sunday snapshot

Sunday Snapshot: Puppies, Flowers, and Hamburgers… What is Better?

Published on May 15, 2016May 15, 2016 by PeculiarPorter2 Comments

Hello darlings! How is everyone’s week going? I had such a fantastic week filled with puppies, flowers, and burgers.

My brother and his girlfriend recently got a puppy named Zeke. The pictures below are actually of Heather’s Mom’s puppy. If you look in the background of the second picture you can slightly see Zeke taking a little nap.

It seems like every Mother’s Day my dad and I go to the local floristry and get flowers. There is something about going into florist shop that makes me warm inside. For those who don’t know me, I have this weird obsession with bees. Bees are so important for our ecosystem that we would literally die if there weren’t any of them. There would be no food for us, and thus cause us to die. I made a post about the bees dying last year. It’s incredibly important that we plant flowers to help them thrive.

This week I also went to Shake Shack for the first time. It’s a burger joint that started in New York City as a food cart. I thought it was really good, but it really has no comparison to Crave Burger and Frozen Yogurt. Their delicious burgers are literally to die for.

That was my lovely week. I’m attempting to go to pilates near home for the first time. During the school year, I went to pilates a few times with my friend Courtney. She seriously got me hooked. If you have never been and you love working out your abs try going to a session at a local pilates studio! If you have any fun workouts you think I should try let me know in the comments.

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: Hiking Thatcher

Published on April 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by PeculiarPorter2 Comments

Hello, darlings! Hope you’ve been having a wonderful week! This past weekend was super warm out so it obviously needed to be spent outside.

Here is a wonderful picture of me reading by the fire.

Rob and I ventured out to see the wonderful view from Thatcher state park. If you’re scared of heights I don’t recommend this location. It is very high up and there aren’t gates up in some areas. I personally loved it because I love exploring new territory. There are two different falls that you can walk to. There are also a couple of caves you can crawl inside of and feel like Indiana Jones.

Afterwards, we wandered to Albany and tried some of Emack and Bolio’s ice cream. It was as wonderful as the last time I went. If you never heard of Emack and Bolio it is this adorable little ice cream shop that has a wide variety of ice cream cones ranging from smores cones to M&M cones. They also offer every candy you can think of and even some toys from the 90s. It’s like escaping to another world.

I hope your weekend was filled with smiles and laughter like mine!

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: St. Patrick’s Day Parade and more

Published on March 13, 2016March 13, 2016 by PeculiarPorterLeave a comment

Hello darlings! This weekend was jam-packed with adventures. Siena’s basketball season was amazing so we went to a game on Saturday and again on Sunday. On Saturday, we played Manhattan. We were all sitting on the edge of our seats because the game was so close. Sunday, however, was a tough loss. We were two games away from going to March madness so it was a sad to see them lose.

Here are some yummy foods I ate this week:

Rob turned 21 this Friday so we decided to go out on the town to celebrate. We went to Bombers Burrito Bar, The Olde English Pub and Wolff’s Biergarten in order for him to do the trifecta. Here are some of the wonderful pictures

The next day we woke up early, got decked out in green, and went to the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

I hope you are ready for St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday! Make sure you wear some green so you don’t get pinched!

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: Stuffed with Sweets

Published on February 21, 2016February 21, 2016 by PeculiarPorter2 Comments

Hello darlings! Before you read any further, I want to alert you that this is yet another post filled with tons and tons of food pictures. I hope you can survive!

With that said, I went to Albany Pump Station on Valentine’s day with Robert, Alyssa, and Nicole. They apparently changed their chef so their food changed a bit. None to less, the food was still great! I got the turkey gobbler, which is basically these little turkey melt sandwiches with cranberry dressing that you can dip into gravy. Yummmmm. The other two pictures are fried eggplant and calamari with balsamic dressing drizzled onto it.

I received a surprise care package from my parents. It was filled with tons and tons of delicious goodies. Nerds rope is my favorite sweet candy! What is yours?

I finally got my tapestry! I love how bright it is! It took a while to ship, but I’m super glad it finally arrived.

I took this grand selfie on my way to class. I was freezing and someone saw me take it.

Later that day, I made cinnabuns while Rob and I were studying for our religion midterm. I’ve been craving a cinnamon for about 6 months now so I was very, very excited to eat them.

Friday, my mom picked me up from school. We met up with my brother, Nathan, for dinner. We ended up going to Garlic Lovers Corners in Troy. It was my first time going to a Mediterranean restaurant. The restaurant looked very sketchy outside but the food was amazing! We ordered calamari and tzatziki for appetizers. I ordered salmon with lemon, dill, and balsamic glaze. It came with toasted jasmine rice and mixed vegetables. For my first Mediterranean restaurant was a win!

When I returned home, I was greeted to three Easter trees. If you remember my post around Christmas time my mom puts up 5-7 Christmas trees every year. She also puts up trees for Halloween and Easter.

That was my week in a nutshell! Hopefully it didn’t make you drool too much. Do you put up Easter decorations up too? Let me know in the comments!

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: First Snowfall

Published on February 14, 2016February 14, 2016 by PeculiarPorter1 Comment

Hello darlings! Did you finally get snow? If you live inland then you might have received your fist snow fall this week. We finally received our first snow fall in Albany and I couldn’t have been happier. I mean look how beautiful Siena looks in the snow:

The only downside is that the temperature dropped drastically. Right now it is 7° and there is a low of -4° …. oh and it feels like…..

We were team Ireland for a party this weekend. I had to put the flag over my mouth because I couldn’t stop smiling.

I also am getting a lot better at cooking *slow clap*

This week I cooked chili for the Super Bowl. There are three types of meat (ground beef, ground turkey, and steak), red beans, peppers, onions, and a whole much of spice in it. I think I put a little too much spice in because it was a little too spicy. I’m not sure if my friends were just being nice, but they all said that there is no such thing as having too much spice.

I also cooked Cheesy jalapeño popper baked stuffed chicken this week. You can get the recipe here. I was incredibly proud of it. I want to try it with red or green peppers next time. I loved the way it came out. I also made roasted squash and corn with it. For some reason it made me miss my host mom in Italy.

I also went shopping this week and scored a jacket and a dress. The dress is from American Eagle and I can’t wait to do an outfit post on it when it gets warmer. I also scored a sweet ‘suede’ jacket for $7 from Forever 21. They’re having an insane sale right now. Every clearance items is an additional 75% off. I would definitely go to your closest Forever 21 to see if you can snag a great item like I did.

Later today, for Valentine’s day, I’ll be going to Albany Pump Station with Robert, Alyssa, and Nicole. It’s my favorite restaurant so I’m quite excited! What are you doing for Valentine’s day? I hope it consists of eating copious amount of chocolate and laughing too much.

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: A Week of Food

Published on February 7, 2016February 7, 2016 by PeculiarPorterLeave a comment

Hello darlings! Did you have the most wonderful week of ever? I feel like all I did this week was eat… and I’m okay with that.

During the week, Courtney and I cooked a meal together… we ended up setting off the fire alarm. We didn’t realize you can’t spray pam on an already hot pan. You live and you learn. At least our food came out looking pretty good.

(Note: if some of the chicken looks a little pink on the outside it’s because we used a raspberry marinate).

Saturday I went Chowderfest in Saratoga. I’ll be posting all of the delicious chowder pictures later this week. I went with my brother, his girlfriend, Robert, and his friend from home. We ended up meeting up with the majority of our friends and chowing down on the delicious chowder.

Since it was very cold, I wore two cardigans, a tank, a tank top sweater, and maroon pants. My feet froze a little bit but other than that I wasn’t too cold.

The Chowder from Druthers was my personal favorite. We loved it so much we went back for more!

Definitely come back this week so you can check out all my chowder pictures. I also have a outfit of the day post coming up that I’m incredibly excited about!

Today, Courtney and I are hosting the super bowl at our house. I’m making chili and guacamole, Courtney is making a buffalo chicken dip, and we have a few fun platters and chicken wings. I’m just incredibly excited that I get to wear my slippers!

What are you doing for the super bowl? If you’re reading this late… what did you do for the super bowl? I’m actually not a big football fan… but I do like watching the commercials and eating more than I should!

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: Exploring Albany

Published on January 31, 2016October 17, 2016 by PeculiarPorterLeave a comment

Hello darlings! I had wonderful week. Courtney and I are slowly figuring out how to cook things together. I’ll most more about that when we have perfected a few things. I know it’s quite the college accomplishment to be able to cook for one’s self. My Friday class was also cancelled so I can say I had a pretty good week.

My walk back to my house during the week. I love the Siena flags.

Thursday my friend, Courtney, turned 21 (not my roommate another Courtney). We went to Bombers Burrito Bar to celebrate.

Saturday, a bunch of my friends and I went to the Siena vs Marist basketball game. Siena won 77 to 66. Siena was up 20 points for most of the game. Monday Siena plays the #1 team… wish us luck!

This morning, I went to Iron Gate Cafe with Robert and Steven. It’s my favorite brunch place. I always get the same thing: Turkey B.L.A.T. with home fries. If you’re ever in Albany definitely go to Iron Gate Cafe.

Afterwords, we showed Steven a little bit of Albany. Some of the buildings are just so beautiful! Also, ice skating is only $3!

Now I’m just working on my application to Siena Teacher Preparation Program and some other homework. I have a speech on Tuesday for my rhetoric and oral communications class. Wish me luck on that!

I hope you had a wonderful week! Let me know about your week. Did you eat anything good? See anything interesting? Talk to someone cool? I’m very curious.

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: Last of Winter break

Published on January 17, 2016 by PeculiarPorter8 Comments

Hello darlings! I had yet another week of only going to the gym and watching Netflix. The only thing that has changed is… I started getting ready to go back to college. That translates to me dragging around stuff in my basement and trying to figure out what I need and don’t need. I had to get kitchen stuff for this semester because I’ll be living in a townhouse! Woo. What an upgrade. I’m incredibly excited to be able to cook meals and tell you about them. Can you tell I went for a “blue” theme for kitchen supplies?

We were cleaning them before they get used. I’ll post better pictures of all the goodies next week, I promise.

I went out to dinner to Bricco with my parents. For non Connecticut citizens, Bricco is an Italian restaurant in West Hartford. It was my first time going and it was lovely. It was interesting seeing the differences between Italy and America restaurants. The calamari was fantastic and their chicken parmigiana special was even better.

What is a Sunday Snapshot post in Connecticut without a lovely picture of Butch. We were cuddling while watching Pretty Little Liars… yes, it’s a guilty pleasure.

I’ve also posted an About Me section on my blog. It’s incredibly witty if I say so myself. If you feel like checking it out click on this fun link.

Today, I’m heading to Massachusetts to celebrate my Granddaddy’s 90th birthday. All but one of my family members are going. It’s going to be grand. On Monday, I’ll be heading up to school and Tuesday I start classes. It’s certainly going to be strange going back to normal life. Is that weird to say? I mean going to classes and not flying to another country the next day. Is it weirder to say I’m super excited to just be a normal college student? Up to you to decide!

Since I’m going back to school, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post three times a week. I might start only doing Sunday Snapshots and maybe a post on just Thursday/Wednesday. Just until May. I haven’t decided yet, but I’ll be sure to let you guys know. I have a few fun projects in mind in the upcoming months, so I hope you keep an eye out.

If you’re a college student, have you already gone back?

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: New Year

Published on January 3, 2016July 25, 2016 by PeculiarPorter3 Comments

Hello darlings! I’m back in the states and that means I can return to my old posting schedule! I hope you’re as excited as I am! Maybe a little bit more? Okay, I don’t judge you if not.

So I had a wonderful Christmas… Can I still say that even though I’m 9 days late? Well, I’m saying it anyway! I was incredibly happy just be home with my lovely family eating delicious American food.

On Christmas Eve my family always eats a white, meatless meal. I’m not sure if the white part is a Polish tradition, but I do know that the meatless one is. We usually break opłatek, but we actually forgot it this year. Oplatek is a wafer that loved ones usually break on Christmas eve. Each person gets a wafer and you go around the table breaking each other’s wafer and wishing them something for the new year. This is actually the first year we didn’t do it.

On my plate is cod, portabello mushroom filled with crab meat (Fun fact: I don’t like mushrooms so I just ate the crab meat), lobster, corn, and pierogies.

These are all of the ornaments I bought abroad. My favorite is the swan with the beautiful crown on it’s head! I got to feed swans in Prague and it just reminds me so much of the fairytale city.

These were two of my favorite gifts! I’ll be living in a townhouse next semester so I’ll be able to use this lovely crock pot and blender! Expect a few posts of delicious food posts from me. I’ll definitely be experimenting.

My mom worked very hard cooking the Christmas day dinner. We have the same thing every year and she always does a fantastic job. This extremely full plate has mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, broccoli casserole, and a roll. Between Christmas eve dinner and Christmas day dinner you can say I was very, very full. I can’t even explain to you how awesome it was to have turkey again.

The Porter family house actually has quite a bit of trees for the Christmas holiday. Currently, we have five big trees up and three little trees. We used to have one more big tree and one medium tree. Each one has it’s own special theme. Don’t worry we’re not ruining the ecosystem that drastically. They’ll fake. We’re not crazy after all…

We also don’t put ordainments under every tree. We only put them under this tree.

My mom decided, the two days after Christmas, that we needed another tree. That is when this snowman tree was born. I give it to her… it does look great…

That was the end of the Christmas craze. The next six days were fairly peaceful. I pretty much have done nothing. I seen my friends, spent a good amount of time pestering my dogs, tried hard not to eat an entire box of chocolate, and even went to the gym. My gym opens normal hours on the fourth and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ll pretty much be doing that until I go back to college on the 18th. I know, I have an exciting life!

If you ever visit Connecticut I highly recommend you get Munson’s truffled chocolates. I’m a huge Lindt chocolate fan (the best ones are My Name is ___ ), but Munson’s chocolates are like out of this world. They have this rich, creamy chocolate in the center that tastes like golden rays of sunlight. It’s like having those Lindt balls but a thousand times better. Day 9 and I still have more than half the box left… so high five self control!

Another chocolate that I have tried not to kill myself with are these Ghirardelli squares. I swear there is some type of drug in them. Like I’m really not kidding. The milk chocolate with caramel and the dark chocolate with white mint filling… oh goodness they’re just fantastic. Don’t put them in front of me because they will be gone in seconds.

Okay, enough about sinful chocolate! New Years Eve was rad. I got to see many of my college friends who are leaving to go abroad *insert crying emoji here.* Despite being sad that I won’t spend next semester with them, I couldn’t be more happy for them! I can’t wait to hear about their awesome adventures and see even cooler pictures. Here are some photos from that fantastic night.

Outfit: H&M skirt, TopShop shirt, Urban Outfitters high socks, J.Crew Shoes

2015 was filled with countless laughs, adventures, joy, growth, and lessons. I’ve learned many different things about myself and who I am as a person. I never expected this blog to reach as many people as it has. It amazes me that it continues to grow. This blog has filled me with so much joy from your comments and posts. Thanks for being a part of my family! I can’t wait to bring you into another fantastic year.

As always,

Sunday Snapshot: I Keep Getting lost but at least I have Gelato

Published on September 6, 2015December 29, 2015 by PeculiarPorter5 Comments

So I survived my first few days in Italy. I kind of wanted to wait to post this because it has been so overwhelming. I ended up getting a host mom who speaks no English whatsoever and has three cats that don’t let you pet them. I’m also the only person in my Italian studies group who lives on this side of the city. I’ve gotten lost on the bus about three times already and it took me an hour and twenty minutes to get home last night. So it’s been a little crazy.

I know that all sounds awful, but I’m slowly figuring out how to get around and it’s really nice. I mean my walk to school looks like this:

We also split a bottle of wine yesterday and the guy let us go on the balcony. If you look near the crane in this picture we were right below it.

We also spotted these three matching couples. We decided we’ll come back with our husbands one day and look just like them. Squad goals. (Photo credit: Courtney)

We tried our first Italian Gelato. It is way worth the hype. I had Coffee and I was incredibly awkward about asking it in Italian, but I managed the best I could.

And flying into Pisa was the prettiest thing ever:

So despite getting lost every time I take the bus, living with a stranger, and taking 4 days to figure out how to ask what the WIFI password is, I’m having the time of my life.

As always,