Fall ... Maybe?

Finally feeling better!  I even made myself a cup of coffee this morning!

For multiple reasons, I have drastically cut back on my coffee consumption lately, so this was such a treat!

It was also a treat because I was tasting another flavor from Godiva + Foodbuzz.  I liked this flavor even better than the pumpkin one!

Bruce and I have been talking about the leaves lately and we've come to the conclusion that Hurricane Irene may have done a number on our pretty New England foliage.  I'm seeing a lot of leaves die or fall before the colors change - such a bummer!  That's one of my favorite parts about fall ...

Anybody else having a sub-par foliage season?

Blast From The Past

Good Morning!

I've got big and exciting plans today:  Sermon tweaking and Food Network watching.

Fueled by a great breakfast: Whole Wheat Toast + Peanut Butter + Granola + Honey.

Bruce and I were looking back on some of my old videos last night and came across the absolute hilarity of our wedding cake disaster.  I know some of you have seen it, but I thought I would post it again for anyone who is new to my blog.  Enjoy!


1st Anniversary Cake Disaster from Sarah Weaver on Vimeo.

Note to any brides out there: Do not leave the live flowers on the cake when you freeze it.

Something's Fishy

Bruce left at the house at o'dark'hundred this morning to go fishing and it wasn't long before I received the following picture via text:

He caught his first striped bass!  This was actually the last one he caught on today's trip, not the first - but he caught it on his fly rod and was literally jumping up and down with excitement when he got home.

I'm not sure that I will ever get to the point of jumping up and down about a fish, but - let's face it - five years ago if you had told me that I would one day be posting a picture of a striped bass and talking about fly rods on my blog, I would have thought you were nuts.

My how things change.

Love you Bruce. :)

Meanwhile, I was making myself a two-egg sandwich.  This was more brunch than breakfast, because I was cleaning my car when I got up and didn't get around to eating until after 10:00.

Mmm, hit the spot - I used some of our Sargento Cheese!

I'm sort of working today.  Obviously I wasn't this morning, but I am in the process of switching my days off from Friday to Monday.  I did work part of the day on Monday so I gave myself the morning and then headed over to the hospital and now I'm at the office.  I'm heading out to visit some church members as soon as I hit publish and then think I'll work on my sermon from an undisclosed location tonight while Bruce is working.

(Spoiler Alert: There is a good chance it will be Starbucks.)

See you later!

Love. Godiva. Love. Coffee. Love. Fall.

I received a lovely package in the mail the other day ...

Coffee from Foodbuzz and Godiva!

Godiva has recently come out with fall seasonal flavors (available nationwide, but only for a limited time) and I was sent two bags to review as part of the Featured Tastemaker Program.

We are generally not big flavored coffee drinkers, but Bruce and I both love and adore fall and were intrigued by this review opportunity.  I am in the process of changing my day off so that I can spend time with Bruce on his day off (which is Monday) so today we had a lazy morning, tried out our new coffee and had a fall-inspired breakfast to go with it.

We brewed Pumpkin Spice this morning and paired it with ... 

Oatmeal, of course!  Mine is on the left, Bruce's is on the right.

The coffee paired so nicely with the oatmeal - I think if we had gone with our original plan, which was egg sandwiches, it wouldn't have tasted so good.  It's definitely a seasonal drink and should be complimented by other seasonal-esque flavors.

These coffees are a wonderful fall treat and I would recommend at least grabbing one bag this season.  I can't wait to try the Caramel Pecan Bark!

pssssssst. Foodbuzz and Godiva sent me this coffee for free but didn't pay me to say nice things about it. Bruce and I both genuinely enjoyed the coffee and can't wait to brew it again.  Over and out.

Early Morning Crisp Walks

My sister and I took a walk in the cool, crisp 46 degree morning!

Gorgeous!  We did about 3 miles - it was lovely!

We came back to my parents house for a home cooked brunch by my dad!

Amaaaazing.

Unfortunately, it's time for me to get back on the road.  See you in Rehoboth!

Fall Premieres

Oh myyyyyy ...

I love and adore fall so this morning's weather makes me so ridiculously happy!  The air is crisp - and I saw pumpkins yesterday! 

Change is on the horizon folks ...

Cool, crisp air calls for a hot bowl of oatmeal, agreed?

That's what I thought.

Today is my day off and I love letting myself have get a slow start to the day!  I'm actually heading to Connecticut for the night (Bruce is staying home, boo!) so I should probably think about getting myself packed and on the road!

Random question - I was scouring the internet this morning to see if I could find a preview for next week's NCIS premiere, but came up short.  Has anyone seen one?

Perfect Equation

Oatmeal to go ...

+

Earl Gray Tea in my favorite mug

=

Happy Sarah.

Have a great day everyone!

Balancing Work & Relationship

Happy Wear a Dress Tuesday!

I'm never sure what to wear during these in-between seasons.  I want so badly for it to be fall but it is still going to be 82 degrees today!  Definitely not sweaters-and-boots-weather.

I woke up this morning feeling worlds better than yesterday!  Bruce had the day off so I slowly got myself ready and made breakfast for the two of us before I left for work.

 Egg & Cheese Sandwiches on English Muffins - for two!

These are so simple to make - they literally take me the time it takes for me to toast the English Muffin!  Definitely proof that a good breakfast doesn't require a lot of time.

Speaking of time ... Bruce and I are trying to adjust to our new schedule with him working full-time.  Neither one of us work 9-5 jobs so I've been trying to adjust my time away from the office with his days off.  It's definitely been a challenge, but we're getting there!  Even the little things, like eating breakfast together on days when we won't be able to eat dinner together, make a big difference.

How do you all balance working with relationships?

Changing Seasons And More!

Doesn't this bowl of oatmeal LOOK like fall?

I don't know, maybe I'm weird.  But I think so!  :)

Mmm, so delicious.  1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup water on the stovetop.  I stirred in the granola at the end and topped with a spoonful of peanut butter!

Besides the seasons, guess what else is changing?  My blog!  The general design is going to remain the same, but I am finally switching over to wordpress and will have so many more options after that.  I have called upon the fabulous web design help of Julie at Savvy Eats (Savvy Blog Services) to help me and we're getting ready to start now! 

I cannot wait - blogger was a great blogging platform to start on, but the versatility of wordpress cannot be matched.  Hopefully we'll be up and running in a couple of weeks!  Hooray!

My Pysche Is Playing Tricks On Me

I had a dream last night that I was laying on my bed and all of a sudden the television in our room turned on - the power was back!

And then I woke up.

And the TV was not on.

Neither was the fan.

Or either one of our clocks.

Deep breath.

I asked for a venti this morning.

The good news is that according to National Grid 85% of Massachusetts has their power restored.  While it is depressing that I am part of the lone 15% without power (as is the church and a large percentage of my church members), at least at this point there is less ground for National Grid to cover.

Alright, I'm settled into Starbucks to get some work done. You can tell that people are getting their power back because it is less crowded today!

Getting Ready For Irene

Well ... I think we're as ready as we're going to be.

Bruce spent the morning cleaning out the gutters ... 

... and securing the patio furniture.  Actually, I started the furniture process but had a surprise encounter with a mouse in our shed and ran screaming into the house.

I'm so helpful.

I heated up some of yesterday's Sugar 'n Spice Pancakes for breakfast this morning.

I served mine up with plain yogurt and granola - a great alternative to syrup!  Much more filling as well.

I need to keep myself busy today.  The rain has started and Bruce is at work.  I'm hoping that they close the store early and he can be home safe and sound with me.  I'm praying for everyone who is affected by Irene right now.  Be safe everyone! xoxo

p.s. I installed the commenting system, "Disqus" into my blog.  I had been thinking about it for awhile and Melissa was the latest of my blog friends to install it and she inspired me to give it a try.  I HOPE this makes it easier to comment if you aren't a blogger user (you can sign in through facebook, twitter, yahoo, google, etc.).  You can also comment as a guest - you just need to click guest and put in your email (so I can reply to comments) - but your email will NOT be published.

If y'all hate it, I'll get rid of it!

Sugar 'n Spice Pancakes

In more ways than one, I am ready for fall!

From a cooking standpoint, there are a ton of fun spices that come seasonal with fall.  I decided to jump the gun a little bit this morning and pull them out while I was making pancakes this morning!

Sugar 'n Spice Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Flour

4 tablespoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon White Sugar

1 1/4 cups Milk

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon All Spice

This is a very simple "combine ingredients and pour onto a hot skillet" type of recipes.  My favorite!

I smeared some Peanut Butter on mine this morning (which melted instantly!) and topped with granola. 

Delicious.

Iced Coffee!

Alright, I've got a pile of laundry calling out to be folded - have a great day!

The Tale Of Two Pairs Of Jeans

About two weeks ago my college bff Sarah gchatted me about a Daily Deal that Target had running.  Jeans that are $20 in the store were $15, buy one get one free and had free shipping.

I was intrigued.

We both went back and forth for about an hour until we ultimately convinced each other to place the order.  When I got to the end of my order, the following popped up:

Okay.  So let's recap:  The jeans would have been $20 each.  They were $15 each.  I got one pair for free.  I should have paid $6.99 in shipping.  I did not.  I have a Target Visa so I got an additional 5% off the order. 

Let's recap ever further:  I paid $13.50 for two pairs of jeans.

(Now I will say that I typically do not order clothing online because I like to try things on but there wasn't much of a gamble with this because you can return online orders to the store.) 

Okay, so the story gets better.  I wasn't sure why I needed two pairs of the same pair of jeans, but figured if one was free, what difference did it make?  However - in the end I didn't order the right size so I ran over to Target yesterday to see about making the exchange.  When I got there they didn't have two of the same color/wash of jeans I had (there was only one available on this online deal) so I asked if I could still make the exchange with two different colors.

They said yes.

So I ended up with two different pairs of jeans for a total of $13.50.

I was so proud of myself I wore jeans to work today.

The End.

In other news, Bruce is loving his new job!  We're both hunkering down and getting ourselves on a schedule so he packed his lunch while I made breakfast this morning.

As gut wrenching as it is to spend $115 on groceries, it was so nice to have FOOD in the house this morning!  You can't cook if there isn't food in the fridge and on the shelves (it's just a matter of finding the time to get to the store!).  I made simple breakfast burritos this morning:

• Scrambled Eggs
• Mexican Blend Cheese, Shredded
• Salsa
• Flour Tortilla Wrap

This really is a five-minute meal - very do-able during the week!

I love that verse!

Alright, I'm off to bask in the continued glow of my bargain shopping.  It's the thrill of the hunt!