Hello Rental Living!

So as my previous post stated, I am now living in a rental house.  I did a little hop, skip, and a jump and I am on the other side of the river now!  So far, so good, but keep in mind I have only been there for a grand total of 5 nights there, so I really do not have a LOT to go on.  But because so many people have been inquiring, here are pictures of my new place for your viewing pleasure.

The new digs!

View right when you walk in the front door.

Living Room from the other side of the room

Hallway

View from the dinning room--I love the instagram feel from this picture

Dinning Room

Kitchen

Also the kitchen, view of the washer/dryer and back door

My Bedroom!

Guest Bedroom

Bathroom

There is a reason this one is at the bottom, this is the future craft room, but is currently the through all the junk in here until I get time to unload boxes room!

There you have it, that is the quick tour of my new place, the only thing missing is for you to come visit!

So long homeownership...

You have served me well these past 7 years, but I am onto less square feet and less responsibility :)

I will miss this beautiful house with my dream kitchen and bathroom but all good things must come to an end and I can tell you, I will not miss the 30 minute commute to and from church 4 times every Sunday! 

Next Up?  Rental Living!!!

Black......Thursday?!?!?!

So it seems that Black Thursday is the new Black Friday, at least here in good ol' consumer driven America!  Well, I have to say, I quite enjoyed the shopping at 10pm, rather than at 4am, or whatever ungodly hour I was up last year.  

CJ and I had decided we would hit the sales, I was in the market for a television for my bedroom, but alas we got to Target too late and they were all gone.  So we got a few things then got in the 25+ minute long line to checkout, weaving through aisles of bath products, my big black Friday purchase at Target?  A bottle of lotion, WHAT?  I was running low and we passed right by the aisle.

Then before Kohl's opened up, we decided to try one more Target!  On the way there, since I was dragging, we decided to stop at 7-11 for a surplee.  Here is how this played out:

Me (people in front of us getting lotto tickets): I don't get why people buy lotto tickets, it is such a waste of money
CJ: I don't know, sometimes I buy scratcher tickets!
Me: Well how much do those costs?
CJ: Like a dollar a piece
Me: We should get some!
CJ: Okay!

So we got two tickets and decided we would split whatever we won.  One card had a Christmas tree on it, so I took that one (come on, who doesn't love Christmas trees) and gave the other to CJ.  She scratched hers and won NOTHING :(  I scratched mine and won $40!!!!  

Sad her ticket did not win!

Rollin in the dough!!!

So an hour into Black Thursday shopping and I was up money for the trip!  Unfortunately my luck did not continue, as the other Target did not have my TV either.  So it was back to Kohl's we went!

I picked up a few things there, with coupons of course!  Then we decided to call it quits and go home to sleep!  Since we were in the shopping mood, we woke up on Friday and started again, this time hitting up the ABC store for the sweet Black Friday deals....priorities people....come on!

My Black Friday was complete when my dad helped me load up the truck with the last of the stuff from my old house:

Starting the adventure again with a new place, this time on the OTHER side of the river!

Turkey Day 2012

Turkey Day 2012 was awesome!  We had great food, great family, great weather, and I believe (at least some) fun was had by all!  Rather than regale you with tales of the day, I will let the pictures serve their purpose (plus really the day was eat, eat, clean, look at Black Friday ads, watch football, and chase Corbin)!

Yup Fried Turkey for dinner, be jealous!

Yes Please!

Super Yummy Mashed Potatoes--garlic, butter, cream, what is NOT to love?

Turkey getting carved up!

The Chef takes a break to capture a few memories!

The beautiful Tablescape!

THE FOOD!!!!

Andy 'the shark' and Bons 'the turkey'

My thanksgiving Meal!  YUMMO

Wishbone!  Corbin would NOT touch it!

The Munchkin!!!

No one is looking so I will just take some of this cheesecake....BUSTED!!!!

Grandpa and Corbin!!!

Corbin as The Turkey!

Apple Pie Making 101

My favorite part of Thanksgiving Day dinner?  The desserts, obviously!  The story of making apple pies starts 3 years ago when CJ first taught me to make an apple pie...after all the effort that went in, I declared that it would have to taste a lot better than Pillsbury for me to continue making them.  I took my first bite and went "Damn!  I will be stuck making pies every year from now on..."  And this year is no exception....right in the middle of my house sale, and a move across town, I thought..."hmmm, why don't we make a bunch of pies?"  And that we did!  Want to know how, just follow this simple tutorial!  

Rolling out the crust!

Baking the first 3!

Slice apples into a big bowl, cause you will need A LOT!

Don't forget the butter and spices!

Smile cause baking all night is FUN!

Pre-oven!

Post-oven!

Get your mom to call her friends and tell them how happy she is to get apple pie!  Make sure to get a cute dog in a picture too, everything is better with cute animals!

Yeah, you will probably want some wine...or Margaritas to get through the evening!

What?  What's that you say, you have no clue how to make a pie after this lesson?  Well I guess you should probably make it a point to get invited to a Thanksgiving dinner that either CJ or I are present at!

30 Books in 2012!!

So I have surpassed my first goal of 26 books, but of the list I created, I am getting there, slowing but surely.....

List of books I have read in 2012

1. Five Love Languages
2. Sisterhood Everlasting
3. The Holocaust Diaries
4. Private #1 Suspect
5. The Fixer Upper
6. The Hunger Games
7. Catching Fire (book 2)
8. Mockingjay (book 3)
9. The Carrie Diaries
10. What Alice Forgot
11. The Purpose Driven Life
12. The Reservoir
13. Private Games
14. Mountain beyond Mountains
15. Hijacked: Responding to the Partisan Church Divide
16. Sarah's Key
17. I've Got Your Number
18. Private
19. There are No Children Here
20. Generous Justice
21. The Other Boleyn Girl
22. Kisses from Katie
23. Unbroken
24. A good and perfect Gift
25. Hope in a Jar 
26. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
27. Lexapros and Cons
28. 3rd Degree 
29. The 100 thing challenge
30. Wild 

 List of books I plan to read in 2012 (aka the next month!!!)

31. The Rape of Nanking
32. The Girl who Played with Fire
33. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Happy Reading!

Bawlmer Hon

Nope that is not another language, it is the dialect straight from Baltimore, MD, where I visited little Sara this past weekend.  Sara and I have been instant friends since freshman year at Virginia Tech, some 11 (!!!!) ish years ago.  The 7-8 years post-college have not done anything to waiver that friendship and we can always pick right up where we leave off when we visit each other.  It is a fun and easy friendship and I love it!  When we were discussing what we wanted to do this weekend, Sara and I both agreed that low-key was good.  So I arrived in Hampden, MD on Friday night and we meet up with Greg for a lovely dinner and a local restaurant.  It was very yummy and a great time of margaritas, tortilla chips, and good people and conversation!

Greg and Me

YUM!

Then we walked around the area for a bit and headed back to Sara's for some fireside chats (minus the fire) and some cuddle time with peanut!  Sara and I, although we were in bed relatively early, managed to stay up talking (surprise) and playing family feud on our phones.  

Saturday we awoke early to Peanut pouncing on the bed then we played some more Feud before making the trek to 7-11 for morning Slurpee's (I know, I know, we are so alike).  One the walk back, Erica called to say she had arrived and we started the morning off right with some shopping downtown.  After multiple stores and a few bags later we stopped for lunch at King's Pizza (my request)

My name-sake!

haha rightfully so, since I am a King!

After being re-charged, it was off for more shopping and fun....

Sara and her Maryland Crab hat!

Then we left Hampden and headed by Ace of Cakes (also my request):

Oh hey Duff!!!

Before making our way to Arundel Mills for some outlet shopping (hey, what else are 3 girls supposed to do?)  I pretty much had to force Erica to come into Outdoor World with us....but how great it was cause we got some awesome pictures:

The Big Fish Tank in the store

Sara and Me with a fish photo bomber!

The girls ever so excited to put on camo hats!

And we ran into Rudolph before heading out!

We grabbed a quick dinner at the food court then headed back home.  We were exhausted and Erica was driving back to NoVA so we felt it was best to head back.  After a few more games of Family Feud and some reading in bed, I was asleep by 10:30 and it was fabulous!  All in all, a great weekend away with two of my favorite girls and in a super fun city....my only lingering thought is...When can we do it again???