Friday!

Some random things for your Friday morning...

{via}

1.  Tomorrow, Brett and I are heading up to LA to see the Black Crowes play at the Wiltern Theatre.  They are one of our favorite bands and we haven't seen them since 2010!  It's been too long.  Excited!

2.  We actually experienced some rain over the past few days.  Living in California, I almost forgot what rain was.  I miss it (and all the other changes in weather, for that matter...)!

3.  We won't be going home for Thanksgiving.  We so wish we could be back on the East Coast with our families, but flight prices are insane.  So instead we are planning a little road trip for the weekend.  Maybe down to San Diego?  Still trying to decide...

4.  Speaking of Thanksgiving, I cannot believe that it's the end of November and we have hit the holiday season already.  It doesn't even feel like the holidays.  All my life, I've associate so many things with the changing weather, and now my brain is just all confused.  Living in California is weird...

5.  We've got some excited changes coming up in the near future, but more on that later... ;)

Happy Weekend!!*

Can I Just Say...

T.G.I.F.

 

That is all.

Have a great weekend!

 

{Photo of the cookies I baked this week for the hubs.  Trying not to eat them all in one sitting... trying.}

Lately...

Lately my life has been consumed by 'new homeowner tasks'... hence my random & sporadic absences from the blogging world.  Ever since we officially got the keys to our new house, we have been going & going nonstop.  Packing and cleaning and moving and unpacking and organizing.  And then all the random home projects.  Installing overhead lights, painting kitchen cabinets, making & putting up shelves, breaking down a billion empty boxes so we can throw them out, and the list goes on and on.  All this while still managing to fit in normal things like working, eating, and sleeping.  It's a little overwhelming, but we are having fun with it!  It's such an exciting time!

So since I don't have time to blog everyday,

here is my photo attempt at filling you in on my life recently...

Row 1:

Packing fuel in the form of cinnamon rolls

Moving out of this old house & into our very own home!

A lovely bag my Mom got me last Christmas that I just found

Obsessing over Panera's adorable holiday coffee cups

Row 2:

Eating dinner on the floor of our new empty house on the night we got the keys

Fudge covered ice cream cones for dessert

Pretty morning sunrises

Loving this gold nail polish for the holiday season

Row 3:

Our new kitchen island that we are obsessed with

Indulging in the usual: pizza & beer at Market District

Drinking my first peppermint mocha of the season

Our first home cooked meal in our new kitchen

(and eating it on the island since we have no light in the dining room yet)

Row 4:

My cutesy little nephews on Thanksgiving in Erie

Organizing all of my Toms Shoes in our new house

Cooking dinner at 11pm because we have no other time to

And last but not least, cooking dinner by headlamp...

because Brett was installing a light & had to shut off the power - awesome

So that about sums up my life lately...

Random, but I'm enjoying it!

Updates

So it's been a little quite 'round these parts lately.  I haven't had much time to blog, but for good reason!  Actually for a couple good reasons...

1.  I got a new job!  I left my previous position of 2 1/2 years as an Accountant at the University of Pittsburgh and took a new similar job as an Accountant with UPMC.  I still do similar things and work with a lot of the same offices since Pitt and UPMC work together, I'm just in a new department.  I was feeling uninspired with my old position and decided that some change would be good, so I started applying to other positions.  Within about a month, I was being offered a new position with a nice salary increase and an office with windows!  Windows excite me.  It's the little things, people...  I've now been at my new position for a little over 2 weeks.  So far, so good!  

2.  We're buying a house!  Yes, yes, yes.  You may recall long ago, when I mentioned that Brett and I were starting to look into the house buying process.  Well, after looking for over a year, we finally found a house we adore!  Yes, we were very picky.  It's a 2 story home with 4 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths.  It's in a great area, on a cute little dead-end street.  We are scheduled to close Mid-November (so close!) and seriously cannot wait.  We’ve been renting for the past 5 years, so this will be our very first purchased home and we’re so excited to make it our own.  And we’ll be all moved in for just in time for the Christmas season.  Ahh, I can't wait.

So now you understand what has been stealing all of my blogging time!  Some pretty big (but AWESOME) life changes.  Things are falling nicely into place.  Slowly but surely I will be getting back into my blogging routine.  But please bare with me until then!  I can't wait to be blogging from our very own HOME! :)

Life is good.

Friday!

Fridays are happy days.

And happy days call for celebrating things that make you happy!

So here's a little list of things currently making me happy...

...Hubby making homemade salsa & mexican twice this week for dinner

...Eating a sweet peach while walking home from the farmer's market last night

...My mom surprising me with tickets to see Wicked with them in September

...Exciting possibilities and plans for the future

...Our Southern California vacation being only 15 days away

...Even though it's September, the forecast is still calling for hot temperatures

...My new and growing love for mountain biking

...An upcoming long 3 day weekend with my hubby

...My new display of my instax polaroids (above)

...My upcoming and much needed hair appointment

Have a happy and relaxing long weekend!*

Good Morning!

Good morning!

I hope you enjoyed my recap of our Hilton Head Island vacation.  And I hope you didn't get sick of seeing 6 days worth of pictures from it... If so, sorry!  But I enjoyed writing them and will love to look back on those posts when I need a vacation pick-me-up. ;)

Moving on!  How was your weekend?  Mine was eventful...  Friday night was spent catching up with friends who were in town.  Saturday took us out of town for another wedding (which we missed the entire ceremony because of traffic...).  And Sunday we spent the evening at my parent's house celebrating Father's Day!

So, on Friday I had the day off work and I decided to do the "photo every hour" idea.  I am still working on the post for it, but it was fun!  It was actually kind of hard to remember to take a photo every hour, but I think I managed to be pretty successful with it.  So "a day in the life" blog post coming soon!  Scratch that... while editing these photos, I decided that this day was way too boring to dedicate a blog post to.  So I'm going to re-do this little project someday on a weekend when we have lots of exciting things going on! ;)

This was a completely pointless post...

but I just wanted to say hiiiiiiiiiiiii

& I hope your weekend was great!

Onward with the week! 

{photo - cute coffee mug my aunt got me for my birthday!}

It's June?!

Did May even happen??

I feel like it was April yesterday...

May was a blur to me, but a very awesome month for many reasons...

We had weddings, vacations, my birthday, and finally nice weather!

 And now it's June?!

Sloooow down, year!

Next thing I know, it's going to be Fall...

And I need this Summer weather to last.

June brings...

more weddings,

parties,

camping (!),

the arts fest,

cook-outs,

and many more days enjoying this beautiful weather.

So happy June!

Make it a good one!

PS - Still winding down from our vacation & then weekend away.

Hoping to get some Hilton Head photos posted soon. <3

{Photo by me - Taken of my new dream catcher that hangs in my car... loooove}

Living on Island Time...

Our island vacation was one of the most relaxing weeks we've had in a long time.  For 6 days, we had no schedule, no commitments, and no concept of time.  We relaxed and did whatever we felt like doing whenever we wanted to.  We didn't have to answer to anyone and weren't expected to be anywhere.  It was a picture perfect vacation (more on this later).  

It's pretty difficult to come home after a week of bliss and immediately be thrown back into the fast-paced, go, go, go lifestyle we have.  We got home at 1:00am Wednesday night, went to work bright and early Thursday, came home immediately to unpack from vacation and repack for an out-of-town wedding we have to go to this weekend.  Since getting home from vacation, the only thing I've had time to do is unpack, repack, and vacuum my house.  That's it.  I haven't even had time to load all my vacation photos onto my MacBook so I can do a proper blog post!  (The above photo was taken on my iPhone).  And now I'm at work, which right after, we have to drive to Erie to make it to the wedding rehearsal on time (Brett is a reader in the wedding).

It's a pretty harsh slap in the face getting home from a vacation of having no obligations.  Our Summer is packed full of things we have to do and places we are excepted to be.  While most all of them are fun things like weddings and parties, sometimes I can't help but wish for that care-free island lifestyle.  While on our vacation, we easily fell into the mindset of the laid-back islanders.  I can only hope that, in the mist of all the Summer craziness, we can still keep that easy-going island mindset and make sure we slooooooow down and appreciate the simple things in life as often as possible.

{Photo by me - Taken at Coco's on the Beach on Hilton Head Island}

9 Month Wedding Anniversary!

Hi friends!*

How was your weekend?  Mine was quite nice.  Saturday was Brett and my 9 month wedding anniversary (yes, we celebrate every month)!  We celebrated with a little date full of gigantic sandwiches (proof above), delicious brews, and live music.  Perfect.  We also spent the weekend sleeping in until almost 10am both Saturday and Sunday.  This never happens.  We are usually up and moving around by 8am, but for some reason we just relaxed in bed and it was blissful.  Though I will say, it was basically impossible to wake up today for work at my normal time of 5:15am.  Woof.  Is it bad if I'm already ready for the weekend and it's only Monday...

This week is going to be busy, busy, busy.  My brother is getting married this Saturday (to my best friend, score!) so we have lots to do this week!  Also, we are down to only 11 days until our Hilton Head vacation, so we are trying to finalize all our plans for that.  I also need to fit in cleaning my house somewhere in there... uhhh, but we won't talk about that.  Oh!  And Brett had his check-up appointment for his foot this morning and they said it is healing perfectly and he doesn't really need to wear the boot much longer!  Happy happy joy joy!

And this concludes the most random post ever.  Onward with the day!

PS - Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!  Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's out there, especially mine! :)

Happy May!

 Happy May!  (a few days late...)

I honestly can't believe it's already May.  This year is seriously flying by.  But I must say, I love the month of May!  It's my birthday month and reminds me that Summer is near!  We have a lot going on in the month of May this year & I can't wait.

On Saturday night, we will be seeing one of our newly favorite bands in concert: The Bridge.  We saw them for the first time this Winter and their show was so.much.fun.  We've been waiting for them to come back to Pittsburgh and the time is finally here!

Throughout the month, we are also continuing to go through the process of buying our first home.  We've been looking at a lot of house and narrowing down exactly what we want in a home.  It's a lot to think about and figure out, but just knowing that soon (hopefully) we will be living in our very own home makes me so happy and excited.

One of the biggest things I'm looking forward to in May is Brett's broken foot finally healing.  He has his check-up appointment next Monday and will hopefully get the okay to take his walking boot cast off for good.  This past month has been really hard, obviously for Brett more than me, and I have felt so helpless.  There's nothing I can do to make him feel better (...besides not break his foot to begin with!).  I just can't wait until things are back to normal and I have my 2-footed husband back.

My brother's wedding is also coming up in less than 2 weeks!  On May 14th, my brother Lee and my best friend Jess will be getting married and I'll finally get to call Jess my official Sister-In-Law!  I can't wait, it's going to be a great time.

Then, on May 19th, I'll officially be in my mid-to-late 20s... I don't know how I feel about this.  I think 26 is still considered mid 20s, right?!  My 25th year on this Earth was a really, really great one.  I hope 26 will be even better!

And of course, I cannot forget our Hilton Head Island trip (and I'm sure neither can you because it's all I ever talk about...)!  In 17 days, we will be road-tripping down the coast to our relaxing, perfect, island paradise.  It is this that I am most excited about in the month of May...  Nothing makes me happier than traveling with my favorite traveling partner, the husband.  We have so much fun together and I can't wait to escape the day-to-day routine to go spend the week in true vacation bliss.

What do you guys have planned for May?  Anything fun?  I want to hear!*

Green Tea, Sparkly Nails, & Random Countdowns

Some random countdowns for your Thursday afternoon:

~36 days until we see the Avett Brothers in concert

~29 days until warm, sunshiney, relaxing Hilton Head Island bliss

~28 days until my 26th birthday

~23 days until Lee & Jess's wedding

~18 days until Brett is done with the walking boot

~16 days until we see The Bridge in concert

~9 days until Jess's bachelorette party

~7 days until my much-needed hair appointment

(you don't even want to know how long it's been...)

~2 days until we brew a hefeweizen (my FAVE!)

(Brett usually brews beer by himself

but with a broken foot

he's going to need some assistance

and I have volunteered!)

~1 day until the weekend!

What are you counting down to lately??

PS - My current sparkly french manicure makes me really happy!

Spring, You Really Do Exist

The weather turned out to be really nice yesterday.  They were calling for rain, but it never happened.  After work, Brett and I just sat on the back porch and enjoyed the Spring weather and gorgeous sky (above photo).  We didn't want to go inside.  We even ate dinner out there.  I am so happy that Spring is finally starting to show up more and more.  It may be raining today, but at least it's still in the 60s.  I'll take it!

PS - Thank you for all your well wishes for Brett and his broken foot!  He is still in the walking cast and will be for the next few weeks.  We are just hoping it heals fast and he can be back to his normal routine soon!  He is so bummed.  I feel so helpless... there's nothing I can do that will magically make it better.  Here's to hoping for a speedy recovery!      

Through the Eyes of my iPhone...

I take a lot, and I mean A LOT, of photos with my iPhone.  And some of them never make it to the blog.  It's fun to go back through the random photos I've taken over the last few weeks every once in a while.  It reminds me what I've been up to and shares a glimpse of my everyday life...    

From left to right:
Row 1: Pretty sunset, favorite coffee cups
Row 2: Tie dye Toms, handsome husband serenade
Row 3: Mug I made my Dad for his birthday, another gorgeous sunset
Row 4: Cake I made my Sister-in-Law, Funky Toms

How is everyone's week going so far?  I cannot take this cold weather anymore.  We had this tiny run of really beautiful Spring weather and now it's back to 30 degree days.  Whhhhy?  I just have to keep telling myself "4 more weeks until Hilton Head, 4 more weeks until Hilton Head!"  It's working... kinda.  I am still miserable standing outside waiting for the bus in the morning.  I need the sunshine and the warmth!  Californians... send that nice weather my way!

In other news, Brett and I are going to a concert tonight: Toubab Krewe.  We've seen them live before and they always put on a good show.  I'm excited!  Now I just have to get through the afternoon of work, then it's time for music, beers, and babe! ;)    

Things I Learned This Weekend

A few things I learned this weekend:

1.  Sometimes it's best NOT to experience a dive bar that you've never been to.  If you do, you will end up being surrounded by older people drinking sutter home wine and listening to an awful bar band... (think 50 year old men singing Lady Gaga's "Just Dance").

2.  Don't try to paint your nails after drinking 2 cups of coffee.  You will absolutely not have steady hands.

3.  Always take your husband grocery shopping at a store that sells good beer, offers free beer samplings, and has a cafe with delicious lunches.  (Market District is amazing).

4.  Put a man behind a grill and that is a happy man, especially if he has been waiting to use it since Christmas.

5.  Grilled portobello burgers are waaaaay better than grilled eggplant burgers.

6.  Just because it was 60 degrees out on Saturday, doesn't mean that it won't snow all day the next day...

Did you learn anything interesting over the weekend?  I'd love to hear!  Anything to make this Monday morning keep rolling on... Here's to a short week!  (I have Friday off, woo!) 

58 Days Until HHI...

Ok, here's the deal.  I'm SICK of Winter.  I know I live in Pennsylvania and it's only February so Winter is expected... BUT.  It was 65 degrees on Friday!  Do you understand how this teased me??  I was running around outside in a t-shirt and jeans and basking in the sunshine.  Then Sunday rolled around and it decided to start snowing again...  I woke up this morning and there was over a FOOT of snow in my driveway.  I can't handle it anymore.  Winter needs to go away.  It's not welcome here anymore.  All I can do for now is close my eyes and dream about our Hilton Head Island vacation... 

Only 58 more days!  (but who's counting...)

random ramblings...

{me biking on the beach in hilton head - april 2010}

some random ramblings for your wednesday afternoon...

i am currently drinking a bright pink drink:
crystal light wild strawberry...
and it looks like pepto, but tastes delish!

this week feels like it is going at snail pace...
but i cannot wait for this weekend!
no house guests, no official plans, a weekend to ourselves!

speaking of weekend,
this sunday is our 3 month wedding anniversary!
corny, i know... but we get excited :)
i think we may try a new restaurant that just opened up:
salt of the earth

tomorrow night, i have a hair appointment.
i haven't had my hair cut or highlighted since july...oops!
but i am seriously so excited to get my hair cut.
it is in desperate need of a trim and a chop of my "bangs".
it's just very blah right now.
so hopefully after tomorrow night, it will be much better!

next weekend,
my husband and i are seeing the black crowes
3 nights in a row!
friday in pittsburgh, then 2 nights in dc.
this may be their last tour ever...
so we want to see them as much as possible!
and the cherry on top is...
dc = visiting lee & jess!
so it will be a great weekend all around!

i don't know if i've mentioned this on my blog...
brett & i are in the process of buying our first house!!
it is sooo exciting!
we are just browsing and learning about the whole process right now,
but it is so much fun (so far).
every sunday, we go to open houses
to figure out what we want and don't want in our house.
we've already been pre-approved for a mortgage loan,
so we just need to find our perfect match.
i can't wait to have our very first home that is actually ours. :)

i need to bake my husband some cookies...
he deserves them.
brett's car is currently in the shop (getting an inspection)
so he is car-less today.
poor soul had to wake up at 5:30am with me
so i could drop him off at work on my way to work
(i work super early by choice).
i am a crazy morning person,
he is not... he's not used to this.
and he has to wait at work until i can pick him up when i get out.
guy needs some cookies!

i've been on a funky nail polish kick lately...
currently, my nails are turquoise
(i can't believe i spelled that right on the first try!)
and i'm hoping to paint them a burnt orange color tonight!

i heard through the grape vine that
the red holiday cups are back at starbucks starting today!
squeeeeeeeeel!

is it bad that i'm already getting in the christmas spirit?
i'd start listening to christmas music now
if it wasn't for brett disowning me...
;)

ok, i think that's enough peeks into my brain today...
i can't reveal my complete weirdness.
happy hump day!*

happy things, happy things

things that are currently making anna happy:
(yes, i just referred to myself in third person)

1.
finding out that united airlines is giving my husband and i
$150 EACH for our next flight with them...
all because the tvs weren't working on our flight on our honeymoon.
can you say...
HELLO FREE VACATION!

2.
planning said free vacation!
where will we go?
when will we go?
how excited are we!

3.
it's officially fall!
i loooove summer, but i'm super excited for fall.
the scarves, the boots, the pumpkin spice lattes,
the football games, the crisp weather, the pretty leaves,
the pumpkin patches, the apple cider, the pumkpin beer,
the list goes on and on...

4.
today is my friday!
at work, our office does a program where we work
extra hours throughout the week
and then get a day off every 2 weeks.
so tomorrow i have off!
it.is.sweet.

5.
planning other mini vacations/roadtrips!
my husband and i are OBSESSED with traveling.
we absolutely love going on trips together.
and we love all the planning for the trips.
maybe a little too much...
we are obsessed with researching things,
but are also obsessed with completely changing our minds.
and sometimes we end up researching something for hours,
and then decide to do something completely different...
and then the research begins for that.
it's a cycle...but we eventually end up with
a GREAT trip planned!

6.
my new san francisco background on my work computer.
(shown above)
it's a photo of the san francisco bay at sunrise
and it is gorgeous.
and it reminds me of our honeymoon
and it makes me feel all cozy and nostalgic.

7.
our coffee maker that has a self-timer.
this thing is awesome.
every night (when i'm not sleepy), i set it
and then at 6am on the dot (when i AM sleepy),
the coffee begins a brewin!
and i don't have to do anything
except pour it into my coffee travel mug.
love.

8.
dreaming about pumpkin patches.
i can't wait to go to a pumpkin patch
and pick out some sweet pumpkins.
and then bring them home and carve them
and put them on our steps outside our house!
because now that we actually live in a house,
we can do things like this!
AND...
we will get little trick or treaters!
happy happy joy joy!

9.
our back patio.
we have a big patio in our backyard of our new house
and we just got great patio furniture for it,
(thanks mom!)
hung twinkle lights, and set up our hammock.
we are obsessed with being outside,
so it is such a relief that we finally live somewhere
where we can sit outside and enjoy the outdoors.
it is seriously perfect.
and i think we've got plenty of time
to enjoy the patio before the cold weather rolls in.

10.
my husband.
i have no explanation for this one.
he just simply makes me happy
every day.
:)


what things are making you happy
right at this very moment?!*

we're hooooooome!

hi friends!*

it's been a while! how are you all? we are officially home from our honeymoon... i didn't want it to end; we had such an amazing time! california is so beautiful. i took over 1,000 pictures! it was a picture perfect 11 days of bliss with my husband. i couldn't have ask for anything better. but it was bittersweet. i didn't want it to end, but at the same time i was ready to get home and get settled into our lives as newlyweds! (don't worry, i plan on doing a separate post about our honeymoon, with some pictures!)

during all the planning of the wedding and honeymoon, my life was craziness and i wasn't able to update my blog much... so i have lots of updates! my husband, brett is an engineer and has been looking for a good career position for the past couple months. he had a really great interview right before we left for our honeymoon & they said they'd be in touch the week after (while we were on our honeymoon). well, we never heard anything while away, so he was losing hope. but just yesterday the company called annnnd..... he got the job!!!!! i am soo proud of him and so happy! finally all his hard work has paid off! and now that we know where brett is working, we can finally move out of our apartment in the city and get a house in the suburbs! i am beyond excited about that! everything is falling into place perfectly and i couldn't be happier. :)

that's the big news of the moment, but there are lots of things i'm looking forward to:
~brett's new job
~moving out of the city & into a house in the suburbs!
~decorating & coordinating & organizing our new place
~finally unpacking all our shower & wedding gifts
~visiting lee & jess labor day weekend
~the start of pitt football season (we got season tickets this year!)
~many upcoming concerts: widespread panic, robert randolph, the black crowes, the wood brothers... to name a few
~fall: pretty trees, pumpkin patches, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin beer, apple cider,breezy but nice weather, fall clothes & toms...

i am loving summer (it's still my favorite season), but i am getting very excited for fall! especially because we are hopefully moving into a place that i will actually be able to put pumpkins outside and decorate for the holidays!

so much goodness coming up, i can hardly contain myself! here's to getting back into the swing of things and more frequent blog posts.

have an amazing weekend, everyone!

ps - check out my 365 in year 25 blog - it's been updated!!

happy july!

happy july!*
i cannot believe it's already july!
~now it officially feels like summer~

funny though, because it was the chilliest morning today out of all the mornings in june
go figure!

things i'm looking forward to in july:

*dan & breanne's wedding
*fireworks
*brett's 26th birthday
*my bachelorette party
*gov't mule concert
*a few days off work
*hair appointment
*sun, sun, sun
*counting down the days to my wedding!

it's gonna be a good month :)

what are you looking forward to in july??

dear little blog...

dear my little bloggy,

i'm sorry i haven't updated you a lot in the past couple weeks. i am currently intertwined in crazy chaos... but loving it!

life is getting a lot busier as august 7th (our wedding) gets closer and closer. suddenly, i have a million things to do every day. but instead of stressing about everything, i'm trying my best to step back and take it all in as it happens. i know august will be here in a snap.

we've been so busy! lots of wedding stuff happening lately since we're in the home stretch now: had my bridal shower with my amazing bridesmaids and family (!!!), made and sent invitations, ordered wedding rings, researching flowers, honeymoon planning, diy projects, etc etc etc! but definitely all fun stuff! 1 1/2 months to go... bring it on!

in non-wedding news, june has been packed with fun stuff: we went to the avett brothers concert (so fun!), made it downtown to 4 nights of the three rivers arts fest, attended many graduation parties, and pretty much have been just soaking in the summer weather as much as possible.

all in all, life.is.good.

p.s. i promise to not neglect you any more little blog! :)

ps.s. check out my 365 photo project blog - i update with a photo every day :)