Sep 3rd 2010 10:21:59 am

This post is based on the blogging prompt “What I Did Over My Summer Vacation” from IndieBizChicks’ September Blogging Special.

I already told you about my recent trip to Disney World here and here, but I haven’t shared many photos here, on my blog. (And I know you were just dying to see more… Isn’t that everyone’s favorite activity, viewing photos from another person’s vacation? ha!)

Above you can see Travis, Chelsea, Scott, and me on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster (I think). I love roller coasters! Especially the ones at Disney because they are less painful than other amusement park coasters. It is always amazing how after the ride, the super-long wait in line seems totally worth it. (The four of us took an almost identical photo last year at Disney Land.)

Chelsea and I loved these sparkly Minnie ears. We always end up trying on all sorts of ears and hats while we enjoy the air conditioning in the stores at Disney. I have never bought any (because what in the heck would I do with them once I got home?!), but I think they look quite cute.

Racing through the Speedway ride with Travis…. The Speedway is Chelsea’s favorite ride. While we waited in line to get our turn in the mini cars, we all pondered why they are still gas powered and not the more eco-friendly electric. The exhaust fumes were pretty intense.

So… I am actually still a little embarrassed to be sharing more photos from Disney World. Do not judge me too harshly. I know it is not a very adult vacation, but it was so fun. Plus, if we had gone to Las Vegas, I probably could not share the photos!

5 Comments » Categories: Family, Just for Fun, Travis, Trips

Aug 5th 2010 12:46:45 pm

The very first time I went to Disneyland (with Travis for our high school spring break over eleven years ago), I took a silly photo with the wooden indian statue that they had in Frontierland. I thought it was such a funny photo that I tried to recreate it on my second trip to Disneyland last year. So… when we were in Disney World last week, you know I had to search out that indian for the traditional photo op. I am a huge dork.

5 Comments » Categories: Just for Fun, Photos, Trips

Aug 3rd 2010 12:46:40 pm

I missed my little dog, Crusher, so much while we were traveling last week! It is really a little bit crazy how much I love that dog. He is my baby and my companion while I work at home… he is just so loyal, it is impossible not to love him.

Thank goodness my brother, Seth, came to NY to babysit Crusher while we were away. It was so much better to have him here than when we left Crusher at the kennel last time we traveled. Crusher was traumatized by the kennel and came back completely filthy and encrusted in urine. It was awful. This time Seth took wonderful care of him – even taking him to the dog park each day!

We got Crush two souvenirs at Disney World – a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a stuffed yeti from Expedition Everest in Animal Kingdom. Crusher loves the yeti, but he isn’t too fond of clothing. He is totally spoiled.

3 Comments » Categories: Crusher, Family, Trips

Aug 1st 2010 08:31:11 pm

Travis and I got back late yesterday from a wonderful week in Florida. You can guess by the photo where we spent our time…

Due to a paranoid concern for safety, I usually try not to advertise on the internet where I am going until after I have left there. That was the case for our trip to Disney World this summer, but I also felt a little embarrassed telling people where I was vacationing. Disney World may not be the most “adult” destination for four childless twenty-somethings (we went with my brother & sister-in-law — Hi Chels & Scott!), but it was an easy, affordable, sunny, and happy place to spend a week. We planned this trip last year after spending an incredible 17-hour day together at DisneyLand in California.

Say what you will about Disney (too commercial, too saccharine, too dependent on gender stereotypes, historically incorrect, etc…), Disney World really, truly is a very fun and wonderful place. I am not sure how anyone could dislike a place that’s main purpose is making children happy. It reminds me of New York City in that we saw people of every color and heard dozens of different languages, but unlike NY, at Disney the streets are impeccably clean and everyone is happy and polite and not in a hurry. …well, unless they are rushing to get in line for Space Mountain!

We had a great time. I love roller coasters and funny shows and tasty treats! I got mocked for constantly exclaiming how pleasantly surprised I was by the quality of the food. (I mean, I was not sure I could survive a week on “carnival food,” but I shouldn’t have worried.) My favorite ride was the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios that takes you up in an elevator and then drops you a bunch of stories over and over. So fun! I think we rode it seven times! Each day was packed with lots of activity – the time flew by!

The most surprising outcome of the trip: I cannot wait to take my children to Disney World (or Land) someday. And you know what that means… I am finally getting down to the business of thinking about having children. That is a big step!

You can see way more photos than you probably want from the trip over on my Disney World Flickr pool.

3 Comments » Categories: Family, Feeling Happy, Trips

Jul 23rd 2010 01:09:53 pm

I mostly intended to review New York cupcake shops here on the blog since there are so many, but I can’t pass up the chance to visit bakeries in other locales… so today you get a special Washington DC edition of the cupcake review. On Monday, I visited Red Velvet Cupcakery near the Chinatown and Penn Quarter areas of DC with my two aunts, Dana & Amy.

Red Velvet Cupcakery is a locally owned shop which has recently started to open additional locations. They use “only the highest quality ingredients available on the world stage and believe in supporting the community that has supported us,” including local dairy. Dana had received a recommendation for the Cupcakery from a co-worker and it was easy to find after we arrived at the Chinatown Metro stop.

The Red Velvet Cupcakery has an adorable store front, but a very small interior. There is no seating in the shop and because they only offer one thing – cupcakes – the menu is simple with twelve different flavors to choose from. The bakery case was filled with pretty dome-topped cakes, so even with the limited selection we had a hard time deciding on flavors for our to-go order.

One of the other customers in line ahead of us said we had to try the Vanilla Bean flavor, so we did. We also added a Devil’s Food, a Key West, and a Cookies N’ Cream to our order. They looked so cute in their specially made carrying box! We carried them to dinner and then back to the hotel to enjoy later…

And did we ever enjoy them! They were amazing cupcakes. The cake was moist and flavorful and the icing was light and fluffy. I ate the full Key West flavor and it had just the right amount of lime in the cake without being tangy or sour. The white chocolate icing was the perfect complement to the citrus. Yum! My aunts enjoyed the chocolate cakes and both said the were delicious without being too rich. We split the Vanilla Bean cake three ways, and I am glad we did because it was unanimously our favorite. Thank goodness we listened to the other customer’s suggestion! The vanilla icing was perfect in texture and flavor, with flakes of vanilla bean throughout. Extremely delicious!

The Red Velvet Cupcakery earned a near perfect score on my cupcake rating. It lost a point on frosting because some of the flavors were not as strong as others. Vanilla bean was the best. It also lost one point from the “overall impression” category only because the shop was so small and the selection was limited compared to other cupcake shops. However, Red Velvet Cupcakes are excellent and should definitely be tried if you get the chance. I am so glad I had the opportunity to sample them!

Thanks for the fun day, Dana & Amy!! xoxo

1 Comment » Categories: Food, NYC Cupcake Review, Trips

Jul 21st 2010 01:14:43 pm

On Monday, I took a day trip to Washington, DC. I got on the train way too early in the morning, but it was worth it because I had a full day to explore the city with my Aunts, Amy and Dana. Dana was in town for a conference, but Amy and I got to spend the whole day walking the National Mall and checking out a few museums.

We started at the Capitol building (seen above) and then made our way to the new National Museum of the American Indian. I was thrilled to get to visit that museum. When I was in grad school studying museums we often discussed the, then in progress, Museum of the American Indian. The museum has many beautiful, historic artifacts, but it also has a strong focus on contemporary native communities and cultures. Its use of community curators and consultants from nearly every native tribe in the US was groundbreaking and unprecedented in museum development. The exhibits are emotional and sometimes difficult because they address the atrocities and controversies of the past head on, but they also show that Native Americans are not some quaint, extinct specimens (as museums often implied in the past). They are important members of our communities with living cultures that continue to make a large impact on our country. The museum does a great job of showing how native traditions are continued today… I could have spent hours reading every panel and learning about each of the tribes!

The museum is also a beautiful building designed by Native American architect, Douglas Cardinal… I took lots of photos!

It was really hot out on Monday, but we persevered and checked out the sculpture garden at the National Gallery of Art (where I was excited to see a Roxy Paine piece) and then briefly toured the Museum of American History. I liked the exhibit on the Apollo Theater – it had so much style!

After all the museum hopping we were tired and hot, but we managed to meet Dana for dinner and even found a delicious cupcake shop! (I’ll have more on the cupcakes in an upcoming review.) It was a great day! I wish I could have stayed a few more days in DC, but I have so much going on over the next few weeks that I had to get home…

2 Comments » Categories: Family, Trips, museums

Dec 29th 2009 01:49:14 pm

We are back from our Christmas trip to Kansas City to visit our families. We had a wonderful time, but it is hard to go back to reality and back to work. I want to go back to the cookies, and shopping, and laughing!

We did so much during our week-long trip, it is already hard to remember everything… We started the week at Chipotle, then went to Round Rock and ate S’mores, went to see Avatar with 3D glasses, then shopping, D’Bronx pizza, a KU basketball game, frozen yogurt, Archivers, Houlihan’s, Mario Kart on the Wii, “getting to know you” on Christmas Eve, presents and stockings on Christmas morning, family time, Target sales, lots of snow and lots of dogs in coats, then a pizza party, First Watch, and finally ended with more Chipotle and a delayed flight.

It snowed a lot while we were in Kansas. I don’t think I have seen so much snow in years! Crusher actually got pretty used to it and liked playing outside… he looked fantastic in his new winter coat!

p.s. I forgot to add that you can find lots more photos in my Christmas in KC 09 Flickr set and on Travis’ Flickr.

3 Comments » Categories: Christmas, Crusher, Family, Trips, holidays

Sep 16th 2009 09:18:30 am

Travis braved the NYC highways on Saturday and drove me (and Crusher) to Beacon, NY, for the Handmade Cavalcade craft show. (I am doing a little write-up about the Handmade Cavalcade on Craft Critique – so stay tuned for that.) It was a small, but high quality craft show that was held in conjunction with the city of Beacon’s “Second Saturday” art walk. Beacon is something of an emerging art town with a contemporary art museum, galleries, and lots of local artists. I had a lot of fun getting out of the city and walking around a small town for a day – I sort of wanted to buy a building on the adorable main street and stay there forever!

On Monday, I extended my crafty exposure by heading to Etsy Labs craft night at Etsy’s brand new location in Dumbo. The new location is very cool and the night consisted of exchanging recipes (using beautiful letterpressed recipe cards from Moontree Letterpress) and chatting. A fun, laid back night.

In addition to my crafty adventures, Swap-bot and some design work have been keeping me extremely busy. I never seem to get enough done each day! In fact, I had better go get to work! (I made the little “Ernie the Envie” matchbox above for a recent swap. He is glittery.)

2 Comments » Categories: Crafts, New York, Swap-bot, Trips

Aug 23rd 2009 07:25:20 am

Last weekend I traveled to Kansas City and Saint Louis to attend my grandfather’s funeral and to spend some time with family. It was actually a wonderful trip despite the sad circumstances. It was really nice to see my extended family (seen in the top photo), some of whom I haven’t seen for years. It is a big family and nearly everyone made it to Saint Louis for the weekend (with some notable exceptions: we missed you Mary, Aaron, Chandler & Cameron!). I had a lot of fun hanging out with my cousins, who are all totally smart and funny. I must also add that my grandmother is a very caring and fun lady and I always enjoy visiting with her – she is the pretty woman with the corsage in the photos. It was a good weekend.

I also spent a few days in Kansas City so that I could hang out with my parents a bit. Mom and I went shopping together and I was fortunate enough to be in town for the annual “Frist Day Of School Fuddruckers” trip with the Manns and Johnsons. I also got to hang out with my sister-in-law, Chelsea – seen above at Starbucks, our favorite! I fit a lot of visiting into just a few days, so I declare it a very successful trip!

No Comments » Categories: Family, Trips

Jul 29th 2009 01:45:20 pm

Travis and I just got back from a long weekend in Southern California. We went for a friend’s wedding, but Travis’ extended family also lives there and we got to have a nice visit. I was not expecting the trip to feel like a true vacation, but it did!

We really packed our time full of fun, including an “open-to-close,” seventeen-hour day at Disneyland, the wedding in San Diego’s Balboa Park, frozen yogurt outings, a dinner at the Knott’s Berry Farm restaurant, a late night trip to In-n-Out, and of course, lots of family time.

I had a wonderful weekend and I even came home with a slight tan! There are lots more photos in my Flickr “California Summer 2009″ set.

4 Comments » Categories: Family, Feeling Happy, Trips