My Five Fall Must-Haves

I love Fall. Who doesn't? I've seen all these online lists and magazine articles lately like "Fall Must-Haves for 2016!" and "Fall Fashion Trends!" I laugh when I read these articles because my own personal Fall fashion trends and must-haves are a little different. So I've decided to create my own Fall Must-Haves list for fun. You're welcome.

#1 - The Grey Sweatshirt

 By far the most exciting part of Fall for me is the day I get to pull the ole grey sweatshirt back out of the closet. When I was 13 I bought a grey sweatshirt from Walmart for $5 in the boys section. I wore that grey sweatshirt every Fall and Winter until I was 26, when I finally upgraded to a new grey zip up hoodie from Nike.

Nothing to wear and leaving in 2 minutes? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! Wanna lay on the couch and be lazy? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! Cold? Throw on the grey sweatshirt! It's perfect for every situation.

#2 - Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix

Ok- I'm not all into the Pumpkin Spiced Latte and pumpkin beer and pumpkin EVERYTHING, but I AM into the Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake and Waffle Mix. Mix this stuff up for pancakes (my personal preference) and throw some chocolate chips in.... HEAVENLY.

#3 - Gilmore Girls

Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. A lot of the show's episodes were filmed in Fall (it's set in Connecticut) so it just feels right to curl up on the couch and watch episode after episode of it once it's actual Fall. Right now is also the perfect time to watch it as the 4 new episodes come out on Netflix on Thanksgiving weekend!

#4 - Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha

When Starbucks releases their Pumpkin Spiced Latte, most people go nuts. I am not one of those people. I personally think it's kinda nasty. What I DO go nuts over though, is the Salted Caramel Mocha, usually released at the same time as the PSL. Chocolate, caramel, and salt all in one delicious warm cup. Yes, please. This year they have the Salted Caramel Mocha Frappucino. It was just OK, so I'd stick with the hot version if you're going to try it.

#5 - Capri Blue Volcano Candle

Forget the pumpkin spiced or apple or cinnamon candles. It's all about the Capri Blue Volcano Candle. This is the best candle to ever exist, it smells up your whole house, and it is the perfect background smell for watching football, watching Gilmore Girls, laying on the couch in your grey sweatshirt, or any other Fall activity. When I searched Google for this picture, I found the candle for sale on Amazon and found a review of this candle that is too funny not to share:

"I remember where I was when the smell hit me for the first time: a mere 18-year-old who was lost in the world without a friend, without a purpose, and without a girlfriend. In a world full of uncertainty that one smell became truth to me, and that truth was: this is no ordinary candle.
That candle was Capri Blue’s Volcano, which is one of the greatest creations ever--comparable to mankind, penicillin, and the iPhone.
Since the discovery of smell as a scent, Capri Blue has been mastering the art of good smells that captivate and enslave your nostrils without apology.
Since my first purchase of the candle, my life has started to improve significantly: I have made friends, my grades have improved, my dad finally told me that he is proud of me, and my restraining order from Stacy has been lifted."

 So those are my top 5 Fall Must-Haves. What are yours?

Thanksgiving in Virginia

Tickets to fly to Kentucky for Thanksgiving this year were once again WAY too expensive, so we decided we would tackle the "short" 9.5 hour drive to Chuck's sister Shawn's beautiful and cozy house in Virginia. (Ever since our cross country road trip we feel that 9.5 hours in a car is a breeze .) So Tuesday evening, after I got off work and he got out of class, we started the drive. Looking back, trying to leave Boston at 5:15 pm on the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week was probably not the smartest plan, but oh well. Sometimes you learn things the hard way.

We drove through the night to get to Virginia. It rained the ENTIRE  drive, except for maybe 20 total minutes. The traffic was terrible. It took us 2.5 hours just to get 56 miles outside of Boston. So around 5:15 Wednesday morning, yes 12 whole hours later, we rolled into Virginia Beach. Chuck said it was just like Planes, Trains and Automobiles, except just Automobiles.

Wednesday was a nice relaxing day which was needed after only about 3-4 hours of sleep. All of the women of the house took the younger girls to the movie theater to see the new Disney princess movie, Frozen, which everyone loved, including the adults.

The rest of the day we spent doing grocery runs, prepping food for the next day, eating a yummy ham dinner, baking pumpkin bread and pumpkin pies, listening to Chuckie play guitar while the girls took turns singing along, and watching movies.

Thanksgiving Day we were all up early. We had breakfast, watched the Macy's Parade in our pajamas, colored turkeys and other things on some coloring sheets Shawn had for everyone, learned the Cups song, did crafts, wore festive hats, and colored some more.  Oh and I got to pump the turkey full of buttery goodness before it got cooked. :)

My parents and sisters kept me updated throughout the day on their Thanksgiving in Louisville.  They spent the morning with my tiny little Grandma deWitt.

 Later in the day when they were at my other Grandma's house, we got to skype with them and all of my cousins and aunts and uncles! We love FaceTime, especially on holidays.

Finally it was time to eat dinner. I made sure I didn't stop eating until I was miserable, as that's my personal Thanksgiving tradition.

That night we cleaned up, watched the Lady Gaga and the Muppets special (more on that in my next post) and watched the David Blaine magic special.

Friday, me and all the guys (all THREE of them...they are sadly outnumbered by the ladies) went to the outlet malls in Williamsburg. It was insanely busy, as one might assume it would be on Black Friday, but fun. Chuck and I walked around and looked for deals but didn't end up buying anything. After the outlet mall, we headed to Busch Gardens to meet up with the van full of girls.  Busch Gardens decorates the entire park for Christmas, sells hot chocolate and wassail at every vendor, has carolers walking around singing, and they put on several shows in all parts of the park. Most of the big rides are closed (I guess because it's cold) but a lot of the kiddie rides are open, which is what we probably would have been doing anyways. Also, year round, the park is divided up into countries, so it sounded really funny throughout the day when we'd talk about where to go next and say "Well we're in England, so let's take the train over to Italy and then we'll walk to Germany from there."

We rode some rides with the girls, saw two shows with singing and dancing, drank so much hot chocolate we all felt sick to our stomachs from it, and looked at pretty Christmas lights and decorations.

This next picture makes it look like Audrey was taken on this ride against her will but I promise she wanted to go and at the end of the ride she was thrilled and wanted to do it again.

On Saturday, everyone was pretty exhausted from our day in the cold, so we made that our "chill at home day" and did just that. The girls did some more crafts, we ate more, the guys watched football, I helped the ladies shop for some Christmas gifts, we taught everyone Telepictionary, and then we watched Spiderman.

Sunday we left Virginia at 6:30am, thinking we'd get home by 4 or 4:30 that day. Of course, we didn't get home until almost 7:30.

The driving portion of the trip was awful, but it was all worth it to get to be with some family for Thanksgiving.

Chattanooga

Last weekend we took a trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee that was part business, part pleasure. To give some background, Chuck and the rest of the LGO and Sloan students are right in the middle of recruitment period. This is the time of year when companies from all over the country and the world come to Sloan to recruit the students to come work for them after graduation. The students can interview for as few or as many companies as they would like. Chuck has been interviewing for a few companies, but one of the companies he already has an offer from is Amazon, where he did his internship.

Amazon has fulfillment centers (where they hold all the goodies you order so they can ship them out to you quickly when you click that beautiful, yellow "buy now" button) all over the country. If you are offered a position in the "pathways" program, you can choose which fulfillment center you would like to work for after graduation. So last weekend, Amazon flew us to Chattanooga so Chuck could check out the FC there, as he's already seen the ones around Louisville and in several other cities.

Boston sent us off to Tennessee in fashion on Thursday night!

 It works out that our best bud, Branden, lives in Chattanooga so we made a weekend out of it and got to spend some time with him as well!! Chuck had a great visit at Amazon and then we got to spend the rest of the weekend catching up with Branden and his new girlfriend/our new friend Tyler.

Unfortunately it rained the entire time we were there- Thursday night through Sunday evening- so we didn't get to do much outdoors.  We mostly ate, chilled, drank, ate some more, drank some more, and... ate. When we weren't eating or drinking, were walking the mall and waving to Santa, watching football, playing pool, or talking to a cab driver for way too long about nonsense.

Our favorite spot was Warehouse Row, an area in downtown Chattanooga with all of these brand new shops and restaurants. We went there twice- once on Friday night for happy hour at a place called The Social and the second time on Saturday morning for brunch at a place called Tupelo Honey Cafe. YUM. 

 

Branden and Tyler at the bar watching a football game before we played some pool.

 Pretty sure we got photo bombed by the guitar player...

We loved meeting all of Branden's Tennessee friends and hanging out with him and Tyler. The best thing about Branden is whether you're at a bar or just simply walking the mall, you're guaranteed a to have a good time!

It's Fall Again

When Chuck found out he was going to do his internship "off-cycle" I was excited for a number of reasons. At the top of my list though was the weather. Moving to Seattle in February meant we would only have to endure one winter in Boston (coming up in a few months...) and would get to enjoy two Fall semesters. Last year I raved on the blog about all the fun things we did during the Fall semester and how amazing it was to be in the Northeast for the fall. Now a couple weeks into Fall 2013... well, it's time to start raving again. Here's what we've been up to this past week.

Apple Picking:

Before moving to New England I thought there were three types of apples: red, green and Honeycrisp. Nowadays, I find myself at the apple display at the grocery reading all the names of the apples and trying to remember if I like Fuji or Gala apples better. This is what apple picking has done to me. We went apple picking again this year but to a different farm than last year and with less people. But the experience was pretty much the same: cider donuts (my main reason for going...), apple picking, eating apples while picking, throwing apples, apple cider, and then going crazy in the farm store buying up all the pumpkin butter and other goodies they make right there on the farm.

The guys checking out how they make the donuts.

Apples: this way.

Chuckie was a huge help while picking apples, as you can see.

 The girls.

The view driving to the apple orchard.

Our goodies.

A trip to Southwick:

My Aunt and Uncle who live in Western Mass. recently moved out of their house into a new condo. We haven't seen them since before our move to Seattle so we decided to take a trip out to see them and their new place and spend the night. They now live in Southwick, a little town west of Springfield. We arrived late in the afternoon, right in time for cocktail hour. (Side story: Cocktail hour is really big in my family and I love it. I remember when I was little, we would go to my grandparent's house for dinner and there was always cocktail hour: adult drinks for the adults, soda for the kids, and snacks for all. I LOVED cocktail hour. I still do. And I'm so happy that my mom and all of her sisters seem to have carried on the cocktail hour tradition. Seriously. Cheese, apples, crackers, hummus, chips and wine? Before an amazing, home-cooked meal? Nothing better, I tell ya.) After a delicious meal my aunt cooked for us, we sat and watched the Notre Dame football game and then went to sleep.

The view of their deck and backyard. So relaxing. :)

In the morning, my aunt and I made an 8:30 am donut run to a popular donut place right down the street, Mrs. Murphy's.  Well Mrs. Murphy also happens to be my aunt's name so naturally I made her stand in the rain and take this picture.

 We love visiting my aunt and uncle because it's fun to see family and also fun to spend time in a real house with cozy couches and candles and other house things. We can't wait to go back!

My new job:

I got a job, finally. (Yes I know, I'm a professional job-getter. I told my cousin the key is to apply for like 50 jobs and then you'll get maybe 2 interviews and secure 1 of the jobs. Seems to work for me pretty well.) I am working at MIT again but in a totally different role this time. I'm working in the Communications and Development office in the School of Engineering. My office is in the big dome building now, so I walk to work instead of taking the train since the dome building is only a 12 minute walk from our apartment. The job is fun so far and the people I work with seem to be really great and fun people, which always makes working more enjoyable. Oh and I can take walks on my lunch break and look at things like this.

This upcoming weekend is a holiday weekend, so we have 3 days to do as many Fall-type activities as we can. We have some pretty fun things planned so I can't wait to share pictures after this weekend! I hope you are all enjoying Fall wherever you are! And if you're not, well, then go put on a scarf and get a pumpkin spiced latte from Starbucks! What are you waiting for?


(P.S. I just reread this post and realized almost the entire thing revolves around food. Whoops. I have a problem.)

Glass Pumpkins and Street Pianos

This past Saturday, my friend Ana and I decided to take advantage of the perfect Fall weather and spend our day outside. Our first stop was at the Glass Pumpkin Patch on MIT's campus. The Glass Pumpkin Patch was exactly what it sounds like- a small field of pumpkins made of glass, by MIT students, for sale to the public. Some of the pumpkins were really cool, but since most of them cost upwards of $100, we just looked and didn't buy. :)

After the pumpkins, we had ice cream and discussed our next move.  Boston has this really fun thing happening right now called "Play Me, I'm Yours." It's part of a worldwide art movement where these "Street Pianos," painted by local artists, are placed throughout a city- in parks, subway stations, popular street corners, etc. - and open for the general public to sit down and play.  There are 75 currently in Boston and Cambridge, and they're awesome. http://www.streetpianos.com/

We decided, after listening to someone play a street piano next to where we had our ice cream, to venture into downtown Boston to find more pianos. We found a map online of where they were all located and decided the one near the Berklee College of Music was probably getting a lot of action, so we headed there first.

From there, we wandered up Boylston Street, into Copley Square, then through the Public Gardens to the Common. I can't remember how many pianos we saw along the way- maybe 6 or 7? And at each one we saw at least 1-2 different people sit down to play. The one in the Common had a line of people waiting to play!

 Our favorite piano of the day. It wins for design and location.

Of course Ana and I had to play a little too, even though we are both ex-piano students who unfortunately don't have a lot to show for our years of lessons. :(

The pianos are only here until October 14th, so Boston peeps- you better get out and find some before they're gone!

The rest of the weekend was pretty much spent in the apartment. Chuck did homework all day Saturday and Sunday. I spent my Sunday doing laundry and going to the grocery 3 times to get ingredients for a Turkey Pumpkin Chili. We have a busy weekend coming up though to make up for the not-so-busy one we just had.

Happy Fall!