chocolate tour

A few weeks ago Ryan went on a chocolate tour of Philadelphia. A groupon/living social deal that we bought last year and waited until the very last day to use. Typical.

We walked all around Philly, learning about and sampling chocolate at various places. It was a fun day, and obviously a delicious date! We also discovered a few little treasures in the city that we never would have stumbled upon otherwise.

My favorite, the champagne truffle! Yum!

You can see the pictures of our tour here. (This post is mostly for our moms, cause I know nobody else really cares, haha)

flea market finds

I found an old frame at a flea market a few weeks ago, it was ugly. And I think Ryan and Beth and Scott thought I was nuts for wanting it.

But jokes on them cause look at the beautifulness I turned that sucker into!

BOOYAH.
An old frame turned chalkboard! An idea I got from pinterest.

We also got that old matches holder (turned chalk and eraser holder) at a flea market. Not sure if I'm gonna leave it like it is or paint it. I like the "MATCHES" written on it, but it's kinda rusty. Ugly rusty. Not pretty rusty.

I like to write nice things on it.
Such as, "All you need is love. And food. And water. And lots of other things." or "'I love The Smiths!' -Summer, 500 Days of Summer" or "Do FRIES come with that SHAKE?" Which may or may not be on there right now. Which also may or may not have been there when our favorite maintenance man came to fix our dishwasher. Aaaaand...he may or may not have asked me, "The real question is...What kinda shake you talkin' about?!"
He's awsome.

We also got some little trinkets to put in our letterpress tray.

(Which has found a home!! More on that to come later.)

 

 

Have no fear, I totally realize that it looks disgusting. My flash brings out the nasty! I promise it doesn't look that terrible. I spent a long time cleaning it out.

date night

Ryan and I went on a long overdue date night a couple of nights ago. We went to Dave and Busters and essentially spent $20 to get some candy, but we had a blast while doing it. That's all that matters.

We also sat next to the cast of Billy Elliot, the Broadway musical that is in Philly for a few weeks. And saw the sweetest old couple playing the "Deal or No Deal" arcade game :)

Ryan learned how awesome I am at silly arcade games, due to my years of experience at Chuck E. Cheese. Years that may or may not have ended only 2 years ago, at the young age of 21.
I ROCKED at Smokin' Token and was strangely addicted to Token Roulette, haha. Which is why I don't want to go to Sugar House Casino, even though Ryan insists we wouldn't waste more than $10 there.

I also forgot my camera in the car. I said, "If we see one of those photo-booth-sketch-your-picture things, we have to do it so I can have at least one picture of tonight!" And then just my luck, we spotted one!! And just my luck, this is what our picture turned out as.

HAHAHA! Can you see us? Cause I can't!

Afterwards we headed over to Franklin Fountain, because my mouth had been watering thinking about a Mt. Vesuvius sundae all evening. And then we got there, and just my luck (a trend for the evening), I only had $4 because I had to use my $10 bill for parking. Gosh darn parking. So after digging out some spare toll-booth change from the car, we mustered up $7.00 and got a couple scoops of coconut and black raspberry ice cream to share. Ahhhhh, fantastic. It was no Vesuvius, but it was still delectable. I love Franklin Fountain. It is expensive, but SO WORTH IT!

And then I asked our night security guard to take a picture of us in the lobby, so we'd at least have 1 picture of the night :)

We're super cute, I know.

snackie

This is our favorite snack lately.

Pears (sometimes bananas too.)
Plain greek yogurt (Chobani or Fage are the best. Don't even bother with Activia or Dannon Oikos. I'll save you some time and tell you they are sick-nast.)
Honey.
Chopped pistachios.

Yum.

upitty, up, up, up.

I've taken an unintentional-turned-intentional break from blogging. I've said this before, but I really don't like blogging when I'm not inspired. And lately I've been in "a mood." And everyone and everything are getting on my nerves. And I'm sick of life and disappointments and blah-dee-blah-dee-blah. Ugh. So I stopped blogging because I knew my posts would quickly turn to something like...
"Life is stupid. And I hate Philadelphia. What are YOU doing here, reading MY thoughts?! AHHH!"
I thought a little breakski would be best for all involved :)

Anyways.
In the past 3 hours I have become obsessed with Up. Haha. Yes, the movie. Yes, 3 hours. I mean, I've always loved the movie, even though I'm guaranteed to be bawling within 15 minutes. You know what reminded me of my imense love for Up?

THIS PHOTO SHOOT!

Photo credit: the goodness and blue lily photo

(I'll give you a one-photo glimpse into the shoot, but be sure to visit the blogs linked and look at them.)

Oh. My. Goodness.
I die.
I can. not. handle the amazingness of that photoshoot.
So much so, that I'm using "amazing" to describe something...which is something I almost NEVER do (mostly because it bugs me, but this scenario is actually fitting of the word.)

First of all, I NEED THAT HOUSE. I need to own it. I need to live in it. I need to mow its little lawn and sweep its little porch and make cookies in the blue oven. I should probably also change my name to Ellie and force Ryan to go with Carl. Because it seems fitting, and that way we can keep the mailbox.

Second of all, I diiiieee. Again. Because I seriously can't get over these photos. I want to be them.
GAH!

Up next (pun totally intended, bahaha)...
THIS CHILD.

Photo taken from my modern met (although, this can be found practically everywhere)

 (Same as above, be sure to visit the link cause there is lots more of that cuteness!)

I know he's been blowing up pinterest and facebook for a while, but he is so cute I can't leave him out. Oh my goodness. He motivates me to look into kidnapping (not really.) (But maybe, kind of.)

So now that I have rediscovered my love for Up...I have also discovered that WE DON'T OWN THE MOVIE?! WHAT THE HARICOTS VERTS IS GOING ON HERE?!
(Hee hee, we had haricots verts with dinner and I've also become obsessed with saying it...haricots verts...haricots verts...haricots verts...I really like to say it in an English accent.)

apartment tour: part 1

Member when we moved in June and I never showed anyone what our apartment looked like? Fantastic.
I'm not really one to upload pictures of my daily life to facebook and such, which is why I never put up pictures of our apartment. (Side note: you know those people who upload a picture of a doctor's office waiting room and their like, "At the doctor's office!!"? I can't stand those people. I wanna yell, "NO ONE CARES!" I don't see why people need to have every second of their lives documented on facebook/twitter/foursquare. It's kind of...well, actually, it's really stupid. And almost pathetic. Okay. Rant over.) ...but I've come to the realization that my family would probably enjoy seeing where I live. So here we go. Apartment Tour. Part 1 of 2, because I'm cool like the producers of Breaking Dawn who decided to be greedy and split that strange,strange book into 2 strange movies, just to get more money from the fangirls. I'm definitely a fan of the Twilight series, (I'm not ashamed to admit it!) but c'mon guys. I'm not buying into all that hype and paying over $30 to see 2 dumb movies. Annnnd, 2nd rant now over.

I'm really only doing this in 2 parts because our bedroom and dining room are our disaster areas. Our bedroom slash Ryan's "office" is crowded and a random collection of furniture. I kind of hate it. By kind of, I obviously mean really. And our dining room slash my crafting space is a cluttered over-packed mess. I might eventually show you those rooms, but please know that I don't like the way they look :)

So here we go, for reals this time...

The kitchen.
I loooove our kitchen. SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT from our last place, where everything was uneven, half the cabinets wouldn't close, oh and it was infested with house centipedes. Yes, this is so much better!

Yes, I have 3 dish brushes and a sponge...and a dishwasher. I'm extremely picky on how dishes are washed.
And all that crap in the background (in the "dining room") is stuff that we still need to hang/find a home for. Hahaha. We're not taking our time or anything.

The wooden bottle carrier on top of the cabinets won't be staying there, and the "S" inside of it won't be staying there either. It was just a temporary home until I do what I actually want to do with it.
Moving on.

The living room. And/or space, since it's not actually a separate room. (Our kitchen, living room and kitchen are all the same room, just separate spaces)

The bookshelf is kind of a hodge-podgey catch-all. But whatever. Also, please love that Drake's monster is still living on the top. It'll probably be done after 2 more play-times.


And the bathroom.
I don't know why anyone would want to see our bathroom, but whatever.

super cute

Look what I finished today!! I'm not sure what sewing project this is, I've lost count. Wait, I just counted. This is the fourth one (out of six) that I've finished, two are still in the process [apron and button-up blouse, and let's be honest, that blouse is probably never gonna get finished, cause I really don't love it]

Ryan's Nana sent me a package with a pattern for this bag and fabric that she picked out special, just for me!! She's the sweetest Nana EVER!
It was super easy. But, I tried to make mine completely reversable (all the seams on the inside, between the lining and the outside fabric.) I had it mostly figured out after several mistakes, but there was still a seam that would be on the outside. So I got frustrated, took it all apart and then re-did it all. I made it much harder than it needed to be. Haha. From start to finish, I would say this bag would only take a couple of hours.
Super cute, right?

Speaking of super cute...

Michigan Photo Dump

I went home.
It was glorious.
This is a photo summary of my trip.

(I actually did a lousy job of taking pictures, and a lot of stuff was left out. Like when I was first greeted at the airport by my fantastic in-laws AND cider and donuts. No better Michigan welcome than that!! And my first meeting with my little nephew (my sister got a picture though, it's all good.) Or a picture with my younger sister, my oldest sister, my dad AND my grandparents. Or the delicious lunch out I had with my Mom (in-law) and brother (in-law). Or the awesome volleyball game I went to. Or the yummy pie Lindsay and I made...I'll have to do a better job next time)

Releasing Sky Lanterns at Julie's Church.

Me and my cousin, Livy

Group cuddle for fireworks

 (These were taken at an event at the church Julie is working for. They had a concert/food/games/fireworks fun night. It was so much fun. And releasing those lanterns was SO COOL! Like not only a highlight of my trip, but probably a highlight of my year. They played "Light Up the Sky" by The Afters while we all lit and let go of our sky lanterns. I can't really describe it, but it was almost magical. Such a perfect night.)

My friend, Jenna's, Artprize photos

My friend, Emily, and I

MY NEPHEW and I, just chillin' on the couch. (I look kind of sick, but he's so cute that I figured no one would be looking at me anyways)

Linds, during our walk downtown

YUM YUM TREE. Best Brighton Restaurant EVER.

Eating our ice cream, walking around Brighton with my Mom and Xavier

Katie and Me

(Katie is the bestest best friend in the whole world. We weren't able to meet up while I was on her side of the state for the weekend. So she surprised me and came to Brighton and spent a couple of days and a night with me there. Love her.)

Lindsay and Xavier

Isn't he the cutest?

CRAZY dog Louie, attacking the dog statue that he despises

Katie and Me, lookin' cute at the apple orchard

My mom and me, same scenario as above

Game day

What a cute niece I have!

The flash may have surprised him

My other cute niece!! I'm one lucky aunt!

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather!

Louie's awesome face when you scratch him

The finished quilt!!!

And that was my trip to the good ol' Mitten!

linvilla orchards

Did you watch New Girl? Did you love it? More importantly did you LOVE Zooey Deschanel? Super adorable, right? I'm so excited for this show, I was not disappointed at all by the pilot. Well...maybe a little bit but that's only because I watched the trailer like 8 times a day, so I had all the funny parts memorized. And the ending, when all the boys sing to her? Awwww, loved it! By the way, you're welcome.

"Project: Transform My Closet into Zooey Deschanel's" is in full force and going good. Except, my computer is refusing to open files on my memory stick. Which is odd. It's only for one of them, and of course it's the one that I took pictures of my outfits on. So....you can just trust me that I'm awesome.

The first day I remade this outfit:

I didn't love my remake. Probably won't wear it again. Mostly because I couldn't find my solid navy blue tights, so I had to go with my lace ones. and patterned tights were not the look I was going for.

Day 2, I remade this outfit:

And it was a huge success. I wore a red sweater instead, because I have red shoes similar to her green ones. And black shorts. I loved it. Which is more than I can say for our sushi meal. Eww. I have tried and tried to make myself like sushi, but UGH! I don't know how people love it. (At least it only cost us like $11, thanks to our AMAZING Groupon...$1 for $50 worth of sushi!!)


In other news, I took Ryan on a little surprise date last week...to an apple orchard!! Mostly because I was really wanting some warm donuts and cider, but also because I knew it would be fun and a little taste of our Michigan home. And lucky for you, the pictures from it are on an acceptable memory stick.

And then we got there and they were out of donuts for the day and I cried.

Well, almost. But I most definitely cried on the inside. So, we settled and got 2 cookies instead. AND GET THIS...Ryan got chocolate chip and I didn't!! What has happened to this world I thought I knew?

And we also each got a little treat. I got caramels, because I love caramels and it seemed fitting for an apple orchard treat. Ryan got those candy buttons on paper because he is still a 5 year old at heart (I've mentioned this before). He seriously LOVES those things, and we both got so excited when we saw them. Hahaha.

Yummy

Silly

Then we walked around. And fed some baby deer!! Awww!!

And...uh...the end.