Weekend Things & Love/Hate Relationships

Don’t worry, that’s not a description of my relationship with Joey.  But it is a description of my relationship with him being out of town for the weekend.  It’s that time of the year again… Spring Training!  Which means Joey’s been in Arizona, soaking up the warm weather, time with his grandparents and of course, Rockies baseball.  Meanwhile, I’ve been at home, loudly playing three songs on repeat, eating a bowl of Brussels sprouts for dinner and spending more money than I probably should be.  In other words, love the alone time, hate that I’m missing out on the AZ funshine <— that’s a new word I just made up.  Like it?!  Some other love/hate relationships I’ve been experiencing this weekend?

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The one with my mani/pedi experience on Friday afternoon.  Love how my nails turned out, hate that it ended up making me wayyyy late for my other Friday night plans.  Note to self: If manicurist says she’s running 20 minutes late, just reschedule.  But, fact: Blondes Pink nails have more fun.

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Love that I got to spend the night with these two cutie faces at the Nuggets game on Friday night, hate that someone stole the cash out of my sister’s wallet when she accidentally lost it on the walk to the Pepsi Center.  At least they turned in her wallet, ID, debit card, etc, but bad karma to that person!

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Love homemade almond milk, hate that there’s such a rush to use it.  I’ve only made almond milk one other time a few years ago and I remember being pleasantly surprised by how delicious it was and not so pleasantly surprised at how quickly it went sour.  We’re talking two days quick.  I made sure to make a small batch this time and use it all up between Saturday (when I made it) and Sunday.  So amazingly creamy!  I definitely need to make this a more frequent occurrence.

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How’s that for a complicated drink order?  I missed one box though!

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Love Saturday morning coffee, wedding talk and massage with my mom, hate when my massage ends!  I most definitely took a mini nap during said massage, which is a true sign of how good it was.  At the end, I tried my best to convince my mom she forgot to massage my head.  She knew better, but did it again anyways 🙂

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Could that roasted red pepper hummus look any grosser?

Love this weekend’s PERFECT weather (hello, al fresco dining!), hate that indoor running endurance apparently does not translate to outdoor running endurance.  It was 75 degrees yesterday.  I repeat, SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES.  Too nice not to go running outside.  I’ve been religiously and exclusively running 3 miles at the gym lately, but I headed outside on both Saturday and Sunday and felt like I’d never run in my life.  Save me.

Love all the restaurant options in Denver (btw, Twitter informed me that one of my favorite restaurants follows me and now I feel like I’ve really made it in life), hate that it’s so fricken hard to park!  Basically it goes like this: 5 minutes to get everywhere, 15 minutes to find parking.  I paralleled and it only took me one try so this is huge progress.

Love catching up with Hannah, hate that it doesn’t happen nearly enough!  Evidence that we are soul mates is that I had been staring lustfully at all the appetizers and her first question was “should we get some of these appetizers?”  Um yes!  Gorgonzola-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates for the win!  I think we are officially up to date on each other’s lives.

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Love Sunday breakfast with my family, hate that no one ordered the “Cornbread Rancheros.”  I’m pretty sure that’s what the restaurant is known for, yet none of us ordered it.  Boo!  I got a brie and veggie scramble with griddled potatoes and although it was tasty I was kind of disinterred for some reason.  Definitely solid (and close!) enough to give it another try though.

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Love that I was able to take my dad to Cheesman Park for the first time — I had no idea he hadn’t been there yet! — hate that I still suck at getting around in Denver without help from my iPhone.  Bad excuse, but Joey does most of the driving so I’m never paying attention to how we get places.  Codependency problems, right?

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Love that I replenished our grocery supply (now that’s a fruit bowl!), hate that I ended up at home with a bag of someone else’s meat?  Like $20 worth of stuff I definitely didn’t buy.  I consulted my sister and she said the store would most likely have to throw it away even if I did return it, so I guess I just inherited some ground turkey and cod filets?  What does one make with cod filets?

And last but not least, love that Joey is home today because I hate how quiet it is around here!

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P.S. I really did have Brussels sprouts for dinner last night.

A Denver Christmas

A just like that, another Christmas has come and gone.  I don’t think I’ll soon forget this one as it was the first in our new house as an engaged couple and because this was the first year I gave in and spent Christmas Eve with Joey’s family.  I know, 6 years later… I swear it had nothing to do with Joey’s family (who are all wonderful) and everything to do with the fact that for as long as I’ve been alive, it’s been just the four of us here in Colorado and it’s been just the four of us at every Christmas so I may have had a hard time letting that tradition go.  Anyways, this year was filled with more laughter, happiness, family and food than I thought possible and as usual, I felt so showered with love that I feel almost speechless.  And because of that, I think I’ll just let the pictures do most of the talking.

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This gag gift has been making its way through Joey’s family gift exchange for years and this year, Joey got to be the one to trick a family member into getting it.  His grandpa was the unlucky recipient but he didn’t seem to mind too much.

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The Denver City and County Building all gussied up for the holiday.

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Christmas morning waffles might be a new tradition in our house.

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Followed by me forcing Joey to watch a childhood favorite of mine… A Muppet Christmas Carol.  I think he was only slightly mortified that I sang along to most of it.

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Guess who got a hammock for the back yard?!  Is it summer yet?

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Post-“Secret” Santa gift exchange serenade, compliments of Jory 🙂

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Aaand off to Christmas #2 with my family!

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We got my dad two nice bottles of Colorado company tequilas.  He proceeded to serve up margaritas immediately after opening them.  Guess it was a good gift!

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We got my mom a better gift than just a picture of us I swear but she not so subtly hinted that she wanted this too.

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My sister’s been living iPhone-less for months but I just got a new phone so she “upgraded” to my old one.  I think she was pretty excited to have SnapChat back in her life.

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Mom cooked an amazing feast as usual.  Prime rib (gah!), wild rice, brussels and my contribution of a kale salad.  I highly expect Joey to be holding an intervention for my kale salad addiction any day now.

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Oh wait, he’s too busy drinking beer from a wine glass.

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Only in Colorado.

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Salted Caramel Bread Pudding was to die for and put me in a full on food coma.

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Today has been another day of food, family and present opening.  Joey’s mom seriously spoiled us rotten.  Then topped it off by taking us all to see Saving Mr. Banks.  I thought it was a very touching movie.  One that I watched from a reclining seat.  It’s the new thing!

Apologies if I seem a little absent this week.  I promise it’s only because my cousin is coming into town tomorrow and we basically have work off until next Thursday so I’ll be soaking up tons more family time (plus some wedding dress shopping!!!) and a lot of fun.  Hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas!