Happy New Year!

Wow! What a week it has been since Christmas time. Tyler and I both had off this past week, and I have to say, it was the most relaxing week we have had in a long time. We spent the last week going to the gym, hanging out with family and friends, going to the movies and just doing nothing. Now we are refreshed and ready to head back to work tomorrow. Well kinda... I think that the dogs are gonna like it though so that they can catch up on their sleep. 


Well our week wasn't terribly eventful, aside from what was listed above. We had a house guest for the week as my friend Ashley and her dog Sarah stayed with us while she was in town visiting family. We saw the new Sherlock Holmes movie, which we both highly recommend.


We are starting the New Year with a resolution of our own, it's time to save lots of money so we can finally finish all of the projects around the house that we have been talking about for the past five years... since we bought the place. Next weekend we will start with the living room. Stay tuned for updates! Oh and next week will be perfect for our start time because the Ravens are in the playoffs, but have a bi-week, so we have a weekend that is football free. We truly get nothing done during football season. It's kind of nice once the season ends.


Well 2011 was a crazy year, and we are ready to see what 2012 has in store for us. Keep checking back for updates! Hope everyone had a great time celebrating the holidays and ringing in the New Year! 

A Very Merry Ravens Christmas Eve

This afternoon we got the chance to go to the Ravens/Browns game, what a great Christmas present!! And to make it even better, Tyler knows someone that was able to get us on the field during warmups! It was so cool to see the players up close, they were huge! Here are some photos from our day!

The passes that got us on the field. Too bad we didn't get to keep them though. That would have been a super cool souvenir.

Walking down the tunnel... so excited!

We can see our seats from the field... way up at the top. And let me tell you, it was super cold up there today.

The offense during warmups

Joe Flacco our QB... Wacco for Flacco!

And then the defense came out to warmup.

And the best part of the entire day, Terrell Suggs gave us a fist pump! Amazing!

Ray Lewis firing the team up

We got to stay on the field for only 20 minutes and then they made us leave. But we had just enough time to get a picture before we left. What an awesome experience. Thanks to Mama Rogers for the tickets and thanks to Tyler's co-worker for getting us the passes onto the field.

We hope that everyone is having a great Christmas Eve, however you may be spending it. Love to all of our family and friends for making this Christmas season so wonderful so far. We will be spending tomorrow just the two of us (and the pups) in the morning, before heading to my parents house for dinner and family time. Then we have the entire week off together. Looking forward to relaxing for the week.


And the Ravens win was a great way to start the Christmas weekend. We have clinched a spot in the playoffs, and are one step closer to winning our division!

Oh what a Baltimore Christmas

For those of you who may not know (and I don't know how), I love Baltimore. I love everything about it, and I love to show my Baltimore pride whenever possible. So today, I was walking during lunch with a co-worker, and she decided she wanted to stop in the Natty Boh store to look for a Christmas gift for her Dad. (For those outside of Baltimore that may not know, Natty Boh is a beer company, whose mascot has become the unofficial mascot of Baltimore). Well, while in the store, I found Natty Boh dog collars. I am not one for shopping for my pets for Christmas, those little beasts get spoiled enough every day of the year, but I had to have these and show my Baltimore pride just a little bit more. So really, I guess more of a gift for myself anyways because my dogs hate wearing collars. But aren't they awesome?!

 Purple for Oliver and red for Jack

And just when I thought my shopping (for myself) was complete, I walk into a furniture/nick-knack store looking for a gift for a friend, and what do I see staring at me at the register but this:

 Didn't even care what the price was, I had to have it. Oh I should mention for those who may not know, Tyler and I live in a neighborhood of Baltimore called Pigtown. It's a little known neighborhood of Baltimore that is growing in popularity, and we love it!

So, Merry Christmas to me! Now I just need to find the right place to hang it in the house... stay tuned!

The Reindeer Cookies

So I saw these little cuties on a website and decided that I would make them for a holiday cookie exchange in my office. While adorable, they were not the easiest thing to make. So I am providing the directions below, but you have been warned!

First, pick your favorite kind of cookies to make. I chose peanut butter for mine, and used the recipe off of the back of the Jif peanut butter. After mixing the batter I rolled the dough into one inch balls and then flattened them between my plams and finally pinched part of the cookie to shape the nose. Baked these bad boys for 7 1/2 minutes and pulled them out of the oven.

As soon as they came out, I had to work quick to put the "facial features" on. Chocolate covered pretzels for the antlers, mini chocolate chips for eyes, and an M & M for the nose. This was the tricky part. Since the cookie and pan were hot, the chocolate melted quickly and made quite the mess. I had originally thought this would be a great project with kids, but DO NOT do that. It was hot and messy. So I finally got everything in place and put them on the rack to cool. The second batch did go a little better.

So then when they finally cooled, and the chocolate set, I went to put them in a cookie jar, but when I stacked them, the antlers kept getting knocked off. Ahhhh!

Good luck to anyone that wants to try them. They are super cute, but you have been warned. Oh and I used regular sized chocolate pretzels, but maybe try to find mini ones if you can. They might be easier! Happy baking!

 

Halfway finished with grad school!

Well I won't have to see this building again for about a month and a half! Another semester of graduate school was completed yesterday as I turned in my final term paper. I can't even begin to descripe how good it felt to hit the send button on that email.

I think the next month and a half will see me catching up on all the books that I want to read but haven't had the chance, and hitting the gym more as I have neglected that as well with this hectic schedule.

Many, many, many thanks to Tyler for doing extra around the house and cooking dinner for me on the nights that I was home late from work and school. It made the semester not as stressful with a few less things to worry about.

Now I am officially halfway done with 21 credits in the 42 credit program... 3 more semesters to go!

A Holiday Wine Tasting

What a wonderful night we had last night we some good friends. We got an invite from a friend of ours to go to a wine tasting at a local Maryland winery, and the winery really had a great event. There was of course a wine tasting  and some tasty hors d'oeuvres. Then when we were done with that we got a few bottles of wine and a pizza and sat around some tables that were set up outside and talked and listened to Christmas music. This little guy on the right sat with us and begged. It was like being at home.


We want to thank our friends Leah and Jeremy for such a great time, and want to recommend that anyone in the Maryland area check out the Basignani Winery if you need something to do. Good wine, and they have lots of events throughout the year.


As we left, the snow began to fall, making the evening that much more perfect. We finished the evening off watching Elf in the car on the ride home. A great way to spend the last weekend before Christmas!

Christmas Cards

Another checkmark on the Christmas to-do list last night... Christmas cards written out, stamped, stuffed and placed in the mailbox! We can't wait until everyone gets them so we can share some photos from our annual family photo shoot! And if you are keeping the whole Martin family Christmas card collection, we are up to card number four.

This year we sent cards to friends and family in eight different states, and sent cards to as many people with the last name Barnes as we did Martin. We sent the most cards to people in Maryland, with Washington and Massachusetts coming in with a tie for second.

Anyway... we hope everyone loves them, I know I did! I had to make 8 different choices for Tyler to help me choose from, and amazingly we both had the same favorite.

And we have absolutely loved all of the cards we have received so far from our family and friends. It makes opening the mailbox not so scary... oh right the credit card bills from holiday shopping don't come until next month when the Christmas cards stop. Hmmm something to think about...

Well Happy Friday!