Tag: date night

Thanksgiving Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

I want to be honest and tell you I was not in the mood I wanted to be in for much of this holiday weekend.  Sometimes the makings of a perfect weekend are there — extra time, family traditions, good food, fun plans — but my emotions and attitude just don’t line up with it all.  Or, more likely, it’s BECAUSE of all these good parts that I just set my expectations too high.  I really have been working on that habit this year, but I maybe didn’t do my best this Thanksgiving and found myself in a funk I couldn’t fully shake.

But it’s okay because even when you think things are bad, there’s always good stuff mixed in too!

img_6760

We left work a bit early on Wednesday, prepped a few things for Thanksgiving — please give me props for allowing Joey to handle the sweet potato casserole I make every year, thus giving up the opportunity to take credit for its deliciousness — before heading to Uncle for our traditional Thanksgiving Eve ramen dinner.  We are four for four on snagging chef’s counter seats and watching the hustle and bustle of the kitchen does not get old.

img_6768img_6761img_6762img_6763

img_6750img_6764

We’ve been doing this double Thanksgiving thing for many years now and while I’m mostly glad I get to spend time with everyone, I also can’t wait to just have one Thanksgiving some day when I win the lottery and can afford a bigger house.  Thanksgiving #1 highlights were Lori somehow being able to get everything to the table while it was still hot, this year’s Christmas ornament and trying to talk Chad into cooking the turkey “whole hog-style” next year. Thanksgiving #2 highlights were STUFFING, Mom handing us each a piece of turkey skin and having our little pup with us all night.

Sometimes I get real impatient like “can we sit down and eat already?!” but as we were all crowded in the kitchen — Joey carving the turkey, my sister mixing the cocktail, me re-heating the Brussels and my mom conducting the whole symphony — I realized this (slightly chaotic, sort of loud, maybe disorganized) part, where we are all doing something to help get the meal on the table, is actually the best ♥

img_6765img_6766

img_6780

I just realized I have ZERO pictures from Friday.  Did that day even happen??  I guess I was too caught up in a slow morning, a quick trip to the gym, grocery shopping and a double date night with Wayne and my sister and I’m totally fine with that.  We hit Cart-Driver for pizza — it’s official, this is my favorite pizza place in all of Denver — then saw Widows and look, all the performances were amazing — Viola Davis performs grief like nobody’s business — and it’s shot beautifully, but why make a heist movie if you’re not going to put a lot of detail into the heist??

Saturday started with gingerbread waffles (SO GOOD!) and progressed into cookie baking and Christmas decorating before I headed into Louisville to visit my favorite small businesses 🙂 and when I got back, I came through the back door and straight out the front so Joey and I could have a coffee date.  We ate Thanksgiving leftovers (thanks, Mom!!!) before heading to the Avs game.  The walk to and from the car were MISERABLY COLD but the game was seriously so fun!

img_6759img_6772

What day are we on??  Oh yes, Sunday 😛  We took ourselves to breakfast at Stowaway — there was brief moment of panic when their front door said “NOPE” but turns out the N was just on the wrong end and they really were open.  Lots of coffee, a chocolate pomegranate doughnut and my beloved mushroom tartine perked me up long enough to make lunch salads, mix up Dorsey Bars and clean the bathroom and despite momentarily falling asleep on the couch, I did make it to Sunday yoga.  My teacher kept reminding us to stay in the moment — “anxiety is what happens when we try to predict the future, depression comes from dwelling on the past” — and that hit me hard.

Back at home, Joey had already started dinner (the best!) so I helped finish it all up and we were awarded with a dinner feast of salmon burgers and sweet potato fries that I LOVED.  The fennel slaw was out of this world and please know that I’ve been waiting for these sweet potato fries since 2016, when Chrissy Teigan first teased a picture of them.  Whoa!  They were worth the wait because they were truly crispy and delicious.

This post is already way too long but also know that we started Atlanta and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel this weekend and I’m enjoying both!  Please tell me how your holiday weekend was, I’d love to hear ♥

Weekend Things

Lauren2 Comments

I very purposely kept life (mostly) off of Instagram this weekend.  Just as an experiment to see if I felt more present and less distracted that way.  Not going to lie though, I sort of felt like I was keeping myself from sharing stuff I wanted to share.  I’m about to share it all here, so it’s not so big of a deal, but dang, you probably all wish you could have seen a real time video of me singing along to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, right?? 😛

img_6486img_6498img_6487

We had a real deal date night on Friday and it wasn’t until we were headed to dinner that I realized it felt like it’d been a while since we’d had one.  First, we took advantage of the nice weather and being able to leave work a bit early to walk our pup.  It was the furthest we’ve ever walked him and I think we all enjoyed it ♥

We tried Dio Mio, Fish N Beer and Il Posto before finally ending up at Stowaway and we should have just gone there to begin with.  That pita was the best second best!  Then… FIRST MAN!  Sorry for all the movie enthusiasm lately, but as a voting member of the Academy, it’s my job to be excited and up to date on these things 😛  Joey wasn’t blown away but I liked it.  We both agreed Claire Foy was amazing, but do not expect any dramatic emotive performance from Gosling.

img_6488img_6489

Saturday started at Illegal Pete’s because: FREE BREAKFAST BURRITO DAY!  I picked us up coffee while Joey stretched and cooled down from his 10 mile run then we hopped in line and enjoyed our free breakfast.  Hit up the grocery store afterward and saw a girl totally scrape the entire right side of her car along the cement column in the parking garage!  Also, I bought this seasonal kombucha and it’s too savory for my taste.  And just for the record, it was nice enough to go on a noon-time run in short sleeves and it was truly wonderful.

img_6504img_6505

We had a wedding to attend that evening and while there, I saw the biggest pot of Pozole I’ve EVER seen.  I was feeling very witchy as I stirred it.  We maybe left with a cup of homemade salsa and a cup of candy corn, don’t judge!  Back at home, we threw on The Hunchback of Notre Dame and even though Joey fell asleep like 10 minutes in, I watched the whole thing and I had forgotten how dark it was.  Also, no offense Disney, but it’s sort of boring.

img_6490img_6491img_6492img_6493

img_6499

img_6500

We woke up to snow on Sunday!  Making Saturday’s short sleeved run even more wondrous.  I whipped up some vegan pumpkin spice pancakes, while Joey made himself some avocado toast (which became funny later in the day, when he was denying being a millennial and his argument was immediately struck down by Wayne asking “do you eat avocado toast??”) and we got some Sunday chores taken care of before heading to my parents’ for lunch.  Mom made some REALLY good chili and even though we missed my brother, SIL, niece and nephew who had to cancel because of the snow, it was fun seeing everyone else ♥

Later on, we put our pup in his coat and took a little walk in the snow.  He didn’t seem to mind the snow but he was NOT about me trying to wipe off his paws so I let Joey do that, ha.  Look how many more leaves were on the ground than on Friday!  Made some pad thai for dinner with “Decorating Disney” on in the background.  FASCINATING!  We also watched Private Life and I want to tell you it was really good but it mostly made me feel sad.

How was your weekend??