I told you May was going to be busy. And busy it has been.

I currently have some pictures on facebook of our house but here are some highlights.

Here's the living room with a view of the fireplace. We love the open floorplan a lot.

The dining room, tons of windows to look out on the backyard.

Kitchen. A little smaller than our other one size wise, but cabinet wise it's larger because we have a pantry in the laundry room that holds all the appliances we use once in a while.

Our master bedroom. Still needs some decor but we're loving sleeping in the dark and quiet compared to the hustle bustle city.

We closed on our old home yesterday. Never again will we step foot in there. I've already realized how convenient it was to live in the city, it's the center of everything and easy to travel everywhere from that point. I wouldn't trade where we are now but i'll miss the convenience.

This weekend we have plenty of picnics to go to, including our own housewarming party on saturday, so it should be a very eventful weekend. I'm going to try really hard not to eat carbs though, so wish me luck on that!

Next weekend is the OCMD trip for my friend Nicole's bachelorette party, so that should be fun. Hopefully nice weather.. but i need to get in a little better shape to be on a beach, so i'm really buckling down this weekend and next week. Should be a blast! Can't wait!!

Well I can finally post some pictures of the cupcakes/cake i made a couple weeks back!

And some pictures from the wedding from this past weekend!

So here goes nothin'

To the left you can see the final cupcakes on my countertop prior to taking them up to harrisburg. Of course it was super hot that weekend, but they faired quite well in the car. Everyone seemed to love them and my favorite were the strawberry icing ones on vanilla cake. The oreo icing was a whipped cream which i didn't really enjoy so i'll probably make that more of a straight buttercream next time.

To the right is the cake, which I was happy with. The fondant was being a pain in the rear though, i think my powdered sugar was too clumpy so it would do me good to sift it next time. But since i didn't have much extra fondant to decorate, i went out and bought a paint brush at michaels and used food coloring to paint on the flowers and words. We didn't actually cut into the cake while we were there however, due to the amount of cupcakes and food in general, and the chocolate fountain. But they ate it later on and t old me it was very good!

So this past weekend, Alex was in a wedding for our friends
Dan & Steph. Friday we went to the rehearsal dinner and Saturday the wedding. So below it's Alex and I with Matt, Marci, Nick and Laurel. The wedding was at Lauxmont Farms in Wrightsville, and the view was amazing. We just kept looking around that day because you could see forever. It was crazy! But they served Lambrusco, yess! and the food was delicious. The dancing was fun as usual and it was really nice to celebrate with Dan and Steph.

We also got to spend sometime with Alex's out of town friend, August and his girlfriend, Nicole who was lovely. I really wish that i had batteries for my camera so I could've taken more pictures. I don't like relying on others to take them.. even though Carolann did a fantastic job! Next wedding up is my friend Nicole's in July, which I'm a bridesmaid (hence the shower above). Can't wait for that!! Followed by our friends Phil & Ashley's wedding at the end of July!

Sunday was our first real relaxing day in our new house. After having breakfast with our guests, and eating at Saigon.. Alex and I relaxed the rest of the day, took a nap on the couch while watching step brothers, took a walk around the neighborhood then did some housework. Alex mowed and i cleaned up inside. We played some coin runner on Mario and probably just watched some more Tv. Nice end to an awesome weekend!

This week is going well so far. Tonight we're having Matt & Marci over for dinner, tomorrow we're going into Ross St to do some work, take some measurements, etc and Thursday Alex has a basketball game. Friday we're having the Hix's and the newly married Herr's over for dinner and drinks so that should be fun as well!! Saturday we'll be doing more at Ross and then going to Laurel & Nick's engagement party in the evening. Sunday I have a baby shower to attend, and then no other plans!

I really want to try to get into running.. or at least walking 3 times a week. Maybe I can throw some jogging in with the walking for bursts of calorie burning. Bathing suit season is almost here, and i'm going to OCMD the first week of June for a bachelorette party. So i need to amp up the exercising and eating right. I basically eat right but I need to focus on the exercise. I did pilates/yoga last night and feel great today so hopefully i can use this feeling to convince me to do it a couple more times this week since it's looking like rain a lot.

Well that's about it, so happy tuesday and here's to wishing the weekend gets here quickly!

Foods I love

I've kind of been obsessed with food lately. Not to a point of over-eating, i just think about it a lot.

So i thought i'd list some favorites that i've had recently or just all-time favorites.. for my life files ;)

*Risotto- Alex and I (mostly Alex) made an awesome risotto recipe back on Easter weekend for the meal with his family. It was to die for.. oh my gosh! Then i followed that up with a risotto dish at John J Jeffries which was also fab. Needless to say i'm making it for dinner tonight for friends and they'll probably fall in love too.. it's just so darn good.

*Sour Cream & Onion chips- Just bought some on Monday and i forgot how much i loved them! Especially because the Lays ones that look like pringles have the flavor on the bottom to hit your tongue right away.. smart! Luckily i regulated that because how easy would it be to eat a whole can of those!!

*Asparagus- Alex's parents have an organic asparagus farm so we get to enjoy some of that during the season (which is quite short!). Unfortunately we don't get as much as i would like, but Alex keeps talking about getting 5lbs a week.... i wouldn't mind eating it every night in different ways. Though i do hate that after-effect.

*Pita sandwiches- I recently discovered the pita as a bread substitute. And i love sandwiches, so now i get half a pita filled with mayo, turkey and lettuce for lunch everyday.. it's really taken the thought process out of making lunch in the morning. i still haven't mastered breakfast but i'm working on that (or am i?) Having half a pita is like 7g carbs and whole wheat so that's definitely do-able for my current food lifestyle.

*Picnic/Party food- I will always love picnics and parties for the food.. i love chips and french onion dip, salsa and taco dip, pasta salad, burgers, you name it! I'm looking forward to summer for these reasons!

*Fish tacos- Though i'm almost positive the price of fish is about to sky-rocket.. fish tacos are light and delicious. Season, pan fry or grill, shred and put in a taco. It's really easy, not to mention a lot healthier than beef. Though i can't knock beef because that's usually what we have.. though ours is grass-fed and basically organic from Malty, Alex's old steer. He sure is delicious though.. I think they should invest in another one because the meat is so worth it!

That's all I can think of for now, though i know there's more.. like an Isaac's Scarlet Ibis on Rye, yum! But I have to get back to work (boo!)

Tomorrow is friday! Yessss!

Settling in

Well we're starting to get settled, though we're not completely unpacked. The office is such a pain in the rear to sort out! I don't know how we fit so much in that desk before and I have a feeling i might leave a lot in boxes then go on a basement treasure hunt when i really need something.

I really wish that Alex and I woke up in the morning at the same time, maybe some day in the future we can manage that. One other thing is that the TV is a lot further away then before.. i may need to put on my glasses to see the DVR without squinting soon.. i might as well keep them there since i don't wear them much anyway. We're trying to work out the logistics of the kitchen as well.. where to put the cutting board, etc. We ordered our knife magnet yesterday so that will help too.

Tonight we're going to Pier 1 to check out the lamps and other decor and fun stuff.. i love that place! And then stopping by Forever 21 to see if they have the dress that I want for Saturday.. only problem is, i'm lacking in the shoe dept. and I also want to hit up Baja Tanning for a spray tan. I did my manicure last night and now i need a pedicure.. i wish it wasn't so cold outside because when indoors, i just wear sweats and long sleeve shirts as well as socks so painting the tootsies is difficult. ohh please don't rain on saturday, or be cold.. it's calling for low 70s right now so that should be fine.

Now we can finally get back to having dinner with friends.. which speaking of that, we need to stop and get some wine. We're having the McHenry's over for dinner (since they live a couple minutes away now, yessss!) for organic asparagus and coconut risotto. yum! can't wait!

We've Moved

Well we've finally moved into our new house. Once it's cleaned and unpacked completely i'll post some pictures.

I took off work on Friday and made multiple trips back and forth to the house to finish up the small stuff. I worked on unpacking a lot so that we wouldn't have too much to do on Saturday. We spent our last night in Ross on Friday night.

Saturday, everything went really smoothly. It looks so much fuller with all of our furniture inside. Alex is struggling with it a little so far because remember, this was his grandparents house and he spent a lot of time there in the last 12 years or so. Its a lot quieter than the city which is another thing he will get used to. I love the silence and it's an easy adjustment for me but if my grandparents lived there for so long I probably wouldn't be adjusting as well as i am.

Yesterday we did more unpacking and cleaning up. Tonight we'll do the same.. Our kittens are adjusting slowly. Saturday was a rough day for them because there were so many people in the house. But they're coming out more and more so they seem to be getting used to it.

We don't have many plans this week, other than dinner with friends.. and then a wedding this weekend, which we're really excited for. I'm hoping that the week flies by again and that we get everything cleaned/unpacked so that it's less cluttered and more homey feeling.

I'll post pictures soon :)

The first weekend in May

Was crazy busy.

I actually packed my camera cord so I can't show you the 4 batches of cupcakes i baked or the two layer cake that i decorated. Maybe when we move in, i'll upload them or add them to this post.

It all started on Friday, I took off work to bake the cupcakes. I got them all baked, as well as the two 9" rounds for the layer cake. I also did some moving that day and of course some TV watching. I also managed to make some of the icings and apply them. Not all but some. I also made the fondant for the layer cake that needed to set. I wasn't very happy with it but it would do.

Alex was away at a bachelor weekend so I made myself some dinner and watched The Proposal and went to bed. Boring, right? More like relaxing.

Saturday I woke up at 9 and showered. Put the fondant on the cake which was a feat and I actually don't remember what else I did, but eventually I headed to pick up Marci and drove to Harrisburg for Ashley's Shower.

I love parties, any kind. So of course this was a treat. I especially love party games and hanging out with friends and watching people open gifts. It's a bonus when it's a surprise party!

I got home around 5:00 pm and changed because I wore jeans in 90 degree weather. Terrible mistake! And headed to Carr's for a 5:30 reservation for Steph's bachelorette party. Little did I know, the reservation wasn't until 6:30 (i even checked my invitation later and it said 5:30!!) so I went upstairs to the beer/wine bar, Crush since Alex and I know the bartender and had some wine while chatting with him for an hour. They arrived, i was 3 glasses deep. We headed downstairs, had a lovely meal, tried to hit up Annie Bailey's with a 17 yr old.. no such luck. Back to the bachelorette's house for a movie, which I actually didn't end up staying for. Straight to bed.

Sunday, I woke up at 9 again. Thank goodness I took a vitamin the night before but i slept terribly. I had bought a paint brush and edible food coloring markers from ac moore on Saturday to decorate the cake. I didn't have as much fondant left over as I wanted, so I was forced in this direction. I tried writing Best Wishes Nicole on the cake with the black marker.... fail. I don't think the marker was made for fondant. However, i did have a basis to paint on the black food coloring. I then painted pink flowers and green leaves all over the cake with more food coloring and it actually didn't turn out half bad. Insert mental image here.

I packed up the cupcakes and the dip and all the other stuff I needed for the shower, stopped at the BP for ice and headed to the set up. It didn't take long to set up and everything looked great. Nicole wasn't very surprised but I think she had fun anyway. She got a ton of gifts! Which was fun to watch her open. It was a kitchen themed party so she got a lot of spices and everything kitchen related from her registry. Very exciting and fun! Afterwards we cleaned up, I hit up my parents for a couple minutes to drop off some extra cupcakes and chat. Then headed home to clean the house and try to relax. Alex and I watched Angels and Demons and went to bed. LONG weekend! Long but FUN!

I have a feeling this is going to be a long (but short) month. Each weekend is filled with stuff to do. Seriously, every weekend! We should get a couple breaks on a couple of the Sunday's so that's refreshing! Happy May!

Near Burn Out

So yesterday I made a list of things to do each day. Obviously this is hard to follow. Especially because the truck bed was still wet yesterday so I couldn't actually haul anything over to Martin. That knocked out about half of my list of things to do yesterday. Boo!

I was also sluggish in getting started because i'm starting to burn out just a tad. I think this is mostly because i've been packing, moving and unpacking stuff alone so far and I can't wait until Alex can pitch in... which is tonight! So we have a little bit to make up from yesterday and the stuff on the list for today which I tried to keep to a minimum since we have Cinco de Mayo plans. Hopefully we can get two trips in before 7 pm. Although to be honest, without the drill.. we can't do much on today's checklist anyway because we need the drill.. which is at Martin. So i guess i will be adjusting my checklist today.

I can't wait to go back to a normal schedule. We scrounge for dinner every night it seems. I actually bought some good stuff for lunch which is a nice change and i'd also like to start exercising more in the evening when we don't have to do moving/cleaning chores. Therefore, I'm looking forward to next monday.

The inspection on our house is going on right now. I hope that everything is good enough for the buyers. We will NOT be putting anymore money towards anything in there. There isn't anything that absolutely needs to be fixed or replaced. Plus they're putting a radon detector test in the basement... really? It seems crazy but whatever.

It's nice that it's already Wednesday. I'm happy about that. Mostly because I have off on Friday again to move. Should be productive.. other than that Alex has to go pick up plants or something.... really?? on the day before we move? that couldn't wait? excuse my frustration.

Back to work :)

i think i'm going to eliminate titles from now on

Last night i got some serious moving done, woo hoo!

Alex was busy picking asparagus and doing farm things so I packed up a bunch of our clothes, most of Alex's shoes, most of the pantry, the liquor cupboard and some other stuff i can't think of now..i packed my little cougar (since the truck bed was all wet from the rain) and then unloaded it all at Martin, then unpacked most of it so I could re-use the boxes.

I set up the pantry with our appliances, put some food in some of the cupboards, unloaded some clothes in the closet, swept the living room and moved the love seat to it's location, but it still needs it's feet put on. I put away all the laundry stuff and took our new sheets/towels upstairs. I took pictures of the kitchen to help plan where our stuff is going to go.

I took all the empty boxes and re-loaded the car.. i had to bring home the shopvac and a fan as well.. then i stopped at the grocery store and went home to eat some dinner.

day 1 of moving = success

Tonight i'm going to pack up the office and all the blankets in the guest room, as well as the closet in there. Move some more stuff from the pantry and hopefully a nightstand and some dining room chairs. I also want to move the van tonight and sweep out the garage.

I made a list of things that we need and i'm in the process of comparing prices online at Target, Walmart and Amazon. So far, Walmart is the cheapest for most stuff.

We're finally going to start moving

on wednesday, apparently.

i thought we would start tonight but i wasn't aware that alex has to pick asparagus tonight and tomorrow night since his parents will be out of town. so i'm going to spend some time packing today.. and cleaning, and probably taking at least one load over.. alone. but it's fine. there's lots to pack and lots to clean and unpack at the new house. We really need to move the pantry though, if we're even still doing that, who knows. I guess it wouldn't be so bad if we didn't.

there's also a car in the garage. i'm wondering what's going to happen with that. and lots of boxes, records and stuff in the garage... in the spot where i want to clean and put shelving so we can have a workable storage area. i just don't want it to still be there a couple years down the road. And if they need to store the van.. we can put it in the basement.

i guess i was thinking we'd have every night this week to get things moved so that we'd have only furniture left to do over the weekend. i'm hoping that's still the plan. i am taking off all day friday so that'll be a good day to get a lot of stuff moved and unpacked. i need to make a list of the rooms and what order we're going to pack/move them in.. that should keep me busy for a little.

i'm excited to be there, i just want it to happen quickly and not drag it out.

i'll tell you about my whirlwind weekend tomorrow and have some pictures to post.. it was a long one but definitely fun!