Weekend Things

Whew, I didn’t think I’d actually get a “Weekend Things” post up today.  I’m jumping right into it!

My apologies to any of my close friends who are reading this and have to see our engagement photo sneak peak collage AGAIN.  I may have gotten a little carried away sharing it on every social media outlet I could but I was just kind of excited.  Joey and I have felt like we had this huge looming cloud over our heads while we tried to find a wedding venue then get an engagement photo session set up before it got all winter-like here in Colorado.  We ended up booking a venue on Wednesday then scheduling photos for Friday, which didn’t get us much prep time.  But it was Friday or later this week and I did not want to wait.  I’m so happy we did them Friday as it is cold, wet and gray today and there are barely any leaves left on the trees.

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Almost 3 hours of smiling, laughing, nuzzling and public kissing later, we had some great shots (or at least from what I’ve seen) and Boulder was looking especially beautiful in all of its fall glory.  We stopped in at West Flanders Brewery and the staff was SO accommodating and let us get all up in their brewing area to take a few pictures (plus we got to try some delicious beer).  I’m so glad we got to do something special and right up our alley during the shoot.  For the record, my ring is wrapped around a beer hop, not Colorado’s other popular green.  Also, I adore our photographer, Jo at Elevate Photography, and couldn’t be happier with our choice!  And with that taken care of, a HUGE weight has been lifted.  Now we can just look forward to our engagement party in a few weeks 🙂

Remember when our living room wall looked like this?

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Well while I was out getting an extra looooooong massage on Saturday, Joey was going to town on the rest of it.  We had the electrical moved out of the way earlier in the week so we were free and clear to demolish the rest.  Thank god Joey likes this kind of work because it is so NOT my thing.  Someone tell me I don’t have to feel guilty about that…  Or about posting this picture.

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As can be expected with old houses (ours was built in 1906!), there’s lots of “fun” stuff to fix now that the wall’s down.  As in there’s a gap in the floor where I can literally see into our basement…  Such fun!  Meanwhile I cleaned out our second bedroom where we’ve been housing about 15 boxes of random stuff so we can move our kitchen stuff in there when we take out the tile and put in hardwoods.  Also, I think I’m about 90% done wiping the dust off of everything in the kitchen.  Please let me never have to do that again.

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When I was done, I retired to our room with this gift from my mom — a bridal magazine (she also froze some homemade red beans for us, she’s the best!) — then had to go out into the living room and physically remove the broom from Joey’s hands and make him take a shower otherwise I didn’t think he’d ever stop sweeping!  I woke up at 7:30 on Sunday and could hear him out there sweeping again!  I guess there are worse things he could get addicted to.

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Sunday involved this — a “Make Your Own” Bloody Mary Bar — at Highland Tap and Burger with Joey’s side of the family.  Turns out it was really just “Pour Your Own Tomato Juice and Spear Your Own Olive” Bar, but it was delicious nonetheless.  I truly love a good Bloody Mary and have such a hard time resisting any time I’m somewhere that serves one.  We also grabbed lunch (I was the only one at the table to not order a burger, oops!) then headed out to the Buell Theater.

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For The Book of Mormon!  I loathe South Park (same creators) and still found the musical funny.  We walked out afterwards and I could not believe how nice it still was outside!  I’d be fine with some more 60 degree sunny days, Mother Nature.

Happy Monday!

Mellow Weekend Things

As you may have guessed, things were pretty mellow around here this weekend. Joey started feeling sick Thursday night after bowling (um yeah, my bowling skills make me feel sick too) and came down with a full blown fever on Friday morning. I ended up driving him home at noon so he could plant himself on the couch and stay there until this morning when he suddenly felt 10x better.

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Sadly, my idea of a fun Friday night is buying two new books and picking up pre-made sushi at Whole Foods. Was that sentence as painful for you to read as it was for me to write?

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For years I’ve eaten at sushi restaurants and turned up my nose up at the ginger that comes along with the rolls until recently when I actually tried it. Turns out, I love that ginger. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised since I also love lemon ginger tea, gingerberry kombucha and gingerbread of all kinds. Also, I am my father’s daughter and that man loves ginger.

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Then Joey and I watched an oooold favorite of both of ours. Does anyone else know this movie? In high school, my friends and I watched this movie so many times we could probably recite the entire thing. But outside of our group I can’t really tell you anyone who even knew what this movie was until I met Joey and he could recite the entire thing too. Meant to be, right?

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I meant to drag Joey to the Boulder Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning, but I ended up taking my sister instead. We ate egg sandwiches from Mod Market, sipped iced tea, bought a ton of fresh corn and basically roasted in the sun. I vowed to not go back until it’s fall and not 90 degrees.

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Afterwards we dropped our produce off, laughed at my mom’s cilantro plant, then went to visit my parents who had a tent set up at the Louisville Farmers’ Market. I know, so much Farmers’ Marketing in one day. There was also a tent there selling shirts that said “Louisvillian” and “I don’t care if you’re Paleo” that I wanted to buy so bad.

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We had plans to go to the annual BBQ bash our friends’ family hosts every summer but Joey still wasn’t 100% and right as we were getting ready to leave it POURED. And not like a little rain storm, like a full on flash flood. It was crazy! Staying in and ordering Chinese seemed like a better plan. Plus Joey and I are desperate to be the kind of people who order Chinese and eat it right out of the little white boxes. The food arrived 45 minutes later and was so not what I wanted. Chicken and broccoli should have a brown sauce, not a light colored one!!!! But I digress.

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Apparently my mom and my sister go to breakfast then go shopping/run fun errands for the rest of the afternoon every Sunday. And don’t invite me! Rude. Anyways, I got an invite this week. We shared two omelettes and a stack of sourdough pancakes (the best!) then had my sister buy us stuff at Whole Foods with her employee discount. We know how to have fun.

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Then I fiiinally made it to Sunday afternoon yoga. Somehow, my body still remembered how to do a downward dog. I know, I’m as shocked as you are. I felt so rejuvenated afterwards. Someone please remind me of this next time I go two months without making it to a single class. I came home and started a batch of iced coffee before rejuvenation turned into me desperately needing a nap.

And now I’m kind of wishing I had taken that nap. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

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What did you do this weekend?

Do you have any weekend rituals?

Do you have a go-to Chinese dish?