Menu Plan Monday #47

Yet another week has passed us by.  I still don’t know where time is going lately, but what else is new?  There are only six weeks until we leave for Alaska!  I don’t even know how to explain how excited I am, but I’m also stressed.  I need to get organized and get things rolling.  I have a few things (like rain gear) I need to order.  I need to make sure our luggage is the correct size!  The stress is starting to kick in.

I’ll shut up about it before this turns into a bit rant about my anxiety.

How was your weekend?  Mine was pretty awesome.

Trinity had her Relay on Friday night.  She left around 4:30pm to help set up, and I picked her up at 6am.  She said she had a lot of fun and didn’t sleep at all.  Also, she won a door prize, a gift card to Texas Roadhouse.  We’re still waiting on the final numbers, but it looks like her team raised a lot of money.  So, thanks again to everyone who donated!  You guys ROCK!

She spent the drive home on Saturday morning insisting she wasn’t tired, but she ended up passing out on the couch as soon as she sat down.  I’m not going to lie.  I went back to sleep, too.  We woke up around 10am and got ready for Art Museum Day.  There will be a post about this at a later point in time.  I’m haven’t even moved the photos from my camera yet.  In fact, my Mother’s Day photos are still on there, too!

Yesterday Daniel accompanied us to The Cherry Hill Mall.  We walked around and window shopped, but didn’t buy anything.  Wait.  We did buy Trinity these shoes she’s been wanting from Justice.  They’re an early birthday gift.  In less than a month my baby girl will be a teenager.  I’m not ready for this.

Trinity also used her gift card to take us out to dinner.  OM NOM NOM NOM.

That means a meal from last week had to be pushed forward to this week, and I’m using this as a segue to my seven day menu plan.

1. Cauliflower Burgers with Mac and Cheese
2. Pot Roast
3. Chicken Taco Chili
4. Maple Whiskey Pork Chops with Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans
5. Parmesan Fish with Veggie Rice
6. Sausage and Tortellini Soup
7. Grilled Chicken Salads with Grilled Fruit

For more menu planning ideas, check out The Vampire Diet, Love Harmony Peace, and Food Allergy Experience.  Also, I post yummy recipes over at Om Nomalicious.

What are you having for dinner this week?!

National Public Garden Day

Last Friday was National Public Gardens Day.  How many of you took this opportunity to visit a garden or arboretum that you wouldn’t regularly visit?  I did.  Megan, Charlie and I had a really nice day visiting two different gardens.

First, we headed into Philly to check out Shofuso Japanese House and Garden.  It was definitely beautiful there, but we saw everything there was to see in less than ten minutes. Well, we saw everything on the grounds.  We didn’t go into the house because there were too many things for Charlie to grab and break.

It would definitely be a nice place to sit and meditate, read, or draw, but I wouldn’t recommend it for adventuring.

I could get used to this view.

Charlie was VERY interested in the koi.

Aren’t they beautiful?

The whole place was gorgeous.

The house was pretty, too!

Isn’t she the cutest?

 

I’m sure it was even prettier there a few weeks ago while the cherry trees were blooming!

After a quick lunch, we headed out to The Morris Arboretum, which is owned by The University of Pennsylvania and is the official arboretum of the state of Pennsylvania.  It ended up being pretty amazing.  We explored for two hours without repeating anything.

First and foremost, there was an amazing array of plants.  I found a few different varieties I’d like to have in my yard.  Daniel keeps joking that he’s going to have to buy me 50+ acres for all the plants and trees I want!

The grounds were just so well kept and gorgeous.  I want my imaginary 50+ acres to look just like The Morris Arboretum!

I want an azalea bush so bad.

These bleeding hearts remind me of ducks.

I also want a Tinkerbelle Lilac bush. I need a bigger yard.

I’m not sure what this flower is, but I think it’s a type of allium.

They had LOTS of funs. I think they’re so beautiful.

I could spend forever here.

I have no idea what this flower is, but it’s pretty awesome.

I could live here.

This is the Oak Allee.

I love this artwork on the sidewalk!

This summer, they are hosting a Big Bug exhibit that features 11 bug sculptures made by David Rogers.  They were all pretty awesome, but I was confused.  I swore we saw all of them, but I only had 9 photos.  It turns out that the three ant sculptures were counted separately   So, 11 total sculptures of 9 species of insects are on display through August.

Spiderweb!

Grasshopper!!

I keep forgetting what type of bug this is, but Megan keeps reminding me it’s an Assassin Bug.

I got attacked by a praying mantis once.

Can someone photoshop this lady out of the background of this Damsel Fly photo?

There were actually three of these ants walking across the meadow.

The dragonfly was just floating around the lake.

Daddy Long Legs are the only type of spider that doesn’t freak me out.

The ladybug was my favorite.

Don’t worry, though, if you can’t visit while the bugs are on display.  There are still plenty of things to do and see!

One thing I was really excited about was the Dawn Redwoods.  What’s a Dawn Redwood?  Oh, ya know, just something Dinosaurs probably ate, and I love Dinosaurs!  They’re trees that were thought to have gone extinct 30 million years ago.  However, they were discovered in the forests of China in the 40s.  The seeds were distributed, and Morris has a pretty nice collection of them.  They’re really awesome.

How awesome are these trees?

Dinosaurs probably ate these trees.

Another pretty awesome feature is The Loggia, or Mercury’s Temple.  It was built in 1913, and features a sculpture, Mercury At Rest, which is a copy of a sculpture found in the ashes of Vesuvius.

The cornerstone of The Loggia is thought to contain a copy of a manuscript written by John Morris.  Of course, no one has ever opened it to find out!

If you go under the building, there’s a beautiful little grotto that leads to The Ravine Garden.  It looks like a gorgeous little walk, but we didn’t have time (and Charlie was tired). I definitely want to explore it at some point in the future.

This is a pretty awesome statue of Mercury.

Charlie had fun playing in the fountains in front of The Loggia.

This cool little grotto is under The Loggia.

We didn’t walk down this awesome path, but it looks like my kind of place!

The cornerstone of The Loggia.

This is The Loggia

 

I saved the most awesome for last.  Right next to the visitor center is an exhibit called Out On A Limb.  It’s a catwalk/walkway that is about 50 feet in the air.  It’s not just a catwalk, though.  There are lots of different things to experience.  One end has a fake nest with HUGE eggs.  Charlie loved that one.  Another spot, which is the highest part, has a netting/hammock area.  It was a little disorienting, but Charlie and I braved the net for a photo opp.  There were also cones that, when held to your ears, let you hear all the sounds of the forest.

It’s just pretty awesome.  It’s also completely handicap (and stroller!) accessible.

It’s a human sized nest!!

The nest has huge eggs in it!

Out On A Limb is REALLY high!

Charlie loved the giant eggs!

Did you see the photo of the really high catwalk? Yeah, this net/hammock area is there.

 

See what I mean?  It’s definitely worth the price of admission!  Daniel really wants to go, and I’d love to see the other things that we missed.  That means Morris Arboretum is still on our (ever growing) list of places to explore!

 

I have two announcements before I shut up.  First, Saturday is Art Museum Day.  Here’s a list of participating museums.  Find one near you and explore!

Lastly, tomorrow night is Trinity’s Relay for Life.  She has more than doubled her goal, but cancer sucks.  So, we’re still accepting donations!  Click here for more information on why she’s relaying and how to donate.  Lets kick cancer’s butt!!

Thank you to all the awesome people who have made donations already.  We really, truly appreciate it!  Keep being awesome!

 

Menu Plan Monday #46

Oh wow, what a busy weekend!  I hope you all had an amazing Mother’s Day!  How did you celebrate?  Did you get/give anything really awesome?  Did you take advantage of Garden Day on Friday?  I want to know about your weekend!

Megan and I visited two different gardens on Friday.  One was ok, but the other was awesome.  There will be a future post about this later in the week.  Saturday was spent hanging out with Megan again.  Daniel and Dave went out for some ‘men time’ while Megan, the girls, and I walked around the mall.  We had a delicious dinner at their apartment.  I’m surprised they’re not sick of us by now!

My Mother’s Day was pretty awesome, but it did have a few road bumps.  Daniel and Trinity made me pancakes for breakfast.  They got me some makeup (the only thing I’m really girly about) that I’ve been wanting and a gift card for more.  They weren’t sure what else I wanted from Sephora.  I usually get flowers, but Small Fry ate them last year.  So, that tradition ended.  Cats, man.  No handmade gifts for me this year.  I guess my little on really is growing up!  Less than a month until she’s a teenager!

Anyway… we drove around the Pine Barrens looking at scenery.  It’s really pretty up there.  We had planned on hiking, but Daniel didn’t look up a location.  He thought we could find one by just driving around or using my phone.  I had no service in the middle of nowhere.  We did get out and walk some back roads by a playground, though, so at least it wasn’t a totally wasted trip.  My anxiety was high, though, because I have control issues.  I was really upset because he didn’t plan things out properly, but I eventually calmed myself down.

After Pine Barrening, we stopped to visit a lake.  I’ll have a post about this later, too, because it was really awesome.

We ate dinner at the Chinese Buffet, which was amazing, and then just had a lazy evening.  Overall, it was an awesome day.  I wish every day could be like that!

Now that my weekend has been recapped, I’ll get to the point.  Here are my seven meals for this week.  Two from last week were pushed back because of dinner at Megans and going out for Chinese.

1. Tomato Soup with Mozzarella Chunks
2. Crock Pot Orange Chicken with Rice
3. BBQ Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes
4. Pot Roast
5. Tuna Noodle Casserole
6. Chicken, Broccoli, and Tortellini with Alfredo Sauce
7. Italian Pork with Potatoes and Green Beans

For more menu planning ideas, check out The Vampire Diet, Love Harmony Peace, and Food Allergy Experience.  Also, I post yummy recipes over at Om Nomalicious.

The Cohanzick Zoo

This past weekend, Megan and Charlie accompanied Trinity and me to Kids’ Day at The Cohanzick Zoo in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  We had been there before, while Trinity was on Spring Break, so the photos in this post will be from both days.  I can honestly say that I didn’t take a whole bunch last weekend.

The Cohanzick Zoo was founded in 1934 and was New Jersey’s first zoo.  It’s also one of the last free zoos in the nation.  There’s no tickets, just a donation box.  You can enter for free, but don’t be cheap.  They just had their funding cut.  So, I’m sure they appreciate any donation they get!

It’s definitely a smaller zoo.  We took our time walking around, making sure we visited every animal, and it only took us about an hour and a half.  It’s a nice way to spend an afternoon, though!

When you first walk in, there’s an elephant statue.  It’s a great place for a photo opp!

 

The zoo has over 200 animals, many of which are ducks and peafowl that are free to roam the grounds as they please.  I love peacocks.  I went through a stage about a year ago where I saw them everywhere.  There was one randomly on my running trail.  Another one was chillin in a group of turkeys in a field along the road.  Thinking about it, I’ve definitely had strange encounters with them in the past.  I almost hit one with my car when I was in my early twenties.  I have a special affinity for them, so I, of course, took a ton of photos.  Who wouldn’t?  They’re gorgeous birds!

 

The wind kept blowing his tail feathers to one side!

He was eating popcorn off the ground 2 feet in front of us.

This guy was just chillin on a roof.

This guy was gorgeous!

 

The other animals, which I’m pretty sure are all birds and mammals, include a Bengal Tiger, monkeys, wild dogs, a leopard, an Asiatic Bear, and many more.

This cute little guy is a white-nosed coati, a native of Central America.

What a pretty Bengal Tiger!

This is a New Guinea Singing Dog. He did not sing for us.

All cats love boxes, even Servals.

How pretty is this Temminck’s Tragopan?? The blue part is actually bald skin.

This is a silver pheasant.

He wants to murder me in my sleep…

How cute is this Common Marmoset Monkey?

 

We had a great time both days!  I know Charlie had a bunch of fun!

Charlie was REALLY excited about the lion water fountain.

 

Since it’s only about 20 minutes from my house, I’m sure we’ll head back again soon.  Definitely stop by and check it out if you’re ever in the area.

 

 

I just want to take a minute to make a few announcements.  I want to remind everyone that tomorrow (Friday May 10) is National Public Garden Day.  Also, next weekend, specifically Saturday the 18th, is Art Museum Day.  Some museums have free admission, others have festivals.  It seems like a fun time!  Here’s a list of all the participating museums.

Go out and take advantage of these days.  It’s a great opportunity to explore these places, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

Oh oh oh!!  Also, next weekend is Trinity’s Relay for Life.  We appreciate all the donations!  She has more than doubled her goal at this point, but we’ll gladly take more.  Cancer sucks!

Menu Plan Monday #45

I fell off the face of the interwebs again.  I didn’t participate in any of my regular photo challenges last week.  It has taken me almost a whole week to return comments.  Yikes.  I was busy living life and adventuring.  The weather was beautiful for the past few days, so I was spending as much time out in it as possible.

I’m sure you guys don’t mind.  Hopefully you were doing similar things these past few days, especially if the weather was as awesome where you live!

It’s time to get down to business, though.  Here is my menu plan for this week:

1. Crock Pot Orange Chicken with Rice
2. Sweet Potato and Black Bean Quesadillas
3. Chicken Noodle Soup
4. BBQ Pork Chops with Grilled Sweet Potatoes
5. Fish Chowder (Adapted From This Recipe)
6. Spaghetti and Meatballs
7. Crispy Cheddar Chicken with Pasta and Vegetables

For more menu planning ideas, check out The Vampire Diet, Love Harmony Peace, and Food Allergy Experience.  Also, I post yummy recipes over at Om Nomalicious.

 

What delicious things are you making this week?

April 2013 Cell Phone Photos

Happy May everyone!  I don’t know where April went.  It’s as if I blinked, and it was over. I’m not too upset by this, however, because that just means my Alaska trip is closer.  T minus two months!  I guess it’s time for me to start thinking about packing, right?  I should at least start making lists of what I should pack.

Since April is officially over, it’s time for me to share the phones I took with my cellular device during the month.  I don’t know what it was about April, but I took a lot of photos, both with my camera(s) and cellular device.  I narrowed them down a bit.  I just skipped over some that were a bit repetitive, and I left some out that will show up in a future adventure post.

I’m grouping the photos this time instead of making one large gallery.  It seems more organized in my mind.  Yes, I’m weird.

Of course, I took about fifty bazillion flower photos.  It seems to be my latest obsession.

It’s snowing pink!

I love this time of year! My yard looks like it was snowing pink!

The pretty daffodils are new to my yard this year!

My forsythia bushes are so pretty!

I love my cherry tree!

I wish I had a magnolia tree. In the meantime, I can enjoy all the ones around town.

I thought May was supposed to be about flowers? These are all April flowers!

Make a wish!

I also wouldn’t mind having a weeping cherry!

Hoome sweet Hoome

My house is so pretty in the spring!

I also took a bunch of photos of my furbabies, mostly because they’re adorable.

My puppy is the best cuddler!

I left the room for a minute, and found him like this when I returned. It looks like he fell off the couch and was too tired to care.

This is her favorite spot.

They were enjoying the window being open for the first time this year!

Nuggz is in a box. Surprise, Surprise.

He was PASSED OUT.

The cat traps are working.

He’s the reason I can’t have nice things.

These are my three favorite boys <3

These are two of my favorite living things.

Daniel gets kitty cuddles when he sleeps.

These are my baby girls.

Also, for some unknown reason, I took a lot of selfies this month.  This is what I do when I’m bored, I take random pictures.

Yeah. I don’t know.

This is me.

This is what happens to my hair when I have it in a bun while wet.

It was windy! Also, I rock my dino necklace like a boss.

It was time for sleeeeep.

It feels great to be back out on the trail!

I am obsessed with orange lately.

I was on my way to Longwood.

I was channeling my inner 12 year old by rockin some pigtails.

I take photos of random things when I’m bored.

….and Kitten McNugget loved photobombing them.

I was attempting to read for the first time this year.

Kitten McNugget had other plans, however.

Then… there’s everything else.

I visited AA in West Virginia, and we drank wine on the deck while catching up. It was a wonderful evening.

I’m going to hell for laughing at this.

Coolest Earrings EVER! Thanks AA!

This is the perfect wine for me because I’m a bubbly bitch ;)

Rain, rain, go away!

I’m really sad that I didn’t buy this groupon… like sadder than I should be.

Charlie loves playing peekaboo with my curtains.

Smashburger is om nom nomalicious!

Obviously only 30 year olds can play with these. They’re that awesome.

I got new cookie cutters at Ikea. That’s a snail, not a whale.

The witches give it a nice, smokey flavor.

I love my new trail running shoes!

This stuff is yummy, but my tummy isn’t a fan.

Oh, how I’ve missed this place.

Buy all the books!! This was our hull from the used book sale.

It was a good day to ride your unicycle to Rite Aid.

Damn Squirrels

I loved the way the blue sky was reflecting in my coffee.

Daniel bought this for Charlie, but wouldn’t buy one for me.

I’m off to a good start on my cellular photos for May, too!  I did something weird to my back.  That meant I was laying on the floor most of the day.  I was bored.  That means photos were taken….  especially when I was finally able to move, and I took Spike for a walk.  You’ll have to wait a month to see them, though.

My burning question today is:  what fills your phone’s gallery?  What do you take the most pictures of?

Longwood Gardens

Better Homes and Gardens celebrates National Public Gardens Day by giving you free admission to participating gardens.  This year, NPGD is on Friday May 10th.  If you’re interested, click here to look at the nationwide list of participating gardens and to request your free ticket.

While it won’t get you into Longwood, it will give you access to many smaller gardens.  Last year, Megan and I visited Bartram’s Garden through this program.  The garden was much smaller than the one I’m about to write about, but still amazing.  We’re thinking of visiting a Japanese Garden this year.

With that PSA out of the way, it’s time to get down to business.  Today, that business is showing you tons of photos of amazing plants (I narrowed it down A LOT, I swear!) while trying to explain the pure epicness of Longwood Gardens.

Longwood is one of the top rated botanical gardens in the United States.  The grounds cover over 1,077 acres in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.  It started as a working farm, but an arboretum was started in 1798.  It’s basically been open to the public since then.  It was Pierre S. du Pont who made it into the garden it is today.

The grounds are changed based on the season and what flowers are blooming at that particular time.  They have light displays during the Christmas Season.  Right now, in late April, it’s tulip time!  There were more tulips than I think I’ve seen in my life.  They had displays of them everywhere, including The Idea Garden, where gardeners can observe and compare reliable plant varieties for southeastern Pennsylvania.  The different groupings of tulips in The Idea Garden looked like a patchwork quilt.

They look like they’re glowing!

Red flowers are so hard to photograph :/

Oh, orange tulips, how I love thee!

I LOVE this type of tulip. I especially love the thin, red outline on the petals. One day I will grow these.

How amazing is this color? The picture doesn’t show it, but they looked like velvet.

I’m pretty sure Daniel bought me some like this for my yard this year. I don’t remember.

The Idea Garden looked like a patchwork quilt with all the different tulips and daffodils.

These tulips are the perfect shade of purple.

I love orange flowers.

Seeing all these fabulous tulips made me want to fill my whole yard with them!  Daniel had picked a bunch up from the farmer’s market after Easter.  So, next year my yard should be beautiful.

Of course, tulips weren’t the only flowers on display.  Other varieties of early spring flowers were blooming outside, and there were TONS of varieties of plants on display in the conservatory.  Said conservatory is one of the world’s largest greenhouse structures, and it houses over 5,500 varieties of plants.  I took WAAAAY too many photos, but I’ll only share a few of my favorites.  It was pretty overwhelming how many flowers and plants they had!

Are you into wonga wonga? rofl.

I’m obsessed with how vivid this purple is!

Aren’t these adorable?

Aren’t these ‘old man cacti’ adorable?

I love the water droplet!

I could look at orchids all day!

…as opposed to the only a little stupid variety.

There were so many awesome orchid varieties!

This is my favorite shot of the day.

It’s a Bonsai forest!

I loooove the bright colors!

I wish I could grow hibiscus here!

How gorgeous is this columbine flower?

There are a few other points of interest within the garden.  The first one we happened across was the whispering bench.  What is a whispering bench?  It’s a 25 foot, semi-circle bench.  It’s perfectly shaped to carry sound.  Seriously.  Megan sat at one end, and I sat at the other.  When I turned my head and whispered, she didn’t believe I wasn’t shouting!  It was pretty amazing.

I totally stole this picture from Corinne’s Facebook. Hope she doesn’t mind, haha.

Longwood isn’t home to the only whispering bench in existence.  A quick google search shows a few in the area, including some in Fairmount Park.

Next, we came across the resident Longwood organ, which is housed in the conservatory.  It was built in 1929, and has over 10,000 pipes.  There were rooms and rooms of pipes behind the organ.  It was crazy!  They say it took 14 railcars to carry the organ!

It doesn’t look that impressive… until you see the rooms and rooms of pipes behind it.

Next, we happened across the Chimes Tower.  The setting was so beautiful; it seriously looked like something out of a fairy tale.  The tower was constructed in 1930, and is now home to a 62 bell carillon.

I could look at this view all day!

After that, we hiked up the hill to our last stop of the day, The Eye of Water.  It’s a pretty cool water feature that pumps something like 5,000 gallons of water per minute.  The way the water flows looks like the pupil of a giant eye.

Ignore the shadow… or pretend it’s an eyelid.

The Eye of Water is located in the most gorgeous scenery.  I could have sat there forever… and we did.  Well, we sat there and talked while Koa slept and Charlie played.

I want this to be my backyard.

It was a pretty wonderful day.  Megan, Corinne, and I had a great time talking and taking photos.  The kids had a great time posing and running around.

The kids really enjoyed looking at the water.

Isn’t he a cutie?!

They LOVED the flowers!

She’s too cute! She was posing for me all day… without me having to ask!

Charlie loved smelling the tulips!

There was only one bad thing to happen.  It was pretty scary!  Koa adores water, and he’s been known to run up to the edge of the ocean and other bodies of water.  He had always stopped at the edge to look.  So, when he took off running like this…

Corinne was behind him, but wasn’t too worried.  He didn’t stop, though.  He ran right into the water.  Corinne was two seconds behind him, and didn’t think twice about going in after him.  We were amazed by how many strangers came running, too.  People ready to jump in, offer CPR, hand off some extra clothes, whatever was needed.  As long as there are so many people ready to lend a hand to a complete stranger, I still have hope for the human species.

Thankfully, none of the offered help was needed.  Koa came up crying, not coughing or sputtering.  Corinne is lifeguard trained, and we were all so happy he didn’t need her expertise!

Nothing makes a little one feel better than cuddles from mommy.

He was a little wet, cold, and scared, and he had to walk around barefoot the rest of the day, but he was safe.  That’s all that mattered.

Looking back, I can now see the humor in the moment.  The moment he hit the water, all the fish and geese in the pond swarmed him.  Corinne had to shoo one of the geese away!  They’re probably used to everything hitting the water being food for them, but Koa isn’t fish food!  Corinne had a HUGE piece of pond scum stuck to her shoe, and squished with every step for the next few hours.

That happened a half hour after we arrived.  We stayed for another 5 hours or so.  We didn’t get to see everything they have to offer!  It’s a great place to explore and adventure, and I look forward to going back.  Best part?  With the always changing displays and features, there’s always something new to see!

Click that link in the beginning and find a garden to visit on May 10th!