Whale Watch & Anniversary in Hingham {Day 3}

I'm not gonna lie...I'm really excited to share this post with you all today!

It's the 3rd day on our trip to Boston.

We woke up Friday morning to the most beautiful weather -- not too hot, not too cold with the sun shining bright and few clouds in the sky.

aka

a perfect day

 for a 4 hour whale watch and to go out to dinner just the 2 of us to celebrate our anniversary!

Looking back, Billy and I both agreed this was our favorite day of the trip in Boston! :)

Anyways....

My aunt and uncle are amazing at planned ahead. I must get this from my Dad's side of the family (his sister is my aunt) because I absolutely love planning ahead and knowing where we are going for the day. They planned the whale watch for the early afternoon so that we would have enough time to get home, have a glass of wine, and get all dolled up (me; Billy looks good all the time) before our big anniversary dinner. Not only that, they looked up their favorite restaurants in all of Boston and picked a favorite for us, based on what we wanted {seafood & by the water is our kinda place}, to make reservations at a week ahead of time. Awesome, right?!

We took the whale watch out of Plymouth which is literally less than 5 minutes from my aunt and uncle's house. Billy and I love being on boats in general - so we were very excited for this 4 hour whale watch / boat cruise!

{Billy with Plymouth in the background}

{Billy and I with my Aunt Eileen & Uncle Tom}

The boat took us all the way out to almost Provincetown on Cape Cod. We were surprised that where all the whales were spotted recently were so close to land...atleast that's what it seemed to us. That day we had the pleasure of seeing 3 humpback whales and 1 minke whale.

....the whales we saw were around 30 - 40 ft in length!

Those are all humpback whales in the pics above. It was hard to snap pics and also enjoy seeing them up close at the same time. One of the humpback whales kept following right alongside our boat which was pretty amazing to watch. It's crazy how huge they are!

Billy and I enjoyed some drinks on the way back to Plymouth and he made fun of me because I bought a cup of clam chowder on the boat! I understand it's not exactly the best place to buy clam chowder in Boston, but hey, when I'm hungry I'm hungry and I wanted me some clam chowder {it was good for the record.}

After the whale watch, we went back to the house and my aunt had a spread of snacks out for us. I'm pretty sure having appetizers set out for you everyday on vacation is a very underestimated thing...it was wonderful. We got changed and took some anniversary pictures before we left for dinner...

Happy 1 year anniversary to us :)

The restaurant we went to celebrate our anniversary is called Alma Nove in Hingham.

This restaurant is wonderful for many different reasons:

1. The head chef is actor Mark Wahlberg's brother ~ Paul Wahlberg. You can often find him in the front of the house greeting guests. Pretty cool, huh? and we got pretty lucky!

2. They had the OSCAR dinner party for the movie "The Fighter" here.

3. The restaurant is situated in a harbor so you get great views of the waterfront.

Gorgeous, right?

While we were having a cocktail waiting for our table to be ready, I told Billy that this man outside the front of the restaurant looked just like the head chef, Paul, that I just briefly glanced at his picture from the website the week prior. It turns out that I was right and that it was Paul! He spent the rest of the evening walking around the front of the restaurant ~ it was pretty cool!

Well, the food and service at Alma Nove were phenomenal. Our server noticed that during dinner we exchanged cards {note: Billy's card made me literally cry at the table!} and without saying anything, she brought us out a complimentary dessert! It was so sweet.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate 1 year of marriage.

Final thoughts? If you are ever in Boston, go eat at Alma Nove and make sure you schedule a whale watch! then come tell me how awesome they were. :)

xo.

A Look Inside...{My Fridge, Wedding Crashing, and The Norm}

our fridge.

aka...the queen bee in our house.

The ONE thing in our house that can literally change my mood in a matter of seconds.

{I'm taking a small break from our Boston trip recap, but don't fret, that'll be back soon}

 I've seen people post about "What's in your 'fridge" before and since I'm nosey, I really enjoyed it and figure I will share mine.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again - there's not much I LOVE more than a fully stocked fridge {besides this fall weather, the release of pumpkin spice latte's, and fall clothing.} I've also got a pretty yummy recipe to share with you today, too.

If you were to come over to our house, it would be a rare occasion that our fridge & pantry aren't fully stocked to the nines. I consider it a small amount of torture actually when it's empty. I find myself opening it countless times per day just staring into it until it gets filled again.

Here she is.

Starting at the top: There's a liter of pop in the back (mainly for guests we have over since I've recently banned it in our house...aka Billy & his Coke are taking a break ;)), liter of Crystal Light, Silk's Pure Almond Unsweetened Milk. 

Inside the Pyrex containers? Cantaloupe & a Tomato Chickpea Salad (that I use as a dip with pita chips...SEE RECIPE BELOW!)

I have fish on the top right that I will use for dinner tonight.

On the right side, you can see strawberries and blueberries and then I've got my yogurt collection....FAGE, Choboni, and even Activia below.

3rd row: Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper dip, Sabra Pine Nuts Hummus (my favorittteee), salsa, and some Feta cheese.

Bottom row: Coors Light ~ it is tailgaiting season, friends. Then I've got my various .69 cent flavored waters that I can't live without, Vitamin Water Zero, and Powerade Zero's in the back.

Next to those drinks is my Jello Double Chocolate Pudding 100 cals collection. Great for a low cal dessert after dinner and also some whole wheat english muffins!

In the 2 bottom drawers are a plethera of veggies - carrots, broccoli, zucchini, squash, spinach, peppers, & some fruits. The middle drawer we keep most of our cheese, tortillas, and such.

There you have it.

Probably not the most organized refrigerator in the world, but hey, I do what I can.

So very interesting, I know.

Here's a quick dip (or salad) recipe I've mentioned before that I love. One of yall asked me to share it and I completely forgot until now :) so here you go!

Tomato & Chickpea Salad

**Note: I don't really measure these ingredients - I typically just eye ball everything and adjust it to the taste I want!

-1 or 2 large tomatoes

-1/2 cup of sweet onions (or more depending on your preference)

-1 can Garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

-4 tablespoons white wine vinegar or sherry

-1/2 cup EVOO

-fresh cilantro to taste 

-pinch of parsley

-salt and pepper to taste

MIX and chill.

:)

I normally eat this with pita chips or {gasp} tortilla chips.

Tortilla chips = my weakness.

_______

How was your Labor day weekend?!

Did you all see that my beloved Buckeyes came out with a pretty big win on Saturday?!

They did win, but Akron (who they played) isn't exactly a good team, so we will have to see how they do this Saturday when they play Toledo, who is actually ranked pretty high this year.

My first view of the stadium this year.

We were all like kids on the first day of school....so excited to be BACK {but on campus hehe} tailgaiting with friends.

Unfortunately, I am a Level 10 SLACKER, and haven't gotten around to uploading any pictures but those will come another day!

Later on that evening (after a much needed nap), I went out to dinner in the short north to Rossi with my best friend Angela.

We had 1 3 glasses of wine and shared good conversation.

I sound 90.

Anywho, if you are a Cbus girl, go eat at Rossi. DELICIOUS.

After dinner, we did something I never imagined I would ever in my right mind do.

 Crash a wedding.

Before you go and think I'm a total loser and classless (I'd like to think of myself more of Vince and Angela more as Owen), there is a tiny bit of reasoning behind this decision. My good friend was in town and this might have been the only time I'd get to see him. Plus, we knew about 10 other people there that we knew would cover for us if it fact we were to get busted and thrown out. Dinner & dessert was far from over and we were convinced to come crash the wedding since everyone was just at the boozing/dancing stage.

We must've thought long and hard over this decision over for 2 minutes a good 10 minutes before we decided WHAT THE HECK...We might as well!

....and we did.

It was a great time.

and I officially checked that off my bucket list of idiotic things I can do in 1 evening.

The end of my weekend was spent at my parents house with Billy. We finally got to indulge in the top of our wedding cake {which I cheesily decorated} and it tasted just as good as our wedding day over a year ago! NO JOKE. I was very skeptical but it was delish. 

 I even managed to score some BIG old school items found in old boxes that were THEE bomb.com back in the day........

Oh yes.......

GAMEBOY with 3 games.

TLC No SCRUBS

MACARENA

..also in the stack is 2pac Greatest Hits, Monica - The Boy is Mine , Toya - I do.

Let's just say I had a GREAT ride to work this morning!!

I love going to my parents because I typically come home with something really awesome that I never had before. Does anyone else do this at your parents house?!

Who watched the premier of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last night???

SO GOOD.

...yet so sad.

 I couldn't help but feel so sad for Taylor at any mention of Russell and their marriage. :(

Have a great Tuesday,

Cape Cod {Day 2}

On our second day of the trip, we decided to head to Cape Cod.

It was a Thursday so we knew the traffic wouldn't be terrible like it is on the weekends. Our original plan was to head to Martha's Vineyard and thanks to the sweet & beautiful Lindsay we would have had the best activities/restaurants to chow down on seafood at, but the hurricane decided to halt that plan. Everyone was trying to get off the island before the hurricane would hit later on in the weekends & we weren't guaranteed we would get a ferry ride back, so we just decided to go visit various parts of the Cape for the day!

We decided to make most of the day by traveling all the way to the farthest town on the Cape ~ Provincetown.

Provincetown is a very trendy and interesting city. By interesting, I mean that if you are heterosexual you are the minority here ;)

The views on Provincetown were gorgeous and  we pretty much walked around all day seeing the city, shopping, and eating a bunch of yummy seafood!

You will hear about those 3 things a lot ;)

There were actually many Great White shark sightings in Provincetown while we were there. While we didn't venture in the water, Billy was intrigued and wish we would've saw one...from AFAR that is.

The homes in this town were gorgeous.

The price tags?

Enormous.

We ate lunch at The Central House and enjoyed some fish n' chips!

After lunch, we made our way to Cape Cod's National Seashore.

The National Seashore is about 40 miles of beach, ponds, and marshes!

We continued to drive through the Cape and ended up stopping in Chatham next for some shopping.

Where are all my Lilly P lovers?

I took this pic for my best J-Belle because it's filled with Lilly! I might have picked her up somethin' from here because I know she just adores Lilly P ;) she'll have to wait and see!

After Billy and I I was finished spending our money, we ended up eating dinner in Sandwich right across the street from where my family and I stayed 5 years or so ago!

Overall, Chatham was my favorite stop on the Cape, but Provincetown was very cool too. Both very pretty!

Have you been to Cape Cod before?!

If so, what are your favorite towns to visit?

and just because today is BUCKEYE PRIDE Friday I give you....

me at 8am in my Buckeye attire!

{with a somewhat fake smile b/c I was still tired}

First game is tomorrow and we are heading down to tailgate at 9am!

{with my Jessie bear}

{and pretty Ashley}

&

hopefully this pretty chicky

and who knows....maybe we will run into....

Emily & Hollie too?!

I sure HOPE SO!

Gosh, I love blogger turned real life friends :)

xo.

Newport, Rhode Island {Day 1}

Good morning loves.

Today I will be sharing the first day of our trip to the East coast!

We landed early Wednesday morning in Providence, Rhode Island {home of DJ PAULY D ladies haha). My aunt and uncle picked us up at the airport and we already knew what we had planned for the day!

We headed to one of my favorite locations...Newport, Rhode Island where we toured the Newport Mansions.

I have toured the mansions before, but this was Billy's first time. We both love history and who doesn't enjoy getting to tour mansions?! These mansions are unlike anything you will ever see....they are massive (one is 170,000 sq ft!) and have the most intricate details. You may be familar with the mansions in this area, but if you aren't, here's some information:

Newport was the summer social capital of the nation during The Gilded Age (1865-1914).  The families (the Vanderbilts are one) who built summer houses in this coastal city were leaders in national life, in great part driving American art, architecture, diplomacy, and business.  Newport’s houses reflect the evolution of the country’s architecture and the social story of the people who designed, built, lived in, and maintained these buildings. 

The families referred to these homes as their "summer cottage"..so just remember that when looking at the pictures I took of the homes.  Back then, there was no income tax. Can you even imagine?

Here are pictures from our day.

Us in front of the Breakers.

the biggest of the "summer cottages" at 170,000 st ft.

70 rooms.

You have the option of doing an audio tour and to us, that is the best part of touring the mansions! You get to follow along room by room while they describe every room, every detail that went into building the home, and about the family who lived in it!

It is so interesting to hear about how the families lived back then. One interesting thing I learned was that the women would change outfits up to 7 times per day!

 I would love to just go back for ONE DAY and see how it really was.

the back... it's pretty small, right?!

My cousin, Christopher (far right), and his girlfriend Caryn drove in from Danbury, CT to spend the day with us and tour the mansions!

Here are 2 other mansions we toured:

The Elms

and

The Marble House (which was both Billy and I's favorite!)

After we spent the day touring some mansions, we drove back to Providence where 3 of my other cousins drove in to meet us for dinner.

The valet driver at the restaurant actually went to high school with Pauly D and sounded JUST like him! it was hilarious to hear him.

Since no dinner in our family would be complete without dessert, we walked on over to Federal Hill (a popular area in Providence) to get some yummy treats!

We ended up with various canoli's, red velvet cupcakes, and cheesecake! There was actually live kareoke contests going on, so it was rather busy in Federal Hill for a Weds. evening. We had such a blast together and I'm so thankful for all my cousins who drove from various locations in Boston to spend the evening with us!

After everyone said goodbye, we made the drive to my aunt and uncle's house in Plymouth, MA where we stayed for the week. To say we slept good that night would be an extreme understatement, but we love keeping busy on vacations!

If you haven't toured the Newport Mansions yet and you are in the area, I strongly recommend doing it...especially if you are a history buff. It's fun either way! ;)

Also, the town of Newport has a bunch of cute shops and restaurants on the water so make sure to check those out.

That's it for Day 1.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about it!