HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Happy Halloween from The Dangs!

Here's a look at our previous Halloween costumes (beginning when we started doing couples costumes AND Chester entered the family):

Later this week, I'll wrap up our Europe trip post with Dublin. I'll admit that I've really dragged out the trip recap, but it was our most ambitious trip to date, so I had lots to share! Though we have been back for over a month now... It's been fun for me to recap our trip, so I hope everyone has enjoyed it! And while I'm glad I'll finally be wrapping it up, now I don't know what the heck I'm going to post about!

List Wednesday: TV Shows

Adam and I have a few tv shows we're watching this year. I don't think we've ever watched this many shows live. We usually are watching them after the series or season is over. It's kind of hard to have to wait each week for a new episode. I like watching marathons of shows with no commercials! Instant gratification is awesome.

1. Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Taking place in the 1920's during prohibition, this show is about power and corruption in Atlantic City (also featuring side stories in New York and Chicago). We started watching this last spring (downloaded). Adam thinks this season is kind of boring, so we're a few episodes behind. I love it though. It even inspired our Halloween costumes this year!

2. Dexter (Showtime)
Pretty much our favorite show ever. It's about Dexter, a blood spatter analyst for Miami Metro Homicide, who is also a serial killer on the side. He only kills people that meet his rigid criteria of bad people though. It's fascinating!

3. The Walking Dead (AMC)
I love zombies and zombie movies so was super excited to find out about a tv series about zombies. I mean, what could be better? It's a little predictable and poorly done at times, but fun to watch even if sometimes it's a little grotesque. Zombie intestines anyone? It's one of our favorite shows.

4. Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Oh the drama queen housewives of Wisteria Lane. I've been watching this show since it's second season (of course after catching up on the first season). It's kind of ridiculous, but pretty funny. Adam actually watches this with me as well.

5. Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
While Grey's Anatomy may take place in a hospital, it's more about the relationships between the medical staff and the stories with the patients. It's been kind of icky lately and I've had to avert my eyes. I've also been watching this show since it's second season after catching up on the first. It's silly, unbelievable and overly dramatic, but entertaining. Adam started watching this with me a few years ago too.

I can't wait for Mad Men (AMC) to start up again in the spring. Another show I really like is The Tudor's (Showtime), but I can't get Adam to watch it with me so I'm a few seasons behind.

List Wednesday: Kitchen Update Wishlist

My latest obsession is wanting to do some updates to our kitchen. For how much time we spend in the kitchen, it needs a facelift.

It looked like it had been redone a bit when we bought it (new counter tops, painted cabinets, tile floor). When we first moved in, we painted the walls grey. They had been this gross brown color. We also replaced the weird light fixture and old fan with a new light / fan combo. Gradually, we got all new stainless steel appliances. That's all we did though.

Our kitchen currently (not the best photo)

My Kitchen Update Wishlist:We're still in the researching phases though.

1. Arch over sink
- There's currently a super dated and hideous scalloped edged piece over the sink. I pretty much hate it.

2. Paint the cabinets
- The current cream shade just doesn't work. It looks dingy. Originally we were thinking of painting them espresso, but decided that would make the kitchen look too dark (being that the floors are also dark). Now we're thinking white. It would match the window frame and all the moldings in the room.

Dark cabinets really make a space dark

3. Paint the walls
I like the gray, but if we redo the kitchen, I'd like to switch it up to something lighter that would make the white cabinets really pop. When we were thinking espresso cabinets, I wanted aqua. Now I'm thinking a silver/grey tone.

Love these white cabinets and wall color

The original aqua idea (with dark cabinets)

 4. Add a backsplash
- Love these!

This is the backsplash I'm currently loving

5. Change the light fixture over the sink
- I would like to have some kind of pendant light hanging down. It would look better and give better light.

I love these lights over the island

6. Hardware for cabinets
- Our current cabinets don't have hardware. It looks weird. It also means we scratch the paint opening the cabinets and drawers. We also tend to get them dirty. Hardware would fix this and dress it up. Right now it just looks so uniform and barren.

7. Countertop
- I hate our current counter top. Namely, the back part of it along the wall. Hideous. We're still looking into different possibilities for the counters including butcher block.

8. New faucet
I hate our faucet. It's ugly and there's no inbetween for hot and cold.

9. New sink?
I don't have a problem with our existing sink, so we'll see.

10. New ceiling fan?
- If our current ceiling fan doesn't work with the "look" of the room, we'll get a different one for the kitchen and put the existing one in our bedroom. The fan in there is kind of ugly, even with the new lampshades we put in.

List Wednesday: Books I've Read This Year

One of my favorite things to do is curl up on the couch with the pug and a good book. I also enjoy reading in bed for an hour or so every night before I go to sleep. It helps me unwind from the day. This week's List Wednesday is of books I've read this year.

My goal this year is to read 52 books - one for each week. I've been doing pretty good with this, but a few boring books have slowed me down a bit. I have this problem where I can't just stop reading a book if I'm bored with it - I just keep waiting for it to get better. This results in it taking me 2 weeks or more to read it, instead of the usual one week or less.

I'm a member of Goodreads.com, so I can track my books and rate them. It's a great way to keep track.

Some of these books are silly or "chick lit" and I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit I read them... Oh well.

Here's my list for 2011 (so far):
I've put a * next to my favorites that I would definitely recommend.

January:
1. The Bells
Richard Harvell
2. Mistress of Rome
Kate Quinn
3. The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Sarah Addison Allen
4. The Infidelity Pact  (TERRIBLE)
Carrie Karasyov
5. The Heretic's Daughter
Kathleen Kent

February:
6. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
Stephanie Meyer
*7. The Imperfectionists
Tom Rachman
8. Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood
Koren Zailckas
9. Days of Gold
Jude Devaraux
*10. The Likeness
Tana French

March:
11. The Boyfriend of the Month Club
Maria Geraci
*12. Faithful Place
Tana French
13. Bittersweet
Nevada Barr
14. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang
Chelsea Handler
*15. Ape House
Sara Gruen

April:
*16. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Rebecca Skloot
17. I Still Dream About You (TERRIBLE)
Fannie Flagg
*18. The Art of Racing in the Rain
Garth Stein
19. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary
David Sedaris
20. Delirium
Lauren Oliver
21. Just Kids (PRETTY BAD)
Patti Smith
22. A Reliable Wife
Robert Goolrick

May:
23. The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey
Walter Mosley
24. Daughters of Rome
Kate Quinn
25. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Aimee Bender 

June:
26. The Lacuna (HATED IT)
Barbara Kingsolver
27. Red Hook Road
Ayelet Waldmann
28. Exit the Actress
Priya Parmar 

July:
29. The Red Queen
Philippa Gregory
30. Sunflowers
Sheramy Bundrick 

August:
31. A Happy Marriage (HATED IT)
Rafael Yglesias
*32. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt
Beth Hoffman
33. The Shack (HATED IT)
William P. Young
34. Kings of the Earth
Jon Clinch
*35. The Gendarme
Mark Mustian

September:
*36. The Little Book
Selden Edwards
37. Friday Mornings at Nine (PRETTY BAD)
Marilyn Brant
38. Sisterhood Everlasting
Ann Brashares 

October:
*39. Pug Hill
Alison Pace
40. A Pug's Tale
Alison Pace
*41. The Mountains Between Us
Charles Martin
*42. The Kitchen House
Kathleen Grissom
*43. The Peach Keeper
Sarah Addison Allen


So I need to read 9 more books to reach my goal. I think it will happen as long as I don't get stuck in the middle of a bad book!

List Wednesday: Winter Favorites

This day of the week is now going to be "List Wednesday" on this blog. Okay, so it doesn't have quite the same ring to it as "Wedding Wednesday," but frankly there aren't many things I want to discuss that start with a "W."

So here we go.

The cold weather as of late has reminded me that winter is quickly approaching. When it gets nice in the spring and summer, I quickly forget how cold and miserable it can get in Minnesota. This morning on my walk with Chester I could see my breath. Consider me reminded.

This is one of my least favorite seasons (besides fall), so I'm trying to cheer myself up about it by listing some of my favorite winter things.

Stef's Winter Favorites:
in no particular order

1. Scarves
I have lots of scarves, but I can usually be found wearing my lavender pashmina one. This year my goal is to wear my assortment of scarves more often. Scarves are pretty much my favorite winter accessory.

2. Boots
I also love boots. I mostly wear flat boots in the winter. Snow + Ice + Heels seems so dangerous.

3. Snuggling
Snuggling the husband, snuggling the pug, snuggling in bed with a good book. I love it all.

4. Christmas
This holiday makes winter worth it (until January at least). I love putting up the Christmas tree, driving around and looking at Christmas lights, sending and receiving Christmas cards and seeing family and friends.

5. Peacoats
I love peacoats. I own 3 or 4. All black. I still like to look at them when I go shopping - just in case I find another perfect black one. I especially love them when paired with a colorful scarf (see #1).

6. Staying in and watching movies
We do this a lot in the winter. Sometimes it's just too cold to venture out on the weekends. I like to hibernate when it's below zero.

7. Hot chocolate
Is there anything better than hot chocolate paired with #3 and #6? Probably, but it can't be found in winter.

8. Tea
I very much enjoy tea. Maybe not as much as I enjoy hot chocolate, but you can't drink hot chocolate every day. I have quite the variety of teas. I think my obsession with tea began my semester in London. I still haven't been able to find the perfect fruity tea from Tesco that I loved though, or anything remotely close.

9. Soup
In the summer it's our goal to grill at least once a week. In the winter, it's our goal to make soup at least once a week. Chicken Wild Rice, Potato, Spicy Sour, Onion. We're always looking for a new kind to try.

10. Adam's Birthday
Adam has his birthday in January. We usually do fun things together to celebrate that involve good food, family and friends.

That's about all I can think of for now. I guess winter isn't so bad if you can get past the extreme cold, snow, and horribly long commutes.

Why do we live in Minnesota?!