Tag: date night

Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how amazing the month of September is because it gives us the best of both worlds seasons.  On the summer end, you have hot daytime temps, an overabundance of tomatoes at the Farmers’ Market and baseball.  On the fall end, you have chilly mornings, changing leaves and I guess football for those who are interested in that.  I’m NOT, but I do like when Joey is completely sucked into the Cowboys game and I can slip into our room and sob in private as I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 😛

img_6206img_6254img_6255img_6256img_6257img_6258img_6259

Friday, we popped over to RiNo to check out the new street art that was painted last week during the Crush Walls event.  There was one main alley that looked (and smelled) great but the others were less impressive, so we ditched out and headed to an early dinner at Cart-Driver.  Love this place so so much, but guys, I don’t think I like burrata.  Why does it taste like nothing and why is the texture so gross?

img_6263

img_6260img_6270img_6261

We hadn’t been to the FM in WEEKS, so my excitement was peak!  Usually when we go, I’ve already meal-planned, so I’m looking for specific stuff but since we hadn’t been in a while and weren’t sure what would be there, we decided to meal-plan around what was available.  Made it home with cucumbers, tomatoes, a baby onion, some really beautiful eggplant and THEE CUTEST CANTALOUPE.  It smelled SO GOOD.  (But tasted just okay…)

Made falafel waffles for dinner (so fun!) before heading out to see a movie.  We saw BlacKkKlansmen and it was equal parts funny and horrifying.  I was sort of distracted by the audience yelling stuff and trying to figure out why the real Ron Stallworth would continue making phone calls with the Klan while the white officer would be the one to interact with them in person.  They did not sound the same!  But, John David Washington and Adam Driver both give really great performances.

img_6251img_6249img_6250img_6265img_6264img_6269img_6268img_6267img_6252

Sunday started with a run for both of us (though at different starting times and distances) before hitting the car to head to the mountains again.  Told you leaf peeping was my #1 priority!  We passed Kenosha and it was PACKED so I’m really glad we went last weekend but also glad we drove by again this weekend because it was JAW-DROPPINGLY BEAUTIFUL.  We drove through Boreas Pass and got to see some orange/red leaves among all the gorgeous yellows.  Then we took ourselves to Outer Range Brewing, which we’ve wanted to try for a very long time and it was just as good as we’d hoped!  Grabbed lunch from the grilled cheese food truck and sipped our beers outside with a lovely view of the mountains.

img_6273

Back at home, lunches, laundry, lounging.  Oh and the Rockies won, thank god!  Later on, we made salmon and charred orange-chile broccoli for dinner.  Both were so good and both were from Cooking Light and at the same time I was eating this, I was reading about how CL has gone under!  Such sad news considering how many of our favorite recipes are from the magazine and how much joy I get from receiving my new copy every month 😦

In other news, it has been 90+ degrees for the past week and a half and I’m sort of over it.  Also, Friday is GABF and I am beyond excited!!!!!  Please tell me what summer or fall-related things you did this weekend.  I’d love to hear ♥

Christmas Lights

LaurenLeave a comment

Not long ago, I used to assemble a group of people to drive around and look at Christmas lights with.  Some years we’d need a mini van to fit us all and other years it would be a smaller group.  Sometimes I’d bring cookies, sometimes we’d pick up holiday drinks from Starbucks before heading out.  We’d see houses that were so done up you needed to get out of the car and really take it all in or houses that you’d show up to only to find the owners had already turned everything off for the night.  But no matter what, we would always have fun.

I guess I don’t really remember when or why we stopped this yearly tradition, but in a way that is VERY unlike me, I don’t remember being sad or upset about it ending.  This year, we sort of brought it back.  But like a very low maintenance version.  As in, it was just Joey and I, I spent all of 5 minutes looking up the best houses and more time was spent just driving through the surrounding neighborhoods than actually staying “on course.”

img_3160img_3159img_3161img_3162

Our two favorite houses ended up being ones we just happened upon, go figure!  I took an Instagram video of the very best one and totally forgot to take an actual picture, unless you count this selfie of Joey and I looking like we’re about to audition for Wicked. 

This year’s impromptu outing suddenly jogged my memory and I had an “oh yeah, we used to do this all the time!” moment where I briefly thought back on all the other times I’d gone Christmas light looking.  But for once, I didn’t feel that anxious longing to bring back the tradition, and instead spent a happy minute remembering all those previous years before jumping back into the experience I was having right then.  Feels good to know I maybe am capable of having a healthy relationship with holiday traditions and actually can (and will) be okay letting them come and go as they please.

In other news, I’m going to see Christmas Vacation at a movie theater tonight and I’m sort of crazy excited about it.  Wishing you all a happy weekend!