The Quarter Century Club

Alternate titles would be…

You Know You’re 25 When You Celebrate Your Birthday By Taking a Nap,

The Day I Ate Everything, or

That Time I Got a Bouncy Rubber Cow For My Birthday

So, I turned 25 on Wednesday and you know how people always ask you “Do you feel older?” on your birthday and the answer is always no, because you feel the exact same as you did the day before?  Well, I actually did feel older on Wednesday!  In a good way, though.  Like, “Hey I’ve earned my keep with 25 years of life!”  Also, I let Joey plan the entire day because I’m missing that part of the brain that allows you to make decisions easily and just didn’t want to be in charge.  It turned out to be the best delegating decision I’ve ever made.  I had no idea what was coming so anything that came up felt like the best thing ever, proving once again that having zero expectations always makes for the best surprises.

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Also, I apologize for the amount of pictures of my face in this post…

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Here I am enjoying breakfast a Snooze and really looking like I need that cup of coffee.

IMG_3269Caprese Benedict, for the win!  Still kinda can’t believe I didn’t order a pancake flight.  What has my life come to?

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Insert a half day of work.  I was depressed that only two co-workers wished me a Happy Birthday then I realized I probably missed everyone else’s birthday too.  Being an adult sucks!  Anyways, after work, we headed to Biker Jim’s for lunch.

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I don’t think I could’ve fit anymore toppings on that dog.

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Rockies day game!

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Joey claimed he was going to propose on the jumbotron but he was bluffing.

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Hey, they even won!  That message on the scoreboard was a sight for sore eyes.

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Insert much-needed work day nap.  I felt kind of guilty but at the same time I didn’t feel guilty at all.  Also, this balloon has been in our house since Joey’s birthday… in April.  I kind of want to leave it to see just how long it stays inflated for.

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Then we met my fammy in Louisville for dinner.  Yes, because we were hungry again.  This 25-year-old metabolism is going strong!  I wholeheartedly agree with this little message.  Except that I ordered sangria instead and deeply regretted it when it turned out to be a small glass of watered down grape juice.

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My mom got me some “every day wear” nail polish and I’m kinda sad I got a shellac manicure last week and don’t even need to paint my nails.  She also found us an awesomely retro patio set for our front porch and I’m so excited.  She spoils me so bad.

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Za!  Okay, I’ve never called pizza that before and I don’t know why I decided to today.  We got the “Banana Hammock” and “Popeye” and I was only sorta sad that no one else thought the pulled pork pizza sounded good.  No fun.

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These gorgeous roses are also from my parents and are currently brightening up my office like crazy.

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Afterwards, ice cream because no, we had not eaten enough yet!  And because if you go to Lucky Pie for dinner it is illegal to not go to Sweet Cow afterwards.  Or something like that.  Also, please note the kids behind me.

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I like to sample other flavors and then get my standard order of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough anyways.

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I think that’s my “I’m never eating again” face.

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Joey for real bought me this bouncy rubber blue cow.  Partly because I’m a child.  And partly because we have this shrine type thing in our yard that everyone mistakes for a dog house and I thought it would be hilarious to put this cow in the doorway.  And also because I’m a child.  I may have bounced on it…

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And then, incase you thought I was not adult enough to be turning 25, my sister gave me this doormat and I actually screamed in delight.  Every time I come and go from my house and see it, I get incredibly excited.  She’s the very best.

So if Wednesday was any indication, 25 is going to be the best year ever.  I’m so excited!

Memorial Day Weekend Things

Gosh, I love Memorial Day Weekend.  Because A) 3-day weekend, duh B) I consider it the unofficial kick off to summer and C) the annual running of the Bolder Boulder!  What isn’t there to love about any of those things?  Despite the scary thunderstorm we had every.single.afternoon. all weekend, it just felt so damn summery and my happiness was at an all time high as a result.

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Confession: I’m obsessed with Yelp.  I don’t visit a restaurant without first consulting my fellow Yelpers’ reviews and I don’t go to a restaurant without adding my own review afterwards.  I was recently granted Elite status on Yelp, which turns out, means I get invited to a ton of cool events, including shows at the Buell.

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We got two tickets to American Idiot in the orchestra section (right up front!!) and it was AMAZING!  I should preface by saying I thought this show looked so stupid and I’m not a Green Day fan, but my opinion on something has never done a complete 180 quite a quickly as it did after seeing this!  I seriously loved it and now I have 5 Green Day CDs on my iPod.  Send help.

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So in other words, I was wrong about American Idiot, I was wrong about Green Day but I was right about thinking drinking mixed drinks from a cup with a lid and a straw would be fun.  It is!  Also, Yelp is even better than I thought it was.  I just don’t think I can ever go to the Buell again and not sit in the orchestra section.  I’ve been ruined forever! 🙂

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Saturday morning started like this.  This is the third pair of running shoes I’ve purchased this month.  I started with a size 6 1/2 and by the third pair I was at a 7 1/2.  I was bad and brought my debit card, you know, just in case we decided to stop our run short and grab coffee.  Or maybe I planned to do it that way?…

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The afternoon was filled with a facial, an amazing fajita salad and our invitation design meeting.  We should be seeing proofs by the end of this week and I’m so incredibly excited!  I felt like we were ahead of time on the invitation stuff but our stationary gal made me feel like we were in a rush to get these printed, ahh!

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We planned on heading downtown to hit up a food truck for dinner, but we were driving right into this cloud and it was making me seriously nervous.  It was looking a little tornado-y for my liking so we promptly turned around and headed home.

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Sunday was all about yard work.  I mowed the lawn!  Confession #2: I’d seriously never used a lawn mower before Sunday.  I know… Now you know the spoiled childhood I lived.  But I fully intend on acting like an adult and helping with the mowing at our own house from now on.  After that and some weed pulling our yard looked 100x better.

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Rounded out Sunday night with homemade chicken nuggets, compliments of Chef Joey.  Ketchup for me, BBQ sauce for him.  He used this recipe, which is actually for fish nuggets (that we’ve also made and loved), but used chicken instead and they turned out fabulously.  The chef and that recipe are the best!  Dinner always tastes better when someone else cooks for you 🙂

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Doesn’t the drive into Boulder look fake?!  Those happy little cows, those flatirons, that snow way back there in the background.  It’s breathtaking.  And it was also perfect weather for the Bolder Boulder, aka my favorite race ever.  Not going to lie, this was the most unprepared I’d ever felt for the race, but I ended up running the whole thing pretty easily.  Extremely slowly, but still pretty easily.  And in a pair of shoes that I’d only run in once before.  That’s a serious racing no-no but I like to live dangerously.

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Much lounging was required afterwards.  Also, seriously can’t get over how blue the sky is in Colorado.  I may or may not have just stared up at it for half an hour while Joey was hard at work cleaning off our grill.  Couldn’t help it, I was mesmerized.

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Oh, and I bought this “Salad Bowl” at Whole Foods after the race and am so excited to cut me some fresh greens for big summer salads.  Let’s not discuss the price of the doormat that was the real reason I even went to Whole Foods.  Needless to say, I did not end up buying one.

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We ended Memorial Day with a little family BBQ at our place!  My mom not only supplied, but made all the food — except that apple pie 🙂 — which I think means she’s either a saint or Super Woman.  Possibly both.  Joey manned the grill, I frantically washed dishes, when I realized we had zero paper plates or plastic silverware and half our dishes were dirty, and my niece and nephew got into any and everything, as kids do 😛  I think it was an overall success.

Weekend Events that Went Uncaptured: our second go at kegging (my hefeweizen is on its way and thank god because we just ran out of Joey’s IPA!), Joey chasing a moth around our kitchen while I hysterically ran from the moth, booking an officiant (!!) and a billion episodes of Mad Men.

And now, let summer commence!