home sweet home

Instead of dressing up for Halloween on Saturday, Joel, Claire, and I, escaped to the suburbs.

Everytime I go home, I wish I had weeks and weeks to spend there. It's just so....homey.....and I never want to leave.

But, moving on, on Saturday, we had the Marino family tradition of baking apple pies. 

Every year we try and refurbish our reciepe so that we can get an even flakier crust, and I'm hoping this years reciepe succeeeds.It's all about mixing with the butter and crisco ratio.






I am very thankful that I got to spend some quality time with my grandparents since I hadn't seen them in a few months. At 89 (my grandpa) and 82 (grandma) they are so freaking inspiring I can't even stand it. I could go on and on about how amazing these two people are but it's probably meant for another post....but I mean, my Grandpa? He does not look (or act) 89!





After apple pies we got dolled up and went to Bistro Wasabi in Crystal Lake for some martini's and sushi.
 

Claire, my mom, and I, ditched the men and headed to this new bar that opened up called Exclusivley Napa. It's a great wine bar that let's you buy the wine (and pay retail) and open it up at your table. One of our old high school friends was playing guitar and so we had a great time catching up with him and enjoying a few (too many) glasses of wine.

On Sunday, after a walk around the 'hood, we grabbed breakfast at Starbucks and hit up my two favorite stores - TJ.Maxx and Marshalls. I found a few new finds, and Claire got super lucky in the home goods department.

After shopping we came back, curled up at the fire, and watched football and hung around. Had my sisters been there, I think this day would have been one of the best days of the year.


We stayed in Crystal Lake  for a home cooked dinner of pork, squash, rice, and bread.

It was such a relaxing weekend and it's always amazing to spend time with my parents and my pup. Who by the way, wishes all of you a happy halloween!