Weekend Casual:

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

If there is a formal petition going around advocating for routine four-day weekends, then please let me know so I can add my name to the list.

My local J. Crew Factory store opened up at midnight for Black Friday and the entire store was 50% off.  I hinted to the hubs that I would like to go and having a male bodyguard might be a good idea. I was joking on the male bodyguard piece because I thought to myself, "who the heck would go shopping at midnight?!?!"

Apparently everyone and their mother goes shopping at midnight on Black Friday.  The hubs and I got to the mall at 11:50pm and I think we were able to score one of the last parking spots at the very far corner of the mall lot.  Our next option was to park across the street at the Olive Garden.

I was able to snag 4 things at J. Crew, including another wool pencil skirt, but this one was only $25!  After waiting to checkout for over 30 minutes I was done with Black Friday shopping.  The hubs and I came home, put on our pjs and passed out!  We did venture out later in the day, during daylight hours, to pick up a few holiday decorations, and a sparkly new tool chest for the hubs.  Yes, you're officially an adult when your big Black Friday score is a tool chest.

Trench: Old Navy // Top: Gap // Jeans:// Gap // Bag: Kelly Moore // Boots: Cole Haan

Woohoo for fitting into skinny jeans the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I'm not going to lie, but I didn't even attempt to try on anything form fitting during my crazed midnight shopping at J. Crew.  My turkey belly didn't need that type of pressure.

This is pretty much my standard weekend uniform. Sweater + jeans + boots = DONE

Anyone score any amazing deals this weekend?  Eat too much turkey? I'm normally a turkey sandwich kind of gal for lunch, but I'm skipping all turkey products for at least a week!

Brew and Bourbon Classic at Laurel Park

A little over a month ago I saw on Groupon a sale on tickets for the first Brew and Bourbon Classic at Laurel Park.  The conversation I had with the hubs went something like this:

Me: Hey! I saw on Groupon tickets for some beer and bourbon festival at Laurel Park are $20 each. 

Hubs: I'm listening....

Me: Yeah, you get all the tastings of beer and bourbon you want for $20.

Hubs: Why are we still talking? Did you buy the tickets yet?

Mmmmm, beer. 

Unlike his winnings at Preakness, the hubs was a big ol' bust on the horse betting this time around. 

Just when you'd get done with tasty another beverage the horses would be ready to run again. 

Horses, beer, bourbon, and food trucks? Count me in! 

Okay, I wanted to take that outrider horse home. Such a cutie!

I had every intention of buying the hubs a to-do kit to make his own bourbon, but then once I saw what was on this barrel I just couldn't do it.  I like my liver and I hope we have a long and healthy partnership. 

Wood Chuck might be the most dangerous beverage of all time.  Oh, just drinking on some yummy apple juice.  Oh crap! There's alcohol in this apple juice!

Seriously, everywhere you looked there was beer, beer, bourbon, and then more beer. It was awesome. 

Oh wait, the horses are running again. 

The day wouldn't have been complete without a stop by the Jack Daniels table. 

Overall - definitely worth the trip to Laurel Park.  The track and grounds underwent a massive renovation in the last year and everything looks great.  The Brew and Bourbon Classic was set up both inside and outside and that was a fantastic idea.  I know the organizers probably took a chance on the November weather and made the event so you could stay inside if you wanted to, but the weather was a nice 60 degrees.  There had to be over 50 different types of beer to sample and probably close to 20 different types of bourbons.  There was even a Barefoot wine setup if you weren't into beer or bourbon. 

I will say, going in the hubs and I thought, "Yay! We're going to try out some new bourbons!"

Reality set in after we sampled our first bourbon. We both looked at each other and thought, "there is no way we're going to be functional human beings if we stay here and sample bourbon for four hours straight." 

So we sampled the beers we had never had before, in addition to one or two local favorites and stayed away from the bourbons.  The hubs could have sampled more brews, but it was his turn to act as the designated driver and that meant he could only have a few small samples and act responsible.  

This is definitely an event I hope to attend again!  

Any other fall festivals coming up I should know about? 

Confession: Baby Feet

I have a minor, but healthy (I assume) obsession with baby feet. Admitting it is the first step in overcoming the problem... right?

(Sorry for the insanely big watermark, but it's the internet and a kid - a combination I'm not fond of and avoid 99.9% of the time.)

October is a very important month for my cousin. It's the month she married her husband. It's the month her daughter was born and more recently it was the month her son was born.  Naturally when I asked her if I could take a few photos of her little guy she asked if I wouldn't mind a totally posed picture where we placed her and her husband's wedding rings on her little guy's feet.

Please, you want me to take more than one picture of your adorable kid's feet?

Try and stop me!!!

I swear I don't have a weird foot obsession.  I'm only obsessed with cute baby feet.  They're just so tiny and adorable.  Plus baby moccasins might be the cutest footwear option in the world.

Anyone else find baby feet to be too adorable for words?

Jersey Strong: Celebrate life

For the past month I had been planning to head up to Jersey to see a few of my family members during Veterans Day weekend.  The three-day weekend meant I could get out of Baltimore for a few days and still have time to do errands and decompress before going back to work. Plus, it was my aunt's birthday and my cousin just had a baby boy in October, which meant a trip was definitely needed.

Then, that bioootch named Sandy blew into town and decimated countless areas of my birth state. Quite a few of my family members were without power for over 8 days.  Thankfully, they've all got power back. 

They also still have their homes, which, unfortunately cannot be said for many people in New Jersey and New York at the moment.  My family was exceptionally lucky, we all know it, and we're incredibly thankful for it. 

Plans were slightly last minute because I wasn't going to crash at anyone's house who didn't have power, but in the end I made my way up to Jersey over the weekend.  I loaded up my Prius's trunk with donated clothes and blankets, dropped them off outside of Trenton, and then headed up to north Jersey to celebrate life with my family. There was a new baby to fawn over and a birthday to be celebrated! 

Prosecco at a birthday party!  Flashback to Meaghan's birthday party at Southern Hospitality anyone? Clearly this is now my drink of choice at birthday festivities. 

Mmmm, cake.

Craziness. I swear to goodness if you flashed back in time to 25(ish) years ago you'd find me in the center and I'd be trying to bolt for the door! Man I should have paid attention during a makeup tutorial. Perhaps if I did then blush and eyeliner wouldn't scare the daylights out of me. 

I'm just stating for the record that out of all of my aunt's nieces and great-nieces I get first dibs on all clothes. #JustSayin 

PJ party with my 12 year-old nephew, my aunt, and my uncle.  We watched Aladdin and I might have had to keep quiet because otherwise I would have quoted that entire movie.  I definitely broke out the Genie's rant in the cave.  

"EXCUSE ME? ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME? DID YOU RUB MY LAMP? DID YOU WAKE ME UP? DID YOU BRING ME HERE? AND ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU'RE WALKING OUT ON ME? I DON'T THINK SO, NOT RIGHT NOW. YOU'RE GETTING YOUR WISHES, SO SIT DOWN!" 

Sunday brunch on fancy china. Alton Brown ambrosia french toast with bacon. I die. 

It wouldn't be a trip to my aunt's house without some amazing flowers.  

She's going to be ticked, but I do not recall the name of these pink beauties. My aunt was able to laugh off being without power for over a week because, "well, it was so cool in the house that these orchids lasted forever."  They were leftover orchids from a bride's bouquet that she put together before Sandy came into town. 

If you have the means and you want to, I would highly encourage you to donate in some way to the Hurricane Sandy relief effort.  It was really disheartening to drive through towns in NJ that had been crushed.  I can't even count how many massive trees I saw down and even worse still leaning on power lines. It's going to be a very long time until the storm damage is in the past. 

Winner! Winner! Camera Strap Dinner?

And we have a Two Pink Hearts Camera Strap winner! 

Marie - you should have an email in your inbox from me! 

Buckeyes: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Goodness

If you're ever in the need of a tasty treat that combines the yumminess of peanut butter and chocolate I'd highly recommend that you give Buckeyes a try.  Added bonus - you don't even have to turn your oven on to make them!

For the record, I am not an Ohio State fan.  Just clearing that up in case anyone was curious.   

This is the recipe I used from AllRecipes.Com. 

Ingredients: Yield 5 Dozen

• 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips   (I used closer to 8 ounces of milk chocolate because I didn't have any semi-sweet chips in my pantry.)
• 2 tablespoons shortening

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with waxed paper; set aside.  I used two baking sheets that way when I was dropping the chocolate-dipped buckeyes down I had more room on my sheet. 

2. Combine the peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar.  Directions said by hand, but I tossed everything in my KitchenAid mixer and mixed on the stir setting to get things started.  Then I mashed by hand.  Get the mixture as smooth as possible.  Shape mixture into balls using roughly 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball.  Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate.

3. Melt shortening and chocolate chips together in a metal bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water.  Stir occasionally until smooth, and remove from heat.   Note - when the chocolate was cooling it started to thicken up, so I would routinely bring the chocolate back to the heat to keep it easier to work with on the peanut butter balls.

4.  Remove peanut butter balls from refrigerator.  Insert a wooden toothpick into a ball, and dip into melted chocolate.  Return to was paper, chocolate side down, and remove toothpick.  Repeat with remaining balls.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set. 

Enjoy!  I actually got five-and-a-half dozen Buckeyes out of this recipe, which was more than enough for both the hubs and I to take some of these to our respective jobs.  They were eaten instantly!  

If Waldo wore pencil skirts

Oh, who am I kidding? I'd knock over Waldo in a heartbeat and take his precious striped shirts. I know Waldo typically wears a red striped shirt, but I think he probably has a few blue ones in his closet for off days.

Skirt: J.Crew // Top: American Apparel // Sunnies: Cole Haan // Shoes: Cole Haan // Purse: Kate Spade // Necklace: Ann Taylor Loft // Bracelets: family heirloom, Derng

It's a good thing I can claim my brother is a rugby player.  I think that gives me a quasi-rational for having a large influx of striped shirts in my closet.  I honestly don't know how I would get dressed in the morning if it wasn't for stripes, polka dots, and a million-and-one black t-shirts.  

I scored that wool pencil skirt from J.Crew over the summer and I've been biding my time until the weather cooled down to actually wear it.  The hubs thought I was insane for buying a wool skirt when it was over 100 degrees out, but I think I got it for $50 and that was just too good of a deal to pass up.

Of course these photos are two weeks old and were taken when it was still daylight when we got home from work.  The first couple of weeks of daylights savings always throw me for a loop, but I should be excited because it means that my constant fear of acquiring unwanted UV rays is significantly diminished.  I liked this outfit so much that I wore the same shirt and skirt yesterday for election day, but I switched out the brown Cole Haans for my favorite patent red pair.  It wasn't until after I got dressed that the hubs told me I looked like an American Flag.  Gotta equally represent the red and the blue in a bi-partisan way!  I gladly swapped out the big necklace for my "I VOTED" sticker.  

How are you adjusting to the time change?  Anyone stay up too late last night watching election returns and/or speeches?