Emmy's: Blogger Shout Out!

Okay - so I won't pretend - I don't watch real/live TV (I watch episodes of shows), so I did not watch the Emmy's. However my very good friend, former roomie and fellow SKANK member KRISTEN over at andthenifound5dollars did, and she has some great comments about her loves and hates on the red carpet.

If you are a fashion fan and love to pick apart what the celebs are wearing, you should definitely check out her post!

***EDIT: Per Hannah's request below - SKANK - "Staci" "Kristen" "Amy" "Nicole" "Katie" - 5 girlfriends from high school - first initial from first name - listed in birth order - happens to spell out that great word!***

weekend update: July 15-17, 2011

This past weekend was fun, busy, nostalgic and exhausting!! I actually was off Friday because I had worked so much earlier in the week for a bid that was due, so I took advantage of that time off by sleeping in, lounging around and doing some cleaning and grocery shopping.

My girlfriends Nicole and Carri came up from Pittsburgh Friday night, and I haven't them since (college) graduation in 2006. Nicole and I were interior design majors together and Carri was her roommate-turned-best-friend-turned-totally-inseparable. They moved to Virginia/DC area after college and just within the last year moved back up "north." We met up for dinner/drinks at Texas Roadhouse, then planned our next day festivities.

Other than visiting me, the girls had a few reliving-college-memories staples that had to be accomplished during this trip. These included: a visit/drive around Mercyhurst College, Little Caesar's Hot & Ready pizza, Valerio's pizza,  Seawolves Baseball game and The Cellblock Bar/Club.

We started the walk down memory lane Saturday with Little Caesar's at Josh and I's townhouse. Then we drove down to Romolo Chocolates for ice cream and milkshakes and a walk around Frontier Park. Originally we were going to stop at Presque Isle but it was ridiculously busy due to Roar on the Shore bike rally so we rethought our ice cream/walk plans.

Nicole + Carri swinging at Frontier Park

A walk around Mercyhurst College

So, they obviously don't need this fire extinguisher spot anymore (there was one mounted on the wall on the other side of the tree)

Old Main building. We also saw a wedding here that ended up being the one my sister was shooting. Weird!

Carri, Me + Nicole at Jerry Uht Park

Jerry Uht Park

Funnel cake at the game. <3

Cellblock - the girls used to love this place!

Classy club-bathroom-pic

We had so much fun reminiscing about old times, catching up on life since college and laughing together. I'm so glad they live closer now so road trips and visits can happen much more often!!

Josh and I didn't get much time together Friday and Saturday since the girls were in town and we were so busy off doing crazy things, so Sunday we laid low and just hung out in the comfort of our AC-house.

Hope you all had great weekends! I'm looking forward to the next three weekends also being crazy busy as well...but they should be fun!

Weekend Update: July 4th!

We had a great, busy and fun weekend. Friday started off with a trip to The Cove for dinner and a walk around the dock at sunset. It was a beautiful night.

Saturday I spent the afternoon with my friend Bethany, lounging at her parents pool and eating picnic food. The evening involved a bridal shower for my cousin's fiancee.

Mum, Rach & me at the shower.

Sunday Josh and I were on for worship band in the AM. The rest of the day we laid low, napped and enjoyed a relaxing night together.

July 4th was spent at our good friends' (and wedding videographer/photographer duo) Dave & Danielle's new home. There was lots of good food, great friends and beautiful sun.

My adorable niece!

Yummy picnic food.

Festive cake pops by Danielle! They looked and tasted awesome!

A little puppykins!

Two of my favorite men! My hubs and my dad!

These lights with pom-poms and lanterns were strung all over their backyard.

Chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow cream frosting made by me!

Strawberry cake pop!

Boat ride thanks to our friend Aaron!!

Oh, yes...the weekend was filled with good times. Except...one...bad...time...

Yep. My iPhone fell (I had it sitting on top of the car while I got my keys out)...face-down...onto gravel. Ugh. I would have probably screamed and let some bad words fly out had we not been in public or had my great-aunt not been in the car with us. But. I cried. Expressed my concern of telling Josh (he's been pretty easy going about the whole thing). But man. I'm so sick about it. There's like, no way to fix the iPhone 4 front damage easily, either. And if there was any chance of this being covered by the one year warranty...well, it's been one year and one month. So, yeah, not looking good.

Anyway. The weekend was great other than the iPhone incident. Hope you all had great times with family and friends. I'm ready for another day off and more picnicking!

shoutout: thanks

i just wanted to give a big thank you to all you new readers/commenters out there. i really appreciate my friends for loving on me [even though they know alllll about me] and you new readers who only know me for my crazy blog-food-designer life. your encouragement and comments always make me happy and brighten my day!

i don't know about you, but i'm looking forward to the weekend! we're celebrating my brother-in-law's 30th birthday tomorrow and i've done some pretty unadventurous cooking this week (hotdogs...salad...baked beans anyone? sometimes a person needs these simple things in one's life) so i'm looking forward to more fun foods this weekend!

have a great one!

birthday post (belated)

so, like i said days ago - happy birthday kristen!

last friday was my former roomie kristen, from andthenifound5dollars. kristen is a long time friend, the first K in "SKANK," a Penn State Behrend lover, wine connoisseur, shoe fiend and fashionista. i was so fortunate to spend two years living with her! we had a great time as roomies - making dinner together, watching and making fun of Rachael Ray, watching Seinfeld reruns, leaving for work at the same time...

alas, life moves on and she bought a house last year and i got married. kristen now lives in our old neighborhood with a super cute house that she did amazing job painting and decorating. i'm so proud of her success and joy in her career, buying her first home and owning her new doggie Daisy!

5th or 6th grade (can't remember which) - i'm on the far right, kristen is on the far left (stephanie is in the middle)

former roomies - on our way to the Erie Bayhawks game for Behrend students, alums and staff!

NYE 2007

 

 

wedding days! 2010 - photo by Danielle Hartland

kristen - i hope you had a super awesome birthday! it was so great to spend it with you! thank you for being such a great friend and roomie. it has been a blessing to know you!

birthday post!!

yesterday was the birthday of one of my very best friends - the S of SKANK! (also, the oldest...ha ha!). check her blog out here.

just like the rest of the girls, staci and i have been friends for quite a long time, our friendship starting in middle school. staci and i played volleyball together in high school and play now in a coed league once a week, which is great cause i get to see her weekly! staci is a great friend, loyal, generous, caring and loves her family, friends and pets oh so much! i'm so blessed to have her in my life!

here are some fun pics:

canada trip - sometime b/w 2000-2003 (i don't remember...little help??)

my wedding day! Aug 20, 2010 - photo by Danielle Hartland

staci + shane's wedding - Aug 11, 2007 (right?? haha)

cruise - 2008

t-day holiday plans

so what does everyone have planned for this glorious holiday weekend? i can't believe it is already here! josh and i have some fun friend & family events plus lots of R&R i hope!

our/my plans include:

wednesday:
getting out of work early, grabbing an early christmas present for Josh, baking Spice Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting and relaxing in-between laundry and cleaning.
thursday:
SLEEPING IN!!! thanksgiving dinner with Josh's family @ his gram's house, then stopping to see my family around dessert if there is time. not sure if we need to see Josh's other gram in there too.
friday:
SLEEPING IN!!! that's right - no early AM black friday shopping for me. probably need to make a trip to the liquor store, then cooking, cleaning and getting ready for some fun with friends coming over to our place in the evening. maybe i'll do some online shopping in the afternoon.
saturday:
more sleeping in of course. planning on a big yummy breakfast with Josh (eggs, toast, bacon, hash browns, coffee), christmas movies & music, hot chocolate and decorating the tree. we don't have a big tree (or a lot of ornaments & other decorations...) so i doubt it will take long. i'm excited to start new traditions decorating our place together. we both are on for band at church this weekend, so we have practice in the evening.
sunday:
i assume this day will be dedicated to church and naps. possibly out to the east side to visit my parents and help put up their tree like i do every year.


i hope you all have a great holiday and remember all the things you are thankful for this year! i'm thankful for an understanding family who gives me no grief on spending thanksgiving dinner w/ my husband's family. i'm thankful for his family, who loves and accepts me right in. i'm thankful for friends, food and fun-and combining that all together to form a great evening. i'm thankful for my flexible job and days off! i'm ever so thankful for my amazing, talented, loving, caring and super-fun husband to spend the holiday (and days off) with. happy thanksgiving!

bachelorette weekend: days 4 &5

ok. i'm sick of this last post just waiting to be posted.

here's some shots and bullet points from our last day(s) in Florida:

visiting the worlds greatest gift shop...and being severely disappointed.


Hollywood Studios!


more at Hollywood Studios


in line for possibly the back stage tour. at this point, my camera told me i had taken too many pictures (oh, you know, over 700). i started deleting the junk ones to make more room...


roomie got chosen to participate in the Indiana Jones stunt show! totes fun!


Muppets in 3D. it was good, but it was freezing in there. kind of ruined it for me.


end of the day - Magic Kingdom. my camera battery died right before we left Hollywood Studios. also, Alicia had to go to work for a bit, so we took the shuttle to Magic Kingdom. i didn't think about it, and had to carry my huge dead-battery-now-useless camera around the rest of the day. ANNOYING.

my trip - was awesome.
my friends - are awesome.
my life - is awesome.

bachelorette weekend: day 3

highlights:

• awesome town & country van rented and driven by Alicia
• two hour drive to Anna Maria Island to Manatee Beach
• almost-white sand, almost-clear super-warm water
• relaxing with some of my favorite girls
• 90 degree temps
• taking full advantage of "continuous shot mode" on my camera
  
• sipping frosty drinks and eating yummy app's by the ocean
• fun lights in the town & country van and feeling pretty awesome about it
• power-women songs from the 80's (including but not limited too "house of love" by Amy Grant and Celine Dion, "because you loved me")
• dressing back up in our LBD's and bachelorette box gear
  
• downtown universal, one club, avoiding creepy guys, finding a bachelor party and telling the bachelor "congrats" and "marriage is cool," staying till last call, mistaking people's genders and staci hating me cause we had her out past 3 am!

sunday was probably the best day. beach time and dancing with some crazy-fun girls. LOVED IT!!

a lovely award

i don't think i've ever received a blog award before! (maybe once, in my 8ish years of blogging...), but thanks to the oh-so-lovely herself, Meighan of Fredricka Rose, i get to put my count up to TWO!!! i feel so honored to have received an award from a blog friend!! make sure you check her blog out!!

and to pass on the love myself...

and then i found 5 dollars
superyay!
brian and rachel plus
chaos symphony

not only are their blogs awesome, but the bloggers are amazing!
they are truly *lovely* and i love them!

labor day weekend

this week is awesome because we had Monday off for labor day, and Friday off for preparations for Nicole's wedding Saturday!

Josh and I spent Sunday & Monday with our good friends and newlyweds Mike and Katie. Josh and I went to the Omnimax theater at the Carnegie Science Center before getting to Mike & Katie's house. first, however, we got lost in the ghetto of Pittsburgh (both my google maps and mapquest directions had the wrong address. yeah, that was awesome). then my phone decided to be an idiot and be really crappy with it's GPS abilities. we eventually made it to the science center, $10 later for parking with 5 minutes to spare before the movie. the movie was fun, though i'm always scared i'm going to fall into the screen with Imax/Omnimax movies.

we went to The Melting Pot for dinner Sunday night. I was SO excited to go there! and it was pretty much every bit as awesome as i could have imagined. we all decided we could eat there every day. i mean, if we didn't have to pay of course.

kt & mikey j


oh my josh! and me


cheese fondue in action!


awesome dippers for chocolate fondue


awesome.

we had so much fun with our lovely friends :)
thank you for opening up your house to us (and for cooking us awesome french toast breakfast!)