Summer recap in photos, part III

We went to Philadelphia.


























We had an 18th birthday.










We did some hiking.







AND thank goodness, school started.

Summer recap in photos, part II

We attended a very special wedding and then had a kick ass wedding reception in our back yard.




























We went to Hawaii.




















Stayed tuned for the last installment, part III!

Summer recap in photos, part I

We had a 13th birthday.










We had a NJROTC graduation.






We had a High School graduation.






We started a garden.


We made silly faces, A LOT of silly faces.






Stay tuned for part II!

Love, we gots it.

Word.

Labor Day Post, or good bye summer, hello fall

Labor Day came and went, and promptly, as if on cue, fall is here. It rained ALL DAY. We're not talking a sprinkle either. It poured. It felt like fall too, crispy air, temptation to turn on the furnace, the craving of hot tea. Dang, fall is here.

There are a few good things about fall though. The kids go back to school, YESSS!, soup is a more acceptable dinner, I feel like reading more, the leaves start to change, and I can focus on some indoor projects that have been haunting me.

I've got a whole list of things I want to accomplish this fall and winter. Marty is busily working on our never ending remodel and as much as I'd like to think I'm awesome help to him, I mostly just end up in the way. So I think I'll try and whittle my to do list down instead of thinking I'm some kind of carpenter.

1. Build a new head board, like this.
2. Sew a duvet cover.
3. Lose 5 more pounds and KEEP them off.
4. Make soup for dinner more. (I know I said this up there, and the truth is even though soup is a great dinner for fall, I don't make it nearly enough.)
5. Sew a proper circle skirt and wear it with a crinoline.
6. Get a better understanding of Photoshop.
7. Turn 30. I don't really have much say in this, so since it's inevitable, I'm embracing it.
8. Make doughnuts at home, from scratch. (This totally contradicts my losing 5 more pounds and actually might be the reason I need to lose those pounds. Dang sweet tooth.)
9. Re-organize the pantry.
10. Blog more. (That's a good one huh!)
11. Paint one wall of our new bedroom with stripes.
12. Find a old piece of furniture so I can do this.

I'm sure there are about a billion more things I can add to this list, but I don't want to overwhelm myself and not accomplish anything because I've worked myself into a tizzy and can't decide what to start first.

Maybe I'll start working on the pantry this weekend... maybe.

Things I'm diggin'

Things I am currently loving:

• Blue Diamond Wasabi & Soy Sauce Almonds
• Back to School
• Arcade Fire's new album, The Suburbs
• Martha Stewart home paint
• Home grown tomatoes, although there hasn't been a bountiful harvest, the few I've gotten are wonderful!
• My birthday shoes that came last night. LOVE THEM!
• My Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens
• Did I say Back to school yet?
• My new Contigo travel coffee cup, no more spills on the drive to work!
• Knowing we have a gift certificate for sushi that we've been saving for the perfect date night!