Easter in Ohio & Adam's Birthday

This past weekend we also got to celebrate Adam's birthday with my family. My mom bought an ice cream cake, we sang happy birthday and afterwards we got to dye easter eggs for Sunday's lunch.

Our egg inspector came by to make sure we were doing it right.

A Very Thomas Birthday

This past weekend we drove down to New York to attend my cousins son's 2nd birthday party. The last time we visited with them was back in November, so it had been a while since we had seen them. It's amazing how fast kids grow!

As per usual two year old birthday fashion, this one was Thomas the Train themed. A teacher friend of my cousin's created the cake. I liked the little Thomas themed details that they added around the house.

My cousin asked if I would take pictures of the birthday boy and his grandparents. This was pretty tricky, because there were so many people in the room when we went to take the pictures and it was my first real experience using my Speedlight in a portrait situation. It was pouring rain outside that day, so unfortunately we couldn't head out back to get some really nice shots. I've definitely learned a lot from this experience (lesson 1: make sure to tell everyone to look at you when you're going to take the photo).

The birthday boy also had a little daddy photo time. Followed by some mommy and daddy time and aunt, uncle (godparents) and cousin time.

At some point the Thomas hats came out and even Adam and I got in on that. Oddly enough, I didn't see one kid with a party hat on... :)

One of my cousin's friends got engaged a few hours before the party started, so I snapped a few engagement photos for them. I couldn't get over how stunning her ring was!

The culmination of the party was singing Happy Birthday to the birthday boy and watching him blow out his candle. You could tell he was pretty proud of himself that he blew it out with little effort.

We had a great time and it was really great seeing everyone again (it was the first time I had seen my mom since Christmas)!

Puppy Face

Adam's day job is walking our neighbor's dog. Yes, you read that right. He's a grad student and has his own business writing iPhone/iPad apps, but those are more like an late afternoon/evening/night time job (he's one of those guys who goes to bed at 4 AM - what can I say, computer scientists are weird).

Anyway, Adam and Eliot are totally best friends (we even joke that I can't compete with their love). A few weeks ago on Adam's birthday I got to have a little photo shoot of Eliot playing in the backyard. These were my favorite of the bunch.

(Early) Birthday Cupcakes!

Adam and I have become cupcake fanatics these past few years. Any time we travel to a new city, we try to find at least one cupcake joint. Our obsession with cupcakes started 2 years ago back in San Francisco. Adam and I were wandering around Ghirardelli's Square when he pointed out Kara's Cupcakes and mentioned he'd seen them compete on Cupcake Wars. We decided to forgo a sundae at Ghirardelli's and instead had a cupcake from Kara's. It was love at first bite.

We ended up going back 2 more times before we left and since that first time we've probably visited Kara's at least 10 times total. We will always love Kara's.

On our anniversary trip to Boston this past year, we were roaming around Harvard Square, when our cupcake-sense directed us to Sweet. The shopfront is adorable and the cupcakes were so cute. I ended up with a pink lemonade and Adam had a strawberry shortcake cupcake.

We were craving cupcakes this past January when were were back in Boston for Frozen Fenway, but unfortunately Sweet on Newbury Street was closed for remodel. We're not giving up and we'll be back again to sample more deliciousness, probably this summer.

I've also been to American Cupcake in San Francisco and brought a few of their mini-cupcakes back for Adam to try (along with another Kara's cupcake, which flew all 10 hours with me!). My prize for the cutest cupcake was their cotton candy cupcake, which had a little cotton candy on a stick on top (unfortunately, they took the stick off when they put the cupcake in the to-go box).

For my birthday this year, Adam decided to get some Wicked Good Cupcakes for us to try. You know, the cupcake company of this fame. They send their cupcakes in mason jars, which is just about the cutest thing ever. I like that they layer the cupcake with the frosting, so you're not just grabbing a huge hunk of frosting or cupcake; you get to experience it as you're supposed to. Unfortunately, by the time my birthday came and went I was pretty desserted out.

So naturally, since Adam's birthday is coming up next month and I didn't want to deal with another dessert disaster (seriously, we probably have 3-4 parties for each of us between family and friends), I ordered cupcakes a month early from Georgetown Cupcake so we could enjoy them.

Adam had to wait until I got home. There was no way I'd let him eat them before letting me sneak a peek!

Considering they traveled from DC to us in MA, I'm super impressed at how they arrived. They definitely took a lot of care and put them into an insulated pack, with an ice pack on top, stuck cut-off lollypop sticks in the icing (most likely in case of a plastic shell collapse), and put each cupcake in the plastic clam shell container. There was hardly any icing carnage (you know, when the icing leaks all over the place) and the little fondant cuties were still on top!

After I was done photographing the beauties, I finally let a very patient Adam try them out. We sampled the red velvet and the cookies and cream to start. Both were absolutely delicious and I seriously can't wait to try them all!

Looks like we'll be heading to their new store in Boston (opening in May) whenever we make another trip there!

A Trip to Bernardston

This morning we traveled to Bernardston, MA to have brunch for Adam's mom's birthday at The Farm Table restaurant at Kringle Candle.

The dining room that we were seated in was large with beautiful rustic decor. I loved the wine bottle chandeliers and the wooden ceiling. Very Pioneer Valley-esque.

It was our second time dining there and the food didn't disappoint. Last time we came here I had the Belgian waffles with pear compote, this time my choice was banana foster French toast. Both were delicious.

The little syrup container that they use is soooo cute! I also loved that the water was served in vintage style milk bottles and had the Farm Table logo on them. Very nice little detail!

While waiting for everyone to finish up with brunch, I caught my husband's step-dad reading to his grandson and the birthday girl and her granddaughter enjoying the moment.

After brunch I spent a little time walking around the grounds of Kringle Candle/The Farm Table taking pictures while the rest of our party shopped. I admit, I did head into the Christmas Barn to pick up a candle or two. I can't resist the stinkin' things, especially since Snowtowber happened and we used almost our whole stash up in the 4 days without power.

When everyone was finished shopping, we headed up to Adam's dad's house in Vermont. I'm always amazed at how beautiful the scenery is up there. I grew up in a similar setting in Northern New Jersey (and yes, there are still areas of NJ that are not populated with oil refineries and covered in smog, shocking, i know), surrounded by farmland, but there's still something different about this place.

At Adam's dad's place, we celebrated Adam's mom's birthday by eating cake and other assorted good things and opening presents. All in all it was a really nice day!