Category: Vacation

The 3rd of July

Lauren1 Comment

Right now, my brain is a jumble of thoughts like, “wait, what day is it??”  “Which member of the family has a teeth cleaning today??”  “Will I have this headache forever??”  “Were the past three days real or just a perfect dream??”  We spent two days in a tiny house village and it was the most entertaining!  Bobby and Becca got married and the wedding was SO perfect!   The 4th of July was low key, with spur of the moment dessert plans and our dog didn’t give a $&!% about firework noises.  So despite how discombobulated I feel, everything is actually very fine and good.

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The wedding was in Lyons, so Joey and I decided to make a mini-vacation of it and spend a few nights up there.  We headed up Monday night, where we proceeded to check into our tiny house and were SO delighted by it!  I think we’d been there all of two minutes when I proclaimed “I live here now!”  In all seriousness, staying here was the most fun… but only for two nights 😛

Afterwards, we walked to dinner.  We had our hearts SET on this taqueria for WEEKS but found out that morning that it’s closed on Mondays!  WHY?!  But it was okay because Oskar Blues was our back up and despite it’s mediocre star rating on Yelp, it was actually really great.  I loved my beer and the fish tacos were perfectly fried and had an amazing buttermilk sauce.  Only acted slightly like children when we got back to our tiny house but to be fair, any space with a ladder, is a space not to take yourself too seriously in.

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Saturday morning, we walked over to The Stone Cup and had an impressive-for-a-coffee-shop breakfast of Huevos Rancheros x2 then did a little bit of exploring at the LaVern M. Johnson Park.  That water was FRIGID, but it was very hot outside and we could not bear the thought of walking all the way back to our village so we forded the river, like the true adventurers we are.  We also walked into town so Joey could eat a triple scoop of ice cream (“you only let me have three scoops yesterday!” is a real thing he said to me the next day…) but mostly the day was really low-key and I even finished Order of the Phoenix and moved onto Half-Blood Prince!

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The wedding started at 4 PM and what can I say except that it was PERFECT ♥  So well organized, so pretty (The Lyons Farmette is just lovely!) and just so full of love.  Not to be too sappy, but witnessing this couple’s love for each other and all their family and friends’ love for them was truly incredible.  I felt so honored to be a part of it and just so happy for the two of them.  Also drank approximately 50 glasses of wine, danced to Backstreet Boys, petted an alpaca and just had thee most fun.

Also, Marriage Advice: Find someone who wants to act a fool on the dance floor as much as you do!

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Honestly, this 4th of July felt so weird!  Everyone on was out celebrating and I just felt like “but the big celebration was yesterday!”  Our 4th of July felt like a haphazardly thrown together afterthought, but that being said, it was actually really great.  A couple of weeks ago I was considering prepping some ribs ahead of time so we could grill but then Joey told me he’d round up a few meal options and we could just decide day-of what we felt like.  HE’S A GODSEND.

We ended up feeling like pizza so, after picking up breakfast burritos for the road, retrieving Andi from my parents, inspecting our garden (snap peas looking good!) and resting for a bit, we headed to Whole Foods for pizza ingredients and made the spontaneous decision to try no-churn ice cream for dessert.  It all turned out even better than expected!  We did one red sauce/mozzarella/roasted garlic/black olive/basil pizza and one olive oil/mozzarella/fig/goat cheese/arugula/walnut pizza (+ shishitos grilled to perfection) and I loved both so much.  Plus, the ice cream turned out SO GOOD.  It was MEGA-CREAMY and we threw some peppermint extract (1 teaspoon) and mini chocolate chips in.  This feels life-changing!  Also, our neighbors set off fireworks late into the night but Andi didn’t even lift his head at any of them.  THANK GOD.

I hope you all had the best 4th of July but for me, it was all about the 3rd 🙂

Arizona in February

Lauren2 Comments

If you have the Winter Blues and are reaching your limit on cold or snow or bulky jackets, might I suggest a quick trip to Arizona?  There’s palm trees and baseball and hiking and sunshine!  We planned a trip back in December and after a week in which it snowed THREE TIMES, we were more than ready to escape to the land of perpetual summer.

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We went the Airbnb route and stayed at a beautiful house in Scottsdale.  There was even a grapefruit tree in the backyard and though the pool wasn’t heated, it was pretty to look at 🙂  Post rental car pick up, house check in and brief unpack, we headed towards Old Town Scottsdale (though I think we were technically a few block from it) for dinner at Craft + Farm and look, they serve kombucha cocktails!

Afterward, we walked to Goldwater Brewing for beer and spicy popcorn, followed by a quick trip to the Sugar Bowl.  I think everyone was having ice cream buyer’s remorse after seeing all the interesting concoctions on the menu and having just ordered plain old scoops of ice cream.

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The next morning, we made our way to Hash Kitchen for breakfast and the restaurant turned out to be huge!  And there was also a DJ setting up, ha.  We were sat far enough away that the music was a fun addition instead of an annoying distraction.  Also, I can’t speak for anyone else, but my Huevos Ranchero Hash was incredible!  Can I put fried onions on everything from now on?

We hiked Tom’s Thumb afterwards and the weather was so perfect for mid-day hiking.  I thought the difficultly level of the hike was just right, but I’m not going to lie, my calves were sore for like four days!  Later on, we took ourselves to the Salty Sow for happy hour/early dinner and we saw two groups of people take a selfie outside and felt compelled to follow suit.  We ordered Brussels sprouts with golden raisins and nachos to share and both dishes were SO GOOD.

May or may not have accidentally driven to a way out of the way movie theater to see Black Panther later that night.  I’m not sure how I feel about superhero movies in general (I feel like they tend to lean into plot/action scenes and neglect character development, though this one offers much more nuance/depth) but I know Shuri was a hilarious badass and Michael B. Jordan plays an incredible villain that you almost end up rooting for.

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SPRING TRAINING!  BASEBALL!  ROCKIES! I’M SO HAPPY!  We had breakfast with Joey’s grandparents Monday morning then made our way to Salt River Fields to walk around for a bit before the game started.  We had lawn seats and though there weren’t many of us, it was kind of nice to not feel so crowded or hot.  Rockies maybe lost and we maybe left towards the end, when all the big name players had been switched out, but Joey caught a Kyle Freeland warm-up ball, I drank a margarita in the sun and most importantly, we got a taste of baseball ♥

For dinner, we went to Twisted Grove and ordered… Brussels sprouts!  But also pasta, chicken, a crab cake and a sandwich, all of which we approved of.  We tried to go to Top Golf afterwards and there was seriously a two hour wait, on a Monday night!  How?!  So we changed course and went glow-in-the-dark mini golfing instead.  I really really lost but I need you to know that at one of the holes, we had to spin a wheel and Lori was forced to use her club like a pool cue and SHE GOT A HOLE IN ONE!  I’m still amazed.  One last ice cream treat afterwards, then we were done for the night.

Tuesday, before our flight, we had a chance to grab breakfast and coffee at Maverick Coffee and then we popped into a cute little baseball apparel store (where I totally bought myself a shirt) before heading to the airport and back home to Denver.  Till next time, Arizona!

Where We Stayed: Turquoise House Scottsdale 

Where We Ate/Drank:

Farm & Craft // Healthy options, normal portion sizes and kombucha cocktails!  But most importantly, David Dahl eats here.

Goldwater Brewing // I had a Birthday Suit IPA taster and really liked it!  Plus they have a popcorn maker, where you can help yourself to a snack.

Hash Kitchen // This place is busy but it’s also big, so the wait is no big deal.  Get the Huevos Ranchero Hash and let your waiter talk you into writing a Yelp review (twist my arm…) for 10% off your bill!

Salty Sow // Order Brussels and nachos off the Happy Hour menu and just know that the entrees are big enough to split.

T.C. Eggington’s // We needed a place in Mesa to meet Joey’s grandparents and picked this place.  It was halfway between hip and homey and the Hilltop Acres skillet was plenty cheesy!

Salty Señorita at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick // This early in Spring Training season, lots of stands weren’t open but I was able to grab tacos and a margarita and they were both surprisingly good!

Twisted Grove // I had a hard time deciding what to order because everything looked good!  And luckily, it all was.  I ate a surprisingly good (for a desert state) crab cake.

Sweet Republic // This place was quite cute, but I’m just going to be honest, I thought the ice cream was really icy and flavorless.  Like if I just closed my eyes, I would have thought I was eating snow…

Maverick Coffee // I appreciated the hipster vibe (all the brewing methods, all the non-dairy milks, all avocado toast) and I was delighted to find they had overnight oats but the portion seemed unnecessarily large and it was topped with what I believe were dried banana slices that had soaked up some moisture and tasted REALLY off-putting.

What We Did: 

Tom’s Thumb // A really good moderate hike, that will get your lungs and leg muscles working.

Spring Training // If you’re not catching a Spring Training game, what are you even doing it AZ? 🙂

Glow Putt // In case Top Golf has a 2+ hour wait.

Baseballism // The best baseball shirts!