A Little Happy List

How gorgeous is this sunrise?  I was greeted with this beauty yesterday morning on my way to work, which helped make Monday a little more bearable...

And now it's Tuesday and I'm already counting down the days to the weekend.  We had a great time road trippin' this past weekend and I'll share more on that later.  But for now, how about a little happy list?

Here are a few things making me really happy lately:

1.  The beginning talks of potential vacations for the year (!!)
2.  Warm coffee to help fight off the cold winter temperatures
3.  Spending my morning commute listening to Josh & Chuck on the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast
4.  Having the ability to pickup & take spontaneous road trips with the husband
5.  Getting to spend this past Sunday afternoon in Johnstown reliving the simple life
6.  The fact that the past 10 boxes of clementines we've bought have all be AWESOME
7.  Knowing I finally get to see Hanson in 15 days
8.  Getting tickets for the Avett Brothers right before the concert sold out (within 3 minutes!)
9.  Jack Johnson Pandora stations that let me drift off to beachy dream land
10. Weekends with nothing to do but relax and make delicious dinners (this coming weekend!)

What's making YOU happy lately?!

Wanderlust

I have had a serious case of wanderlust lately.  I want to go anywhere and everywhere.  Luckily, this weekend Brett and I are taking a little road trip!  We are heading over to Harrisburg for a weekend full of brewery tours and live music.  We're planning on hitting the road today after work and staying until Sunday evening, just exploring the area, drinking great beer, and having FUN together.  Sometimes even the littlest weekend getaways are just what we need to refresh.

Big comfy hotel king bed, here we come!

So Stop Waiting...

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time and remember that time waits for no one...

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination."  -Alfred D. Souza

 

*******

There has been a lot of dreaming, brainstorming, and planning going on in our little household as of late.  It's exciting and invigorating.  I've never felt so inspired and ready to take positive steps into our future and be a doer.  And lately, little quotes have been catching my eye that are just urging me in the right direction.  This quote above has especially stood out to me.  I posted this quote on my blog a couple years ago, but it has never been more relevant than it is right now.

 

{Photo by me - Santa Monica Sunset - September 2011 - When our real dreaming began...}

A Doer

I feel like we are all dreamers...

but how many of us are actually doers?

I want to be a doer.

{Quote courtesy of the lovely Camilla}

The Weekend I've Been Waiting For

This weekend was the weekend I've been waiting for.

A weekend free of house-related projects.  A weekend spent celebrating our 6 year anniversary.  Friday and Saturday were fun with a dinner date at Pasta Too and a get together with friends.  But Sunday was my favorite.

The day started with pancakes.  Delicious, filling, terrible-for-you pancakes.

After breakfast, we went on a mini adventure frolicking around downtown.  We jumped on the trolley and road into the city, destination Strip District.  The Strip is where you can find anything from fresh fish at Wholey's, to authentic Italian at Penn Mac, to true Mexican at Reyna Foods.  We were cooking in Sunday night so we wanted the best of the best ingredients for our home-cooked anniversary dinner.  We roamed the streets of the Strip, ate world-famous pepperoni rolls from Mancini's, and grabbed a beer at Sharp Edge.  All before catching the trolley back home.

When we got home, we spent a good hour de-thawing... it was a whopping 15 degrees outside all day.  Maybe not the best day to run around the city?  Nah!  We had fun!  We spent the night cooking our anniversary dinner with all the fresh ingredients we got from the Strip.  Red wine, cheese and crackers, bruschetta, and the main attraction: fresh pecan crusted salmon and rice pilaf.

  

It was a wonderful anniversary weekend.  I can't believe we are now going on seven years of being together.  SEVEN.  If, fifty years down the road, we still get giddy drinking wine, dancing in the kitchen, and cooking sweet dinners for each other in our little home, I will be one happy girl.

6 Year Anniversary!

Today, January 13th, is the 6th year anniversary of when Brett & I started dating!

{2006}

The year we started dating...

and went on our first road trip together to Washington, DC.

We were such babies!

{2007}

The year we spent living together in Johnstown...

and spending most of our days down by the lake at the Que.

{2008}

The year we moved out of our first apartment together in Johnstown...

I still miss that place!

{2009}

The year we got engaged!

In front of the Marblehead Lighthouse...

{2010}

The year I married my best friend!

One of the best days of my life...

{2011}

The year we bought our very first home!

These past 6 years have been the best of my life.

I can't wait for a lifetime of more adventures and memories to come.

I love you, babe!!

Fresh Ground Coffee

Saturday morning was the calm before the storm.  And by "storm", I mean "dishwasher weekend from hell".  But we don't need to get into that.  As I was saying... Saturday morning was calm.  We slept in, relaxed, and eventually decided to make some coffee.  Instead of using our ground coffee, we decided to use the fresh coffee beans we just bought from Trader Joe's.  We were gifted a coffee grinder from Brett's parents for Christmas and couldn't wait to use it!  Let me just say... fresh ground coffee is FAR better than brewing pre-ground coffee.  Let it be known!

It's unfortunate that we don't have the time in the morning to grind fresh coffee beans during the weekdays.  But then again, it's fun having a sweet little something to look forward to on the weekends.

I . love . coffee .

Friday, Yes!

Happy Friday!

Got any fun plans for the weekend?  Tonight, Brett and I are going to the climbing gym after work.  Then we are planning on cashing in our Harris Grill groupon for dinner, then meeting up with our good friends Frank & Amanda (who just informed us they are moving back to Pittsburgh!).  Other than that, our weekend will be spent on house projects... really fun, but seemingly never-ending. 

So as you know, I am doing a new 365 photo project over here at "Everyday Snapshots."  As you don't know, Brett is really good at helping me remember to take a photo every day.  So last night, Brett wasn't sure if I had taken any pictures yet that day, so he went ahead and took one for me:

Nice, right?  But since I already took a photo yesterday for my project, I wanted to give Brett's photo a shout out here for his great effort.  So here photo!  Here's your 15 minutes of fame!  As you can probably tell, we spent last night relaxing on the couch watching one of our billion Black Crowes live DVDs.  Oh, and we also took our Christmas tree down.  It was time...

New Years Eve 2011

So it's a brand new year!

Did you do anything fun for New Years Eve?  Like I mentioned earlier, Brett & I headed down to DC to spend New Years with Lee & Jess at the Downtown Countdown Party at the Hilton Hotel.  We had a blast!  We drank, ate, watched Third Eye Blind play, and danced the night away into the wee beginning hours of 2012.  I didn't take too many photos, since I was obviously too busy busting my sweet moves on the dance floor, but here are the couple that I did take...

Brett & I before the party

Jess & Lee before the party

Practicing our dance moves in the bathroom

Cheesin'

Third Eye Blind getting the party started

Sissy-in-Law & I taking a break from dancing

Gabe, Cody, Lee, & Jess

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Haaaappy New Year!!*

If you're ever in the area, I highly suggested going to this party some year... it is seriously FUN.  And then the day after, all you will do is sit on the couch all day and do nothing.  Not that that's what we did or anything... ;)

Project 365 - Round 2

 Project 365, here we go again!

Remember when I did my "365 in Year 25" photo project?  Well, I enjoyed doing it so much that I decided to give it another go!  Only this time, instead of starting it on my birthday where I documented my 25th year... I started it yesterday, January 1, 2012 and will be documenting every day of the new year.

So here's to celebrating every little moment of 2012!*

Click on the "Everyday Snapshots" photo to be directed to my new Project 365 blog for 2012!

(You can also always access this new blog via the "365 Project" banner on my right sidebar.)

Here we go!*

Happy New Year!!

Thank you, 2011 for being so good to me.

Here's to an amazing 2012!*

{photo background via}