Ten on Tuesday!

 This week I'm participating in Ten on Tuesday on Chelsea's blog, Roots and Wings!

{1.}Who makes your Thanksgiving dinner?
I normally have Thanksgiving lunch at my mom's parents house with her side of the family. Now that Joe and I are married and our families are spread out, we are going to Kansas City, Missouri to do Thanksgiving with his family! They just moved there from Pittsburgh, so we are very excited to see them and their new house!

{2.} What is your favorite recipe the includes pumpkin? (bonus points for including the recipe)
I am really weird- I HATE pumpkin! I don't know what it is, but I just can't stand it. I wish I did because my husband is obsessed. I'm pretty sure he'd eat anything if it had pumpkin in it. When we got married, his mom gave me a cookbook filled with his families favorite recipes. I have yet to make them, but he absolutely LOVES his mom's Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies. He says they are amazing and that you have to try them!

Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup Libby's solid pack pumpkin
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Glaze (directions to follow)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Cream butter and sugar in large mixer bowl. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla; beat until light and creamy. Mix in dry ingredients until well blended.

Use a tablespoon to scoop out dough, and place the rounded balls of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire racks and drizzle glaze over top.

Glaze:
2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. milk, 1 tbsp. melted butter, and 1 tsp. vanilla
Blend together in small bowl until smooth.

Enjoy!

{3.} What are 5 things you want for Christmas?

This question should probably have it's own post...check back soon for my Christmas list! I know most of it probably won't happen; but hey, a girl can dream! Right?

{4.} Does your family draw names or do you buy for everyone?

My dad's side of the family draws names because there are just way too many people to buy presents for everyone. He has five sisters, and they all have kids that have kids...soooo, do the math. LOTS of people!  Once you get married, you are taken out of the drawing, so last Christmas was my last year! How sad! It is so much fun gathering at my grandparents house with all of my sweet family watching all of the children opening gifts. It brings back such great memories! My mom's family is much smaller, so we just do the traditional gift giving!

{5.} How do you feel about motorcycles?

They scare me! You won't ever catch this girl on one.

{6.} What’s your favorite thing to do on a rainy Saturday?

I used to absolutely hate rainy Saturdays because it made Joe's football games pretty miserable, and it would really mess up my tailgating plans. These days, I welcome rainy Saturdays! We are so busy during the week, that it is so nice when we are able to stay in and spend time together when it's rainy out. I usually watch a lot of football, tidy up our apartment, bake some yummy goodies, catch up on my favorite blogs, or find some kind of craft to do.

{7.} What is the coolest thing to do in your city?

We live in White Plains, NY, which is just north of Manhattan. It is such a beautiful city; we love it! We have two huge malls that have all of my favorite stores; so shopping here is really convenient! We honestly haven't explored our new city enough, because it's so much more fun to hop on the train and go exploring in NYC. We won't be here forever, so I want to see everything I can in the city before we move away!

{8.} Do you paint your fingernails?
I take after my mama, and I always try to have some sort of polish on my nails. I just think you look more polished when you have pretty nails...no pun intended! ha! I usually wear a neutral color like Honeymoon Sweet by OPI. It has a tint of pink, but not too pink! It took me forever to find my perfect shade of  "neutral."

If I'm feeling funky, or if we are having a date night, I'm OBSESSED with You Don't Know Jacques by OPI. Someone said that color is being discontinued, if so, it's gonna be a sad day when I run out! I love the dark taupe color for winter/fall.

{9.} Who is your favorite actor over the age of 50?

I love, love, looooove Meryl Streep. She is just amazing in every role she plays!

{10.} Do you have a high school letter jacket?

You would think I would have one since I am six feet tall. I don't go a day without being asked if I play volleyball or basketball because of my height. I did play basketball for my church in high school, but just wasn't interested! I guess my brother got all of the athleticism in the family!

Happy Tuesday! :)

A Nephew on the Way!

{first 3 and last 2 pictures by allison elizabeth photography}

We are so excited that we will have a sweet NEPHEW in February! We actually found out my brother and sister in law were expecting a new little one on our wedding day, and I cried when hearing the news! It was bittersweet knowing I was going to be so far away from this sweet little boy, but SO excited for my brother, Patrick, who had always dreamed about having a little boy. They have already blessed us with two precious nieces, Isabella and Lainey Kate and I can't wait to meet their baby brother Harrison O'Neil in February!

Can't wait to spoil this sweet boy!

Random post.

{1} 

We had an AMAZING time in South Carolina last weekend. Even though we were there for less than 48 hours, it was SO nice to be home. I got to snuggle up in my old pink room, see our most favorite friends and sweet family, and see the Wofford Terriers kick some Citadel butt! Here are a few fun pictures from our weekend:

{my baby brother who just turned 21! ahh!}

{my gorgeous friends}

{my beautiful mama}

{go terriers!}

Just realized I have no pictures with the hubby from last weekend. Woops!

{2}

Speaking of Wofford football, I have to brag a little bit. They are well on their way to being #1 in the Southern Conference and are in the top 10 in the country! WOW! It has been pretty depressing not having Joe play football this year, but I am SO proud they are doing so well this year! They play Appalachian State (the #1 team in the country) next Saturday for the Southern Conference Title and I am so nervous!

GO TERRIERS!

{3}

I made a huge pot of chili on Friday and we still have a lot left. Can I please tell you how nice it has been having a whole weekend off from cooking? I absolutely love being in the kitchen and cooking, but I really needed a break this weekend. Thanks Betty Crocker! 

{not my chili}

{4}

It's starting to get cold in New York, and I have no winter coat. Yes, you read that right. Not only do I not own a warm coat, I don't have any warm boots either! A fleece North Face jacket and my Clarks Wallabees were my winter staples in SC, but I don't think they are gonna fly here. Anybody have any good suggestions for a nice warm jacket that will be fitting for a cold NY winter? Should I invest in the UGGS I have been denying for so long?

{5}

I have been hating the design of this blog for a long, long time but lack the computer skills needed to revamp it. I finally talked my sweet husband into getting me a blog makeover as an early Christmas present...sooo, I will finally have a pretty blog soon! YAY! Head on over to Penny Lane Designs if you are in need of a makeover, too!

{6}

Today's extra hour was so nice! It feels a lot better saying I slept in until 10 (but it was really 11!) That sleep was much needed after a long, hard week at work. My weekends go by way too fast; why can't weekdays go by that fast??

{7}

I need a haircut. Bad. Refer to the first picture in this post. I, like many other brides, grew my hair out for my wedding updo, but I am sooo sick and tired of dealing with it. My hair is incredibly thick and takes way too long to blow dry every morning. A couple of years ago, I cut off a foot of hair and donated it, and I am thinking about doing that again. I need a change! Here are some of my past styles I am considering:

Hope everyone is having a nice, relaxing Sunday! :)

I changed my mind.

I changed my mind. I really am not tired of fall...what was I thinking? Autumn in New York is positively beautiful. See for yourself:

Ready for Christmas!

Can we please talk about how I am bursting at the seams to decorate for Christmas??? I blame it on the new Christmas Pottery Barn and West Elm catalogs! Have you seen them yet?? If not, order them now! You won't be disappointed!

I am totally over all of this fall decor...how bad is that?? It's not even close to Thanksgiving! We are spending Thanksgiving in Missouri with Joe's parents, so I think I have talked him into letting me break out the Christmas decorations the week before we leave so we can come home to all of our pretty Christmas stuff! I bought TONS of stuff last year after Christmas when it was all on sale, and can't wait to use it all!

Is anyone else like me? I hope I'm not the only weirdo that is tired of pumpkins and fall colors!

Top Two Tuesday: Fall Decor!

It's Top Two Tuesday at The Undomestic Mom and today is all about Halloween or Fall Decor! Instead of decorating for Halloween, I like to use general Fall decor so it will last longer! I absolutely love decorating for Fall and love all of the beautiful oranges and yellows.



{one} If I actually had a front porch, I would love to do something like this. My mom did something similar with orange and white pumpkins on her front porch a few years ago and it was gorgeous! I love how the pumpkins almost look like topiaries.


{two} I love monograms, so this front porch would be right up my alley! Both of these pictures would be SO easy to do!

...if only I had a front porch! Maybe one day! :)

Miscellany Monday

So sorry for my scarce posting...I guess I have just been pretty lazy uninspired lately!

Today I am linking up to Carissa's Miscellany Monday. If you haven't been to her blog, you must! I absolutely adore it!






{one} We did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING this weekend and it was exactly what I needed. We did a lot of couch sitting/football watching/wine drinking, and I was oh so happy. We hardly ever have lazy weekends, so it definitely did us some good! We did go to the movies yesterday to see The Social Network, and that was the only time we left the house. Pathetic, huh? Did anyone else think that movie was as boring as we did? For this self proclaimed Facebook junkie, I was a tad bit disappointed!



{two} Joe and I are flying home to SC this weekend because it is Homecoming at Wofford College! We are so excited to see our sweet, sweet friends and family who we have missed so dearly! This will be Joe's first time attending a Wofford game as a fan and not as a player...crazy! The Terriers are #9 in the FCS and we are so proud of them! Go Terriers!


{three} Remember how I hate my kitchen and loathe the fact we have no privacy in here?? (For those of you who are new, we live in a tiny little studio apartment.) Anyway, we have had just about enough of this place and my sweet husband is finally entertaining the thought of us moving! Can I tell you how excited I am? I would be one happy girl if we could get out of this place soon! We have appointments later this week to see some gorgeous apartments...wish us luck!


{four} My friend Marian Bryce (don't you love her Southern double name??) came to visit a couple of weekends ago and I had all intentions of blogging about our weekend in the city! I am so horribly lazy. Anyway, we had such an amazing time! I LOVE having visitors because I get to do fun stuff while Joe is busy studying. We took the train into the city and did some hardcore exploring for two days straight. I'm pretty sure we saw almost everything there is to see that weekend...and yes, our feet were KILLING us, but it was SO worth it. I don't think I could ever get tired of NYC. How could you??


{five} Not only am I sick of our apartment, I'm also sick on our bed. It's really pretty, but it's wrought iron and not what I envision in our perfect bedroom. I know it won't happen anytime soon, but I really, really, really want a cream colored tufted headboard. A girl can dream, right? I have seen them a lot around some of my favorite blogs lately, and I just cannot stop lusting after one of my very own.



{six} Joe and I carved pumpkins last weekend. It was the first time I had ever done it. Yeah, you read that correctly. Craziness! It was pretty disgusting, so I made Joe do all of the dirty work before I could start carving. I started out with a pretty intricate pattern, then quit when I realized how hard it was going to be. I then decided to do a pretty "F" with some polka dots. Of course I had to have a monogrammed pumpkin! Joe carved Danny DeVito because he loves the show "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia." Who knew the boy was such an artist? Anyway, the pumpkins turned out super cute and I was very proud of my very first pumpkin carving experience and Joe was loving his Danny DeVito pumpkin. The next morning, I went to admire the pumpkins on our porch only to realize that some little animal ate poor Danny's whole face off. Now it's just a pumpkin with a big hole in the front. And a bunch of mold inside. So sad. And so gross.

I sure do love a random post! I may have to do this more often!