Valentine's Day

Justin and I have never been one of those couples who goes crazy for Valentine's Day. I know it sounds cliche, but we have never felt like we need to have a special day to express our love with cards or nice things, we do that year round. But I was surprised with a beautiful card and a heart full of my favorite candy, Reese's Cups, on Friday night when I got home from work. We had already planned on making steaks for dinner either Saturday or Sunday night, but when we settled on Sunday, it quickly transitioned into a special Valentine's candlelight dinner. We recently purchased an indoor grill and were happy to put it to use with the delicious steak. Here is a picture of the indoor grillmaster.


The grill did a pretty nice job for our medium rare steaks. Here is a close up of the grill and grill lines. Justin had seasoned the steaks with Montreal Steak Seasoning earlier that morning for some added flavor.


The side dishes included some wedged red potatoes and brussel sprouts. We have recently discovered our like (love is a pretty strong word people!) of brussel sprouts. We cut them in half and then Justin sauteed them in about a tablespoon of EVOO. Then we baked them for about 20 minutes and added some toasted slivered almonds. Very tasty!

It was a very delicious and romantic meal, with some soft jazz Muzak in the background. Happy Valentine's Day Love. You are the love of my life and my best friend, looking forward to spending many more special days with you!

Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day and were sure to tell those you love how special they are to you.

Low Impact Snow Zone Update

Many of you may remember my earlier post about the snowfall in Philadelphia. As of January 18, the snowfall was 22.1", that is 5.9" above the normal. We have had a few big snowstorms which have made the commute quite stressful. I have figured out how to drive to work, where the best (read cheapest) parking can be found, schedules for a bus, train and subway. My wonderful husband gets up early to clean off and warm up my car. There has been a lot of weather anxiety going on over here. And I am not an anxious person!! To top it off, I work at a hospital and am considered essential staff. That means I am required to be there, no matter what the weather is or how hard it is to get into work, or its a day without pay.

About a week and a half ago, we got a huge storm. It had snowed all night and there was at least a foot. I got up extra early, like 4:45 AM, to check the situation. The train was delayed, but running. Justin got out nice and early to start digging my car out. I joined him once I was ready for work. After about an hour of shoveling, by both of us, and multiple attempts to get both cars out, we were stuck. We were tired, sweaty and defeated. I had to call in, which felt pretty bad. I didn't want to leave my co-workers hanging, but I couldn't get out of my parking lot. To top it all off, a car had gotten stuck in the exit driveway so the plow truck couldn't even get in/out. I will admit, I did enjoy a snow day home with my husband, and let's not forget Scout the Snow Dog (who had a blast by the way, bounding through 3 foot drifts), but it was kind of ridiculous. Justin spent about another hour helping neighbors shovel and push out their stuck cars. And then once people had spots shoveled, they began reserving them with lawn or camp chairs. And if you didn't, your assigned spot could be gone next time you came home. So we had to do the same, put out a chair in order to have a spot saved.

We haven't needed to use our chains yet, but at least we're ready, I guess. Hope you are staying safe and warm this winter season.

Snow Dog 2.0

Here are a few more pictures. He loves running in the snow and then jumping full force into a drift. The second picture is of him trying to find his tennis ball. He's really getting down there!

Snow Dog

Scout is a Snow Dog. He has been snow-shoeing a few times, but since we didn't get a lot of snow in Seattle, he hasn't had a ton of time to play in it. That was until we moved to the East Coast. We spent Christmas weekend in Ohio at my parents and he could hardly contain himself. They had several inches for him to play in and we could barely keep him inside. We'd play with him for awhile, bring him in the front door and he'd immediately race towards the back door to try and get back outside. He tried to incorporate fetch and snow playing, but this often led to a ball getting lost in deep snow and him trying to dig it out, which actually drove it even deeper. Here are a few pictures, not the greatest quality, but to give you an idea. Justin has taken some pictures with his camera over the last few days now that we are back in Philadelphia and had a bad winter storm, you know, in our low impact snow zone. I'll try and get those up too. Hope you are staying safe and warm this winter season. And Happy New Year!

New Toy

Scout with one of his new "sports ball tug" toys. Doubles as a pillow. Love that guy!

Make Your Own Sushi Night

When I was in OT school I worked part time at a Japanese Steakhouse. It was a fun place to work, plus delicious food, but one of the best things I picked up during my tenure was how to make sushi. I was never great at it, but had the basics down and knew many of the basic rolls and techniques. I have hosted a few "Asian feast" nights with friends, practicing some rolls and pieces, but it had been awhile. We found out one of Justin's classmates and his wife liked sushi and were up for learning how to make it. I returned to the delightful Reading Terminal Market for some fresh fish and supplies and prepared for a fun night of sushi making and fellowship with friends. Everyone made their own roll with their favorite ingredients and by the end, everyone was pretty stuffed. Fun time!

Thanksgiving Weekend

A few weeks ago my mom and step dad made it down to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving. It was the first time they had been here since we moved. We did a traditional turkey dinner with all the regular dishes. The turkey turned out pretty well, even though it took over 2 hours longer than we had planned for. Here is the set table, with hand made name cards and all. I'll take any chance I can to do papercrafting :)


Saturday we went into the city to tour around. We stopped by The Liberty Bell, walked around the court house where the first Supreme Court met, and spent some time at Reading Terminal Market, a really cool indoor farmer's market that has just about any type of food you could want. They also had a large train display set up for the Christmas season.

Tickets were sold out for the the tour of Independence Hall, but maybe next time. Thanks for coming Mom and Jack, it was a lovely visit.