A present to me!

I am so excited about a fun purchase I just made on Etsy! I have had these cuties in my 'favorites' for a while and finally had a great excuse to buy one. Nikki over at WhiMSyLove is having a buy one get one sale this weekend only! WOO! So, go on over and get yourself a couple of these beauties... Those of you who saw UP in theaters will recognize these as the badge Ellie gave to Carl when they were children. I love it.

She also has a bunch of other cute bottle cap badges that you should check out. :-)

Pumpkin Cupcakes = YUM!

I bought the October issue of Real Simple a while back and knew I HAD to try their super easy (or, should I say simple?) recipe for Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. As I thought they would be, they were delicious!

The only changea I made were to omit the candy corn on top, and I used pre-made frosting instead of making my own. I just made it more simple! Haha. Well, to tell you the truth about the candy corn, I didn't include it because if I did we would have a half a bag of candy corn lying around just waiting to be eaten and, truthfully, I don't need to be eating a half bag of candy corn in one sitting, let alone all the cupcakes I ate after making these... Anyway, behold the awesomeness that is my semi-homemade pumpkin cupcakes below.

Check out the recipe from Real Simple here to make some of your own!



Also, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :-D

Photobooth Friday!

This 'photoshoot' (what else am I supposed to call it?) took place in one of the two photobooths at the Musee Mechanique in San Francisco, CA. This was a photobooth from the 1930's so it was a lot of fun to use. Also the reason for the first photo... it snapped really quickly, with no warning, so Jason didn't know and looks all confused. Haha. :-)

It's Blog Swapping Time!

Hello people! This post today is part of 20-something Bloggers 6th Annual Blog Swap, where bloggers everywhere swap blogs for the day. I was lucky enough to be partnered with Cammy of Classroom Confessions for this swap. Please give her a warm welcome! I'm sure you'll love her post, and be sure to check out my guest post on her blog too. Here's Cammy!!!

------------------------------------------------------------

Hello All!

Sam is awesome and is letting me take over her blog today to bring you my top five gift recommendations for the holidays. Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving in America and the biggest shopping day of the year) is coming up in just a few short weeks and we think it’s time to start thinking about what to get those you love.

Here is what I recommend this season based on items I own, and have either given or received as gifts.

Flip Cam

This is awesome! It is a pocket sized video camera with a “flip out” USB connector. It is super easy to use, my 8 year old brother had no problem, and when you’re done recording, it connects directly to your PC for hassle free uploading. Plus it comes in cute colors like pink and green. I recommend the Ultra HD 120 minute version for the most camera for your money.

Nikon D3000 DSLR Camera

I am a professional photographer (in addition to my day job as a teacher) so you know I had to put a DSLR camera in here! Nikon recently released the D3000 as its new entry level DSLR and this thing is amazing. I got the opportunity to use one recently and I was ultra impressed with the picture quality and features. It is the best value for the price for anyone wanting to get into a DSLR camera who is not a professional.

Free Agent Go Portable Hard Drive

Last gadgety thing I promise! Last year I almost lost all of my lesson plans and files when my USB stopped working. Luckily the manufacturer was able tor recover the files, but ever since I have been backing up to this adorably pink portable hard drive. It will fit in your purse and can fit all your files, pictures, etc in one place!

Metro Basket

Love this thing! It is like a picnic basket for the 21^st century. This will hold almost anything and can be used for grocery shopping, picnics, or even tailgating! Target has over 100 of them with like every football team’s logo. Go get your fave!

House - Season Five

Last but not least, my favorite show House is on DVD! Sure you could get all the seasons, but season 5 is my fave. Additionally, a great gift idea is a boxed set of whatever your person's favorite show is. I know I love watching House, Sex and the City, Law and Order SVU, and CSI over and over. I am sure they will too!

Thanks for reading and happy shopping season!

Booger Cookies!

Yes, you read right... Booger... Cookies! To celebrate Halloween, Pillsbury was awesome enough to make these Ready-to-Bake cookies with my cat on them! For those of you who don't know, my cat's name is 'Booger,' hence, 'Booger Cookies!' (A lot less disgusting now that you know what I'm talking about, huh? Her name is actually Baylee, but Booger fits her much better, so that's what we call her.)

After seeing them in the grocery store I obviously had to buy them:
Here are the cookies all yummy and ready to be eaten:
And, for comparison purposes, this is my cat, Booger:

Uncanny resemblance, isn't it???

Pumpkin + Bear = ....

PUMPKIN
+ BEAR
= A BIG MESS!
This morning the Minnesota Zoo gave their 3 Grizzly Bears a 500 pound pumpkin as an early Halloween treat. The bears took less than 10 minutes to completely tear apart the pumpkin. How amazing is that? I mean really!

They even recorded the process and posted the video this morning. It's a little long, but it's totally cute to see the bears scratching and jumping on the pumpkin. Who knew bears liked pumpkin so much?



You can bet that I will be visiting the Zoo soon to meet these Bears. :-)

Our New Town

Jason and I are absolutely loving our new town! We live in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. We are having a lot of fun trying out new restaurants and getting to know the area. Last night we went to a restaurant (it was our 7 year date-aversary!) that serves 110 different kinds of beer. Um, that's something I can get used to! :-) We also found a yummy breakfast place that we will definitely be bringing you to if when you come to visit us (I'm pointing at you Vermonters!)

Having lived in Vermont where the nearest grocery store is at least a 15 minute drive into town, I am certainly appreciating having everything I could need so close (including, but not limited to, a Michaels within walking distance!) Below is a little map of the area where we live, illustrating the closeness of basically everything!

Click for a larger view.
Link to the Google Map

Also, I have been asked by a few of my family members (who read my blog) about the lake next to our new place. It's called Purgatory Creek. (I know it's a funny name, but I have been told that when you have more than 10,000 lakes in one state you run out of names pretty quickly.) There is a 3 mile walking/biking/etc. path around the Creek which Jason and I fully intend to walk... and soon.

Here is a view from our driveway:

And a view of our apartment from across the Creek:

Photobooth Friday!

This is one of my favorite photobooth photoshoots (say that 3 times fast) I have done with Jason ever. I apologize in advance that we are so sickeningly cute. I suppose married people are like that sometimes. (Also, I believe we had been drinking when we did this one. Hee hee.) In the last one, I think he thought I was going to kiss him on the cheek like he did me in the one before it... instead, I tried to eat his ear. I believe that's why he looks happy about it. :-)

Always fun with C + A!

Late Sunday night, on their way to California from Boston, Corinne and Adrian stopped by to see us. It was great to have our first visitors in our new place and we had a great time hanging out! :-)

Quote of the day: "If we had Cheerios we would be king of the squirrels!"
Snack of the day: Cupcakes (duh.)
Beverage of the day: Anything warm
Game of the day: Wii Sword Fighting

Upon arrival in Minnesota Corinne presented us with chocolate truffles! She said that Adrian was sleeping and she saw a sign for The Chocolate Garden so, guess where they ended up? Hee hee. They were delicious!

We all woke up Monday morning to bunches of snow all over the world (or, at least our part of the world.)

This is the view of the lake outside our apartment. C + A were having a snowball fight. I choose to just watch and take photos even though I did get a snowball thrown at me! Haha.

After our moving truck arrived and all our boxes were in the apartment the four of us headed to Minneapolis for, you guessed it, cupcakes! I've heard good things about the Franklin Street Bakery so we walked (for a while!) to try these. They were yummy! We also got some hot tea since it was cold out and our butts were a little frozen from walking around.

The boys about to enjoy some cupcakes... Jason is a little excited about his cupcake!

Walking on the way to the Sculpture Garden we encountered many squirrels. Many, many squirrels. They were excited to meet us for sure. We were sad we didn't have anything for them since they seemed pretty tame and likely rely on human food a lot.

This little guy came over to check me out. I like him and wanted to bring him home (not really... but look how cute!)

A photo op on the pedestrian bridge leading to the Sculpture Garden.The famous Spoonbridge and Cherry.

Adrian hugged this sculpture. I'm not sure why. It totally makes me laugh though. He was also chasing geese. Good times. :-)

Photo op for Jason and I. Love.

After dinner at Biaggi's Jason and Adrian hooked up the Wii and played Jason's new Wii Sports Resort game. We had played with our cousins and had a lot of fun so Jason was excited to get one of his own.

There was much sword fighting! :-)

Our Move to Minnesota (In photos!)

On October 7th my husband and I used our one-way tickets to move to Minnesota. This is the first time I have ever bought a one-way ticket anywhere. Our moving adventure is FAR from over, but here is a run-down of the move so far. :-)

First, preparing for the move in Boston:

Our master bedroom closet (before the movers got to it.)

Our master bedroom closet (after the movers tackled it.)

Our living room (before).

Our living room (after).

I walked around a bit on our last day in Boston. I bought a 'Boston' sweatshirt and got a massage. It was a beautiful day.

Jason's last day at work ended with a Happy Hour celebration. We said goodbye to a bunch of cool people including these two! (Left to Right: Me, Jason, Jim, Ali)

The next morning before our flight I had to say goodbye to my Kindred Spirit, Kristen.

We were not happy to have to say goodbye. :-(

Our kitties waiting to be checked at the airport. They had to have "Live Animal" stickers put on them and everything, Not really the happiest kitties.

I got to watch the kitties get loaded onto our plane! I was so happy to see them being handled carefully and getting to ride on the little conveyor up into the plane (I'm not going to lie, I wish we got to ride on a conveyor too.) After boarding the plane we saw the woman who checked us in and she said "Your cats are all loaded underneath. The big one is really nice. The little one, not so much." Haha... that's one of the best descriptions of my cats ever. :)

And, 4 hours later we arrive in Minnesota:

Minneapolis from the plane.

Leo met us at our apartment! (Leo is my car and he was shipped from Boston. I missed him.)

My Mom sent flowers to our new apartment! I thought this was an incredibly nice thing to do and they are seriously beautiful! See those cabbage roses? Um, awesome! You would be surprised how much a vase of flowers perks up an empty apartment!

After sleeping on the floor the first night, Jason and I went and bought two new couches for our living room. We slept on them for the next few nights. SO much more comfortable than the floor!

The truck is here! The truck is here! That means my bed is here too! :-) I was really happy to sleep in my own bed Monday night.

And now, Jason and I are keeping ourselves busy by unpacking. See all that paper? That doesn't even begin to show how much paper are in all the boxes we have to unpack. Honestly and for serious -- All that paper was from ONE BOX. So. Much. Paper.

More moving fun to come as well as photos of our apartment once we are more settled!