you who don't live in central Pennsylvania...they like to use the word "varietals"
in substitution for the word "varieties". After further research, the word does have it's place in
the world of wine, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't excuse the 264 other ways central
Pennsylvanians put it to use :)

This one courtesy of my fabulously handsome husband. Found none other than under the
windshield wiper of his car one afternoon after work. Svend really should have been more
observant and realized that he put the note on the wrong car...unless there are things about
Mike's drive to work that I'm completely unaware of!!

I have to say, this one's pretty awesome. A little vulgar and Mike probably wouldn't let me put one on my car,
but I assume there is definitely a time and a place where this sticker would be completely appropriate and would come in quite handy!

For those of you who don't follow my Pinterest boards, these are a few other randoms I've found in my endless wandering on Pinterest. I take no credit for these, other than the fact I've re-pinned them from others, but they're fabulous and I thought I had better share them with you :)

I have to believe there is some sort of a translation error here. Love it :)

I love smart-ass packaging.

How can you NOT love this!! I mean, seriously.

Random street art is probably one of my favorite things. I need to live in an area
somewhere where I can see things like this on a regular basis, cause this is fantastic.
Oh, and murals on old buildings too.

Just for good measure, this little guy is adorable...and I'm pretty sure he loves that stick!

Holiday Hiatus

2011-12-18T13:05:00.002-05:00

First of all, I've been a bit absent from blogging...apparently I've been on hiatus since Black Friday. Whoops! Who knew the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas disappears so easily. Seriously. I don't even have half of my holiday shopping completed and I have to ship the majority of gifts this year...eeeeekkkk! Guess I better get back to Santa's workshop!! Hopefully I'll be able to get you all up to speed on the recent events in our household over the next week or so. Until then, here's the quick recap of the things that have been going on in our lives--lots of work, waking up way too early (Mike recently joined a vanpool and now leaves the house for work by 4:15), some eating and sleeping, many laughs (as always), and most recently, playing host to some midwestern visitors which means we did a bit of touristing in and around central Pennsylvania! More photos to come, so keep your eye out.

Hope you're all enjoying the busy hustle and bustle of the holiday season. I'm still in awe that temperatures have been in the 40's-50's range and there's no white blanket of snow on the ground (perhaps another reason I keep forgetting that it's mid-December already)! Enjoy a quiet and restful Sunday afternoon before Monday sneaks up again...after all, it is the week before Christmas already...it's going to be a busy one! As always, take care and enjoy every moment :)

MINNE.SNOW.TA

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

Did I mention that Mike and I are again getting excited about some visitors heading our way from L'Etoile du Nord...the Star of the North. Yep, that's right, Karen and Pat are headed our way in just a little over three weeks--they're coming to check out life in the 'Burg and we're excited to share it with them. I can hardly believe that at that time, we'll be half-way through December already (and oh so close to Christmas)! Not only that, but that same weekend marks the end of my official ORIENTATION at the hospital...I can't believe that almost five months has already blown by, eeeekkk! Kelsey and Mike are also planning a trip out for Spring Break 2012--who knew Harrisburg was such a sought after Spring Break destination?? I'm sure we'll party like rockstars. Either way, they'll get to kill two birds with one stone since Mike's (ahem, her Mike, a.k.a Ronaldo) mom just recently relocated to the Washington D.C. area; alas, it'll be fun family time all around!

As always, anyone else who has a strong hankering to explore all central Pennsylvania has to offer is definitely welcome in our home...just drop us a line and let us know when you want to come, we'd be pleased to have you! Let the countdown to our visitors begin :-)

It's Black Friday, Black Friday...

2011-11-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

Kohl's officially has my vote for the absolute worst, most annoying, gouge your eyes out obnoxious, Black Friday commercial. And, yes...if you haven't seen it yet (i.e. if you haven't been mesmerized or brainwashed by it's annoyance already), I'm going to make you watch it just so you can share my pain, LOL! Uggh...it's on as I'm typing! For your sake, I sure hope it's only airing in this part of the country, but I'm sure it's a nationwide commercial. I've been hearing it pretty much on repeat for the majority of the week! Mike heard it once the other morning and (thought) he liked it...until we heard it 72 more times in the next three hours. Seriously enough to make me want to vom and never shop at Kohl's again...oh wait, I don't shop there anyway, well, guess I won't be starting (duh!). I can't wait for Black Friday to be done and gone so I don't have to hear this again!!!

Anyone have fun and interesting plans for Black Friday shopping? If you do, I'm sure you're already out, scoping out the deals & steals and wading through the never-ending mob of people out doing the same. Good luck! I'm otta here...gotta work the day away, I'm definitely excited to get some Christmas shopping of my own done, though! (I may have already started a little online shopping of my own). Cheers! & Happy long, holiday weekend my friends...enjoy as always!

THANKSTURKEY DAY

2011-11-24T08:19:00.001-05:00

HAPPY THANKSTURKEY DAY!

We're busy this morning putting the final touches on our contributions to the first annual SWEATPANTS THANKSGIVING! We're headed to the McSurdy's (in our sweats) to see if eight people can polish off a 20 lb. turkey and all the accompaniments. OK, so we'll probably have at least some extras for second Thanksgiving later in the night...after all, there is football on for the majority of the day. But really, what better idea than having a nice, relaxing, low-key, smorgasbord of a Thanksgiving, in sweatpants (or any other combination of relaxed-fit, stretchy, lycra-containing clothing), with seven of your closest friends, less than a block away from your own home...SCORE! At least we'll get our exercise on the walk over...(kidding, only kidding). I should inform you all that the actual concept turned into Sweatpants Formal Thanksgiving, i.e. sweatpants on the bottom half, formal attire on the top half or vice versa. However, I've decided in my own right that dropping the "formal" aspect sounds much more inviting and therefore, I'll just be rocking the sweatpants portion :-)

Of course, much love to our family and friends back home...we hope you have a fantastic and relaxing day & we miss you as always; eat lots of yummies for us! I'll catch you up on all of the Sweatpants Thanksgiving details later on, but first I have to leave you with a little Thanksturkey Day humor...

Moving on out.

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Well gang, we're moving again! Now don't get too excited, it's nothing crazy-like...but it's going to be a long trip. I don't even think we can say we're moving a whole block, more like half-a-block. I know, we're crazy, right? Well, here's the deal...Mike and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the neighborhood we found out here in PA but the home we're renting just so happens to be very roomy--probably much more roomy than the two of us and 10 lbs. of dogs need! I mean, really, right now we have just about 2500 square feet...that's like 1250 for each of us (and we thought we'd downsize when we moved out here, LOL)! We just plain old don't utilize the 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms (yes, three and a half bathrooms!) that we have now. Not to mention that I've kind of become a freak about conservation and being GREEN, so a smaller space = less to heat in the winter and less to keep cool in the summer.

As you probably know, we have good friends who live a block away (literally the next street over) with homes owned by the same company. They're smaller (yay!!) and it just so happens that there is a family currently packing up and moving out-of-state in the next month or so (I mean they're like busy packing up NOW)...how could we resist!?!?! We took a walk through last weekend--the space will be amazing for us and the size is fantastic! It still has the same style and features we <3 about our place on Green Street...just a quick review--open floor plan, exposed brick, stainless steel appliances, gas heat and central air, second floor laundry with pedestals (bonus!), original exposed ceiling beams, etc., etc., etc! SOLD! (Errr...RENTED)!

We don't really have any definite details as to when this all will happen...just around the first of the year after the current renters move out and the place gets a new coat of paint on the walls. No joke, we're seriously going to open our fence in the backyard and the fence at the new place and walk on through...it really is that close...good thing we have great friends who are easily persuaded with food (and more importantly, BEER). Keep your eyes peeled...I'll post photos as soon as I can :-)

Chihuahua Dentist

2011-11-22T15:31:00.001-05:00

Little Miss Kaia had an appointment with the tooth fairy today. I'm ashamed to admit it, but she's gone all four years of her life without a professional puppy dental cleaning...until today...and boy oh boy did her foul-smelling chihuahua breath need it. Lesson learned. Not only that, but she also ended up needing a tooth pulled, poor thing :-/ I can only imagine that she's beyond pissed and probably a little sore and needing some puppy pain meds, too. Found these pictures on Pinterest this morning; one can only assume that this is how she's feeling post-surgery...

...totally zonked

...or perhaps, completely pissed!
(This one looks a lithe more like Kaia anyway)

Could definitely be a combination of the two! Mike's picking her up on his way home from work...here's hoping her pearly whites will smell like roses :-) Signing off from HBG, it's been yet another, wet, rainy, day off where I've pretty much spent way too much time on the computer and not enough time doing productive things...oh, my priorities! That's all for now, Happy Tuesday...enjoy the short holiday week!

C.H.R.I.S.T.M.A.S

2011-11-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

There's no snow on the ground yet (at least not out here) but hockey season is in full swing and I'm pretty sure I just checked the calendar and Christmas is just a little more than a month away...yay! It's the one holiday that I actually decorate for, so I'm stoked! I don't have any decorations out yet, but as I've been looking around the neighborhood and the streets of Harrisburg, I've seen more than a few homes with lights, stockings, and trees already. I guess the stores have pretty much had their Christmas stuff out since before Halloween...hmmm. I still like to wait at least till after Thanksgiving, otherwise I'd definitely get way too annoyed with the clutter by the time Christmas actually rolls around. To each their own, I guess. Thought I'd take this time to share a few fun ideas and decorations I've seen in magazines and catalogs this season!

<3 this fuzzy little tree from Anthropologie...although I think when I saw it
in the catalog they had multiple sizes. Must be popular, cause they only had
one size on the website, bummer! Reminds me of something out of the Rudolph
the Red Nose Reindeer cartoon!

Again, more decor from Anthro--pipecleaner-like trees. Love the little red stand, too!

What a fun idea for a bathroom or side-table.
Totally in the realm of "easy enough that I'd be able to make at home".

This is too fun! Maybe not the ornaments they chose, but I love the idea of the lighted tree on the wall!

Another alternative tree from cb2...

Chistmas-love I found on Pinterest...oh so cute! I love the little grove of trees.

On another note, Christmas this year is going to be quite lame-tastic...being that it's our first Christmas totally away from home and I'll be working. Recall the fact that I worked last year on Christmas too. Mike had to play santa, put on his red hat, and come visit me at work with hot Starbucks and my stocking full of fun stuff (let me tell you, that was probably one of the cutest surprises he could have come up with...I have the best hubby)! Even worse, this year we'll totally be missing our families and the MN-love back at home. Did I mention that it doesn't even get cold enough in PA for them to have outdoor skating rinks during the winter? What the crap are we supposed to do when Mike and I want to play some pond-hockey? Uggh. Truly, I'm not even sure if the majority of Christmas' here are white with snow...guess we'll find out. The good news in all of this is that I'm not required to work two Christmases in a row, so...by putting in my time this year, hopefully I'll be able to somewhat arrange my schedule next year so that Mike and I can make it home around the holidays in 2012 (by that time, I'll probably have a little PTO accumulated, too). Even if it's not directly over Christmas, it'd be able to be sometime in close proximity...that's my master plan, anyway. It's too bad people have to be in the hospital over the holidays or I'd be able to have normal time off like the rest of the world. Such is life...I'm not really complaining, just yapping.

Familia--take note, I expect to get some emails or messages with some ideas for what you want for Christmas!! Please!! Send them to me!! If you're not already aware, possibly my very favorite part of Christmas is spending lots of time thinking of fun, unique presents for people...I LOVE shopping for presents (and keeping my purchases a surprise) way, way more than I enjoy getting gifts in return! What are your family traditions and/or ideas for the holiday season?? I'd love to hear 'em :) Oh yeah, guess I better get started on Christmas cards soon, too!

Pinning my life away

2011-11-17T21:06:00.001-05:00

Dear PINTEREST--

I hate you. Well, not really. For whatever reason, your virtual bulletin board is way too difficult to resist. Seriously. You make me waste more time on my days off than I'd like to admit...especially when my husband is out of town on business for the week. I may need an intervention. Who knew I could find and post so many fantabulous outfits, recipes (i.e. pictures of delicious looking food yummies), quotes, and home decorating ideas. I'm in <3. But really, all of this virtual posting is making me really, really wish that I had the ability (ahem...the $$$) to buy all of these lovelies and the stylist (to put together all of the color combinations, patterns, and outfits) to make my home and my wardrobe look like it came straight out of the photo itself. Perhaps someday. But really, Pinterest, you're making me kind of lazy and I might have to take a break...cause I don't really think "pinning" is an adequate excuse for not getting S#@% done, or is it?? I guess my house is reasonably clean, I got my workout in, and the laundry is done, whew. Again, I think I speak for all of us when I say that you are a bit too addicting, awesomely addicting. Plus, maybe it's actually a good thing that I'm only looking...as opposed to actually doing some real-life shopping with grown up money. Until next time...till then, I'm sure I'll still be pinning away.

P.S. I still haven't figured out why you must make your new "pinners" wait for an invitation to join your site...really?

Motivation.

2011-11-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

I've fallen off the wagon. The workout wagon, that is. And if I'm going to be completely honest...I've fallen off the healthy eating wagon, too. My current diet resembles nothing that it should. Uggghhh. Sometimes life gets busy, work gets long, friends are too much fun, it's too easy to just sit in front of the TV or the computer and stare, and habits go by the wayside. Too many burgers, too many fries, and too many beers (yes...I think I just said that)! I realize I'm not the only one...no doubt, this happens to all of us (if it doesn't, more power to ya!)--truth is that it probably happens a little more often than I'd like and a little more often than I'd like to admit to myself or anyone else! I guess it wouldn't be such an achievement if it were easy, right? My hope is that maybe (just maybe) this will allow me to RESET my vision and my focus toward living a healthy life each and every day--to move my body daily and fill it with healthy and wholesome fuel. As I write this, I realize I'm starting to sound like some self-help book...gag (I am definitely NOT anything of the sort)!

It just so happens I came across this blog post from Angela at OhSheGlows the other day: The Workout Log Challenge. It helped inspire me to re-focus and try to make fitness and healthy eating a central part of my life, of our lives (both Mike and I alike). Oooooh, and she included her version of a workout journal/log to keep yourself on track...be sure to take a look!

It's Monday, the beginning of yet another new week. This week, I'm determined to do something great :-)

I challenge you to do the same. Oh, and if you're at all interested, I'd definitely be up for some across-the-country (or closer if you happen to live near me) ongoing motivation and accountability; let me know. For now, take a peek at the Lululemon manifesto for some fresh words of advice. Not only do they make fabulous, comfortable, stretchy clothes, their shopping bags and their stores are littered with the words of their corporate motto...more than a few of the words and phrases are challenging, inspiring, and wise. Happy Monday...go out and conquer the world (or at least your little part of it)! Later :)

A little inspiration and motivation from the one, the only Lululemon.
It's a bit hard to read when it's this small...here's the larger version so you can read it for yourself :)

A Few Things I've Been Loving Lately...

2011-11-13T20:33:00.001-05:00

Danish Modern and Mid Century Modern furniture. Love the sleek lines and character of the style.
Currently keeping an eye peeled for a low dresser, TV stand/credenza, and possibly a sleek, simple desk.

Lately I've been a fan of consignment shopping...perhaps it's because I don't have a lot of other shopping choices in the near vicinity. Either way, I love, love, love this consignment shop! Found some great steals a few weeks ago including two pairs of Banana Republic jeans and a cardigan, down puffer vest, and super-cute knit khaki bomber-jacket-style zip up from J Crew!!! It's usually a stop on some of my "days off" during the week! If you have the chance, check it out!

Cleaning products. Earth-friendly, people-healthy cleaning products...that smell good. My arsenal includes
products from Mrs. Meyers, Method, Seventh Generation, and TWIST...but I always love trying new stuff!
(I know, I know...it's way cheaper just to make my own, but I rarely go that far)!

Speaking of things that smell fantastic...this is hands down my favorite candle
of ALL TIME. It is well worth the $28 dollars it costs and made me very, very happy
when I picked one up on our recent shopping extravaganza in SoHo, NYC.
(Thymes Frasier Fir is a close second...during the holidays and wintertime)

A while ago, Mike and I decided to phase out all of the Ziplock and Gladware disposable tupperware that we'd
accumulated over the years (if you don't know, I tend to be a tupperware queen as I decided years ago to stop using plastic baggies...and instead use tupperware for all of my lunches and storage). We've been slowly transitioning to glass containers (a few at a time), but are still at a storage deficit, not to mention that most are $6.99+ each--and I store A LOT of leftovers and soups in the freezer! Enter a savvy friend of mine who suggested canning jars...they're glass, they're cheap, and you can buy extra lids separately if they get nasty later on! I picked up a couple packages last week at the store and am way beyond happy so far...needless to say I'll be picking up more soon!

I could definitely think of plenty more awesome things that I've been loving lately...but I think you'll just have to wait. It's getting late on a Sunday night and this girl has to work in the morning. Too bad the weekend has already passed us by! Cheers to a great week ahead for everyone :-)

Funday Sunday NYC

2011-11-10T10:19:00.002-05:00

I've been AWOL from blogging for what seems like weeks...but somehow I still have pics from NYC to share with you. Don't worry though, I think I've just about made it through all of 'em...I promise! Then we can go on to talking and blogging about something else :-) Right now, Mike and I are taking advantage of our day off (yay!), sitting on the couch, having coffee, and watching 'Where in the World is Matt Lauer?'. Easily entertained, we are.

So here you go, Sunday morning (and afternoon) in NYC...

Good thing this coffee shop was about 30' from the PATH station as we got off the
subway from Jersey City...to say we were in need of coffee would be an immense UNDERSTATEMENT!

Cute little place...loved the tiled wall <3

...even more importantly, decided I loved the neighborhood and should move to NYC!
(until I realized that I'd never be able to afford living in that neighborhood, reality check!)

We definitely saw a film crew. Looks like a happy film company!

The crew, after refueling at breakfast!

Parking lift...this was another reminder that NYC living is spendy!

Ahhhh...at least there was a Target advertisement. Oh how I miss SuperTarget!!

If this lady knew what was good for her,
she would have gotten her shoulder out of my photo!

Cue the choir! Ahhhhh! Did I mention that I haven't stepped foot in an Anthropologie since June...yay for SoHo :-)

So I only bought my favorite candle...but it was nice just to walk around and remember the days when I could
shop Anthropologie on a weekly basis (Mike and my checkbook are clearly glad those days are over)!

Graffiti truck

Cute little cobblestone side street in SoHo

Obviously one of my other favorites...
can't believe we walked out of here without spending a dime!

Way too many stores that I would enjoy...good thing I don't live closer!

Evolution. Thought Mike should pose with Mr. Skeleton.

This store looked pretty sweet...apparently they have lots of cool (and weird, gross, and random) stuff in here
I'll have to make it a point to stop in next time!

Thank you, Jen, for giving me a new reason to love gourmet chocolate...
I guess it was only right that Mel and I introduced Jen to M.A.C. during the trip--
Jen returned the favor by introducing me to the chocolate store Vosges.

Plus! The longer you spend looking around in the store, the more samples they
offer you...in addition to the samples (yes, whole truffles) that are already sitting out
on the counter! Who could resist!?!? Mmmmm...chiles and chocolate, bacon and chocolate,
balsamic vinegar and chocolate, caramel, sea salt, and chocolate...I'm hooked!

...and for another random NYC...DOLPHINS RAPE PEOPLE? I'm not sure if I should laugh or be afraid...
if you're bored or interested, google it, there's a whole website devoted to it.

She really wanted a cupcake...

All I can say is that Chinatown sucked...and did not live up to any of the expectations I had in my mind of what
Chinatown should have been (although I'm not even sure what those expectations were)

We did get to see a street vendor getting BUSTED...
what do you mean those bags aren't real???

From Chinatown, we continued on to the Flatiron district...

and EATALY. A collaboration of celebutante chefs including the Mario Batali.
Part restaurant, part market, part grocery...lots of deliciousness!

Pasta light-fixture

Bahahaha...what a good policy!

Jake, Jen, Mike, and I took our sandwiches out to enjoy lunch outside on a fabulous afternoon
while Mel and Jase checked out the grub at the restaurant inside. Yum :-)

Another movie...believe this scene was titled "Talk to the Sea".
Let me know if you end up seeing it in theaters somewhere, lol!

We wondered why this guy was hanging around...turns out he was in on the film.
He was just undercover as a dude with a crazy backpack.

Did I mention we were close to the Empire State Building?

Walked through Madison Square Park across the street while Mel and Jase finished up lunch...

Just happened to see a gigantic Tank-like bulldog named Pancho. I assume he and Tank would be forever friends!

Brindle bulldog...he was seriously too cute, and still just a puppy!

This place smelled delish! We were just way too full from Eataly.

There were some crazy sculptures scattered about the park...in the trees.

NYC pigeon-in-the-park

Marimekko. Modern. Finnish. Fantastic patterns. <3

Fabric.

All sorts of fabulous fabric. Mom...you jealous yet?

To round out our trip...what's a trip to NYC without walking by a flashmob on
your way to the subway? You obviously can't even tell it's a flashmob from the photo,
but it was there...it wasn't very good, either.

Now that I've bored you to death with a thousand pictures, I realize that this probably should have been split into a couple of different posts, but I'm too lazy to go back and change it now. Hope your eyes aren't glazed over and hope you don't have too severe of carpal tunnel from scrolling through this hour-long post! That about wraps up our 2-day trip to NYC (which by now was about 3 weeks ago already). I'll be feverishly saving up my money for our next adventure into the city. After all, it's only a two and a half hour drive from the 'burg, so I have no reason not to get back there soon :-) From my couch on Green Street...and what's turning into a drizzly, dreary, fall day...HAPPY THURSDAY TO YOU, it's almost the weekend again!!!

Angrytown, USA

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

Saturday night...early dinner at Lure Fishbar

You might walk by if you're not looking for it...at the corner of Mercer and Prince Streets in SoHo.
Going down into the cruise ship...below street level.

Sushi bar. Fish bar. Bar bar.

Lots of starters on the house. Lots of delicious appetizers. Plenty of beer. All sorts of fabulous sushi. Great dinners.

After dinner, we decided to take a walk--on a mission to find somewhere Mel could try a Sake-bomb

This is where we ended up...clearly transported to another dimension. A freaky dimension.

Don't remember the name of the place, but they were supposed to have cheap beer!
Well...they definitely had a panda-skunk-raccoon-looking thing with glowing red eyes, CREEPY!

I don't know what else to say about this thing...but that it too, is CREEPY and STRANGE! All in the outdoor waiting area.
Don't worry, I made everyone pose with the crazy man-head cut-out...I only felt I had permission to actually share the one of my husband with the rest of the world, sorry Mike!

Cotton candy machine...interesting.

While we waited for a table, we noticed the shop above...well, how could you NOT notice it!?!?!
All punks and skins gets drunk and pogo dance???

I don't know who had the idea, but the girls ended up venturing in to take a look and see what the shop was all about.

The creepy dolls in the front window were only the beginning...

Apparently it was a vintage clothing store...with a dark twist.
We snapped a few photos before being told that photography was NOT allowed,
there were definitely things in there you wouldn't have wanted to see.

Crazy two-headed animated horror movie thing, bagpipes, lots of cowboy boots,
crazy clothing, a life-sized yoda prop, creepy black leather S&M body bag hanging from the ceiling,
shell casings, grenades, and other leather and studded items, life-like medical mannequin,
and on, and on, and on. The boys soon walked in and informed us that we were leaving--
it seemed that the regulars were sitting out on the front steps attempting to start a revolution
with chants of F@%$ BLOOMBERG! F@%$ BLOOMBERG!
At that point...we decided that if it wasn't already, the neighborhood should now be known as ANGRYTOWN...

At the subway station...after making it out of Angrytown alive :-) We just had to have an interesting story to tell!

Jase thinking about pretending to make a phone call in the subway...
then realizing just how dirty that phone probably was! On second thought...

Back to Times Square, this time with all sorts of flashing lights at night!

Talk about riding in S-T-Y-L-E...LOL!

Aaaahhh, our destination at last! No sake-bombs here...However, the Scottish one was quite impressed with the scotch selection. I believe his exact words were, don't ever, under any circumstance, let me go to this place unaccompanied!

Scotch, scotch, scotch...I love scotch...scotch goes down, down into my belly...

Who knew Moby would be joining us?

The group, after we pounded a few back.

Jen...you should have slid over for the picture!!!

We probably should have realized that we dressed quite similar that night...
look at those gigantic beers--couldn't have found a better deal in NYC.
A LITER of beer for $10 (and it was tasty beer at that)!
That about did it for the night, minus a quick stop for some slices of PIZZA
on the way home...we still had one more day of touristing left :)

Adventures in Central Park

2011-11-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

"Tornado"

Very cool...can I have one in my house?

I think they were definitely ready for a break...resting our legs on the benches in Central Park

The photographer too!

One thing I didn't do--get a hot dog from a street vendor while in NYC...

I did introduce the gang to Applegate Farms Organic hot dogs and chicken sausages, though...FREE SAMPLES :-)

Central Park squirrel

NY Islanders SUV in the park...Mike wanted a picture

Impromptu photo shoot in the park; the boys striking a pose

Mike really enjoyed giving the peace sign that day!

Girls turn...think we were going for Charlies Angels or something!

Mr. McSurdy, what a lovely bag you have!

Yoga. And martial arts. Wow, we apparently had derailed at this point!

Mel likes to "plank" for pictures...vertical plank, that is.
Jen and I are just trying to get the pose down!

Wanna play softball with that skyline in the background??

Central Park pigeons

His jokes suck. No joke. Heard him on the Today Show one time. Probably not worth a dollar.

The DeBoers.

The Condons.

The McSurdys. Big City doesn't smile.

Oh wait, I said something crazy funny and made him laugh...
and he of course buried his head so I couldn't capture the smile on camera.
Wish I could remember what I said!

Now this was entertaining...a little impromptu performance in the park.
The dude in the Anthony jersey could have been Flava Flav's twin...or Flava Flav himself, we weren't really sure
To set the scene, just imagine the guy in the Brooklyn shirt pumping out a mad beat on his busted cymbal.

Then comes gigantic dude (a stubby looking Billy Blanks) who enjoys
making his pecs dance about his chest.

Skinny dude with the fedora-ish hat is liking the beat...moving his body to the rhythm

Lots and lots of anticipation...i.e. long, drawn out introduction and prep time before they're ready for their act.
Big dude asks everyone to move in closer--to step up to the line they have drawn on the sidewalk.
Nobody moves. He asks again. This time he says, there's nothing to be scared about...it's just black guys dancing!
...just black guys dancin'...and black guys flipping'...and black guys strippin'...and so on.
We didn't stay for the show, the theme song was enough in and of itself.
And so, our journey through a portion of Central Park had come to an end, LOL!

Random: NYC Style

2011-11-04T08:00:00.000-04:00

Prius Taxi :-)
If I would have taken a cab in NYC, it would have been one of these
and I would have hoped to get lucky and catch the Cash Cab!!

The Pussycat Lounge...hmmmm.

Rector Street Subway Station

You don't know how bad I want to live in a city with a subway. Seriously.

You've never seen so many Starbucks in your life, I promise. They're EVERYWHERE!!!
We were searching for the NEW Times Square Starbucks...to no avail. It would have been cool--new global digital
marketing, photo booth, interactive screens in the store windows, etc.
It became the running joke of the weekend, every time we passed a Starbucks it was, "I think that's the new Starbucks!"
It does actually exist...maybe next time we'll make a stop.
Anyhow this is what we were looking for :-)...it's at the corner of 47th and Broadway, if you're interested.

Times Square is way cooler at night. Not so spectacular in the daylight.

THANK YOU Coors Light...

Did you know?? Educational opportunities in Times Square...

Oooohhh...the ball!

NYPD Times Square style.

Words cannot express my excitement...finally a stop at the MAC store,
my first MAC shopping trip since I moved to PA in June!!!
Oh, Mel and I introduced Jen to the store, too! Jake, I apologize...

Imitations

Oooohhhh...Anthropologie at Rockefeller Center!!! Another fave of mine :-)

Stunningly gorgeous architecture

For some reason, Mike decided this was a statue of him

5th Avenue NYC...impressive. I don't have enough $$ to shop here though!

Just a couple dudes rocking' the side pipe
For reference, take a peek at this video from Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory
or...google it on Urban Dictionary if you so desire. The video is pretty funny!

A little grove of trees growing atop Trump Tower on 5th Avenue

Future protege's of the Donald??

Apparently driving in NYC is a video game

We gonna party like...(it's your birthday)

2011-11-03T10:21:00.000-04:00

It's somebody's BIRTHDAY....

...a 28th birthday to be exact.

...must be this guy,

he looks ready to CELEBRATE!

The real birthday boy without the crazy glasses :-)

I bought him an orange throne...

I wouldn't put this past our group of friends, LOL!

We hit up LITTLE AMPS this morning for some
special breakfast coffee and Mike's working from home, YAY!

Operation SUSHI birthday dinner with great friends later tonight!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY...I <3 YOU!

THIS IS YOUR BIRTHDAY CARD ;)

Reflecting Absence

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-04:00

As a group, we'd talked about getting to NYC pretty much since Jase, Mel, Mike, and I moved out to Harrisburg. Finally, this fall, our plans came to fruition and we started planning the trip. All in all, everything came together over a period of about 2 weeks before we headed out (OK...a whole two weeks might be stretching it a little). With the main portion of the 9/11 memorial opening on the 10th anniversary of September 11 this year, I figured that if we were going to be in NYC what better the chance than to view this new monstrosity of a memorial. In the early planning phases, we pretty much thought tickets were SOLD OUT through the end of the year...major bummer. Until I was searching around on the internet one day, researching sightseeing venues, and I happened across the 9/11 Memorial site and scored us tickets :-) It was our first stop on Saturday morning...and what a sight it was.

Click to watch a time-lapse of the memorial construction

An aerial view of the memorial at night

Below is an excerpt from the design architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker...describing in their own words what the memorial design symbolizes. The entirety of the design background and information can be viewed on the 9/11 Memorial website.

This memorial proposes a space that resonates with the feelings of loss and absence that were generated by the destruction of the World Trade Center and the taking of thousands of lives on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. It is located in a field of trees that is interrupted by two large voids containing recessed pools. The pools are set within the footprints of the Twin Towers. A cascade of water that describes the perimeter of each square feeds the pools with a continuous stream. They are large voids, open and visible reminders of the absence.

View of the new 1 WTC building, also known as Freedom Tower
(currently under construction) from the park grounds.
When finished, the massive structure will rise 1,776 feet into the air, making it
the tallest building in the United States.

Continuing construction is visible on just about every side surrounding the 9/11 Memorial and WTC sites.

The South Pool--in the footprint of where the South Tower once stood

2,983 names inscribed in bronze surrounding the two reflecting pools thoughtfully grouped by tower, location, and affiliation...with special areas for persons who died in each tower, Flights 11, 77, 93, and 175, as well as those First Responders who died coming to the aide of those trapped in the towers. The memorial also lists those who died in the attack on the Pentagon and in the February 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.

One tree stands apart from the rest of the 400-some trees at the memorial...
a Callery Pear tree found beneath the rubble in the debris field at ground zero.
It was transplanted at a nursery in the Bronx and rehabilitated in the years since 9/11
...only to be re-planted at the 9/11 Memorial last December.
If you look closely in the photo above, you can see the distinction in the bark
where the new, rehabilitated growth rises out from the charred shell that was
rescued from ground zero.

I'd heard about the tree...very neat to see it in person and hear the story...almost surreal

Port Authority Police

Morning sun shining on the North Reflecting Pool, the base of the new Freedom Tower in the background.

Behind this reflective glass will be the 9/11 Memorial Museum...what you
can't see in the photo are two gigantic steel "core" columns that were recovered
and restored from the original towers and stored in Hangar 17 at JFK Airport for a
number of years before being returned to the WTC site.

View from inside the reflective glass walls...as the 9/11 museum is constructed around these massive steel beams.

Look at that stellar-looking group of tourists!

Crazy security road-block things...

Head on over to the National 9/11 Memorial website for more interesting information and facts about the memorial and its construction. There are plenty of interactive and informative photos, webpages, and blogs to explore. If you're in NYC, I'd say that the site is definitely, definitely a must-see...I already told Mike that we have to make another stop back once the entire museum is completed and open. Tickets are FREE, but have to be reserved in advance on the memorial's website. Happy touristing!

First Glimpse of the Big Apple

2011-11-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Nighttime NYC from the car on our drive in to Jersey

Daytime NYC
The view of the Manhattan skyline from nearby Jersey City--just across the Hudson.
We briefly saw the skyline on our drive in Friday night...
let me tell you, this place looks a whole heck of a lot bigger in the daylight!

We made sure we were up "Jake McSurdy early" so we could watch the sun rise over the city on our walk
to the PATH station...pretty sure we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Refugee camp take #2--six adults getting ready in one bathroom; it's a good thing we all get along so well
...and we were still out the door by 7:00 AM

This tourist was ready to hit the streets and explore every last inch of the city (it would have taken me months)!

Heading underground, only to emerge on the streets of New York City!!

First stop...COFFEE. We consulted a pedestrian safety officer for a breakfast recommendation, he steered us towards this little shop...part bakery, part grocery, part sandwich shop--just what you expect to see on the streets of NYC.
The breakfast sandwiches and wraps were fab...the coffee was HOT but that's about it. Let's just say we hit up the Starbucks down the street for a bathroom and more coffee!

Not long after breakfast we saw some of the Occupy protesters and their makeshift tent city

Complete with lots of security and barricades

Kind of pissed that I missed the opportunity to take a photo of the random old dude walking by the protesters
who decided to start a verbal confrontation from the other side of the barricade...what he failed to realize is that while he
was moving from side-to-side arguing, the NINE FOOT POLE he was carrying (not sure why) was almost impaling us!

After getting fueled up with breakfast and caffeine, we spent Saturday seeing the sights...the 9/11 Memorial, Top of the Rock, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Central Park, SoHo, etc., etc., etc. I can't give you all the lowdown in just one blog post, so you'll have to stay tuned! I can't believe it's already been over a week since our trip...that just means I have some major blogging to do so I can share all of our experiences! Don't worry, they're coming...

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T15:23:00.003-04:00

Central Pennsylvania Residents Are Again Confused Over When Halloween Really Is. Bahahaha...true headline from the local newspaper website. Pennsylvania is confused. Confused with their crazy nonsense rules and plans. I've never lived in a place where Halloween is celebrated on so many different nights or seen so many towns with their very own Halloween parades. Trick-or-treating in our neighborhood was supposed to be last Thursday, October 27, from 6-8 PM while I was at work. Don't worry, that didn't happen. The festivities were cancelled due to inclement weather...a.k.a the LOW temperature for the day was 41 and we had 0.01 inch of precipitation (scattered sprinkles). Instead, trick-or-treating was moved to Monday, October 31, (on HALLOWEEN...what a novel idea)! Still not sure what we're actually in for...because apparently it's too scary to go and ring doorbells, so if you're in the mood to hand out candy to costumed kids you must sit out on your front porch to meet them. Hmmm. No wonder people are confused...nothing here makes sense. It did give us a couple of extra days to try and get pumpkins carved (we've been procrastinating on that a little).

Oh, BTW...about the whole inclement weather thing, we've obviously been through an earthquake, hurricane, tropical storm, and flooding of the century, and the Snowtober snowstorm can now be added to the list. Snowstorm Halloween, Halloween snowstorm. I know I mentioned it the other day too, but I ran across a couple of newspaper stories and photos to remember the Great Halloween Blizzard of 1991 with...n-o-s-t-a-l-g-i-a. As the Star Tribune put it, Halloween Blizzard of '91...'A Heck of a Trick'. 28.4" of the white fluffy stuff (although it was 36 something inches in Duluth). Still trying to remember what I dressed up as; thought it was princess Jasmine from Aladdin, but that had to have been the following year as the movie didn't come out till 1992. Must have been a cold Halloween in '92 as well, cause I remember bundling up under that costume, too! Doesn't really give the same effect when you have a winter coat under your belly shirt and harem pants.

It's a bit difficult to come up with a whole host of photos from way back in 1991, but to give you a sense, here are a few that I found posted across the internet...

Not a technique that is gonna get her very far...but I'm not sure much else would either.

Snow, snow, snow...and more snow

This too is apparently from 1991, although it looks about 40 years older...I think technology has since advanced a bit!

Either way, there's less snow today than there was 20 years ago...time to go get some pumpkins carved and get ready to hand out some candy!!! HAPPY PUMPKIN DAY :-)

Snowtober.

2011-10-30T10:32:00.002-04:00

...or maybe I should call it Snowmageddon...or Snowpocalypse.

My plan for yesterday afternoon was to sit on the couch and blog. Nature seemed to have a different plan. Let's backtrack...

Friday: Forecast calls for snow on Saturday; people start preparing...a.k.a reminders that nursing staff are essential personnel which means show up to work in the snow (duh) and a trip to GIANT for a few groceries = the carts are all gone and folks are apparently stocking up on the essentials.

Saturday AM: Weather is rainy; we sit on the couch for a bit before meeting the neighbors for coffee (<3) at Little Amps. 0930--the rain turns into gigantic snowflakes the size of quarters, or perhaps half dollars. 1100--drive to the gym; get annoyed by other drivers less than a mile from our home...they're driving cautiously slow and leaving ample room to brake, however, the ground is still warm enough that the snow is melting as it hits the pavement. 1215--finishing our workout at the gym when I notice that DishNetwork is searching for a signal (no thunderstorm in sight), not a good sign; lights flicker and generator kicks in...really!?!? At this point there's seriously maybe 1-2" in the grass and some slush on the roads. We brave the rest of the city gathering some snacks, getting some beer, and finalizing the accessories for our Halloween costumes.

Saturday PM: 1240--While finishing up at the grocery store, the neighbors inform us that there is no power. Arrrggghhhh. My message text message on group me, "Pretty sure if I lived in a damn igloo back in MN, I'd still have electricity". 1300--arrive home, no power. Notice on the drive home that a good number of PA drivers apparently don't see the need to use headlights during snowstorms. The only snowplows in sight are the ones plowing the parking lots of shopping malls. After bitching a little more about the craziness of the situation, we commence sitting on the couch. No power to blog or bake cut-outs for the party.

Saturday (later) PM: 1530--power back on. Life resumes as normal. Shower. Make cut-outs. Prepare for an Olde Uptown Halloween Spooktacular. Party into the wee hours of 10/30/2011.

Apparently this is a PennDOT snowplow. I'm a little skeptical cause I didn't see even ONE on the streets yesterday.

Not bad, a little bit of snow. I think a little plowing would definitely make the roads look like less of a mess.

Ok...so I'll give Pennsylvania this, yesterday was the first time they'd had measurable snowfall in October since 1979. And, yesterdays whopping 5" did break the October snowfall record of 2.1" set back in 1924. However, I'm pretty sure they're well aware that snow is snow and they see the white stuff falling from the sky at least a few times each year. So...why does life come to a complete stop when 5" of snow falls and (get this!) temperatures were going to be back in the 40-50's with sunny skies the next day. It OBVIOUSLY isn't going to hang around. In fact, much of the snow had already melted by the time it stopped falling from the sky yesterday. All I can say is that we're in for a treat of a winter if this is the way things normally go...I <3 snow days, perhaps? Kind of funny, but kind of a crazy experience!

To go a little nostalgic on ya, it got me thinking about the old Halloween Blizzard of 1991. I remember trying to fit my costume over my snowsuit and trudging around in the snow to get (what presumably was) frozen candy. :-) It is the 20 year anniversary, after all. More on that to come later...

Top of the Rock

2011-10-28T08:00:00.000-04:00

What would a trip to New Yizzy be without viewing the city from above. Saturday was picture-perfect, so we hit up Rockefeller Center and the Top of the Rock Observation Deck. It's a visit I'd definitely recommend the next time you're in NYC!

Muahahaha...maybe, just maybe I thought I'd get to see Brian Williams...or Matt Lauer...or Ann Curry.
No such luck--just a bunch of tourists like us!

Rockefeller Plaza, not nearly as impressive as I thought it'd be

Hubs going to check out all of the skaters while we waited in line for our tickets to Top of the Rock

We're clearly not in MN anymore...notice the child in blue who just fell over on his ass and the dude in shorts who appears to be wearing some sort of bike helmet :)

Yay, MN!!

Waiting, waiting, and more waiting...long lines

Mel was pretty sure we'd get a great view from the top of the building...on the 30th floor. It just so happens that we got an even better view from the 67th, 69th and 70th floors where the real top of the building was. Still waiting to get there :)
The actual elevator ride or "sky shuttle" to the top of the building was a bit freaky, complete with sound and light show as well as a glass ceiling...Willy Wonka, anyone?

Tourists!! They've been to NYC dozens of times, but at least us newcomers were able to show them something new!! Complete with the reflection of a Condon in the shadow of the Empire State Building!

The best view of Lady Liberty we got all weekend...we'll have to see her up close on our next trip!

The North side of the building...overlooking Central Park

You can hardly believe such a massive park lies in the center of the city...so cool!

We took lots and lots of pictures on the 67th floor...little did we know that the 69th and 70 floors didn't have the same ~10 foot high glass walls that give all of the pictures a hazy look :-/

Still breathtaking though :) I truly wonder how long it would take to explore it all...

The girls...looks like one of us forgot to bring sunglasses

...and the group. One day we'll get Big City to smile for the camera.

The "radiance wall" by Swavorski...I want one!

Going up...

We figured it would be more fun to have a looksie at the Empire State Building
from Top of the Rock, rather than the other way around. One is a bit more iconic.
Not sure if I'd be able to pick Rockefeller Center out from all the rest!

Ahhh...the sun, fresh air, and NO glass walls!

Doesn't get much higher than this...look at that sky, what a great day!

I wonder what the little boy behind us was thinking...
Again, me squinting without my sunglasses, oops!

I was a little skeptical at first, but $25 a ticket was way more than well worth the views we saw from the top!

The DeBoers...reunited, and Mel's birthday weekend nonetheless :) What a great pic!

While the parents are away...

2011-10-27T08:00:00.000-04:00

...the pups will play!

We've always had the luxury of shipping our canine children off to be with family or friends if Mike and I ever needed to be away from home for the weekend. Tank and Kaia are usually pretty well-mannered (well, at least some of the time), but they can definitely run around like a couple of hellions, too! It's sort of a Jekyll and Hyde type scenario...you're never quite sure what you're going to get! Last weekend was the first time we'd attempted to get out of town since our big move to Pennsylvania this summer.

Luckily, my trip to check out a new consignment shop in Elizabethtown proved doubly successful when I saw an advertisement for the Playful Pups Retreat :) With a few phone calls and a little bit of running around the city (updating vaccinations, getting copies of medical records, and licensing the dogs with the city)...we took Tank and Kaia for a little facility tour and behavioral assessment early last week. *sadface* Neither one of them passed their behavioral assessment with flying colors...Tank was beyond scared of the twelve-week old daschund puppy who had crazy amounts of energy and, well, Kaia just looked at the door whimpering to try and find Mike and I.

That being said, we weren't sure if either of them were going to be able to partake in the "doggy daycare" festivities that Playful Pups offered while we were gone for the weekend. The staff assured us they were still OK to be boarded at the facility and they were willing to let both Tank and Kaia adapt to the new surroundings before giving them a second attempt at a behavioral assessment on Saturday morning. And so, Mike dropped them both off Friday afternoon before we headed out on our road trip. In the back of our minds we were both hoping they'd get along with the rest of the pups (and also hoping that Tank wouldn't harass Kaia to the point of insanity...as they were sharing a "Petite Pooch Room" all weekend long).

Little Miss Kaia...so much smaller than the fire hydrant!

I'm guessing that's the closest she got to another dog all weekend!

Looks like a couple of chihuahuas are enjoying their time in the sunshine :)

How cute it Mr. Tank prancing around in the background!?!

...and apparently running to find something fun

He must have passed his behavioral evaluation...

Needless to say, we were relieved to see pictures of these guys hanging out with the rest of the pups...the center makes sure to post pictures from each day's playtime to their Facebook page; it made it much easier for the two of us to enjoy our weekend knowing that our dogs weren't biting each other's heads off or making trouble with the rest of the daycare kids!

Mike picked them up on Monday morning and brought them home where they proceeded to spend all day and night s-l-e-e-p-i-n-g...guess it was a successful and exhausting weekend for all of us, not to mention that a three night stay for both dogs (and playtime) only cost us a total of $85!! I don't think we'd find that price at any of the kennels/daycare in MN! All in all, it was a great experience with the staff at Playful Pups Retreat, we'll definitely take Kaia and Tank back sometime soon!!!