Simple as it should be

I have really liked Tristan Prettyman's song "Simple as it should be" for a while now. This weekend reminded me of the fact that sometimes when you add other factors in life, whether it's worrying about money, worrying about pleasing others, or even worrying about doing the right thing, you actually stray away from what's right. If there is one thing that I have learned in my past 24 years, even as a toddler, it is that if something makes your stomach churn, it is probably the wrong decision. So with that being said, I tried to get back to the basics and have captured some simple things that have pleased me over the past couple of days. 

..Home-made Halloween peanut butter cups..

I saw Emily Schuman's post and it inspired me to make the cups and use these festive wrappers that I had from last year.

..An old necklace hangs my wreath inside..

Instead of risking my wreath getting stolen, thankfully I hung it up on my closet door, and staring at my G-moms golden chain makes me smile.

Muli-colored/flavored champagne at brunch

Golden luck

Caesars brunch at Mia wasn't just lovely, but also delish! And then I later got to walk on the beach and found a golden good luck stone. 

Sunset in Brig

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere.

Everything about pumpkins makes me happy so I've decided to post some of my favorites that me or my friends have carved/created/painted.

My junior year at PSU we decided to have a pumpkin carving contest. Well I decided to do a tribute to the best cat in the world, Lola. Lola (1) received the "crappiest pumpkin" award. Jessie's Joepa (2) won.

When I went back to PSU as a newly alum and the girls ended up winning Big Tens they had these awesome painted PSU pumpkins (3). "Spirit pumpkins," I'll call them. Obviously, good luck. 

Last year in the Yunk we had a little Halloween carving contest and I feel as though I have perfected my craft a little better than my Lola days. My peace sign (4) even has a little golden glitter.

Last week for our senior meet I decided to surprise the kids with a little senior pumpkin loving. I really do feel like "spirit pumpkins" are good luck, as my girls ended up getting their first win in two years! They then carried their momentum into today where they won their second meet. NBD. haha I'm a very happy coach :)

Hold on..anyway.

This past week has reminded me that life brings us a variety of circumstances and events, both big and small, some joyous and some difficult but the most important thing is to hold onto hope anyway.

Originally I was going to write this post about the fact that all of my fall decorations, that I had placed outside of my apartment to bring cheer had been stolen when I returned from the shore last Sunday morning. It really put a damper on my week, because it reminded me of the fact that I am naive in the sense that I always try to believe in the best in people.  It was also a big dose of a reality check when my one neighbor said "you gotta remember where you live." I guess that is true. I do have to remember where I live and to a certain extent not get as upset when things like that happen, but I will choose to hold onto hope anyway.

Along with holding onto hope, I found out some very sad news this evening which I don't feel appropriate in blogging about. It feels quite frivilous to post anything however; I guess sometimes the only way to deal with reality is to remind yourself of the "vanilla heavens" that do make you smile.

1) "hold on" to some of Summer's clothes

The above outfits can be worn in completely different ways that combine and work. The teal dress isn't the exact one that I've worn, mine is an M. Rena surf shop find. The lace shirt is from Charlotte Russe and I realized it would pair differently than it is intended as a shirt but as an actual overlay to the dress. By adding the lace overlay it transforms the summer dress into one of Fall's fads. One day to school I wore this outfit with the Jeffrey Campbell Espadrille's and H&M leopard print belt. This weekend, at my friend Katie's wedding I wore the satin belt that came with the shirt and Mossimo Paisley Platform Pumps.

2) "hold on" by recycling

For Katie's wedding I found something a little rustic and personalized on Etsy that hopefully her and the new hubbie will enjoy. I couldn't quite decide what type of wrapping I wanted but in the past year I have found that brown paper bags used as wrapping paper actually looks the most chic when adorned properly because you have a blank canvas to create on and it always feels good to go green! (I used left-over kunzia from my Autumnal wreath, a pine cone from my parent's yard in Reading, yarn I found in a random drawer, and the floral heart was from a newspaper ad. )


At her wedding, Katie had some of the most creative decorations that I have seen. Everything from her guest book of a tree with fingerprint leaves to an old ladder hanging photos of her and Matt was personalized, well placed, and perfectly thought out. My personal favorite was the adorable table decorations.  By recycling baby white pumpkins she created one of a kind candle holders (shhh I may have 'accidentally' swiped one because I liked it so much) and she also used forks vintage forks in clay as her place holders.

3) "hold on" to child-like innocence.
I attended soon to be three-year-old Kyle's bday party on Sunday and it was so much fun to see his delight at every single present that he opened. Due to his mom and dad's great parenting, he also sweetly replied "thank you so much!" after opening each gift.

Tonight I decided to bring back some of my own childhood innocence and created my own "boo ghost cookies" that I'm going to bring to our cross country pasta party tomorrow night. (It's never too early for Halloween!) The recipe is here, but just to note I used Keebler vienna fingers as well as the NutterButters to accomodate for any peanut allergies.

4) "hold on" to Mother Teresa's words:

Let it Fall

The first feeling of Fall weather made me accept that Summer is pretty much over (I knowww there's technically 5 days left). So I decided to go to one of my favorite spots in Delco, Linvilla Orchard, to pick up some fall decor.  Even with it's overcrowding and commercialism feel, it is one place that reminds me of home. Autumn in Reading as a kid was a time to go to the local orchard for apple pies, and all of the road-side stands of local farmers to pick out my favorite gourds, pumpkins, and indian corn to help my mom with her decorating.

Last year, I went to Linvilla closer to Halloween with the mission of picking up pumpkins and also ended up finding the necessary ingredients to  decorate our "stoop" in Manayunk. The decorations ended up being something that I looked forward to seeing when I came home, so this year I chose to go for the decorations first, and decided I'll worry about the pumpkins and carving later.

 

..a mess..

..Fall fun..

..this wreath will be good for all seasons..

..with a touch of kunzia amber..

Lastly,  I wanted to get a gift for a friend of mums and a nice plant pot to put them in. I came across this adorable mug. I was really excited about how it looked, and found a couple of similar mugs on Etsy if you like the combo.

..cup of morning mums..

Makes Me Smile

The past two weeks with school getting into full swing have been a complete blur. The only thing that I felt would be appropriate to blog about are the things that are currently making me smile.

 

..my Keurig with a new zebra mug..

..recycled cards into unit signs..

..colorful hand-picked seashells..

Monkey Business

With this impending hurricane and my dad making me feel all panicky, I felt like there was nothing better to do this morning when I woke up then to bake some good ol' comfort food. I decided to make monkey bread because I hadn't had any since I was a kid (well maybe once in college I think the track house boys decided to try their hand at baking) buttt anyway, I figured it would make me feel happier and it did. It actually served as another purpose, because the only thing I don't like about my studio is that the guy before me smoked. I feel as if there is this lingering smoke smell although some of my friends claim you "can't really tell." I've heard my studio smells like a "hotel room" oohh that's just what I wanted, niceee. So I figured the smell of cinnamon and brown sugar wafting through the small space might just freshen that "hotel room" smell into a homey one. I decided to keep it simple and tried Pillsbury's recipe. I didn't use the walnuts or raisins, and didn't have a fluted tube pan. Instead I used a caserole dish and baked them for more like 40 mins. (I'm just getting to know my oven, which just could be the reason I had to bake them longer). However, I realized halfway through that it makes the monkey bread that much more gooey and amazing if you move some of the middle stuff that isn't fully baked yet to the top. That way the outside doesn't brown as fast and you get a more even coating of brown sugar goodness--who wouldn't want that?

I couldn't help but include my lovely monkey piggy bank in this image. I think I originally had him in my nursery when I was a baby. But, there is something about tacky ceramic animals that draw me in. In 2009, when I decorated the kitchen of my apartment in Ridley Park I used a bunch of tacky ceramic animals and figureens to create a kitchenette type feel loosely inspired by Honey's Sit and Eat in N. Libs. In Manayunk, the ceramic creatures just weren't really going to function with our decor, but I decided to bring my favorites (monkey and unicorn) and a new addition of a zebra into my S. Philly place. Yup. My inner nerd truly comes out when I see ceramic animals.

Tzatziki Yummy

I'm really trying to be a good blogger, but I hadn't felt inspired to write about anything lately.  I guess it's because I've been spending every single second before school starts doing something that I won't be able to do once 7:30-6 something rolls around (school+coaching). However, today I went to the Race Street Pier, which I've done a couple of times throughout my residence in my new 'hood, and it totally made me at peace and relaxed and I felt the urge to blog. See below and you will understand :p

 

 

As far as this actual post, I'd like to talk about one of my all time favorite foods and the fact that I finally bought a food processor and can make my own! So for something that packs a punch of 23 grams of protein and only 130 calories in one serving, nothing really beats Fage Greek Yogurt (Total 0%). Nothing that is..unless you make it into Tzatziki Sauce.

All summer of been munching on pitas with either tzatziki or hummus and for whatever reason it finally dawned on me that clearly I wasn't a good cook if I haven't attempted to make my own. So I went out and got a basic Black and Decker food processor. I followed this recipe for Tzatziki Sauce and was very happy with my first results. However, I would advise, as some of the reviewers of this recipe do, if you are trying to create Tzatziki with a food processor I would suggest only processing the other ingredients and then folding them into the yogurt. I clearly was too excited to try out my processor for the first time to heed their warnings. I used the 17.6 oz Fage Total 0% and the taste was excellent. But, because I made the mistake of processing the yogurt, it was definitely runnier than I would have liked it. Even though it isn't the perfect consistentcy, the taste is impeccable and I now have a dipping sauce/spread packed with protein and yumminess. If you don't own a food processor get one, I double dog dare you. It's next use of course will be making hummus. <33