Happy Halloween

 Happy Halloween Weekend from the Hubby and I. We hope you have the chance to celebrate in some form and that you get to enjoy some of the yummy food and treats associate with this holiday and season. Just remember safety first. 

It's a Nice Day to...

go to the park.

It's almost November and there I was walking in short sleeves to the park. I love sweaters
(which usually requires the cold) but man does this weather feel good.

You know what else feels good? Talking to my husband while just chilling on the swings. I love swings. I love the hubby. And I love to talk. Good times!

After I get over whatever illness I have, I plan to try to make the following:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles


Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


Sugar Cinnamon Almonds

I don't believe in cooking while I am ill. I feel it's an easy way to make others sick. It's probably just another excuse I have conjured up but whatever. Soon though, I will make these delicious treats.

And that diet I was referring to in the other post. That will have to start in January. With our birthdays coming up, as well as the holidays, it would be a joke trying to start the diet now.

Reason 10000 Why I Love My Husband

While heading to bed last night I tell him that we need to make some dietary changes. We needed to start eating healthier again. Then...

I wake up this morning to a box of Krispy Kreme donuts on the table. I will take that as his response.


Unfortunately, he knows that the way to my heart is a delicious box of donuts.

Tornado?

I laughed when I received an email last night that said the following :

A tornado watch remains in effect until 3 am edt wednsday for the following areas: D.C., Maryland, the
entire northern VA area....

It may sound serious to you but we never get tornadoes* in my immediate area, just tornado warning, and we usually receive these emails when there is a very bad storm going on or when we can tell it is about to start. But there wasn't a hint of rain last night when we went to bed. My husband even googled it to see if it was true.  The information he found said that severe storms were hitting the Midwest, which is not where we live. So we laughed it off and forgot about it. And 3 am passed and if it rained, we didn't wake up...

But then 5:30 hit and we were both jolted awake by the loudest noise I have ever heard coming from outside. It was raining cats and dogs and horses and cows. The rain was soooo loud. And it went on for a good period of time and neither one of us could fall asleep during it, which is unusual because we both sleep pretty well during rain storms. I have never heard anything like it. So I wont be surprised it someone tells me today that we had a tornado pass by close to us last night. Though the chances of it are slim. 

Despite the sleep interruption, and crazy loud noises, I am thankful it rained. Because that means we didn't get snow. Which means I can laugh at the people in Utah who have been waking up to a white ground in October.

*That statement is not completely accurate. I think there was a tornado close to where I live once before. I was at college though and it was far enough away that my family could watch it without being in danger.  Call me crazy but I was actually mad when I found out I had missed it.

I Hate Mondays Too

Facebookers are always updating their statuses about how Monday sucks. And yeah it is lame to have to get back into the work week but I am not sure I ever had the same hateful passion towards Mondays...until now. Yesterday was such a horrible day with the only break being when I got to spend time with my family.

I hit a truck and thus had my first real accident ever. I went home and cried, of course. Then we had to move a bunch of stuff. AND I HATE MOVING (If I lived in hell, I would rather stay there than move. That's how much I hate it).  And then I randomly got sick  (I swear I was just sick a couple months ago. I usually get one real bad sick spell a year and that's it. Marriage has made me a sicko) and had a terrible terrible terrible nights sleep. So now I am sick and yet have a list of things I need to do and I know I wont do. Oh and we are out of milk and have nothing in the house for a sick girl to eat. And I feel bad because I forgot to let my dad borrow the GPS. I don't usually forget things. I have just been so scatterbrained lately with everything.

Welp now that I have complained, I think a shower is in order. And if I can convince myself driving is worth it, I think I might go get a smoothie.  Robeks, anybody?

P.S. Thank you for the well wishes on the move. I hate moving too. It's absolutely too much work. If I had it my way I would never ever move. But if you live in Virginia and ever need help moving, be sure to let me know. I hate moving but I don't mind helping others do it.

Lets just all hop on a plane right now and meet up in Hawaii. I could use some sunshine.

What does this picture have to do with Hawaii, you might ask?  Each state was allowed to give the United States Capital two statues to represent their state. This is Hawaii's. By far the coolest looking one I saw.

Some Random Girls Wedding

Life is a bit crazy lately. Family is in town, we are in the process of moving (see pics below), and I have a few big life events up in the air right now (like a job).

This room may still look messy and crowded, but there was already a lot cleaned out.

So sick of boxes.

So to help keep my stress level down, I want to share with you a link to one of the prettiest Mormon weddings I have ever seen. It is a good thing I am not rich and that I can't have a second wedding (renew the vows ceremony are just not the same and I haven't been married long enough) because oh goodness do I want a wedding like this. So envious. This girl has got major style.

Hi! My name is Elizabeth and I am a....

hoarder.

Hoarders have such a horrible image. You hear story after story about messy homes, dead bodies under piles of trash, dead cats behind couches, etc. Hoarders have little control over it and they are not generally tidy people (if they are tidy people it must mean they are also compulsive organizers).

At a family get together tonight we were discussing how I am, by nature, a hoarder. I hate throwing things away that I could "possibly use one day." My mom told this story about how she was helping me clean out my room and found a stash of fruit in my closet that I probably hid because "I might want it one day." My brother talked about how I wouldn't share my Halloween candy and it would just sit in my room until the next Halloween. I wouldn't eat it. Nobody was allowed to eat it. "One day I will eat those reese's. One day I will want them." (I wasn't entirely selfish. I gave up some candy. But it was usually the candy I hated or I was getting tootsie rolls in exchange. So maybe I was still being selfish.)  When Jon married me, I shared with him the fact that I had about 3 bins just full of papers. Probably 50% of all papers I had ever gotten in my life were in those bins.

I wasn't totally aweful though. I did throw things away. I was good about cleaning. Nobody would know I was a hoarder just by walking into my room. They would practically have to live with me for a while to figure it out.

The good news though is that I have gotten better. Much better. Especially after marrying Jon. I only have 1 bin of papers left. I throw away a lot of things now or put them in give away bags. I throw most papers away unless they are important. I tend to buy snack food too much and keep it for a long time but I don't know if I would say I really hoard food anymore. I just always think I will eat something because it sounds good while I am grocery shopping but then I never want it again.

I do promise you will never find a dead body underneath any pile of garbage in my house.

Bum Fall

The hubby and I went to Skyline Drive today. We went a few years ago and though it was near the end of fall, it was still very pretty with lots of bright colors. Based on the trees around where we live, we knew that this year the drive may not be as pretty and we were right. Probably due to the lack of rain, the leaves are not turning as bright and colorful as usual, and instead they are just turning brown and falling off.  I can't remember a fall as weak as this one.

There is still a mix of pretty colors, but it's about a 1/4 of what it could be.

Still quite a bit of green to see, but that gets old fast.

Despite the disappointment, it was still a very nice, fun, and relaxing drive to make.

Is It Possible for Nothing to Exist?

My husband and I had a half hour debate about that question. Can nothing exist? If the world, the universe, and everything else out there in space, didn't exist, what would there be? Can you imagine "nothing?" Is "nothing" even possible?

My husband claims it is possible and he justifies it using math. But I can't comprehend what he is trying to explain to me and thus I don't believe him. I claim it is not possible but it could be that my weak little mind just can't comprehend it. How can you have nothing without there being something (sort of reminds me of philosophy class)? And how can something form out of nothing? If a universe was made because of energy, isn't energy something? How can there ever be nothing? I can't even imagine it. But then, didn't there have to be a beginning, a point where there was nothing? So much to think about. It boggles my mind.

What do you think? It is possible or impossible for nothing to exist.

Need help deciding:

http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=53667
http://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads/does-nothing-exist-28678.html

Asian Noodle Salad Review

I recently made this Asian Noodle Salad. The only changes I made were leaving out the peanuts and using linguine rather than spaghetti noodles. The noodles look really juicy in the picture but that was partly because the picture was taken the day after we had it for dinner and all the juices had settled to the bottom.

If you like food that has an Asian flare to it, I recommend this salad. It was pretty delicious especially as leftovers.  It has such a nice flavor without being too strong and too heavy. All the vegetables in it make for a relatively healthy and colorful meal. I can't wait to make it again.

My Favorite Possessions In October

I think I received this as a gift one year and thought it was a strange color and one I would never use. But the other week I pulled it out to test and now I love it. Such a great fall color. Sadly, the bottle does not include the name of the color but I highly recommend any nail polish color similar to this one.

Update: I just realized that the picture kind of makes this polish look like it's a shade of red. It is actually a shade of brown. 

Marshalls purchase this year. Much more comfortable than I thought they would be. 

New York City China Town purchase last year. I always get lots of compliments on this purse.

DSW clearance purchase with a gift card last year.

Welcome Home From Europe Surprise

This is what my face wash looked like upon coming home from Europe. I use a different face wash while traveling so I had left this one at home. It is usually a much clearer lighter color. I was a bit concerned as I have never had a hygiene product change colors on me. So I emailed them about it. This was their response:


Dear Elizabeth:

Thank you for contacting the Johnson & Johnson Consumer Companies, Inc. Information Center. It is always important to hear from our consumers, and we appreciate the time you have taken to contact us.

The cleanser contains Salicylic Acid and when Salicylic Acid comes in contact with the iron that is in the metal spring, it turns the product into a dark reddish color. The product is perfectly safe to use and remains just as effective. Our QA dept is working to rectify this issue.

Again, thank you for your interest in our company. Should you have any comments or questions in the future, please contact us via our website http://www.neutrogena.com/ or by calling our toll-free number, 1800 582-4048. Our specialists are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m - 8:00 p.m. EST and will be happy to assist you.

The Information Center


Hum!!! I still don't exactly get how it occured and why this was the first time it occured as I buy this product at least a few times per year. But I took their word for it and tried it out thinking if my face fell off I could sue them. So far so good. But still a strange thing to have happen.

Trip Part 4 - London

After Ireland, our last stop was London. I have a friend who is from England and lived about an hour out of the city. Her sister also lives about an hour out of the city and she was nice enough to let us stay with her. We would take the train in every day which was costly but not even close to as costly as staying in the city would have been. We flew into London on a Ryan air flight on a Friday morning and then flew out of London Tuesday afternoon so we had a good 3 1/2 days to sight see. It was nice to go home but 3 1/2 days is not nearly enough time to see London.

Windsor Castle. I loved the tour. It is such a pretty castle and it was very enjoyable to see the collections and exhibits they had. Queen Mary's Doll house was amazing.

This picture was taken in Oxford. The buildings in Oxford were cool but the place was almost like a city with the amount of people and shops there were.  

The London Eye. We didn't ride this but if you ever have the chance to make sure there is good weather and clear skies.

 Big Ben is actually the bell inside the clock, not the clock itself.

Parliament. Another tour I loved.

A view from Saint James Park. We loved this park. It had lots of animals in it and was very well taken care of.

Buckingham Palace. It was kind of a plain looking building compared to a lot of the other things we saw.  

George Washington statue.

Our tour guide at the Tower of London. He lives at the Tower.

Of course we found where the London Chipotle was. It didn't taste quite as good as it does in America but it was still worth the visit.

Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park.

We didn't actually take many pictures in London. Many of the sites we visited did not allow us to take pictures and one day we even forgot our camera. So I will try and give you a bit more information about what we did.

Sites we saw and things we did:

1. Walking tour to see Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Saint James Park, and a few other things. We happened to pick a tour that was sponsored by some group so we got it for free and only had to pay for our ferry ride. Either way the walking tours are pretty inexpensive.

2. Hyde Park.

3. Tour of Parliament.

4. Tower of London.

5. The British Museum - had a great Egyptian exhibit that included mummies.

6. Saw Le Miserables.

7. St. Pauls Cathedral - churches are not cheap to visit in London so we chose to do only one and chose this one over Westminster Abbey.

8. Harrods.

9. China Town - ate two meals here.

What I liked about London:

1. Very much like America when it comes to food. Lots of options! We ate well.

2. They speak English.

3. They included a tour in the hefty entrance price.

4. How much history there is. The lack of a language barrier and the fact that tours were included in the entrance price helped us learn a lot more about England that we learned in the other countries.

5. There is soo much to see so you can't get bored.

6. The roads were much better to drive on than in Ireland. And we had our best rental car experience here. We only rented a car for a day to see Wendsor and ended up taking a very quick trip to Oxford.

7. Eating wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. I guess thats because there are so many options.

8. There were so many great plays to choose from and the prices were much better than Broadway. Le Meserables was amazing. We had great seats for a much better price than we could have ever gotten in the U.S.

9. The parts of the city we were in were much much much cleaner than Paris.

What I didn't like:

1. Sightseeing is pretty expensive in London. They include a tour in the price which is nice but expect to pay anywhere from 12-20 pounds per person per site.

2. The underground wasn't that easy to follow. Not too difficult but the German underground and the Paris underground were much easier.

3. Our 3 hour trip to the airport. Ah!!! Luckily it ended up being pretty cheap to get there.

Um, I can't really think of many things I didn't like about London.

Tips:

1. Don't hesitate to rent a car when you are traveling outside of the city but don't drive in the city.

2. If you stay outside the city and have to take the train in you can get 2 for 1 passes at many of the stations. These allow you to get into some of the London sites for half the price if you are traveling with another person.

3. Weekend train travel is cheaper than weekday. At least on the weekends, not sure about the weekdays, 3 adults can travel for the price of 2.

4. You can eat on the public transportation. You can't do that on the subway in D.C. so it's a big deal for me. We ate our lunch on the train once.

5. You can spend a lot of time at each of the sites so plan accordingly. The Tower of London took us almost 3 hours and we could have stayed longer.

6. At the Tower of London you can get a free tour. Do it. They tour guides are awesome.

7. The British Museum is free and had a great exhibit on mummies.

8. We liked St. James park much more than Hyde Park. Take a half hour or so to go and wander through it. Only go to Hyde Park if you have time to waste and only go if there is nice weather. Speakers corner was cool to see but when we went it was almost all Muslims preaching.

9. If you like shopping, stop at Harrods. We didn't spend tons of time at Harrods, it was late and it was crowded, but it was worth the stop. I have never seen a department store quite like it. And they have a Krispy Kreme if you are in need of a good old American sweat.

10. Go to China Town if you like Chinese food. We went to the same restaurant twice and it was soo good and so delicious and not expensive. I would have loved to try some of the other places there.

11. Go on a walking tour. They have many different types of walks and are fairly cheap. We learned a lot of random facts about London this way.

Places I want to see if I ever go back:

1. Westminster Abbey

2. Imperial War Museum

3. Bath, England

4. Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms

5. Walking tour of Jack the Ripper

6. Visit Greenwich and Essex. We stayed in Essex but we didn't have a chance to do much there nor learn its history and apparently it has a lot of history.

7. Visit Oxford again. Oxford wasn't quite what I expected it would be. It was much too crowded for my taste. But I would like to go back and get a tour of some of the schools. We didn't have much time when we went and the colleges were already closing for the day.

8. Go to an Evensong at any of the churches.

9. See Parliament in action. They were not in session when we went.

10. Go to the Knotting Hill District just because I can.

Weekend Happenings

This past Sunday was mine and my hubbys one year anniversary. Our Europe trip was in celebration of our anniversary, so between that and his brother being in town this weekend, we didn't do too much to celebrate it. We did manage, despite me being ill, to make it to Olive Garden Saturday night, and it was pretty good. Next time you go, get one of their new lemonades. They are soo good. We also hung out late Sunday night for a few hours, relaxed, and played a super long game of war. It was nice to just chill alone together without the television or computers on. That doesn't happen often.

Our biggest event of the weekend was the Maryland Renaissance Festival. This is our second year going and it was really fun despite the fact that I didn't feel well. We pretty much pay 18$ a person and walk around this village filled with music, comedy shows, jousting, stores, food stands, and other fun things to do and watch.We usually stop to listen to some live music for a bit and then spend the rest of the time watching jousting and looking through the shops.Oh and we also love stopping to watch the glass maker who usually demonstrates how to make a goblet. Despite the hefty price we pay for doing what may seem like so little, we love it. It is especially fun for people like me who love to people watch because oh boy are there some interesting people there. For anybody that has the slightest interest in the Renaissance Era, I highly recommend going.

Interesting Blog & Article

1. I found this blog entitled "A Real Way To Spread Cancer Awareness" very interesting and well done. I have had mixed feelings about how pink has been splattered everywhere and on everything so you buy buy buy. And then you add people posting random suggestive statuses on their facebook and I begin to feel that the awareness and action part has been lost in a muddle of what's cool to do. But before I go on to offend anyone, I'll just send you over to the blog. The author explains how I feel a lot better than I could.

2. Here is another article I find interesting. It is entitled "Does Your Water Have Estrogen In It." At the very least, it gives you something to think about.

My New Plate

I'm not really into buying tons of souvenirs as they are overpriced and just junk. So we didn't buy too many on our trip. Just chocolate and playing cards. But I found the plate above at HomeGoods last week. It was less than 4 dollars. I have claimed it as my London souvenir. Nobody except for me, and anybody I tell, would even know the difference. The trademark at the bottom claims it was made in Britain. I love it!

My Wish List For Winter 2010

I once told my husband if he ever needed to know what I wanted, he could check my blog. My birthday is coming up, as well as Christmas, so it is about time I post my wish list.

Books: 

1776 by David G. McCullough

My Grandfather's Son : A Memoir by Clarence Thomas

Shoes*:

TOMS Ash Canvas Women's Classics Size 7. They are so many different colors for this shoe. It was hard to choose which one I would get the most use out of.

Gift Cards:

Nordstroms

Other:

Colgate Wisp - for stocking. Hey there is even a coupon for it on their website.


This has to be about the shortest wish list ever but I can't think of anything else I want. Perhaps I will do a wish list part 2 in the near future.

*I have gotten quite a few new pairs of dressy shoes this year but my favorite pair of casual shoes as well as my workout shoes are many many years old. They have all gotten a lot of wear and tear this year so I am on the look out for some new shoes to replace the old. Any ideas for good work out shoes would be much appreciated.

Awesome Boots

I will probably never own these but I still had to share. They are amazing! Anthropology has a lot of great boots this year. If your bored, check them out.

Trip Part 3 - Ireland

Once we were able to get our of France, we flew to Ireland. Our original plan was to drive to southern Ireland, spend the night in Cork, then drive up along the coast, spend a night in Ballyvaughen, and then go back to Dublin. But due to the delayed flight, we had to stay an extra night in Dublin and skip going south.

One of my favorite animal pictures!

We thought the water color was a bit strange and wonder what caused the soda brown like color.

A random water fall at the side of the road. It was really pretty. A Canadian guy was nice enough to take our picture.

Glendalough monastery.

Upper lake of Glendalough. A really gorgeous lake and hike.

Some old ruins at the lake.

The water here was a lot more clear.

Overlooking the upper lake.

Just another pretty picture of Ireland.

The Burren of Ballyvaughan, County Clare. Lots and lots of rocks. 

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb.

Cliffs of Moher. So amazing.  

Random church ruins on the side of the road.

The Kylemore Abbey. We didn't have time to go in but it sure made for a nice picture.

I loved how the sheep just roamed around. But they were not easy to take pictures of despite their numbers.

I don't have tons to say about Ireland. This might have to do with the short amount of time we stayed there. We did enjoy the experience as there isn't much to dislike about Ireland unless you dislike spending your days looking at pretty scenery, but I think we would have liked at least a few more days there. Nonetheless, this is what I do have to say:

What I liked about Ireland:

1. How the animals roamed around wild.

2. The amount of rivers and lakes there were.  I love water.

3. How nice the people were. They were so friendly and so hilarious. A stark contrast to Paris.

4. We didn't eat as much in Ireland but whatever food we did get was yummy. Especially the chicken sandwich I got at the park stand at Upper Lake. For being a food shack, if was seriously delicious. 

5. Cute and clean and wonderfully comfortable bed and breakfasts all over.
6. The fresh air.
7. They spoke English.

What I did not like about Ireland:

1. Their accent was lovely but it didn't always make for easy conversation. Sometimes they talked so fast we couldn't understand a word they were saying. The British were much easier to understand.

2. If you have a gps it will either take you on crazy scenic roads that are gorgeous but a bit too much for the stomach or it will take you through semi ordinary towns and down long boring highways.

3. A lot of the land between cool sites was just farm land so don't always expect to see gorgeous views.
4. I loved the animals roaming around but it wasn't always fun waiting for the animals to move out of the midde of the road. Darn dog.
5. The nice thing about cities is that everything you want to see is relatively close by. In a country like Ireland you have to drive a lot.

Tips:

1. Rent a car.

2. Bring snacks for the car if you want a quick meal. They definently don't have many, if any, fast food restaurants there.

3. Don't stress too much about stopping in the middle of the lane of a rural two way road to take a picture. We did it all the time.

4. Don't stress about staying at bed and breakfasts. They aren't any more expensive than staying at a hotel in America as long as you don't convert the pounds to dollars. And even if you do, they aren't that bad at all. Much cheaper than hotels in the cities and about the same price as the hostel we stayed in in Paris.

5. Get a bed and breakfast in a town that has quite a few things you can do around it (like within a few hours) and stay a couple nights. It will make for a relaxing pase and allow you much more sightseeing time.

6. Allow time for hiking the national parks. They are amazing and worth the effort.

7. You don't necessarly have to fly into Dublin, especially if you are coming from another European country. Figure out the first place you want to go to and see which airport is closet. Dublin is just an extremely popular place to fly in and out of.

8. Consider taking a long enough trip that you can hit up both Ireland and Northern Ireland.