Category: Summertime

4th of July Weekend Things

Lauren7 Comments

The top 5 moments of the 4th of July weekend, in order of importance:

#5 Mini Sopapilla Pancakes.

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After a much-too-long hiatus, Pancake Sunday is back.  For this one week at least.  I dished up some of these pancakes for Joey and I after finally getting out of bed and limping to the kitchen (see below…) and they were A) ADORABLE and B) DELICIOUS.  They truly tasted like sopapillas, which makes this sopapilla-loving girl pretty happy.

#4 Putting Joey’s house up for sale!

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We spent all day Friday and Saturday at Joey’s house, fixing holes, touching up paint, fixing counter tops and pulling weeds so it would be ready to put on the market.  Don’t misunderstand me, the actual work that went into doing all this was horrible.  I am so not cut out for yard work.  My hamstrings are so sore from bending over to pull weeds that I basically can’t walk today.  Is that normal?!  What I am happy about however is that selling Joey’s house means buying one of our own together! 🙂 🙂

#3 The actual 4th of July.

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Joey and I put in extra hours on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday just so we could sneak out early on Thursday and enjoy a fun holiday dinner before heading to the Rockies game for baseball and fireworks.  Little did we know so many restaurants would be closed that day!  Eventually, we found an open restaurant — Highland Tap & Burger — that we’d actually been talking about wanting to go to for a few months.  I ordered the Great Divide Colette and was in love.  Also, BEST ONION RINGS OF MY LIFE.

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Plus, a Rockies win and a great fireworks show.  Serious question though.  Why do songs about America have to be so cheesy?

#2 Starting birthday celebrations a couple days early.

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My birthday isn’t technically until Tuesday, but why not stretch the celebration out as long as possible, right?  My family went to Vine Street Pub for an early dinner last night to celebrate.  There was good food, beer, laughs and perfect outdoor patio dining weather.  Say whatever you want, people with spring, fall or winter birthdays, but summer birthdays are where it’s at.

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Afterwards, ice cream at Little Man’s of course.  This picture right here is proof that ice cream trumps froyo.  Have you ever seen a line like this outside a froyo place?  Also, my dear sweet mother picked out a shiny red Kitchen Aid mixer for me.  I could not be more excited about it.  I hope Joey doesn’t mind cake, muffins and bread for dinner every night for a while.

Psst, you know something really exciting is coming if my birthday comes in second place!

#1 An engagement!!!

Not mine…sorry 😛 My best friend, Hannah’s!  Josh proposed to her while they were on a trip to Steamboat this weekend and I was beyond shocked.  I mean they’ve been together for 8 years so I had a pretty good idea they’d be getting married I just had NO idea it’d be now!  I am elated for them 🙂  The four of us grabbed some celebratory drinks on Saturday night, where they asked us both to be part of the wedding party.  Guess who grabbed that Maid of Honor title?  This girl!

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In true Lauren fashion, one of my first questions was “When do we get to do the cake tasting??”

Yeah, I guess you could say it was a pretty good weekend 🙂

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How was your 4th of July?  What’d you do?

Have you ever been part of a wedding party?

When is your birthday?  And is that “coincidentally” also your favorite month?

10 Songs That Sound Better in the Summer

LaurenLeave a comment

You know how you’ll be listening to your iPod on shuffle and suddenly that Nsync Christmas song will start playing and you just can’t hit the next button fast enough because it is so not Christmas time?  Yeah, that’s how I feel when it’s blizzard-ing outside and some dummy at the radio station has decided to play some Bob Marley.  It just doesn’t work.  Wrong season, wrong song.

Well it turns out it’s officially summer again.  As of last Friday in fact.  Did anyone else feel an extra pep in their step from the combined happiness of it being both a Friday and the summer solstice?  Even though I couldn’t stop coughing or clearing my throat (summer colds are the worst), I couldn’t help but feel pretty upbeat.  And seeing that it was officially summer, I couldn’t help but celebrate the return of songs that should only be played during the warm sunny months of the year.

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1. “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley

Or really any Bob Marley song.  Because his music is the epitome of tropical-sounding and because tropical sounds so so wrong during the winter.  Except for when you, say, take a tropical vacation during the winter.  I can tell you from experience that there’s is nothing wrong about that.

2. “Kokomo” by the Beach Boys

With the exception of “Little Saint Nick,” aka one of my favorite Christmas songs, the Beach Boys should not be played in the winter.  And okay, all of their songs are summery, but Kokomo has always seemed especially summery to me.  Every time it pops up on my iPod, I can’t help but think of the little old lady who stood next to me at their concert last summer yelling “Play Kokomo!”  I wanted to high five her so bad.

3. “Summer Nights” by the cast of Grease

Okay, I’d be willing to bet no one would object to this song no matter the time of year, but it just sounds better when it really is “summer lovin.”  And when you’re in the car with the windows down and have another person with you so you can sing along and make it a real life duet!  Or is that just me?

4. “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves

I dare you to be in a bad mood when this song suddenly comes on the radio this summer.

5. “Summertime” by Sublime

You know what, apparently this song is really called “Doin’ Time,” but was renamed?  Straight from Wikipedia, the ultimate source of knowledge.  Anyways, this one right here drives me insane.  Songs that talk about summertime in the chorus, do not get to be played in any other season.  Amiright?

6. “California Gurls” by Katy Perry

Not to be confused with “California Girls,” a much classier and more loved {by me} song by the Beach Boys.  FYI, nothing containing the word “Gurl” can be considered classy.  I know California (and California girls) exist in the winter too, but this song came out in the summer of 2010, was played every 10 minutes and I just so happened to be on a road trip of epic proportions in California.  For this reason, that song will forever be locked into my mind as a summer only kind of song.

7. “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen

In the same vein as #6, this song will always be the song of the 2011 Summer Olympics.  Side Note: doesn’t the summer seem just a little bit more empty without the Olympics going on?  I actually watched an hour long segment on the Today Show on Monday about what the song of Summer 2013 will be.  How funny is it when Matt Lauer tries to approach these topics like they’re actual news stories?

8. “Hot in Herre” by Nelly

Remember when Nelly wore that Band-Aid on his face??  He doesn’t do that anymore, right?  I remember everyone talking about this song when it came out — it seemed extra risqué as a 6th grader — and I had no idea what it was because oh hey, I was still listening to oldies with my mom.  I eventually heard it and all clothing removal aside, “hot in herre” has got summer written all over it.

9. “Sunshine” by Atmosphere

I love love love breaking this song out come summertime.  And not just because I like to drive around with my windows down and pretend I’m a female rapper, but because this song is summertime.  And because rap, when done right, is poetry and this song speaks to my poetry-lovin’ heart.

10. “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crowe

Okay I have this thing against Sheryl Crowe.  One time I was watching a VH1 special and there was a clip where she said “I don’t eat that much.  I just don’t really like food.”  I just can’t relate to a person like that.  But I guess I can still appreciate the summery-ness of this song.

I’m off to enjoy a summery weekend and maybe some of these songs.  Hope you’re about to do the same!

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What’s your favorite “summer only!” song?