July Cara Box: From The Sea

As you probably know, my hometown is right on the Rhode Island shoreline, so I had SO MUCH FUN with this month's nautical theme!
For this month's Cara Box, I was paired was two great ladies.  I was lucky enough to receive a box from Sammie over at From Chunky To Funky.  I really enjoyed talking to her and encouraging her as she looks for a teaching job - I'm praying for you!

Can we just look at this amazing package??? I would have to say my favorites so far are the Aquafina Hydrating Lip Oil, Yankee Candle car vent sticks, and hand sanitizers :)

Additionally, I sent a box to a beautiful and talented lady named Kristal over at Atutudes.  Seriously, you need to check out how amazing this woman is.  Just look at her Etsy shop.  She left her 9-5 job in favor of following her dreams and creating tutus that have even been featured in Hollywood Celebrity Gift Lounges.  Seriously, how cool is that?  Not going to lie, I am pretty obsessed with her life.   We also both share a love for cats, Disney, Instagram, and everything girly.  
As you can imagine, I had by work cut out for me, trying to keep up with her creativity.  Here's a little sneak preview of what I sent, but to see more, check out her blog!

Thanks again to Kaitlyn for setting up this great swap!

Weekend Update: My 25th Baseball Induction

My parents, Mike, and I seriously had the best weekend.  While it wasn't the biggest induction ever [3 people were inducted, but they all played/managed/umpired in the 1800s, soooo not a huge fan base], we enjoyed all of our typical strolls down Main Street, sightseeing in the Hall of Fame, visit to the local farm and cider mill, and Induction Ceremony.

Oh, and we had our yearly All-Star Game jersey photo shoot!

 

Farmer's Market and outside the Hall of Fame

Just watching Curious George!

Who's on First?!?

2012 World Series ring!!

 

Fly Creek Cider Mill!

Cal Ripken Jr!!!

It was very dead...

We drank our weight in fresh lemonade

Induction ceremony!

Linking up with Weekend Shenanigans, Monday Mingling, and Mingle Monday ...all a little late ;)

Fan Friday: Off to Cooperstown!

Happy Friday everyone!  Today, after work, I am headed to Cooperstownn, NY!  Fifty-one weekends out of the year, Cooperstown is your typical New York State small town with one traffic light.  But every summer, for one weekend, tens of thousands of people descend on Cooperstown for the National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction.   This will be my 25th induction!  And, yes, you did that math correctly, I've been to every induction since I was born.  I have so many fantastic memories in Cooperstown, and I can't wait to make more this year!

[this was my first induction in 1989 - my dad is the guy all the way on the right hahahaha]

What do we do in Coop you ask?  Walk up and down Main Street a hundred times, look in every single baseball store a thousand times [about 2 of every 3 stores on Main Street are baseball memorabilia stores], and go in the Hall of Fame about a million times.   OH, and wear our All-Star jerseys!!!!

 In front of the Hall of Fame in 1992 and 2012 - still looks the same, right?

Me with Yankees great Whitey Ford in 1994

Aaaaand of course a high school pic AND a pic with a hand in - both are common in my household.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!! Any fun plans?

Summer Gardens

One of my favorite summer things around my house are our gardens.  We have both flowers and veggies and for some reason everything is blooming like crazy this summer.  If you follow me on IG, you've probably seen plenty of photos like these, but here they don't have to be confined to a square :)
Our front walk...

Our lilies are freaks of nature...

This is what the flowers looked like this past spring ^^

Our lower back lot...

Backyard tomatoes, sunflowers, strawberries, and my thumb

How cool is this watering system?

 The upper backyard...

 Target has the best patio furniture!

 Above is last week and below is April 2012 - crazy, huh?

And the garden by the street...

Facebook is the new Pinterest

Even though I made Mike a Pinterest board AND he got Instagram [make sure you follow him!!!], he still refuses to actually get Pinterest haha.  So, he always posts recipes on my Facebook wall instead.  It's crazy how many recipes are shared all over Facebook - do these people not know about Pinterest?!?
Here's what he's suggested so far...

I have to admit, the guy does pick good ones.  And so far, 2 out of 3 times, the shared recipe has been made the same night... A few weeks back, we made Mexican Stuffed Shells.  They sounded so weird to me at first, but they were to die for [hint, hint, Mike, let's make them soon!].  Mike did it all by himself, and he even took photos of the process for me while I was super lazy on the couch, probably blogging.  Seriously, what a keeper!  Here is the Facebook recipe.  

Two nights ago, Mike and I made Double Chocolate Coca Cola Cake.  It was seriously such an easy cake to make...not that I really helped much.  The only change we made was cooking it probably twice the amount of time it says in the recipe here.  We think there's a slight chance our oven is messed up, but not that much!  If you make it, make sure you eat a piece while it's warm - YUM!

 

I have this bad feeling me and Mike living alone [yes, all of our roommates are just about gone] is going to be detremental to my diet!