Jingle Bell Rock

It may just be me, but every time I hear the song "Jingle Bell Rock," I automatically, without fail, think of this:

Which got me to thinking of what other songs I love to hear during the holiday season. 

Here is a list of my faves:

The Waitresses-Christmas Wrapping

Vince Vance and the Valients-All I Want for Christmas is You 

N'Sync-Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday (yes, an ode to my teenage self)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra-Carol of the Bells (I know that there are no words to this song, but I love to rock out to it while driving in my car)

Johnny Mercer and Margaret Whiting-Baby its Cold Outside (Okay, I'll admit. I never really heard this song until I saw the move "Elf," but whatevs, I still love it)

Mariah Carey-All I want for Christmas is You

Lou Monte-Dominick the Donkey

Eartha Kitt-Santa Baby

Obviously there are many more songs out there than these, but the ones above really make me happy. What songs are you lovin this holiday season???

Christmas Wrapping

One of my favorite trends that comes along each holiday season is the creative ways that people are wrapping their gifts. I wish I was crafty and creative and could come up with stuff like this. Every year I make it my goal to do so, maybe this year I will actually do it. 

Here are some of my favorite ideas that I found on Pinterest:

What creative ways have you been wrapping your gifts lately?

Movie Reviews: Skyfall, Cloud Atlas, Breaking Dawn Part 2

This was the weekend of moviegoing. I ended up seeing three new releases. I don't know if thats good, or if it means I need to get a life and get out more. 

Pete had off on Saturday, which virtually NEVER happens, so we decided to go to the movies for the day. Yes, we make a day of it. 

First we saw this movie: 

I have never seen a James Bond movie before this one, and was a little leary of going to see it. I hate when I see a movie in a series but dont see the original and am completely lost with the plot. Pete assured me that I didn't need to see any of the others in order to follow it, and tried to bribe me to go by saying "you'll love it because Adele sings the theme song." Um really? Since when am I a huge Adele fan? 

Anyway...I went because I was tired of listening to him talk about it. I'm glad I did. It was actually pretty good and entertaining. For some reason, I love to watch movies that take place in other countries (nerd alert), and this was defiantly did that. All in all, I give it a 4 out of 5 on the Bethany Movie Rating Scale. 

Next up was Cloud Atlas. 

You know, this one: 

I can't really tell you what this movie was about because I still don't know. Yea, it was probably the worst movie I have seen in a long time. Going into it, I knew that it had something to do with running into the same people throughout different time periods and centuries and stuff, but the movie didn't tie any of them together. It was just plain pointless and weird. I give it a 0 out of 5. Seriously, do not see this movie, you will want your $12 back. 

And finally, the best for last. Sunday I saw this: 

Yea, thats right. I got to stare at Robert Pattenson for like 2 whole hours. 

Growl. 

This movie was good, and having never read the final book of the series, I really didn't know what to expect. I loveddddddd it (although I have to admit, Jacob being around the Cullens ALL THE TIME, started to get a little creepy, even if he did "imprint" on Renesmee.  On the Bethany Movie Rating Scale its a 5 out of 5. 

I am sad that the series of movies is finally over, but now I have the hunger games trilogy to look forward to when the next one comes out next November.

When I think about it, November 2013 seems soo far away, but this time next year my little man will already be 8 months old! EEEK!!!!

Gender Reveal Party!

So this past Saturday was our gender reveal party. It turned out just how I imagined....

We asked everyone to wear either pink or blue as a form of showing support for their "team." Since Pete doesn't own anything pink, I wore it (we didn't want to be biased toward one gender or the other). 

I decorated the condo in pink and blue, and even had welcome chalk boards!

We had everyone vote for their gender pick. We gave a prize out to a name picked from the winning gender's glass. 

And of course, there was cake. 

When we went to our ultrasound on Tuesday, instead of having them tell us the gender, we had them write it down and stick it in a sealed envelope. We took this envelope to the bakery and asked them to make a cake with a layer of icing on the inside dyed either pink or blue according to what gender was inside the envelope. I think the cake turned out great! Very "neutral" from the outside. 

Then we cut into it....

ITS A BOYYYY!!!!!!!

We are soo excited! Good thing too, because 99.% of the attendees at our party had blue on!

And finally, what would a Barone party that included cake be without, well, a little cake in the face?!

Thankful Thursday

Its Thursday. It's November. It's time to be thankful. 

There is always soo much to be thankful for! 

Today, I am thankful for fall scented candles. 

There is something about them that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when they are lit. One of my favorite fall scents is "warm apple pie" from Yankee Candles. I love coming home at night, lighting a candle, and watching a movie with the hubby. Being able to smell the candle throughout our house really makes me one happy person.

What are you thankful for today?

Long time no see

Its been over two months since my last post. Completely unacceptable. I have no excuse either, just pure laziness. 

Soo many things have happened since then! 

For starters, instead of being excited about Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I have now moved on to Gingerbread Lattes. In Christmas cups. Seriously, you can't go wrong.

YUM.

Second of all, we celebrated our 1 year anniversary on October 15th. Its crazy how fast the past year went. Seriously, I can still remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. We celebrated by going to Atlantic City. Fun times were had (although no money was won :()

Here we are at Revel Casino in AC. Prettyyyyyy swanky. 

Lastly is probably the biggest piece of news since I last entered blogland......

WERE HAVING A BABY! 

Yes, you read that correctly. Our little addition is set to arrive on March 24th!!!!

While it seems like March is soo far away, its really not. Especially now that it is holiday time. I feel like Thanksgiving and Christmas will go by soo fast, and before we know it, it will be January already.

 EEEEK!!! 

Tomorrow is our 20 week ultrasound and I can't wait. The last ultrasound I had was at 6 weeks, and the baby looked like a lentil bean. Not much to see. Now I can feel the baby move a lot, so I can't wait to see my little lentil again! Although we can find out the gender at the ultrasound, we are going to wait until our Gender Reveal Party on Saturday to find out what the gender of Baby B is with the rest of our family. Needless to say, this will be the longest week of my life.

EVERRRRR.

Its Baaacccckkkkkk!

In case you were wondering what the highlight of my week was, this picture should sum it up for you:

Yes, thats right. Yesterday I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season from Starbucks. But this was no ordinary pumpkin spice latte. Oh no. This one was frozen. 

FROZEN!

Yes my friends, they now make it as a frappuchino. And I am seriously in love. 

Now, I highly recommend you all go out and get as many as you can before they go away. You will not regret it!

Never Ever Ever

Have I waited so long for a new Taylor Swift song to come out. And here it is:

I'm actually not a huge fan. It sounds way to popish for me, which is weird because I love all of her other songs. Maybe its because I somehow relate it to "Call Me Maybe" which is clearly not the same genre. I feel guilty even writing this because I love Taylor Swift, but this song is just not working for me. It doesn't really sound like her at all. Sorry Taylor!

I can't wait to hear what the other songs on her new CD "Red" sound like though.  

Olympic Fun

I. LOVE. THE. OLYMPICS.

You can ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that I am pretty much glued to the TV for the entire two weeks that they are around every four years. I will watch any event that is on. For example, today I watched synchronized swimming and rythmic gymnastics just because. I love to watch the sports and then become an instant expert in that field and comment on everything I see. 

That being said, I am sad that the closing ceremonies are this Sunday. Whatever will I do with my free time now?!

Here are some of my (and I'm sure most of America's) favorite highlights from the games: 

 Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman winning individual golds for gymnastics (although I love the whole women's gymnastic team as well!)!

 Missy Franklin for swimming. I can't believe she doesn't do endorsements or anything just to stay on her high school swim team! They are very lucky!

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings for women's beach volleyball. Threpeat what!? Such an awesome end to their great team partnership!

I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan of track, but did anyone see the runner from South Africa who had two amputated legs? How awesome was it to see him compete in the Olympics?!

Just chillin with Robert Irvine.

Back to my vacation recap: 

Day two at the beach was spent, well at the beach. Soaking up the sun and avoiding the pigeons. That night we went to dinner at a place called "The Chicken or the Egg." Yes, thats right. The locals call it the "Chegg." The restaurant specializes in chicken and breakfast food and all I can say is that everything we got was delish! And bonus, Pete doesn't like fried pickles (seriously, I don't get it either) so I got them all to myself. Nom nom nom. 

One of the claims to fame for the restaurant is that Adam Richmond from the Travel Channel's "Man vs Food" came in and did a food challenge there by eating a dozen of their hottest wings in 15 minutes. Pete would have also done said challenge, but he didn't want to be "sick" the next couple days of vacation. I cannot thank him enough for making this decision.

On to day 3....

Day three was a lot like day two, except I finally remembered to take pictures! We started out by going to the beach, but then we got bored and decided to check out some of the local sites such as Barnagate's lighthouse and Viking Village. The lighthouse was exactly as it sounds, a lighthouse surrounded by ocean and some walking trails. Viking village sadly did not have any vikings. Rather, it was just a cute little shopping area that ran a lot of fishing boat trips. 

Barnagate's Lighthouse

 Cute photo (although the wind was NOT in our favor this day). 

 

Viking man (and Pete) outside of Viking Village

After seeing the sites we went to mini golf and dinner and called it a night. We had to rest up for our meeting with the man, the legend, Robert Irvine, the next day. 

Yes, you read that correctly. WE. MET. ROBERT IRVINE. You may be asking yourself who he is. If you have to ask that question, do a google search, I will not waste my time explaining. 

Yes, the next day we got up bright and early to head to Atlantic City on our way home. A while ago I had gotten tickets to the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival, and the event that I purchased them for was Sunday morning. Irvine was supposed to come and talk about the different types of coffee and tea from around the world. Yea, cheezy I know, but we couldn't afford the $100/ticket dinner he hosted the night before. Anyway, it ended up being a bunch of vendors from Brooklyn trying to sell you their coffee goods. It didn't really matter anyway, since our goal was just to meet him. 

Irvine made his grand entrance after about an hour of us sitting there listening to the stupid vendors tell us why need their coffee. He just casually walked right in. Clearly I am a stalker and noticed him right away and made a beeline for the front of the line by the stage. I have to say I'm pretty proud of where I ended up and He. Was. Awesome. He came onto the stage and just went right into a Q &A session from the crowd about anything they wanted to ask (nothing coffee related mind you). Pete was soo close to getting to ask a question, but Irvine went to someone else instead and said he would come back to him and never did. Womp womp. 

In the end it doesn't matter because we got this awesome pic:

Yes. Thats right. One of our goals for the day may have been to see if his biceps were real. We got something even better. A bicep picture. Boom. I can't even think of another word to describe how awesome this was. 

Just in case you didn't think I got close enough to the stage when he was talking, this pic will prove you wrong. Soo proud of my stalkerish tendencies to get close to the stage.  

Oh yea, Ann Burrell was there too. But I don't like her and she was kinda snobby so I wont bore you with the details of her Q&A session. 

After Irvine, we hung around a bit, did some window shopping, played some slots and went home.

 It was an awesome end to an awesome long weekend!

Chowdahhhhhhh

Okay I know. No post in over a week. I suck. Yada yada yada. 

Anywhoo....

This past weekend, Pete and I went to the shore. Not just any shore. The Jersey Shore. And we fist-pumped all the way there. 

Okay just kidding. We didn't fist pump, but we did go to Jersey. Long Beach Island to be exact. 

And it. Was. Awesome. 

I had never been there before, so everything was new to me. Pete used to go as a child, so we used his childhood memories to steer us toward what places to go to during our stay. We left on Thursday after work, so by the time we got there, it was too late to beach, but not to late to eat, and we went to the most random restaurant ever called "Buckalews" (on a side note, this was not something from Pete's childhood, we were just hungry) The name should have been enough to deter us, but oh no. Not us. We went right in and sat down. 

The atmosphere was your normal irish pub setup in the front, but then in the back, behind the service kitchen was a side room set up as a sushi bar. Yes, sushi. At an "irish pub." Weird. There were also three menus. There was the "pub" menu, which was all bar food, the "tavern" menu, which looked exactly like the "pub" menu, and the sushi menu, which was bigger than both of them, because you know, thats what they serve in a pub. Yes, I am serious. 

Not being deterred by this already strange situation, I decided to get the crabcake sandwich and new england clam "chowdah." Little did I realize that the big "thing" in LBI was "chowdahhh." It was everywhere, and every restaurant claimed they had the "award winning' recipe, even though they all tasted the same to me. 

Needless to say, the food was "okay" and we didn't go back. And I forgot to get a picture of the randomness. And I continued to eat chowdah everywhere we went for food. At some point, Pete starting saying chowdah in a JFK Boston accent, and everywhere we went he continued to order it in that voice. 

I know your all thinking WTF is she getting at here, but this is just the beginning. Next up I will tell you about what happened the rest of the weekend, and it only gets more interesting from here...

Is it Fall yet?

I dont know if it's the heat, or my love for the season in general, but I can't wait for fall. 

There. I said it. 

I promised myself that I wouldn't say it until after we got back from the beach next week, but I can't help myself! There is just something about the season that just gets me. Maybe its because its the season when I got married. Or because fall means pumpkin spice latte time from Starbucks, or maybe it's just my obsession with boots, but I. Can't. Wait. 

 Here are some of my Pinterest finds for fall fashion: 

I really do have an obsession with boots. In particular, brown boots paired with tan or off white shirts. Gah! I can't wait!

In other news, our friend Mike sent Pete an ant farm in the mail. Yes, you heard that correctly. An ant farm. That glows neon blue when plugged in and Pete won't stop staring directly at it. If I don't post again it's because the damn ants got loose and ate me in my sleep. Seriously, I am already getting skeeved out.

Weekend Recap: Canoeing, Shower, Wine and Brunch

This weekend was eventful. Probably because for me it started on Thursday. Yea, thats right.  Four day weekend. Boom. 

Actually, I spent Thursday doing laundry and having lunch with my mom and met some coworkers for din din. Friday is where it started to get interesting....

Since we both had off, Pete and I decided to go canoeing. We live near a river, and one of the local bars offers canoe and kayak rentals during the day. In retrospect, we should have each gotten a kayak. I should have known that within five minutes of being alone in the water, someone would think it was funny to start rocking the canoe back and forth to see if we fell in the water. That got old. REAL FAST. 

Not only did the canoe-rocking begin, but once we got out far enough, the water was actually really shallow (I'm talking less than two feet shallow) and our canoe got stuck. In the middle of the Schuylkill River. With no one else in sight. Obviously I made Pete get out and free the canoe from the shallow waters but even that was drama since his paddle started floating away and we almost got separated trying to grab it (me in the canoe and him in the river). After that, we got lost. As in, we missed the turn listed on the map (read: we couldn't FIND the turn listed on the map). 3.5 hours into what was supposed to be a 2 hour trip, we returned, had a beer, and went home. I don't think I ever want to go canoeing again. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't bring my camera due to my fear of my camera getting wet. Rightfully so. 

Saturday, afternoon I went to a baby shower for my co-worker. She is having a baby boy in September and I can't wait to meet him!  Here are some pictures:

Me, Sandra, and the gift I got her. Its in a Noah's ark gift bag because his name will be Noah!

Me and the lovely ladies I work with: Erica, Tracy, Sandra and me. (PS I don't know why my bangs are doing the "curtain" in these pictures. Time for a haircut I guess...)

Saturday night I went to a wine tasting in town. I impulsively bought a Groupon for it a while back, and almost forgot about it! Good thing I didn't because it was amazeballs. Seriously soo yummy and delish. I brought my friend Katie, and not only did we drink wine, we also snacked on food prepared by the winery to go with each wine. Again, delish delish delish. Of course, it wouldn't be a weekend night without drama. I got home and tripped coming up our stairs. Needless to say one of my wine bottles broke and there was wine everywhere. Red wine. The hubby was kind enough to clean it up for me though, and I just went to bed. I guess I owe him one. 

Me with my delish white Sangria!

 Katie with her wine purchases at the end of the night. They gave us a 20% off discount because we bought more than 6 bottles. Yea, were kinda a big deal.

Sunday morning I had brunch with my college pal Catherine who just moved back to the area. I didn't take any pictures, but since she is back now, I will be hanging out with her more and more, and eventually will get pics to prove it. As for the brunch, it was great to catch up, and the food was soo good. I got tomato and avocado eggs benedict. Nom. Nom. Nom. 

Did anyone else have as interesting a weekend as I did?! I'd love to hear about it!

Movie Reviews: Magic Mike and Katy Perry Part of Me

Yes, I went to the movies AGAIN. I find that I go in spurts, and sometimes I won't go for a couple of months, and then when I go again I go multiple times in a span of like two weeks. This time was no exception. 4 movies in three weeks. This time it was two movies of my choice, Katy Perry Part of Me and Magic Mike. 

So, Magic Mike. Channing Tatum and Matthew Mcconaughey are strippers. Do I even need to give a review on this?! Just go see it. I do have to say though, the ending is kinda dumb, but whatever I still give it a 5 out of 5.

Katie Perry Part of me. I have to say, I didn't know what to expect when going to see this movie. I love Katie Perry, and I was hoping to see a little into her life, which is exactly what it was.  I'm glad it wasn't just a movie of a concert. While it did follow her along her world tour, it also showed home videos from her childhood, gave interviews to family members, and even talked about her relationship/divorce from Russell Brand. No joke, an one point I almost cried. She is awesome. Oh, and did I mention that we saw it in 3D and got sweet Katy Perry edition 3D glasses to keep (which I can use for future 3D movies that I happen to "stumble into without paying" ?! I was Katy Perry for halloween one year, so obviously I"m a little bias, but this was also a 5 out of 5 in my book.

Summerween

So I've been posting for a while now that we were going to a costume party this summer. Well, that party was last night, and it was awesome! I decided to go as the Hamburgular (I know, not the same as the Black Widow or Dora the Explorer as I previously mentioned, but way more fun), and my costume turned out great! I'm not usually good at making my own costumes, but I have to say, this one was one of the best. Here are some pictures from the night: 

Me and Pete, AKA the Hamburgular and Bruce Lee. Obviously we didn't do the couple thing. We wanted to go through the Burger King drive through at the end of the night as a joke, but were too tired

Pete's cousin Carla and her boyfriend Danny aka an Angel and dude with an afro(?)

My Brother-in- Law, Joe and his Girlfriend Liz, AKA Tarzan and Jane

My other Bro-in-Law Pat and Sister-in-Law Kate, the lovely Hawaiians

 Sal, the Master of Ceremonies and party thrower extraordinaire. Or, you may know him as Rambo.

The Worst Costume award. In case you can't see the trophy, its a horse's arse. This went to stupid Samurai dude. I SWEAR HE IS THE SAMURAI DUDE EVERY YEAR. Serves him right to get this award. Usually if you win worst costume, you are not allowed back to the next party. Only time will tell...

The best costume award winners. Rosie the Riveter and Tom Hanks in Castaway. Rosie got a tiara and Tom got a wrestling belt with a pumpkin on it. Personally, I think the Hamburgular should have won, but whatevs. I already have a tiara anyway.

4th of July Recap

Yesterday was a busy day. We started off by going to a parade down the street from my parent's house, and ended it with a birthday party for our nephew/4th of July party at Pete's sister's house. Pete bought fireworks like he does every year, and they set them off at the end of the night. As usual, I could barely watch them for fear that something would go wrong. In addition, that was when I realized that I need a legit "blogging" camera (hint hint), and that my iPhone doesn't take great pictures once it starts to get dark. So, alas, I only have pictures from the parade: 

Red, White and blueing it up.

Old Fashioned bicycle men at the parade. My favorite part!

My coworker and her super adorable daughter, who joined us for the parade!

The mummers also made an appearance.

The crowd loved this navyman. He was fun!

I hope you al had a great day as well and stayed hydrated.  IT.WAS.HOTTTTTTTTTTT.