you capture: pink

 This week's theme was "pink." I walked out the door, and BAM! The alley next to us was covered in beautiful pink blooms and fallen petals. I'm not very pleased with the shots I got, not only are they blurry but in comparison to the beautiful walk down the little alley these pictures are really ho-hum.

At least spring has finally arrived, right? Although that's more like summer over here! We completely skipped spring. It's been 80-something degrees all week!

P.S. I'm working on "updating" my look, so my background and header will be changing a lot in the next day or so as I get things figured out :)

thrifting treasures

Hi. Please love this book that I got thrifting this weekend.

Is it not the most fantastic thing ever?
It's full of really awesome illustrations and [not that funny] jokes like:
What goes up to the door, but never comes in? The sidewalk [hahaha!]

My feet are sticking out of the covers and they're cold!
Well, why don't you pull them in?
What! And have those icy things in bed with me? I should say not! [hahaha!]

And my personal favorite...
Timmy: Let's play school!
Jimmy: Okay, let's play I'm absent. [hahaha!]

And this is my favorite page. Because of "Riddle Me This." I say that all the time and am a firm believer that it is one of the best phrases in the English language. [Yes, I realize I just started sentences with "and" AND "because" but who cares. You are not my 4th grade English teacher.]

Notice how none of these are actually riddles

I also got these photos, which make me swoon. I just love that girl in her high-wasited pants and cat-eye glasses, leaning up against that car. Quintessential late 50s. And the couple on the beach? Love. Love, love, love. Don't you just want to be them?

 

I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with these just yet, but I couldn't pass them up. They made me feel happy.

what we did in philly

This "what we did in philly" post has been long anticipated. Long, as in since before I even started these posts. As in, since before we even MOVED here. I would say that this has been the most anticipated one, but I have one more thing in Philly to do that I think will trump this. We'll see.

When we came here last July looking for apartments, we passed "Philly Cupcake, The Cupcakery Boutique" and I died. But before I died, I knew I had to freaking go there. Surprising it has taken us this long to actually go there, huh?

We stood in there for at least 10 minutes. Mostly because I could not decide what delightful treat to get. But also because I want to live there and had to expand my short visit as much as possible.
My dream life? Making cupcakes and holding African babies. Sounds perfect, right?
Annnnyways, there were so many cupcakes that I wanted...Death by Chocolate (obviously), Twix Dream, Cookies 'N' Cream, etc. They all looked freaking fantastic. I finally decided on Coconut with Key Lime.

Don't worry, it tasted just as good as it looks. Holy cow. This cupcake rocked my face. My mouth is watering just thinking about it's delightfulness.

Ryan is still a 5-year old, so he got a rice krispie treat on a stick covered in sprinkles. A crazy-expensive rice krispie treat on a stick. Sigh.

We will SO be back to Philly Cupcake soon. I don't think my life will be complete with out regular visits now that I've seen the light.

favorite outfit

This is my new favorite outfit.

I rocked it out a couple of weeks when our weather peaked at 78 freaking degrees. I was actually hot and probably should have ditched the tights. I guess I'm just a skeptic at heart and thought there was no way I could pull off a tee shirt and cotton skirt in the middle of April. But oh hey, I did. And I was sweating like it was my job. (Hey, can I get paid for that? Cause if so...my deodorant is out the window. Okay, too far. I know.)

 You know why I love this outfit so much? Cause it mixes together like all my favorite things.
Case-in-point:

Cowboy boots.

 Patterned tights.

Easy breezy [high-waisted] skirt

Little bow details

I mean...clearly, what's not to love?

silly things

silly thing #1
Today I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. They left a voicemail.
"Hi Mom. It's me. I'm not sure what's going on with your voicemail message, because it was not your voice OR your name! So...call me back!"
Hi girl. You're are incredibly stupid.
I'm tempted to call back and leave a message that's like, "Hi Ryan! It's me! It's so weird, because you're voicemail message was not your voice, or your name. It's almost like I called the wrong number and am too dense to realize that after hearing some stranger on the voicemail message. So...call me back!"

silly thing #2
Everyone mistakes me for a mormon. I can't tell you how many times people have asked me if I'm mormon. Not like my entire life, just here in Philly.
I had an old Greek woman tell me numerous facts about Utah. I just pulled the whole "smile-and-nod" maneuver. Then a woman says to me, "She thinks you're from Utah because your Mormon." And then someone saw me drinking coffee and they're like, "Wait. You drink coffee? I thought you were Mormon." And the stories go on and on and on.
Yesterday Ryan had a meeting with his advisor.
You know what she asked him?
"Are you Mormon?"
I guess we just give off that vibe.

silly thing #3
Ryan and I like to make little bets every once in a while. Ha. That's a joke. We make bets all the freakin' time. Mostly because I'm always right and he never believes me. That's where the bets stem from.
Anyways, last week, Ryan bet me in his sleep. It was awesome. Not only because it was extremely funny, but I also got $5 from the deal. Here's how the bet went down...
Ryan: There are dogs everywhere in here. There are so many under the bed.
Nancy: No there aren't. Go back to sleep.
Ryan: YOU WANT TO BET?!
Nancy: Yes. Yes I do.
Ryan: $5. [Checks under the bed] Dang-it! I owe you $5.
Nancy: I know.

silly thing #4
I caught our taco shells on fire tonight. I also learned that I am not very good in emergency situations. Especially when fire is involved.

mini-date

It was 78 degrees. Or something near that ridiculous.
I was missing spending time with Ryan so I texted him.
"Want to go on a mini hour-and-a-half date with me when you get home from school?"

We took a walk to Borders. Which is going out of business and having a "HUGE Sale." Like bright yellow signs in the windows that say "EVERYTHING MUST GO" and postings around the store that clarify that the fixtures are not for sale. It was supposedly that kind of sale. Except, we were sorely disappointed. The most we would have saved on some books was like 1.70 because they were only 10% off. Big deal, Borders. Your dumb signs were very misleading. And I would wish you to go out of business, but oh, that's already happened.

Then we went to Rita's.

Oooooo, Rita's, I've missed you.
Rita's Water Ice [read: wooder ice, cause people talk real good here] is a staple in Philly.
"Water ice?" you say, "Why, that's molecularly impossible!"
Yes, water ice. I know it makes no sense. Philly is kind of stupid [have I mentioned that before?]
But regardless of the stupidity of the name, water ice is spectacular. It's a slushie type dessert, with the consistency between an ICEE and Italian Ice. And the flavors rock my face off. We normally get one mango and one blueberry and then switch half way through. Yum.

I had good intentions to get a couple of pictures of my water ice, but by the time we got home...my cup looked like this.

So....sorry. Guess you'll just have to come visit and try some for yourselves ;)

old lady

I'm an old lady at heart.

I wear brooches.

I love doing puzzles.

I enjoy watching Matlock.

And this is what our Friday night looked like.

what we did in philly

Finding a good fabric store in Philly has proven to be much more difficult than I had expected. I found some stores where I could purchase fabric, but nothing that I really liked. Everything was plain or just really boring. Very few patterns. And then Julie and I found a store that at least carried some patterned fabric and I liked plenty of them. But it still is 2 bus rides away. So when a girl in our small group mentioned a fabric and yarn store (well stores. I know that doesn't make sense, but really it's 2 stores. But it's actually kind of only 1 store.) that was only a mile away from us, I knew I had to check it out.

Turns out...
I love it.
And I'm determined to work there.

Blog readers...meet my dream come true.
Blog readers, this is Spool.

Spool and Loop are separate stores, but they are owned by the same people and it's kind of like a nice little partnership between the two. Which is why I say it's 2 stores. But 1 store. But really 2 stores.
Spool has a fantastic selection of fabrics. Not just any fabrics though. Like really really cool fabrics. And I realize I sound like a 10 year old being like, "COOL!" but there is no other way for me to describe their collection. I just loved everything in that store.

AND PLUS they have sewing classes! You can sign up for a class based on the final product you want to make. So they have a-line skirts or wrap dresses, etc. And I could totally teach some of those classes.
[Keeping my fingers crossed that one day I will.]

Oh, and it's in such a cute area of town. We had fun just walking around.

Look what I found, Julie!

Later that evening, we headed back out on the town to our favorite ice cream shop, Scoop DeVille. It's kind of like a Coldstone Creamery, but I like it way better.

I know I'm really good at taking pictures. You don't have to tell me.

 They mix together the ice creams/toppings you want into a soft-serve consistency. Or you can choose from their extensive menu of mixtures they recommend. Which is what we do. Ryan got Snicker Doodle Dough and I got something that I can't remember the name of. But it had chocolate ice cream and caramel and marshmellow goo and everything else that's good. It was fantastic.

And that's what we did in Philly!