2009: The Year in Pictures

*This is a scheduled post, as I am currently soaking up the sun in Key West, Florida. :)*

This has been such an amazing year...definitely one of the best ever. Here are some of my favorite moments of 2009.

January

I rang in 2009 with some of my closest friends!

500th night marked 500 days until Brian's graduation.

February

Brian and I spent a chilly weekend on the Connecticut coast...

...and toured the factory where they make Black Hawks!

March

My little finally turned 21!

Brian and I roadtripped to Florida for Spring Break...

...and saw a space shuttle launch!

April

Kristi finally took a little and extended our lineage!

May

I went with Brian's family to the JSOH Airshow for Armed Forces Day.

Brian and I went camping in Pennsylvania!

June

I went to the Taylor Swift concert with some of my favorite Phi Mus!

My grandma and cousins came to visit!

July

We celebrated the 4th of July at Oregon Ridge.

Brian and I reunited in London...

August

...and traveled to Paris!

Brian got his class ring during Ring Weekend!

September

I took my first flight lesson courtesy of Brian! :)

I started grad school to get my Masters in Teaching.

I went to Sunday in the County with some of my sorority sisters!

October

I went to WP for Homecoming and the Trace Adkins concert!

I went out with my sorority sisters for my grandlittle's 21st birthday.

November

We celebrated Thanksgiving!

December

I went to the Army/Navy game...

...and my first NFL game, the Ravens vs. the Bears!

We got into the Christmas spirit in NYC!

And we survived the blizzard of 2009.

2010 sure has a lot to live up to, but I'm giving it my best and looking forward to creating tons more memories with the people I love! I hope everyone is having a safe and happy New Year's!

Ravens vs. Bears!

I had to give Brian his Christmas present a couple days early, because it was tickets to last Sunday's Ravens game at M&T Bank Stadium! The game was the day after the crazy blizzard we got, and I was getting kind of nervous that we wouldn't make it or that it would be canceled. After some difficulty, the Chicago Bears flew into Baltimore Saturday night and the game was pushed back until 4:30pm...so we were able to go!

We took the light rail into the city, and snuck down to the bottom level of the stadium to watch the Ravens take the field. We were so close! We got to see all of the players run out, including Ray Lewis doing his signature entrance.

We eventually took our (real) seats for the game. It was freeeezing cold, especially after the sun went down, but we had a lot of fun anyway!

And, best of all, the Ravens won 31-7!

Brian and I are both fans of gifts that let us spend time together making memories, so I think my gift to him (as well as my first experience at an NFL game!) was very successful!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a joyous and peaceful holiday. Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Light Adventure

On Christmas Eve Eve, Brian and I decided that we needed to get in the holiday spirit. After some Googling, we found the addresses of some of the best Christmas lights in the area and set off on our adventure.

We went to a couple of houses close to where we live...

...and then went into Baltimore to see Hampden's famous "Miracle on 34th Street." This block has been going all-out for Christmas for 62 years and counting!

All of the houses are decorated in interesting and eccentric ways. One even had a Christmas tree made out of hub caps!

The self-proclaimed "Christmas street" was packed with people looking at the lights!

But, by far, the coolest and most impressive Christmas light display was the one not five minutes from my house, where the lights were synchronized to TSO's Carol of the Bells, as well as about five other Christmas songs. When you pull up to the house, you tune your radio to the station listed on a sign outside and enjoy the show!

At the end of the night, we went to Vaccaro's in Little Italy, which has some amazing authentic Italian desserts.

It was probably one of my favorite dates we've ever been on. Perfect for the night before the night before Christmas!

It's official.

My first semester of grad school was a success, if I do say so myself.

I am such a dork, but I love getting good grades. Getting back into the swing of things after taking a year off from school was a bit difficult, but logging onto my school account and seeing this today made all of that hard work worth it! Only three semesters (and a short winter session) until I have my Masters...hopefully they can all go the same way!

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie just might be the perfect winter food, which is exactly what I have been looking for with all of this snow on the ground! It's the definition of comfort food: warm, filling, and simple to make. To make it even easier, I picked up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but you could also use leftovers if you have them! Definitely something I will be making again before winter is over (Brian agreed, too)!

Classic Chicken Pot Pie 
(from Pillsbury)

1 box refrigerated pie crusts
1/3 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken or turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Make pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie using 9-inch glass pie pan.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.
3. Stir in chicken and mixed vegetables. Remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
4. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. During last 15 to 20 minutes of baking, cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

A Very Snowy Saturday: Blizzard 2009

I don't usually believe extreme weather predictions until I actually see them happen. Well, the meteorologists were definitely right this time around. We probably have a foot and a half of snow, and it's still coming down hard. It's supposed to continue overnight and stop early tomorrow morning.

Brian and I spent the day at his house, doing a whole lot of nothing. We ate crepes for breakfast, watched a couple of movies, napped, baked cookies, and just hung out in our pajamas. I did learn something new about my boyfriend today, though. He actually likes shoveling snow. He went out a couple of times throughout the day.

I bundled up and went out to watch him the last time around. He was really proud of his snow mountain. Of course, it's now a couple of hours later and you can hardly tell he shoveled earlier. Crazy!

I would say it was definitely a successful snow day. Sometimes it's nice to have a good excuse to do a whole lot of nothing! :)

The Calm(?) Before the Storm

A "very disruptive Mid-Atlantic blizzard." This is gonna get ugly.

(via)

I happen to live in the area where the anticipated snowfall is described as "paralyzing."

I made the mistake of "running to the grocery store," just to pick up a couple of things in preparation of being snowed in with Brian all day tomorrow. It was an absolute mad house. The checkout lines went down entire store aisles. Nothing like the prediction of a little (a lot of) snow to rally the masses. Needless to say, I traded an hour and a half in the grocery store for three bags of groceries and my sanity.

Last night, Brian and I used our (amateur) building and decorating skills to make a gingerbread house! We bought a kit, so naturally it was super easy and a breeze...right? You would think. It was definitely more work than we realized!

But once we put the house together and got to start decorating, we both got a lot more into it. It turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

Although, perhaps we should have saved that project for tomorrow...I have a feeling we're gonna have a lot of time to fill once the snow gets here. After we have a snowball fight, of course. :)

Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are perfect for this time of year, and I already have taken a couple of batches to various holiday get-togethers to rave reviews. They are a must-try if you're a fan of the combination of chocolate and peppermint (which, let's be honest...you should be. People who aren't are totally strange to me).

I borrowed this recipe from One Ordinary Day, a blog with lots of great cooking and baking ideas, but I used white chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet because that's what I had on hand. I'm not sure if it was improvement, but I thought the cookies were delicious!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

(adapted from the Salt Lake Tribune)

2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
1 c. packed light brown sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Glaze:
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. pure peppermint extract
3 1/2 tsp. milk or half and half
finely crushed candy canes, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of your mixer, beat butter with the sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Scrape sides of bowl as necessary. Add vanilla and peppermint extracts. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture a little at a time. Gently mix in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

Place teaspoons of dough on ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-8 minutes, just until cracked on top. Cool for one minute on pan before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Mix all glaze ingredients together, and drizzle glaze over top of cooled cookies. Sprinkle with crushed candy canes while glaze is still wet. Let cookies stand 10-20 minutes until set.

A Cupcake Update :)

I'm seriously going to stop about rambling about cupcakes...after this. Last Friday, Brian's mom was in NYC to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and to do some shopping. Brian called her while she was there, told her how much I looooved Crumbs cupcakes and asked her to bring some back with her! When I got to his house, I was so surprised to find these delicious cupcakes waiting for me.

Now, I think I can officially say that Crumbs cupcakes are definitely delicious. As you can see, I didn't even wait to eat half of the Cookie Dough cupcake before I snapped a picture. Brian and his mom definitely made my day, and I think it's pretty obvious where Brian gets his thoughtfulness from. :)

110th Army/Navy Game!

This past Saturday was the Army/Navy football game! Brian and I woke up at 5:30 am, layered, layered, and layered some more in preparation to spend the whole day in the cold, and then started the journey up to Philadelphia. Between the two of us, we had 16 people going to the game: his family, my family, my sorority sisters Joella and Megan, and some other family friends all made the trip up to Lincoln Financial Field for the biggest Army football game of the year!

A lot of the excitement of the Army/Navy game (besides the actual football) is all of the fanfare that surrounds the day. A couple hours before the game starts, the cadets and midshipmen both march onto the field. I mentioned in August that Brian had a job at school that required he take on more responsibility in his company. Well, he has (almost) successfully finished out the semester in his position, and I couldn't be more proud of him and all of the work he has put into it. But by far the coolest part of his position this semester was the fact that his name was announced over the loudspeaker throughout the stadium during the march on!

The other cool thing that happens before the game is the flyover of various military aircraft (have I mentioned that I love airplanes?). There are also parachuters that jump onto the field! Last year, President Bush did the coin toss, but President Obama was nowhere to be found at this game. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did the honors, which was, quite frankly, just not as cool.

To show my Army pride, I wore one of Brian's camouflage coats over my own winter jacket (as well as another one of his fleeces, a sweatshirt of my own, and a couple of long-sleeved t-shirts...). I also made a black and yellow scarf out of fleece. I was very proud that my very amateur sewing skills created something that didn't immediately fall apart!

This was my second Army/Navy game, and luckily we were sitting on the sunny side of the stadium this year. While it was chilly when the sun went down, it was much warmer than last year and watching the game was actually enjoyable because I could feel my fingers and toes! In addition to hanging out with Brian, Joella, and Megan, who I obviously love, I also got to catch up with one of my friends from high school who was at the game!

It was a good football game...but sadly, Army lost. A win would have been really exciting, but we all still had a really good time! This is Brian's last Army/Navy game, and Army football game, as a cadet; he'll be in Arizona this time next year, so while I'm sure we'll make it to another one eventually, who knows when that will be. I know he had a lot of fun cheering with his friends and classmates, and I'm glad I got to experience two Army/Navy games while he was at WP!

When the game was over, we drove home and were so utterly exhausted that Brian and I both fell asleep on the couch watching a movie. That's definitely the mark of a fun, but long, day. :)