Friday Ramblings

Yikes!  This week and weekend went from being practically bare on my calendar to being WAY. TOO. FULL!  I've been running around like one of those creepy lizards with the lily pad neck.... you know...

Looking forward to:
A wedding in Ocean City!
One of my favorite people coming to visit!
Cheering for Sean and many of my colleagues as they participate in the Broad Street Run!

Loving:
The sunny warm weather
That our vacation is super soon!
Summery cocktails--I love mojitos!
That it is almost May
Guest posting for 2 lovely blogs this month...details to come

Thinking About:
Sean's car being in the shop and whether that means a bill or car hunting...
All of my friends (local and in blog land) that are expecting little ones and all the fun baby shopping to do
Doing some Shopping
Buttered movie popcorn, yum! 
Hosting a link party this month...would you link up?

Headed over to Happy Hour...it's 5 o'clock somewhere right?

Thursday Confessions

It's been a while since I did a Thursday Confessions post, and I have a juicy one...

Literally...juicy...

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1.) My favorite part of spring time are the "Wormy Rains".  When it rains so hard that all the worms come crawling out on the sidewalk to avoid dying a slow, painful death.  When I was little my mom and I would walk outside and try to find all the worms in the middle of the rain.  It was disgusting and fascinating all at the same time.  I still won't touch them (NASTY!) But whenever I see a wormy rain, like today, it brings me back and makes me smile.

2.) I actually took work time today to watch the new HARRY POTTER TRAILER!! It gave me chills.  I am a huge HP nerd and am already planning my premiere party. 
Golden Snitch Cakes, anyone?




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3.)  I have finally entered the world of Twitter: @ScarletCardinal  Frankly, it scares me.  I would love some advice, tips, suggestions on what and how to tweet.  Those of you who are more experienced please weigh in!


Happy Thursday!

Winey Wednesday

I'm over at The Elephant's Trunk today guest posting for Lauren's Winey Wednesday series.  I am so honored to be posting over there, so please make sure to head over, check out the post, and show Lauren some love!

  
Elephant's Trunk readers who are visiting: WELCOME!  I'm so happy you're here.  I hope you'll take some time to look around and be friends!! Start with the About page...lots of good info and links for exploring.

PS--have you LIKED my Facebook Page?

Tickle Me Tuesday: Florida Shopping List

Yesterday Beth over at Dot in the City posted about Polyvore which is a site that helps you organize products you love, and create fun inspiration boards.  Since apparently Beth and I are both late to the game on this one, I wanted to try it out. So I'm linking up for Tickle Me Tuesday by bringing you my shopping list for Florida--I can't wait for next week!

Florida Essentials by ScarletCardinal featuring a butterfly dress

Butterfly dress
22 GBP - m-butterfly.co.uk

American Eagle Outfitters crew neck top
$25 - ae.com

Top
13 GBP - hm.com

Seafolly one piece bikini
$142 - my-wardrobe.com

Crocs wedge sandal shoes
$25 - piperlime.gap.com

G by Guess plastic shade
$40 - gbyguess.com

Atlantic City/Realizing I'm old

I hope you all had a very Happy Easter and a wonderful weekend!  Most years Sean and I color eggs and make a fancy dinner, but this year we've been running around and just dropped the ball with being festive.  Our weekend was, um, less than traditional.  We still made a great dinner (steak and bacon wrapped scallops---if that doesn't scream HAPPY EASTER I don't know what does), but that's about all the celebration that happened in our house.

Saturday I was in Atlantic City for a bachelorette party.  Charlene is my good friend Juliette's sister and she's getting married next weekend!  I was so happy to be included and although we had a super fun time...I came to a shocking realization.  I.  Can't.  Hang.  But more on that later.

Charlene started by opening some presents...mine was an assortment of things to take to bed.  I included a blanket, some candles, and um...some other unmentionables...wink wink!


The Bride to Be

Yumtastic giant "Strawberry Blonde" martini. 


Juliette, Me, Charlene, Kelsey

  So I was so busy eating that this is the only food pic I got from The Melting Pot but just take my word for it that it was amazing.  If you've never been, it's worth the money, and the fondue is super fun.  Perfect for a special occasion.

Cheese course

So after subduing to a food coma, we roused ourselves and headed out for the night.  The rundown looked something like this...

Latin Dancers at Cuba Libre---mental note: Learn to Salsa Dance!

Losing $32 on slots---mental note: Don't play slots, shop instead!

Dancing at a club where there are half naked girls in cages--mental note: I am old and should be nowhere near cages.

I felt so old and SO grateful to no longer be single.  Between the bros and the hos I pretty much decided right then that a crazy night for me should consist of wine and a crazy game of Apples to Apples.  So much groping, so much attitude, and so little tolerance for BS.  It's a shame that I've gotten so old and boring, but dealing with weirdos who look like they should be on Jersey Shore and having my ears ring from the club music just isn't my bag anymore.  Definitely a revelation, and I think I'm ok with it. 

I'm so glad that I was able to celebrate with Charlene before her big day, and I hope she had a good time.  Although something tells me it won't be long before she feels like an old married lady too!

And the Award Goes To...

ME!  Say what?!  Yes, it's true!  I'm very excited to have been given the Versatile Blogger Award by Maggie over at This Little Life of Mine. 

She has the cutest little girl and is so sweet, you should definitely go over and say hi!  Thanks, Maggie!

So here are the rules for this award:

*Thank and link back to the blog that gave you the award.  You totally ROCK, Maggie!

*Share 7 things about yourself.

* Award 5 great bloggers.

* Contact the bloggers to let them know you have given them an award. (Yay for paying it forward)

Hmmm, 7 things...

1.  I LOVE Disney World.  My parents took me many, many times as a kid, and it still brings me wonderful memories to head to the parks.  I'm so excited to go back in May!  Alice in Wonderland has always been my favorite--those princesses are too high maintenance.

2.  I am a future-oriented person.  I am constantly making plans and thinking days, weeks, and years down the line.  It helps to motivate me when I create goals or am working towards something.  If I say there's no plan, I'm probably just trying to cover up my over-planning so you don't think I'm crazy.  This drives Sean insane.  He is a 5 minutes from now person, and so my planning stresses him out.  I can't help it--I'm just wired that way!

3.  I randomly hum and whistle around the house.  My go to tune is Funky Town...  I have no clue why I chose that particular song, but apparently it's my theme song.  The worst part is that I usually don't even realize I'm doing it until someone asks me why the hell I'm whistling Funky Town.  Then I just hang my head in shame.

4.  I was on the Speech Team in High School. (As I'm sure you've guessed my popularity was through the roof).  I hated it at the time--getting up at 4am to do public speaking isn't exactly my type of fun but suffering through it has made me an excellent orator under pressure.  This comes in handy at work quite a bit!

5.  I love a good pedicure.  Even in the winter I will get one using hot pink polish so that when I'm in the shower I see the bright color and start my day off on a happy note. 

6.  I studied abroad in Melbourne, Australia when I was in college and it was the best experience of my life.  I held a koala, fed kangaroos, snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef and had the most amazing time.  I would go and live there in a heartbeat.  Anyone have a Student Affairs job in Australia up for grabs??



Koalas are sweet.  I want one.

 7.  I love blogging.  (duh!)  I have met some truly amazing women and learned so much about myself since starting this blog.  I love having the opportunity to chronicle this time in my life while talking to such amazing folks.  I love all my followers and those who stop by and leave comments and read about my story.  Thanks to all of you!

Now--the 5 lovely ladies I will be passing this award onto are:

Alisha over at Married in Chicago

Joelle at Where We Love Is Home

Gina from Hiya Luv

Lauren at The Elephant's Trunk

Michelle at So Wonderful, So Marvelous

All 5 are seriously amazing.  Love you, girls!

Friday Ramblings

This week was another blur!  But this weekend should be exciting!

My badass friend Juliette, (she works for the FBI and is therefore a serious badass), invited me to Atlantic City this weekend to celebrate her sister's bachelorette party. 

Atlantic City is called the Vegas of the Northeast...and well, yeah sure, we'll go with that. 

There is fondue involved--which is pretty much YUMTASTIC!

Hoping to not lose TOO much money gambling...

...Especially since Sean and I are going to FLORIDA in 2 weeks!  We'll be meeting my mom and hanging with my fabulous cousins...the ones from my list!

We might even go to Disney--I love Disney. 

My necklace arrived!  The one from this post and it's even lovelier in person!  Plus there was a handwritten note included--personal touches are the best.

I am doing my VERY FIRST guest post next week!!!  All the details to come.

Easter is on Sunday and we are totally unprepared.  I'm still going to attempt an Easter Basket for Sean, but no guarantees. 

Have you "LIKED" the Scarlet Cardinal on facebook yet?!  GO DO IT!

What are you doing this weekend?  I hope it involved Peeps.  Lots of Peeps. 

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Homemade dog treats

Louie was very excited to make his blogging debut yesterday.  Thanks for welcoming him!

As promised, I wanted to share the recipe for the homemade dog treats I whipped up for the birthday boy.  These are the Pupcakes version, but you could easily put these into a cake mold rather than individual bites. 

I also used the mini muffin tin (since Lou is just a little guy) but again--feel free to use different molds as suits you or your furbaby.

I found the recipe here and it works great!  Since Louie has lots of doggie friends I doubled the recipe.  You can also make a large batch and freeze these.

The pups ate them right up, and they're safe for humans too, although may be a little bland for our palates.

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup honey (optional)
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1 cup whole wheat or white flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease mold.
2. Combine the egg, peanut butter, oil, vanilla, and honey, if desired, in a large bowl; blend well. Stir in the carrots and mix thoroughly. Sift together the flour and baking soda and fold into the carrot mixture. Spoon cake batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes; then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Since presentation is key, I also made little gift boxes for each dog.  I used a gift tag paper punch, and some letter print stickers I had and tied them to a store bought box with some brown twine.  Personalized doggy favors--easy!! 

Now you can all go chuckle to yourselves about the crazy dog lady--hey, at least I'm self aware!

Louie's Journal: Birthday!

My mom wasn't totally convinced that I should write this post, but my cuteness overcame her so here I am!

I had a great birthday this past weekend.  All of my friends came to play!  We went down to the Schuylkill River Dog Run to run around before the rain hit. 

This is my girlfriend, Lola

My birthday suit!

Allie keeping watch

Grady--he's shy most of the time so I was glad he came to play



There was even dancing after playing


Dancing and running, and some new special toys made for a great day!  If it hadn't started pouring on the walk home it would have been perfect. 

My mom even made treats for me and all my friends!  She'll be sharing the recipe with you all tomorrow.

Thanks for having me!

-Louie

Birthday preview

Louie decided he wanted to be the one to tell you all about his birthday this past weekend--but with paws it's WAY more difficult to type so it's taking a bit longer than expected. He'll be posting this afternoon about the festivities with a recipe for homemade dog treats as well. And no, he didn't make the treats--he doesn't have thumbs, people! But he was here for moral support.

The Lou man is just bursting with anticipation for his blog posting debut...can't you tell?!


I also wanted to thank those of you who commented or emailed me about the new blog layout and artwork! It was great getting such lovely feedback, and I'm so glad you all like the new design! I am working on an interview with the artist post since Stephanie has agreed to give us some insight into her and her work. Updates to come!

Happy Wednesday!

New Look!

As you can tell, the blog is brand spankin' new!  I've been working with the lovely and talented Stephanie Fizer who is responsible for all the new artwork. She has a great etsy shop and has been a joy to work with. 

I have some new buttons on the side, with one more in the works so feel free to grab one!  I also have a "featured on" button for all the folks I talk about on this little blog.  PLUS...The Scarlet Cardinal is now on FB!!  Like my page to get the latest updates.

Ultimately, my goal is to make the blog look more like my style, while making it cheerful and easy to read for all my lovely readers!  So with that-- I would LOVE some feedback!  Tell me what you love and what you hate about the new look in the comments section. 

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!

Please bear with me as I redesign the blog this weekend.  If things look wonky that means I'm trying to get it right!

Excited for new look!

Friday Ramblings

Woohoo it's FRIDAY!!!  Now, I am clearly late to this party but my boss just showed me this video yesterday.  CAUTION: You WILL lose brain cells by watching!

It's sadly catchy.  And also ridiculously horrible.  All the makings of a hit single!

This Saturday is Louie's Birthday!  Our little puppy is growing up.  There will be pictures of all the festivities and a tutorial for homemade dog treats next week.

Next week will be the blog redesign. I can't wait to see what you all think!

We are officially signing up for scuba this weekend!  So excited to make my #1 Goal for 2011 a reality.  YAY!  The classes are in May so there are definitely embarrasing wet suit pictures to come.  Hopefully that will be motivation to work on #8 so I don't look quite AS pudgy in the wet suit.

One of the shirts I've been jonesing after was on the FRONT page of Etsy today!  This same seller has her shirts in some Philly stores and I just haven't ponied up the cash yet.  Maybe it's fate?



MaryInk

 This week has steamrolled me a bit, and so I'm looking forward to a night at home with the hubs tonight since he's working Saturday and I'm working Sunday.  Hopefully we'll be able to steal an hour or two for some quality time over the weekend. 

Hope yours is lovely!

Decorating

As many of you know, I am a live-in Resident Director which means that I live in a Residence Hall. 
No, I don't share a bathroom with a bunch of beer chugging, all-nighter pulling, fist-pumping first-year students.  Sorry to disappoint you. 

We have our own 2-bedroom apartment with an outside entrance which gives us a good amount of privacy.  The building we live in is only 3 years old and quite modern which means that our apartment feels rather cold and unwelcoming without any personal touches.  I've been working on making the apartment feel more home-y since we moved in, and finished up a project this past weekend.

As a non-homeowner, there is no painting that can be done (luckily Facilities painted in nice colors before we moved in).  So no painting, and limited changes are allowed.  So wall decals have been my saving grace.  They are easy, relatively inexpensive, and add a HUGE design punch when used correctly. 

I recently bought decals from etsy's Wordy Bird Studios and couldn't be more pleased with how they turned out.  I totally did a happy dance when I was done!

First you tape the paper up with the grid side facing the wall

I taped all my decals up to make sure I had the design right

Our giant tv--clearly Sean's idea

Peel the bottom (grid side) of the paper off so that the decal is still taped up to the wall.  The tape acts as a hinge.

Then using a credit card, smooth the decal onto the wall getting rid of any air bubbles.

When you're pretty sure it's stuck on well, start peeling the paper away.  Go SLOOOOOOWLY and if the decal sticks to the paper just rub it back on the wall and peel again.

TADA!  A beautiful decal that looks painted on the wall. 

It took me a total of about 2 hours to tape all the decals up, rearrange, and then stick them to the wall.  Pretty quick for a total wall transformation, and now our apartment is a bit more cozy and welcoming with some added visual interest in the living room!

A fire alarm--the joys of Res Hall Living!

See the cardinal?! A must have

Tickle Me Tuesday

Yesterday and Today are both CRRRRRAZY busy days!  But tonight I do get to ride Segways with my students!  How fun is that?!  Best. Job. Ever.

Today I'm linking up with Sarah over at Yes, Teacher Crafts! for her Tickle Me Tuesday party!

This week I keep thinking about vacation...any kind of vacation.  Dreaming of flip flops, suntan lotion, and some killer Jackie O shades.  But instead I am here in Philadelphia where if it gets up to 60 degrees I'm busting out my open-toe shoes, and trying to guess whether puddles are actually potholes.  I guess the whole "April Showers" thing is really no joke this year.  But, rather than moping about it, I've been thinking about things that would make the dreariness not quite so...dreary.

These rainboots would make you look ever so stylish while keeping things bright and colorful.  Rain be damned!

Oh, Macy's...thank you for having swoonworthy items that don't force me to sell my kidneys on the black market.

And this is better than a garbage bag any day:

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Hoping spring will be here to stay sometime soon!

Weekend Recap

Although Sean was working all weekend, it was one of the best I've had in a long time.  (Don't tell him that!)

Went on a long walk downtown to see the Macy's flower show...who knew Macy's even HAD a flower show?!


Wannamaker Organ



Got a mani/pedi.  I will never get a regular manicure again--gel all the way baby!  Dries immediately, and lasts for two weeks?  Yes please!



Don't judge my feet--just focus on the pretty pink polish!

Ate at DiBruno Bros.  YUMTASTIC to the max.

Pulled pork with sharp provolone and broccoli rabe mmmmmmm

Decorated!  Check back later this week for my wall decal adventures.

Did some shopping!  Haven't checked off all my spring must haves, but got some great new tops to wear to work.  WINNING!

Had an impromptu visit from a friend--one of Sean's groomsmen.  He told us a story of being caught with no pants..pants are overrated anyway don't you think? 

Anyway, we went to our favorite Ethiopian restaurant on Saturday night and to our new favorite brunch place Sunday morning.

Eggs florentine with sauteed spinach, toasted focaccia, and truffle hollandaise.  It probably took about 6 months off my life but holy amazing, Batman, was it worth it.



It was just what I needed to gear up for a busy busy week at work.  Tell me what your favorite part of your weekend was, it will help us all get over a case of the Mondays.