Halloween

While many people are excited for this week filled with tricks and treats, I have a confession, Halloween is probably one of my least favorite holidays. As much as I love pumpkins and fall, I have just never really gotten into the full spirit of Halloween post childhood.

Of course I loved it as a kid. I mean who doesn't love running door to door and getting a bag full of candy?! I had some pretty good costumes too: pumpkin, angel, princess, and a hippie using some of my mom's jewelry and clothes from the 70s. But ever since my days of trick-or-treating have ended, Halloween has just not been my thing.

I remember dressing up once for Halloween in college during my freshmen year. I wore a knee-length black dress and accessorized it with a cheap tiara, pink boa, and carried a wand. I have no idea what I supposed to be, maybe a princess of some kind. I remember walking around downtown State College and realizing I had totally missed the mark. No one told me in college you're supposed to wear your shortest, tightest and most revealing outfit and accessorize with bunny ears, cat whiskers, stethoscope, etc. in order to be the "sexy (insert costume name)." I knew after that night that Halloween in college just wasn't going to be my thing. I managed to avoid dressing up the last three Halloweens of college due to other commitments or events.

After graduating college, I noticed that the majority of young 20-something females continued with the short, sexy-themed costumes so I continued to avoid participating in dressing up. The past two years we have found ourselves in a bar watching college football the Saturday before Halloween. Last year as our game was ending the bar was getting more and more packed as the Halloween party kicked off.  Of course there were groups of girls in coordinating, barely-there costumes but I observed that a fair amount of the crowd were actually dressed in more funny and clever costumes versus the overily revealing costumes. This year we didn't  stay too long in the bar as the Halloween crowed poured in. But I was happy to once again see less scantily-dressed females this year and more creative costumes....the group who dressed as Cards Against Humanity were my favorite!

Maybe there is hope that once day I'll fully embrace of the holiday of goblins and ghosts. I suspect that once we begin a family of our own and have small children to pick out and make costumes for my enthusiasm for the holiday will return in full force.

What are your thoughts on Halloween? What are you dressing up as this year? My prediction for popular costumes in 2013: Miley Cyrus at the VMAs, Breaking Bad, and foxes (thanks to the popular YouTube video from Ylvis).

For those of you dressing up and celebrating tomorrow, whether it's at a bar or trick-or-treating with little ones, please  be safe and have fun!

TGIF!

It's Friday so that means another around of 5 on Friday. Here are the five things on my mind this Friday:

1. I am finally feeling better! I still have some residual sniffles but I was able to make it to the gym four days this week and am finally feeling like my old self!

2.  Two weeks ago I tried out this Pinterest DIY project on one of the nights hubby was working late. It was very easy to make and I love how it turned out! Thanks to really good deals at Michaels this project was less than $25 to make. This is how mine turned out (sorry for the bad lighting on the photo):

3. Today I am volunteering at my sister's school. Her classroom has been participating in Socktober and I'll be dropping off my donations plus helping out for a few hours. I'm excited to see my sister's classroom and see her in action. I'm also thankful to work for a company that gives its employees 40 civic/volunteer hours each year.

4. I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. We have lots of fun things planned that include football, birthdays, family and friends!

5. Two words....RED SOX! We are loving watching the World Series and seeing our beloved Red Sox kick butt in Game 1! Game 2 was a bust so hopefully they can come back in Game 3 tomorrow night. I can remember instant messaging (remember AIM?!) with P when the Red Sox defeated the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series. A few weeks later we started dating. I would have never guessed that nine years later we would be married and cheering them on to another championship!

Red Sox celebrating after their 2004 win!

Hope you have a great weekend!

This Weekend

This weekend I.....

• Made these delicious meatballs from Real Simple and planned two more meals this week around the leftovers (the meatballs on homemade pizza and the rice for fried rice)
• Went through TWO boxes of tissues. My poor nose is so red!
• Donated to Penn State THON when we saw canners on Saturday
• Caught up on Nashville, Scandal, and Parenthood
• Bought these yummy fall treats from Trader Joes. At only 90 calories for two they are the perfect sweet indulgence!
• Took a drive to historic Leesburg, Virginia. We were hoping to see a little more fall foliage but it was nice to get out of the house (we sniffled the whole drive out) and explore a new area.
• Cooked these pumpkin waffles on Sunday morning. Trader Joes is the spot for all things pumpkin. They also had pumpkin flavored beer, butter, ice cream, pastries, granola and more!
• Spent lots of quality time with my boys

Despite having a serious case of th Mondays, I'm hoping for a good and much healthier week!

Five on Friday

Today's 5 on Friday feature the five things that have been helping me fight this nasty cold this week. I'm hoping this weekend is filled with relaxation and recovery.

1. Jcrew Lodge Moccasins - P got me these last year and lived in them all winter. My feet seem to stay cold and these have kept me warm while bundled up on the couch.

2. EOS lip blam. I have at least two in my purse and one on my nightstand. My mom was always a chapstick hoarder and I have definitely inherited this from her.

3. Tissues with aloe. These Kleenex Tissues have been a life saver for my constant nose blowing. The aloe keeps my nose from getting raw and red.

4. My couch. My butt and the couch cushions have been getting a lot of quality as I collapse on it when I get home from work. I'm working from home today so the bonding will continue.

5. Ginger tea. Not only does the warm tea feel good on my throat, the ginger helps give me a boost and feel (almost) better.

Hope you have a fun and healthy weekend!

Brought to you by the letter T

Today's post is brought to you by the letter T for tea and tissues. I have caught the cold that P was fighting all last week. It is inevitable that when one of us gets sick the other is sick a few days later.

Last night I soothed my throat with a delicious cup of ginger tea in the cute Kate Spade mug my little sister gifted me for my birthday and fresh honey from our friends parents hives in Germany (thank you Bernhard and Anne!). I am looking forward to making another cup of this delicious combo this evening.

Happy Friday!

 

 

 

Happy Friday! Let's get to it with a litte 5 on Friday love!

 

 

1. Yesterday my weekend unexpectantly turned into a three-day weekend. I know a lot of people get Columbus Day off but it is not one of my company's set holidays. Since many people in my company have been given stop work orders for the government contracts they support (thanks shutdown!), the president of the company decided that everyone must take a vacation day on Monday in order to prevent the company from having to begin furloughs. I am very fortunate that my contract is still funded and I'm okay sacrificing one day of vacation if it helps others in the company from being furloughed.

 

2. Fall weather is finally here! It has been in the low sixties during the day and fifties at night. I'm loving it! The cooler temps have brought along lots of rain the past few days but we've needed it.

 

3. Since it is cooler, I'm starting to think about heartier dinners to warm our bellies: black bean chili, chicken pot pie, soup....yum!

 

4. Tomorrow is Penn State's Homecoming. I always get nostalgic this time of year. When I was a student at Penn State, the organization I was a part of would spend all week making our float and participating in all of the activities around homecoming. I have so many great memories with P and my bestie Aubrey during homecoming.

 

Superhero float my junior year. Can you spot P?



Aubrey & I front and center during the Superhero skits.

 

5. This Sunday marks six months since we said "I Do." P has been working ungodly hours this week so we're hoping for a very quiet, email-free Sunday. We're planning to mark the six month milestone with mass at the church where we were married and brunch at the Key Bridge Marriott where our reception was held. I'm so thankful for my sweet husband and hope we can have some face time this weekend (I swear I only saw him for 2 minutes on Thursday when we said good-bye in the morning).

 



Morning Fuel

I have never been one to skip breakfast. Since I am not a coffee drinker, breakfast is my fuel to get going in the morning. I don't generally eat breakfast before leaving the house, instead I grab one or two of my favorites to have at the office.

Here are a few of my current go to breakfast items:

 

 

1. Banana - I used to not like them but now I generally have 2-3 a week.
2. Apple - I love Honey Crisp apples in the fall!
3. Yogurt - Dannon Lite & Fit Strawberry Yogurt or Fage Total 0% Greek Yogurt with honey 
4. Special K Granola Bar - I pretty much like them all
5. Jimmy Dean Delights Turkey Sausage Breakfast Sandwich
6. Emerald Breakfast On The Go (new favorite) - the Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal Nut Blend is so good

What are your favorite breakfast items?

Hello Friday!

This Friday took way too long to arrive. But I'm so glad it's here. Time for my favorite link-up!

 

 

 

1. I am not working today and could not be more happy about it. After working 38 hours over a three day period, this day off is much needed. Plus I have plans to meet up with Aubrey and Taylor in Maryland to check out a farm and celebrate our birthdays.
2. I'm over the government shutdown. It is impacting my friends, family, coworkers and countless Americans. Regardless of your political affiliation, if you are not happy with your elected representatives, do yourself and the country a favor and do not reelect them. It is time to find a constructive resolution to this mess so everyone can get back to work.
3. There's been a bit of a heat wave in the DC area this week. Highs in the mid-80s in October?! What the heck?! I need it to cool down 15-20 degrees so I'm not a sweaty fool in my sweaters, vests, and scarves.
4. This weekend I need to give our apartment some much needed TLC. Between traveling, birthday celebrating, and the ridiclous hours that P and I have worked the past two weeks, our home has been ignored. I'm hoping to give it some love this weekend.
5. Once again I have to give a special shout out to my husband. He has been incredibly supportive this week on so many different levels. It's been a rough week for both of us and he continues to be my rock. I don't know how I got so lucky to have this man as my husband, but I am forever grateful that I do.

 

Have a great weekend! =)