Cold Weather Necessities

As a disclaimer, this post is not about how to be fashionable-only how to stay warm. Moving back East from California three years ago was a hard transition. The three years I lived in San Diego were sun-filled and made me forget about Northeast winters. I wasn't so much shocked by the cold weather, because Philadelphia is much warmer than my Massachusetts childhood, but the city life threw me for a loop. In Western Mass, I always had a car to jump in, and never needed to walk outside for long periods of time. In the city you are stuck outside no matter the weather, and I realized quickly I would need lots of gear to make my commute less miserable. Five items above will save your life if you have a cold winter in the city ahead.

1. I look terrible in hats and have yet to find one that looks good on me. The above headband was purchased when I first made the move to Philly, and it has carried me through each winter. I find that as long as my ears are warm, I'm happy. 

2. This jacket is anything but fashionable, but I'm so warm when I wear it I couldn't care less. My sister recommended I get this jacket after wearing it for 10 winters in NYC, and I'm glad I took her advice. It looks like a sleeping bag, but once you zip in it's impenetrable. 

3. I'm not great at tying scarfs, and before I found circle scarfs I would always halfhazhardly toss the ends around my neck and hope they didn't drag in a puddle somewhere. Circle scarfs are easy to wear and extremely cozy.

4. Convertible gloves are my #1 necessity for the commute. When I wear mittens it makes it impossible to grab my Metro pass or check my phone or really do anything with my fingers. Ultimately I was taking my mittens on and off so much, that I ended up losing too many single mittens to count. 

5. Knee socks under my jeans keep me so much warmer, and I love how soft JCrew's are. Of course if money were no object, I would probably just stick to cashmere socks. Could you imagine an entire outfit of cashmere? I would take that over George Costanza's fantasy of head to toe velvet any day.

The Calm Before the Storm

I had zero plans this weekend and instead spent time relaxing, baking and enjoying the glorious weather. We also did a little shopping to take advantage of the Veteran's Day sales and found Chase 2 suits for his upcoming Residency interviews. (I sneakily took this picture so I could text for a second opinion! Am I the only girl who knows absolutely nothing about how suits are supposed to look? They all looked exactly the same to me...)

October was spent planning travel for the interview season, and now that November is here we both finally acknowledged just how much travel he will have in the next 3 months. He has already gone on 2 interviews, and has another on Thursday, but the following week things are going to really pick up. I doubt there will be any weekends involving pie, wine and documentaries until January ends. Out of 22 offers, he settled on 17 different programs to interview at, and I can barely wait to find out where we end up!

Philly Food Tour!

Our amazing friends, Lisa and Chris, sent us tickets as an Anniversary present for a food tour here in Philadelphia. It must be extremely popular because we only managed to reserve our spots three months later! I was really surprised to see that most of the people on the tour actually lived in Philadelphia. Each restaurant on the tour is locally owned and tends to serve typical Philadelphia fare. 

The tour began at a famous Italian pizza place where we had tomato pie (thick crust, room temperature tomatoes and garlic). The old woman behind the counter made sure we saw all the celebrity signs hanging on her wall, but as a disclaimer she wanted us to realize that while all the celebrities shown had "tried her product" they had not all actually stepped foot in the restaurant. 

The guide also took us through some Philadelphia streets we might not have ventured on and a couple of historical parks. It was a tad cold out, but it broke up all the eating.

We of course ate cheesesteaks at a local Philadelphia Deli :)

The guide brought us pretzels (the soft kind!) to eat in "Pretzel Park" and we also stopped for authentic roast beef sandwiches in another Italian shop. I gave my sandwich to Chase, but he let me eat his canoli. Yum.

My favorite stop was a local cafe selling La Colombe coffee, which I've developed a weak spot for since moving to Philly. Out of all the places on the tour, I'm most likely to return to that cute little spot.

The last place on the list was an all-natural bakery. We ate the MOST DELICIOUS red velvet cupcakes. I gently nudged Chase into understanding how wonderful it would be to have a cake from there on my birthday. Hopefully he takes the bait.

Carrot Ginger Soup

I've been pretty non-existent in the blogger world lately, but I wanted to post a recent recipe for anyone who needs warming up post Hurricane Sandy. I made this carrot ginger soup recently when my sister visited. I can't honestly say it turned out great, and it certainly wasn't as yummy as when Tom made it, but I definitely enjoyed it with some crusty bread for dipping.

October in New England

Chase will be doing an away rotation next month, so over the weekend we stayed with my parents before he could move to the dorm. Being home is always so relaxing because I tend to revert back to my childhood ways: eating nonstop, sleeping late and just slowing down my daily life.

Autumn in New England was just beginning, but the air was cool and lots of trees were bright and fiery. We drove through Granby, CT on Saturday, and even after growing up in the area I still found myself gazing out the window at the pumpkin fields and Autumn leaves.

On Sunday we had a mini birthday lunch for Chase and all four boys came over.  It was great to see them! Little kids change immensely in a matter of months. We hadn't spent time with my nephews since  this trip, and it was crazy how much older everyone looked! The baby was just a lump in a carrier last April, and now he is scooting on the floor and practically ate an apple on his own. I guess when mothers get weepy about how fast their kids grow up, it's warranted.

Birthday Stationery

Both my sister and a friend had birthdays this month, so I headed over to Paper Source and bought some fancy paper to make stationery for the gifts.

I also bought the bottom 2 stamps-on sale! The best ink to use with rubber stamps is an all-in-one set like this one so you can switch to different colors without purchasing a new pad.

It's helpful to make a stencil for the envelope liners. Trim .5 inches all the way around the edge of a disassembled envelope using cardstock. I made one pattern for each size of envelope I own, and you can re-suse the patterns until your envelopes are gone.

The final results were flawed, but still fun and usable!

Headed to a Party with Nothing to Bring?

I needed something simple to take to a barbecue a couple weeks ago, and it had to involve goat cheese because I had a giant log to use. After a quick search, I found this gem and I'm going to break it down for you below.

The basic ingredients are garlic, sliced bread, goat cheese, parsley and baby bella mushrooms (or white mushrooms with the caps removed). I left out the pepper flakes because I'm not a big pepper flake person.

Process the bread to crumbs. Add the goat cheese, garlic and parsley.

De-cap the mushrooms and stuff your mixture inside. I reserved some of the breadcrumbs in a bowl and rolled the top of each mushroom to coat the top.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes (or 12 if you have my crappy oven).

Voila! Easy appetizer in under 30 minutes.

A Boring Post on My Apartment

I now have a new spot for my desk.  It isn't particularly exciting news, but it's surprising how difficult deciding to move furniture in a small apartment can be. Making our furniture fit for a livable scheme feels like a jigsaw puzzle. Adding something as small as a lamp or a chair can throw everything out of whack when you are dealing with around 800 square feet. (I can't imagine having only 300-400 like many people do in San Francisco and NYC!) When Chase was  studying non-stop for the Boards, we had to buy him a new chair. I was willing to sacrifice the space to give him a little comfort for his 12 plus hours of sitting each day, but my desk had to move. Taking it apart wasn't an option because at any time this Fall we could both be at our computers for work and school. I decided that a corner in our living room was the only logical choice for my new desk area. It's worked out just fine for my homework this week--although I can't part with my favorite mint chair and it does crowd things a tad. Either way, I feel accomplished in the fight against tiny apartment configuration.

Westerly Weeekend

It's amazing how fast babies change. The last time I saw Leo, he was more like a baby and less like a toddler. At 8 months old he has the biggest personality I've ever seen in a baby. He knows when things are funny, and he'll let you know when he thinks so.  If you don't give Leo your full attention, he will crane his little neck around until you can't possibly avert his big blue eyes and irresistible smile. We had so much fun with Leo all weekend, and gladly gave him our full attention in exchange for his big personality.

 

This is a less than flattering picture of me, but Leo looks like an angel.

Johanna accidentally forgot Leo's beach hat but we found this purple flat brim number in a local convenience store. Crisis averted. It was a cross between feminine and tough, and Leo rocked it all weekend.

On Sunday we visited downtown Westerley and stopped in a park. The only other place open that day was a second hand store. Sleepy towns are fun for vacations, but I don't think I could handle the sleepiness year round. 

Leo is modeling his pea pod pants I bought him below. The mornings and evenings were brisk in Westerly, and it made me excited for Fall.

At nighttime, the questionable daytime bar became elegant with blinking lights and a full white tent. Trashy by day, classy by night.

Long Weekend Mode

Last night I used the rest of a gift card from a spa and treated myself to a manicure.

I know, I know-the color is appalling.  When I picked it out I thought it would be more coral, less Halloween.  The thing is, I have trouble telling people I don't like something because I'm always scared it will cause conflict. As soon as the first nail was painted, I slapped on a smile and told her how wonderful it looked. Hey, at least it was free!

I leave for the beach tomorrow with this little guy, and it couldn't have come at a better time.  This week has been exhausting, and I'm just tired from trudging through the month that was August. The thing is, as soon as I get back from my mini vaca, my schedule is only only going to get crazier.  After Labor Day I start two classes, along with the full-time job thing. Lately, I've been questioning if I can handle being in school. All of the students at Penn moved back to campus today, and heading back to work after lunch, a government worker approached the boy walking in front of me to ask him if he wanted to register to vote. He said he would if he could, but he was only 17 and wouldn't turn 18 before the election. 17! I then realized I will be 17, PLUS 10! Yikes. Hopefully the kids in my art classes won't wonder why the old lady with the Jack-o-lantern nails is taking their course. Gulp.

Luckily I have the beach separating me from my worrisome Fall schedule, and I'm focusing on the things below instead.

Lots of books!

My sun hat I never even wore this summer.

Lounging with these guys.