The Weekend Is Finally Here!

It's been a busy week, to say the least. Today is my first real day off since last Wednesday... I actually had Wednesday off this week too but I spent the entire day (from 7:30am - 9:30pm) running driving around New Jersey. Needless to say, I am exhausted and happy to sit around and not do much of anything on this drearily grey Satur-day.

Oh, and seasonal allergies have been getting the best of me since Tuesday morning, so sleep has been minimal and I've gone through almost two full boxes of tissues already. I finally picked up some Benadryl Thursday night and it seems to be helping because last night was the first night I was able to sleep straight through without waking up to blow my nose every half hour. I love spring, but I hate the sickness it brings.

Here are a few photos taken with my phone during my travels on Wednesday:

Keyport Yacht Club pier - it figures that my first day going to the 'beach' in over two years was a cloudy rainy day... beautiful photo though!




Lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream and sprinkles - can you believe it's entirely vegan?! It inspired me to make something similar for the shop (lemon raspberry cupcakes - yummy!).




Luna, one more time - I know I said two weeks ago that it was the last time seeing the dogs, but I was wrong. Wednesday was actually my last time seeing the dogs for a while. My parents and the two furry friends arrived safely in Switzerland yesterday.

Shawn and I have been busy packing our Pennsylvania life into various boxes all week too. Oh, didn't I tell you? We're moving back to New Jersey at the end of April! With my family moving to Switzerland, we're moving into the New Jersey house as 'care-takers' but also as a young couple who just wants to save some money so we can buy our own place one day. But that's all I'm going to say about that right now.

Here's to Saturday; a day of rest, good movies, and maybe a delicious homemade meal if we get around to it.

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Time For New Glasses

This post contains a lot of my face and not a lot of words.
You've been warned.

......

I got a new pair of glasses.
There's nothing wrong with my old pair, I've just had them for 7+ years and it was time for something new.
That's all you really need to know.












Thanks to Tortoise & Blonde, I can see you!

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Piece of Cake Pie

We ate/made a good amount of food last week. I have a few iPhone photos to share with you:



beef stew, chocolate pudding pie on pi day
spring colors, blackberry thumbprint cookies
multitude of muffins, fudge-licious brownies
The thumbprint cookies, muffins, and brownies were all made at work, just so you don't think we indulged overwhelmingly! Although I did make some peanut butter - chocolate chip - m&m cookies at home that aren't pictured...

And in honor of Pi Day (3.14), I made a chocolate pudding pie on Wednesday. I didn't want to make an apple pie because I prefer berry pies, personally... but it's not the season for berries, and I wasn't really feeling the heaviness of a custard pie. After a bit of searching I found a recipe for chocolate pudding pie over on Smitten Kitchen. Deb always has the best recipes!




To be honest, Shawn and I aren't the biggest fans of pie. He's a cake guy, and I'm a tart girl- I'll take a chocolate ganache tart or lemon tart over a slice of pie any day... but it was Pi Day! So I had to make some sort of pie, and what's better than chocolate pudding pie?! Especially topped with a generous amount of whipped cream... I don't hear anyone complaining. And there's still more than half of it left over... this is why I rarely make big desserts at home; we can't finish them between just the two of us. It is exceptionally light and delicious though!




Did you indulge in a slice of pie for Pi Day?

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Fun Finds Friday #6

It's time for another fun finds Friday post! I've got some good ones this week.




Heaven on a plate. For reals. How can you look at this and not drool? When I was a kid I absolutely hated runny eggs... now it's quite the opposite - I can't get enough of them!!
via




An ATM that dispenses cupcakes, and cupcake themed things. Need I say more?
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This is the Mirrorcube at Treehotel in Sweden. Yes, it's exactly what it sounds like - hotel rooms amongst the trees. In Sweden. And they even serve you breakfast!
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There's a nifty website that lets you map which states you've visited/driven through. This is my map; clearly I've got the East Coast covered. Anyone up for a road trip?
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Unfortunately I didn't think to save the link to where I found this positively glowing squirrel drawing, but it was on someone's Tumblr somewhere. (If it's your image, let me know so I can give you credit!)


Happy Friday!

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Little Facts

I don't have much to say today, so here are this week's Little Facts for ya.


Words: I love how a single word can completely lose its meaning when you repeat it out loud over and over again to yourself. After a while it just becomes sound.

Fear: Shawn works at a restaurant so his hours are always tentative and I never know exactly when he'll be home, but I have a somewhat irrational fear anytime he's more than a half hour late from closing-time and I haven't heard from him, that something terrible has happened to him and that I won't hear about it for days because no will think to contact me.

Childhood: I used to play with barbies, but not in the traditional sense. I'd build these elaborate houses and furniture for them out of cardboard boxes and then print out pictures from the internet to hang as artwork or use as rugs... I think I was more interested in that than playing with the actual Barbies.

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Churchill Quotes

Being the avid listener that I am, while waiting in line at Trader Joe's earlier today I overheard a snippet of conversation that the man in front of me told the cashier. Although I'm not quite sure what prompted the conversation, I heard him tell her that he knew a quote by Winston Churchill that he thought she'd appreciate.


Nancy Astor: "Sir, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."
Churchill: "If I were your husband, I'd drink it."


It reminded me that a few days prior I had a customer mention another quote by Churchill that was along the same lines.


Bessie Braddock: “Sir, you are drunk.”
Churchill: “Madam, you are ugly. In the morning, I shall be sober.”


Winston Churchill; what a guy.

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Scenes From A NJ Road Trip

Last week we took a trip out to New Jersey to visit our families. Despite some bad news that put a slight damper on the day, we had a delicious lunch with my parents and siblings and then visited Shawn's mom at her equally delicious workplace. Our families treat us so well when we visit... sesame chicken salad for lunch, a homemade pear & chocolate tart for dessert, and a bag of locally roasted coffee? How come we don't visit more often?!

I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this blog is either family or friend and already knows this, but just in case I'm wrong, here's a small tidbit of information that I haven't mentioned before... over the next few months my family is gradually moving to Switzerland for a few years (and leaving Shawn and I behind, those bastards!). They're taking the dogs and the cats with them too, and since the dogs are scheduled to fly out next week, this was our last chance to see them for a while. Not that I don't love seeing my family too, but I know they'll be able to travel back to visit more often than the dogs will.

Shawn and the dogs have a special relationship - he used to housesit them when my family would go on vacation - in fact, I think they're usually happier to see him than they are to see me!

Check out that bear face. (It's no wonder we call him a big bear...) Kusko was growling right before these were taken, but don't mistake that for unhappiness - his smile will tell you otherwise. Malamutes make such interesting noises!




Shawn loves Luna, Luna loves Shawn.




I caught a Luna smile on camera! It's nearly impossible!

.....

And, on a completely different note, here's another photo from that day...



Shawn wears a beanie pretty much all the time, so whenever he takes it off his hair tends to be a crazy mess of Kramer hair. After arriving home from our road trip though it looked more like Ace Ventura hair, so he had me snap a photo.


Between the three of them, this turned out to be a very hairy post indeed.

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Some Squirrels For Your Sunday

The weather has been getting warmer lately, and you know what that means...





Shawn spotted this guy a few days ago. He's so little! What an adorable face.

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T-Rex said it

For Christmas Shawn got me these dinosaur post-its from Topatoco, since I love dinosaurs and I use a lot of post-its. Since then, we've been using them to write down some of the random things I say during our various conversations. We don't even remember what context some of these were said in, but regardless, it's a heck of a lot funnier when T-Rex says it.

I say the weirdest things sometimes.



Also, I thought I'd join Rebecca's Little Facts link-up this week, since I always enjoy reading other folk's Little Facts. "Little Facts are 3 short, factual statements about yourself. It's basically a very simple link-up so we can learn more about each other."
Pet Peeve: As a person who has worked many a register, it really bothers me when people hand over crumpled or folded bills. It shows a general lack of respect for themselves and towards the person they're handing money to. I keep my wallet organized by dollar value and always hand over crisp bills.

Food: I always start my day off with a bowl of cereal. My favorites are - Frosted Flakes, Honey Nut Cheerios, and Mini Wheats.

Guaranteed happy: Seeing people walking their dogs. I can't help but squeal "Puppy!" every.single.time.

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Fun Finds Friday #5

Not much going on this week, hence the lack of posts.
Here are a few fun internet finds from the last two weeks.



This is ingenious - it's a tote bag that turns into an apron. Perfect for dinner parties!
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These photos are from a project called Switcheroo, started by a photographer in Vancouver. Couples switch clothes and pose for shots. Some of the photos are pretty hilarious.
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...Is it so wrong that we really want this welcome mat?
via




Thirty One Bits is a socially minded business that sells paper bead jewelry handcrafted by women in Uganda. Their selection of necklaces and bracelets is simply beautiful, and of course, I'm a fan of any organization that helps out people in need.


Have a fantastic weekend!

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