Our sister's wedding in California

We took a trip out to California last weekend for Dustin and Courtney's wedding. Chase and I were so excited to be in the wedding party, and it was an absolutely beautiful day from start to finish. Unfortunately, I was so busy the entire weekend, I only managed to snag one picture of the bride moments before she walked down the aisle.  When I have a wonderful memory or a great time somewhere, I rarely return with pictures. In order to capture a moment, it seems necessary to step away from what you are doing to get a camera and take the shot. My lack of pictures best represents how awesome of a time I really had.

Our weekend in California was one of the best we have spent in a while. The weather was perfect, seeing friends and family was amazing and neither of us wanted the time to end. Luckily we will be back at Christmas!

Autumn Weekends

I absolutely love the season we are in. The Pennsylvania Fall comes slower than up North, and October days are filled with chilly mornings and afternoons of sun and light breeze. The trees in the city don't seem to be changing, but as soon as I get off the train to walk home, I remember why we live in Mt. Airy- the leaves are incredibly vibrant!

I walked through my neighborhood on Saturday and stopped by a couple farm stands to buy groceries.  One stand had a great setup with pumpkins and a huge selection of locally grown apples.  I never seem to find much value for pumpkins in my life (not much of a carver and wouldn't go through the trouble of making a pie from scratch) but there is something so nostalgic about apples and pumpkins together on a beautiful Autumn Day.

Lots of cooking was had with my favorite Fall foods, and Chase and I stopped by a brewery on Saturday to buy a variety pack of cider.  In Pennsylvania you have to buy an entire case of beer per purchase. I wondered how the 2 of us would finish 50 bottles of cider on our own, but they all are so delicious we will handle them easily by the end of November. 

For lunch we had Fall cider and a salad I tried to replicate after a recent trip to our favorite local restaurant:  greens, apples, toasted walnuts, cranberries, goat cheese and a balsamic/honey dressing.  I didn't have red onions, but there is still a secret ingredient I have yet to discover!

We went to a Fall Festival in our neighborhood which allowed us to try new restaurants at a much more affordable price.  I opted for a natural food taco and Chase tried Asian infused Cin Cin.

Sunday we both played soccer with an old friend of mine from UMass. I think for Chase and I, Fall has always meant soccer, and it was awesome to get out there and play again. I also made my favorite butternut squash pasta dish, which is my sister's recipe, and some amazing peanut butter cookies as a kick-off (no pun intended) to Halloween.

Roasted butternut squash and Portabella Mushrooms, caramelized onions in brown sugar, goat cheese and ziti:

Things I Appreciate...

Flowers from my husband

 Time spent with my nephews

Sunsets in Maine

Free vintage suitcases claimed at a clothing swap

Autumn leaves

 Sibling love

A Simple Birthday Cake

Chase turned 26 on Sunday and I attempted to decorate a cake for him.  I used a cheap piping kit and the help of Martha Stewart.  While it didn't come out perfect, I think for my first attempt, it was a fun project.

1.  I added blue and green food coloring to the vanilla frosting until I reached my desired shade of blue.

2.  The top of both cakes were trimmed so they would be level.

3.  The first layer was frosted with chocolate and the second was sandwiched on top.
4.  I then frosted the entire cake with blue frosting for a "crumb base" and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

5.  When the frosting was set, I added another layer of blue and marked 8 divots equally spaced around the circumference.

6.  A pastry bag with a semi-skinny circle tip was filled with melted chocolate to write out Chase's name.  This was no small feat-melted chocolate has a mind of its own.

7.  To finish, I completed the connections between the spots that I marked with piping swags.
8.  The last step was to connect the swags with blue rosettes.

This was the most difficult part of the cake, as the thicker chocolate frosting began to seep out of the tip of the pastry bags.  I guess that's what I get for buying the set at IKEA!

Maine in the Rain

Our trip to Maine was fun-despite the terrible weather.  The sun was fully out when we left Philadelphia on Saturday morning, but as soon as we landed in New Hampshire, the rain began and did not stop until our flight departed on Sunday night. We made the best of it because it's always nice to get out of Philly for a mini-vacation.

After all the rain the Northeast has been getting lately, the tide was unusually high in Maine. It almost made me nervous, because the paths we normally walk during the summer months were being encroached upon by the higher surf. 

The Bed and Breakfast had no vacancies, and Ogunquit was strewn with tourists who optimistically planned for nice Autumn weather as we had. I told Chase it made me feel better about the rain, because at least we were in the same position as everyone else having been let down. Being in Maine and staying in our familiar Honeymoon Suite (aka the Mariner's Room) was worth the trip out. We love the whole B&B experience and the breakfasts are amazing. Michael and Bill fill the old colonial home with freshly made cookies, fires lit in each room and an aroma of apples-or something of the like. 

My photo was taken just as Chase dropped the camera in his pancake syrup.

After breakfast on Sunday we drove the 40 minutes north to Portland. It was sad we couldn't really walk around and take in the town, but we did drive through on a car tour and were able to check out some cute neighborhoods.

For about 5 minutes the rain turned into mist...

A photo from the "West End" of Portland where all the old mansions and brownstone apartments are.

While the leaves were only just beginning to turn, we found some pretty bushes by Willard Beach in Portland.

Positive thing about small airports: we were put on an earlier return flight. 

Negative thing about small airports: they checked each of our bags and confiscated our brand new Tom's toothpaste and Chase's Maine salami.

All in all a great trip!