Off-Season Flowers and Balloons

Since the season has been over, I've been missing seeing Monday Morning Flower's beautiful and unique arrangements. Today however, I got a fix when the Trenton Thunder held a press conference announcing some big news! Monday Morning provided a beautiful arrangement of flowers and some balloon arrangements to help celebrate the occasion.

The flowers were beautiful and colorful. They had a touch of fall with a cranberry branch and red, orange and yellow colors. 

The balloon arrangements were festive with Thunder and Yankee colors and fun baseball balloons.

The press conference was an exciting announcement that Trenton Thunder's ballpark is now officially Arm & Hammer Park!

Fall Bucket List: Candy and Nature

To be honest, at this point in the season, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to complete everything on this fall bucket list. I'll still do my best until winter rolls around, but it may be too late for a few of these things.

Being an adult with no kids of my own, and I don't live near any of my friends who have kids, I didn't really have the opportunity to go trick-or-treating. I still checked off the box though because I did the "adult with no kids" version which was to buy candy at 30% off the day after Halloween! It counts, right?

I also was able to check off "nature walk" complete with pictures! From an iphone camera, which is the same as a camera! It was a beautiful day on Sunday and Gary and I took Chloe for a walk at Neshaminy State Park. Some of the leaves were absolutely beautiful!

I'll post another blog if I check anything else off my list, stay tuned...

I Live for Quotes: Taylor Swift Edition

Say what you will about Taylor Swift, love her or hate her, girlfriend's got talent. I've been listening to her latest album, Red, and am definitely loving a lot of her lyrics, as usual. Aside from her song lyrics, I have also enjoyed a lot of her personal quotes about things. In honor of Red, I decided to put together a list of my favorite lyrics and quotes from everything that is Taylor Swift.

You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray
And I stood there loving you and wished them all away
And you come away with a great little story
Of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you

-Cold As You

Was I out of line?
Did I say something way too honest?
Made you run and hide like a scared little boy
I looked into your eyes
Thought I knew for a minute now I'm not so sure
So here's to everything coming down to nothing
Here's to silence that cuts me to the core
Where is this going?
Thought I knew for a minute but I don't anymore

-Forever & Always

Drop everything now
Meet me in the pouring rain
Kiss me on the sidewalk
Take away the pain
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile

-Sparks Fly

Oh, I'm scared to see the ending,
Why are we pretending this is nothing?
I'd tell you I miss you but I don't know how,
I've never heard silence quite this loud.

-The Story of Us

Time turns flames to embers
You'll have new Septembers
Every one of us has messed up too
Lives change like the weather
I hope you remember
Today is never too late to be brand new

-Innocent

So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough
But this love is ours

-Ours

Losing him was blue like I'd never known
Missing him was dark grey all alone
Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met
But loving him was red
Oh red

Burning red

-Red

I've been spending the last 8 months
Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end
But on a Wednesday in a cafe, I watched it begin again

-Begin Again

This is falling in love in the cruelest way,
This is falling for you and you are worlds away.

-Come Back, Be Here

Rock the Vote!

Happy Election Day! This is now my third presidential election that I have voted in. No matter what your political views are, I hope that everyone is exercising their right to vote today! Below are a few fun themed drinks I found to celebrate election day!

If you're not red or blue, Tablespoons has drinks for the undecided and the independent voter as well. Just click on the image below.

If you're into craft brews, search your local beer stores for the Nobama Brew if you're a Republican or the Entitlement Porter if you're a Democrat. Get them both here at beerjobber.com.

My Election Day look in 2008:

Tastes of Fall: Apple Pie Martini

So even though my 31 Days of Halloween is over, I still have some fall recipes I'm going to continue to try. I'll just post things as I make them so no official "challenge," just a series called Tastes of Fall, and I'll post things as I make them. First up is a delicious Apple Pie Martini.

Ingredients:
1 oz Vanilla Vodka
2 oz apple cider
1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Apple slice for garnish
Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a slice of apple.

This drink was absolutely delicious and I definitely recommend everyone putting this drink on their fall to taste list!

Tastes of Fall: Samuel Adams Octoberfest Milkshake

I had an amazing Octoberfest Milkshake at Red Robin a while back. I thought it might be easy enough to make myself so I gave it a shot.

Ingredients:
5 scoops vanilla ice cream
1 1/4 cup Samuel Adams Octoberfest
Caramel Sauce
Whipped cream

Put ice cream and beer in a blender until smooth. Drizzle caramel sauce in a pint glass and pour milkshake in. Top with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

I'm not sure if Red Robin used anything in addition to these ingredients. Mine didn't taste as good as theirs but it was still decent. I'm really not sure their measurements and exact ingredients so I couldn't expect to get it exact. I also had the two about a month apart so I can't remember exactly how theirs tasted.

Red Robin's Version:

My Version: