Last Month in Salem

A midst all my busyness, I've forgotten to share my most recent check off my life bucket list: visiting Salem, MA during the month of October. D and I went up to Salem with another couple and friends of ours and it was suuuuuch a fun trip. Like seriously, Salem during October is like this little Halloween-town where all the spirits and ghosts come out, and everyone's love for Halloween is celebrated. I highly recommend to anyone who is Halloween obsessed or who even loves history. Because the city is rich in history. But first up, we took a quick stop into Boston....

Beers from Cheers. Obviously.

 Where everybody knows your name....

 We did a quick stop for beer and dinner. And of course lobster rolls, because when you're in New England, you must get the lobster rolls. It's a rule!

 We booked hotels about 20 minutes outside Boston and Salem which had these charming little fireplaces that totally added to vibe of the weekend. We sipped authentic Boston micro brews by the fire and read up on all the fun, and haunted happenings of the weekend to come. 

 The next day the first stop was the Salem Witch Museum. Which from the outside just oozes creepiness and hauntings. The actual history of the Salem Witch Trials is fascinating, so if you know nothing about it, I suggest definitely grabbing a book and reading up on it. Crazy!!

 Some of the original architecture and buildings are still there from the 1600's. The cemetery below is actually the 2nd oldest cemetery in the country and has people from the original Mayflower voyage buried there. Pretty crazy stuff! D the history buff loved it. 

 Midway during the day, we stopped off at Salem Brew Works for some lunch and tasty Massachusetts brewed craft beers. My favorite was the blueberry ale beer which they garnished with fresh blueberries. Along with their blueberry ale, their pumpkin pie ale with rimmed graham cracker crust was a close second. 

And last but not least, we got to meet Michael Meyers. As in THE Michael Meyers....the one who played the psycho killer from the original Halloween movie (my favorite Halloween/scary movie of all times!) We got his autographs and pictures with him. Creative D even thought it would be cool to have Michael Meyers (aka his real name is Tony Moran) strangle him, which made for great photo ops! So overall we had an awesome time and are even thinking of making it a yearly tradition :)

Anyone else ever been to Salem before? Or intrigued by the Salem Witch Trials like I am?

xo Steph

Hello, October!

First off, hi! I'm back from the radio silence (otherwise known as the month of September!) and I'm so sorry I've let blogging go to the way side, but the start of this school year has been ROUGH to say the least. Things are finally starting to calm down and I feel like I can get my head above water now. Which is great, because it's just in time for my absolute favorite month........

Happy October everyone!!  

October, let me count the ways why I love so: the changing of the leaves from green to vibrant reds, oranges and golden yellows (the reds are my personal favorite!), the crisp fall air, cozy over-sized sweaters, chunky knit scarves, boots, bonfires, football season and tailgating, apple picking, hot and fresh farm stand cider, pumpkin picking, carving, and decorating......ok, just pumpkin everything. Including the coveted pumpkin spice latte (Dunkin is preferred over Starbucks), Cheers to Oktoberfest, and fall flavored beers, scary movies, haunted houses and hayrides (D has a love/hate relationship with these - but always ends up going anyway), Halloween, and preparing this years Halloween costumes (because you know, costumes are kind of my thing!) Finally booking a weekend trip up to Salem, MA for a weekend filled with witch hunts and scary ghost tours. The return of scary fall TV shows like American Horror Story and The Walking Dead......and hopefully the final installment of the Paranormal Activity movies (D and my yearly tradition) And lastly, we're having our engagement party this month! So many fun things to look forward to (and blog about), so I promise more blogging coming your way.I just hope I have enough time to fit in all my October fun :)

xo Steph

Fall Bucket List #2: Go Apple Picking

Yay! Another thing checked off the Fall Bucket List! A few weekends ago D and I went apple picking with my parents. It was a gorgeous fall day, and I love any day that I get to spend with my parents -- because seriously, they are awesome. Apple picking is just one of those seasonal activities I love doing every year -- and then I have fun trying to come up with all kinds of recipes and things we can do with our surplus of apples. One thing we love doing with our apples is making D's famous apple pancakes. 

me and D <3

My parents -- Love them! : )

Outfit Details:

Sweater: Target -- Scarf: Target -- Jeans: LC Lauren Conrad -- Sunnies: Loft

Riding Boots: J.Crew -- Purse: Michael Kors

 Oh uh! Someone got caught eating too many apples!

And with all these extra apples, I thought it would be so cool to make our own cider.

And have a cider bar for entertaining. Here's some ideas that I have in mind:

 How awesome is this set-up? I love the rustic sheafs of wheat that add a rustic touch, and the apples as added decor.

 I also love carving apples to hold little tea light candles. With the warmth of the flame, I bet it heats up the apples and smells so fresh and delicious!

 And with the cider bar -- how about these awesome cups carved out of apples to serve the cider in? Garnish with some orange slices and cinnamon sticks, and you have yourself a warm little treat! xo

What do you do with all your leftover apples?

-Pretty Little Things

Fall Bucket List #3: Go to a Giants Game

Aside from going to my college homecoming, D and I went to the Giants game on Sunday (I told you that I had a fun yet busy weekend!). My parents were generous enough to give us tickets as a gift for me getting my new job (love you mom and dad!! --seriously I have the best parents!) and we had a great time. Even though the day was kind of cold and rainy, it was awesome because we finally got to see a Giants win. They past 2 games that D and I went to they lost miserably. So the bad luck streak is finally over -- cheers! : )

 Our tickets!

 We're all bundled up and getting rained on -- but still being troopers!

 The best seats I've ever had.

D was making fun of me that I used ketchup, mustard and ranch dressing to eat my french fries. And even had the audacity to compare me to this guy we saw on vacation! check out this guy here.

And of course, our little Tiki girl was representing her Giants jersey at home : )

Hope you all have a lovely day!

-Pretty Little Things

Fall Bucket List #25: make cozy fall comfort foods - Healthy Black Bean Chili

Lately I've been trying to stick to my healthy eating lifestyle (let's not call it a diet) and trying to incorporate more "real" foods in my diet as well as the right foods I need to slim down, feel more energetic, and overall just more healthy. Plus with the weather getting cooler - nothing is more comforting than hearty comfort foods.

What resulted was healthy black bean chili over brown rice. Topped with diced avocado.

Last night I cooked up this black bean chili (black beans are so good for you!) over a bed of brown rice (also excellent and full of vitamins in comparison to its white rice counterpart) and topped it with some diced avocado (which is seriously a superfood and full of all the good fats!) It was really delicious and I felt like I was sticking to my "healthy eats" so I wanted to share it with all of you. You can also opt to make it with turkey (which would make this recipe even leaner) but I used ground beef which I already had in the fridge. 

Healthy Black Bean Chili 

(recipe from finecooking.com and can be found here.)

3 15-oz. cans black beans, rinsed and drained 

1 14-1/2-oz. can diced tomatoes 

1 medium chipotle plus 2 Tbs. adobo sauce (from a can of chipotles in adobo sauce) 

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil 

1 lb. 85% lean ground beef 

Kosher salt 

1 large red onion, finely diced 

1-1/2 Tbs. chili powder 

2 tsp. ground cumin 

1 lime, juiced 

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Freshly ground black pepper 

1 ripe avocado, cut in a medium dice 

Put one-third of the beans into the bowl of a food processor, along with the tomatoes and their juices, chipotle, and adobo sauce. Process until smooth and set aside.

Heat the oil in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven or similar heavy-duty pot over medium-high heat until it’s shimmering hot, about 2 min. Add the beef, season with 1/2 tsp. salt, and cook, using a wooden spoon to break up the meat, until it loses its raw color, about 3 minutes. Transfer the beef to a large plate using a slotted spoon. Add half of the onion and 1/4 tsp. salt, and cook, stirring, until it begins to brown and soften, about 3 min. Reduce the heat to medium. Add the chili powder and cumin and cook for 20 seconds. Add the remaining black beans, the puréed bean mixture, and the beef to the pot and simmer for 10 min., stirring frequently. Add half of the lime juice, half of the cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. If the chili is thicker than you like, it may be thinned with water.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the remaining lime juice and onion with the avocado. Season generously with salt and pepper.

**The original recipe says you can top it with sour cream, but I opted for the avocado which  is cool and creamy like the sour cream but much healthier -- and of course some fresh cilantro -- LOVE**

Enjoy : )

-Pretty Little Things

Fall Bucket List

It's no secret that this is my favorite time of year, and that fall is my absolute favorite. Between the changing of the leaves, the crisp cool air, the first time you slip on a cozy sweater and boots, football sundays and pumpkin flavored anything -- I couldn't wait to put together my fall bucket list!

Pretty Little Thing's Fall Bucket List

1. pumpkin picking

2. apple picking

3. go to a Giants game

4. carve/decorate pumpkins for Halloween

5. make a gingerbread haunted house

6. do a corn maze

7. visit a haunted house

8. go on a hayride

9. creative Halloween costumes

10. watch scary movies all day

11. try cooking a new recipe every week

12. play in the leaves

13. work on my photography

14. go hiking

15. attend college homecoming

16. decorate apartment with fall/halloween decor

17. go on a weekend roadtrip

18. make homemade hard cider

19.  have a pumpkin carving party

20. throw a Halloween party

21. do more projects from pinterest (less pinning more doing)

22. work on my scrapbook

23. spend Thanksgiving with family and friends

24. go shopping on black Friday

25. make cozy fall comfort foods like soup and chili

26. attempt to start my Christmas shopping early

27. watch the new season of American Horror Story

28. go to a murder mystery dinner

29. go wine tasting at a winery

30. watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"

31. Hoboken Music and Arts Festival

32. try pumpkin flavored anything

33. eat apple cider donuts

34. visit the Salem Witch Museum in MA

35. host a day after Thanksgiving cocktail party with friends

36. have more creative (and surprise) date nights

37. get into college football with D

38. watch Paranormal Activity 4.

omg I'm scared already!!

39. enjoy the fall foliage

40. try to leave work at work, and live in the moment : )

I sure have a lot of my list, but I'm excited to try to achieve them all!

Hope you all read along to keep up with my autumn adventures...

Cheers to cooler weather -- and happy fall everyone! : )

-Pretty Little Things