christmas in philadelphia

Dan and I decided to take this dreary Sunday and drive into the city to see the light show and Dicken's Village at Macys. We've done it almost every year (maybe every?) since 2010 so it's a nice little tradition we've got going on. Luckily the rain held out except for a couple drops and it was weirdly warm - almost 70! We talked around the Christmas Village at Love Park as well and did a lap or two around Reading Terminal Market. Dan even took me for a cheesesteak after!

the most delicious pretzels! 

isn't he so cute? :)

soda break at Reading Terminal Market!!

i think the light show is pretty lovely. i can't wait to take a kid there one day

yum!!

Merry Christmas!

blogging again!

Life has definitely gotten very busy.... and I really have no excuse for not blogging. But apparently my blog has some demanding readers (ha!) so I figured it would be great to start this baby back up again, especially with Christmas right around the corner!

Well, we moved into our house! We've basically fixed up the whole thing (with a huge thanks to Dan's parents who built me a kitchen and new bedroom and to my dad who also has helped and let us use his truck to move things). The kitchen is not QUITE done, still some painting left to do and random other things but its usable!

The yellow is actually VERY cool - warm and happy! The lighting and crappy iphone quality makes it look sort of bright! I absolutely LOVE our new kitchen.

And we have a TV room.

It's a mess (when is my living arrangements not a mess?) but you get the idea :)

We also have a bathroom...

And here is OUR bedroom.... sorry for the unmade bed :)  Max likes to sleep there during the day!

That is messy too.... but mostly because I am still trying to figure out where to put things! And we need curtains......   but a Container Store is opening up near us soon so I'll be checking that out to look for good and nice boxes and organizational tools .....

We have a laundry room...

I've never been so happy to do my own laundry.......

There are also two other bedrooms but they are not done and are just filled with things from the apartment. So you'll get to see those another day.

And last but not least.... OUR SUNROOM!!!

I think this is my favorite part! Can't wait to have a party or two here...

And our backyard!

Plus I asked made Dan put up Christmas lights!

We're so excited to finally be homeowners! It's exciting and scary but we hope to be here for a long time. And Max likes it too.

Expect this blog to be updated each week (I PROMISE!!!)   :) :)

pumpkin picking

Even though we have been busy painting & picking out cabinets & making our first mortgage payment (can we say .... ew?) Dan and I found some time to go pumpkin picking at our favorite spot - Merrymead Farms. They have a hayride, a corn maze, fall foods, and this amazing store that sells everything from butter cake (which we avoid purchasing because we eat it in one sitting) to cider donuts to milk and eggs. It's family friendly and even though we don't have kids (but lets face it, it hit me how much I do want a kid or two to be able to take pumpkin picking) we had a nice time, despite my cold.

Happy Fall!

PS. I'll be posting some house photos soon. We're not living there yet but it's looking pretty good!

new beginnings!

This blog will become much more of a (fake) housewife blog this fall...

We bought a house!

And with this house will come lots of painting, decorating, and all that fun stuff so expect news/pictures/details each week!  :)

diet soda cupcakes

I'm not good at cooking and I am not that great at baking but I can make a damn good cupcake. And it has a lot less calories than a normal cupcake AND it tastes just as good.

No, really.

All you need are two ingredients. Cake mix and diet soda. And whatever you decide to use as your topping (I chose cool whip... keeps it low calorie without feeling like low calorie.

This time I went with funfetti cake mix and diet cola. I know, diet soda? But trust me.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Then you mix the super simple ingredients.

Just empty that cake mix bag into a mixing bowl, then add about 12oz of diet soda. (Another good flavor combo is chocolate cake mix with diet cherry pepsi).

12oz of diet soda should do it but my suggestion is to pour it in little by little and mix it up everytime you pour.

Then place the batter in your cupcake tins. You might want to use a spoon to scoop it in. The batter may be sort of different than if you had used eggs and oil and I found using a teaspoon makes it less messy and easier.

Then pop the tin into the oven and give it about 18-20 minutes. But be sure to check on it. My oven is pretty wonky so I tend to overcook things but like I said the same directions on the box should do well for these.

When they cool, just put on your topping and enjoy.

And like, hello. So many less calories than if you had used eggs and oil. And you can't even tell the difference. Moist, yummy, and (sort of) on the healthy side!

florida!

The fabulous Mandy & Mike invited us into their home in lovely Apopka, FL over Labor Day weekend! We were lucky enough to spend some time at the Magic Kingdom as well... here are some photos :)

<all these photos were stolen with permission from Jillian (you can find her at her blog here)!

The park had some fall stuff up!

our hosts!

It was a fantastic little getaway - Mandy, can we come back??