Category: TV Talk

Weekend Things: 2017 to 2018

Lauren2 Comments

2017 wasn’t a perfect year and 2018 won’t be either, but the weekend that took us from one to the other most certainly was!  A long weekend felt like the perfect way to pause and reflect on 2017 while also having time to usher in 2018 and even though I’m feeling sort of tired today, I went to bed last night feeling completely at peace with how the weekend played out.

Went to close my office blinds on Friday and saw the most beautiful sunset.  I literally ran outside to snap a picture 🙂  The best way to kick off a long weekend is with a trip to the library to pick up new books, of course.  Joey wanted to stay in but in a rare moment, I did NOT feel like changing straight into my pajamas upon getting home and felt the itch to get out, so I convinced him to go see a movie.  We saw Call Me By Your Name and I’m still not sure what I thought of it.  Beautiful in many ways, confusing in many other ways.

Saturday and a bold statement: If I could only eat at one breakfast restaurant for the rest of my life, it would be Stowaway.  It’s just that every time we decide to go out, it’s the only place I really want to go and it never doesn’t sound good.  Thankfully, Joey indulges me in going all the time.  I don’t even know what we did on Saturday — wait, no that’s wrong!  WE FINISHED WATCHING THE LEFTOVERS!  And I seriously need someone who considers it “the best show ever” to explain to me because I hated it.  Help!

Filled in the rest of the day with a trip to the gym (I ran exactly one mile less in 2017 than I did in 2016, which I think should kill me, but I sort of don’t care?), a mountain of granola and our traditional New Year’s dinner of black eyed peas and collard greens.  Oh and we watched Gone Baby Gone and despite some real plot problems, we still liked it.

NYE!  Started with a bunch of yogurt pancakes (minus the apples and I subbed half whole wheat for all-purpose — loved them!) and then I made a pie for dinner the next day ♥  Later on, we hit up Huckleberry Roasters for some January planning, NYE caffeinating and new book reading.  It gave my heart such joy.  We need to hang out in coffee shops more.

Festivities for the night started with us getting all dressed up Great Gatsby-style!  We had a themed party to attend but went to dinner in costume first.  I think the gal taking our order at Cart-Driver was confused for a minute before we explained we were going to a party afterwards.  Just FYI, we ordered all the costumage (costumery?) on Amazon, it all arrived on Saturday and much to my shock and delight, it all worked out perfectly!  Not going to lie though, that headband was hell.  I took it off mid-party because it felt like it was actually cutting into my head and I had a headache all day Monday that I’m blaming on that thing.  What were women in the 20’s thinking?!

In conclusion, eating Cart-Driver’s clam pizza, talking 2017 happenings and cheersing Joey and Jenn at midnight felt like the best end to a weird rocky year.

The first day of 2018 was blissful.  Started slow and easy with breakfast on the couch, followed by movie time.  We’re seeing The King and I at The Buell next weekend but Joey had never seen the original, so I felt we needed to watch it.  Yul Brynner is a goddamn delight and I was overjoyed to discover the whole film is just as good as I remembered it being.  Newly discovered favorite line: “I’ll do the remembering!”  It just applies so well to my life 🙂  I also picked us up some lunch burritos from the newly opened Illegal Pete’s in our neighborhood.  Every young hungover Denverite seemed to be there so the line was brutal but worth it.

We had my family over for New Year’s Day dinner — a Dorsey family tradition that I thank my wonderful mother for — and it honestly made my heart so happy ♥  Made bacon-wrapped stuffed turkey chicken, shredded kale salad and cauliflower gratin plus that vegan French Silk Pie and loved how it all turned out.  Everyone left shortly after 9, we cleaned up in a state of euphoria and were in bed by 9:45.  It was the best!

Please be kind to us, 2018.

Recently Consumed

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A list of things consumed by my head, heart, eyes, ears and stomach lately.

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The sights, sounds and tastes of Memphis

I took a quick little work trip to Memphis last week and while it doesn’t warrant its own post (unless you really want to hear about the 2.5 hour tour I took of a steel mill?!), I wanted to share the few pictures I took and moments I spent soaking up Memphis culture.  We stayed on Beale, so we spent most of our time there, eating at Blues City Cafe, Itta Bena and Rendezvous, watching the Duck Parade at the Peabody and listening to live music but we did have just enough time to tour Graceland and have a dinner/wine flight at Flight (how cool is this restaurant concept?!) and then before we knew it, we were back home.

P.S. Apparently the sausage platter — sausage, cheese, pickles and BBQ for dipping — is a thing in Memphis.  I dig it!

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Five Foot Two, Joanne

My love for Lady Gaga was rekindled after watching this documentary of hers.  What a fierce and dedicated artist she is.  Immediately after watching this, I A) re-watched her Super Bowl performance (perfection!) and B) bought her most recent album (because why didn’t I already own that??).  If you wanna have a long passionate discussion about Lady Gaga, you know where to find me.

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Stranger Things 2

We finished the series on Monday night and remember how I wasn’t super into the first season?  Either I totally got caught up in the collective experience aspect (I mean, we were ALL home watching last weekend, right??) or I liked it more than I thought because I was pretty into this second season.  I would fully watch a third season that was just Dustin and Steve Harrington hanging out.

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The Nix

I’ve had this book on my “to read” list for something like a year but it’s over 600 pages long and I could never find “the right time” to pick it up.  Turns out “the right time” is when it’s your book club pick.  Not going to lie, I was NOT into it.  Felt like four different books rolled into one.  I just kept thinking how tangled and confusing it probably was to write/edit.  I think somewhere in there was a good 300-page novel, but we’ll never know.  I just know I was SO ready to be done with it.

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The West Wing

GUYS!  WE FINISHED THIS SERIES!  On my TimeHop this week, I saw a tweet I wrote TWO YEARS AGO saying we had just started it.  I can’t believe it took two years but at the same time, I can’t believe it was only two years because it felt like so many more!  Look, it’s a very well-done show but 7 seasons of 22 extremely fast-paced hour-long episodes is just too much.  When you factor in how much TV and they way we view it has changed since this show aired, it’s just really really hard to get through.  I honestly wouldn’t encourage anyone to take it on.

P.S. Watching this show post-election greatly depressed me.  Our current administration is NOT the administration of Jed Bartlet.

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No Knead Bread

Words cannot express how delighted I was when this little loaf came out of the oven on a snowy Monday night.  I tweaked the recipe by using active dry yeast instead of instant (I just dissolved it in water and let it sit for 10 minutes, THEN added the other ingredients) and doing two cups AP flour and one cup whole wheat.  Next time, I’ll let it bake with the lid on for an extra 10 minutes (high altitude baking, yo!) but I think this recipe is a comfort food season game changer!

In other news, it’s Friday and I’m so dang glad.  I think we are going to try and hit up a movie for Denver Film Fest and I KNOW we are going to Snooze with Hannah and Josh!  I think I’ll fill in the gaps with granola, a book and a quick outdoor run 🙂  How about you?