snapplecap blog

new blog.

2010-11-26T16:06:00.002-05:00

I've started a new URL for this blog.

Our Semi Organic Life.

http://oursemiorganiclife.blogspot.com/

bookmark it.

My own personal book club - members. 1

2010-11-24T13:55:00.002-05:00

Recent Favorite Books

The Hunger Games - books 1, 2 & 3. Sorry but book 3 was boring. I had to force my way through the end of Mockingjay Either make kids kill each other or don't write a book. Also I don't like the categorization of this book "Young Adult". Really Amazon, B&N etc people? Way to make me feel old! Books 1 & 2 The Hunger Games & Catching Fire rocked though.
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk - if you like humor and/or animals this book is for you. They're short stories - which are perfect for people with ADD, small children or short commutes to work.
Blink - this is totally interesting in a very nerdy way. If you've ever wanted to know how people think or make decisions read this. Especially if you think you have some special power like being psychic, having that "motherly instinct" or think you're better than other people at judging things, then read this book.
Friday Night Knitting Club (and sequel Knit Two) - The first book was pretty good. Single mother has cool knitting store in NYC. Teaches daughter life lessons and (spoiler alert) then dies. Sequel was pooh.
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - I didn't like this book. It was ... how shall I put it. Weird. Maybe if you're into history, French things or philosophy you might enjoy it. ehh. (that's eehhh in a bad way). Picture me doing my upper lip jeer.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: books 1 -3. This trilogy was awesome. I loved reading them and despite them having tons of Swedish words of names and places it was very cool and not that hard to follow. I've seen the Swedish movies and even those are good. Hollywood movies are in the making currently. I can't wait.
The Help: A+
Room: A+
Heart of the Matter: B-
Committed: My first book on marriage, since being married. I like it! Would definitely recommend. A.

Reallly not that good :/

2010-11-23T15:57:00.001-05:00

As amazing as these seem, they're really not that good. Too spicy, not very sweet. Something about them are not like regular awesome kashi material. They're giving organic a bad name. Bleah. Grade: C-

Who WOULDN'T love this cuteness?!

2010-11-22T17:29:00.002-05:00

Okay this is our first holiday season as an official couple - ya know because all non married couple don't count? okay not really. I'm kidding. But it is our first Christmas as newlyweds. Convenient how since we just sent out wedding invitations to all our nearest and dearest closest family n friends we have everyone's addresses. In this digital facebook age who has people's addresses? Remember those cute little address books? nope. Anyway so I've been thinking about sending out Christmas cards. And what better way and to take all my unused wedding invitation fervor than to use lets say... Shutterfly!

They have some amazing stuff. I wish I could be so creative! Who wouldn't love their Christmas cards and Christmas Photo Cards for this holiday season? I played around some with their site. Could spend hours there if I wanted to. What do you think? Cute huh!??!

Another great thing I found is their calendars. Since my 2010 hanging wall calendar is almost up I may need a new one. 12 months & at least 12 favorite wedding photos. Can anyone be sick of seeing their own wedding photos so much? no. didn't think so. This would also make a great present for relatives or grandparents who love a good olde paper calendar. I'll be the first to sign up if shutterfly & google calendar ever get together! hint.

And since BOTH my brothers will be graduating in the spring they could use a little graduation announcement love. I love the designs. Grown up enough but not too girly or cheesy (THAT is the killer).

Since we're moving in August I can't wait to get new address labels too. OMG they have super cute and professional (not cheesy or little girl stationary ish) stationary. My fav's:

okay the last one isn't our style but got a cute robin bird! :)

***Look out for these cute additions to our house soon***

thinking about re-vamping this blog

2010-11-22T16:34:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking about re-vamping this blog. To include a new URL and new name. Ideally matching url & name. NOT mismatching url with old personal name and copyrighted blog title. shussshhhh.

This is in the works. Brainstorming 1 2 3 go.

All for only $8! At the local 'scratch and dent' like grocery store

2010-11-20T23:47:00.003-05:00

Common Cents Grocers. A local place that sells slightly damaged and or perfectly brand new but was in a pallat with damaged goods items. No expired products and savings of 50% or more. I paid $8 for all of this with tax. Sure some of the packing was dented or ripped but torn cardboard does not equal bad cans of juice. The dressing has nothing wrong with it and cinnamon chips?!? You can't just get those anywhere! And organic cereal for $2 I rest my case.

I calculated my savings. Retail total price (estimated due to lack of cinnamon chip availablity & sale items) $18.85. Savings of over $10!!

Friday Night Cookies

2010-11-19T18:50:00.002-05:00

Friday night cookies here at the A. house! I didn't have any good cookie cutters so we just did "drop cookies" (aka lame round rather than fun snowflake cookies) Luckily they taste the same no matter the shape. Also T. hates frosting (and icing, WHAT'S the difference?) so we made ours naked cookies. Until I remembered our left over wedding candy. Yummy minty goodness.

Make up Secret Alert! Review: Truth About Monistat Chafing Powder Gel as MakeUp Primer

2010-11-19T09:41:00.004-05:00

Review: Truth About Monistat Chafing Powder Gel as MakeUp Primer

as seen on:

Best of the ‘Bee - Ace your Face (Pt. 1) | Weddingbee

"Here’s a little MUA insider information—Monistat Chafing Gel is the exact same formula as Smashbox Photofinish Primer, but at 1/5th of the price. You can thank me later." Mrs. Rainbow.

and they're the EXACT same ingredients?

So I already have the kind of skin that others envy so a make up primer was never really in my repertoire. Sorry but it's true. I have pretty even skin tone with practically zero history of acne. That being said... 1 week of using this product as a make up primer and I already think it's working great. After my 10+ hour work day I can tell my make up still looks good. More make up comes off at night with my remover wipes - so that means it's working right? I think so.

Photos of the Week

2010-11-18T13:17:00.003-05:00

We attended a lovely wedding of our friends'. It was at the beautiful Duke Chapel.

We got a growler of Fullsteam Brewery beer. Their moto is "Plow to Pint". Cool huh? They don't make it easy to open though... I hate to say it took both of us at least 10 minutes to get it open! It was a plastic lid screwed on tight! (umm... sneaky photo, why is there a walmart bag in our house???? panic!)

While it was yumm!!! Even I liked the cream soda like brew I finished off my Lambic - which was from our first trip to Kentucky.

Had we known about Fullsteam before our wedding they would have been a contender for the beverages of choice. Unlucky for them we chose http://www.loneriderbeer.com/ . I think everyone will agree we had good drinks!

Aren't my iphone photos the best?

Just what all photographer nerd couples need. (aka NOT us)

2010-11-17T18:22:00.004-05:00

Buy the Lens Bracelets at the Photojojo Store!

Buy the Fisheye, Macro, and Wide Angle Camera Phone Lenses at the Photojojo Store!

Upcoming at Starbucks: Buy 1 holiday drink, get 1 free

2010-11-16T15:26:00.002-05:00

Because Robin love FREE!

Upcoming at Starbucks: Buy 1 holiday drink, get 1 free

via dealnews - 20 most recent deals. by dealnews.com on 11/15/10

Starting November 18 from 2 pm until 5 pm local time at participating Starbucks locations, all holiday drinks are buy one, get one free. It's among the best offers we've seen from Starbucks this year. This deal will be valid every day from 2 pm until 5 pm local time until November 21.

Holiday 10 for 10 - Get a $10 Amazon Gift Card

2010-11-16T13:41:00.001-05:00

{note: I've started this mini project. I've managed to review 7 items before I got distracted last night. They can be any items you'd like! I've reviewed some kitchen items we got for the wedding and detergents we do and don't like. You have to write minimum of 900 characters - the site will tell you how many as you type - so you it'll take a few minutes for each review. I can't wait to finish and get my $10 gift card!}

Write Reviews and Get a $10 Amazon.com® Gift Card*

Qualifying reviews must:

be written between November 15th and November 30th, 2010
be at least 1 full paragraph long (900 characters)
fall within these categories: Home & Garden, Family & Pets, Health & Beauty, Kitchen (excluding grocery items), Computers and Electronics
be about real products; inappropriate or bogus content will be removed

START REVIEWING NOW!

Calling All Holiday Helpers! We’re inviting you to share reviews of the best and worst gifts you’ve received, and in exchange, we will send you a gift—a $10 Amazon gift card. Now, be certain to tell us about real products - not those homemade ones. We are trying to help people shop smart. If you run out of gift ideas, that’s OK, you’re welcome to review other products as well. But don’t wait. Start reviewing today, and make sure you get a $10 Amazon Gift Card!

Gift cards will be sent out within 30 days of the program conclusion. This program ends November 30, 2010. Read official rules. If you are currently participating in an incented program with a partner you are ineligible for an Amazon.com Gift Card because you cannot receive double incentives for the same reviews.
*Amazon.com is not a sponsor of this promotion. Amazon, Amazon.com, and the Amazon.com logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Amazon.com Gift Cards ("GCs") may be used only to purchase eligible goods on Amazon.com or its affiliated website Endless.com. GCs cannot be redeemed for purchases of gift certificates or cards, or for items from some third party sellers. GCs cannot be reloaded, resold, transferred for value, redeemed for cash, or applied to any other account. For complete terms and conditions, see http://www.amazon.com/gc-legal. GCs are issued and © 2010 by ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a Washington company.

source

Royal Wedding next Spring/Summer!!!

2010-11-16T09:12:00.002-05:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-11765422?SThisEM

2010-11-15T16:23:00.001-05:00

BlogCatalog

2 Free tacos at Jack in the Box on Tuesday

2010-11-15T14:37:00.002-05:00

Because Robin loves FREE!!! :)

2 Free tacos at Jack in the Box on Tuesday

via The Krazy Coupon Lady by Joanie on 11/15/10

TOMORROW: 2 Free Tacos after 2:00 PM

Tuesday, November 16th

No purchase necessary. No coupon necessary.

2010-11-15T13:06:00.001-05:00

Dreamhost uptime

It's official - We're Moving to Richmond!

2010-11-15T12:46:00.001-05:00

Yes, T and I are official moving to Richmond so he can attend VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) in the Fall! He applied, interviewed and got accepted to the CRNA program (nurse anesthesia) in September. We officially accepted and his program begins August 2011. Since we have close to 10 months to plan this move we have a lot of time but plenty to research! My year of wedding planning skills may come in handy.

The Background: T wants to do nurse anesthesia. We tour/look at/research Georgetown, Duke, Raleigh School, UNCG, UNCA, Medical University of South Carolina, VCU & more. Duke = #1 choice. yay! Duke's program begins in January 2011, their application deadline was this past spring. In comes wedding planning (if you remember!) so that kind of got in the way. He misses that deadline. Next up MUSC & VCU. Their deadline was Nov 1. Yay T applies and gets an interview at VCU. Yay he gets accepted.

The Reality: We tour Richmond (where VCU is located). We don't like it. :( We manage to see all the bad parts in the dark, in the rain. We manage to find the most expensive restaurants and are forced to pay for overpriced valet parking. I wait (bored out of my mind on a rainy day) for 4 (yes FOUR!) hours while he interviews.

"I may like it sometimes": We go back on a weekend trip to Richmond. We like it. Yay! We decided to go on a full fledged scouting mission to look at Richmond - through the eyes of a potential resident couple. Turns out it does have nice parts (and baadddd) including cool renovated factories turned movie theater. Think Brightleaf square. Also cool little houses we could rent. Also cool areas such as "The Fan", "Church Hill" and more.

source 1, source 2

Nice little houses, cool big houses, and tree lined streets. Could be nice huh?

More on our {new} future life in Richmond to come.

Including:

how to find a place to live (how does that involve TJs?)
trips to Goodwill
whats a moving company?
buying a bike?
Robin's new job
stoop cat
1 year of Raleigh/Dur Restaurants

If anyone is looking for a Christmas gift for me (I mean us...)

2010-11-13T21:14:00.003-05:00

I want this! A personalized mini replica of our wedding cake Christmas ornament! You just send in a photo and they make it into a cute little ornament for your tree. Perfect. Well the $50 etsy price tag is the only thing between me and the pay pal purchase button click. It's tempting, but I could get a few gifts for T with that cash. Gotta do a few extra MRI studies maybe.

link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/61505278/wedding-cake-ornament

Remember what our cake looked like?

Wouldn't it be cute? I can just imagine the little 4 layer ornament with the wood stump as the 4th tier and mini little owls. One day.

Bug in a rug

2010-11-12T11:06:00.001-05:00

We're Moving!!!

2010-11-09T14:18:00.001-05:00

J Crewaholics Contest

2010-11-09T11:34:00.002-05:00

I am a finalist in an online J Crewaholics contest! I'm one of 8 finalist in a "looking best in J Crew" photo contest on facebook. They'll give an amazing prize to whomever has the most "like"s. To vote ('like') click here

link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=248922&id=176685677711

click my photo (the FIRST one!). then hit the little "like" button in the bottom left above the comment box. attention all non-facebook readers... you can't play.

the (winning) photo

If you're lucky I'll share the prize. umm maybe.

Christmas card design 1

2010-11-02T15:25:00.001-04:00

christmas card designs 2

2010-11-02T15:23:00.001-04:00

My eyes

2010-11-01T17:32:00.001-04:00

Alex & Matt Rings & Makeup-12, originally uploaded by Amato Photography.

not much make up and light eyebrows.
my eyes are grey, blue and brown.

Our rings

2010-11-01T17:29:00.001-04:00

Alex & Matt Hair & Makeup-1, originally uploaded by Amato Photography.