Project 365, 61-67

61/365

I woke up to a half-inch of ice coating my entire car and felt bad about having to hack away at it at 3:30am; I'm pretty sure I woke some neighbors up... Also, we've slowly been stepping up our coffee game. (kettle & decanter) Still saving up for a decent grinder though!

62/365

More ice ice baby...

63/365

It took us a while to decide where to hang our new tapestry, but now it's my favorite thing in the apartment! Plus, we moved things around in the office and now I get to peek at it from my desk!

64/365



We had our biggest snow storm of the year, which meant I had a snow day! Cue HUGE smile on my face! I was so happy to tromp through the snow to go to a morning yoga class. AND I baked my first ever sweet potato. Of course I had to top it with bacon. It was delicious.

65/365

This day started off not-so-great for me; after spending an hour the night before clearing off my car and around it so that I wouldn't have to the next morning, I woke up to find that someone had snow-blown the sidewalk and angled all the snow towards the parked cars instead of the building... so I spent fifteen minutes chipping away at thick frozen snow when I should have just been able to up and leave. Then I ended up being at work for longer than expected, which threw off my post-work plans, and I also found out I'd be working the next day (Saturday, usually my day off) after some confusion between colleagues... but on my way to my car, I passed one of our maintenance men and he offered me free tickets to the Philadelphia flower show! Shawn and I didn't end up making it there (boo!), but the whole encounter was a reminder to stay positive and not let the little things (like snow-blowing-a-holes and change-of-schedules....) affect my outlook for the day. I tend to get hung-up on the negative things, which leads to me not appreciating some of the positive things I encounter throughout the day. It's especially tough on days when the negatives seem to outweigh the positives, but this was a nice reminder that good things in small packages, are still (always) better than bad things in large packages. Or something about kindness always popping up in unexpected places.... I feel like I just can't eloquently say the things I want to say about this right now.

66/365

"Wait! Let me take a photo of you taking a photo of the cheeeeeese!"

67/365

I've been wanting to take a photo of this sign for years, but the lighting has never been right. Today was the day! I told Shawn to get out of the shot, so he hid behind that big snow pile...


I hope you had an awesome week!! Remember, focus on the positives!

Read more...

Fun Finds Friday #82

Hello, cat and bird skirt!! Can I has you?



I own one pair of jeans and have been on the lookout for another... could this pair be them?
(I tried these on in store and they fit perfectly but the wash was absolutely awful! Got any jean shopping tips for a girl who never wears jeans??)



I've definitely posted about cat heaven island before, but it has been popping up everywhere again!

+ Did anyone else watch Pimp My Ride when it was on?
+ I love the concept of reusable beeswax bags!
+ Free community college is where it's at! More, please!
+ I've actually been thinking about doing a small blog series about French expressions...
+ Do you think there's a such thing as a wanderlust gene?

Happy Friday!!

Read more...

February Baking

Lemon cupcakes




Linzer cookies



Shortbread hearts



Butterscotch blondies



Chocolate sandwich cookies




Chocolate chip coconut macaroons



Tart shell prep



Bridal shower cake



Petit fours (this particular combo makes me think of mermaids....)



Vanilla cupcakes

While I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day, I am a fan of any excuse to make themed pastries! So February was all about hearts and the color pink. We had Valentine's Day tea with a special menu, including a raspberry double chocolate scone, flourless chocolate cake, macadamia nut bark, fruit tarts... and other things I can't remember at this point because I didn't take any photos (!) and it was too long ago. We create special menus for all the major holidays, which means making treats that are a little 'fancier' than our usual goodies, or that use more expensive ingredients we don't normally get a chance to use. The only problem is that I'm rarely working on those days, since they're always on a weekend. So I hardly ever get photos of the finished product! And the prep photos are never as exciting. Boo! February was fun though; a great month to get all caught up again after the frenzy of the Christmas/New Years holidays of the months prior.

Read more...

The Cat Life - Lounge Masters

When you really think about what cats do all day, I would guess that they spend 85% of their time lounging around. The other 15% is split between eating and playing. I must have been a cat in a past life, because I can also lounge like it's my job. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), it's not.

Read more...

Project 365, 54-60

54/365

Here in Philly they call these "jimmies", but I grew up calling them "sprinkles"... what do you call them?

55/365

My feet have been hurting as of late so I finally re-invested in a decent work shoe.
These Timberland Pros reminded me of Monet and I had to have them!

56/365

I can't wait until it gets warmer out and I can take photos of things other than the cats and the apartment.

57/365

Point proven: our typical weeknight when Shawn isn't working the evening shift. I would rather be outside!!

58/365


Hehe. Nuts.com. We got some candied ginger from them for our March scone: grapefruit & ginger! It is so unbelievably yummy!

59/365


I was invited to a girl's night/wine & dine/potluck with an "ethnic" theme, so I made a flan. Does that count as ethnic? Regardless, they loved it!

60/365

Not to jump on the selfie band-wagon, but I've been trying to remember to take at least one photo of myself each week. I like looking back on them every few months. This was actually another accidental phone shot, if you can believe it. You should see my attempts. My phone is a better photographer than I am, apparently.

We got more snow today. But it's finally March! Which means, maybe we'll all stop complaining about the weather soon. Or maybe not. I guess we shall see! Really though, I just want it to warm up so I can start doing things outside again. Being contained to the insides of buildings or my car is not my idea of a good time. I'm daydreaming of being able to spend evenings after work reading a book at Chanticleer....

I hope you had an awesome week!

Read more...