new jersey Archives - riannagalvez

BALTIMORE, Family, FOOD, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips

Almost There

March 19, 2015by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

08.24-25.14: Of weekend getaways

Hello, dolls! 🙂 Happy hump day! Aaaah what a beautiful “weekend” it has been. Usually, I would be bummed that our almost 3 day weekend is now over. But since I know that we only have 9 days left until we begin our journey to forever, I don’t think there is room for me to complain. We are getting close!!! We will be home in less than 2 weeks! Which reminds me of the time I went home for my Dad’s 50th birthday, back when it would take me more than a day to travel to the Philippines. The flight alone is already exhausting, the layover and waiting makes it even more draining so I like to have at least a whole day where in I do not have to worry about anything including packing before my loooong flight — that’s why A and I likes to schedule our trips from Baltimore after on or after Monday.

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A and I 12 hours before my flight to Manila last year..brought back a lot of memories when I left Baltimore 2 years ago to go home.

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Love waking up to this!!! Continue reading “Almost There” →

Korean Spa and Everything In Between

February 18, 2015by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

Hello, sweets! Whew what a cold snowy week this is! It’s one snow day to another, I guess I will be waking up to the sight of snow on our porch until the end of the week 😐 Uhhh we are just so over with winter…I am seriously counting the days until it’s spring again. This cold weather (and crazy schedule) is making me eat every chocolate that I see, being surrounded with tons of chocolate here at home and at work is not helping my “bride” diet!!! (although let’s face, I have not really payed attention to my diet since December) — I just like to say it para I’ll sound like a legit bride-to-be hahaha

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One of the best things about my relationship with A is our cookbook collection.

We both had a good number of books before we met each other, and our collection started growing in 2012 because we would often give each other books on special occasions. Now that we are engaged, we now call all of our books “ours”, which makes me so happy because it has always been a dream of mine to own all the great cookbooks out there.

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An exceptional day is when you cross off 3 books from our wishlist.

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…and celebrate with Asian food! 🙂 Continue reading “Korean Spa and Everything In Between” →

FOOD, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips, THE FIANCE

New York: Jollibee

February 9, 2015by riannagalvez2 Comments

07.21.14: Bida ang sarap!

Hello, dolls!! Happy Sunday!!! Our third pre-cana class just ended and ahhhh I can’t believe that we are almost at the end of this beautiful journey. We had an amazing day today! Although I must say, I overslept a little haha (but hey! I deserve it after working almost 13 hours yesterday!) So we went to church and had brunch at one of the best brunch places here in Baltimore, then had a good afternoon in class. How I love Sundays like this! Earlier, I prayed for more meaningful Sundays like today this year. My heart breaks just thinking about February ending so soon…and how after the wedding our work schedules will most likely get in the way. Thank God for our pre-cana because we get to be on the same page about our relationship and important things without getting into an argument or trying too hard.

So we are just 6 days away from Valentine’s….meaning 6 days until my father-in-law turns 60! What’s exciting about it is that we will be in New Jersey the day after so I am pretty hyped up about that. A short vacation is much needed for A and I!

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I have 6 days to dream about our upcoming getaway, for now I’ll blog about our New York side trip that happened over the summer.

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A would often say that he wishes we have Jollibee close to us. When we are in New Jersey, he would drop hints saying we should go to Jollibee for lunch.

So when we were in New York we decided to take the girls cause they’ve never tried Jollibee.

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2 buckets of fried chicken, rice, 4 large fries, 4 sundaes, yumburger, and my avocado pearl shake…. YES! When in Jollibee….YOU GO BIG! 😉 Continue reading “New York: Jollibee” →

Family, FOOD, LIFE IN BALTIMORE, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips, THE FIANCE

NJ Diaries: Summer 2014

January 22, 2015by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

07.28.14: Long Beach Island

Hello, dolls!!! 🙂 Today is another snowy winter day and to warm me up, I am going to talk about summer. Summer as you all know, is the busiest season of the year. It is close to impossible to get a decent off from work. It makes me miss school and how I know I can get the whole summer off to spend with family and look forward to all our travels/getaways. A and I won’t let our summer to be just spent for work, we planned to go to the beach (even if its just once) and it happened! We were so happy that we were able to go to the beach with our family here.

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New Jersey and New York comes to mind when I think about summer here in the US.

New Jersey for food and family, New York for food.

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birds…obvs.

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Don’t you feel like January is just flying by? Usually I will be having this feeling like I do not want it to end yet, but honestly as of now I am a bit excited because I know I am just one snow day away from the warmth of spring!! (and ugh my wedding!) Continue reading “NJ Diaries: Summer 2014” →

FOOD, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips, THE FIANCE

NJ Diaries: Spring

December 30, 2014by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

Hello, sweets!!! Happy (almost) New Year!! Only two and a half days left to make 2014 memorable, are you ready for 2015? I can’t believe that the new year is literally right around the corner. I feel like I still have tons of things to do before I kiss 2014 goodbye. This holiday week has been really beautiful, I can only thank God for blessing us with time to see family and friends during this wonderful season. It’s been really hectic and crazy for A and I since thanksgiving, and I remember looking forward to to this week when he was at the peak of his 70hr schedule.

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We spent the past week away from Baltimore — a much needed vacation for the both of us.

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We spent 2 days in New York and a couple of days in New Jersey, it was the perfect way to celebrate this holiday season.

Since I am still behind my posts, I am going to share something that happened not too long ago in New Jersey. Continue reading “NJ Diaries: Spring” →

Family, FOOD, NEW JERSEY, PHILADELPHIA, Random, Road Trips, THE FIANCE

The Greek Life

November 9, 2014by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

Cause I love anything Greek way too much

Hello, sweets!! Guess what?? We had the Friday night off again!! I can’t help but find it funny because a couple of days ago I was just gushing about our Friday date night back in Summer…and now we were able to do it again this Fall. YAY! Last night was ahmaaahzing! It was not like our Woodberry date night but A gave me new memories to cherish. what we did is somewhat related to what I will be talking about in a while…GREEK! I am so happy that I am here for the Greek Festival this year,and that we were able to go and eat delicious Greek food…..and have fun with our friends after! I couldn’t think of any other way to celebrate our Fall Friday Date Night than how we spent it last night.

I compiled all the Greek related photos that I have on my computer to make a decent Greek related post. A couple of days ago, I told A and his Mom that I am happy that they celebrate a lot of traditions. That we always have something to look forward to and feel grateful for each day.

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The Greek Life is more than just lemons, feta cheese, and olive oil. I think one of the reasons why I am very excited to marry A is because his values are the same as mine.

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To start this entry…. I will talk about me! HAHA

So I finally got a haircut after 4 months of being back here in Baltimore. I am always afraid to go for a trim (even though mah girl LC says that we should !) I’ve had my fair share of annoying “my hair is way tooo short moments” so yeaaap, it usally takes me a while to go back. haha

Anyway, so I went to the salon a couple of hours before our drive to New Jersey, and after an hour of hair treatment and a long chat with the hairdresser, I did not notice time and I was already outside the salon so no blow dry for me!! Haha The lady did not want to let me leave with wet hair so she did this for me! #LoveIt Continue reading “The Greek Life” →

CULINARY, Family, Fashion, FOOD, KITCHEN DIARIES, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips

The NJ Life

October 15, 2014by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

05.12.14: Mother’s Day x Day of A Mother

Hello, sweets! 🙂 Hello, NJ! I have an extended “weekend” this week and I couldn’t be any happier that I spent it with great friends and my family here in Baltimore. I am blogging from New Jersey again YAY! I think it’s perfect that I write something about New Jersey and how we usually spend our “weekends” here. I am blessed that A’s family never made me feel like I am an outsider, they’ve welcomed me with love and opened their 2 homes to me when A and I started dating. I still remember the first time we took a trip to New Jersey, I did not want to go back to Baltimore. Going to New Jersey is our little piece of vacation in the middle of our crazy work life.

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I love how the house in NJ makes me feel like I am not too away from home.

Anyway, I will be sharing one of the celebrations that we looked forward to this year

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I enjoy baking, it’s my little break from what I normally do.I graduated with a degree in Culinary, so I have no formal training when it comes to baking though our patisserie and bread baking class helped me understand it. And at work, I am assigned on the hot station. That’s why baking excites me, especially that I am a big lover of desserts.

When I got back from my home country a couple of months ago, one of A’s surprises for me is Momofuku Milk Bar’s Cookbook! It made me so happy because now I can make some of their cookies at home.

Continue reading “The NJ Life” →

FOOD, LIFE IN BALTIMORE, NEW JERSEY, THE FIANCE, THE HOLIDAYS

Greek Easter 2014

July 4, 2014by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

Hello, dolls!! 🙂 I thank the #TBT gods for gracing us Thursday for throwbacks, the day that is “quite” okay for me to post an entry that is at least 2 months old. “Quite” cause I know I should be doing a better job in updating my page. My goal for this blog this year is to be up to date with everything and have no entries that is more than a month old wish me luck. The amount of entries that I have yet to post is not getting any smaller, but I am getting close to bringing this page up to date so yea, I have 5 months!!! 😉

Anyway, I have always been excited about embracing new traditions and one of the things that I looked forward to when I came back here is Greek Easter. A has told me a lot of amazing things that they did over the years, and he leaves me drooling each time.

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This year, I was finally able to experience it and I couldn’t be any happier! 😉

I missed their huge Greek Easter celebration 2 years ago because work got in the way, and this year, A missed having dinner with his family in the apartment because of work…again. Haha

Delicious Greek food!!!!

This entry will also include a couple of snippets from New Jersey after Greek Easter.

Continue reading “Greek Easter 2014” →

365 days in USA, FOOD, NEW JERSEY, Road Trips, STYLE, THE BOYFRIEND, TRAVEL

First Anniversary: Ram’s Head Inn x Stewarts

April 19, 2014April 19, 2014by riannagalvez2 Comments

04.21.2013: 365 days

Hello, dolls! 🙂 Today, I am going to share something really special. I know this is almost a year late but just like what I always say, I like to keep some things to myself until the right time — just like this one. I can still remember all the little and big “firsts” that A and I shared together, and how cute he was each time. Like how shy he was when he asked me on our “FroYo date” –which turned out to be our “first date” as well. The time that he was so excited to get off work early and pick me up from my apartment and bring me to one of the best Italian restaurants here in Baltimore for our “first real date”. The first time he let me drive his car , first movie we watched together , first Asian restaurant we went to , first NYC trip , first month together , and the first time he said I love you — the list goes on and on and ON and everyday is just amazing with him.

You see, I do not talk about our relationship that much here on my blog, but this week is like an exception. I can’t believe that we are going to celebrate our second year anniversary in 3 days!!! It’s crazy!!! Where did time go?? I feel like nothing much has changed, only that our love for each other grew (or to make it cheesier — blossomed like the beautiful flowers of spring). We are still the crazy kids who gets too excited about food and cooking and loves to travel and talk about whatnots in the middle of the night.

Everyday is an opportunity for firsts.

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I’ve always wanted a man who will make dinner reservation for us and tell me “wear a lovely dress tonight”. Lucky for me, I met a man who did that on our first week of being together (major brownie points!!).

A made a reservation in one of the most beautiful restaurants I’ve been to. For our first anniversary, we went to Ram’s Head Inn in New Jersey.

But, before I tell you about the delicious food that we had, let me start with the nice afternoon that we had.

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We started our day by giving each other our presents.

Continue reading “First Anniversary: Ram’s Head Inn x Stewarts” →

365 days in USA, CULINARY, Family, Feelings, FOOD, NEW JERSEY, Photography, Reality, Respect, Responsibility, Road Trips, TIME, TRAVEL, Treasures, Year, Youth

New Jersey: Smithville x The Historic Smithville Inn

October 27, 2012June 24, 2013by riannagalvezLeave a Comment

10.20.12: Meet,Greet and Eat

Hello world! I know my page has been idle for a long time, and I am not sure what pushed me to this plight – the fact that I do not have enough time for everything, or the exhaustion that has been running through my system for the past few months. To make things uglier, I am not well as of the moment and I have been dreading it since Thursday! And let’s not forget the hurricane news that has been circulating around here. I don’t know how bad it’ll be but I hope it doesn’t ruin our Monday off. Cause that would suck big time knowing that in 4 months time, I’ll be in Manila again.

Anywaysy, here’s what transpired last weekend. We drove to New Jersey to relax and see more of what’s in the City 🙂

Spent our Sunday in Smithville! 🙂

The cutesy little houses and the entire vibe of the place made me feel like I was a smurf!! :)))

We were fortunate cause there was a car show that weekend! More attraction for us! 🙂

Rode the train with the kiddos!!! <3 🙂

Best part of our New Jersey trip! 🙂 Meeting these two cutie girls! 🙂 Erika and Julia!! <3

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Had lunch in the Historic Smithville Inn

The whole place is so rich in history and beauty. I love how they kept the original facade of almost the entire house and shared it to everyone to see.

We were seated in a private room, beautifully decorated and lovely arranged. I love the story behind the room, it made me realize how blessed I am to be able to go to this place. and be with a family who has treated me so well since day 1.