Martha Stewart Show

December 2, 2009

What a super, super fun day! A big group of friends and I got up early and drove to NYC to see the Martha Stewart show--in person. What a fantastic and fun experience! The show producers put us on the front row of the audience and instructed us on when to clap, laugh and cheer (too funny). Martha made crafts with Alyson Hannigan and we learned how to make bow ties, topiaries and cards. As audience members, we received free plant spray and a $50 gift card to Grandin Road (with which you could basically afford to buy book ends, paper clips or a doormat...I bought a doormat...okay so it was personalized so that was pretty cool:) Not complaining or anything but we did hear that the previous week, the audience received Gucci sunglasses...what?! Seriously though, it was super awesome and we were on national television! Friends and family texted to tell me that they saw me (and for those of you who are interested and want to see that Martha episode, go to MarthaStewart.com, look up archived shows and December 2, 2009). After the show, the girls and I all went to Las Chicas Locas for lunch (mine was tasty; some girls were really disappointed with their meals) and then toured NYC. We only had time for a few sites so took the subway downtown and went shopping in Chinatown (I bought the cutest white knit hat and totally had to barter bash with this stubborn street saleswoman), checked out the Macy's window displays (THE Macy's you always hear about), ate cupcakes at Sweet Revenge--a shop listed on Martha's restaurant list and drove home late that night. It felt weird not seeing my sweet baby Brooklyn all day and I was excited to see my cute husband again who was waiting for me. What a fantastic experience!

Our homemade Christmas tree

We didn't have a Christmas tree so we got a little creative in the Ringer home...we decided to MAKE our own! Yes, that IS a lamp shade and yes Nate is wrapping garland around it...

Not bad eh? A great little Brooklyn-size tree!

Thanksgiving with friends!

Thanksgiving Day, November, 26, 2009
We had an absolutely fantastic Thanksgiving with our friends, the Paynes, the McGowans, the Mencls, the Minks, and the Milmonts! We each made different parts of the dinner, then divided up the leftovers afterwards -- I must say that is the WAY to do it! No one gets stuck doing all the work and everyone gets lots of good Thanksgiving food plus even leftovers!

The girls

Brooklyn's first Thanksgiving!

Brooklyn's First Taste of Solid Food

November 13, 2009

Brooklyn tried her first solid foods - some tasty rice cereal! She wasn't thrilled at first but now she loves it!

Brooklyn's First Halloween!

For the ward Halloween party Brooklyn was a hit as a hot dog, and Nate and I were the condiments, mustard and ketchup!

We used the pumpkin that we got from Freddy Farms as our family jack-o-lantern this year. The pumpkin wasn't quite ripe so it still had spots of green which actually created a really cool effect -- he looked like a little hobo pumpkin with a scruffy, unshaven face!
Brooklyn helping Daddy carve the pumpkin.

Our festive doorway! The "Boo" sign was from someone (I'm guessing one of our friends) who "booed" us (leaving cookies and a note to boo someone else) - so cute!

This cracks me up because Brooklyn is getting so squirmy in this picture. She's all decked out wearing her creeping cutie onesie and ghost hat!

Dinner in a Pumpkin

October 25, 2009

We had friends over for our annual Dinner in a Pumpkin (7 years now!), one of my favorite traditions since I got the recipe from a friend in college. It was absolutely smashing as always but everytime I make this dish, it reminds me WHY I only make it once a year -- it is SUCH a process! Such a fun and festive event though, I just love it!

Fall Colors - Valley Green

One of the things I was most excited for when we moved to the East coast was to see the awesome fall colors you always see in calendars and hear about on the news. Sure enough, at the end of October, Valley Green was bursting with color! (Next year's fall I want us to drive out to Amish Country to see the colors and the rolling hills out there.)

We took a walk down the Wissahickon trail with our friends Deborah and Sam Peterson and enjoyed the FABULOUS weather before it got too cold.

The Shady Pretzel Store

Okay so that's not actually the real name of the store -- it's actually Tasty Twisters -- but when we first heard about this place, this is how it was described to us, "It's got to be run by the Mafia or something because it's this no name pretzel store, way in some random back alley. We'd have to show you how to get there because it's not even in a real building; it's like in a warehouse with no sign. You have to knock on the door and this little lady comes to the door, doesn't say anything, you just have to know what to say and order. Then she takes your money, closes the door without saying anything, then emerges with a bag of the best pretzels you have ever tasted!" Thus we nicknamed it "The Shady Pretzel Store." We were super excited to try it out so we rounded up our friends and did a pretzel run one drizzly, cold afternoon. It wasn't quite as shady as we were hoping (they actually have put up a sign recently) and the lady at the door didn't look quite as Italian as I was imagining, but it was still sneaky-like and fun! And the cinnamon sugar pretzels were to die for!!

Girls Night!

Hawaiian haystacks and broiled pineapple on coconut ice cream (YUM!) at Girls Night!

Another super cool thing about being here is how great the other dental/PA/law/optometry/medical school families are and how nice it is to live close, be friends with and support each other! We feel so blessed since we've been here--the apartment that we decided on has turned out to be a really nice situation.

In Nate's dental school class, there are 6 other LDS guys, 4 of which live right near us. Nate is in a car pool with the other guys which works out well. He really likes his classes (he came home and showed me his typodont and though he always comes home smelling like formaldehyde he really likes his anatomy class :). In our apartment complex and the one across the street we have quite a few LDS dental school families (not just 1st years) that are pretty much in the same situation as us (young couples with small babies) and since the day we moved in, they really extended themselves and we felt like we had friends from the very beginning. I've been able to spend time with the other dental school wives, going to play groups, girls nights and enrichment and it's been such a relief to me. I am super excited too because there are lots of other little babies about Brooklyn's age that she will get to grow up with!

Cutie Brooklyn

Crazy hair
Brooklyn's hair dried kind-of funky one day and we couldn't get it to lay down! It was totally Alfalfa hair--so funny!

Brooklyn was playing on the floor and the next thing I knew, I looked over and she was conked out! Little cutie...

I love her happy smile! This whole stay-at-home mom thing has been an adjustment for me after working full time for so many years but I LOVE it. Brooklyn is the sweetest, best little baby ever. She runs around everywhere with me, is so social (she smiles and laughs all the time and people always comment on what a happy baby she is), and is just a good girl. She has such a peaceful little spirit and Nate and I feel so lucky to have her.

Studying with dad!

Freddy Farms

October 13, 2009
This was definitely one of the coolest experiences this fall! One of our play groups in October was at a place called Freddy Farms--a darling farm out in Lansdale where we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, the kids got to pick a pumpkin, we went through a corn maze that ended in a slide, and then got ice cream at the end of it all! It was FANTASTIC!

Deborah and Abby, me and Brooklyn and our pumpkins!

Brooklyn's hair is totally blowing in the wind in this picture but we are not going nearly as fast as it looks!

Washington DC

October 10, 2009
One of the things I love most about living in Philadelphia is it's close proximity to so many other very cool and historic sites. Washington DC is only a couple hours away so when our ward took a trip to the Washington DC Temple, after we finished there (which has seriously got to be one of the most beautiful of all the temples!) we took the opportunity to tour around the National Mall with our friends Megan and Lance German. It was so fun!! We really only had time to go to the Museum of Natural History but I'm sure we'll go back other times while we are here to see the other sites. After the museum, we ate at a place nearby called Olley Burger, which was really tasty but if you want you can get your burger medium or rare?!! How gross is that? Hamburger is just not one of those things that it's okay to have raw--you are just ASKING for food poisoning!
Anyways, the day was super, super fun!

Standing in front of the Capitol Building.

The Hope Diamond (Nate and I both agreed that in our minds, the Hope Diamond was a lot bigger that it really was :)

Beautiful Washington DC Temple

October in Philly

Visit to the dental school

Three of the other first year dental school wives and I planned a surprise visit to Temple Dental School to see and have lunch with our husbands. It was awesome! Our surprise almost got spoiled though because Nate and Sam decided to eat lunch in the medical school cafeteria instead that day and almost missed us! This is us in the dental school cafeteria. After lunch Nate gave me a tour of the dental school, showed me his lab, where he sits and what he was currently working on. It was really cool to be able to see what he works on all day and nice to finally visualize what he tells me about when he gets home from school. I'm so proud of him!