Going the Distance

Five Friday Favorites!

Friday before Thanksgiving, already?? One week from now we'll all be in food comas, with elastic waistband pants on, wondering how we ate so much food. How is that possible??
Time sure is flying lately, so let's take a second to stop and smell the figurative roses, shall we?
Here are some of my favorites from this week:

{1}-Holiday Cards

They arrived on Tuesday--this is MG's and my first year of sending out holiday cards and I'm really excited about these! There's obviously a picture of us from our wedding day since that was the big event for us this year--I'll be sharing with you guys in the upcoming week or two :)

{2} New Recipe

Oh my word, did I knock it out of the park this week with the new recipe that I tried! Healthy, flavorful and easy (and MG dubbed it "restaurant quality"--that's a triple or quadruple-win right there)--Panko Breaded Honey Mustard Salmon. I'll be sharing the full recipe with you next week, but for now, prepare to drool:

{3} Baby Nicholas
I got to FaceTime with my bloggy bestie on Tuesday AND on Thursday this week, and got to see baby Nicholas "up close and personal" if you will. He looked SO stinkin' cute (as you can tell by the adorable pic of him!!) It was awesome to catch up with Shay (as well as slightly scary, with all of the new motherhood stories she was telling me lol). It's so cute to see her in her new mommy role and I'm still so over the moon excited for her and her hubby. Can't wait for more FaceTime dates with her and little man!

{4} iPhone 6
I'm kind of loving my new iPhone 6. I had the 5 so it's not that big of a change, but just the bigger screen makes everything so much clearer. Thank goodness for verizon's trade-in program which basically made the phone free (woohoo!) Even though the camera is the same, it seems like it takes much better pictures (or maybe it's just the massive screen I'm looking at!) Either way, it's a win!

{5} Bravo

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I'm in reality tv heaven lately now that Vanderpump Rules and RHOBH are back on (and with the last tidbits of RHONJ as well). Love watching all of the drama on screen and staying out of it in real life! And of course discussing at length with my friends at work, too...Duh!
I'm steering clear of Real Housewives of Sydney (tried it, and hated it), Atlanta and the Euros of Hollywood (tried it, hated it). So, there's a slight limit to my obsession. Key word: slight.
We'll just say MG is less than thrilled that my shows are back on tho lol

Don't forget to link up with these ladies!

Before I go, I'll leave you with this thought to ponder:

{via} My guess? A lot! :)

Happy Friday and weekend!!

Book Review: Fall of Giants

I realized last week when I did my review of The Girl You Left Behind, that I never did my review of World Without End, that took me a couple of weeks to read since it was just under 1,000 pages.

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World Without End is another Ken Follett book (if you haven't read Pillars of the Earth you need to!), but this book is part of a trilogy, and specifically centers around World War I.

MG had read it and highly recommended it, and since it was by Ken Follett, I jumped on board (plus I got it for free from MG's Kindle which was another win!)

The Goodreads synopsis (it's lengthy, but so is this book):
This is an epic of love, hatred, war and revolution. This is a huge novel that follows five families through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for votes for women. It is 1911. The Coronation Day of King George V. The Williams, a Welsh coal-mining family, is linked by romance and enmity to the Fitzherberts, aristocratic coal-mine owners. Lady Maud Fitzherbert falls in love with Walter von Ulrich, a spy at the German Embassy in London. Their destiny is entangled with that of an ambitious young aide to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and to two orphaned Russian brothers, whose plans to emigrate to America fall foul of war, conscription and revolution. In a plot of unfolding drama and intriguing complexity, "Fall Of Gaints" moves seamlessly from Washington to St Petersburg, from the dirt and danger of a coal mine to the glittering chandeliers of a palace, from the corridors of power to the bedrooms of the mighty.

There are so many characters in the book that sometimes it gets a bit confusing (I had a hard time remembering who everyone was in the beginning). But, everyone is so intertwined at different parts of the book...people you'd never guess would come in contact, do. I love how Ken Follett weaves people throughout his books. He give such good details, it's as if you're right there with them. And since his books take place over years, you really fall in love with the characters (and really really hate some others).
I liked that I learned a lot about World War I through this book, which was much more interesting than just reading it in a history book (obviously these characters weren't real, but the events happening around them were, and it gives a life-like representation of what happened).

I will say my favorite Ken Follet book is still Pillars of the Earth, but this one is still very very good.

I'm definitely going to be reading the second book in this series, Winter of the World, which picks up where this book left off and goes into World War II. I'm already so invested in these characters, I can't wait to see what happens to them next!

Tour of Blogland and Nominations

I'm sure you've seen the Blogland Tour making its way through the blog world, and last week I was featured by Jessi and Jessica (I feel so loved!!) The blog tour allows you to meet and "tour" other blogs that you might not know about, and to discover more about the person behind the blog (VH1 style...behind the music....behind the blog?) and their writing style, etc.

Aren't they the prettiest, most fashionable and adorable bloggers you ever did see?? :)

What are you working on?

I don't have any one thing that I'm working on, but usually I'm trying out new recipes every week or couple of week so I can share the good ones with you (and keep a record for myself of the yummies that I want to make again). And now I post a lot about our home improvement projects because those are a lot more plentiful lately since we moved into our new house in June.

How does your blog differ from others of its type/genre?

I'm not sure that my blog differs that much from other "lifestyle" bloggers. I just try and keep it real on here. If I comment on your blog, it's not all fluff or fake. If I read your blog, I care about what you've written, I'm not just trying to be the first person to comment on a post, or posting something only to get you to come look at my blog. My blog itself isn't all sunshine and roses either. I try and keep it real with you guys, but also try and keep it a positive space (because it's SO easy to get bogged down by the icky stuff sometimes).

Why do you write what you do?

I write what is going on in my life and what's interesting to me. I figure, if it's interesting to me, it's probably interesting to someone else. (Let's see how many more times I can use the word "interesting" in this post now :)

I like posting my book reviews, and recipes I've tried, because that's how I find new books to read and recipes to try. And then the everyday stuff is just kinda fun. I like documenting where I'm at in life at this current moment, and I enjoy looking back and reading about where I was a month ago, a year ago....etc. It's fun to see how far you've come.

How does your writing process work?

It varies. Sometimes I get an idea while I'm driving to and from work. Other times I see something online that sparks my creative juices (like my Who Has the Time/Whyyyyy posts). Other times, I just write about what's going on in my life right now. And sometimes, when there's nothing going on, or I'm super busy and just don't have the time to put into a post like I'd want, I don't post. I guess it's not really a "process" as much as it is a brain dump sometimes, that I hope makes sense and that someone connects with!

I do love that this blog is a creative outlet for me. I've always enjoyed writing and being creative, and the blog has definitely given me the space to do so. Plus, meeting all of the awesome ladies in the blog world (the two of whom nominated me included) is the biggest bonus of it all!

Now for my nominations....
Meghan @ Me as Meghan

Annie @ Home of Malones

Christy @ Planes, Trains, and Running Shoes

Now go check out their blogs and say hi! :)

Holiday Link Up: Thanksgiving

It's a cold Tuesday here in VA, but instead of dwelling on that, I thought I'd warm my spirit (and hopefully yours) by joining the holiday link up with Annie to talk about Thanksgiving.

This is gonna be a mix of things I'd love to do, in combination with some of the things we've done in the past.

Last year was the first time my husband and I (my fiance at the time) hosted our parents for Thanksgiving in our one-bedroom condo, but this year will be the first time we're doing it as a married couple in our new house (and the 3rd time that we've done Thanksgiving together, the 6 of us) :)

Here are a few things I'd love to do...

For the outside of our house, things like this would be awesome to decorate with:

We'd have details around the house like this:

Our table would look something like this:

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...with smaller details like this:

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(I might actually do the above for our place settings because I think it's adorable)

And on each plate, I'd like to print this out, as a nice quote for the holiday:

{via}

Maybe MG and I can get ourselves together enough to make at least SOME of these happen! (and definitely in the future, when we're not DIY'ing ourselves all over the place around the house)

In terms of food, it is tradition that my mom and I always make squash casserole (it's a recipe from my aunt who's no longer with us)--it sounds kinda bland and boring but it is SO good and possiblyeven my favorite food for Thanksgiving.

My mom also makes some incredibly tasty stuffing, too, so that's always a must for our dinner table.

We are also an apple pie family. Pumpkin pie has never been a big thing for us, but apple pie is ALWAYS served during our Thanksgivings.

Neither of our parents have seen all of the updates we've done to the house, so I'm super excited for them to come over and see everything that we've been working hard at around the house for the past couple of months.

Here's a shot from our first Thanksgiving all together, up in Philly, from 2 years ago:

No matter what food is cooked, it will be so nice to have both sets of our parents with us, in our new home, celebrating everything that we have to be thankful for...and thankfully that list is a long one! :)

*most of the above pictures can be found on my Pinterest board, Holiday Ideas

Weekend Highlights

It's Monday already??? Where did the weekend go??

I guess I'll give you some highlights from my weekend to cheer myself up that it's Monday.

My weekend highlights included:

-Friday night massage (love my Massage Envy membership!)

-Early to bed Friday night

-"Abundant sunshine" on Saturday, which made the 45 degree high for the day so much more bearable

See that rain and cold? That's today and tomorrow :( Womp womp...

-Group winery trip with these peeps:

-Buying a bottle from Stone Tower Winery for Thanksgiving and enjoying a glass with the girls:

-Taking advantage of the beautiful scenery

-Tasting at Cana Winery, and hanging out on the outside deck

-Limo bus ride home

-Sunday errands including tons of healthy groceries for some mega healthy meals this week (new recipes to try!)

-Installing the new entryway light

it's quite the upgrade from the 80s gold fixtures we had throughout the house before

-Buffalo chicken wrap, with home made blue cheese, from one of our favorite restaurants for lunch

-Finally getting my hands on my new iPhone!

-Started a new book on my Kindle

-Sunday night tv

Linking up with these ladies today:

and Biana!!

(and Monday Morning Gossip, but something is up with their linky button)

Hey Hey Friday!

Hey Friday, where you been hidin'???

At least you made your way here!
I've got some awesome stuff from this week to share with you, so let's get to it!

{1}-Carpet

similar to this pattern, and more
beige-y grey color

MG and I made an impromptu trip to a carpet store to check out runners for our main entry stairwell. Our stairs are a little more narrow than other more modern steps, and they are slightly steep. For safety reasons, we thought it would be a good idea to get a carpet runner, especially when Cooper fell down the stairs the first day we were in the house (he now gets carried down like a little prince--I don't think he minds). After a bit of perusing, and the nicest salesguy ever, we made a purchase of a really pretty rug with a Moroccan pattern on it. And hopefully it'll be being installed before Thanksgiving! $500 later....ugh. A stupid carpet runner. Oof! But at least it'll look really nice!

{2}-Family Visit

On Wednesday night my sister-in-law, L, and oldest niece came down from PA to visit. My SIL had a work meeting a couple miles from our house and our niece didn't have school on Thursday--and neither of them had been down yet to see the house. I made dinner on Wednesday night when they arrived and last night we went out to dinner. MG took off the afternoon yesterday and took our niece around the area, just the two of them. They loved the house and it was so fun spending time with just the two of them. And they also brought down some super cute Christmas decor for us as well, which I'm looking forward to putting up around the house soon!

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{3}-Marry Me

No, I'm not proposing to you (hehe), but I'm talking about the tv show on NBC. I saw a re-run of the first episode with my SIL and MIL a couple weeks ago and started watching the show. It's pretty cute and funny and I really like the main girl in the show. Some of it is cheesy but other parts make me laugh. And I also enjoy that she's from the same city that I live in currently in VA. If you haven't checked out the show yet, you definitely should!

{4} Loft
No, I didn't get sucked into another sale (altho I did see the email the other day and just sent it straight on to my trash bin), but I did wear almost an entire outfit from Loft to work yesterday (everything minus my shoes) and got a ton of compliments throughout the day. So, I thought I'd share with you since it was apparently a big hit! Man, I love Loft.....

{5} Wine Tour

Tomorrow MG and I, and a few other couples hired a small bus (a Vanterra to be exact) to drive us out to Middleburg, VA to go to 2 wineries. The weather is going to be a tad on the nippy side, but I'm sure we'll all warm up with the wine tastings! We haven't been to a winery yet this season and I've been wanting to go. Throw in some fun people, and it should be a really fun time! I'll definitely be taking some Advil before bed that night ;)

I'm off to finish off the work week, get a massage, and get on with my weekend (that hopefully will NOT involve house projects!) :)
Happy Friday!!

Thursday Funnies

Sometimes you need a little pick-me-up to get through a work week. Luckily this week is going relatively smoothly for me (I should knock on wood so I don't jinx myself on that one), but funnies never hurt!