On The Cusp of a New Season.

The days are getting shorter, and the weather is getting cooler. Not that I mind, but sometimes I would like for the days to last just a bit longer. I'm slowly putting away our summer clothes, and saltwater sandals, and it actually feels pretty good to be doing so. September is a big deal for me not because it's my birthday month, but because the cusp of autumn becomes more official. Next to summer, fall is definitely my  favorite & this season prepares me for back to school nights, Halloween, & Noah's birthday. Those are the things I tend to concentrate on throughout my birthday month. Turning 43 in a week seems surreal because I feel as if I have a young heart. Hitting 40 didn't freak me out like I thought it would. It was just another day for me, and hopefully I'll have the same mentality when I turn 50, and so on! I'm focusing on the now in enjoying life. The years & days seem to get shorter & in a sense I think I am too! Spending my days with Noah is all I want to do right now. I don't yearn for a job or a career at this time. My time during the day is with him & today we both had a lunch date with papa at the pop shop. Because he's still on a "probation period" with UPS he's only been working a few days a week, and has two more days till it's over (yes!) Since we didn't have a date night last week we decided to have lunch at one of my favorite places. I'm grateful for those free meal coupons I get via email for my birthday. 

We didn't mind that we had Noah because he is the life to every party...literally! Everything was delicious as usual. I had a yummy tuna melt topped with swiss cheese & Jon had a sandwich with shrimp in it (I forgot the name), and Noah, well...he mostly drank all my root beer (he had cereal for lunch earlier!)  

Pop Shop's signature is are the "paper hats" and we all decorated them. Noah kind of added a little bit of his art on mine! He is the funniest boy & sometimes I have to calm him down. He's not used to drinking soda & when he does boy is he like the energizer bunny. He'll just keep going, and going until that sugar wears him down. We had the sickest shake known to man & if you've never had one you've got to try it. They have a variety of flavors & because it's my birthday month I got the chocolate Oreo! It was mouthwatering & between me & Jon that thing was devoured in seconds. 

We then went for a drive to check out if the rain brought forth any colors to some of the leaves. I love, love going on drives whether it's out in the boonies or further north which in this case we only drove within our neighborhood. We did see tiny hints of yellow, and red on a few trees, but nothing really bright! We get the changing of the leaves here pretty late in Jersey so hopefully when we venture our further north in the future we'll see some color. Right now what we saw is what we got which were brown, light golden discolored leaves. We didn't mind & Noah was still a happy camper especially when I told him when the leaves fall to the ground we'll have ourselves a leaf war. I think  after his last birthday he's fully aware that he's a fall baby like his mama & when he sees me happy he's happy too. 

Jon snapped a few shots of us brown leaves and all! 

One thing for sure we are super excited for autumn to officially arrive so that we can have apple cinnamon, and pumpkin scented candles, sweater weather, wearing scarves, go apple and pumpkin picking, and have a hay ride -drinking hot cocoa kind of days! 

Happy Wednesday! 

*The Pop Shop*

What do you do on a beautiful March day in 79 degree weather ? Some of us may have went to the beach or to the park, but instead we ventured out to the one place we should have went to when we first moved to South Jersey.

I can't believe we have lived here for almost four years now, and just now got acquainted with the Pop Shop. When my daughters had piano lessons in the Collingswood area I've always passed by the Pop Shop, but never entered in. I've always heard good things about how wonderful the food, and atmosphere is but just never made the effort to enter in...until today.

The feeling was nostalgic. They have this handmade wire basket covered with bottle caps as you enter in, and the menus are in newspaper form. You can also fill out a slip with your email, and they will give you a 'free gift' for your birthday. We had the opportunity to witness someone's birthday today, and it was so fun.  This is one place to take a loved one on their birthday. I promise you they won't regret it!

There is a wall covered with cool vintage clocks (note Felix the cat from the '50's.) So old, but so cool!

The service was great, and I have to say we had a wonderful waiter. 

They have paper hats for the kiddos to color and decorate, and Noah really enjoyed that. He loves coloring!! Of course I helped him color his hat. We didn't have a variety of colors in the small pail so I did my best in making his hat as colorful as possible.

We had a grand time, and the food...the food was delish!

I had the turkey blt.

Jon had the "Frazer" grilled cheese sandwich, and we had a half order of battered onion rings and french fries. Jon also had a "chocolate" vanilla coke which in my opinion...tasted different. Not to my liking, but he loved it! 

Since Noah's molars are still coming in he began to get moody. All he wanted was for me to hold him. He saw the family sitting next to us order a sundae for their little girl, and Noah was drooling over it. Our wonderful waiter, Brian noticed Noah's tears, and somehow wanted to make his first visit pleasant. I told him about the sundae he was eyeballing, and then he comes back with a small bowl of ice cream. Yep...he worked that tip real good. 

Noah ate that ice cream so fast that he didn't even have a chance to savor it. He did share, and I'm sure the coldness made his gums feel good. 

It has been such a beautiful clear, sunny day, and I am so grateful to have spend it with my better half, and our little boy. It's moments like this in which I treasure. I can't believe Noah will be two and half months in May, and I am enjoying every minute with him. Just going to lunch at a place where locals are familiar with was priceless. I had to blog about this moment, because this moment was very special to me. 

Don't worry girls...we'll make sure we bring y'all next time!

"Don't always feel like we have 'forever' to do things, and put them off for tomorrow. Each day quickly passes us by, and the next thing you know we'll be uttering the words "if only". Let your little one eat ice cream before eating their grilled cheese, (especially if they are teething). Always hug, and hold them. Enjoy sunny days during the winter months. Make an effort to notate the little things, and never take them for granted. Whether it's the weather...or your children."
~Rose

Happy weekend!