When did Fall get here? Not just football season Fall, but mother nature Fall. Yesterday while walking outside with Pierce I was shocked to notice that trees have begun to lose leaves and change color. What in the world? It's only September? Then I remembered. We live "up north" now and summer doesn't last until Halloween here.
Today on our 71 degree afternoon walk we heard crows in the sky and stopped to look at a pumpkin display. Fall is definitely here.
Every year. Every season. I feel an element of surprise when the weather begins to fade into something new. Year after year the awe is still there. What a refreshing and wonderful gift seasons are.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Carolina BBQ
Did you know there was such a thing? I did not. Even after marrying into the Carolinian clan, I was oblivious to their ways with pork. Only in the past couple months have I been exposed to this vinegar based BBQ concept... in Maryland... by people from Ohio. Even Utz up in Pennsylvania knows what's going on. (If you like salt and vinegar chips, try their Carolina BBQ flavor. Yummm!)
Earlier today a crock pot recipe for "Carolina BBQ Pork" caught my attention so I gave it a try. It made enough to feed a small army, so we shared it with friends for dinner tonight and all agreed that it was worth making again.
Hopefully I can taste the real thing on a trip down south sometime :o)
Earlier today a crock pot recipe for "Carolina BBQ Pork" caught my attention so I gave it a try. It made enough to feed a small army, so we shared it with friends for dinner tonight and all agreed that it was worth making again.
Hopefully I can taste the real thing on a trip down south sometime :o)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Time to Post About Something...
I lost my good glasses at church. My back-up pair has a giant scratch on the right lens.
I baked blueberry as well as chocolate chip muffins this week. Turns out Baking Pam isn't a waste of money at all. Smells good too. I think it works better than paper liners. My stuff always stick to the liners.
Two Sunday's ago we stopped at Goodwill to see if there was anything there I couldn't live with out. There was. I bought a desk.
Last Sunday we took advantage of Blockbuster's unfortunate bankruptcy. Matt bought ten new release DVD's at a store closing for a fraction of the value.
I got to watch a friend's kids for a couple hours this afternoon. Sooo cute!
Tonight Matt and I had the opportunity to take a two hour cruise on the Chesapeake. It was drizzly, but soo great to be in the fresh air and chat with people from our church.
I made my first purchase from Amazon last week... and they mailed me the wrong item. Despite Matt's gook luck with it, I'm disenchanted.
We watch Scrubs re-runs every night.
Kix are goooood.
I baked blueberry as well as chocolate chip muffins this week. Turns out Baking Pam isn't a waste of money at all. Smells good too. I think it works better than paper liners. My stuff always stick to the liners.
Two Sunday's ago we stopped at Goodwill to see if there was anything there I couldn't live with out. There was. I bought a desk.
Last Sunday we took advantage of Blockbuster's unfortunate bankruptcy. Matt bought ten new release DVD's at a store closing for a fraction of the value.
I got to watch a friend's kids for a couple hours this afternoon. Sooo cute!
Tonight Matt and I had the opportunity to take a two hour cruise on the Chesapeake. It was drizzly, but soo great to be in the fresh air and chat with people from our church.
I made my first purchase from Amazon last week... and they mailed me the wrong item. Despite Matt's gook luck with it, I'm disenchanted.
We watch Scrubs re-runs every night.
Kix are goooood.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Last Weekend
Our three-day Labor Day weekend was low key and relaxing. I originally had my heart set on an out-of-apartment adventure (camping?) but I know the fall is young and there will be other chances. We'll make other chances. This time around we went on a simple vacation to our guest room. Definitely worth the trip.
We also sifted through our two storage spots: the guest room closet and under guest bed. Last year about this time anything without an obvious home was shoved into one of those two places. So we emptied everything into the living room, sorted, divided, trashed, then filled the closet back up in a much less chaotic fashion. But it's still pretty darn full.
There was also a lot of tennis watching via the US Open.
And we had a nice leisurely three hour lunch/visit with friends after church Sunday afternoon.
And we had a glass of wine while reading by the pool Monday before it closed for the season.
And we grilled!
And ate gelato!
There was also a downtown outing. We tried an Irish restaurant for lunch, browsed an antique store and stopped in a fantastic bookstore.
It turned out to be a really good weekend.
We also sifted through our two storage spots: the guest room closet and under guest bed. Last year about this time anything without an obvious home was shoved into one of those two places. So we emptied everything into the living room, sorted, divided, trashed, then filled the closet back up in a much less chaotic fashion. But it's still pretty darn full.
There was also a lot of tennis watching via the US Open.
And we had a nice leisurely three hour lunch/visit with friends after church Sunday afternoon.
And we had a glass of wine while reading by the pool Monday before it closed for the season.
And we grilled!
And ate gelato!
There was also a downtown outing. We tried an Irish restaurant for lunch, browsed an antique store and stopped in a fantastic bookstore.
It turned out to be a really good weekend.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tablecloths
Blue grape leaves, pink dogwood blossoms, green roses, Conestoga wagons, whimsical teapots, strawberries, red checked, yellow checked, or a brand new tablecloth from Czechoslovakia...
All and more will eventually make their official debut here. Which design is your favorite? Mine is the blue floral one pictured last.
Here's to bare tables waiting to be dressed in fun vintage style!
All and more will eventually make their official debut here. Which design is your favorite? Mine is the blue floral one pictured last.
Here's to bare tables waiting to be dressed in fun vintage style!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Baltimore
We had a refreshing overnight adventure in Baltimore this past weekend. My birthday was a couple weeks ago, which gave us reason for a little indulgence and adventure. So off we went... It was nice to arrive somewhere new and different without having to drive far (less than 30 miles!)
We checked into our splendidly luxurious Inner Harbor hotel Friday evening (by far the nicest I've stayed in... flat screen bathroom TV, fantastic feather topped king bed, HUGE window overlooking downtown, gourmet coffee & tea, rooftop tennis court... what a birthday surprise!) Then walked to catch a water taxi to Fell's Point where we ate supper at Bertha's Mussels. Matt's entree was yummy (crab stuffed shrimp over rice) but mine was strangely sweet and unexpected in a wrinkle-your-nose kind of way (scallops and shrimp in cream sauce.) Luckily we both thought our appetizer was good. Beer, mussels and buttered bread. Yum. (What? Yum? Do my taste buds really like those things? Wow.)
While walking in Fell's Point we stopped for gelato, heard street performers, and saw Jupiter. An older man had his telescope set up perfectly so that Jupiter could be seen in all it's four-mooned glory. This kind gent was an electrical engineer who in his spare time reads physics magazines and helps tourists glimpse into space on clear nights. I hope other weekenders appreciate and love him as much as we did. On our return water taxi ride we imagined the best life we could for him, marveled at talented street musicians (in particular, those who perform good renditions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow) and sat close in the 70 degree late summer sea air.
Saturday was glorious. Warm, but not humid. We continued our Inner Harbor experience with lunch at J.Paul's, took a peek inside the Power Plant Barnes & Noble, saw that jellyfish really did invade the Aquarium, and toured the USS Constellation. I loved the bookstore because an old building was being re-purposed. Matt loved being surrounded by books. We both enjoyed a glimpse into a world that is part of ours, but not ours at all, via the aquarium exhibits. On the Constellation I easily spent two hours exploring all four decks and imaging life on a ship during the Civil War, while Matt happily spent most of the time napping in the breeze on the top deck.
Our last highlight was driving into Little Italy for a delicious pasta dinner and slice of chocolate cake at Amiccis. A dang good way to shrug off 26 and embrace 27.
We checked into our splendidly luxurious Inner Harbor hotel Friday evening (by far the nicest I've stayed in... flat screen bathroom TV, fantastic feather topped king bed, HUGE window overlooking downtown, gourmet coffee & tea, rooftop tennis court... what a birthday surprise!) Then walked to catch a water taxi to Fell's Point where we ate supper at Bertha's Mussels. Matt's entree was yummy (crab stuffed shrimp over rice) but mine was strangely sweet and unexpected in a wrinkle-your-nose kind of way (scallops and shrimp in cream sauce.) Luckily we both thought our appetizer was good. Beer, mussels and buttered bread. Yum. (What? Yum? Do my taste buds really like those things? Wow.)
While walking in Fell's Point we stopped for gelato, heard street performers, and saw Jupiter. An older man had his telescope set up perfectly so that Jupiter could be seen in all it's four-mooned glory. This kind gent was an electrical engineer who in his spare time reads physics magazines and helps tourists glimpse into space on clear nights. I hope other weekenders appreciate and love him as much as we did. On our return water taxi ride we imagined the best life we could for him, marveled at talented street musicians (in particular, those who perform good renditions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow) and sat close in the 70 degree late summer sea air.
Saturday was glorious. Warm, but not humid. We continued our Inner Harbor experience with lunch at J.Paul's, took a peek inside the Power Plant Barnes & Noble, saw that jellyfish really did invade the Aquarium, and toured the USS Constellation. I loved the bookstore because an old building was being re-purposed. Matt loved being surrounded by books. We both enjoyed a glimpse into a world that is part of ours, but not ours at all, via the aquarium exhibits. On the Constellation I easily spent two hours exploring all four decks and imaging life on a ship during the Civil War, while Matt happily spent most of the time napping in the breeze on the top deck.
Our last highlight was driving into Little Italy for a delicious pasta dinner and slice of chocolate cake at Amiccis. A dang good way to shrug off 26 and embrace 27.
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