Spring, I'm Ready

I miss this warm, sunny trail view.

I don't know about you, but I am completely over winter.  Oh, who am I kidding... I've been over winter since the day after Christmas.  It's been freezing, snowing, and gloomy for too many days in a row lately and I am just so ready for spring.  I'm sick of being inside all the time.  I can't wait until the weather starts to shape up so we can get outside more.  And go biking and running on the trail in the sunshine.  I'm a firm believer that weather-related depression is real!  Maybe it's time to move to California, where the weather is gorgeous all year round.  Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, right?

But in the meantime...

Tomorrow is March 1st... so maybe that means spring is near?

I can dream, can't I?

Scenes from the Weekend

Brett at the Brewerie Homebrew Fest!

Enjoying Brett's leftovers from the festival - Chocolate Raspberry Brown Ale with fresh raspberries!

Ending the weekend with homemade enchiladas - yum!

We had such a blast this weekend.  We headed up to Erie for the Brewerie Homebrew Fest which Brett was a part of.  He brought 2 of his homebrews to include and let guests taste.  Though he didn't get a top place in the contest, everyone was still raving about his beers.  This was our 2nd year participating in the event and it is just such a fun thing to be a part of.  It's so cool to watch Brett enjoy pouring his beers that he brewed himself to people and seeing them give him such positive feedback.  Proud wife moment for sure.  We will definitely be back next year.

On with the week!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!!*

Wishing you a wonderful day

full of all of your most favorite things!

Can't wait to celebrate when we're back in town.

You are the best.

Love you!

Get Outside

I started running outside again.  It's finally the point in the winter where the sun is lingering just long enough for me to get in a run on the trail before being overcome with darkness.  For a couple months every winter, it gets too dark too early for me to run on the trail after work.  And I have to resort to working out inside.  But once it finally hits the point where I can get outside again, it's awesome.  Nothing beats running on the trail outside.  It's invigorating.  It's exhilarating.  It's peaceful.  It's the perfect way to wind down from a stressful day of work.  It's my 'me' time.  And it also doesn't hurt that it coincides with the most perfect point in the day where the sun is setting beautifully behind the trees. 

{Above photo of the sunset when I got home from my run yesterday.

It was even prettier on the trail.

I need to bring my camera next time...}

Scenes from the Weekend

The gorgeous Capitol Theater in Wheeling, WV where we saw the Avett Brothers

The amazing Avett Brothers rocking out on Friday night

The Avett Brothers - one of my most favorite bands to see live

Some beers before concert number 2 of the weekend

Tea Leaf Green at Mr. Smalls in Pittsburgh Saturday night

Tea Leaf Green always puts on a good show

This weekend solely consisted of concerts & I wouldn't have it any other way.

There is literally nothing better than live music.

Avett & Tea Leaf, All in One Weekend!

via

This weekend is going to be a good one.  Tonight, we are heading down to West Virginia to see one of our most favorite bands in concert, The Avett Brothers.  Then tomorrow night, the live music continues and we'll be seeing Tea Leaf Green here in Pittsburgh.  To say I'm pumped would be an understatement.

Any weekend that involves live music is a weekend good with me.

Enjoy yours!*

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I made some chocolate chip cookies for Brett a few nights ago in honor of Valentine's Day.  I used MINT chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips and they turned out amazing!  They literally taste like Andes Candies in cookie form.  Holy yum.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day,

celebrating with the ones you love...

...and hopefully eating lots of tasty treats. :)

A Walk in the Woods...

 If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you'd probably know that Brett and I are obsessed with the outdoors.  And just because it's the dead of winter right now, doesn't mean we can't still get outside and enjoy some (chilly) fresh air.  And on Sunday, that's exactly what we did...

We took a little hike through a park near our house.  The trails were covered in snow and mud and some slushy ice, but that didn't stop us.  It was just nice to get out of the house for a while, after being cooped up so often during winter.  It's days like these that get me so excited for Spring.  Now if it will just come a little faster... ;)

Claudio's Pizzeria & Ristorante

This past Saturday, we tried out a new little Italian restaurant and couldn't have been more pleased.  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but once you step inside, it's a whole different world.  The owner and staff treat you like you're all one big family sitting together in the dining room.  The food was out of this world delicious.  We wanted to try everything on the menu, but settled for a couple house salads and the margarita pizza.  Holy yum.  So delicious.  The whole time we were there, the owner/chef wandered around the restaurant, talking to everyone and making sure they were satisfied with their meals.  Towards the end of the night (we were there right around closing time), he even passed out some cinnamon bread fresh out of the oven for everyone to try.  What a sweet guy.  This place seriously gets an A+ from us.  And not to mention, it's a BYOB, which always scores big points in our book.  I can't wait to go back again and again until we've tried everything on the menu. 

I love finding unique and local places close to home.  It's such a good feeling to support local businesses, compared to all the big (dull) chains out there.  We will definitely be back!

Scenes from the Weekend

Shiloh Grill keeping festive during the winter

Homemade pancakes, always a weekend favorite

Taste testing Brett's latest homebrews, delicious as usual

Discovered a new adorable little Italian restaurant with the most delicious pizza

Sunday morning coffee and a good read

Brett about to throw a snowball at me on our little winter hike

We had to get out of the house and do something active - we were going stir crazy!

50 degree weather on Sunday most definitely qualifies as froyo weather ;)

Ending the weekend with the husband cooking dinner while I sip wine - yes please!

I don't know about you, but I am most definitely ready for winter to be over...

Give me sunshine & warm weather so I can play outside!

There's No Better Time Than Now...

There's a lot of good talk going on in our house lately.  Lots of exciting, exhilarating, inspiring talk.  We are brainstorming plans to make 2013 our best year yet.  We tend to fantasize a lot and talk often about our big silly dreams.  But this year... this year, no more daydreaming, no more regretting we didn't do something.  This year, we are going to be doers.  There's no better time than now.  And I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

 *******

"Twenty year from now,

you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do

than by the ones you did do.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore.  Dream.  Discover."

*******

Scenes from the Weekend

Kicking the weekend off right with a trip to Penn Brewery

It's always a good idea to get the beer sampler

Who knew I had my own pasta line?!

Found a chocolate covered macaroon... obviously, couldn't pass it up

Brett convinced me to go for a walk on the trail during a blizzard (and he was right, I had fun!)

Hot cocoa to warm up after our walk

Then onto the wine, duh

Homemade pizza night with heart shaped pizzas and everything!

The deer love brew day just as much as Brett... they get to eat all the dumped grains

Whipped up some pepperoni rolls for the Superbowl

My mom makes the cutest little cupcakes

Did you watch the Superbowl?

I couldn't really care less... I'm just in it for the food! ;)