Nerd Alert: Daytripping in Salem

Chris took me on a surprise New England adventure this weekend to enjoy the mild winter weather and take my mind off the fact that I’ve been missing my friends back home like crazy lately. (Isn’t he so sweet?!)

After a really fun evening with friends Friday night just North of the city, a short drive landed us in Salem – a quintessential New England town and one infamously steeped in history.

Given my extreme geekiness when it comes to American history, I was giddy as we set off to tour the Salem Witch Museum and Salem Wax Museum (yes, please). Although this may shock you, we were the only people at both of these hotspots, which was fine with me because it gave me ample opportunity to soak in every plaque of the self-guided tour and mutter under our breath to each other when necessary.

The best surprise – it just so happened to be Nathaniel Hawthorne’s birthplace, the author of my favorite book of all time, The Scarlet Letter. So among all the historical tidbits I learned about his life that day, we also were able to check out his family’s mansion where he based one of his most famous novels, The House of Seven Gables. (At this point, on a nerd scale of 1 to 10, I was at about 15.)

It was a day of corny tourism at its finest with good food, cold beers, lots of laughs and even time for a nap. My kind of Saturday.

(Footnote/Fun Fact of the Day: If you noticed his family’s gravestones spelled “Hathorne” and his name spelled “Hawthorne” it’s not a spelling error but because his grandfather was one of the lead instigators of the Salem Witch Trials and Nathaniel changed the spelling of his name to distance himself from the family reputation. Pretty cool, right?!)

Add a Little Leif to Your Life

We all know I have an instant attraction to anything made with geodes. Or agate slabs. Or just anything shiny, really. (See below.)

And I’m feeling the tribal vibe right now. The bracelets remind me of the ones we bought in college when studying in Guatemala, with an extra touch of metal and leather.

There are lots of goodies for body and home at the beautifully curated Leif shop and I’m subscribing to their blog now as I type. (Apparently we have a shared love for spilled glitter!)

Visit. Enjoy. Buy!

Surprise Success!

I returned late last night from a wonderful visit to Iowa after surprising my older sister on Friday evening with my appearance in town and a surprise birthday party with our family and dear friends.

Although she kept us busy running interference all day, we successfully surprised and embarrassed her at the proper moment. In addition, we also managed to confuse her with the world’s most random cake.

Being as my sister is a design and decor fanatic, I told my mom maybe we should have a chevron pattern frosted on the cake – which is what she told the baker…

I think my mom and I both nearly wet our pants laughing when we saw the cake, especially considering my mom’s inability to tell the baker anything was wrong. He was too nice and his cakes are too delicious, so she replied “Awesome!” and scurried away while stifling the laughter.

Laura’s face was priceless when she was presented with the cake – a look of sheer confusion. The good news was it still tasted amazingly delicious and we’ll now have a birthday memory to appreciate forever.

The other sweetest part of the visit was some QT with my favorite little guy, including a sleepover in his new room, complete with Spiderman sheets and blanket. (If only I was that cool when I was three…)

Those visits seem to fly by too fast. I’m already counting down the days until the next one!

One Muffin, Three Ways

Sunday was one of those days where I found myself with a handful of old bananas while cleaning out the kitchen and enough time to do something with them.

Aiming for something (a little) on the healthy side, I took this whole wheat banana recipe found at Joy of Baking, omitted the walnuts and pecans per my man’s request, and made a few finishing touches.

Since Chris loves Vermont maple syrup, I whipped 1/2 c butter with 1/4 c pure Vermont maple syrup for a sweet little smear for his share of the muffins…

…if you’re like me, you smear peanut butter on just about any sweet food, especially when running out the door in the morning with breakfast wrapped in paper towel.

And, for a third variation I rubbed the top of some of the muffins with butter while still hot and sprinkled on a little sugar and cinnamon for good measure.

The only thing better than a delicious muffin is three kinds of delicious muffins!

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/ 2 c mashed banana (about 3 large ripe bananas)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 c Vermont pure maple syrup (preferably Grade A dark amber)
1/2 c light brown sugar
1/3 c milk
1/4 c canola, corn, or safflower oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line 16 muffin cups with paper liners, or you can butter or spray the muffin cups with a non-stick vegetable spray.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

In another large bowl combine the mashed bananas, lightly beaten eggs, maple syrup, brown sugar, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and, if desired, place a slice of banana or dried banana chip on top of each muffin for garnish. Bake about 18 – 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes and then remove muffins from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

To my Valentine…

and all my loved ones, near and far.

May your day be filled with hugs and kisses!

Arm Candy

I made these bracelets last week:

Thanks to these tutorials on the fantastic blog Honestly WTF:

And love them!

I ordered my supplies at FusionBeads and Ornamentea and was very pleased with both vendors.

I hope to have an armful soon, but first must.find.more.time.

Kudos!

Congrats to Katy Schneiderman for launching her new photo website and brand, Chasing You Photo!

Her lighthearted, candid photography is so natural yet beautiful and I can definitely say she’s inspired and educated me in my photography, even from afar!

Who knew that 30 years after two college guys shared kegs together in Minnesota that their daughters would be celebrating a shared passion via the big WWW? Life is great in that way.

Be sure to check out Katy’s photography!

Pretty Mama

I distinctly remember a moment when I was little where I stopped, looked at my mom and thought, “My mom’s so much prettier than the other moms,” and told her so.

I also had a moment this Christmas where I looked down the aisle of chairs at mass and thought, “Wow, my mom is really beautiful. I hope I look that good when I’m her age.” And I really truly hope so.

Of course I think my mom is so much more than beautiful. She’s everything to me. And tomorrow, all my thoughts and energy will be with her as she undergoes a procedure to remove some scary skin from her nose, one that may leave her with a rather large scar on her pretty face.

And although that’s not ideal for any woman, there could be far worse outcomes to this story. So she’s made up her mind to be thankful, look at the positive and buy herself some fancy new concealer.

Whether that scar is big or small in the end, it won’t matter to me, because I’ll always think she’s stunning.

Fondue For All!

We had some of Chris’s friends over for a fondue dinner last night and we ate like kings. Cheese fondue, swiss-pickle balls, meat, veggies, batter dips, and dessert – you name it, we dipped it in those fondue pots. (I think this is what happens when three couples are excited to dust off their fondue pots for the first time in a long while and go slightly overboard with the fixin’s!)

We had a great time with lots of laughs, full bellies and leftovers for all. First dinner party in the new apartment – success!

Looking forward to many more.

A Classic Combo

I’ve recently discovered the blog Sweetapolita and nothing makes me crave vanilla cake and a chilled glass of milk more than this beautiful photo below.

My favorite cake combo of all time? Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting. Don’t mess with a classic.

I may attempt to make this beauty below someday soon but I think it’s safe to say it won’t taste anything like the one in this photo even with Rosie’s virtual guidance.

Can someone pass me a fork?

Photo from Sweetapolita