So We Meet Again. . .

Well hello there. I apologize for my lack of posting. . . .I know you were crying yourself to sleep at night in fear that I may never post again, fear not. Almost a month has passed since my last post and since then there have been several post worthy moments. However, lack of time, my (one) online class, changing my diet (which requires making a real grocery list and taking time to prepare all THREE meals), going out of town for the weekend, and having a pretty constant headache have kept me away from my lil' cozywithtoast. But here I am! 


I know one day I will think back to this time and realize how much "free" time I had on my hands, but I don't feel that way right now so future self: Time management is key.

Valentines Day! I love Valentines Day. I loved it when I was single and I love it now! It's so fun and sweet and even if you are single you can go out with your lady friends and have a grand ol' time. This Valentines Day Zach and I made a delicious dinner of roasted broccoli, filet mignon,  and mashed potatoes. We enjoyed dinner with wine while we watched Midnight In Paris. Also a variety bag of Lindt chocolates may or may not have been eaten during the film(pre eating healthy). 

Yes, all of these picture came from the McNeal camera.

The Friday after Valentines Day Kevin and Zach decided to take me and Rae out on a "Surprise Date." I always try and not get too excited about these events because I have a way of blowing things out of reality and then I get disappointed even if whatever it is is awesome. So I'm dumb sometimes, get over it. I was excited but I had pretty low expectations. I know that any time with the McNeals is a good time, so there's that. But this time the guys did a pretty amazing job! We went to dinner at a new place called Nomad Pizza in Hopewell. There was a bit of a wait so we walked into the cutest store called Twine right next door until they were ready for us. Etsy and Pinterest exploded and made Twine. It was adorable and filled with things that I wanted to make or buy. Rae's cell phone rang (that's how they do it at Nomads) the little guy at the front door told us it was our time to eat! So we headed over and enjoyed the most delicious pizza. It was byob so we also enjoyed two bottles of red wine. So fun. So delicious. This is the kind of pizza that makes Papa Johns seem like fake food. Nom nom. Afterwards---that's right the fun does not end there---we headed back to the McNeals. The guys instructed Rae and I to relax in the living room while they got things ready. They set the table with wine and a delectable assortment of desserts. So pretty and also soooo delicious. After the delicious dessert we collapsed in the living room and chatted it up. Reminiscing about our wonderful evening. THEN the guys just went the extra mile and brought in WRAPPED gifts. Rae received a wonderful coffee table book of NY Times pictures and a mushroom bottle opener and I received a Pin Hole Camera kit and a snail bottle opener. The gifts were perfect for us which made everything just over the top amazing.  Koodos guys! 


At some point in time I had to take the much dreaded GREs. I studies all 200 vocab words. I knew them front to back. I had a good handle on all the random math that I had ever learned in my entire life. Maybe 15 of the words were on the test and the math, well I have no idea where that came from. I did completely average on the test. I felt a bit defeated. Right up until I logged onto the University of Saint Augustine website and saw that I had made a higher score than what they require! So wooo hoooo. I will NEVER have to take that horrible test again! 


Last weekend Zach and I drove up to Fishkill, NY to surprise our good friend Christina Congi for her 25th birthday! Her sweet mom and dad put together this whole surprise party for her complete with catered yumminess, a DJ, and balloons. It was so wonderful. When Christina first walked in to the room Zach and I hung back a bit and watched as she slowly realized what was going on and then just started smiling and tearing up. Then she walked in a bit her mom pointed to us. She screamed and started crying! I was so happy they we were able to surprise her and join in on celebrating her birthday. Zach and I met some of Christinas family and friends, enjoyed the delicious food, danced, and simply enjoyed the time we had together to sit and talk. Wonderful night. Afterwards we headed to Christinas house and changed into PJs. Christina opened her gifts while we watched SNL and then it was bedtime. The next morning we slept in and then headed to lunch at a yummy BBQ place. Can't remember the name but it was so good. Then it was time to head back to Princeton. Another wonderful weekend. 


Last story. This week is Zachs Reading Week. It's like a Spring Break except he is expected to read the whole time because work is due when he starts back to school on Monday. Dumb huh? Yesterday he took a much needed opportunity to get out of the house and participated in an MRI study (or something) at Princeton University. They paid him $40. When I got home he surprised me with a pair of opal earrings that he purchased with his money. So sweet and our of nowhere. With the money he also got lunch and an ice cream cone. Just imagine Zach walking around Princeton all happy with his ice cream cone in one hand and a little gift for his wife in another. What a happy guy. What a lucky lady. 


That's it for now. 


Miss you and love you all. 

Drankin-N-Paintin

Last night my friend Katie came over and we painted. Well, we drank wine, watched a weird movie, got oil paint everywhere, and painted. It was wonderful! It felt good to paint something new. It felt good to paint. 

Miss you and love you all!

N-I-A-G-R-A wrong. N-I-A-G-A-R-A right.

OK I admit it! I was spelling Niagara wrong this whole time! Well, in my brain at least. I'm not sure I have ever had to write down the word. . . but up until a few days ago I definitely would have been corrected by spell check. I learn so much when I visit new places! Another thing I learned is that pretty much every attraction in Niagara Falls is closed for the Winter. It's a good thing Zach and I like eachother so much or else we would have been bored out of our minds. 

We finally arrived at the Red Coach Inn in Niagara Falls Wednesday night around 6:30pm. Right when we got there we were amazed at the giant billowing tower of mist that rose above the falls. Though we were a couple blocks away we could still hear the pounding sound of the water crashing down far below. The Inn is right across from the rapids that lead into the falls. At dinner that first night we looked over and saw the rapids thrashing along. So dang powerful. 

Thursday morning we woke up to an amazing breakfast. Seriously. Delicious. I had Eggs Benedict two days in a row. Now that's a vacation! After breakfast we grabbed our passports and drove on into Canada. We were immediately greeted by smiling faces and warm hugs. The Mounties were there to guide us on our adventure. Not really, but wouldn't that have been great. The day was spent staring at the powerful falls, driving deeper into Canada to visit a really cute little town, Niagara on the Lake, finding ourselves on Lake Ontario, "It's so foggy you can't even see the other side. . .. oh wait. . . " We even walked around a good ol' Canadian mall and drank some Canadian Starbucks coffee. We had a wonderful day. 

Lake Ontario

Niagara Falls is beautiful, even when all the attractions are closed. We did decide that we would like to return in the Summer one day. Though it would be packed, it's basically like a giant water park. Sounds fun. 

Miss you and love you all.

Lazy Daze

This weekend was wonderful. Lazifully wonderful. Well, part of me believes that. The part of me that longs for cozy hours on the couch under a heated blanket in front of an old movie. There's always that other part of me that nudges me out of my PJs and into some real clothes hoping to see the sunshine. Which is why I did manage to get my hair trimmed for a meager $18. Cheapest haircut in . . . .  14 years? Thanks to the haircuttery a block away from my house. Not a bad job either! 

Hair: Trimmed
Face: Pretending to have more energy. 

Before the weekend began I made a gluten free shmorgishborg for my co-worker Mary. We all take turns being responsible for eachothers birthdays and this time around it was my turn to make the yummies for Mary. So Friday morning I brought in Gluten-free cupcakes with chocolate icing topped with dried pineapple flowers, a pretty fruit salad, and nutella-peanut butter rice krispie treats (gluten free). I got the Pineapple Flower idea from a blog I follow, Fedish. You should follow it too! The spread made everyones tummy happy and made Mary feel loved. So job well done! 

Friday night I ended up going to Medieval Times with Mary and two other coworkers to celebrate her birthday. It was pretty hilarious and the food was good. An experience that everyone really should have. We all had a great time and it was nice to be able to hang out with fun coworkers outside of work.  

Tonight I finally booked our room in Niagara Falls. We will leave this Wednesday morning and come back Friday evening. This is where we will be staying: 

The Red Coach Inn! It is going to be our first bed and breakfast experience and I'm excited!
Zach and I are super pumped to explore Niagara (and get our swim on?). We are trying to see everything we can before we leave for Florida in June. Hopefully I will get some good pictures from our trip. 


Miss you and love you all!

Three Whole Years

On January 10th Zach and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. Best one yet. Or do they just keep getting better? Hard to tell. I took the day off--for obvious reasons. I slept in late while Zach headed off to his 9am class. Such a good student. After he got home(and surprised me with beautiful flowers) we finished getting ready for our Day-O-Fun and then we got in the car and headed to the Memphis Tap Room in Philadelphia. 

We added the restaurant to our day the night before because it was featured on Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives and it looked delicious. We ended up choosing the beer-battered kosher dills, beef and onion pasties, and the smoked coconut club. Everything was delicious and unique. After lunch we headed back to Princeton. We wanted to get eachother a pocketknife in celebration of another year together so we stopped by Eastern Mountain Sports and picked out our very own knives. I know, super traditional and romantic. Don't make fun of me or I'll cut you. Next we headed to the theater to catch The Adventures of Tin Tin. Zach and I both enjoyed it, the animation was amazing. 

Then on to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Princeton, La Mezzaluna. We took our time at the restaurant and had a wonderful evening laughing and enjoying eachothers company. And also listening to the crazy conversations going on around us. Can't help it. I love being married to my best friend. We laugh so dang hard together and we argue and we hug and we wrestle and I get tickled even though I hate it and Zach gets hurt because I hate it that much and we go on "adventures" together and I love it all and I love him completely. We are so incredibly blessed to have one another. So so good. 

I ended my wonderful week with a trip to visit my friend Cerstina Jangles Congi. Well that's what Zach and I like to call her. Our weekend was super relaxing and fun. We ate yummy food, watched Bridemaids, walked around Beacon, NY, sipped some delicious lattes at a cute cafe, and caught up with eachother. I always look forward to these visits. 

There's a mountain in the back but you can't see it
 because my camera is old and tired.

 I can't for Christina to come visit us in Princeton before we move back to Florida! Zach and I are planning on going to Niagara Falls next week so pictures to come! 


Miss you and love you!

Winter Cleaning

The other day I experienced a moment of clarity and cleaned out my closet. This is a very hard thing for me to do. I hate getting rid of perfectly good clothes, even if I haven't worn them in over a year. Maybe I will tomorrow! But I won't. Luckily though, at that time I was in one of those moods when I simply don't mind getting rid of things. Perhaps it helps that I live above a lovely girl who gladly accepts my slightly worn threads. Parting is much easier when I know the clothes are going to a good home. Hanger by hanger, I went through every bit of clothing I own. Some things I immediately threw in the "get rid of pile", others I tried on in hopes that they would still fit the exact same way they did 3 years ago. HA! I peeled off the sad piece of clothing and placed it in the "going away forever even though I don't want it to" pile. The gym and I have become BFFs. Well, actually right now we are in a fight, but I plan on mending our relationship this afternoon. I stood her up 3 days in a row. Tsk tsk. My closet actually has room to breath now and so far I haven't missed one piece of clothing. 


This morning I experienced another moment of clarity. I was on facebook while enjoying a delicious cup of coffee and I thought to myself, "Self, I in no way care about what these people are saying." So I unsubscribed from about 100 news feeds. It was refreshing and I plan on continuing minimizing the amount I read before I get to the people I currently speak with. I highly recommend this practice.

Now I am off to the gym. I acquired some new kicks for the gym that make my workout that much more enjoyable (less painful). 

These shoes are the most comfortable tennis shoes I have ever worn. Before these bad boys my ankles were killing me and I my hip was aching---basically I felt like an old woman. Knowing that the pain from working out won't come until after the workout makes going less of a hassle. 


Also, I am proud to say that I have gone a whole week without sweets! I decided that it was time to retrain my sweet tooth. The holidays totally screwed up my minds idea of a "normal" amount of sweets. All of our patients at work brought in goodies everyday. It was ugly. *Side note--If you google "bad sweet tooth" you get a lot of disturbing images.*


Man I keep thinking of things:


Right now Zach is in Lakeland, FL at an ordination conference. This is exciting because it's one more step closer to becoming an ordained Methodist pastor. I wasn't jealous of his trip to Florida---I know, ordination conference, what was I thinking...SO FUN!---until I learned that tonight he gets to go out to dinner with my parents to celebrate my dads birthday. My parents are great. Lucky. 


OK--now to the gym. Then it's time for girls night out. Watch out Princeton, it's gonna be a wild and crazy night! 


Miss you and love you all. 

Merrychristmashappynewyear

Normally at 10:30 on a Sunday night I would be getting ready to go to bed, but this little lady right here doesn't have to go to work tomorrow! Which is extremely exciting. However, it is the last day of my nice little vacation which is also kinda sad. I choose to use this time to blog about our holiday. So so lovely. This year our house felt supremely cozy. Everything was just right. See?

Zach and I were not the only two people who got to enjoy the coziness! Paula (Zach's momma) was here for a couple days before Christmas and Zeke (Zach's brotha) was here for about a week. Having more than two people in our tiny itty bitty apartment is a lot---for me, Zach could care less--- but Zach helped to keep my stress down by helping me keep things clean and somewhat orderly. While Paula was in town we walked around Princeton, Lambertville, and New Hope. She also made it to NYC with Zeke and Zach. Most of Zeke's visit on the other hand was spent here:

Playing video games for hours on end.

Which was fine. As long as they were happy (and the house was clean) I was happy. Good times had by all. Zeke was in town for Christmas so he joined us and the McNeals for Christmas dinner. So delicious and so fun. 

Brothers = Love

I made placemats for everyone. I thought about going out and buying them. . . but then I remembered that was a silly idea. Plus it may or may not have been one of my favorite Christmas activities and I may or may not be doing this every year. I was pretty proud of the meal I made. . . specifically these carrots that I loved way more than everyone else. I love holiday food, so much in fact that I will be taking a break from sweets until further notice. Oh yeah! Also, we did send out a Christmas card and if you didn't receive one I am just going to blame it on the post office. They are super busy. Here it is right here! 

After Zeke left I was in need of some much needed Zach and Kaley Super Fun Time. We slept in late and headed into Princeton to walk around and try out a new tea place. It ended up being a pretty blustery day so we decided to stay in the tea place the whole time and enjoy our chai. So delicious. What is it about reading in public with a cup of tea that is so much better than reading at home with a cup of tea? Perhaps we just feel like we are *accomplishing something--*not being lazy-- if we are out and about. Silly us. Whatever I love it.  That night we cozied up in front of Midnight In Paris. Also very good. 

At some point in time I got to play Phase Ten. If you know me at all then you should know that this is worth mentioning on account of how much I love this game. The night before NYE our friends the Heinemans (bottom right of the collage below) invited us over for homemade spring rolls. They were delicious and so easy. I definitely plan on making the exact same meal very soon. Then it was time for New Years Eve! The McNeals hosted a little get together at their place. We all enjoyed delicious food, laughed, and played some games. Rae brought back the old school game of Signs. Which was fun for a bit until we realized that we really didn't have enough people. Still good times. 

2011 was pretty good, but I don't think it's going to compare to 2012. I begin my journey towards grad school, Zach graduates, we MOVE BACK TO FLORIDA. . . I mean it just gets better and better. 

Also . .Happy Anniversary Cat & Dad! 16 years and going strong!

Love you!

We love you and miss you all!