Five on Friday

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1. An unfortunate kitchen incident yesterday AM resulted in the untimely death of my beloved slow cooker. As I slooooooowly move through the stages of grief, I need to replace this baby ASAP since we are entering prime soup/stew weather. I need recommendations! I know I can just buy another one of these, but since we have to buy a new one anyways, I'd like to upgrade to a programmable one. I am leaning towards either this oneor this one. I'm leaning towards the Hamilton Beach, because that's what I had and I know the quality will be good. I am not interested in the Rolls-Royce of crock pots (I'm looking at you, All-Clad) and ones with too many bells and whistles kind of terrify me. If you have a stripped down programmable one you love, do share!

 

2. I have finally come to accept the fact that I am just not a Halloween person. I love fall and all that it entails, but Halloween is just kind of snooze city for me. I have zero interest in decorating for Halloween outside of a glittery raven I bought at Michael's a few years ago (and with a Baltimore-born husband, the raven typically hangs around until the end of football season). I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so other than the excuse to buy harvest-color wrapper mini Reese cups, the candy doesn't excite me. I love the idea of dressing up in costume in theory, but the actual execution just seems exhausting. Honestly, I think the only part of Halloween that I'm into is the nonstop loop of Hocus Pocus and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on TV.

  

3. We haven't seen a movie in an actual movie theatre in over a year. We have not set foot in a single movie theatre since we moved to Vermont. I could not tell you the last movie that either of us wanted to see badly enough to actually go to a theatre. My 16-year old self is shaking her head in disappointment right now. I used to LOVE to go to the movies, but now there are just so many other ways I would like to spend a date night. That said, we will ABSOLUTELY be seeing Unbroken in theatres. I cried when Louis Zamperini died this summer. It is one of my all-time favorite books. If you haven't read it yet, start now and give yourself time to finish it before the movie comes out.

 

 

4. Any day now (but hopefully not for another week or two), I will be an auntie! My sister-in-law is due with twins, one boy and one girl. Obviously Aunt Sarah has already made sure the D and M both have a Sophie...can't have my niece and nephew go without THE baby toy. I want to get them something when they're born and I am kind of dying over these little Baltimore onesies. So perfect! Mom readers, what gifts did you really appreciate for your newborn (or what gifts did you wish you could take back)?  

 

 

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5. A recent examination of my wardrobe alerted me to the fact that I am down to one pair of sweatpants. I have owned said sweatpants since the 8th grade. I'm not really sure how I let the situation get to this point...what on earth was I wearing around the house all of last winter? I'm working on adding all 3 of the above pairs to my closet ASAP. The first two would be strictly around the house wear, but I feel like the Nike pair have the potential for cute weekend errand wear.

 

That's all for this week. I have a very glamorous weekend of house cleaning and closet switching planned. Thrilling. Hope your weekend plans are more exciting!

Five on Friday

I realized that most of these posts are really more like 5 random thoughts on Friday than they are 5 favorite things.  Last week, two of the things were things I actually dislike, so it seems that Friday Favorites is a misnomer. We're sticking with Five on Friday from now on.

1. No explanation needed.

 

2. It's supposed to be gross and rainy all day tomorrow, which I'm secretly excited about. I have a TON of stuff I need to do around the house that I've been putting off because it's been so glorious to be out in the fall sunshine the past few weekends. I'm feeling a major closet purge coming on. Actually, just a major life/home purge in general. We have moved every year for the past 4 years, so I've had to do a purge regularly. This year no move (three cheers for that!), so I am feeling the itch to donate, trash, and organize all of our junk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Speaking of gorgeous fall weather, these are some pictures from our street I took on Wednesday. We've started to hit peak foliage in some parts of the state. Vermont is absolutely unreal in the fall!

 

4. I made homemade apple butter last weekend using this recipe. The only change I made was instead of using a teaspoon of nutmeg, I used a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, and a 1/4 teaspoon of cloves. Some of the reviews said that they thought it was too sweet, but I thought this was one of the best batches of apple butter I've ever made. I say that as someone who does NOT have a sweet tooth. I used a variety of apples (McIntosh, Paula Red, Gala, and Granny Smith). We've been enjoying this on muffins and breakfast sandwiches all week.

 

5. Postseason baseball fever has officially hit our house. Let's go O's! 



(Purple) Friday Favorites

{Last Super Bowl post, I promise!}

In Baltimore, every Friday during football season is Purple Friday.  In honor of our World Champion Ravens, indulge me in one last Purple Friday until September, k?

Essie 'Sexy Divide'

Havaianas Slim in Violet

Celebratory Tervis tumblers. You know we will be adding these to our extensive Tervis collection.

J.Crew silk blouse, since my office doesn't do casual Fridays.

source

I would kill to have a yard full of lush purple hydrangeas!

World Champions

We are elated.

And also exhausted. Back to regular posting tomorrow.

Ravens Nation!

Friday Favorites

The Super Bowl is upon us! Since my husband's beloved Ravens are playing, today's Friday Favorites is all things Maryland.  Crabcakes and football, y'all!

A different take on the more traditional crab dip that is served at every party in Maryland.  I ADORE traditional crap dip, but this crab rangoon dip would definitely bring a welcome twist to the dip line-up. 

Who doesn't love party printables, especially when they're free?! Simply Create Designs has a fabulous collection up for grabs.

Old Bay hummus {or hoo-mus, as Ina says}.  I mean, hello?!?! How did I not think of this? We already put Old Bay on EVERYTHING else.  I could probs polish off an entire recipe of this. 

For those of us {cough, me, cough cough} who don't feel the need to wear ridiculously overpriced NFL-logoed gear, a purple cashmere sweater will do juuuuuuuust fine. Bonus: it's on sale for $47.99 with code MOREPLEASE!

No Maryland gathering is complete without Berger cookies, a.k.a. my one true love. If you're like most of America and you can't buy them locally, you can go it your own with Blue-Eyed Baker's homemade version.  Or you can order as many as your heart desires from the Bergers website. THESE ARE THE BEST COOKIES EVER MADE.  Don't say I didn't warn you...

Here we go, Ravens!

Super Bowl Bound!

1. My favorite player, Brendon Ayanbadejo, holding up the front page news. 2. We definitely got the hotter Harbaugh brother. 3. Touchdown! 4. We're going to the Super Bowl!

I did not grow up an NFL fan. At all.  But I married into a family who it would be an understatement to say are diehard Baltimore Ravens fans.  After last year's soul-crushing loss to the Pats in the AFC Championship game {when M broke things before going catatonic for the better part of the next week}, this was a sweet, sweet victory.  We won't be making the trek to NOLA for the game, but we'll definitely be rooting on the home team from Baltimore!  Go Ravens!