Weekend Things

Oh hey.

Doesn’t it feel like I just wrote one of these posts? Oh right, I haven’t written since last week’s “Weekend Things.” Oopsie. Life was busy happening instead. And I totally wish I could blame it on Hannah — the wedding is THIS SATURDAY!!!!! — but that girl is cool as a cucumber and has everything under control. Maybe we get along so well because we’re polar opposites in that regard. Since there were no last minute wedding duties to attend to, this weekend was totally free.

IMG_3022We kicked things off on Thursday by picking up our wedding invitations! We didn’t expect them to be ready until after the 4th, so it was a pleasant surprise when I got the call from our stationary shop. Yes, those are pink bubbles. Joey might like pink as much as I do.

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We declared Friday “Date Night” and lucked out weather-wise — the rain stopped and the sun came out minutes before we decided to walk to dinner — so we were able to grab a patio seat at Central Bistro. I’d been dying to go and the fact that we were within walking distance made me insanely happy.

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I let our waitress talk me into the soft shell crab and I think I made it through three bites before I decided I couldn’t do it. I’ve had soft shell crab before (more than once!) and I love seafood but, for some reason, this dish really turned me off. I think it was that squid ink drizzle that most definitely wasn’t in the menu description. Joey was happy to trade me, so I ended up with his steak. It was delicious. I don’t know why he puts up with me but I’m grateful.

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Oh and on the walk home, we passed an ice cream sandwich food truck that Joey couldn’t resist. It was super entertaining to watch him try to eat the thing while we walked. It was so messy! But I had a couple bites and yeah, totally delicious. He may or may not have washed his hands off in a sprinkler a few blocks after finishing the sandwich.

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So Boulder isn’t the shortest drive from our house, but my heart was longing for at least one trip to the Farmers’ Market, so I decided Saturday would be the one time I’d drag us there. Turns out they expanded the food tent area and man, that thing is so much more spacious and comfortable than it used to be. I got a thai iced coffee and a cheesy breakfast crepe, bought garlic scapes and cherries and was generally in my happy place. I need to fall in love with a Denver FM ASAP.

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Many failed errands later (more on that in a minute), we made our way back to D-town, with a pit stop at Cheesman. We were hoping to crash a wedding (only sort of kidding about that…), but we got the next best thing. A pavilion that was all set up with chairs, but no sign of any wedding attendees, so we were free to walk about and get a closer look at how they had things set up. I’m thinking we’ll do something pretty similar to this.

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So about those failed errands. We’re DIY-ing a bunch of stationary and signage stuff at our wedding (ahem someone went over budget on fancy pink bubble invitations…), so we’ve been on the hunt for some nice paper to use. We struck out at Staples, Michael’s, a scrapbooking store that turned out to be closed when we got there and a bunch of cyberstores (is that a real word?), but finally found exactly what we wanted online and everything should be here this week or next. I’m so excited!

Oh and dinner was gooood. Afterwards, we set up an invitation assembly line and got a big chunk of them put together. We have to adhere the actual invitation card to our folios ourselves and we ran out of double stick tape three quarters of the way through. Wah wah. We love how everything turned out though!

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I was up early(ish) on Sunday morning to fit in a quick run — have I mentioned that I’ve been loving morning runs lately?! The sun is up, the air feels cool, it frees up my evening schedule and it makes me feel so happy — then came home to breakfast! Joey made us omelettes and toast. I swear, I could just marry that guy. So good! And it was the perfect post-run/pre-shopping day fuel.

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Mom and I spent a majority of the day in Cherry Creek looking for wedding day shoes for me. I need some shorty heels — they need to be just high enough that I don’t need any expensive hemming done on my dress — and it turns out those are hard to come by. We seriously had the worst time finding anything that worked. I think we went to every shoe store in the mall (plus DSW) and I tried on one pair. ONE. And I didn’t even love them. I guess this is going to be harder than I thought. Shopping was a bust, but lunch was good at least. We grabbed some bar seats at True Food Kitchen and quenched our thirst while we waited for our food. It was definitely the highlight of our excursion.

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And then because Joey made me breakfast, I thought I’d repay the favor and make him dinner. Threw this pizza together with stuff we happened to have in the fridge — spinach, kalamata olives, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and some mozzarella. For something I just kind of tossed together, it turned out delicious! The night concluded with Big Brother (it’s back!!), Food Network Star and some reading. I’m a little over halfway through “Under the Wide and Starry Sky,” and I wish I could say I’m loving it, but it’s just kind of meh. I’m really tired of reading about how sick Robert Louis Stevenson was ALL.THE.TIME.

Aaaand, I just realized that 99% of those pictures were of food. What can I say? In other non-food-related weekend news, we spent a good chunk of time researching hotels and train tickets for our honeymoon and I think we’re about to do some actual booking. SO EXCITED!

Happy Monday!

Weekend Things

Wanna hear the weird thing that happened to me this weekend?  I was at the grocery store, my eye itched and when I went to rub it my contact fell out then my eye swelled up bad and fluid built up under the film of my eye.  It was crazy and looked pretty freaky, plus it didn’t feel too good.  Luckily, Hannah is in nursing school and happened to be on her way over (after I managed to drive myself home…) so she fixed me all up.

In other news, Emily was in town this weekend!  And had her co-worker and good friend Melissa with her.  I love when Colorado newbies come into town.  Denver is fun to show off 🙂

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On Friday night, there were clear blue skies, so the Linger rooftop was a given.  That hipster haven was busy and the first come first serve policy makes it hard to find a table — especially one of the coveted served tables — but after 4 tries, we finally managed to snag one.  Then we proceeded to order almost everything on the menu + two pitchers of sangria (yum!) and got to soak in the rooftop view of Denver all together.

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Afterwards, we all decided the Little Man line was longer than their ice cream is worth and ditched it for Sweet Cow.  Their flavors are better anyways.  And the line was much shorter.  Chocolate chip cookie dough in a waffle cone next to my favorite ladies is how every Friday night should end if you ask me!

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A tour of Colorado isn’t complete without a trip to Boulder so Saturday morning we all drove into the foothills for breakfast at Turley’s.  Emily might have a slight obsession with their house spice tea 😛  I’ll admit that even as a Colorado native, reaching the top of the hill on the highway and seeing Boulder down below is always breathtaking.

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Our company picnic also happened to be this weekend, so we left the New Orleans girls in Boulder to hike, explore and enjoy and headed to Elitch’s to mingle and visit with our co-workers outside of the office.  We skipped the rides this year — I think I only need to ride roller coasters once every few years — but the food, beer and raffle prizes kept us plenty occupied.

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We ended the night with a little BBQ.  I was pretty impressed that we threw the whole thing together so quickly and with very little ahead of time planning.  Spontaneity is so not my middle name.  Bean brought the burgers, Mom brought salad and appetizers, Hannah and Josh brought the beer and we supplied the corn, grill and back yard.  Plus the fire pit and the smores!  I think we might be turning into good BBQ hosts.

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Sunday morning, we were up and at em early.  The girls had a noon check out time but they had to see Red Rocks.  I was pretty excited that they were up for sacrificing their last vacation day to get up early instead of sleeping in.  In my opinion, Red Rocks is totally worth losing a little sleep.  I think we all felt slightly guilty just sitting on the benches and watching all the intense workouts going on (the group fitness class taking place on stage was extremely entertaining) but we did end up taking a little hike up to a scenic overlook so I think that counts 😛

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Last time Em was here I had her whole trip planned out, but this shorter trip was much more relaxed.  We just did what sounded good at the time and it all worked out perfectly.  After we dropped them back off at their hotel and said our goodbyes (till I’m in New Orleans for my bachelorette party in August!), we spent some much needed down time on the front porch then headed out to my niece’s birthday celebration.  That little one is such a girly girl and has got that hip pop down pat.  It’s too cute!

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Between the quality cousin time and what I’m considering the final countdown to Hannah and Josh’s wedding in less than two weeks, I think I’m going to be riding a happiness high for a while 🙂  Happy Monday!