Thankful Day 2

Next on my list of Thankful things/people is my husband. I've been told I don't sing his praises often enough (by my own mother and sister who always take his side). Here's a list of random things he's done this month that I'm grateful for.



1. He gets up at 5:30AM almost every single day to walk the dog (rain, sleet, cold and all) and never complains about it.

2. He doesn't mind that I only work 3 days a week. He says he'd rather I be in a good mood than find another job to fill my other days.

3. He didn't bat an eye when my car needed a set of these that cost about half my paycheck.



4. He takes out the trash. Every time. He also puts it in the back of his truck and takes it to the dump. In his work clothes.

5. He gets really excited when he gets to eat fast food. On that note, he eats anything I make for dinner and claims to like it (even if it's vegetarian) - although he usually follows it with a long session of eating ice cream straight out of the carton.

6. He didn't get mad when I received a letter from the state of Virginia claiming I didn't pay them income taxes in 2007 and now owe them back taxes plus penalties and interest. (I mean who knew just because you maintain residency in one state, EVEN IF you are working and earning money in a different state, you still owe the first state income taxes?! OK well evidently a lot of people knew this but I didn't.)

7. He cleans up the mice we catch in our basement. We're up to 3.

8. He thinks it's funny when I do things like this to Willow.



Do I get irritated when I'm doing his laundry and find his socks still wet out of the dryer because he balls them up? Yes. How about when I hear the words..."Well I really do NEED another coat/pair of skis/bindings/goggles/hat for skiing this winter." Yes. Are these small things compared to all the wonderful he brings to my life? Yes.

PS - Just for proof that I am sometimes nice...here is one time that I gave in and he bought himself an expensive new ski coat.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is right around the corner (yikes in almost a week from now!) and this time of year always makes me consider all the things I'm thankful for (original I know). I loved this idea from Young House Love....check out this pic from their blog :)

It's such a cute way to share things you're thankful for. It won't work for me because I'm too lazy to make one of those cute little jars, Matt doesn't like to write stuff, and I'm already trying to de-clutter my house. SO I thought I share a few things on the blog for this next week instead - everything from the small everyday to the big things.

(By the way, If you don't read Young House Love...you should! It's one of my favorites and was the first blog I ever read. They have great ideas!)

So Day 1....this morning I went on a run with Willow. A small part of my day (30 mins maybe) but it made me grateful for all of the following:

1. I had Willow to run with me - it makes it so much more fun.

2. I was healthy enough to run.

3. The weatherman was wrong about the forecast today (surprise). He called for rain all day and it wasn't raining! I think I might have even seen a little sunshine peek through.

4. I didn't have to work today so I could actually run in the daylight hours. It's dark here in Vermont by about 4:40 now.

5. This song on my ipod. Sweet Serendipity by Lee DeWyze. I've loved him ever since his audition on Idol.

Image from Entertainment Weekly.com

Yes I voted for him - every week!

I'll be back with more :)

Yum

I tried these 2 recipes last night and they were delicious! I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch today :)

Roasted Winter Veggies with Cheesy Polenta

AND

Black Bean-Smothered Sweet Potatoes

I also recently received some crock pot recipes from friends at book club so I'll be sure to post those as soon as I try them!

A New Favorite Place!

I'm spending this Monday morning recovering from the past few days. Matt and I had the luxury of spending an ENTIRE weekend with my sister exploring Boston - it was amazing! I have to say...I'm not a city girl...but if I was...I would want to live in Boston! It's such a great city. If you've never been you MUST go! I love the history and small city feeling. It's only about 3 hours from Burlington so I hope to visit many more times :)

When planning our trip I asked a bunch of friends that have lived, or now live, in Boston for suggestions on things to do and see. We only had 2 days so of course we didn't get to everything but I think we hit most of the highlights. We were also lucky to have our friend Nick (one of Matt's fraternity brothers) serve as our tour guide for most of the weekend :)

Poor Nick and Matt spent most of the time waiting while we took pictures.



Don't feel too sorry for them because they did get to have some fun too :)



OK now for a rundown of my favorites spots.

1. Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market - Some fun historical facts: Faneuil Hall was built in 1742. It is where colonists first protested the Sugar Act in 1764 and established the doctrine of "no taxation without representation." It was also where George Washington toasted the nation on its first birthday. But enough history. This place was so cool - lots of fun shops and people watching.

Check out the show going on up front - I think he was hanging upside down trying to escape from a straight jacket.



At night the street is lit up...



It's also a great place to find late night snacks...





2. Newbury Street/Back Bay - Shopping, Shopping, Shopping. We walked down this street on Saturday and had to return Sunday to do a little bit of shopping. Everything from Chanel and Burberry to H&M. Our "tour guide" Nick told us that Tom and Gisele live in Back Bay :)

Commonwealth Ave. is another road that runs through the Back Bay neighborhood - it reminds me a little of Monument Ave. in Richmond.





The street is lined with beautiful buildings like this one.



3. Running along the Charles River - We stayed in Cambridge right on the river so we had to try the running path. Great spot!

4. Boston Common - The oldest park in the country. Beautiful!



















5. Beacon Hill - Again...If I was a city girl...I would live in Boston...If I lived in Boston...I would live in Beacon Hill. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. A neighborhood nestled between Boston Common, the Charles River, and the government district, Beacon Hill is just adorable. We were in love. There are much better pictures of the adorable rowhouses, restaurants, and shops out there but here are a few I took.





We spent most of our time there like this.



Taking pics of cute things like this.



We had brunch in Beacon Hill at 75 Chestnut with my friend Johanna (I didn't get your picture!).



Dinner in Beacon Hill at Artu.





Did I mention we loved it?

6. Harvard Square - I couldn't leave Boston without catching a glimpse.





Harvard Square is a little bit of a hike from the rest of the city (I thought) and on the way there we passed places that made us wish we hadn't already eaten!



Haha. I laugh every time I see that pic. I've spent too much time around 5 year olds. Not sure what Meg and Matt's excuse is.

7. Liberty Hotel - This hotel used to be a prison but is now an awesome bar/club/hotel. I didn't get many good pics but you can visit the website if you're interested.



8. North End - A cute neighborhood with an Italian feel. We were told to try Mike's Pastries but this was the closest we got.



Old North Church is also here...





Others....The South End was a cute trendy neighborhood (I didn't take any pics). We passed this weekend market...not sure what it was called.





Whew. We missed out on Charlestown (have you seen "The Town" yet? Great movie) and on Fenway. Hopefully we can get to those on our next visit!

Meg - miss you already! Good thing Thanksgiving is coming up soon. xoxo

A Few Fall Hikes

We're currently in what Matt calls the "elbow season." We don't consider this fall any longer because all the leaves are off the trees, but it's not quite winter yet either. Vermont in November is a lot like Wyoming was, muddy. That hasn't stopped us from getting outside to explore - at least when it's not raining!

Here are some pics from a few hikes we've done recently...one was just Mt. Philo around sunset (I was playing with my iphone camera), another was down near Middlebury to a place called Abbey Pond, and then this weekend we hiked up to the Stowe Pinnacle. Here you go...

Mt. Philo - you can tell these are from a few weeks ago - the leaves still looked beautiful!







Hi Will!



Abbey Pond - We had a nice day for this hike up to a small mountain pond. The leaves are actually looking really pretty here too!

We saw this little guy on our way in. Glad we didn't come across him on the trail - Willow was terrified from the car and we all know how dog vs. porcupine would turn out!



Somebody told us that it's hunting season (we obviously had little clue on how that would affect us) and it's really important to wear orange while hiking. So we bought some - we all chose to sport our orange in different ways.





We hiked beside this beautiful stream all the way up!





I didn't take any at the top (oops) but here are a few others from the way up.









We stayed at the lake house after this hike so I included this one just because I think it's pretty :)



On to "elbow season." Today we hiked what's called the Stowe Pinnacle, a small peak that's a little lower in elevation (so we didn't run into all the snow up top again) with great views.

The trail was very well maintained and we saw some fun stuff along the way.





We saw some cool surface hoar frost on the way up. If you haven't seen hoar frost before, it's really crazy looking! I have only seen it form on top of snow, but on this hike it had formed on top of the frozen ground. Don't mind the mud in the picture :) As I said, it's muddy around here these days.



I couldn't help but think that it reminds me of pulled sugar candy.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jYfTN52Wo8QW4tUG8M7iJw

There was no snow on the ground, but the trees were frosty!

Finally, some views from the top.













Hope you had a great weekend! I'm sure we'll spend this week trying to adjust to sunset coming at 4:30pm - at least we don't live in northern Russia where it's dark continuously from November until February - yikes!