Snowy Weekend Things

You guys, you should have seen the grocery store on Friday!  We left work early to do our usual Friday night shopping trip (I am officially the antithesis of fun) and it was INSANE.  A million people, out of everything (and by everything, I mean bananas and spinach) and check out lines that looked like they were winding through the entire store.  It was like Y2K!  Except that I didn’t grocery shop back then so I have no idea what Y2K was actually like and except that it was just a snow storm everyone was bracing for, not some massive technological shut down.

We fully intended on going to the movies that night, but we got word that the new brewery down the street — yeah, because two other breweries within walking distance and A KEGERATOR IN OUR LIVING ROOM weren’t enough — had just opened, so change of plans!  They do this “guest brewer” thing where regular Joes can come in and brew with a professional and then have their beer served in the taproom.  I can’t decide if that’s cool or dumb but the beer I had was great!  The Peach Cobbler taster however… I took one sip and couldn’t imagine taking another.

IMG_7123Saturday was my nephew’s birthday and somehow he is SIX YEARS OLD.  When the heck did that happen?!  Before driving into Longmont, we went to our coffee shop and looked at pictures from the day he was born.  Whoa, we all look so young!  But now, 6-year old Gennaro has a bunch of school friends, wants to grow out his hair and wear ripped jeans and is too cool for Joey and I.  Though Joey was granted permission to join the exclusive laser tag group.  Three adults against all the kids: 23,000 points to 5,000 points.  I mean, way to take it easy on them, guys.

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After the party, we grabbed lunch (“I love Chipotle, Chipotle is my life”) and finally went to that movie.  American Sniper!  Okay, look, I was kind of preparing to hate it.  I think war movies are incredibly difficult to pull off, especially when you’re talking about recent war because it’s just kind of a sensitive subject and I don’t think it’s easy to represent that stuff in a way that will please everyone, but you know what?  I actually really liked it!  I didn’t agree with any of the criticism I’d heard about it and I thought it was very well done.

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It was full-blown blizzard status when we got out of the movie, so we drove home, parked it on the couch in our pajamas and stayed there for the rest of the day/night.  I think we watched something like 85 episodes of Friday Night Lights.  Give or take.  And though I was expecting and kinda hoping to wake up to 16″ of snow, I think we got about 5″.  Wah wah.  But snow days and Sundays call for fun breakfasts!  Is it weird that I’ve been dreaming of breakfast tacos all week?  Wait, don’t answer that.  I made us each some, plus pancake minis, strawberries for me and sweet potato home fries for Joey.  More breakfasts like this forever, please!

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I was kind of dying to break a sweat and seeing as we couldn’t use snow as an excuse not to go to the gym, we headed there mid-morning.  For real, I left my phone there and didn’t realize until we were home.  Who puts their phone down on a table to put their jacket on, then leaves it there and doesn’t notice?  Probably the same person who leaves their purse at restaurants and doesn’t notice.  I’m blaming Oscars excitement for my lack of focus.

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I made us this way-too-extravagant-for- just-two-people spread of Oscars viewing snacks and though we crushed that bowl of veggies, grapes, nuts, figs and popcorn, I swear we didn’t eat all of that cheese.  That Cambozola was a recent Bon Appétit recommendation and it was like a blue cheese-brie hybrid that tasted totally awesome.  How often is one allowed to eat cheese and crackers for dinner?  As for the actual Oscars.  Kinda meh, don’t you think?  NPH’s jokes didn’t seem to be hitting the right note (I personally thought they were too short and hard to catch) and everything in general just wasn’t that memorable.

Oh and Joey and I tied on our Oscars ballot.  I picked Birdman for Best Picture so I’m calling myself the winner, though.

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This is our forecast for the rest of the week.  Pray for us!

Valentine’s Weekend Things

Friday

A day of awesome surprises!  Our field superintendent left a bouquet of roses in each of the girls’ offices at work.  How sweet is that?  Followed by the discovery of a King Cake from Emily on my porch when I got home from work.  I literally screamed when I saw the box.  Do I have the best cousin ever, or what?  Then I found a Valentine’s Day card from my mom in the mail and my heart burst from too many displays of affection in one day.

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Oh and Jen WON THE JEOPARDY TOURNAMENT.  I mean !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That is so crazy cool!  I, on the other hand, just kept calling out wrong answer after wrong answer, so I think it’s safe to say I’ll never be on Jeopardy.

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Valentine’s Day!

I woke up to find this embarrassingly large display of balloons in our kitchen.  I have no idea where Joey was hiding these, considering our house is like 800 square feet, but he is seriously the best.  He also gave me a new Rockies jersey and the most perfect card.  After card exchanging and present swapping (I got him a coffee grinder), we made ourselves a festive breakfast of red heart shaped pancakes.  Fact: Heart shaped food is 10x more fun than regular shaped food.

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Later, we took ourselves outside for a run that ended at our coffee shop where the windows were wide open and the sunshine was streaming in.  Going on a run means I didn’t have my phone with me and it was kind of nice to feel completely unplugged and just share coffee and conversation with my favorite person.  Except when I saw a little heart sticker on the ground during our walk home and I wanted to Instagram that so bad.

After cleaning ourselves up, we went to see the Oscar-nominated live action short films and the experience was… weird.  It was us and mostly… ahem, older people there and everyone else was laughing at EVERYTHING.  Joey and I felt like we’d missed the memo because nothing seemed very funny.  It was kind of distracting and we left feeling pretty confused.

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We Ubered to and from downtown Denver for dinner at Panzano and while our actual entrées were kind of a let down, the strong cocktails, awesome service, cool atmosphere and mussel appetizer is making me forget about any entrée disappointment and say it was overall a great experience.  Oh and we ordered a fig cake dessert even though I was already painfully full and then because I hate myself, I decided we should order espresso (“like we did in Europe!”) with dessert.  Yeah, because I totally hadn’t already had enough caffeine already that day.

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Cut to me not sleeping that night.  Like really, I think I got maybe three hours?  Instead, I pinned pictures of gallery walls and made a “To Do” list for Sunday.  If I didn’t think it would’ve woken Joey up, I probably would’ve started on that list right then.  Please remind me not to do that with caffeine ever again.

Sunday

Before tackling “the list” on Sunday, we had breakfast with my family — gosh, I love our local breakfast joint so much! — and my mom totally spoiled me (per usual) with Valentine’s gifts.  She got me little heart straws and fancy salt in the cutest jars!  Why is she so perfect?!  We spent the rest of the day being entirely too productive.  I touched up some paint that’s needed fixing for SO LONG, painted another chalk wall in our laundry room, cooked red beans and rice (Mardi Gras is tomorrow!), shined all my silver jewelry, made dinner and watched five episodes of FNL while Joey tackled our guest bedroom.  It looks AWESOME in there!  I love when he’s on board with my house reno plans 🙂

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14Best part of all our Sunday productivity?  We were done and cleaned up by 7 PM, just in time to watch the SNL 40th Anniversary Special, along with everyone else in America.  What can I say, guys?  It was so perfect.  Though the show has definitely had its ups and downs, it was so entirely awesome to see all the SNL greats together to honor a show that’s been a part of all of our lives for so long.  Also, Fallon and Sanz 2016!

And now I am in total denial that the weekend is over.  More please!