Friday Favorites

I'm taking a short break from posting about our Greece trip* to channel my inner Oprah and discuss a few of my favorite things this week.  This might become a weekly feature, because I tend to get fixated on things and I need a place to share my enthusiasm without driving my husband crazy.  Well, even more crazy.

Babel by Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons new album Babel.  It was released while we were still on vacation, and I bought it pretty much as soon as we returned.  Aaaaand I have not stopped listening to it since.  In fact, I might be listening to Babel as I write this.  There's just something about their folksy style and emotional lyrics that I just can't get enough of.  Plus, they use a banjo a lot.  Based on the tremendous sales the album has experienced, I doubt I am not alone in my obsession.

Green Cardigan

Old Navy-buy one now

It's finally that time of year when the lightweight cardigan I carry around at all times is more likely to be worn than shoved into my purse in case of emergency.  And, more often than than not, I am wearing this perfect green cardigan from Old Navy.  I fell in love with the color (obviously, it's green), but the $20 price tag told me it was fate.  There's even a 20% off coupon right now, so I may go pick up more colors.  A girl can never have too many cardigans, right?

Iced Coffee

I know that cold weather will be upon us soon, but I have no plans to give up this iced concoction any time soon.  I actually don't drink caffeine on a normal basis, but I love coffee, as long as it's not hot (weird, I know).  Normally, I will make a large batch of decaf coffee early in the week and use the remainder as the week continues (I went to Starbucks today as a treat, yay Friday).  I've even been getting fancy and making my own syrups to add a kick of flavor.  I made some delicious pumpkin syrup last weekend to remind me that it is indeed fall even if I'm not quite ready to admit it.

Scandal

Tv Guide

I had to throw a tv show in here.  One of my friends here mentioned how much she loved this show, so when the first season popped up on our Netflix streaming, I thought I'd check it out.  The first season is a mere seven episodes (?!!? that's not a season, that's a miniseries, people) so I watched the whole thing within a couple of days and was hooked.

The second season is about four episodes in and I love it.  I think the combination of politics, drama, being based in DC, and Kerry Washington being a badass while always looking impeccable is perfect.  I was hesitant when I saw Shonda Rhimes created it (I couldn't take her work seriously after she killed Meredith then brought her back to life in season 3 of Grey's Anatomy),  I find myself tuning in every week for more.

Post Apocalyptic Young Adult Trilogies

Via Barnes & Noble

I love reading YA books because they are quick, entertaining (ie: I don't have to think), and are usually full of mushy teenage romance that sucks me in every.single.time.  After I finished the Hunger Games trilogy earlier in the year, I became enamored with this whole post apocalyptic craze that seems to be everywhere these days.

I've read Divergent and Insurgent (Veronica Roth), and Delirium (Lauren Oliver) in the last few weeks and just picked up Matched (Ally Condie) today.  For some reason, all of these are trilogies.  I don't know when trilogies became all the rage, but apparently if you write post apocalyptic YA novels with a heavy emphasis on teen romance, you must make it a trilogy.  Now you know.


What are your current obsessions?  Does anyone share in mine?  Anyone else notice the prevalence of green in post besides me?  Looooove!

Happy Weekend!

*I totally underestimated how difficult it would be to narrow down, compile, and then write about all the adventures we had in Greece, so I'm going to regroup this weekend and find a new

Greece: We Arrive!

Our trip to Greece was my first time abroad, which was both exciting and fear inducing for me.  I consider myself to be a pretty good flyer, but the twelve hour flight from Philadelphia to Athens was far longer than any flight I have ever taken.  I think the flight to Puerto Rico was the longest I had taken before this trip, and it was a meager five hours (about half of which was waiting to take off in Atlanta).

Before I could take the longest flight of my life, I had to take the shortest flight of my life from DC to Philly.  Seriously, the flight was like twenty five minutes.  The plane was so small, we had to board by using the steps.  The only time I had seen planes being boarded by their steps is on tv, so this made me feel  like a very important dignitary.  It doesn't take much to make me feel important, clearly.

My fellow dignitaries boarding...very slowly

Why Greece?

So, before I tell you all about our Grecian adventures, I thought I would bore you explain why we chose Greece for our vacation.  

I know.  I know.  Like I need to explain it.

I'm Shipping Out to Boston

Yes, we are leaving for another much shorter, yet very much anticipated trip to Boston (in case the title didn't give it away).  We actually had this trip planned and booked before our Greece trip, but I didn't realize how soon after getting back we would be off again.  Not that I'm complaining, I love traveling, especially when it is to visit awesome people.

Awesome person we're visiting (1 of 2) on the left/ Awesome person I married on the right

Brian's brother has lived in Boston for about 3 years, and we have wanted to visit him for a long time.  Unfortunately overseas deployments (him) and wedding/bar-taking/joblessness (take your pick-us) has prevented us from visiting until now.  

So, sorry for the lack of posts this week, but I promise to be back with stories and pictures of Greece!  It took a lot of time, but I managed to get all of my pictures edited and ready for the internets.

Happy Weekend!  Anyone else traveling for the holiday* weekend?

*I know some people don't consider Columbus Day a holiday, but our federal government does, so I call it a holiday.

Reunited and it Feels So Good

I missed a lot of things while on vacation (our comfy bed, the ability to flush toilet paper, the little things), but the thing I missed the most was my wedding set.

Photo by Jamie Grant Photography

That's right, I left my wedding and engagement rings at home and opted to buy and wear a 'stand in' ring for our vacation.  Although I wasn't really worried about anything happening to my 'real' rings while we were in Greece, I didn't want to worry about them at all.  Not while swimming in the ocean, not when my fingers were swollen from the immense heat and I couldn't wait to take my rings off, and not when walking to our hotel Athens in a seedy area at night.

So, I bought these rings to wear during our vacation.