ch-ch-ch-changes!

Yes, you read that correctly. The blog has been moved to a new url. We are still using the Blogger platform, but after almost three years here, we felt that it was time for a new name -or a new identity- for this little blog. Pictures and Paragraphs is just something I said out of the blue one day and Shawn said it sounded like a good name for a blog. The wheels in my head started turning and I couldn't get the thought out of my mind, so after a few weeks of pondering it, I went ahead and made the change. But don't worry! It's just the name and the look of the blog that have changed - the content will remain the same. It's been mostly me posting the last year or so anyway, so although Shawn will still be on the forefront of the blog content, he won't be writing any posts (unless he wants to!). Thank you so much for following us here, and I really hope you follow us over to our new home on the interwebs!

Psst. You'll find a gift guide/wishlist over at Pictures & Paragraphs, if you're looking for it.

Decking the tree

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas around here!








We picked out a some ornaments at Michael's today - a few different colored globes and some birds - the tree doesn't look quite as barren anymore! Shawn also hung some lights up in the living room. And I filled an advent calendar with Hershey's chocolates and mini Reese's. It's also the perfect time of year for hot chocolate, which Shawn and I call 'our drink' because we first met over hot chocolate... but that's a story for another time. Enjoy the gratuitous cat photo!

Happy December!

I can't believe it's December already! This year has really been progressing incredibly quickly... and the holidays always seem to speed up the process too. I've been so busy working overtime these last few weeks that I barely even got a glimpse of November. December is one of my favorite months though; I get so giddy about the holidays! I could do without the bombardment of Christmas music e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e, but I love the decorations and I really do believe most people are in better spirits this time of year too.

But back to November for just a moment. We celebrated Thanksgiving at Shawn's grandparents' house this year. Even though we've known each other for eight years and counting, it was my first time ever meeting any of his family, other than his mother and brother. Actually, he's never met any of my extended family either! (But I have an excuse... none of them live in this country.) Shawn's family was nice though, and his grandmother cooked up quite the feast. I went back for seconds of everything, but the stuffing was particularly delicious. And I must have impressed her too because apparently she's very picky when it comes to food, yet she had four (yes, FOUR!) pieces of the cornbread that I made for the occasion. Remind me to post the recipe for my amazing grandmother-approved cornbread one of these days!

I have no photos from Thanksgiving, but here's a taste of the last two weeks of November...



1. One of our staples: sausage, peppers, and onion.
2. I can't find Sour Punch Straws around here so my friend brought some back from Ohio for me.
3. Another staple: chicken, broccoli, and mashed potatoes.
4. Roasted zucchini, tomato, onion, and cheddar quiche!
5. Breakfast wraps... both of those were for me the monster in my belly.
6. Snow! Not our first one of the season, but snow nonetheless.



The most exciting thing to happen recently though is we got our very first Christmas tree!




Look at the size of that thing! I'm 5'6", if that gives you any perspective.





We don't have many ornaments though, so just some lights will have to do for now. My mother left some of her older ornaments behind, so we do have a few on there, but not nearly enough for the size of it. I guess we're going to have to buy some of our own this year!

I'm so excited for Christmas! I really love giving gifts. Even more than I like getting them :)



P.S. You can tell how excited I am because I use so! many! exclamation! points! in! this! post!

What we've been up to

Hello! Well, stranger, it sure has been a while...

Lets see - last I left off here we were looking at a bright and brand new October. Well, now that has come and gone and we find ourselves in the midst of blustery November; the day before Thanksgiving, none the less! (Side note: the letter U is located right next to the letter I on the keyboard and I originally typed 'blistery', which isn't a word but it would give a whole new perspective to what I was originally trying to say... so, to clarify, November was not painful and swollen, but has been rather windy and, well, blustery. Man, this was a long side note.)

So, if you don't mind, let me take you back a few weeks.





In October we celebrated two birthdays, my mother's and my own! The tart is what I made for my mom's birthday (It's pear frangipane, if you were wondering). She and my dad came to visit for a week between our birthdays, so we had a joint celebration. I turned 25 this year! A quarter of a century- that's a pretty big milestone, don't you think? When I consider that it has been 7 years since I graduated high school and I've been working with/along-side coffee for over 9 years... it makes me feel a little old. Old, but seasoned. I can't wait to turn 30; people will take me more seriously then! At least, I like to think so.

Oh, the sushi dinner is what I had for my birthday. I share October 22nd with my friend Elyse and I think this was the first year we've been able to celebrate together! She invited a few of her friends to an all-you-can-eat sushi place and we ate-all-that-we-could. Apparently, I can't eat as much as I think I can.








The weekend after my birthday, Shawn and I drove up Villa Roma Resort in the Catskills region of New York. My parents were kind enough to let us use their timeshare points this year so we opted to take a mini-vacation not too far from home. The drive up was creepy - we left at around 6pm Sunday night and with Hurricane Sandy on the way it was super windy that night. Add on the fact that the majority of the dark roads contained spaced-out farm houses with seemingly no one at home, and you've got Walking Dead creepy status right there, minus the zombies of course.

We were easily the youngest people at the resort, except for a few of the staff. But the apartment was great and there was a small bowling alley on site! I expected to do some hiking but the weather ended up being bitterly cold and lightly drizzling the entire time we were there. Instead we stayed indoors watched Food Network and ventured out to the bar in the main area for some drinks on a few occasions. The bartender we met on the second day liked us. If I recall correctly, after a half hour of chatting with us she concluded, "You guys are weird. But in a good way.". She made me a damn good Tom Collins cocktail.

Thankfully, Hurricane Sandy spared us any serious damage at the house. When we drove back that Thursday afternoon we found close to a dozen uprooted trees in our front yard, and one fallen one in the back yard that narrowly missed both the house and the pool. We were left without power for 10 days, but luckily Shawn's mom got power back before us and we were able to stay with her for a few days. It was like an extended vacation, except it was dark and cold for part of it.




With Thanksgiving on the way, we've been exceedingly busy at work. I am now in charge of all things tart related, so I've spent the last 5 days in Tart Land. I think I made close to 400 tart shells of different sizes and all the fillings for them too. Please, if you see me over the next few weeks, don't ask me if I'd like to try any tarts... I'll be doing it all again for Christmas! After the holidays, maybe we can talk.

So that's been it! If you made it all the way down here then high-five! I've been particularly wordy lately, don't mind me.

A few weeks ago...

We went to visit some friends in Philadelphia for a day.



Got a beautiful cappuccino.




And a hand-poured coffee.






The weekend before that some friends and I went to a wine tasting at Cava Winery & Vineyards. The Groupon we had was only good for the fruit-infused wines, but there were a couple of good ones, and it came with a cheese plate too.


This is a proper cheese plate though...





And some photos from even earlier in the month. I've been slackin' on the updates around here.




The weeds on the deck are getting a little out of hand, wouldn't you say?




I was taking pictures of my homemade pickles and caught this guy acting crazy in the background.




Can you spot the spy in this photo?


September was a pretty fun month. There's more in store for October though; I'm excited!