Friday's Five

It's been a great week, full of sickness and shopping. 

I got to visit my newly married bestie and get a little early Christmas shopping done. 

Tonight we're seeing the Washington National Opera and enjoying cocktails after.

Saturday will be filled with fundraisers and maybe Christmas trees. 

I can't wait! 

{Everyone at work is sick, and so am I}

{Tis the season to write to Santa}

{Thwarted dreams... $550 mil would've been nice}

{My new perfume, all the way from Iowa}

{Awesome patterned scarf from Target}

Friday's Five

{Watching my alma mater get crushed by Villanova}

This has been a busy week, but great. Our trip out to Iowa was every eventful, but more on that later.
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.

{The beau and I went to Iron Hill Brewery and enjoyed good food and good brews}

{Hanukkah rubber duckies at the Five and Dime}

{My latest read, perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday} 

{A windmill in Iowa decorated for Christmas}

Thanksgiving for Thousands

Earlier this week I was fortunate enough to cover and participate in an event called Thanksgiving for Thousands. 

The event is sponsored by Mountaire Farms, a local business that has tried to feed those in need for close to 20 years at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

Having originally started off as a small church event being held in a parking lot,

it has grow substantially, which is bittersweet. 

Hundreds of people of all ages and social classes from all over the peninsula showed up to pack Thanksgiving dinner boxes that will be distributed to 60,000 families who wouldn't otherwise have a holiday meal. 

{Boxes waiting to be packed with canned goods and roaster}

{Roasters being distributed}

{Some of the thousands of cans being distributed}

{Dinner boxes piled high waiting to be loaded onto trucks}

{A bird's eye view of the assembly lines}

One woman I spoke to during the event said that a number of years ago she was on the receiving end of a Thanksgiving for Thousands Thanksgiving dinner box. Things have since improved for her, but she volunteers every year to help pay back the help the dinners and community gave to her. 

Whatever you have, little or great, be thankful and pay it forward. 

Happy Thanksgiving. 

Road Trip!

This afternoon the beau and I are hopping in the car and driving to Iowa

to visit his parents for Thanksgiving.

We drove out in June to help them move into their new house which was a fun adventure.

However the estimated 19 hour trip ended up taking 29 hours and our hopes of sightseeing in their new little town were cut short.

{At least we got to see some farms, right?}

I like journaling my adventures (when I can remember/get motivated to do so)

and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

I looked around for a number of little travel journals to see which would work 

for this five-day adventure.

I happened upon Cracked Designs' Etsy shop and immediately liked the unique look and fun layout of the journal. Plus its smaller size allows for it to easily fit into my pocket or purse.

{The journal came with fasteners and red string to customize your journey}

Other travel journals I've kept have been plain with ruled lines. This journal is more interactive and makes it easy to have fun with documenting your trip. 

{I even purchased a travel-sized tube of colored pencils to add to the fun}

{The journal even includes a little folder to save mementos}

Friday's Five

This past week has been a nightmare with work commitments.

I've had three night meetings,  and to top it off we're preparing for our

Thanksgiving issue, so deadlines have moved up two days.

It's all been worth it and I can't wait for some time off next week!

{11.11.12. Last year we celebrated 11.11.11 at 11:11 by setting off fireworks, this year, a movie}

{Enjoying the end of the election season via Return Day, a one-of-a-kind tradition}

{a harvested black radishes we grew from seeds we bought in Santa Fe this summer}

{It may not look like much, but we're excited about our new queen bed and sheets}

{My brother and I had a date night and went to see Skyfall}

Back in Time

Last week I was able to go to the state capital

to attend the 18th Century Market Fair.

It was the first time I had heard of the fair and was extremely excited to see

what it was all about.

There was so, so much to do and see--

from the colonial beer brewer, blacksmiths and minstrels. 

{Signora Bella amazed the audience with her ball balancing and loose-rope acts}

{Dr. Balthasar's Traveling Medicine Show offered a miracle elixir to cure all ailments}

{Revolutionary War re-enactors taught children drills}

{Lacemaker Monsieur LeFarceur de Villeverte}

{It's amazing how detailed lacemaking truly is}

The hurricane

I've been lax in my posts recently--partially because I've been crazy busy at work and partially because I haven't wanted to spend any of my free time in front of a computer.... After all that is all I do for work anyway. 

A couple of weeks ago the small coastal towns where I grew up and now work were very close to being hit by Hurricane Sandy.
The entire state was in a State of Emergency, the National Guard was called in, whole towns were evacuated.

It was chaotic to say the least. 

Here are a few photos of the storm from around our area:

{A park that was flooded to the point where playground equipment became submerged}

{Pennsylvania Avenue in Bethany Beach vanished under water}

{A mailbox in Fenwick Island}

{The roadway leading to the old Indian River Inlet Bridge completely destroyed}

{Dunes that were once on the beach completely covered the road}

{The media circus around the bridge}

{An inland cornfield was turned into a pond}

Friday's Five

{The last sign of fall before Sandy struck}

This past week was surreal, to say the least.

Hurricane Sandy hit us this week, and we were fortunate enough

to have not suffered as much damage as New York and New Jersey,

but believe me, we were still hit. 

I'll be doing a comprehensive post this weekend, complete with pictures. 

{Painting my nails by candlelight}

 {The bread isle at a local supermarket}

{Wordsworth, our Halloween kitty next to a pint-sized pumpkin}

{A new present from my brother... yeah, he's a rocket scientist}

Happy Halloween...

Oh, Halloween. 

There's something so magical about the holiday. Even more so than winter holidays.

For one night you get to bring a little fun and candy into a stranger's life.

What could be better?

We encounter Hurricane Sandy this past week,
and I was afraid it would ruin Halloween.

Luckily, most of the towns still held trick-or-treat. 

The beau and I carved pumpkins and handed out candy with my mother,

who is always in costume--this year as the Wicked Witch of the West. 

A fun night was had by all.

{A first glimpse into our gourd}

{The beau went with a traditional jack-o-lantern pattern he created}

{Giving Jack a smile}

{I went with something a little more intricate, which paid off but easily took twice as long}

{Pumpkins we carved earlier in the week}