Marriage Means...

Trying to control your patience when your husband runs the dishwasher with (literally) FOUR dishes in it because "there were no clean forks."

Seriously, Hubs? You're grounded.

Happy NEW MOON Week!!!!

Baaahahahaha, that sure brightened up my Monday, and I hope yours as well! (Clearly, I've had too much time on my hands...)

I can't thank all of you enough for your absolutely amazing comments and well-wishes. Each and every one of them made me smile, and definitely helped lighten my dreary mood. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been spending time in bed, watching movies, lunching with friends, and being plain lazy. Well, two weeks of that could drive a crazy man nuts, so I'm officially getting back on my game this week and preparing to dive straight into this crazy job market. I will also be back to blogging this week, so look forward to seeing Halloween Pictures, stories from my mini weekend visit to NYC, TONS of yummy recipes (I've been cooking up a storm!), and mooooore!

Thanks again for all your comments, I have the BEST Followers any blogger could ask for!! :D

xoxo

A Little Bloggy Break

Hello Lovers..

Soo... I have some sad news. I lost my job on Monday... along with 40% of my department. It was mostly unexpected... we'd heard rumors, but I didn't want to believe anything, of course. I kept seeing it happen to people around me, and now all of a sudden, I too am a statistic of this crappy economy.

I've been hit with the corporate axe before, and this time around I am not nearly as wound up as I was the first time.. Hopefully with more connections and experience, I'll find another job soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

On top of dealing with all of that, I'm also under the weather with cold-like symptoms. I've pretty much been holed up in my bed since Sunday. I will hopefully do something with myself today so I don't continue to feel like a lump on a log! I will be taking a (short) bloggy break, but I will be back as soon as my health/spirits pick up.... With Halloween pictures to share!

Thanks for understanding! I know I can count on all my bloggy buddies for comfort and support! xoxo.

The Heebie Jeebies...

I wanted to write this post WEEKS ago, but thought it would be kind of anti-climactic unless I had visuals to back it up. So i waited patiently and now I can tell all of you about one of the coolest days of work I've ever experienced.

Its no secret that I love October and Halloween. A few months ago, I sort of switched positions at my job. I moved from writing/editing our "fansites" (websites dedicated to shows ONLY), to writing/editing what we're calling "original content"... non-show related stuff to get fans other than our viewers to still come to our site.

My very first original project ever was to develop a Halloween site. Obvi, I couldn't have been more excited. I had tons of ideas and began right away. Then one day.. I got a call from one of our video producers saying that she was going on a day-trip to interview a Ghost Expert/Vampire Researcher and if I wanted to tag along to get content for the Halloween site.

Um....... HELLO?!?!

OF COURSE, I jumped at the opportunity. On October 1, we drove 3 hours north to Allentown, Pennsylvania to interview Katherine Ramsland, a well-known and well-respected Vampire Researcher and Ghost Expert. She's written over 30 books on the topic, and she is currently a professor of Forensic Psychology at DeSales University in PA.

October 1 happened to be the first really COOL day of Fall... the colors were just starting to show as we drove up to the small campus in the middle of no where. We unloaded all the camera equipment and walked up to Katherine's office which was located in an old house that was turned into a faculty building. According to the staff, the house/office is haunted, too... as are some parts of the campus.

We spent a few hours filming an interview with Katherine... mostly talking about Vampires and the fantasy role they play in today's society. It was so cool... and that day just happened to be cold/eerie which made it even cooler. The campus is basically tucked in the woods, and I could see the first October leaves changing/swaying in the wind under a dark and overcast sky. After the interview, Katherine talked a little bit about ghosts as we walked to visit a dorm room where a student had experienced some unusal paranormal activity... it was like a REAL Ghost hunt! (I was totally freaked out/excited).

The student talked in DETAIL about the weird things that had been happening in her dorm room... scratches on doors, bells jingling for no reason, seeing/hearing things randomly, stuff being moved around... poor girl was totally freaked. Katherine was calm while talking to the girl about how to communicate with the "spirit" and the other Discovery producers and myself stood shell-shocked while we listened. It was a VERY cool experience.

Katherine also told us some CREEPY stories that she's experienced in her years as a forensic scientist... including communicating with spirits, hearing voices in video recorders, and stuff that's happened when she's stayed overnight in haunted locations by herself... it gave me chills and since I believe in ghosts, you better believe I slept with the lights on that night.. Hubs wasn't too happy.

Here are a few things I learned about ghosts...

1. Apparently, between 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning is "dead hour"... the most active hour for spirits. (A couple weeks ago, I woke up at 3:45am to go to the bathroom... and I actually WAITED until 4:01 to go... just in case).

2. If you think you might have paranormal activity somewhere.. one way to test is set up a tape or video recorder. Sometimes a recorder can pick up sounds/voices that the human ear can't. (are you freaked out yet?)

3. Most ghosts/spirits just want to communicate. Any form of activity might just be a means for attention.

FREAKYYYY.

As for Vampires, Katherine mostly researches Vampire history and their sociological aspects... vampires themseleves obviously don't exist (sorry all you Twilighters!), but she's fascinated with the cultures and stories that have developed because of the creature.

Here is part of a clip of Katherine talking about ghosts... I actually accidently slipped into this clip when I didn't realize they were filming... ooops! Can you spot me?

If you want to watch more video on Katherine's Interview, go to my Halloween Video Playlist, or CLICK HERE to go to Discovery Channel's first-ever Halloween Site!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Flashback

I wish I was old enough to go Trick-or-Treating.

Seriously.

Trick-or-Treating was the highlight of my LIFE. I loved getting all dolled up and prancing around my neighborhood. Is there an age limit on Trick-or-Treating?? Because if there isn't, I might seriously consider it..

Throughout the years, especially once I got older, I have had some STELLAR Halloween costumes. I love Halloween, as it is one of my favorite holidays... and my friends in college and I would always go ALL OUT.

Here are some of our masterpieces throughout the years....

I was Jane of the Jungle...

Bad picture... But I was Cleopatra

Black Cat (Kinda boring...).. but this was a two-night Halloween extravaganzaa, and my real costume was.....

Jasmine... (And Aladdin, duh)

UPS Carrier... ("What Can Brown Do For You?")

That year, I was also a female Zorro...
And Hubs was Zoolander... best costume everrrr!

He had "Magnum" down PAT! And yes, he wore makeup, haha!

Piece de Resistance... My friends and I dressed up as The Spice Girls our Senior Year

Hubs was Luigi...

Oh, and let's not forget the year I was Flava Flav....

I'm not going to share our costume choices this year (yet..), but just so you know... they're CUTE!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

What are you dressing up as??

Game Week Menu

Monday night, Hubs' beloved Eagles played MY beloved Redskins... a game that has never been really fun to watch for me since we started dating.

Needless to say, the Skins lost MISERABLY, as we've pretty much been doing ALL season, which made me upset/sad/mad and of course, grumpy in the face of an all-too happy Hubs.

I haven't been nearly as involved in this year's football season as I normally am... mainly because its just a disappointment. Le sigh. It's a rebuilding year, I guess... right?!

Apparently I'm not the only Redskins Fan with their head in their hands....

Pretty classic. I'll still cheer on my boys... but as each week goes by it does get a little bit harder to stay positive!

With that said... the real reason for this post is because the Philadelphia Phillies are headed to the World Series for the second year in a row... woooooot!

(Disclaimer: I'm not really a Phillies fan. In fact... I'm not really a baseball fan, to be honest... I'm a football girl through and through. Although, Post-season baseball is a different story, as the suspense occasionally has me on the edge of my seat. Oh, and Jayson Werth's butt looks AMAZING in his uniform. I mean... he's good at bat.)

Since I never particular cared for baseball, I don't have a "team" per se, and kind of jumped on the Phillies bandwagon because, well.. Hubs made me.

When the Phillies went to the World Series last year, we were on our honeymoon. It was the first time any Philadelphia sports team had won a championship since Hubs was BORN. He was bitter that he didn't get to watch all the games... (I mean, forget the fact that we were cruising along the coast of Greece... he's pretty much still bummed that he missed the winning strike against the Rays. I mean, really Hubs... where are your priorities??) His parents even called us after they won... 4am in the morning Greece time. (Yeah, I was REAL excited).

Anywho... Since Hubs has basically been ripping apart my couch cushions in anticipation of this year's World Series, I decided to make it super special since we're actually IN the country this time around. Each night a game is on, I'm preparing a special Sports-themed menu. Game One is tonight and I'm going to make sausage and peppers... a yummy recipe which I'll post later on in the week.

I started the Game Week Menu on Monday during the Eagles/Redskins game and made Chili Cheese Dogs. I thought I'd be all Martha Stewart and stick the chili in the slow cooker all day. It seemed good in theory... until my slow cooker decided not to cooperate and switch to the "warm" setting after 7 hours. I came home to a pot of burned chili and a note from Hubs saying he ran to the store to get more ingredients. Total bummer, but I made it work with a delicious stove-top turkey chili that can be made in around 30 minutes. Rachael Ray would be so proud...

Turkey Chili Dogs

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. ground turkey meat
6 hot dogs/hot dog buns
1 medium sized onion diced (red or white... I used a mix of both)
1 can Rotel
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 teaspoon each of: oregano, minced garlic, paprika, cumin
1 chicken boullion cube
shredded cheddar cheese
salt/pepper to taste

Cook onions in a big saute pan until translucent and remove. Brown turkey (in same pan) and drain fat. Add onions back into pan with turkey and add all remaining ingredients except the hot dogs, buns and cheese. Bring to a simmer, cover and let sit for 20 or so minutes.

Meanwhile... cook the hotdogs (you can do this however way you prefer... I boiled them and then grilled them on a griddle with some butter so the skins got a little crispy). In a shallow baking dish, line up hot dog buns and toast for a few minutes. Add hot dogs, spoon chili over the dogs and sprinkle with cheese. Optional: Place under the broiler for about 3 minutes until Cheese melts.

I served with tater tots... yum!

Parissss

Our vacation was incredible! We had a wonderful time.. and for the very first trip since I think the day I was BORN, I barely planned a thing. Normally I make schedules and itineraries and lists of restaurants I want to try that I look up beforehand, and map out each and every place we'll go in advance... This time.. none of that. I wanted our trip to be relaxing and enjoyable for both of us... I didn't want to have to worry about rushing off to meet a tour group, or feeling pressured to do something on the list. It turned out to be great and relaxing, which was just what we wanted. We would sleep in every morning, hop over to the Boulangerie on our block and get fresh croissants for breakfast and then decide what we wanted to do that day.

Our apartment ended up being in a great part of town with easy access to a lot of the main sites either by walking or a short metro ride. We saw pretty much everything to see in the city itself... all the monuments, famous streets, and cathedrals. We took a Seine River Boat tour one afternoon, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and lazied in the gardens by the Louvre sipping delectable cappucinos. We drank wine, and ate more cheese than I'd like to admit. We even went out one night with some friends I know there who are studying abroad. (Little traveler's tip: going out til 4am is no biggie when your jetlag thinks its only 10pm. However... you will pay for it the next day).

If I had to pick, I'd say the coolest thing we did was on our actual anniversary... we made reservations at this amazing restaurant that overlooked the Eiffel Tower. I mean, it was seriously RIGHT THERE. Hubs kept saying I wasn't looking at him during dinner, but I couldn't stop staring at it... it was right behind his head! It was a pretty amazing experience!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I was definitely sad to leave. Mostly because I can't remember the last time Hubs and I spent 6 whole days straight together doing whatever we wanted and just enjoying each other's company. It was a nice break, and I think I can officially say I've passed my traveling bug onto him because he's already thinking up ideas of where he wants to go next... gotta love it!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures! :)

Hubs laughing and saying a very fat "NO" to me in the Christian Louboutin boutique...

Paris Teaser....

I am slammed at work this week playing catch up and working on a new project that wasn't supposed to launch until January, but um... now needs to be live the first week of November. (e-gads!)

I promise to post a full Paris re-cap as it was completely perfect and amazing and deserves a wonderful post dedicated to it... however, since I'm drowning in work, I won't be able to write that post now.

I will however post a few fave pics from the trip! As part of my "paper" gift, Hubs hired a photographer who does a walking tour around Paris for a few hours to take some absolutely amazing pictures of us that I will cherish forever and ever.

Thank you all again for all your wonderful comments on our wedding re-caps and the well wishes for our anniversary! Promise to be back in the blogosphere as soon as humanly possible!!

Happy One Year!

Today is our one year anniversary. It flew by.

When I was young, I would always wonder what my "husband" was doing at that very moment. What was his name? Where did he live? What job would he have when we got married? What did he look like?

When I met Hubs, I can't say I immediately knew he'd be my husband... but I fell desperately in love with him pretty quickly and when it came time to talk about marriage, I knew without a doubt that there was no one else in the world I wanted to share my life with. He was the one.. the one I thought about all those years, the one I dreamt about, the one I wanted to be with more than anything. Our first year of marriage was everything I could have ever hoped it would be and I look forward to many, many more years.

Happy Anniversary, Hubs! Even if I told you I loved you all day, everyday, it wouldn't be enough. You're the best and I couldn't have asked for anything more in a husband. I love you :)

Wedding Re-Cap, Pt. 4

Thanks to all of you for your sweet and touching comments! I love each and every one of them :)

Its been fun to go back and look at all the pictures and relive that day moment, by moment. It goes by so fast, I tried to make it last as long as I could but that was short-lived. Re-capping the weekend like this has been a nice reminder of how amazing and special the whole celebration was. On to the reception!

Our cocktail was held in the hotel's main lobby or "Rotunda" as its called all fancy-like.

The ballroom was decorated exactly like I had pictured it in my mind. When we walked in for the first time, I barely remember anything except looking around and gasping to myself at how perfect and beautiful it was. I wanted it to be soft, rich colors that gave off warmth and a sense of the Autumn ambiance we were trying to project. We had amber and gold lights placed on the floors along the legnth of the room so they shone up against the walls.

We used cream colored linen table cloths, with sheer organza overlays in a rich orangy gold color. Our centerpieces were two different sizes, alternating short and tall. The flowers we used were Orange Tiger Lilies mixed with Leonidas Roses and cream roses. Our florist put shimmery gold rocks in the bottoms of the vases and the tall centerpieces had pinpoint lights shined on them from the ceiling so the water shimmered gold underneath all the flowers. Gold chargers were set at each place setting, and gold Chivari chairs topped off the elengance of the whole room. I was a real advocate for the chairs, I think they really tied the whole room together.

I also opted to have a Sweetheart Table. I'm kind of against head tables because I wanted our bridal party to be able to sit with their guests. I also didn't want to have to choose which table of friends/family we'd sit at... so a Sweetheart Table seemed to be the perfect solution. In the end, I loved the decision we made. We barely sat down anyway, but when we did it was nice that it was just the two of us.

It took a while to get everyone lined up and situated before we entered into the ballroom. Hubs was getting nervous and agitated so to calm him down we took a "mental picture" of that very moment... and even though most of the night was a blurr, that moment stands out clearly in my head. I remember looking at him and being like, "hey... we're married." and we both started giggling. We ended up walking into the Rocky theme song, a) because we thought it was funny, and b) picking a song to walk into was pretty much the last concern on my mind and I couldn't think of anything I LOVED. So, Rocky it was.

One of the only decisions Hubs made for our wedding (partly my fault... partly his), was our first dance song. Journey is one of our favorite bands, and we didn't want to pick a cheesy song like Faith Hill's Breathe or something that's been done a hundred million times like Etta James' At Last... so, the obvious choice is an 80's song... right? We ended up going with Journey's When You Love A Woman, (which is probably NOT the same "When You Love A Woman" that came to your mind... there are two different versions). It was a hit and in my opinion, the perfect song for us.

After the first dances we had speeches, dinner, TONS of dancing, and the cake-cutting. Our cake was made by Leslie of "Fancy Cakes'' who has participated in Food Network Competitions and even been on the Today Show for her fabulous cakes! She even made a cake for the Pope last year when he came to town. Our cake was a champagne color with gold swirled frosting all over it and embellished eggplant colored ribbon wrapped around each tier. It was two flavors... 2 tiers chocolate fudge and one tier Lemon Raspberry.. mmm... I can't wait to dig into that this weekend!

One of the best things we did at our reception was set up a Photo Booth. It was a HUGE hit! We had over 250 guests, so there was no way we'd be able to take pictures with everyone, or get pictures of everyone. We also had 4 photographers, so one of them was stationed at the photo booth at all times. It was a great way to get tons of pictures of us with/without our guests and people loved it..

We ended the night with a huge farewell exit and clambered into a Rolls Royce while everyone threw rose petals at us. It was a perfect, amazing night... I wish I could do it all over again!

To add a special touch to our Thank-You cards, I photoshopped one of our farewell pictures and had those printed onto folded cards. I loved the way they turned out.

If you want to see a full slideshow of our wedding photos, our Photographer put together an amazing one... Click here to watch! Thanks for letting me share our special day with all of you! :)