Ok, so I've had a few complaints that the blog has seemed abandoned recently. Well, it's the holidays... what can I say, I've been busy! However, I do take it as a compliment that some are waiting with bated breath for the next adventure of Dan and Britt (ok, maybe I'm flattering myself a bit, but really, I do feel honored!)
A nice long update and some new pictures will be headed your way soon :) I just need to do some uploading. However, here's a quick teaser of what's to come:
-A Christmas re-cap
-some home improvement
-a new addition to the Welding clan (and just to squelch any rumors before they begin, this does NOT mean that I am pregnant, capeesh?)
-and maybe a few more nuggets of goodness... we'll see
Check back soon! *^.^*
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Vie Grun Sin Deine Blatter!
my German might be a little off... but here's some photos of our tannenbaum:
Daniel stringing the lights
Our assortment of ornaments (LOTS of Disney and Hello Kitty!)
Daniel stringing the lights
Our assortment of ornaments (LOTS of Disney and Hello Kitty!)
The picture's a little blurry, but here's our tree in all it's glory!
"Our 1st Christmas" (the ornament we bought in Scranton)
"Our 1st Christmas" (the ornament we bought in Scranton)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
5, 7, 5
reflections on newlywed life - a haiku by Brittany B. Welding:
Left-handed rings worn
And we live together now
Laughing all the time
Every once in a while I like to bust out a haiku; I used to do them with a fair amount of frequency when I kept up my other blogs, so it only seemed fitting that I add one in here.
It's just a fun little way to sum up life with graceful simplicity.
Left-handed rings worn
And we live together now
Laughing all the time
Every once in a while I like to bust out a haiku; I used to do them with a fair amount of frequency when I kept up my other blogs, so it only seemed fitting that I add one in here.
It's just a fun little way to sum up life with graceful simplicity.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Traditions
This past weekend was once again filled with Christmas cheer:
On Thursday night, after enjoying some delicious Chinese and Japanese fare for mine and my brother's birthdays, Dan and I went to Darren's to check out an island that he has been trying to get rid of. While there, we spent some time looking at all the pictures that Darren and Jenn have of their pit, Buster, with Santa. It's one of their Christmas traditions that started back in 2001 when they took my parent's dalmatian, Maggie, to see him (Pet Smart does pet photos with Santa every year to raise money for homeless animals; Darren even played Santa last year).
Well, we were inspired! So, on Saturday morning, we took Phoebe to the Deptford Pet Smart and let her pose for her very own Santa portrait. She was a little scared of all the dogs, but did well regardless. All the volunteers kept commenting on what a good cat she was; it made Dan and I feel like proud parents! Sheesh, just wait until we have kids... judging by the things we do with our cat, the children could be in trouble! ;)
After dropping Phoebe off at home, we went over to Duffield's to pick out our Christmas tree. Dan had his eye on the one he wanted before we even parked. Unfortunately, we were didn't have the pick-up, so we paid for the tree and got it tagged so we could return later (we got it today, but it's still chillin' outside against the house... hopefully it will go up Wednesday or Thursday; I'll post of pictures once it's all decorated).
Later that evening, it was off to Eastern for Grand Illuminations! This is the 3rd year the Alumni Office has done this event, but the first year I've really been able to help out with it. It's an open house for Alumni and EU neighbors. Walton's hall's get decked, party food is served (i.e. desserts, veggies, crackers and cheese, etc.), and there are events for the kids. This year, we also did a cookie exchange. It was a long night since I had to go early and stay late, but lots of fun and very Christmas-y. Also, it snowed that night, and it was beautiful and great timing for the event - a Christmas miracle!
Baird Library all set up for the cookie exchange
Walton all lit up in the snow
Daniel and I by the poinsettia tree, a Grand Illuminations tradition.
I always feel very lucky that Daniel loves Christmas as much as I do. We are both so enamored by this season and cannot wait to celebrate with everyone. Today, before doing of a heck of a lot of holiday shopping, we also bought a present for ourselves, but it's also a gift for our future children:
Growing up, Daniel and I both had this advent calendar and have *fond* memories of fighting with our siblings over got to move the mouse. Well, we got curious and searched it on ebay... and there were bunches of them being sold (as "vintage" advent calendars, nonetheless!). After being out bid from last night, we found one with a "buy it now" option and went for it. Let the traditions begin!
On Thursday night, after enjoying some delicious Chinese and Japanese fare for mine and my brother's birthdays, Dan and I went to Darren's to check out an island that he has been trying to get rid of. While there, we spent some time looking at all the pictures that Darren and Jenn have of their pit, Buster, with Santa. It's one of their Christmas traditions that started back in 2001 when they took my parent's dalmatian, Maggie, to see him (Pet Smart does pet photos with Santa every year to raise money for homeless animals; Darren even played Santa last year).
Well, we were inspired! So, on Saturday morning, we took Phoebe to the Deptford Pet Smart and let her pose for her very own Santa portrait. She was a little scared of all the dogs, but did well regardless. All the volunteers kept commenting on what a good cat she was; it made Dan and I feel like proud parents! Sheesh, just wait until we have kids... judging by the things we do with our cat, the children could be in trouble! ;)
After dropping Phoebe off at home, we went over to Duffield's to pick out our Christmas tree. Dan had his eye on the one he wanted before we even parked. Unfortunately, we were didn't have the pick-up, so we paid for the tree and got it tagged so we could return later (we got it today, but it's still chillin' outside against the house... hopefully it will go up Wednesday or Thursday; I'll post of pictures once it's all decorated).
Later that evening, it was off to Eastern for Grand Illuminations! This is the 3rd year the Alumni Office has done this event, but the first year I've really been able to help out with it. It's an open house for Alumni and EU neighbors. Walton's hall's get decked, party food is served (i.e. desserts, veggies, crackers and cheese, etc.), and there are events for the kids. This year, we also did a cookie exchange. It was a long night since I had to go early and stay late, but lots of fun and very Christmas-y. Also, it snowed that night, and it was beautiful and great timing for the event - a Christmas miracle!
Baird Library all set up for the cookie exchange
Walton all lit up in the snow
Daniel and I by the poinsettia tree, a Grand Illuminations tradition.I always feel very lucky that Daniel loves Christmas as much as I do. We are both so enamored by this season and cannot wait to celebrate with everyone. Today, before doing of a heck of a lot of holiday shopping, we also bought a present for ourselves, but it's also a gift for our future children:
Growing up, Daniel and I both had this advent calendar and have *fond* memories of fighting with our siblings over got to move the mouse. Well, we got curious and searched it on ebay... and there were bunches of them being sold (as "vintage" advent calendars, nonetheless!). After being out bid from last night, we found one with a "buy it now" option and went for it. Let the traditions begin!
Friday, December 5, 2008
a birthday and some more christmas pictures
I was hoping to have this images in a different order, but it's late and I'm not about start playing with the html at the expense an extra 20 minutes of sleep... Anyway, here are a few nuggets from the last few days...
"Our First Christmas Together" a gift from my madre for my b-day :)
Rosie needed some Christmas cheer, so we surrounded her with pot holders. (does that go against everything she stands for?)
Some holiday baking for Grand Illuminations (a Christmas event hosted by the EU Alumni Office). I made festive cupcakes, peanut butter logs (Daniel helped me roll the peanut butter mixture all up into balls), and a chocolate-almond pound cake. yum!
A shot of our window lights at night... so pretty!!
Having some fun with one of my b-day gifts from Daniel - a giant can of aqua net! This is what I get for complaining that I needed hairspray ^-~
Walton Hall - one of the main buildings at Eastern - with a wreath! Eastern's campus is pretty!! There will be more Christmas EU pictures post Grand Illuminations tomorrow
"Our First Christmas Together" a gift from my madre for my b-day :)
Rosie needed some Christmas cheer, so we surrounded her with pot holders. (does that go against everything she stands for?)
Some holiday baking for Grand Illuminations (a Christmas event hosted by the EU Alumni Office). I made festive cupcakes, peanut butter logs (Daniel helped me roll the peanut butter mixture all up into balls), and a chocolate-almond pound cake. yum!
A shot of our window lights at night... so pretty!!
Having some fun with one of my b-day gifts from Daniel - a giant can of aqua net! This is what I get for complaining that I needed hairspray ^-~
Walton Hall - one of the main buildings at Eastern - with a wreath! Eastern's campus is pretty!! There will be more Christmas EU pictures post Grand Illuminations tomorrow
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Christmastime is here at last! We have been listening to Christmas tunes since the honeymoon and now we can officially start celebrating the season! I have already watched Elf 1.5 times and Dan and I have sat down together to watch both Charlie Brown Christmas specials and the Grinch. We also decorated *^.^* Having a whole house was tricky, but loads of fun.
The decorations went up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now, all we need is a tree and we'll be set! (in the meantime, we have a balsam and cedar scented candle)
The centerpiece of our dining room table- really simple to make, but it looks gorgeous! I'm thinking about photoshopping this image into our Christmas card:
Dan and I bought advent calendars while we were in the Poconos (his is the blue one of the right, and mine's the red one to the left). We also picked up this "collector's" plate from McDonald's. It was cute, and I'm a sucker for all things Christmas:
My Auntie Diane got us this beautiful nativity as a wedding present. I decided to be Biblical and set the wise men up across the way from the manger since they were still traveling ;) The guy that keeps kneeling really slowed them down:
Our dining room table with wintery placemats and our dinky little fake tree:
Twinkle lights around the window and the bar! They look so pretty at night and show up really well when you look at the house from the outside. Also, after 4 years of attempting to hang Christmas lights in a dorm room with nothing but tape, it was very satisfying to be able to hang the lights using a staple gun; this method saved a lot of frustation:
Last, but not least, we also decorated Phoebe!! She is such a good sport. We also got her a Christmas cat nip toy to make for any embarassment we may cause her:
The decorations went up the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Now, all we need is a tree and we'll be set! (in the meantime, we have a balsam and cedar scented candle)
The centerpiece of our dining room table- really simple to make, but it looks gorgeous! I'm thinking about photoshopping this image into our Christmas card:
The kitchen... I had to turn the kitchen window into our mantle for now since we don't have a fireplace. We only have little stockings at the moment, so it works out well (the 3rd stocking in the middle is for Pheebers ^.^):
Dan and I bought advent calendars while we were in the Poconos (his is the blue one of the right, and mine's the red one to the left). We also picked up this "collector's" plate from McDonald's. It was cute, and I'm a sucker for all things Christmas:
My Auntie Diane got us this beautiful nativity as a wedding present. I decided to be Biblical and set the wise men up across the way from the manger since they were still traveling ;) The guy that keeps kneeling really slowed them down:
Our dining room table with wintery placemats and our dinky little fake tree:
Twinkle lights around the window and the bar! They look so pretty at night and show up really well when you look at the house from the outside. Also, after 4 years of attempting to hang Christmas lights in a dorm room with nothing but tape, it was very satisfying to be able to hang the lights using a staple gun; this method saved a lot of frustation:
Last, but not least, we also decorated Phoebe!! She is such a good sport. We also got her a Christmas cat nip toy to make for any embarassment we may cause her:
Happy Thanksgiving!
On November 27th (the date which also happens to be my brother Jason's birthday ^-^), Dan and I celebrated our 1st holiday together as a married couple: Thanksgiving!! Actually, we were fortunate to be able to celebrate the holiday twice. On Thursday, we had turkey with the Smith clan and on Friday we feasted with the Weldings. Both celebrations left us stuffed and content and we enjoyed the time we were to spend with both sides of the family.
For the Smith Thanksgiving, I tried a new brussel sprout recipe (recommended by my mama), which was amazing! Basically, it's brussel sprouts that are sauted in bacon grease. I don't know how you can really wrong with that combination. They were so yummy, I cooked them again for the Welding Thanksgiving.
I also tried my hand at making one of personal Thanksgiving favorites, broccoli cassarole, for the first time. Although I added a tad to many Ritz cracker crumbs on the top, the cassarole came out great! (I had a lot to measure up to; this dish is a famous Smith tradition!). Dan was not much of a fan of the cassarole (too much cheese, methinks), but was nice enough to sample it for me :) I also made my traditional pumpkin muffins.
Although the bulk of the feast was put together by my mother (and, let me tell you, it was one heck of a feast!!), I had a good time cooking my three items; it made me feel very wifely, or something like that *^-~*
Dan and I brought most of the ingredients over to the Welding's house to cook so we could enjoy the Macy's Day parade together (we are still sans-cable TV) but I finished cooking the brussel sprouts at home after we saw Santa arrive in NYC before heading to my parents house (as a side note, I LOVE m kitchen).
We also took our first family portrait. Phoebe was a little to ADD to coporate fully, but we got a nice picture none-the-less:
(aren't we cute??)
We shared our Thanksgiving meal with my parents, Nana, and brother, Darren. We ate our selves silly and also spent a good part of the evening watching the reception on our wedding DVD since my Nana missed our dancing at the actual reception.
On Friday evening (after a long day of Black Friday baragain hunting for me, and work for Daniel), we headed across the drive way to celebrate our second Thanksgiving with Dan's parents, Leah, Jim, Ellie, Rose, and Keith. We skipped the turkey for Thanksgiving #2 since we had all eaten it at some point earlier in the week and Dan's Dad made an amazing roast. We had another amazing feast complete with fancy cupcakes/place holders made by Rose.
Of course, one of the highlights of the night was that we got to see Ellie again. She was a little bit fussy when Uncle Dan was holding her, but I was still able to get a cute picture. I can't believe how much that little one has grown already! She is absolutely adorable.
The night was also topped off with a game of Dutch Blitz, a sorting through of some beautiful teacups, and antics in the garage invloving Jim and Keith attempting to go under tha house.
For the Smith Thanksgiving, I tried a new brussel sprout recipe (recommended by my mama), which was amazing! Basically, it's brussel sprouts that are sauted in bacon grease. I don't know how you can really wrong with that combination. They were so yummy, I cooked them again for the Welding Thanksgiving.
I also tried my hand at making one of personal Thanksgiving favorites, broccoli cassarole, for the first time. Although I added a tad to many Ritz cracker crumbs on the top, the cassarole came out great! (I had a lot to measure up to; this dish is a famous Smith tradition!). Dan was not much of a fan of the cassarole (too much cheese, methinks), but was nice enough to sample it for me :) I also made my traditional pumpkin muffins.
Although the bulk of the feast was put together by my mother (and, let me tell you, it was one heck of a feast!!), I had a good time cooking my three items; it made me feel very wifely, or something like that *^-~*Dan and I brought most of the ingredients over to the Welding's house to cook so we could enjoy the Macy's Day parade together (we are still sans-cable TV) but I finished cooking the brussel sprouts at home after we saw Santa arrive in NYC before heading to my parents house (as a side note, I LOVE m kitchen).
We also took our first family portrait. Phoebe was a little to ADD to coporate fully, but we got a nice picture none-the-less:
(aren't we cute??)We shared our Thanksgiving meal with my parents, Nana, and brother, Darren. We ate our selves silly and also spent a good part of the evening watching the reception on our wedding DVD since my Nana missed our dancing at the actual reception.
On Friday evening (after a long day of Black Friday baragain hunting for me, and work for Daniel), we headed across the drive way to celebrate our second Thanksgiving with Dan's parents, Leah, Jim, Ellie, Rose, and Keith. We skipped the turkey for Thanksgiving #2 since we had all eaten it at some point earlier in the week and Dan's Dad made an amazing roast. We had another amazing feast complete with fancy cupcakes/place holders made by Rose.
Of course, one of the highlights of the night was that we got to see Ellie again. She was a little bit fussy when Uncle Dan was holding her, but I was still able to get a cute picture. I can't believe how much that little one has grown already! She is absolutely adorable.
The night was also topped off with a game of Dutch Blitz, a sorting through of some beautiful teacups, and antics in the garage invloving Jim and Keith attempting to go under tha house.
Dan and I were very happy to be able to spend the holiday with both our families without having to split the time up. Looks like we'll be saving that tricky business for Christmastime (it's going to be an interesting conglomeration of traditions, for sure!). Anyway, it was the best way we could imagine to spend our 1st holiday together and I'm positive that the Thanksgiving season will always be a special time for us in the years to come.
And now that Thanksgiving's over, we can officially begin celebrating the most wonderful time of the year! Yay!!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Honeymoon (mis)adventures
After 9 months of planning and a couple stressful weeks, the day Dan I have been waiting finally arrived... our wedding!!! It was fabulous. I could probably write chapters about it, but since most everyone who will end up reading this were there, I'll skip that for now. However, I'll be sure to some pictures at some point ^-^ there are a lot of them!
After all the stress of planning, we were of course looking forward to a nice relaxing honeymoon. Which we got, for the most part; although, we did have a few bumps along the way.
We went to Bear Creek, PA in the Pocono Mountains and stayed in an adorable vacation cottage. It flurried almost everyday that we were there and it was beautiful. The cottage was very cozy inside as well, which was great, because Dan and I both were sick at different points during the week and really needed the rest; we took the "in sickness and in health" part our vows seriously, apparently.
My car, Pearl, also needed some TLC during the trip. Her dry-rotted tires from 1995 were not too pleased with the bumpy mountain roads. As such, we spent a good portion of our honeymoon in the Wyoming Vally Mall at the Sears Auto Center replacing all four of them. We found ways to entertain ourselves while we waited:
(Yes, we are aware that we are huge dorks. ;) Atleast we know that our lives will never be boring. ^.^)In between our trips to Sears, we were able to take a day trip to my favorite city and yours... Scranton!!! Unfortunately, we didn't run in to Jim Halpert or Pam Beasley, but we did go the Steamtown Mall where, among quite a few other things, we purchased a Dwight magnet at the Dunder Mifflin Shop. The Steamtown Mall is really unique because it's built inside a group of older buildings; we almost missed it when we drove by (thankfully, there was a giant sign for Steve and Barry's that gave it away). There are train tracks behind the mall with a bunch of old railway cars hanging out on them and a little bridge so you can overlook them. Dan was impressed by the train car that had a bus on it.
Don't worry, we didn't spend our whole time in the Poconos couped up in malls and the cottage. We were able to enjoy the outdoors as well; we would have been nuts not to!! We took a day to go horseback riding, which despite being really cold, was a lot of fun.
On the way to the stables, we drove past over the Frances E. Walter Dam and were treated to an amazing view.
We also took a walk around part of the Bear Creek Lake, which was right up the road from where we were staying, and spent some time exploring a waterfall that was all frozen. 
When all was said and done, we had a lovely time and will definitely be returning to either the Pine Paddock Cottage or the Bischwind B&B (both owned by the same people). Even though we had a few set backs, it was great way to spend our first week together as married couple *^.^*
beginnings of a blog
So, I decided it was time to start a blog. This endeavor has been partially inspired by both Genevieve and Leah and the fact that I missed blogging. Also, I thought it would be an easy way to keep friends and family up to date on mine and Dan's lives.
My aim is to write just a bit (although, based on previous blogs, I'll probably get carried away at times) and post quite a few pictures. I love taking pictures of everything because I have a terrible memory and this helps me remember stuff; I also love looking back on them and reminiscing... however, if Dan had it his way, I would stop taking so many. If I had it my way, I'd buy a fancy SLR digital camera with a really quick shutter speed and rapid fire option so I could take more. Anyway, that tangent is quite long enough...
I have a lot to update on to start, but to make it easy, I'll break it down into a couple posts. This 1st one isn't very exciting anyways... onto a much more interesting topic: the honeymoon!!
My aim is to write just a bit (although, based on previous blogs, I'll probably get carried away at times) and post quite a few pictures. I love taking pictures of everything because I have a terrible memory and this helps me remember stuff; I also love looking back on them and reminiscing... however, if Dan had it his way, I would stop taking so many. If I had it my way, I'd buy a fancy SLR digital camera with a really quick shutter speed and rapid fire option so I could take more. Anyway, that tangent is quite long enough...
I have a lot to update on to start, but to make it easy, I'll break it down into a couple posts. This 1st one isn't very exciting anyways... onto a much more interesting topic: the honeymoon!!
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