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!

NY Renaissance Faire

On Labor Day we went to the NY Renaissance Faire with our friends Christine and Sean. (Yes, the resemblance is uncanny, and believe me, it's more than just the names.) They've been there every year for the last few years, but it was our first time ever going, and it was so much more fun than I think either one of us expected it to be!

Highlights of the day included:
- Turkey legs, boar sandwiches, chocolate covered bacon, and cheesecake on a stick.
- So. Much. Booze. Except for me, of course- I volunteered to be the designated driver.
- Eight straight hours of walking around and getting our feet dusty.
- Shawn got many comments about his 'shiny shirt'.
- Lots of hat buying. On Shawn's end. See below.
- Acrobats throwing fire. And swallowing it.
- A bevy of super-old cars on the drive up.
- Archery; I hit the center of the target on my first try, and was the only one to do so.
- Funny conversations with people in costume who were not actually working for the faire.
- Lots of very cool, very expensive, artisan crafts.
- So so so so much more. You'll just have to check it out for yourself!

(Hint: You can click on the photos to see them full-size!)

Next year, we are so going back, but in costume!

A Peek Into My Work Week

I haven't shown you much of what I do at work these days... my time is split between helping customers in the front and lending a hand in the kitchen. I really enjoy the balance of doing both, but recently I've been spending more of my time in the kitchen and I really don't mind that at all. Here's a peek at some of the things that I've made lately.


vanilla bean macaroons


pear frangipane tart


rustic apricot tart


chocolate mice


individual tarts of all kinds

...Are you salivating yet? :)


P.S. I posted my favorite waffle recipe over at Between Three Kitchens!

Triumph Brewing Company

A few Sundays ago we visited Riverhorse Brewery in Lancaster, NJ, then crossed over the river and had dinner at Triumph Brewing Company in New Hope, PA. The brewery tour was neat, albeit short and sweet - their brewery is so much smaller than I was expecting! The whole tour lasted about 20 minutes and although they have a bar with all of their beers on tap inside the same building, we opted to go to Triumph instead to avoid the huge crowd that was waiting for beers at Riverhorse.

We shared the beer sampler at Triumph - all 7 of their beers in 5oz glasses. Shawn and I had a sip of each one first to decide which ones we each preferred, then we drank our favorites. We also went a little crazy with the food - we each got an appetizer and a main course - usually we stick to one course and maybe one drink each, but everything on the menu sounded so delicious that we figured eh, what the heck!


beer sampler!


cucumber gazpacho for me, honey bbq wings for Shawn


Shawn got fish and chips, I opted for the fish tacos


All in all, t'was a delicious meal! We will definitely be going back soon... maybe next time we'll try their Princeton location and follow it up with some dessert at The Bent Spoon :)

It's August Already?!

As I'm sure you've noticed, this blog has taken a bit of a back seat ever since we moved back to New Jersey. That was never my intention, but it's just the way things seem to have progressed. Our lives are far busier now than they ever were in Philly.

Busy is good though, don't get me wrong. Busy with work, busy with life, busy with friends. One of the real perks of being back near both of our hometowns is that we've been able to spend so much more of our free time with friends! I'm sure I don't have to tell you how much more difficult it is to make friends once you're out of school... it's tough to find people who have similar interests and schedules. Heck, it's hard enough finding time to hang out with old friends, let alone trying to make new ones!

So, instead of spending all my extra time after work browsing the internet or catching up on shows on Netflix, I've been appreciating being able to grab lunch or dinner with a friend, or even catching up for an hour or two over a cup of tea, or going for hikes in our beautiful state parks. Especially now that my whole family is living abroad, I really value time spent with Shawn and others around me. I feel as though I'm spending my time more fruitfully, albeit spending less time actually doing things and rather spending time enjoying things. Hence, the blog has gotten left behind in the midst of everything.

We originally started I've Seen Some Things as a way to document our every-day life for our family and friends after we moved to Philadelphia. It served that purpose for two years, but now that we're back home there's not as much of a need to keep everyone updated. All of this is to say, I'd actually like to spend more time focusing on my other blog: Between Three Kitchens. It's focused on food and recipes, and it's collaboration amongst some dear friends and I. Lately I feel as though all I've been contributing here are photos with short captions; little peeks at what we're up to, if you will. Of course, I intend to keep doing that, but most likely on a less frequent basis, and mainly just for my immediate family who I believe are the few who still read this blog anyway. There's just not as much content here as there used to be, and I seem to have a whole lot less to say, so I'm just going to keep things simple from here on out.

So, now that you've read all of that mumbo-jumbo, here's a look at what we've been up to:



I roasted some vegetables for dinner; it's so easy- why hadn't I thought to do this before?!




Hiking with our friend Fran at Hacklebarney Park.




Watching a turkey at the Morris County 4H fair. Saw some gigantic bunnies too.




Lovely sky that day.




Shawn has perfected his fried chicken- and chili sauce! I made the side corn salad.




Our friends in Philadelphia got a new kitten! I wanted to whisk him home with us in my purse, which he seemed quite fond of.




Just look at that kitten face! We want kittens now!! He had so much energy up until this point.




While in Philly we also stopped by the coffee shop I used to work at and caught an intimate concert played by Tom Freund.




Neither of us knew who he was prior to last night, but we are so glad we went because he was amazing! Very mellow music.




He played the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and upright bass! The gentleman on the right in this photo is a regular customer and he organized the whole show.

That's all! Until next time.

The Months Just Fly By

This has been life lately...



* The power of power-washing. (We still have half of the deck left to do)
* Grilling; how else are you supposed to make dinner during the summer?
* We got a new gnome for our collection!
* Mushu loves laying in the dirt...




* S'mores bars, simply delicious.
* Getting creative with cupcake frosting.
* Homemade brown sugar = so much better than store-bought.
* "Feed me, please!"




* Squirrel shot, from our apartment-living days. (Clearly I need to upload photos more often)
* I got my hairs cut! Although, this isn't news to anyone anymore, really.
* Reese's Puffs marshmallow squares... why are sticky treats so much better during the summer?




* Mushu just loves the camera! Look at that face.
* A semi-healthy meal, for good measure. Fresh vegetables!
* Bamboo has a pretty face too, he wants you to know.



And last but not least, this amuses me; I've been reading the web comic Questionable Content for years (seriously, at least 8 years now...) and my recent haircut + my glasses make me look like Faye, one of the main characters. Can't say I'm not a fan! Also, the shirt I'm wearing is one of his designs.



Happy summer-time!

Day in the Life: Photo an Hour

Occasionally, a couple of bloggers that I follow do these posts they call Photo An Hour - where they pick one day of the week to take a photo of whatever they're doing each hour. It's a peek into their daily lives in photographic form. It's not as creepy as it may sound; it's really just more intent documentation of a day in the life of that person. Really, isn't that what blogging is all about- sharing a bit of our lives with anyone who is curious? We're the over-sharers of the internet world, unified by our common ability to talk about what goes on in our lives to anyone who is willing to listen read about it.

I decided to partake in my own Photo An Hour project on my day off last week; so this is what last Wednesday, June 6th, looked like for me:


9am: Breakfast: green tea & cornflakes with fresh peach from a local farm.



10am: Catching up on blogs. Reeder is my preferred blog reader.
(I really need to get a bulletin board on the wall back there to jazz up my desk area a bit!)



11am: Making morning glory muffins.
(I'll have to post a recipe for those some time; they're my absolute favorite!)



12pm: Muffins are out of the oven and cooling down.



1pm: Filled the car with a full tank of gas while on my way to the grocery store for a few things.
(Ignore the no-seatbelt light - I was actually stopped in the driveway to pick up the mail on my way back!)



2pm: Turkey, ham and swiss sandwiches with chips for lunch, yum!



3pm: Cleaning out the spice cabinet - can you believe all that fit up there?!



4pm: Portioning naan dough after making it earlier and letting it rest for two hours.



5pm: The spice cabinet is officially clean and organized alphabetically, because I like it that way.



6pm: Snacking on homemade naan and Trader Joe's hummus.



7pm: Did some dishes and pulled out some chocolate chip cookies to bake off.



8pm: Making dinner; waiting for the pasta water to boil.



9pm: Pasta Bolognese - my favorite!


The photos stop there because all we did after dinner was watch a bit of Food Network and get ready for bed. This is a typical day off for me; unless we have plans to do anything special, I do whatever baking I've been thinking about all week and spend the rest of the day catching up on my never-ending to-do list or organizing parts of the house. There's always so much to do in a day!


I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my day to day activities :)

Breakfast for Lunch

Seriously, is there anything better than breakfast any time of day?