Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard Adventures

     In September I flew up to Boston and headed east to Cape Cod for my friend Jocelyn's wedding for the weekend, which I blogged about HERE.  A few weeks before her wedding DFH found out he was hired for a new position at work and was unable to take time off and come with me to the Cape.  My good friends LES and ALV were nice enough to offer to travel with me to the Cape from Pittsburgh since DFH couldn't come, and they made a weekend out of it. 

    Jocelyn's wedding was on Friday so it was nice that we had the whole weekend for wedding festivities and to enjoy the Cape and take a quick trip to Martha's Vineyard. 

   I had been to the Cape a number of times growing up, but I had never been to Martha's Vineyard, and I was excited when I learned that the ferry  was only a five minute drive from where we were staying. 

 

I was a terrible photographer while we were there and this is the only picture I took of the cute little town of Falmouth.

 

 

On Friday before the wedding we spent the day exploring Falmouth.  The town is lined with the cutest little shops and restaurants. 

 

Friday night was Jocelyn's wedding and Saturday we woke to a spectacular fall day, and we decided to head to Martha's Vineyard for the afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

I loved the views from the ferry over to the Vineyard, especially the lighthouses.

 

 

It was not windy at all on the ferry.

 

 

Slightly better.

 

 

Once we were on the Vineyard we explored both Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven

 

 

Both towns were so quaint and had great little shops and restaurants. 

 

 

I loved all the buoys hanging from the porch of this shop.

 

 

The original Vineyard Vines store is located on Martha's Vineyard, so of course we had to stop in their shop while visiting.

 

 

 

Of course no trip to the Cape / Vineyard would be complete without a tasty Lobstah Roll.

 

 

 

I am already excited to plan another trip to the Cape!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Cape Cod Wedding

    Back in September I attended one of my oldest friend's wedding in Cape Cod.   Cape Cod is such a spectacular spot for a wedding, and my good friend Jocelyn's wedding was no exception.  Jocelyn and her Husband Matt were married at the Flying Bridge in Falmouth, Massachusetts which was right on the water. 

 

They couldn't have asked for a better fall day, the sun was shining and there was a beautiful sunset for the cocktail hour.

 

 

Amanda and I trying to get the sunset in the background before it sets.

 

 

During the cocktail hour Jocelyn and Matt had a Polaroid camera for everyone to take pictures for the bride and groom.

 

 

Amanda and I had a blast using the Polaroid camera.  It is a whole different ball game attempting to take a "selfie" with a Polaroid camera versus an iPhone, but we tried our best.  ( see close up above)

 

 

Jocelyn and Matt were both glowing and had the biggest smiles on their faces.

 

 

Her dress was gorgeous!  I love how everyone lined up when the bride and groom were announced.

 

 

 

 

Father daughter dance

 

 

The tables were stunning, I loved the lanterns with the three candles inside, they looked so pretty and were so bright all lit up.

 

 

Amanda was the Matron of Honor and gave a truly amazing speech.  I love Jocelyn and Matt looking at each other in the background during the speech, so sweet.

 

 

The three of us have been friend since 5th grade, over the years we have had countless sleepovers together, vacationed together, and gone through all the ups and downs as being teenagers together.  Although we don't get to see each other all of the time, I love that when we get together it's as if no time has gone by.

 

 

Can you tell I am the tall one, I have a serious bend in my knee. haha.

 

 

How cute were their canvas welcome bags?  I am obsessed.

 

Such a gorgeous wedding and a truly amazing couple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY: Cork Letters

      DFH and I held our rehearsal dinner at a vineyard in New Jersey. The private room at the vineyard was actually a greenhouse that was lined with lemon, lime, and orange trees and when we first checked out the greenhouse space we fell in love with how unique it was and knew it was a perfect rehearsal dinner location.  It also didn't hurt that we both are a bit of wine-os

Although the space was awesome as is, I wanted to add some personal touches to the room. I had remembered seeing cork letters on Pinterest and thought that would be the perfect addition to our vineyard themed dinner. I immediately took to my Pinterest boards and headed to Michael's to get my supplies.
 

All you need are the following 

1. Wooden Letters (if you want the letters to stand on their own make sure you get flat bottomed letters)

2. Corks (I probably used about 100 corks for three letters)

3. Hot glue gun and glue 

Simply put some hot glue on one end of the cork and press it onto the letter for 5 seconds   It helps to arrange the corks first so you know how many your can fit on each row. 

Continue to hot glue the corks onto the letter until the letter is covered.

Let dry.

( Please excuse the mess in the picture above, it was taken a week before the wedding and we had crafts and supplies everywhere!!)

 

All the corks I used for this project have been from wines DFH and I have drank since we began living together.  I was shocked that I was actually a few corks short, although I only used the real corks so this didn't include our consumption of wine with plastic or twist off caps. 

This whole project only took me about 45 minutes.  I loved the way it came out and I love that we can keep it up in our house all year long.  

Quick & Skinny Weeknight Meals

 

 

 

Most weeks DFH and I attempt to plan our menu for each week before we do our Sunday grocery shopping.  It is so much easier and quicker to go grocery shopping when you know exactly what ingredients you need.  Some weeks we stick to our menu some weeks we don't, but it at least gives us an easy already planned out option for each night.   For example, last week we had planned to make a salad and add salmon to it, but instead we decided to add the salad on top of the salmon and make open face salmon patties. 

 

The menu above is from our first week back from the honeymoon.  When we were planning our meals we were feeling extra guilty about the large consumption of creamy frozen beverages we drank so we went with a low carb menu for the week. 

 

All of these meals took under 45 minutes from start to finish. Here were our favorites from the week.

 

 

 

 

Skinny Chicken Caesar Salad with Whole Wheat Croutons

 

In my opinion you can never go wrong with Caesar salad for dinner.  Although the skinny dressing version made with Greek yogurt may not taste as amazing as the truly fatty version it is still is pretty delicious. 

 

 Skinny Caesar Dressing Via Skinny Taste

 

To make the Croutons I just use whatever whole wheat bread we have in the house and cut up the bread in little cubes.  The older the bread the better.   I then add some PAM to a cookie tray, spread out the bread cubes on the tray and drizzle the bread cubes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic salt.  I cook the cubes at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, and then broil the bread for a few minutes until they start to brown. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

 

 

 

Via Skinny Taste

 

As I said, when we were cooking this week we very doing a low carb menu, so we left out adding rice to our peppers, and they were still super enjoyable. 

 

 

 

 

 

Open Face Salmon Arugula and Avocado Burger

 

 

 

I know this doesn't look like the most appetizing meal you have ever seen, but it really was great, and I don't even love salmon.   We kind of just made up this recipe, but it is quick and easy.

 

Ingredients:

 

1. Salmon patties

2. Handful of Arugula for each patty

3. Slices of cheese of your choice for each patty

4. Whole wheat bread

5. 1 avocado - cut up

6. Lemon juice

7. Salt and Pepper

 

Directions:

 

1. Defrost your salmon patties and place each piece of salmon on a slice of whole wheat bread.

2. Season each patty with lemon juice and salt and pepper

3. .  Add a slice of cheese ( we used light Swiss) and place avocado slices and arugula on top of the cheese

3.  Cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

4.  Broil for 2-3 minutes until the patties and cheese begin to brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beautiful NJ Mill Wedding

      It is no shocker that New Jersey gets a bad reputation.  When people think of New Jersey a lot of the time they think of Snooki, the NJ Turnpike, or the awful smoke stacks near the Newark airport, however, it really is a beautiful rural state especially the area where DFH and I grew up, after all it is the garden state for a reason.   In September, DFH and I went to a wedding, that really reflected the true beauty of central NJ. 

    A few weekends ago DFH and I headed back home to New Jersey for our friends Kate and Ian's wedding.  We had been looking forward to this wedding since they got engaged.  Kate and Ian also went to the same high school as DFH and I, so I knew we would get to see a lot of old high school friends that we hadn't seen in awhile. 

   The Bride and Groom got married at the Prallsville Mills.  Their venue location really shows how beautiful and historical parts of New Jersey are. The  Prallsville Mills is a beautiful old mill in the area we grew up, which sits right on the Delaware river.  How pretty are the old stone buildings.

 

 

 

I wish I had taken pictures, but the cocktail hour was inside the mill, which was so unique. 

 

 

The Bride and Groom!

 

 

 

 

DFH and I

 

 

Posing with JLM and BHB.  BHB was DFH's best man and JLM sang at our wedding.

 

 

Twins! How much do you love the mason jar glasses and striped straws.

 

Kate and Ian had so many great details.  Their menus were printed on paper that is made with wildflower seeds that you can plant!  We are planning to plant our menus next spring, we will see what pops up!

 

The Bride and Groom's favors were little jars of honey that were locally made that said, "Meant to Bee"

 

 

 

I loved the lighting in the tent. 

 

High school friends all grown up. 

 

 

 

 

The beautiful bride and I.  Kate and I got married only a month apart and we had the best time discussing and planning our weddings together.  It was so fun seeing all the details come together that we had discussed over the year.   

 

 

Bedford Springs

   For the most part this past weekend, was spent being lazy.  It was our first weekend home since the honeymoon so it was nice to be able to spend our Friday night on the couch in pajamas, which rarely happens. 

   On Saturday though, DFH and I headed east to Bedford Springs Resort in central Pennsylvania for the night.  DFH's group from work won a national award this year, and so as a reward his group and spouses were all treated to a night at Bedford Springs. 

 

 

Bedford Springs Resort dates back to the 1800's and was a vacation retreat for many Presidents and celebrities back in early 1900's.  The area became popular due to the fresh water springs in Bedford, PA which had a very high mineral content and were said to cure all types of physical ailments.   Guests would come for the "Bedford Cure" and stay for weeks at a time and enjoy outdoor activities as well as the fresh water springs.

 

 

The resort is so pretty and historical.  I loved all the details inside of the hotel, and who wouldn't love the wrap around porches and rocking chairs.  Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of the inside of the resort or any pictures of DFH and I.

 

 

Inside, the walls were lined with old pictures of guests at the resort over the years.  I know I am a history geek, but I loved looking at all the old pictures, and learning about the resort.

 

 

One of our friends from Pittsburgh, who now works at Bedford Springs surprised us with  wine and chocolate covered strawberries when we arrived as a belated wedding treat. She is so sweet and it was such a nice surprise. 

 

Although we were only there one night we had the best time, the food was great, and we enjoyed the fire pit outside.  We definitely want to come back so that we can enjoy a full weekend and try some of the other restaurants and activities, especially their spa.