Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! This was our first as a married couple, but we HATE going out on Valentine's day. We love eating out usually, but on Valentine's they jack up the prices, pile in tables close together and usually the food leaves something to be desired. We prefer to stay in and Kyle cooks. It's intimate, romantic and far less fussy than going to a restaurant. 

We decided not to do gifts this year and get goggles for our snowboarding trip instead. But Kyle of course went above and beyond. I woke up to roses and breakfast before work, hen he came home from work he got busy in the kitchen and then he surprised me with chocolates and a beautiful locket! What a guy. My contributions paled in comparison, but he was still pleased. I picked up some of his favorite beer, got a nice card, made some cupcakes and set the table with our new china from the wedding. Really wonderful day. 

Re-purposing a vase from last Valentine's day

Now I'm sitting on the couch having just watched the USA hockey team win in a crazy shootout versus the Russians, nursing my champagne headache and thought it would be the perfect time to share my cupcake recipe. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 ½ cups vegetable oil

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons Wilton red food coloring (I didn't have time to get this so I had to use grocery store food coloring - hence the pink cupcakes)

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In your mixer, mix the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla. Slowly add the wet mixture into your stand mixer with the dry ingredients. Mix until thoroughly combined. The batter is so velvety!

Only fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 20-32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting. 

Cointreau Ganache
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon Cointreau liquor 
3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I eyeballed this measurement, so I may have used more)

In a saucepan, bring the heavy cream and Cointreau to a bowl. Reduce heat and slowly add the chocolate chips stirring continuously to avoid burning. Add to piping bag or some other injecting mechanism and inject into the center of the cupcakes. If the ganache spills out the top of the cupcakes, don't worry about it - it will be covered by butter cream.

Cream Cheese Butter Cream
1 package cream cheese, softened
2 sticks butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 

In mixer, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar a half cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix until very light and fluffy. 

Pipe the butter cream onto cooled cupcakes and add any embellishments. 

Chocolate Embellishments
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Melt chocolate in double boiler. Add to piping bag and create the designs of your choice on parchment paper (we had just run out that morning so I used plastic wrap). Let the designs harden in the refrigerator for as long as you can before adding to cupcakes.

Of course I had to do some fun Valentine's nails! For more of my crazy nail designs click here.

Thanks for visiting!

xo
Alison

Engagement Feature on Delancy and Penn

In trying to locate something else related to Kyle and my wedding, I came across the blog Delancy and Penn only to discover they had done a feature on our engagement session done by Faith West Photography! I had no idea! The blog editor did a nice little write up about the history of the landmarks, Elfreth's Alley and Rittenhouse square where we had our photo shoot. Anyway, this was a nice little surprise to come across, so I thought I'd share. 

My favorite from the day that wasn't included on the blog

From Delancy and Penn:

AUTUMN ELFRETH’S ALLEY ENGAGEMENT SESSION BY FAITH WEST PHOTOGRAPHY

Elfreth’s Alley is one of the crown jewels of Old City Philadelphia, serving as a wonderful reminder that our city truly is the “Birthplace of America.”  The street, with it’s 32 row houses, is nestled between Front and 2nd Streets, just north of Arch Street.  Since the first home was built in 1728, Elfreth’s Alley has been home to over 3,000 people, and it is one of the last intact early American streetscapes in the nation {learn even more about Elfreth’s Alley here}.  One of the coolest things about this street is that, other than the two houses used for a visitors’ center and museum, it is still a residential street, and the houses are homes for families just as they were almost 300 years ago.  This is certainly something special for couples that have their engagement pictures taken in Elfreth’s Alley.

Alison and Kyle are one of those couples and, as always, Faith West Photography perfectly captured this moment.  Included with this sweet couple are the most important fall staples:  pumpkin spiced lattes and pumpkins on the front steps.  After some shots in the alley, Alison and Kyle took a trip to Rittenhouse Square – another historic staple in the city – rounding out the shoot with another one of the best locales Philly has to offer.  And we couldn’t help notice that ‘perfect’ color combo on Alison!!  Best of luck to you both, and we can’t wait to see your wedding pictures from Greenville Country Club!

ENGAGEMENT SESSIONSTAGS: ELFRETH'S ALLEY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS, ELFRETHS ALLEY, OLD CITY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS, OLD CITY PHILADELPHIA

Winter: The good, the bad and the ugly

I have a love/hate relationship with Winter. On one hand I love snow and really enjoy winter sports. On the other hand I get the gd winter blues! 

Winter: The good
This past weekend we went on a ski weekend with a group of friends and colleagues of Kyle's which was a blast. It had been years since Kyle and I had dusted off our snowboards so we were a little rusty, but man do I love being out on a mountain. We spent the evenings in varying states of debauchery in the cabin and all of Saturday on the slopes. The weather was perfect for snowboarding/skiing with big, fat, fluffy snowflakes falling all day long. We had fresh powder on every trail, it was incredible, and so beautiful! The temperatures stayed in the single digits which made the chair lifts borderline unbearable, but it was still fantastic. I'm looking forward to getting back out there with my coworkers in a few weeks, and then again in early March for our family trip to Colorado. 

Fresh powder at Jack Frost

Another perk of winter? Winter beers! Cold weather brings spiced beers, pumpkin beers and my current favorite winter warmers. My two favorites this year are Sly Fox Christmas Ale and Shiner Cheer. 

Sly Fox Christmas Ale (Link) and Shiner Cheer (Link)

Winter: The bad
Kyle and I walk to work (when I go into the office) and moments after snow falls in the city it turns into brownish/grayish slush that you have to trudge through. It's gross and cold and makes me want to work from home. 

Gross city snow
Link

Speaking of home, we live in a converted warehouse so we have really tall ceilings and a ton of space. This means in negative temperatures it is VERY expensive to heat. Cozy to cuddle and sleep in, but not so much fun to work in 10 layers.

For size comparison: just a casual game of cornhole in the living room

Winter: The ugly
Uh, the true negative of winter: The Winter Blues. These are hitting me hard this year! I'm not sure what it is: the weather, post-wedding, work stress? Could be everything, but it's no fun. I'm just finding myself down in the dumps and negative. Just blah. If you'd ask my husband he'd probably say I'm a little more 'irritable'. That's one way of putting it... I'd say bitchy. So I'm trying to come up with some ways I can get myself feeling a bit better and more positive.

1. Buy new winter boots to make walking in the gross city snow a bit better. I went for these ones from Sorel. They are outrageous, but so much fun. Super warm of course, they'll be perfect for walking around the lodge in Colorado before I put on my snowboard boots.
2. Make time for my husband. Whether it be cooking a meal together and spending time at home or going out to dinner to celebrate 4 months (!) of marriage. I feel like leading up to the wedding, the wedding and the honeymoon we got to spend so much time together and really enjoy each other. Now that we're back into routine it's a bit harder to spend quality time. I miss him! I'm thinking of putting together a date night jar like this one from Every Day Cheer.
3. Dive head first into the house hunt. If only more would go on the market... We have made zero headway here and I'm finding myself getting frustrated with the pace. I know our house is out there but we haven't even been out to look at places recently because there is nothing that meets our (very minimal) requirements on the market. Our Realtor assures us people are waiting for Spring because people don't want to be house hunting when it's freezing. No freaking kidding, it's the worst. (There is some of that negativity I was mentioning)
4. Make more time for myself. I haven't had my eyebrows or nails done in what seems like forever. It's getting a little 'bush man' over here.
5. Leave work at work. My project is a little crazy at the moment, and I'm finding the stress and workload sneaking into my personal time and thoughts. I know things ebb and flow so it's understandable, but I need to let things go and enjoy activities when I'm not on the clock. I'm usually pretty good at this so it's not so much of a stretch.

Once Spring comes I know I'm going to be wishing for snow again, but that's how it goes! I'm looking forward to getting out on the mountain a few more times before the snow melts and the flowers come out. And I can't wait until they do!

xo
Alison

So, I have finally decided to start a blog.

"I have decided to be happy, because it is good for my health." ~Voltaire

So, I have finally decided to start a blog. I've followed numerous blogs for many, many years and I have always thought how wonderful it would be to look back at all those life moments, big and small. I want to capture the little details, how I was feeling, the funny things people said - in other words, the details we all typically forget. 
This blog will be filled with:

• Big moments (holidays, our wedding)
• Small moments (date nights, girls nights)
• My family 
• Recipes (both healthy and not so healthy)
• Crafts
• Mundane tidbits from my life that may only be interesting to me!

As for the name of my blog:

For me, happiness is a choice. Everyday, in every moment we choose how to respond to the world. In my life, I am choosing to be happy (at least I strive to!). The path I take, the people I spend my time with, and even my job reflect this choice. Hopefully, with this blog I'm able to capture this philosophy! 

Well, there you have it. I'm starting this blog (which for now is essentially a diary) and hoping that I keep it filled with the things I love! 

Welcome to my view of things!

Alison