Halloween Party!

We had our Halloween Party last night and it was so much fun! Everyone came dressed up, and more friends were able to come than I thought! I'm sad that I forgot to take a picture of my table all set up, but just trust me that there was SO MUCH FOOD (we didn't even make the hot stuff, because there was so much already since people brought stuff even though I told them not to!) and the table looked really cute!

Jeff was Ricky Bobby and I was a racer girl. Thank goodness I had the leggings, because even with the hot pants, this costume was WAY shorter than I remembered! You can kind of see my friend's adorable 1 year old son dressed as a football player in the background. He's too cute and was the hit of the party till he went to sleep!

Friends since elementary/middle school!

Some of my bridesmaids! <3

Jeff and a few other husbands got bored and went to the "man cave" aka our basement, to play video games! This is Jeff doing Tiger Woods golfing on the Wii!

Shannon and I doing our traditional Halloween Party Picture pose.

*UPDATE!* I found the pic with the same pose from last year!

The house was a mess after everyone left! Jeff and I spent a lot of time throwing away garbage and recycling cans and bottles. The floors were disgusting, so I had to mop them real quick before going to sleep, which must have looked amusing in my costume at 1am! I think I finally have the house back in order now!

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone has a great day!

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a great Halloween Weekend! Jeff and I are throwing a costume party tonight, which I will post pics of, and tomorrow we are watching Game 3 of the World Series, hopefully the Yankees take it! I think they need to step up their game a bit!

American League Champions!

I stayed up till 12:30am to watch this game, and had to get up at 6:00am today, so you can imagine how tired I am, but it was worth it! I am SO excited that the Yankees made it to the World Series! I knew they would, but I couldn't relax until they made it official! My husband predicted they'd win it in 6 games, the majority of them being at home, and he was right! Now they face the Phillies, which will be interesting in my family since Jeff's dad's side all root for the Phillies, and his mom's side, including us, root for the Yankees (my family doesn't care about baseball at all!) The World Series starts Wednesday, and you can bet I'll be watching! GO YANKEES!

*UPDATE*

I got an e-mail from my FIL asking me if my husband and I wanted to make a little bet. If the Phillies win, we buy my FIL and Step-MIL dinner. If the Yankees win, they buy us dinner! Makes things a little more interesting and I told him we look forward to them treating us to dinner haha!

Love

I stole this idea shamelessly from Ladybug's Picnic. I think it's a great idea to focus on things you love instead of negative stuff all the time!

I love....

Pumpkin scented candles. Chocolate chip cookie dough. Cooking for my husband. Wedding shows on TV. Cleaning my house and enjoying the aftermath. Taking care of my husband and our cat. A great workout. Fondue. Date nights. Laughing. Going to Yankee games with my husband or watching them on TV. A pumpkin spice latte or cafe mocha from Starbucks. My students. Baking cookies. A really good steak dinner. Trips to Disneyworld. Anything vanilla scented. Girls' nights. Going out to dinner. Shopping. My family and friends. My engagement ring and wedding band. My Gap jeans. When my husband smiles at me and tells me I'm cute or beautiful. Anything by Coach. Getting a mani/pedi. Gossiping with girlfriends. Being a good wife. Double dates. Chatting with my husband during dinner or before we go to sleep. Playing Rock Band. Decorating our home. Thinking about our future children. Looking at our wedding photos. Relaxing at home. A great massage. Sleeping in. 

What about you?

I Think I Need These

After seeing JLC's adorable Coach sneakers, I decided I need a pair too! I can't decide on the white or the black. Either would match a lot of my stuff. I do tend to wear a lot of black, but I love the look of the light ones too! I know the white ones will probably get dirty really fast! Thoughts or opinions?




I'm thinking one of these could be a Christmas or Birthday present for me from someone/a few people in my family?

Also, I am furious about the Yankee loss tonight, especially because I feel their manager made some terrible calls! If you follow me on Twitter or are my Facebook friend, you saw all the comments I made! They better get it together for tomorrow's game!

Weekend Recap and a Birthday

Busy weekend!

On Friday, Jeff and I went to the mall to get my friend a b-day present (more about that later) and then to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. We watched the end of the Dodgers vs. Phillies game while waiting for our food. The Phillies totally threw that one away and I would be pissed if I was a fan of theirs. Then, we went home to watch the Yankees vs. Angels game and were treated to another dominant performance by CC Sabathia and a win for the Yanks!

On Saturday, it was one of my best friend's (and MOH in my wedding) 28th birthday! Jeff and I picked her and a couple of her friends up and we went to dinner at Asian Temptation in White Plains. It was sooooo good!

Shannon's (the b-day girl) fun drink!

Jeff and I waiting for dinner.

Shannon and her friend's plate of sushi.

Jeff's General So's chicken. I love the way it was presented! I had chicken pad thai, which was delicious, but not presented in such a cool way. I helped Jeff eat that noodle bowl once the chicken was gone haha!

The birthday girl and I.

Fried ice cream that the restaurant gave to Shannon! You can't really tell here, but the ball of ice cream and the entire plate were on fire! It was cool and tasted soo good!

Mashed up fried ice cream.

After dinner, we went to a bar called Brazen Fox, which we went to for my bachelorette party as well back in June. The bar had like 10 flat screen TVs and every single one had the Yankees vs. Angels game on! There was lots of cheering and booing in the bar depending on how the Yanks did! We left at the end of the 10th inning and watched the rest of the game in bed at home and OMG what a game! A-Rod can never be called sucky in the post season again and we were THRILLED with another amazing Yankee win! We cheered so loudly that we scared the cat, who was drinking water from a glass Jeff left on the floor and she knocked it over lol!

Today, I am going to work out as soon as I post this entry, then I have a bit of lesson planning to do, as well as laundry to dry and put away, and some other housework. I hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

Pumpkin Soup

In my continuing effort to try new recipes and give Jeff and I something different to have for dinner, I found this recipe from 3 Peanuts. It was pretty easy to make and soooo delicious! We have a TON left over, but we both loved it so much, I don't think it will be in the fridge for too long! It was so filling and very good for a chilly fall day like today! The only thing in it that's really unhealthy is the heavy cream, but there's only 1/2 cup of that in the entire thing, so it's not that bad! I had corn with it (which I mixed into the soup and it was pretty good) and Jeff made himself a sandwich. If I thought ahead a bit more, I would have made some chicken or something to go with it, but all of ours it frozen solid and I didn't feel like thawing them out.

The only things Jeff and I didn't do with this recipe was put the soup in the blender or use 2 onions. We used canned pumpkin and found no reason to blend it because the soup was smooth and it was more hassle than it was worth. As far as onions go, I'm not a huge fan, so we only used 1 instead of 2, and I even found that to be too much!

Hair Cut

After the wedding, actually immediately after our honeymoon, I cut a good 4-5 inches of hair off. I love my shorter hair so much more because it's easier to deal with, and looks a lot thicker! I had a day off yesterday, which was awesome, so I decided to get my hair trimmed for the first time in 3 months. I took off barely an inch, but I like it and I'm happy all the split ends are gone! The only thing I don't like about my hair this short is the flipping! It's always done this, and even with some Chi flatiron action in the morning, it flips right back up within 30 minutes!

Me at my desk about 3 minutes ago. It's my free period and I don't really feel like planning for tomorrow yet, so you guys get a picture from Photo Booth! 

I love that today is already Tuesday and tomorrow is already the middle of the week! I love having Mondays off and I really needed the long weekend to relax and get refreshed! I feel wide awake today, even though I got like 5 hours of sleep, and I'm totally ready to teach my kids soon! I hope everyone is having a great week!

Yankees vs. Twins ALDS Game 2

Did anyone watch this game? It was INCREDIBLE! There were quite a few times when I thought the Yanks were done and we were going to have a split series so far. By the end of the 8th inning, the Yankees were down and I told Jeff I was over this game and wanted it to be done! Jeff told me to be patient, and that the Yankees are really good at coming from behind, especially against the Twins! Then, bottom of the 9th, A-Rod hit that awesome, game-tying home run! Everyone went NUTS! It was so awesome! Then it got uneventful again for awhile. I had an anxiety attack when we almost won the game with Gardner getting to 3rd base, but got pissed when that chance was blown. I thought for sure when the Twins had the bases loaded with 0 out that we were done for, but no one scored! Then, in the 11th inning, Teixeira hit a walk off homer to win it 4-3! I can't even describe how amazing it was to be there! Everyone completely freaked out! My throat was killing me from screaming so loud! It was so cool on the way out, everyone was hi-fiving each other, including the staff! It was such an awesome night and I am so thankful we had tickets to such a fantastic game!

I will acknowledge that the Twins' catcher Joe Mauer did have a double that was called foul. We didn't notice that during the game, but saw footage afterwards. The umpires admitted their mistake and it really could have made all the difference for the Twins. I'm glad it benefitted the Yanks, but it would have been better if that error didn't happen!

Game 2! Same seats for us as Game 1!

Ready to cheer on our boys in Yankee gear! Jeff was wearing Andy Pettitte, I was wearing Johnny Damon. We didn't want to jinx Jeter or Texixeira by wearing their shirts!

So excited!

Twins vs. Yankees

The Yanks are in Minnesota tonight hopefully bringing out the brooms and sweeping the Twins! I will be watching on TV and cheering on my boys! Let's go Yankees!!!

Also, I kind of wanted the ALCS to be Yankees vs. Red Sox. Yanks have been a lot better against the Sox this year, and I just love that rivalry!

Show Us Your Life- Favorite Teams!

I decided to join in on the "Show Us Your Life" weekly blog posts from Kelly's Korner! This week is favorite teams and tailgating (which I rarely do, but that's OK!) The only sport I really watch is baseball. I cannot stand basketball, and football is really only tolerable during the Superbowl for me (sorry to anyone out there that likes watching either of these sports. They're just not my thing.) I like watching gymnastics and figure skating too, but those aren't really team sports.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows about my extreme love for the New York Yankees. I've been a huge fan since college and when I met Jeff and discovered that we were both Yankees fans, I knew we'd get along great lol! We've gone to several games together, and I can't wait to go to more and take our future children to games as well! I have never gone to a Yankee Game not wearing a player's t-shirt. It's almost always Johnny Damon (which I am wearing for the game I'm going to tonight) because he's one of my favs!


This was at a Yankees vs. Red Sox game back in 2007. I believe the Yanks won that night!


We both wore Andy Pettitte shirts because he was pitching (this is the same Yankees vs. Red Sox game in 2007). The shirt I'm wearing is actually my old roommate's (and MOH in my wedding). She LOVES Pettitte!


A bunch of us from work went to a few games. One of the women that came with us is one of my bosses!


I got Jeff tickets to a Yankees vs. Twins game (ironically we are going to 2 Yankee vs. Twins games this week for the ALDS. They won on Wednesday!) for his birthday back in May. It was hat day and the Yanks won in extra innings! I only kept the hat on for this picture (didn't want hat head) and I was sooo sun burned on my scalp and arms by the end of the game!

Tonight is game 2 in the ALDS! LET'S GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!

Yankees vs. Twins ALDS Game 1

We had so much fun at the game last night! We took the train from Stamford directly to the Stadium which was SOOOOOO much easier and it was really awesome to be on a train full of Yankee fans! We will be doing that more often! The game got off to a bit of a shaky start with the Yankees being behind 0-2 and I was getting worried, but then Derek Jeter hit a 2-run homer, everyone freaked out, and the Yanks just started kicking serious ass. I don't think there was a Twins fan in the house. It was the best!

Outside the new stadium. Such a gorgeous place. I love it!

The quest for #27! I hope this is their year! :)

I love the huge screen! I get so distracted by it during the game!

We got there early. I took my jacket off for this photo to show off my shirt, it was so windy and cold! Jeff and I both wore Mark Teixeira shirts, and he did not have a great game. We think we jinxed him! I certainly won't be wearing my Derek Jeter shirt to tomorrow's game lol!

Woo Hoo!

Both teams and the Color Guard all lined up. We had great seats! Main level, first base line. We have the exact same seats for tomorrow's game.

Excited for the 7-2 Yankee win! I was really tired at this point on the train ride home!

We left at the beginning of the 9th inning. We knew the Yanks were gonna win and I wanted to be on the first train home since I have to be up by 6am on weekdays. We got to hear "Enter Sandman" when Mariano Rivera came in right before we left. We entered into our wedding reception to the same song because of its connection to the Yankees, it's so badass and I never get sick of hearing it at Yankee Stadium. Everyone always screams really loud and gets super excited! 

Tomorrow we are driving in for the game, then heading to PA to spend the weekend with Jeff's dad, stepmom, stepbrother, his wife, and Jeff's sister whose going to the house tonight. Let's hope for another win for the Yankees tomorrow night! They only need to win 3 in this series to move on! 

Excellent Rule

As someone who dealt with their freshman year roommate doing this to her 4 times within a semester (and having HUGE epic battles over it but stupidly not going to the RA) I can say I'm happy that a school is finally acknowledging that this type of thing happens! Not sure how effective this rule will be, or how they can really enforce it, but I appreciate the effort!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was really relaxing and uneventful, which was nice! We have stuff going on every weekend in October after this, so I enjoyed just hanging out! On Friday, I took a 3 hour nap when I got home from work. Jeff woke me up around 7:00pm and asked if I wanted to go to P.F. Chang's. I never say no to that, so off we went! It was delicious as usual!

On Saturday, we went to Target to get stuff for me to have my health class make stress balls. We are doing a unit on stress, coping with it, and self esteem, so I thought this would be a fun project! I'll let you know how it goes! We also went to Party City to get our Halloween Costumes, which I posted about below, and we went to Sierra Grille for dinner. I love that place! It's sooooo good! If you have one near you, definitely give it a try, their guacamole is awesome!

Today I cleaned the house, did laundry, planned my lessons for tomorrow, cooked, and watched wedding shows on TV all day! I am loving the new channel "Wedding Central" but I find it really weird that there's a show on there called "Single In The City!" What do single people running around on various dates have anything to do with weddings? I do get that you have to date in order to find a spouse, but every other show on that channel is about wedding planning. I think the show should be on WETV, the channel that created "Wedding Central" since it has a better mixture of all different stuff! I am really excited to watch "My Fair Wedding" with David Tutera tonight! I am always so amazed at how gorgeous his weddings turn out and how awful the weddings would have been without his help! I think this is my absolute favorite wedding show and I follow David on Twitter because I'm cool like that.

The first Yankee ALDS game against either the Tigers or the Twins (we won't know till Tuesday! So frustrating! They're tied and have to play a game against each other to decide who wins the Central Division! I would prefer the Twins because we kicked their asses and shut them out all season) is on Wednesday at 6:07pm. I'm really happy it's a night game starts an hour earlier than regular games because I do have to work the next day and would like to get some sleep! If it were a 1:00pm game I would have had to take a day off from work and I didn't want to do that so early in the school year! We're really excited to see what will hopefully be a Yankee win! CC Sabathia will be on the mound and I hope he's his usual dominant beast self and not sucky like he was his last start against the Rays on Friday...

In other news, I made a really good chicken dish for dinner. Head over to my Recipe Blog to check it out!

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Halloween Costumes

Jeff and I are hosting a Halloween costume party on Friday, October 30th so we went out and got our costumes today! Both are from Party City!

Jeff is going to be Ricky Bobby from "Talladega Nights." He really likes to watch NASCAR (I join him on occasion. There's some hot drivers!) and we both love the movie!

I'm going to be this girl. It fits into the theme of our costumes and it's cute! It's REALLY short on me though because I'm 5'8.5" and it's hard to get the sexier costumes and not flash my butt! I got black hot pants to wear under this! I can't wait for our party and I'll be sure to post pictures!

My Birthday Countdown!

Make your own Countdown Clocks

If you add 2 more days to this, you'll get the Christmas countdown! So exciting!

House Tour- The Living Room

Our living room took awhile to get to the way I wanted it! We've been living here since November 2007 (Jeff) and January 2008 (me officially, but I was there constantly as soon we Jeff closed on the house) and it just got painted last October when I had to go away on a stupid camping trip for work and Jeff missed me so decided to paint to make me happy. It was so awesome to come home to a nice, painted living room, especially when I had been nagging Jeff about it for almost a year! I insisted on going out to get curtains (which you can kind of see here) that night even though I was exhausted!

We got the furniture at Raymour & Flanagan. I really love the color and they're SO comfy! Notice my MacBook. This is where I do all of my blogging while I watch TV and our cat Peanut always sits right next to me! You can kind of see her relaxing on the couch here. I always have some sort of candle burning on this table, right now it's "Pumpkin Pie" from Yankee Candle. I also love the centerpiece I have with the 3 cream colored pillar candles. My mom got it for us as a housewarming gift!

View from the couch. 

Pretty shelves from Jeff's old apartment. One of his female roommates had these and decided she didn't want them anymore, so we took them! I love changing up the decorations for each season! These are obviously for fall. The only things that won't change for the different seasons are the picture, the bowl, and the reed diffuser.

All my votive holders are from Yankee Candle. They have the cutest stuff!

The bowl is a gift from my very close friend (and MOH) Shannon. She went to Africa to volunteer at an orphanage for 3 weeks at the end of July and she brought this back for us! It fits in the shelf perfectly and the colors match our living room so well! She has great taste!

The end tables. I looooove my Kate Spade "Belle Boulevard" frame! I have the matching vase too, which you will see when I post our kitchen! All the pics right now are professional wedding pictures, but that will change when we have children and take professional family photos!

101 Things in 1001 Days

Got this idea here. I will bold stuff as I complete it! I love having a list and this seemed like fun! Let me know if you do it so I can look at yours! :)

Start date: October 2, 2009

End date: June 29, 2012

Marriage & Family

1. "Date night" with Jeff once a week
2. Surprise my husband with a gift just because once a month 
3. Get pregnant, have a baby (sooner rather than later would be nice on this one!)
4. Eat dinner with my family once every 2-3 months
5. Continue building our marriage relationship, always improving
6. Visit Jeff's family every 2-3 months
7. Try a new restaurant once a month
8. See a new movie twice a month

Mind, Body, & Soul

9. Lose 5 lbs.
10. Floss my teeth daily
11. Workout 3-4 days each week
12. Drink more water
13.  No snacking after 7:30pm

14. Lower sugar intake
15. Whiten teeth again
16. Spend 30 mins a week in prayer
17. Read one book per month 
18. Lift weights 2-3 times each week
19. Have my first facial 

20. Get a massage once a year (more if I'm pregnant)
21. Go to eye doctor for the first time
22. Make sure my jewelry gets checked and cleaned every 6 months
23. Find a church near us that we like and get involved
24. Only eat when I'm actually hungry, not when I'm bored

Home is Where the Heart is

25. Buy a bigger house (preferably in a different town with a better school system and a single family home) once we have a child
26. Empty entire fridge, clean it, & put everything back in once a month 
27. Reorganize kitchen cabinets
28. Decorate more for each season
29. Mop floors every 2 weeks

All Work, All Play

30. Start grad school
31. Learn more recipes
32. File my students' work once each week
33. Work to continue improving my teaching skills 
34. Give sincere compliments to 10 people every 2 months

Hit The Open Road

35. Go to Disney once more before having a child.
36. Go on another cruise
37. Go apple picking
38. Go to a haunted house at Halloween time
39. Visit 3 new states
40. Go to Vegas for the first time!

I Love Food

41. Try 2 new recipes per month 
42. Go out to breakfast once every 2 months 
43. Learn how to make pumpkin pie
44. Learn to make homemade cookies (besides chocolate chip)
45. Bake goodies at Christmas 
46. Eat at a favorite restaurant once a month
47. Learn to decorate a cake or cupcakes
48. Learn how to use our bread maker

Friends are Forever

49. Host more dinner parties
50. Have themed parties
51. Have a girls' night at least every 2 months
52. See Jeff's Harvard friends 1-2 times each year
53. Keep in touch with friends further away through Facebook, phone, or e-mail
54. Send Christmas/Hanukkah cards to my friends/family 

Pinching Pennies

55. Put most of my paycheck away into savings for our future family
56. Less impulse purchases!
57. Make dinner at home for 4  full weeks (not consecutive weeks)
58. Put more $ into my 403B

Cha-ching

59. Lease a new car in July 2011
60. Get Jeff's student loans completely paid off (this one is almost done!)
61. Shop at Old Navy more and J.Crew less to get needed items (not wanted items)
62. Discuss bigger purchases with Jeff before making them
63. Go out to eat less often
64. Remember to use coupons as much as possible

Pay It Forward

65. Clean out closet every 6 months & donate old clothes 
66. Donate food @ Thanksgiving or anytime EHS has a food drive
67. Get more involved in church and serve others through church

Just For Fun

68. Visit one new baseball park (I've been to Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, and Camden Yards.)
69. Go to more Yankee games both home and away
70. Go to a concert (preferably Elton John for the 4th time)
71. Visit the Bronx Zoo
72. Visit a Museum
73. Go on a wine tour
74. Go to more Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey games
75. Take pics in a photo booth
76. Clean out my car once each week 
77. Go to an aquarium
78. Stay at a B&B in a different state
79. Go to a spa for a day treatment 
80. Go ice skating
81. Gamble in a casino in either CT or Vegas
82. See a Broadway show in NYC (preferably The Lion King)
83. Go to Abis for hibachi dinner at least once each year
84. See the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center
85. Go to Disney at Christmas time
86. Go to Disney for the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival in the fall
87. Go to The Melting Pot for a birthday dinner for either me or Jeff
88. Go to Morton's for a steak dinner
89. Go back to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore

Hobbies & Skills

90. Be better about commenting on other blogs 
91. Work up to being able to run 2-3 miles without walking or stopping in between
92. Read some books that aren't light chick-lit
93. Get the guest room painted and decorated
94. Learn how to keep flowers/plants alive for more than 3 days

Capture the Memories

95. Create shadow box of wedding items
96.  Get family photos taken twice
97. Get some professional wedding pictures matted and framed for our home
98. Frame wedding invitation and hang it up in our dining room
99. Take more photos when we go out
100. Be better about blogging
101. Create a baby book if I am lucky enough to get pregnant and have a baby within this time frame

101 in 1001

102. Donate $5 to charity for each item not complete on this list.
103. Make a new 101 things to do in 1001 days list once this is complete.

SO AWESOME!

One of our groomsmen is a scout for the Florida Marlins, so he gets access to some awesome tickets to playoff games, World Series, etc. He sent me a private Facebook message last night asking me to call him to discuss his wedding gift to us (he didn't want Jeff to know about the gift before talking to me about it). I called him back today and he is sending Jeff and I to games 1 and 2 of the Yankees vs. Tigers ALDS! I am SO FREAKING EXCITED! Jeff and I went to the Yankees vs. Cleveland ALDS game 3 back in 2007 thanks to this same groomsman and it was the only game in the series that they won! The seats are also really good, so I will get to see Sabathia and either Pettitte or Burnett (whoever they decide to have pitch game 2) in decent seats! I think the games are on a Wednesday and Friday next week and I am hoping both are night games and I don't have to worry about taking a day off from work!

This is without a doubt one of my favorite wedding gifts! :D