Friday, March 30, 2012

A Dreamboat and a Dream Camera


Happy Friday loves!  I hope you all have had a wonderful week :)
John and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary! 
I have to admit, every day I become more and more smitten with this man.  He is truly the light of my life and I feel so blessed to be his wife.  My heart melts knowing that we have the rest of our lives to spend together.
And that each moment, whether good or bad, will be weathered together, side by side.
I am a lucky girl. 








Isn't he a dreamboat?  :) 


On another note....
My birthday is coming up (well it's still over a month away, but I've already started the countdown. I love birthdays.)  And at the VERY top of my list is this beauty.

The Nikon D5100 Digital SLR Camera



Right now I use my Canon Powershot, which is great, but I've been dreaming of a "big daddy" camera for years now.  I would love to get into photography a little more, take better quality pictures, and capture precious moments to come.  Precious Moments.  Do y'all remember those books/devotions?  How sweet were they?  Ok, side-tracking.

Anyway, I wanted to see if any of you were Nikon owners/lovers, and had advice/suggestions/tips for me! 
What do I need to know? 

XOXO

P.S. Saw the Hunger Games movie and loved it!!  Definitely recommend reading the books before seeing the movie because the movie leaves out a lot of character development and emotion, but I was very happy with it!  Team Peeta!  ;)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Dinner and Movie


Hubs and I are celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary this week :)  May I just add that our wedding feels like it was yesterday?!  Still so happy and so very much in love with this man.

So, since we just did our big spring break trip, we are doing a low-key date --
a yummy italian dinner out, and then a movie. 
And we might get a little crazy and buy some candy and popcorn :)

We are going to see THIS .....



I seriously can't contain my excitement....it's all I can think about.  I absolutely LOVED the books.  And I want to be Katniss...no not for Halloween.  For life.
Have any of y'all seen the movie yet???  What did you think???

XOXO

Monday, March 26, 2012

Road Trip Part 2 - Princeton!

Back to our Spring Break road trip -- (you can read about our DC adventure HERE), next up was Princeton, NJ!  Our future home!  On the drive from DC to Princeton, we were very anxious and excited, pretty much every emotion you could think of, we I had.  This was going to be our new home, and it was all so new, and FAR away!  (John did fly up for his job interview but pretty much just saw the airport and the office.)  

Well, as we rolled into downtown Princeton, we were VERY pleasantly surprised!  
The downtown was alive with families, dog-walkers, stroller-pushing moms, and Princeton students....there were cute boutiques, local restaurants, & beautiful churches and plazas!  It was adorable, quaint, and picturesque.  






We stumbled upon delicious bakeries....


an amazing Italian market....



Lots of good shopping spots....

 

 

 

 

And a street named for John (!).....
It was meant to be ;)


After strolling around downtown and having lunch at Olives (we loved it!), we made our way to our hotel to check in and freshen up.

Next up was dinner, and we decided to head back to downtown to find a fun spot to eat. 
We were in the Mexican mood (let's be honest, we are almost always in the Mexican mood), and settled on a cute little BYOB restaurant called "Taste of Mexico", where we dined on fresh, authentic, and plentiful platters of Mexican goodness....

delicious tacos for me :)

The next day was spent driving all around Princeton and the surrounding areas (we drove for probably 5 hours!), exploring neighborhoods, apartments, town homes, and houses.  We were able to narrow our choices down to just a few places, and decided that we would probably have to come back again in May to finalize a place to live.  We really enjoyed getting to "know" the city and the area, and overall, we were very impressed.  There are beautiful parks, lakes, jogging/hiking trails galore; shopping centers with all of our favorite chain stores and restaurants (Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joes, Pottery Barn, PF Changs, Panera etc.), and also fun/local shops and eateries that we can't wait to check out once we move.  

Of course, the prestigious Princeton University is there also, and it is an absolutely stunning campus.


During our drive, we needed to stop for gas, and got to experience having our gas pumped for us for the first time!  It was so weird!  It sure will be nice in the Princeton winters to be able to stay in the car while someone else fills up the tank :)

 

After spending the ENTIRE day exploring the area, we were pooped, but managed to get ourselves cleaned up and headed out to a famous pizza place in Princeton - Conte's Pizza :)

 
It did not disappoint!


The next morning (our last day in Princeton), we had 2 more appointments to look at town homes in downtown, and then grabbed a delicious lunch at Hoagie Haven.

 

 

 

 
It was such a beautiful day!  We had the BEST time in Princeton, but it was time for our next stop....
NYC!!

On the train to NYC!!

Stay tuned for the next post on our Big Apple adventure :)

XOXO
Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Road Trip Part 1 - DC!

Last week, John and I headed off for a spring break road trip, and the first stop was DC!  We had the best time exploring the city, visiting the zoo, museums, and Capitol Hill, and enjoying dinner with good friends!  Here is a re-cap!  Enjoy!  :)

Made it into the city! 

The zoo was first :)  It was the most beautiful day!



Gigantic turtle

This guy was the funniest -- he had a rough day ;)





 We checked into our hotel, and then ventured out to find a yummy restaurant for dinner -- we decided on Sichuan Pavilion, and we LOVED it!





Then we did an evening stroll up to the White House - so pretty.


The next day, we wandered around the National Mall.....



Museum of Natural History



The Capitol



Beautiful Cherry Blossoms had just bloomed!




Tour of the Capitol...



Supreme Court



Library of Congress


AND the Air and Space Museum!




Then ended the night with dinner with friends at Central.






It was a wonderful (but short!) 2 days in DC -- we can't wait to go back!
Next up...Princeton!

XOXO