Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! I'm linking up again for the 5 on Friday. Here's what I'm looking forward to this weekend:

1. Tomorrow morning we are running the Clarendon Day 5K. This is my first race since my knee surgery in January 2011 and I can't wait!

2. After the race we are going to meet up with some friends and my sister at an event called Crafty Bastards. It promises to have lots of hand-crafted goods, food, and a beer garden.

3. Sunday morning I'm going up to Maryland to have lunch with my mom and pick up Calvin. We haven't seen our little guy in two weeks and can't wait to have him back with us!

4. The weather this weekend is supposed to be beautiful: cool mornings and sunny, mild afternoons. I love this time of year!

5. The thing I'm most looking forward to this weekend is MY BIRTHDAY! I'll be turning the big 2-8 tomorrow. This past year was one of the best of my life, I can't wait to see what this year has in store!

Tampa & Penn State

I am back from my work trip to Tampa and a weekend in Happy Valley. Both trips were a lot of fun but I am happy to be back home.

I arrived in Tampa on Monday afternoon. The conference was Tuesday through Thursday and we had a meeting with customers on Thursday afternoon. I left Friday morning and had enough time to repack and nap before we headed to Penn State.

The view of the bay from my hotel room. It was fairly warm all week but showers passed through between 3 and 6pm everyday which meant no pool time after conference events.

 

 On Tuesday night we went out for a delicious dinner at The Columbia which also featured a flamenco dancing show while we ate.

Saturday morning we woke up to an overcast morning. We had been watching the weather channel all week and knew rain was on the way. P and I walked around downtown, got bagels from our favorite cafe Irvings and stocked up on PSU gear.

Whenever we visit we get a picture at the Allen Street gates. We often would meet here after classes.

My in-laws were driving in from Ohio to join us for the game, my mother-in-law is a fellow PSU alum (I lived in the exact same apartment my last two years that she lived in her junior year, small world!). My father-in-law warned us that they drove through downpours most of their drive. He anticipated the rain would start around 2pm, and it did. We were hopeful that the mountains would help break it up or slow it down, but no luck.

This was Saturday's forecast. State College is right in the middle of Pennsylvania.

We decided to get lunch at one of our favorite BBQ places, Bar Bleu, to stay out of the rain until kickoff at 3:30pm. Around 3pm we started walking to the stadium. It was raining the whole time but nothing too heavy and we all had raincoats on. Just as we were walking to our seats a huge downpour started and we got soaked. Every part of us was wet but we still stayed until the beginning of the fourth quarter. The weather conditions were less than ideal but Penn State still pulled off a great win against Kent State, 34-0!

I pulled this picture from the web. It's about where we were sitting. I did not take a single picture during the game in fear of ruining my phone!

 

After warming up and changing into dry clothes we headed downtown for dinner and drinks. Sunday was a beautiful fall day in State College. We had breakfast at the Nittany Lion Inn with P's parents before they headed back to Ohio. Then we walked around campus some more before meeting Emily, a girl I used to babysit for. It is Emily's freshmen year and I was so excited when her mom told me she was going there. She is so smart and bright and has an amazing four years ahead of her. It was great to see her and treat her to a delcious Austrian lunch at Herwigs.

 

I can't believe I started babysitting her when she was four years old and now she's a college freshmen!

 

We left town shortly after and had a beautiful drive back to DC. Some of the trees in the mountains were just beginning to change color. This week I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, a day off on Friday, and my birthday on Saturday!

 



FRIDAY!

Once again I'm linking up to my favorite blogs for another installment of the 5 on Friday.

1. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to spending time with one of my besties and bridesmaids, Allison. I'm so glad she lives close enough that we get to see each other fairly often.

2. I want to give a special thank you to my mom for watching Calvin for us the next two weeks. We will be traveling a bit so Calvin will get to spend some time chasing birds in my mom's backyard.

3. I'm really looking forward to Sunday when my dad, step-mom, aunt, uncle, and cousin will be joining P and I at a Nationals game against the Phillies. We really love going to the Nationals game and it is supposed to be beautiful weather this weekend!

4. Last weekend I started and finished the book The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen. It was a fun read about a group of college friends who take a week long vacation to Jamaica. It was a quick read and made me want to check out some of her other books.

5. I'm headed to Tampa, FL on Monday for a work conference. I'll be there through Friday and then we're heading up to Penn State! While conferences can be boring, I'm looking forward to a break for the usual work day.

Have a great weekend!

The Liebster Award

Last week I was nominated for the Liebster Award. This is an award given by fellow bloggers to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. This award is a great way to meet other bloggers and become more active in the blogging community. A special thank you to Lindsay at Life with the Rashids for the nomination!

Here are the rules for the nomination:
1. Link back to the person that nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions asked by the nominator.
3. Choose 11 bloggers, each under 200 followers and nominate them for the award.
4. Come up with 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Contact your nominees and notify them of your nomination.

Lindsay asked:

1. If you could go back in time to one event, which event would you choose and why?

If I could go back in time to one event I think I would choose Woodstock. P and I love good music and I would have loved to see all of the great musicians who performed that weekend especially Janis Joplin, Joe Crocker, The Who, The Band, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and  Young, and of course, Jimi Hendrix. I'm not sure I would have loved all the mud but it would have been worth it.

 

2. If you could be any super hero, who would you choose to be?

This one really has me stumped. I guess Superman because I could fly to different places around the world really fast.....that feels like a really lame answer!

 

3. What is your favorite book?

To Kill a Mockingbird or Wuthering Heights.

 

4. What is something on your bucket list?

Traveling to Alaska. I was born in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska but obviously don't remember anything about it. P and his family spent two weeks in Alaska when he was in college and the pictures are breath taking.

 

5. What is your greatest accomplishment to date?

I think my greatest accomplishment to date would be earning my Bachelor and Master's degrees. I still get such a sense of pride when I glance up at my degrees and think of the hard work that went into earning them and the doors that opened to me because of them.

 

6. What is one thing you wish you were better at?

I wish I was a better swimmer. There seems to be something so calming about doing laps in a pool.

 

7. Who is your favorite blogger?

I have so many! Of my favorite bloggers at this moment is Young House Love. They have such creative, budget-friendly ideas for home decor.

 

8. What is your favorite blog post? Link back so we can read it :)

THIS is my favorite blog post. Hands down.

 

9. If you could be any animal for a day, what would you choose to be and why?

I would be a dog so I could communicate with our dog Calvin. I would just love to know what he's thinking in that little head of his!

 

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?

I hope to be living in a house (not an apartment!) with P and hopefully one or two little P's (or Emily's). I hope that we are all healthy and happy in life.

 

11. What do you hope to accomplish through blogging?

I hope to continue to use blogging as a way document and share my life through words and pictures.

 

 

So I'm going to break the rules a little bit for #3. Instead of listing 11 up and coming bloggers, I'm only going to list 6 and then list 5 of my favorite blogs.

 

The 6 blogs I nominate are:

1. Caitlyn @ Home Sweet Ruby 

2. Stephanie @ Newlyweds North

3. Sara Elizabeth @ Simply Sara Elizabeth

4. Emily @ Brown Eyed Girl
5. Caroline @ Sweet Caroline

6. Donavan @ A Marathon Runner's Wife

 

And here are 5 of my favorite 200+ follower blogs:

1. Young House Love

2. A. Liz Adventures

3. Carolina Charm

4. The Small Things Blog

5. Blair's Head Band

 

Finally, my 11 questions for the nominees if they choose to answer (please leave a comment with your responses so we can read them!):

1. Where is your favorite place to travel to?

2. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

3. What is your favorite movie?

4. Salty or sweet?

5. What other profession do you wish you could be or think would be fun?

6. Where do you see yourself in five years?

7. What is your favorite season?

8. Who are your top three favorite bloggers?

9. What TV show is your guilty pleasure?

10. Beach or mountains?

11. What is your all time favorite meal?

 

 

Scenes from the Weekend

Hope everyone had a good weekend! Ours was pretty low key, just as I predicted. It consisted of cooking, the gym, football, and a few chores and errands. I don't have too many pictures mostly because they would just be of me and P on the couch, in sweatpants, watching football. But here are a few things I did capture:

After work on Friday I whipped up a batch of the pumpkin cookies I blogged about. I added chocolate chips to the second half of the batch and they were so delicious. This is definitely a new favorites fall recipe.

 

 

On my way home from the gym on Saturday morning I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up a few snacks for football watching. I couldn't resist scooping up these sunflowers. I love how they look in the Penn State glass bottle. Sunflowers and Penn State are two of my favorite things!

 

 Last night I made enchiladas for the first time. I was kind of surprised I had never made them before given how much P and I love Mexican food. I filled them with a mixture of sauted chopped onions, black beans, and cheese. I added a little cumin and 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce to the mixture to give it a little more flavor. They were delicious and I can't wait to enjoy leftovers for lunch.

TGIF!

Happy Friday! Now let's move onto the good stuff.....

1. Today I'm wishing my little sister a very happy 23rd birthday!!

2. I found my new favorite Essie nail polish color for fall: Smokin Hot

3. Since we have some cooler weather today and tomorrow I'm thinking about baking my first pumpkin recipe for the season. I think these cookies from The Chow sound delicious. Although I may eliminate the frosting and add chocolate chips.

4. Any time I go to Target my first stop is always the Dollar Spot. Last week I found these cute little pouches that came with two for $1. They are the perfect size for holding make-up, gum, etc. and tossing in your bag.

5. We don't have much planned for this weekend and I'm very excited. Right now my weekend is going to consist of catching up on sleep, football, the gym, and some cooking. Can't wait!

Fall Favorites



Now that it is officially September I think it is safe to share some of my favorite things I am most looking forward to this fall. 

Going clockwise from the top left corner:

1. Blazers. I now have quite the collection of blazers in my wardrobe and I find myself wearing them all the time in the fall and even into the winter. They are great over short sleeve or long sleeve blouses when the temperatures are just beginning to cool down. When it gets a bit colder they are great over sweaters.

2. Boots. Nothing is better then wearing a great pair of boots with jeans, a shirt or sweater, and a blazer (see number 1).

3. Pumkin bread and really anything pumpkin flavored. I just can't get enough pumpkin in the fall. I can't wait to make my first pumpkin loaf in the next couple of weeks.

4. Fall foliage. I love going for drives up along the George Washington Parkway or up to Pennsylvania in the fall and seeing the vibrant orange, red, and yellow leaves on the trees.

5. Football. This one is obvious but nothing screams fall like college football and the NFL.


PS - check out the fancy smancy collage I created using with Picasa. I am obsessed with it now and you better believe there will be many more coming!