Tag: happiness

Best of July

Lauren1 Comment

You guys. July, my favoritest of months, is coming to an abrupt end.  And I’m not ready.  Wah wah.  In an attempt to savor the time I have left with my favorite month (and that would be just this one last day), I thought it’d  be fun for me to do a little “Best of July” recap.

Things started off with a bang when the 4th of July, my best friend’s engagement announcement and my birthday all took place within the first 10 days of the month.  Whew!

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I’m usually pretty disappointed by the 4th of July, but this year was pretty darn good — must’ve been all the Great Divide Colette I drank… — plus a fun red velvet cake/friend-filled birthday and an upcoming wedding makes me think 24 is going to be a pretty good year.

July was also a good month for trips to Red Rocks.  I managed two trips in one week — back to back, no less! — and had the opportunity to see The Hunger Games and John Mayer is the world’s most beautiful entertainment venue.

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I know I should be used to how amazing the giant red rocks that make up the amphitheater are, or the fact that it’s a naturally occurring work of pure beauty, but I’m not.  Also not used to climbing the crazy amount of stairs to get into the amphitheater.  Can we get an escalator up here, please?

Being at the peak of summer, July can sometimes be miserably hot (and wildfire-y…), but this year has been pretty mild, making it perfect for fun weekend adventures.  My favorites being the wedding venue shopping I did with Hannah and Josh, a hike in Boulder and ice cream outings, naturally.

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This summer was almost a hiking bust, but we finally got a good one in.  Say what you will about Boulder, but there is no better view than those flatirons or what you can see from the top of those flatirons.  On the wedding venue front, I’m happy to report that a decision was made and I think they picked the perfect spot.  I know it’s not even my wedding, but I even feel a huge sense of relief now that the venue/date have been taken care of.  Celebratory ice cream for all!

I know I should probably enjoy my own birthday more than anyone else’s but I think my mom’s birthday took the [red velvet] cake this year.  Family, movies in the park, sangria, fabulous food and more sangria?  That just can’t be beat.

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I can’t think of a person more deserving of multiple birthday celebrations.  I truly hope she had as good of a time as I did, because I know I had a blast.  Now if only the red velvet cake I made for the occasion had been a little prettier…

Of course, there were a bunch of little things that A) didn’t make the blog and B) I can’t remember at this exact moment in time, but here’s one last hurrah for Farmers’ Market trips, weekend pancakes, sunny morning runs, CSA veggie dinners, Rockies games, beer drinking, and lots of laughter. 

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I, for one, am pretty excited to see what this next month has to bring.  Especially in terms of the house buying process.  Bring it on, August!

A Movie in the Park

Lauren5 Comments

It’s my mom’s birthday on Saturday, making this “Birthday Week!”  As in, I fully support and encourage all family and friends to celebrate their birthdays all.week.long.  I mean, it only seems natural that we do so as adults, since birthdays don’t get as much attention as they did when we were kids.  Seems like a fair trade off to me.

I’m always excited for my mom’s birthday as I’m partial to July celebrations (wonder why!…) and especially excited this year because the festivities are right up my alley and because I have some really good birthday surprises up my sleeve (Mom, are you reading this?).  And guess what?  We kicked the celebration off last night with a movie in the park.

IMG_4207I should have known it was going to be a good night when I met my family in Louisville and everyone was on time.  That never happens.  Seriously.  It gave me hope that I can put my dad and my sister back on the guest list for my future wedding (cough they are the family’s biggest punctuality offenders cough).  Also…a line of food trucks!  Be still my heart!

IMG_4205I was kind of taken aback by the amount of trucks that were there — nine I think?? — but finally settled on the street taco truck, Comida.  I have a serious taco weakness.  I kind of underestimated how small these tacos were, hence me only ordering one (chorizo!) plus a side of rice and beans, but that just means more room for sangria and ice cream, right?

IMG_4203My mom and my sister grabbed brisket sandwiches and some amazingly delicious French fries — thick cut and salty, just how I like em — at the BBQ truck and then we all camped out on our picnic blanket with some homemade sangria my mom brought with her.  P.S. Can you see my mom’s new diamond earrings?  She had one fall out of her ear earlier this year, so my dad took her for a replacement and white gold upgrade.  Way to go, Dad!  I swear he was also at the movie, despite the lack of evidence.

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IMG_4209Wine-soaked cherries and peaches, yes please!  Oh look, there’s my dad (kind of…).  Told you he was there too.  We hung out with our sangria while we waited for the sun to set and the movie to start.  They were showing Jurassic Park, which yes, I did just see in the theater, but Jeff Goldblum is so worth re-watching it.  My dad concurred that he is the best part of that movie.

IMG_4206How cool is the inflatable screen?  I had just enough to time grab a double scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough from the Sweet Cow truck to share with the girls just before the movie started…perfection.  About halfway through the movie, we started to feel a few raindrops and the wind picked up and that park cleared out so fast.  We stuck it out though.  We had to see who was going to save them all from the Velociraptors, obviously.

Seriously, a perfect night (albeit kind of chilly, especially for the end of July) with my family.  All that was missing was Joey (he was at his softball game) and maybe a second street taco 😛  The best part?  We get to do it all again on Saturday when we celebrate my mom’s actual birthday with tapas and dinner at the Med (always the Med!) and another movie in another park.

Is it Saturday yet?

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Do your birthday celebrations last longer now than they did when you were a kid?

Have you ever been to a movie in the park?

The food truck craze: yay or nay?