i art a day.

Tonight I’ve finally had the chance to sit down for a leisurely meal and bake, and even do a little blogging. So what’s new? How was everyone’s Thanksgiving? This year my family and I did things a little differently. See, I’m an only child and my parents live a good distance from the rest of our family, so we usually end up having a quiet dinner at home in Virginia and hanging out for a little while before I make my way back to Philadelphia. This year on the other hand, the parents came up to Philly to  have Thanksgiving at my house! (one of the perks of having an adult-sized kitchen and an actual dining room table.) My friend Brandon also joined us for the meal – which was filling and tasty! I worked at the bakery on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, so unfortunately we had to squeeze family time in between work hours.

Upon the parents’ arrival on Wednesday after I left work, we headed out to King of Prussia to the Apple store…where my early Christmas gift was waiting for me! Oh yes – I came home with a beautiful, shiny, elegant, awesome new 15″ MacBook Pro!!! The excitement is still overwhelming – I’ve been waiting for this computer for YEARS. I couldn’t be more grateful! I’m looking forward to maybe even doing some video blogging now – yay!

The new Apple!

The past few days I’ve also been pushing hard to finish 3 painted sets for a children’s musical theater. Two of the backdrops were 8×6′, and the third was 8×14′. Last night was the longest night I’ve spent working in a very long time, and finally dropped the backdrops off around noon. So finally, I’m sitting back for the rest of the evening and enjoying some of the things I’ve been looking forward to. In celebration of a little down time (which ends the moment I wake up in the morning) I whipped up a batch of Cinnamon Brown-Sugar Baked Apples this evening that taste so good I though I was actually going to cry from delight. unbelievable with a little vanilla bean ice cream, mmmm!!!

Yummy baked apples!

The recipe came from the Kitchn, and will be immediately added to my cookbook. Super easy and SURE to delight. I used 4 different kinds of apples, because I don’t really know that much about different apples, and was very pleased with the baked Rome apple tonight. I’m looking forward to having another one for breakfast. Time to sit back and relax for a little while longer with the Muppet Christmas Carol =)

I’m not sure I’ve managed to do anything consistently for two years. I suppose I’ve had my favorite pair of high heels for 4 years. I’ve had this blog for a couple – although even it has been more or less kept up depending on my mood. I’ve used the same cupcake pans since I was a kid, but they’re also a family memento. I’m not sure I’ve ever really even liked someone for longer than 6 months (okay – not counting my middle school crush). So when The boyf and I hit the two year mark on Wednesday I was both joyful and surprised. Joyful because I’m still in love with him, and surprised – not because we’re still together, but because I can’t imagine not being together, and that wasn’t at all what I’d expected it to be.

I suppose everything’s all butterflies and daisies when you start out in a relationship and when that point has passed (usually six months), I’ve found that I’m liable to start packing it up. In long distance relationships it’s lasted a little while longer – but ultimately the time apart was just prolonging the inevitable. I figured after that point in the relationship that’s when things got hard and I’d have to really work at holding it together. It’s come as quite the surprise then, that keeping it together wasn’t a fraction as difficult as I’d thought it would be. Sure, trying to hold a poor relationship together for longer than 6 months was probably why I thought it would be so hard, and this guy being so easy to love has probably made holding on to it the key to keeping it uncomplicated.

So to celebrate this milestone the boyf and I went out to El Vez and had a pitcher of tasty margaritas, more than a reasonable amount of guacamole, and some tacos. They also have a classic photo booth in the restaurant that I dragged him into, and 2.5 minutes later our photos popped out – still wet from being developed, no digital photo booths here! We came home to Star Trek (which I absolutely couldn’t wait any longer to watch) and the cake I’d whipped up just for the occasion:

All in all, it was a great anniversary, and a great reminder that some things (and people) are really worth holding on to!