Photo Christmas Cards

Do you send regular Christmas cards or ones with pictures on them? I feel like in the past five years or so photo cards have really increased in popularity.

It's become a whole event for us of attempting our own photo shoot for Landon. He's not so great at cooperating. He'd rather be running around and playing with toys than sitting for a picture. When we finally do get a good shot of him, one of my favorite websites for photo cards is Pear Tree Greetings. They have so many unique templates. They even have photo cards that double as Christmas Tree ornaments.

And the good thing is that they regularly have promo codes for discounts too. 

Stay tuned in a few weeks for a glance at our 2012 Christmas card!

Wanderlust Wednesday-Delicious Orchards

If you are in or visiting the northern part of the Jersey Shore, a great place to stop for some delicious produce, homemade pies and lots of other prepared foods is Delicious Orchards Country Food Market in Colts Neck.

They have a section of homemade pies that looks just divine! If it weren't the weekend before Thanksgiving, when we knew we'd be indulging in LOTS of pie, we would have bought one ourselves. It's there, right when you walk in, to tempt you!

Proceed down through the store and you'll find what seems like miles of produce. Everything you can imagine is there. If we lived close by, you can bet we'd be shopping there every week to stock up on fruits and veggies. 

 Near the pies, stood a few tables of chocolate that really caught my eye. I cannot pass on chocolate!

We left with some of that chocolate, mozzarella and tomato salad, cranberry apple cider, gourmet chips and salsa, and delicious apple cider donuts! 

Delicious Orchards
320 Route 34 South
Colts Neck, NJ
Website
Open Tuesday-Sunday, 9:30 am-6pm

A Week in Our Lives-November 26th

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving. This year was a Bamond-Thanksgiving. We switch off every year between mine and Bartek's family. Unfortunately, they both live too far away to celebrate together. Here's some pics from our holiday.

Dad carving the turkey

Bartek and Landon in a turkey coma

Our beautiful and delicious desserts 

Facetiming with our family in Delaware

Matching Christmas PJs. So adorable

Family shot 

Bartek with his Godson, Wyatt 

An attempt at a Christmas photo

On Friday, Bartek and I had to part ways. We BOTH had our ten-year high school reunions. It was great to see everyone and catch up. 

The ice luge

Catching up with old friends

Friends for, like, a bazillion years

And then on Saturday, we had some more fun with friends going out in Morristown for our friend, Erika's birthday, but I don't have any pics because Bartek can't take non-blurry photos. 

Anyway, it was an incredibly busy, but super fun week in our lives. As Christmas is getting closer, it seems like our weekends are so full! It's an exciting time of year and I can't wait to get all of our Christmas decorations up.

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Cranberry Apple Crisp

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is being able to try new recipes that you see floating around on Pinterest. What better reason to experiment! That is how we tried our favorite Mac N' Cheese and cranberry sauce recipes. 

This recipe was a nice change from the typical apple pie we have on Thanksgiving. I found it on CountryLiving.com

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

4 large apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 c. fresh cranberries

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. rolled oats

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

1/3 c. butter, softened

Heat oven to 375 degrees. 

Lightly coat an 8x8 baking pan with butter or Pam. Add apples and cranberries to it.

In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and softened butter. Mush it with your hands until it's combined and starts to form crumbles.

Sprinkle the crumbs over the apples and cranberries.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Wanderlust Wednesday-Brookdale Dog Park

Brookdale Park in Bloomfield, New Jersey is one of my favorite parks. It's a huge park with tons of fields, a nice big playground and an awesome dog park. Coming from Hoboken, the land of tiny, grungy dog parks, when we found this one, Bailey barked with glee. Admittedly, we've only taken Bailey once or twice since Landon was born since it's never a good idea to bring a baby or child into a dog park. But we went this past weekend and I stayed on the outside of the fence with Landon. Bailey was so excited to be back.

There is nearly an acre of space for the large dog park and about half of that for the smaller dogs. Brookdale Dog park has tons of agility equipment: A-Frames, barrels, adjustable jump bars, and a ramp. It has a couple of water fountains, a time-out area for naughty pups and tons of seating for owners under shady trees.

This is definitely a must for any dog owners in the area who want to socialize their pups.

Address: Watchung Ave, Bloomfield, NJ. Once you are inside the park, follow the signs for the dog park.

My Favorite Recipes for Thanksgiving

There are only two days until Thanksgiving! I can't believe it came up so fast. Bartek and I hosted Thanksgiving two years ago...our first and only time (so far). The scariest thing about cooking for Thanksgiving is the turkey. You don't want to be the person that messes up the star of the show. Thankfully, my dad came to the rescue and made the turkey for us. Phewww!

There are two other star recipes we have been using since that first Thanksgiving as a married couple. Bartek and I each have our own thing we focus on. 

Bartek makes this delicious Mac N'Cheese from Martha Stewart...

It is absolutely amazing! Mac N' Cheese leftovers are so much better than days on end of turkey!

The recipe that I make is Martha Stewart's Orange Cranberry Sauce. It definitely beats the can-shaped stuff from the canned-vegetables aisle. 

I've made this several times besides Thanksgiving. The sweetness of the orange cuts the tartness of the cranberries. It is so absolutely delectable!

What are your go-to Thanksgiving recipes?

A Week in Our Lives-November 19th

As much as I'd like to brag with tons of photos of a tropical locale from our vacation week, sadly there are none to be had. Some plans for our stay-cation panned out and some did not. We played a little golf,  terribly and embarrassingly, but we stuck it through to about 6 holes (I wanted to give up after the first one)! 

We saw Argo, which I've been so excited since I read a fall movie preview back in August. Review to come tomorrow. 

And I made my first filet mignon, from this recipe. It was amazing, although I did set the fire alarm off in the apartment. Oops!

Unfortunately, the rest of our week didn't go as planned. Our pup got really sick and he spent the day at the vet undergoing tons of tests while we waited at home for a call from the doctor to see what's up. But the call never came. So after two calls to the vet with no answers, we told them we were coming to pick him up no matter what. One HUGE bill later and no explanations as to what was wrong, we took him home for some rest and relaxation. Any Hobokenites out there, I DO NOT recommend Hoboken Animal Hospital on Washington. They try to take advantage of people in sensitive situations. Anyway, a few days later, Bailey is feeling much better. Not 100%, but getting there!

We also had plans to volunteer on Friday in Sea Bright cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy. But then our other child (the real one) got sick. So before we headed back home to the doctor, we drove through Sea Bright and saw the devastation. I hope we get a chance in the next few weekends to help out.

The shore has eroded so much that the waves are breaking just ten feet from the  sea wall

The cabanas from one of the beach clubs resting on the sea wall

A section of about 50 yards missing from these cabanas

The remains of Donovan's Reef, but they had a sign "We Will Rebuild"

Tents set up on the municipal beach parking lot 

Trucks ready to depart

It's so sad to see what happened to "our" shore town. I've been going to the beaches in Sea Bright since Bartek and I started dating in 2003. But they'll rebuild. 

Finally, on Sunday, everyone started to feel healthy again. We all went to the park for a walk and played in the leaves.

Healthy pup, but poor little shaved paw 

I LOVE THIS BANANA

 Only a few more weeks of leaves left! Then it's time to play in the snow.

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Lemon Bars

This Sunday is sad for me because it marks the end of our stay-cation. It was full of ups and downs, but it was still time off from work and spent with my husband, son and pup. Bartek and I needed something to cheer us up on this bittersweet day, so we decided to treat ourselves with something summery and delightful. I found this recipe for Creamy Lemon Bars and it seemed right up our alley.

A Week in Our Lives-November 12th

This past week has certainly been a challenge. In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, I've had to change the way I get to work. The PATH train is down and it looks like it won't be up and running for at least a few weeks. Just thinking of my commute gives me anxiety. I've been taking the ferry everyday, which costs $6 each way. I paid nearly the same amount in one week that I normally pay in one month of commuting. I'm also now walking a total of 2.9 miles (I google-mapped it!) each way and my feet are paying the price. Major pain in the arch of my left foot and pain in one of the joints of my right foot.  

Enough complaining. The good thing is now Bartek and I are on vacation! One week commute-free! We plan on taking it easy and doing some things locally. Today we played a little golf. Maybe tomorrow we'll finally see Argo! Lots of fun and relaxing ahead for us. 

Here are some pictures from this weekend. We did a little walking around on Saturday morning...went to the Farmer's market and then the playground. 

 Then Bartek took Landon down to his parents' house so I could have a little Girls Night with some friends.

We had such a great time! It was so nice to catch up with the girls! Can't wait for the next night out.

Sweet Tooth Sunday-Mint Fudge

Today's Sweet Tooth Sunday was a simple and easy one. I made fudge for the first time! Craving a little something minty, I chose to put a little spin on the traditional chocolate fudge.

Based on the recipe from the Fluff jar, here is my Mint Fudge:

Fashion Friday-New Obsession

I just stumbled upon this website and I'm in love! It has some really spectacular jewelry for pretty cheap prices!

Check it out: BaubleBar.com

Hint, Hint dear hubby!

Fashion Friday-Favorite New Nail Color

I have a strange obsession with nail polish. I love following nail polishes trends, but I rarely actually get manicures or do them myself. Maybe it's lack of time or that we're trying to same money. On Pinterest, I follow people that constantly pin nail colors or designs. It's just something that gets me really excited! Whenever I get emails from Essie, I get really giddy.

They just sent out their new colors for Winter and this color just looks delicious...

Essie.com

It's called Leading Lady, a dark red with lots of sparkle. It's perfect to wear to holiday parties.

Maybe this time, I'll go out and get a manicure. I deserve it!

"Don't Cry Over Old Milk"...or The Sippy Cup Conundrum

After all of these freak storms, I could use a big glass of vino! Thank goodness next week I'm taking some vacation days to relax, go see some movies and maybe finally cash in my spa gift card. Woohoo!

playtex.com

Now onto this Thursday mommy business. There is a rarely-talked-about phenomenon that plagues nearly all mothers of older babies and toddlers. It's the Sippy Cup Conundrum. Toddlers have a tendency to walk about carrying their sippy cups and then dropping them in random places. In our apartment, the sippy cups then roll under our couches, the coffee table and other furniture where they sit for days.