Friday Favorites: Pizza is my favorite!

I've always loved pizza! I don't care what's on it or if it's hot or cold....I will eat it. It's just so good.

While we were staying at Jon and Anne's, Jon made homemade pizza. I couldn't believe how easy and delicious it was! Yeah, it does take time to get the crust perfect (Jon has been making pizza for years), but I think it's totally worth investing my time in perfecting my own crust and making homemade pizza instead of ordering it.

I'm still working on it, but once I get the recipe the way I want it I will share. The above picture is one of my first attempts at it. It was good, but I have to get the baking process down. The center isn't cooking right. I hear it's best to make it on a pizza stone, but I need to figure that out. Cause you need the pizza stone to heat up first and then put the pizza on it and that just seems complicated. If anyone has any tips please let me know.

Atlantic City!

Jeff and I went down to Atlantic City for a conference for the New Jersey State Bar last weekend. I love going with Jeff to these conference because I just hang out in the hotel and meet up with Jeff for meals. This time I had to work, but it was still fun!

View from our room.

View from the suite where the YLD threw their party.

On Wednesday night we went to a little restaurant called Chef Vola's with some of our YLD friends. Both the food and company was amazing! This restaurant is in a basement of a house and they cram people in there. Supposedly you have to make reservations a few months in advance in order to get in. Seriously, the food was amazing and I can't wait to go again next year.

I really do enjoy joining Jeff on his little business trips!

Under construction...kind of

So, I'm making some updates to the look of my blog. I've already done most of the work, but I'm going to be making tweaks over the next week or so until i get it the way I want it. So if you stop on by and things are not looking good....you'll know why.

A Sex and the City Bridal Shower for the Lovely Ashley...

One of my "best, good friends," Ashley (roommate of two years in NYC), got engagement in January of this year. Of course we needed a smashing bridal shower to celebrate her and her upcoming nuptials.

We ended up deciding on a Sex and the City bridal shower since it was an evening shower and Ashley wanted her girls to get all dressed up.

I made the invitations in photoshop and had them printed at Staples. I really wanted to do circles, but I totally regretted it when it came to cutting them out! Luckily my sister gave me a circle cutter for Christmas :) I wanted to put a belt on the invitation, but it looked really boring so I ended up designing a little logo to put on it.

The party went well! We threw the party at the wonderful Kristin's apartment and crammed about 20 of Ashley's NYC favorite people in!

The lovely Karen made adorable quizzes in the shape of Cosmo Magazines! We had the guest guess how Ashley or Eric would respond to the questions. It was so much fun reading Eric (the fiancé) answers. Karen also included some of Ashley's favorite fashion tips and a cute little movie ad for the video I made for the event.

For the favors we did little mini patent leather purses that were mini manicure sets and nail polish.

Food? Yes you always have to have food. We did little mini desserts and bit size savory appetizers. Delicious!


It was such a great party and so wonderful to celebrate the lovely Ashley!

What else have I done this year?

I was just about to write yet another post about Brie, but then realized that all my post for 2012 have been about her. So...to change things up I'm going to spend the next couple days posting about all the other things I've been doing in 2012. Then I will post about Brie :) Until I have kids you're going to be getting a lot of pictures of her :)


 Since we got Brie we have been spending more time at Thompson Park. Jeff more than me, but I have really enjoyed the walks we've taken together. It's such a large park! We use to just walk the same path every time, but now Jeff is showing me different parts of the park. The Picture below was taken on our last walk.

At the end of our walk we crossed a field and found a bunch of deer just chilling. I was surprised that they didn't run away. I've really been enjoying our walks and the beautiful Thompson Park.

4 months of Brie

Our "baby girl" (as I like to call her) is growing up so fast. She hit six months at the end of April and she won't stop growing! :( She was doing really well with sit, down, stand, and come, but has recently decided that she doesn't want to listen anymore. We hear this is common. Jeff and I both love her so much! She's made a great addition to our little family...we're now thinking about getting another one at the end of the year, but we shall see.

A Walk in The Park with Brie

A lot of things have happen over the past month and a half and I haven't blogged about any of them! Shame on me. And now when I have a free min to blog I'm not going to fill you in but show you more pictures of my puppy! Hahah!

One of many reasons we wanted to get a dog was to encourage us to get outside more. Well, today we took Brie for a walk in Thompson Park. It was her second outing in the park, but this time Jeff went with us (even with his bad knee) so I could take pictures :)

Jeff has been working with Brie on fetch. She's getting the basics (get the ball and bring it back), but there is still room for improvement. First, when Jeff throws the ball she follows it with her eyes and then slowly wanders over to it. No pep! No Excitement! What's up with that? Then she slowly brings it back to Jeff (if no one else is around to distract her). Sometimes she gives it Jeff....and sometimes she's not so giving. I'm sure she will get better with practice :)

A New Addition to the Family...

Jeff and I have been debating about getting a dog and then later which kind to get for the last year. I wanted a small dog...he wanted a big dog. I wanted an inside dog...he wanted an outside dog. And on and on. I didn't think we would ever decide on one. After what seemed like a never ending debate we decided on a Lab. We looked into Chocolate Labs, but never actually went to get one. Jeff is kind of picky when it comes to purebred, registrations, and certifications of dogs.

We got the inspiration needed when my parents bought a puppy while we were home staying with them for Christmas (They got a Golden Retriever). We ended up coming home and buying a little Yellow Lab from Ark Angle Labradors and we LOVE her. We've had a couple of sleepless nights, but she's starting to settle into our home and we're so happy she's here.

Luckily we didn't have as had of time naming our puppy that my parents did :) but it was still hard. I really don't know what's going to happen when we have kids and have to come up with names. It totally stressed me out. After we went to see her for the first time we started brainstorming names: London, Crumpet, and Brie. It wasn't until we went to pick her up the next day that we decided on Brie. It just seemed to fit her. Jeff continues to call her "Puppy," or "Pooch" and I'm working hard to remind him that her name is Brie and she won't learn it if he calls her other names. Jeff is really good with her and it's fun watching him take such good care of her.

a first class anniversary: Quick Boat ride on the Thames

After our visit to the Tower of London we headed to Westminster Abbey. Instead of taking the tube we decided to take a boat up the Thames so we could see some of the sites. There was a ship right in front of the Tower of London and in honor of my dad I took several pictures of it :) I really enjoyed the ride. We didn't get to see much of Westminster Abbey since we had High Tea reservations and had to get back to the hotel to change. But it looked very lovely all lit up at night.

 

A first class anniversary: Tower of London

One of my favorite things we did on our trip was visit the Tower of London. We took one of the Yeoman tours which was very interesting and funny (I know it sounds weird to say that a tour of the Tower of London was funny, but it was)

Something that I thought was interesting was that the Yeoman guards live at the Tower of London and are locked in every night with their families. Our tour guide (the picture of the man in the funny hat is of our guide) said it's great cause every night he knows exactly where his teenage daughter is.

Below are pictures of the Bell Tower. One of my favorite plays is a Man for All Seasons which is about the last days of Sir Thomas More before he was beheaded. This is the tower that he stayed in.

Of course we checked out the Royal Jewels. Jeff was a little disappointed that they didn't have very many and thought what they had wasn't that impressive. They basically just had the coronation crowns and "toys" :) However, I was impressed. The picture below is of Jeff and the guard in front of the entrance to where they house the jewels (picture to the left is the place where the jewels are kept)

I had a to take a picture of the ravens. Supposedly there is a belief that when there are less then six ravens at the tower the kingdom will fall. So, the Yeoman guards are responsible for guaranteeing that there are always six ravens on the grounds at all times. They even have cages for them.

Below is a picture of the excution site memorial (right) and the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula (left). The execuation site memorial is for the royals that were beheaded at the Tower of London. King Henry the Eighth Second and Fifth wives (Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard) were among the Royals that were killed here. Their remains are buried in the Chapel Royal of St. Peter

A first class anniversary: Hyde Park

After our trip to Kensington Palace we walked through Hyde Park. (Kensignton Palace is located at one of the ends of the park) The park was so beautiful with all the fall colors. Unfortunately we arrived right when it was getting dark so I wasn't able to get all the pictures I wanted. Since I didn't have my tripod a lot of pictures turned out kind of blurry.

Once we left Kensington Palace we came across a large lake with a bunch of swans. It was so beautiful. People were feeding them so some were out of the water kind of "attaching" people. I secretly wished my sister was there cause she is terrified of birds and it would have been a good laugh.

One of the things I wanted to see in London was the Peter Pan statue. (confession: I always wanted to see this after watching the Mary Kate and Ashley Winning London Movie. I secretly love that movie. Don't tell Jeff!) I was totally upset cause it was almost pitch black by the time we found the statue. I guess I will have to go back in the daylight sometime :)

The picture below is the view the Peter Pan statue stares at all day

 

I really like Hyde Park. :)