Thursday, June 28, 2012

big kids, big toys

like...

a new car?

a house?

a boat?

(get real people, we're still kids. apparently it's normal around here to still be living at HOME at the ripe age of 25, so we're at least adults in the sense that we DON'T live with the rents.) 

mr p decided that he wanted a new computer!
so, what does a 20-something with no house, kids, car (or payments), or student loans do?

just do it!
(sorry, nike, for stealing your slogan)
...aaaand build a desk to go with it.
(thanks, zack, for your enginerd expertise)
i'm going to think that mr p was thinking ahead, and when my blog is big enough it replaces my day job, this will be my "office" instead of his "gaming center". right, babe? :) :) :)

now we just have to sell the macbook air he bought 6 months ago (any takers??), do SOME thing about those cords, and decorate the desk and the blank wall behind it!! (i have a fun idea to use rex ray prints has been started, and should be finished soon!!)

cheers!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

holy 1 year

1 year? really?  this blog is already ONE YEAR OLD!?!?

feels like it was just yesterday i was writing my first post, talking about making rhubarb jam poptarts !

...and found out that we were moving
(wait, we've been in jersey city for 9 months already?? i still don't have everything in its place yet!!)

...and decided i was doing a month-long detox
(that i'm seriously thinking about doing again... it felt SO good!!)

...and changed the name of the blog from "Two Peas Teeny Pod" to "Beyond The Stoop"
(does anyone remember this header!?!?)


...and had lots and lots of family visitors
(i say this all the time, but who's NEXT!!?)

....and got a rockin t-shirt tan from working on the space shuttle transfer lift in manhattan
(realized AFTER i got to work today that my short sleeves today are MUCH shorter than they were while working on the shuttle. it's like i'm TRYING to highlight my awesome tanlines.)

so what's new coming up in the NEXT year of blogging!??

you'll get to see me check out Denver , Mexico , Florida (ahhh can't wait to see THIS little guy's face again!!), and of course trips back to our homeland of Ohio.

but ALSO!

i want to start taking this blog seriously.   logically the next step is sponsoring blogs and gaining advertisers... but i'm just not ready for the "gaining advertisers" part.  or at least REAL advertisers.  like, ones that pay MONEY to do it.

so, i want to start with button-swapping!   it helps you, it helps me, it helps readers find new awesome bloggers. it's not just a win-win, it's a win-win-WIN!!
(ok that was a cheeseball statement, apologizing now)

if you want to button-swap with me, email me at email@beyondthestoop.com

can't wait to start showing off your lovely faces in my sidebar :D

cheers!

p.s.... new year, new do.

(not sure why i look scared outta my mind in the first pic. or why i thought it was ok to let my brown roots grow to over an inch long with almost-bleach-blonde hair, but you get the point. new cut, new color, so happy!) 

thanks mr p, for being my stylist (cut only, color done by balance , the crazy salon near my house), manicurist , and personal chef .  i'd be a lot poorer without you
(well, and lonely too, but that's a given :P)

Monday, June 25, 2012

only in NYC: yoga in times square

when you think of the busiest place in new york city , what place comes to mind?

times square of course!!

then... how about we block off the square to the public, and put 4,000 yoga-performing-awesome-people in it instead. 
logical, right?

right.
only in new york city, i say!!



 haha.  only in times square will you find a boob taller than your body that's NOT a billboard for a night club.... AND it was on the AMERICAN EAGLE sign to boot!


view from lying down on my yoga mat.  in the middle of times square.  it's not everyday you can do this!!

(check out the event here )

so... it wasn't exactly the best yoga class (come on... getting thousands of people to do the same thing at the same time by shouting through loud speakers is pretty darn hard.  it's times square people!! it's NEVER quiet!!!)   but... it was still pretty awesome. it was a of "check that off the NYC bucket list" sort of experience.
wait.. now i need to make a "NYC bucket list".

do you do yoga? do you take classes or do it on your own? a video in your living room maybe?

i really like yoga, but i can't pay for two "gyms" and would like to start doing it at home... but can you get the same serenity in your own living room as you do in the calmness of the yoga studio with a real person instructing you?  and how long do you do it for? is 15 or 30 minutes good, or should i try for a 60-minute session? longer?

i'd love to hear your thoughts!!

cheers!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

seeing my franns.

Washington DC
Denver, CO
Toledo, OH
San Diego, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Columbus, OH
Portland, OR

...and i live in New Jersey.

how on EARTH will i ever get to see my friends in all these places!?!?!

it's happening.

and it's happening soon.

thanks to a friendly reminder a few days ago from Megan  (go visit her blog!) , i've got just a bit over a month until i fly to Denver to see Miss DC, Miss Denver, Miss Toledo, and Mrs. Columbus :D

pulling out the old school pics!! because we're old school frannns...
see that blonde the second from the left?  we wish she was joining too :(

thanks to a friendly reminder on my credit card bill , i'm also fully booked for my trip to mexico to see Miss San Diego, Miss Portland, and soon-to-be-a-Mrs. Los Angeles :D

where our friendship all started... thailand!!


most of the time i'm wishing all these girls lived in NYC by MEEE ... but, i guess it's ok that i get to go to cool places to see them too. 

what i've learned from all this?
1. first trip : having friends in fun places is nice
(read: kill 2 birds with 1 stone.. cheap vacation, see friends, everyone's happy!)


READERS: ANY TIPS FOR FUN THINGS TO DO IN DENVER IN JULY??
i was there earlier this year for work, but it was work, and there was no fun-with-just-the-girls stuff happening (i was there with 2 middle-aged man co-workers)

hopefully we'll have some fun like the good old times:




2. second trip: when everyone lives far away, sometimes the best bet is to just go to mexico!!
thanks to cheapcaribbean.com  (and the awesome planning from Miss Portland) , i'm going to mexico for 5 days, and the flight, hotel, food, drinks, EVERYTHING was well under $1000.  celebrating a milestone birthday and miss LA becoming MRS. LA... it's gonna be so fun.

READERS:  ANY TIPS FOR VACATIONING IN MEXICO??
i've never been vacationing ANYWHERE in the Caribbean, so i'm pretty excited to see what it's all about :D

i KNOW this trip is going to bring back awesome memories of our trip to SE Asia:






ok... enough about the trips at the end of summer... i must enjoy the summer NOW in this beautiful city i live in!!

...off to kickboxing followed by a quick peruse through the Not Yo Mama's Craft Fair happening SUPER close to our house in the Powerhouse Arts District!!

i love living in a place where all the FUN stuff is either a quick walk or train ride away :D

cheers!

Friday, June 22, 2012

a woman's blind senses

you totally know what i'm talking about.

i KNOW you do.


"babe, can you get the ____ out of my purse please?"

(5 minutes go by)

"it's not in there"

"yes it is, just let me find it"

(you put your feelers on, dig inside that black hole without looking, and magically come up with what you were looking for)

"see, i told ya so"

yep... that's what i'm talking about.  we can have the biggest bag and find anything without looking, just by knowing what it feels like.

i'm sure this will come in handy someday when i eventually have kids (ugh, as much as i'm obsessed with babies, the thought of it terrifies me right now!!) ....i swear they only make those things in giant, giant-er, and super giant, and i'll be able to find anything in a flash .... 

 take a glance the next time you see the 1238904th stroller going down the street.... those things are huge. 
no? that's only hoboken and jersey city that's ridicuously baby-filled?
my b.

cheers to the weekend!
what are you up to?
we are going to see these lovely former-islanders for their engagement party!!

just adorable!

toodles.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

makin my JAM

mr p wanted me to help him do something in the kitchen the same night was making strawberry rhubarb jam. i was right in the middle of a "very important step" in the jam-making process, when he beckoned for me.


"baaabe. i'm makin my jaaaam"
(was my reply in my most ghetto voice i could immitate)


it's a good thing i didn't let him interrupt me, because this stuff turned out perfect .

my jam is nothing more than fresh rhubarb, fresh strawberries, sugar, and lemon zest.  with this recipe, there's really no reason for commercial pectin from a box, unless you want it to be more like a jelly than a jam.

some recipes will have you mix and let sit in the fridge overnight, strain the juices, put the solids with the jucies again, etc. etc. etc.  if you want a jam like you would buy it in the store, just buy it in the store! if you want something more rustic, keep reading!!


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

today's the big day

for you, today's pretty friggin' awesome because it's the first OFFICIAL day of summer!
you didn't know? oh. well i guess it's not that special then.

well, can i make it special by introducing you to Erin at Living In Yellow ?  she's pretty awesome, because she's kind enough to show MY FACE on HER BLOG today!


aren't you glad i chose such a good photo of myself to show her 1800+ followers ?
this is why i don't need to take more pictures of myself.  these are the only kind i can find!! what's wrong with me!?!?
(so... yep... riding a turtle statue like a bull in the middle of a park in Philly was definitely the most appropriate one, right? right)
anyways, if you mingled your way over here from LIY , welcome!
and welcome to my fun-and-mostly-food-centered life. 

i live in jersey city with my boyfriend and we love it.  it's super close to NYC (almost like a 6th borough!) , but far enough away that we can enjoy a bit of peace and quiet once in a while!!  boyfriend, sadly, wishes to remain anonymous, so we call him mr p instead (and sign with his adorable self-portrait-caricature too!) .  i wish i could flaunt his good looks to you, but i guess i have to instead settle with providing you with recipes of his restaurant quality food he makes for me everyday.  speaking of food, we LOVE it.  our daily life basically revolves around it. 
wanna hang out with friends?? "sure! let's grab dinner."
on a tight budget this month?? "bring a 6-pack and come over, mr p will make food."
that's pretty much our life.



we have a teeny-tiny apartment in a 100+ year old building that was in pretty bad shape when we moved into it.  we put in many many hours of work, buckets of sweat, lots of frugally-spent $$$ and now we have an apartment we love that's close to the train (yayaya) in a funky, on-the-rise, artsy community for less than HALF of the rent we were paying in hoboken.  wow.  that was a lot to say in one sentence!  if you're still intrigued, check out all of our renovations here.  it's a pretty amazing transformation!!



we live pretty normal lives though.  we each have our "day job" (i'm an engineer, he's an EA) but this blog is our way to share everything BUT the boring day job (except when it's not boring at all, see here!!)

thanks for stopping by, and we hope you're here to stay!
we're also on facebook & pinterest too :D

cheers.
(that's us!!)

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

guilty?

i feel guilty .

guilty for getting giddy that snooki and jwoww's new show (cleverly named "snooki & jwoww" apparently) is starting on thursday!

(i don't even watch jesey shore)
but, because they filmed it in MY hood , i have to watch it. i just have to.  it's sort of the same feeling i got when i lived in hoboken and felt guilty for watching cake boss.  i shouldn't watch it because that's supporting it, and those stupid lines are so long and carlo's bakery isn't even very good, and the show is dumb anyways...

....but it's fun seeing my neighborhood on tv.

so... round 2. i don't like jersey shore, i think the show is dumb (not to mention the people), i could honestly care less about snooki and jwoww...

but... i want to see them going into my gym and take cooking lessons from the same bakery that i ate lunch with my mom when she visited . and see their house that i purposely ran by to get a glimpse of them happened to run past while they were filming.

anyways, if you want to get a glimpse of our neighborhood, check out the show.
thursday. mtv. 10pm.  be there.

cheers!

Monday, June 18, 2012

bbq and booze

if you have even just an OUNCE of backyard space when you live in the city, what's the best way to use it!?!?

bbq and booze, of course!!

why?

1. it's too shady to lay out.
2. it's too small to play any fun yard games (it's not even big enough for cornhole , people!!)
3. there's no grass, only concrete and mulch
4. most of our friends don't have outdoor space, so we share the wealth by bbq-ing and booze-ing
5. we LOVE to cook, we LOVE to entertain!!