4th of July festivities!

My dearest readers,

I am SO sorry for being M.I.A. the past week. I've been busy attending bachelorette parties and playing at the beach. Here are some beautiful 4th of July photos so you can see what I've been up to!

Love,

Melanie

Can you handle those sunset colors? What a gorgeous weekend. Missing the beach already!

Grillin' and Chillin'

Happy Memorial Day!

In order to celebrate the holiday weekend, we bought a super cute mini grill and a combo badminton/volleyball net. Fun for all! Peter and Emily (the sibs) came into town and we grilled and badmintoned the weekend away.

Mike was super intense.

Emily was not.

*note the birdy flying past her*

We grilled just about everything we could get our hands on...

Shrimp, chicken, cheeseburgers 

Corn, asparagus, zucchini

And s'mores for dessert!

Summertime is almost here!

PS - Thanks Emily, for letting me use your fab camera this weekend!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend! My mom, dad, and brother are in Boston for the weekend, so I'll be spending it with them...yay family! Today we are off to Concord for the afternoon. Tomorrow, church in the South End and Easter brunch at Gaslight! 

Here's to hoping for a visit from the Easter bunny... :)

Happy Easter!

L-O-V-E in Boston

 My recent posts are getting a bit repetitive...all about loooove and pink things and hearts. But it's hard not to get caught up in it this time of year! I wanted to share two fun things from my Valentine's Day exploring Boston with Mike (post about brunch at Gaslight to come later).

1. The North End

I've been wanting to check out the North End for awhile - and I mean more than just a trip to Mike's Pastry. On Sunday I got to do just that...Mike and I wandered the streets pretending we were European, visited the Old North Church & Copp's Hill, and resisted the urge to buy boxes of cannolis. We also walked past the cutest little Italian baby girl, who apparently recognized Mike, running after us and calling Mike "dada?!!" four times. I thought it was hysterical, Mike not so much.

2. Seeing the seals at the New England Aquarium

I have yet to actually go into the New England aquarium (or maybe I did when I was like 8), but I have heard that you can see the seals without having to buy a ticket. Mike and I headed over to check it out, and sure enough, there is a seal swimming pool on the outside of the aquarium! I could have stayed for an hour watching, but unfortunately there were roughly 10 billion little kids with the same idea. But, the seals were super cute and I got to snap a few photos!

And of course, we ended the day with some delicious baked goods:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

The perfect Valentine's gift

Remember this post where I discovered my love of the artist Charley Harper? Well, my very thoughtful boyfriend gave me a Charley Harper print of "Neck and Neck" for an anniversary/Valentine gift. My first piece of real art! We are so adult. For a slightly better picture and more of Harper's work, go here. And while we're at it, here's the February print from the calendar!

Reason #61 why I love my job

Valentine's parties!

On Thursday, we had a little Valentine's cupcake decorating party. Three pounds of sprinkles and an overload of pink and red later, we had our sugar-high four-year-olds exchange valentines. They were so excited and Ali and I received some of the cutest cards ever:

Look at that handwriting!!! Sooooo cute.

Then we read one of my favorite kids books, Fancy Nancy 

 and concluded the afternoon with a little singing:

"I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You"

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna dot myself with glue
Stick some stamps on top of my head
I'm gonna mail myself to you

I'm gonna tie me up in a red string
I'm gonna tie a blue ribbon too
Climb up inside my mailbox
I'm gonna mail myself to you

When you find me in your mailbox
Cut the string and let me out
Wash the glue from off my fingers
Stick some bubblegum in my mouth

When you find me in your mailbox
Wash the glue from off my head
Fill me up with ice cream sodas
Tuck me into a nice warm bed.

I'm gonna wrap myself in paper
I'm gonna dot myself with glue
Stick some stamps on top of my head
I'm gonna mail myself to you

LOVE MY JOB!

PS- Reason #61A: Here is one of the cupcakes a kid brought in for his birthday:

May the force be with you.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I know, I know...Valentine's Day is two weeks away. But it's never too soon to start baking, right? It's five o'clock somewhere??

I went on a little shopping spree in the Valentine's section of Target yesterday, and I may have gone a bit overboard. I blame these AMAZING sprinkles for inspiring me to buy any and everything decorative and pink. A cart full of conversation hearts, cupcake liners, frosting, and heart-shaped dishes later, I arrived at home ready to decorate the hell out of a million mini cupcakes. I absolutely I had to try this red velvet cupcake recipe I stumbled upon.

While the cupcakes cooled, I colored some frosting.

Perfection.

And look at these totally adorable cupcake liners.

Then, we got to decorating. 

Thanks to my pastry chef roomies Fina and Liz, no two cupcakes are exactly alike!

I have an obsession.

Things that make me smile

As you know, my camera lived at Mike's house for a week in the beginning of January. I was going through old pictures and found these gems....

 

SOMEone had a photo shoot, MIKE. Merry (late) Christmas from the McDermott doggies!

Christmas with the Fam!

I awoke on Christmas morning to lots of exciting things...

(If you're wondering, yes, I did arrange my presents in a display for a picture. How 9-years-old of me.)

After a delicious breakfast of Lucky

Charms (thanks, Santa!), french toast, and bacon, we got ready and hit the road for Utica to see the extended fam. First stop was Grandma and Grandpa's, then on Saturday
we headed to Buscia's--this is our attempt to get a cousin photo. We are minus one because Casiu refused to pose!

After a yummy lunch and a few too many cookies, we tackled that huge mound of presents.. I couldn't resist the urge to play preschool teacher, and here is me with Santa's adorable little helper, "G"!

After catching up with my mom's side of the family, we headed back out in the gross weather to see some more of my dad's side; namely, Great Grandma, who is a whopping 102 years old and still living on her own in the house my Grandpa built! She's quite the impressive lady, let me tell you!
Our final stop was at my aunt and uncle's house, which included three highlights:
1. A twenty foot (maybe more) tree in the living room! Decorated from top to bottom. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture :(
2. Learning the new workout craze: hula-hooping! My aunt told me that by "hooping" 30 minutes a day, every day, her friend lost 10 pounds! Sounds a little crazy, but also like a lot of fun!
3. see below-

PEANUT BUTTER BALLS. They very well may be my favorite Christmas treat. These little nuggets of goodness are so delicious it's almost wrong. Thanks for the doggy bag, Aunt Chris!

Until next year, Merry Christmas to all,