Fashion Fridays-Stacked Rings

My new fashion obsession is stacked rings. I saw this pin on Pinterest a few days ago and I've been obsessed with finding my own rings ever since. When you click through the link on Pinterest, it takes you to a fashion newsletter, that doesn't have anything (at least that I can find) about the rings. I've now made it my mission to have at least some of these rings!

Pinterest.com

Traveling Toddler Tips

I'm proud to say that Bartek and I survived our first real trip with Landon. It was a quick trip to Chicago, just a long weekend, but it's something I've anticipated and dreaded for a few months. Here are some tips I have for other parents traveling with toddlers:

PACKING

• use Take & Toss sippy cups so you don't have to wash anything. Disposable sippy cups are so amazing! You don't have to waste valuable vacation time washing cups in the sink. I wish I could afford to use them all the time. It costs about $4-5 for a 5 pack.

Wanderlust Wednesday-Victory Garden

Last week, Bartek met me in the city for lunch. He was on a much needed two week break from work and I made him promise to meet me at least twice in the city and he made good on it. We grabbed some brick oven pizza and decided we needed a little something sweet to wash it down. I had walked by Victory Garden often before without ever stopping in but the day had finally come. It was a warm 80 degrees, perfect weather for ice cream. There are a few ice cream places within those few blocks in the Village. I go to Phileo Yogurt all of the time and Grom (gelato) is just way too expensive. It was time for something new.

The Mindy Project

Last week I mentioned that one of the new shows I was going to tune into this season was The Mindy Project. Well, today the pilot aired and I loved it!

A Week in Our Lives-September 24th

Sorry for the lack of posts, but we were in CHICAGO!! And our hotel had no internet access, so it was a forced little break from blogging. 

But I'm excited to show you our pictures from Chicago. We left for Chicago on Friday morning.

on our way to Chicago 

Wanderlust Wednesday-Warwick Valley Winery

As I mentioned on Sunday and Monday, my favorite day of the year is our annual Applefest celebration with our families. There are several orchards in the area, but for the past five years or so, we've been going to Warwick Valley Winery. 

Fall TV

As sad as this sounds, the end of summer means the beginning of one thing I'm very excited for! Fall TV! Our favorite shows are finally back.

This is what I'm looking forward to this season

Shark Tank-ABC, Fridays at 8pm, already started on September 14th. There's nothing better than a bunch of millionaires bickering about the worth of a nobody with a grand idea. The bickering is great, but I love watching the show to learn the ins and outs of businesses-what they're worth, the profit they make, and the royalties some business owners can make. It's really inspiring. Maybe I'll have a million-dollar idea one day.

ABC.go.com

A Week in Our Lives-September 17th

It sure has been a busy week for us. Lucky for Bartek, he had the week off (and this week too) so he had a chance to really enjoy some peace and quiet at home. He celebrated his birthday playing golf and then had a little co-birthday celebration with our friend, Jordan, in the city.

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Dutch Apple Pie

Today was our yearly Applefest tradition where we go apple picking, drink tons of wine and hard cider, and eat lots of apple-y things. I'll post pictures tomorrow in my weekly recap, but I wanted to share Bartek's birthday pie that I made for him and for Applefest!

Summer Recap redo

When I posted my summer recap last week, of the things we had done as a family over the summer, one thing was noticeably missing: Fishing with Grandpa. Grandpa would not stand for this and since there are technically a few days left of summer left, there was only one thing we had to do...go to the lake and catch some sunnies! 

It was so adorable! Landon (aka Grandpa) set the bait and tossed the hook in. He (aka Bartek) reeled in two biggin's. In typical Landon fashion, he had to try to grab them as they dangled in front of him. 

Happy Birthday Bartek!

I never had a chance to post yesterday for Bartek's birthday, so today's post is dedicated to him. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!

I thank my lucky stars for him every day. I can't think of a more perfect soulmate.

Cooler Temps Mean It's Time for Baby Denim!

It's weird how once Labor Day comes and goes, summer seems to automatically disappear. No more beach. Less skin exposed. It almost seemed like even Mother Nature decided summer was over this week and temperatures dropped by 10-15 degrees. It was so refreshing walking to work this week with the temperatures being in the 60s in the morning. I loved it.

Another thing I loved this week was putting Landon in jeans again! It was too cool out to wear shorts on Tuesday, so I broke out his brand-spanking-new Gap jeans and he looked so adorable, I wanted to eat him up!

Wanderlust Wednesday-Dell'Anima

On our fabulous date night on Saturday, Bartek decided that instead of making reservations for dinner, we would just wander around until we found a place that struck our fancy. Not such a great idea when it's raining and there's a tornado warning for the tri-state area. But we braved it out, broke out the umbrellas and I held down my skirt so I wouldn't give the world a show!

After about 10 or 15 minutes of walking, we finally stumbled on Dell'Anima in the West Village. Bartek had seen it mentioned somewhere on the internet so we decided to give it a go. When we asked for a table for two, the lovely hostess squeezed us in before a 7:15 reservation, a really nice gesture since we didn't have a reservation ourselves. 

A terrible picture I took of the outside. It's much prettier inside!

Remember

(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

A Week in Our Lives-September 10th

I decided that Monday posts will be centered on things we've done in the past week. It's a way for us to keep our friends and families updated without overloading their Facebook feeds because I know how sometimes it can be annoying! So if you want to read ahead, be my guest! If not, then you can pass!

This past Friday, Landon and I ventured over to the Central Park Zoo. It was Landon's first time at a zoo and he absolutely loved it!

Waiting to the ferry to take us to Manhattan

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Chocolate PB Pretzel Cookies

I haven't posted a Sweet Tooth Sunday in so long! I haven't stopped my once-a-week sweet craze. I've made some delicious things: Nutella Coconut Ice Pops and After Dinner Mint ice cream. I'll have to post those some time soon.

Tonight, I wanted something easy to make. We've had a very busy weekend, so some nice, peaceful baking was in store.

I found this recipe from Pinterest as inspiration, but I decided to take the original Toll House chocolate chip recipe as a base for it instead.

Fashion Friday-Lace for Fall

I used to have a thing against lace. When I was shopping for my wedding dress a few years ago, I told the salesperson I didn't want her to bring me anything with lace. I've since done a 360 with my stance on it. I'm totally gaga over it. It's so feminine and pretty!

I think it's a great look to roll into the Fall with. Because of the nature of lace, it's light and airy, so it works on Fall days that are still warm. 

I've had my eye on this dress ever since I saw it a few weeks ago. It's by Lauren Conrad's collection, LC, for Kohl's.

Kohls.com, regular retail: $60, on sale: $45

I absolutely love the color, "Everglade", aka teal. I think jewel tones are going to be really big this fall, and this particular jewel tone happens to be my favorite color!

I'll definitely be picking this dress up in two weeks when I have a coupon good for 20% off.

It can be purchased here.

H&M Maternity Clothes

Label this under "jealousy"! I wish I was pregnant just so I could sport some pieces from H&M's maternity line. I never knew they had one until I was browsing their website tonight.

First, let me profess my love for H&M. They make CHEAP (!) and fashionable clothes. Whenever I want to buy something new for a night out, H&M is my go-to. They allow you to be trendy without spending an arm and a leg.

This maternity line is great. Maternity clothes typically make pregnant women look frumpy, hiding behind layers of flowy fabric. These, however, accentuate the bump but still allow you to look stylish!

Here are some of my favorites:

MAMA Sweater in Beige-$29.95

Crib Bumpers

Crib bumpers have gotten a bad rap in the past few years and rightly so. When used in infants' cribs, they cause an increase in the risks of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Little babies can roll into them and suffocate because they don't have the strength to push themselves away. 

I was totally against using the crib bumpers that came with our bedding set until I realized one of the big reasons Landon was waking up in the middle of the night. He kept hitting his head on the slats of the crib. My son is a huge sleep-flailer. He rolls around so much and ends up on opposite ends of the crib all throughout the night. After he turned one-year-old, I decided to give the bumpers a whirl. 

Wanderlust Wednesday- Choc O Pain Bakery

Hoboken is a funny place. It's only "One Square Mile" (supposedly), but still it can seem like you never venture to certain parts of the city. For four years, we got to know uptown Hoboken very well and the past few months, we've learned more about midtown. But downtown has been a bit neglected since we've settled down into married life and parenthood. However, now that we know Choc O Pain is there, we may venture that way more often.

We found it on our way back from the PATH after a Yankees game. At the time, we just walked by it. But a few days later, we took a long walk down and indulged!

Summer Recap

I had meant to post this on Labor Day, but extreme exhaustion hit on Monday night (read: I passed out on the couch) and yesterday the computer was hijacked all night for a Fantasy Football draft. So, two days later, I'm reminiscing about my summer. Back in March, after a particularly warm day in New York City, I wrote this post about my wishes for the summer. So, looking back, I wanted to see if I did them.