Month: August 2016

A Day in the Life

LaurenLeave a comment

Guys!  Do you like these kinds of posts?  I’m totally nosey about other people’s lives so I love seeing them and thought it’d be fun to do one of my own again.  Written in real time on Thursday but seeing as it’s Friday when you’re reading it, I guess I should say “Happy Weekending!”

**********************************

When you plan on waking up at 6 AM, you should probably not stay up late watching the Olympics the night before.  I know this, yet I did it anyway.  Summer Olympics only happen once every four years and I must watch every possible second!  “Strawberry Fields Forever” wakes me up, I hit snooze once then reluctantly drag myself out of bed, and into my running clothes.  By 6:20, I’m off!

IMG_3719

My 3-miler ends up not being so bad and lo and behold I might actually be in a better mood now!  Probably because I saw a pumpkin-sized round zucchini growing in someone’s yard and found it really funny.  Also, full disclosure: I tried really hard not to run super slow because I knew I’d be taking a picture of my results.

IMG_3721

Back at home, I shower and get ready.  Joey delivers me a glass of iced coffee at 7:15 and I love him just a little bit more.  Breakfast is overnight oats, granola and peanut butter (on loop all summer long) while I watch this fascinating Ryan Lochte vs. Brazilian Authorities story unfold on the Today Show.  I have a lot of opinions on this matter, none of which I’ll subject you to.

IMG_3722

We’re in the middle of a renovation at our office and it is a complete mess.  It’s going to be really nice once it’s all complete but right now it’s ripped up carpet, dust everywhere and whatever is going on in my ceiling.  Oh and hammering, lots and lots of hammering.  This does, however, give me an excuse to quote my favorite Christmas movie over and over again.  There’s a hole for an eventual window in Joey’s wall and I keep using it to enter and exit his office, because I can!

IMG_3720

Joey has just enough time between meetings — he’s spearheading this whole renovation — to eat lunch with me.  Salads-in-a-jar with tarragon vinaigrette, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, feta, romaine and slivered almonds.  All week, we’ve been escaping the dust to eat lunch at a park down the street but no time today.  C’est la vie.  Lunch is cut short when at least five bees swarm our table and we decide we’ve had enough of the outdoors for one day.

IMG_3723

The reno crew leaves around 2:30 every day, at which time our office suddenly feels eerily quiet.  I wish I could tell you something exciting happened work-wise, but it’s a pretty mundane Thursday.  Ordering, invoicing, filing, texting my sister about guacamole.  Oh and I see this and come really close to crying at my desk.  Bookmarking this restaurant for one day when I make it to Atlanta!

IMG_3728

I’m the type of person who’s hyper aware of when 5 PM hits so I’m kind of thrown off guard when Joey comes into my office ready to leave and I hadn’t even realized it was time yet!  We make it home, check our garden — patty pan squash are looking NICE — and watch an episode of Seinfeld, but then it’s date night!  It was rainy towards the end of the workday but now the skies have cleared and I’m hoping for perfect ramen on the patio weather at Uncle.

IMG_3724

THERE’S NO WAIT.  What?!  I order a watermelon gose and am in my happy place.  We also ordered fried fingerling potatoes with kimchi butter and scallion sour cream so Joey is in his happy place.  Then we both make the best decision of our lives and order the Spicy Chicken Ramen.  The tahini broth is buttery and rich and life changing.  Also, we knock chopsticks the entire time we’re eating.  You would think, after 9 years, we would know which side the left-hander should sit on, but we’re reeeeeally slow learners.

IMG_3726

Back at home, we park it on the couch to watch the Olympics — apparently shot putters have to scream while throwing that ball? — and ugh, how cool is Usain Bolt?!  The Jamaicans definitely win for best names too.  Mid-Olympics, we watch Big Brother and by the time it’s over, I’m too tired to even watch Team Brazil win men’s beach volleyball gold.  Wait, they won, right??  Somehow, it is still 11 o’clock by the time I get into bed.  I guess I’ll just sleep more next week.

Cabin Weekend Things

Lauren1 Comment

We turn left and find ourselves in a quiet valley, a herd of cows grazing on one side, a sparking stream on the other, and a blazing blue sky above it all.  We pull out two chairs, cheers our beers, pull out our books and settle into relaxation mode.  We fire up the grill, throw on some burgers, turn the radio to the Rockies game, dump the puzzle pieces out onto the table.  We wake to a chill in the air, boil water for coffee, flip the pancakes then settle into our chairs on the porch, to take in breakfast and the fresh air of a morning in the mountains.

IMG_3670

IMG_3671

IMG_3616

IMG_3672

IMG_3673

IMG_3675

IMG_3674

We read for hours, break for a walk to the stream, talk about how “we should learn to fish!” before trekking back up the hill and remembering how steep it is.  We find a bench three-quarters of the way up, a new addition that our lungs greatly appreciate as we sit, look out onto the valley and catch our breath.  The afternoon is a blur of sunshine, page turning, napping, puzzle pieces and our “Cabin Jams” playlist.  Happy Hour hits and we pull out the makings of a cheeseboard (roughing it, what’s that??), crack open a bomber to share and, prompted by the book I’m reading, ask ourselves “if you had amnesia and couldn’t remember the last 10 years of your life, what would you most surprised about?”  “I’M MARRIED?!”

IMG_3678

IMG_3679

IMG_3681

IMG_3680

We finish the puzzle while dinner cooks — charred shishitos, sriracha mayo, grilled steak — I make Joey read a chapter of his book outloud to me, even though I have no idea who these characters are or what’s happened in the first half of the book.  We pull out the deck of cards for Uno — I get destroyed 300-25 or something ridiculous like that — then move on to an epic game of Jenga that I was pretty sure would last forever.  It’s THIRTY-THREE stories later when I cause the whole thing to fall and I’m the loser AGAIN.  We end the night with blueberry galette and a toasty fire.  I realize I’m 400 pages into the book I was worried about finishing in three weeks.

IMG_3682

IMG_3683

IMG_3684

IMG_3685

IMG_3686

IMG_3687

IMG_3689

IMG_3688

It’s another chilly morning, but the coffee is strong, the pancakes are even better the second time around and I’m feeling rested, re-energized and so so happy.  We pack up and hit the road to head home but I’m determined to take this relaxed version of myself back into “real life.”  This has been another weekend at the cabin, a time I look forward to all year, moments I treasure forever and such an amazing way to celebrate the end of another summer.

Tell me, what did you do this weekend?!