Christmas (in food photos)

Dan and I spent a week over Christmas in his hometown near Pittsburgh, and I think I gained a few pounds!  My husband isn't a shutterbug, so after the holiday I realized that my photos from our trip were kind of typical Aubrey snaps: food and cats.  But since the food was pretty special, I figured I'd share what my Christmas looked like, in food pics.  Like, a TON of food pics.  I warned you.

(I'm sorry, New Year's Resolutioners.  I'm with you, I'm counting points again and working on getting my waistline to reduce...  but I couldn't not share, because this is NOT the normal Midwest Christmas fare I'm used to!  Definitely a unique thing for me.  I don't think I saw ham or a pumpkin pie I don't think.)

Where Dan grew up, there's a place called Mac's Donut Shop, and it's delicious.  It's located a block from a Dunkin Donuts, and yet it's packed every morning because the donuts are so good!  The family that runs it now has had it for three generations.  I loved their frosted cake donuts especially.

Pretty much every place I saw with donuts had black & yellow ones... classic Pittsburgh.

There's a large Italian population where Dan grew up, and he has Italian heritage in his family.  So my plate, at every meal, looked like a smorgasbord of homemade Italian goodies!  This plate is all kinds of wonderful: braciole, meatballs, roasted chicken and potatoes, pasta in sauce.

I even got to learn a bit about how to cook things from my mother-in-law, including making ricotta gnocchi...

...meatballs...

...and of course sauce.

My MIL also made seafood to celebrate Christmas; I do like crabcakes!

And I can now add Italian Wedding soup to the short list of soups that I like!

We didn't dine out much, but when we did I could never finish my plate!  Here's a meatball calzone I had at Vesuvio's... I ate almost half of it and saved the rest for Dan.

Dan also took me to one of his favorites, Burgatory.  I had a burger that had bacon in the patty and added rubs, sauces, etc. for a really rich, custom burger.  Not bad!  We also had Salted Nutella Crunch milkshake to share, and it was over the top.

At homes we visited, they also had these Italian nougat candies; I liked the vanilla flavor.

Now, here's something I didn't anticipate...  cookie platters.  When we were at my niece's high school graduation, there was a huge table "buffet" of homemade cookies out.  I thought it was just because she loved cookies!  Dan thought I was weird because I mentioned this was a strange tradition... as it turns out, it's regional to the Pittsburgh area.  He had not idea that everyone else didn't do this.

Everywhere we went, everyone had cookies!  The cookies with Hershey kisses were especially popular given Hershey is in PA.  Here are three I snapped.  I also saw lots of pizzelles, an Italian waffle cookie.

As you can tell, it was a Christmas filled with plenty.  It's hard not to look at these photos and think about how rich my holiday was, and how fortunate I am to have more than I could ever want to eat.  But I also think about the love that went into making so many of these from-scratch foods.

And since I love a good cat photo, I leave you with a snap of my sister-in-law, Agnes. :)  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday too!

36 Hours in Phoenix

Last month, I needed a few more airline miles to maintain my frequent flyer status, so I took a quick (seriously, 36 hours!) trip to Arizona to see my sister.  As it happens, my mother needed to do the same thing, so the women of the family (and my future brother-in-law JA) reunited.  Mom & I stayed at the gorgeous Omni Montelucia Resort.

View from our room

I got in late Friday night, we drove through In N Out Burger, then settled in for the night.  In the morning, Sissy and J picked us up for breakfast.  We headed to Jewel's Bakery & Cafe, where I loaded up on protein with the Chorizo Omelet, which had a corn tortilla inside it!  Yum.

Then we drove to White Tank Mountain Regional Park for a hike in the park.  We saw old petroglyphs, cacti, and the slow trickle of a waterfall at the end.  It was a leisurely hike, but a good time!  The scenery was totally beautiful.

This cactus must be so old!  Saguaro may grow their first side arm any time from 75–100 years of age.

Had to wear my Army "A" as it was the day of the Army-Navy football game

Mother-Daughter photo in front of some petroglyphs

Afterwards, we met up with J's parents to refuel with some pho from Saigon Kitchen.  It was a chilly weekend in AZ, so it was the perfect way to warm up.

We wrapped up the night by checking out Sissy's house remodel, shopping at at outlet mall, then heading to the resort for a good night's sleep.  Mom and I drank wine and did face masks, and I enjoyed the amazing shower at the resort.  It was like its own room!

View of one of the resort pools

In the morning, when I woke up, we headed to the resort's Joya Spa for a wonderful massage, courtesy of Sissy!  It was my first full body, professional massage, and it was heavenly.  I felt so weightless and relaxed.  I might be hooked!

While I was only in Arizona for 36 short hours, it really felt like we made the most of it.  I'm headed back to AZ for work soon, so I'll have more adventures to share when that trip wraps!  At the spa, after my treatment I picked up one of their message cards at random, and it made me smile.  It reminded me to spread joy, and it was perfect timing!  Definitely a wonderful reset.

Sunday Lately: Creating, Finding, Switching, Forgetting, Craving

I'm back, two weeks after my first link-up on Sunday!  (I missed last week because Dan and I were driving across Ohio... literally.)  I joined a Facebook group for bloggers called Blogger Tribe, a small but awesome group that supports fellow bloggers.  The ladies who started Blogger Tribe also lead this link-up, so I thought I'd mention it here.  I check into the group almost daily!

CREATING...

Lately, I've been creating Excel and Powerpoint documents, for both school and work.  But what I want to create?  I want to catch up on my DAR Project Life scrapbook (it's up-to-date through October, and I probably need printer ink) as well as assemble our 2015 "yearbook".  Every year I create a hard-cover photo book (via Shutterfly or whoever has a deal) to recount our year in review.  I have separate books this year for Peru and our wedding.

If you're wondering how I do an annual book without feeling overwhelmed, as I upload photos to my computer, I pull and duplicate my favorite snaps from every set to a separate folder.  Then, when it's photo book time, I am choosing photos from a narrower selection.

FINDING...

I'm finding my center again.  I know I'm a big part of the organizations for which I volunteer.  I know I'm helping my family by working hard and collecting a paycheck.  ... but it's hard sometimes when you're feeling overwhelmed!  Sometimes we just have to find ourselves first, and I'm finding (okay, maybe seeking is the better word) my balance.  (Also, here's a photo of Bourbon helping me with the laundry.  Because this post needs to be cuter!)

A photo posted by aubreyland325 (@aubreyland325) on Dec 29, 2015 at 9:52am PST

SWITCHING...

I need to switch gears and be more active, especially 7 weeks out from the Disney Princess Half Marathon!  I'm running to partner with my friend Anna who's doing her first half, but in classic fashion I've basically forgotten that *I* need to run it too so yeah...  I guess my New Year's resolution is to follow through on commitments and get my act together.  And to get in better shape overall, because it's sooooo much harder once you hit 30, seriously.

FORGETTING...

I was just thinking yesterday how I forget what life was like without Dan.  We've only been married for five months, but we've been a part of each other's lives for years now.  It feels really good to be able to look at your partner and know your life is better because they're in it.  (We got engaged a year ago on New Year's Eve... time flies!)

A photo posted by aubreyland325 (@aubreyland325) on Jan 1, 2015 at 11:18am PST

CRAVING...

I'm trying to eat healthier in the New Year, or at least less of the crap that I usually love to eat.  Lately, I'm really craving burgers and fries.  I think if I had to choose between French fries and sweets, I'd end up with fries every time.  Except when it's head-to-head with a really good cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.  Then it might be a challenging choice.  (Ugh, now I'm craving cake too.)  This is going to be tough.