Tag: Harry Potter

What I’m Loving Lately: Summer 2018

Lauren2 Comments

Every summer is my favorite summer but looking back, Summer 2015 really was one of the best and I think it’s because I embraced the busyness.  I was thinking less about how many alcoholic beverages I was consuming or if it was okay to eat another meal out and more about checking another restaurant off my list or prioritizing a trip to the museum on a Sunday.

This summer, I am trying to find a bit of balance between fun indulgences and responsibilities that might feel OBLIGATORY but are really just me being stubborn.  Nobody will die if I buy Larabars instead of making Dorsey Bars, in the same way that it will all be okay if I don’t attend every single week of the Farmers’ Market.  Less black and white thinking, more focus on enjoyment, being okay with not doing something and trusting that things will work out anyway.  These are the things I’m working on this summer.  Here are some things that are helping with that enjoyment part.

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No Pressure Gardening

Look, this garden is great and being able to walk into the backyard to grab some fresh basil is truly life-changing, but I’m still hitting the grocery store every week so I’m not entirely reliant upon homegrown stuff and that takes ALL the pressure off.  Anything that comes up and ends up being edible is just a bonus.  It also helps when your backyard gets a lot of sun and growing things is relatively easy.

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Waterloo Sparkling Water

LaCroix who?  We bought these at Whole Foods for our Memorial Day BBQ and had a ton leftover but I’m not complaining because coming home from work and cracking a refreshing beverage is pretty great.  I don’t even claim to like watermelon-flavored things but this one is really good.

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Andi Dog

Not to act like I’m the first person to ever own a dog but this is the first dog I’ve owned as a grownup person and even though he’s smelly and barks at every dog and refuses to eat until we feed him from our hand and insists on sleeping between Joey and I and is cranky in the morning, I JUST LOVE HIM SO MUCH.  He sits on my lap every morning when I eat breakfast and he has this little orange and blue ball that he tries to hide/protect by putting one paw over it and he howls to imitate sirens when an ambulance drives by and it’s all just the cutest.  Thank you, Andi Dog, for making my life 100x happier!

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Grilled Salmon

Can you even believe we had never grilled salmon until a month ago?!  Turns out it’s super easy, super fast and a super way to not turn the oven on.  Also gets the skin so perfectly crispy!  And when your main is a no-brainer, you have more time to tackle all the side dish recipes you’ve let pile up for the past five years.

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Prepping for Binge Mode: Harry Potter

If you haven’t been frantically re-reading the HP series in extreme anticipation of Binge Mode’s deep dive, then you and I (and Joey) are leading insanely different lives.  I’m mid-Order of the Phoenix and HOLY SHIT, I had forgotten about so many book details since I originally read it back in 2003!  It basically feels like I’m reading it for the first time and it’s been a PURE DELIGHT.

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Dorsey Sister Supper Club

We were like two glasses of Steigl Radler and several slices of pizza in at Cart-Driver, when my sister announced we should have weekly dinner dates this summer and I could just take her anywhere I wanted in Denver.  IN!  We had our inaugural Supper Club at Comida with watermelon-jalapeño margaritas, griddled tacos, fried shrimp and flan and I think I like this new ritual very very much ♥

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Summer Week Nights

Without any effort, Joey and I have fallen into a post-work groove.  It goes something like come home, spend half an hour in the back yard (reading, watering our garden, trying to keep our dog from egging on the neighbors’ dogs on the other side of the fence), cook dinner, eat in the back yard, clean up, walk our pup, hop into bed and read.  It makes my heart so happy!

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In other news, we just got back from a weekend trip to the Quad Cities to see our friends Nick and Tracy get married and while I’d like to share a bunch of pictures I took, all I have is two breakfast sandwiches, a rehearsal dinner selfie and the ceremony kiss, so I guess I’ll just say Milltown Coffee makes a mean lavendar honey latte, “All I Want for Christmas is You” is a surprising crowd favorite on the jukebox (even in June), ice cream makes for the best nightcap, BREW in the Village is a hidden gem and a good wedding is a true honor to witness ♥

Happy Monday!

Weekend Things

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Joey was out of town this weekend and that was sad, but here’s some things that weren’t: Friday pizza night with my Mom and sister, Saturday morning yoga followed by two hours of reading in the backyard, a pink-red mani, wings and gelato at my parents’, a 5-mile run and playing fetch with my doggy, pretty tulips and perfect weekend weather ♥

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Thursday night, I gazed at tulips, walked Andi, poured myself a lavender soda and started watching Captain America: Civil War.  Guys, I just want to see Avengers: Infinity War so I can be part of the pop culture conversation, but I have some work to do because I saw Iron Man in 2008 and Black Panther in February and nothing in between (actually, I’ve seen like 80% of Guardians of the Galaxy but we left early to avoid Film on the Rocks traffic, ha!).  I only made it half way through the movie though because it’s many many hours long and it was a school night.

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I was going to be lame and have Hermit Night on Friday but then my mom and sister wanted pizza so out we went!  I made a list of like six pizza places we could go to, but we decided on Cart-Driver and I was so happy to introduce them to that little shipping container that busts out the best wood-fired pizza.  My sister suggested we do weekly Sister Dinners in Denver and I am so down with that idea!  Oh and my mom just got back from New Orleans (she got there the day after I left!) and brought back presents.  She is truly the best ♥

Back at home, I finished my movie and hey, I thought it was really good!  It’s ten years later but Iron Man is somehow still cool?  And I really appreciated that scene where Captain America is holding onto a helicopter with one hand and a building with the other and it was just a long shot of Chris Evans’ flexed biceps.  So subtle.

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Saturday!  The best day!  I woke up and ate pancakes before taking myself to a hot yoga class.  The fitness class next door was BLASTING their music and at the end of yoga my teacher said “Bow your head and say ‘Namaste.’  May you be free.  Free from pain, free from suffering and free from bass in your face.”  I thought it was so funny!  The library was only a few block from the yoga studio so I walked there to return a few books and pick up our May book club pick, then I got iced coffee and it all felt too good to be true.

Back at home, I parked it in the backyard to start a very important re-read and hold a cute pup on my lap.  His face looking up into the sun pretty much sums up how we both felt about basking in the summer-like weather.  By the way, I know it seems like I’m always watching/reading Harry Potter but this is seriously only the second time I’ve read books 4-7.  I’ve read the first one like eight times though 😛

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Sorry not sorry for showing you so many tulip photos but can you even believe that feathery one??  I realized I had booked a 5 PM manicure and the Kentucky Derby was set to go off at 4:50, so I anxiously stood in the living room, ready to RUN out the door afterwards.  I told Joey — who was in Vegas — to bet on Justified but he didn’t listen and lost it all.  I made it to my appointment right on time (phew!) and took my sister’s suggestion to go red (plus the color was called Emily and I felt like my cousin would approve) then I dashed over to my parents’ for dinner.  My mom was sick and still managed to make two different types of wings, roasted Brussels sprouts and mac and cheese.  We had Talenti for dessert and it was better than most ice cream I’ve eaten in my life.

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I went for a run Sunday morning and though I didn’t beat my time from the week before, I’m still loving these longer weekend runs 🙂  Came back to Banana Bread Overnight Oats, iced coffee, a new Cooking Light and… TULIPS.  Also gave Andi a bath then let him dry off outside in the sun.  Later on, we went back inside to watch the Rockies game (SWEEP!), cook beans, make California Caprese Bowls for lunch this week and start laundry.  Joey made it back home and we got to catch up outside — “tell me all the things you ate while I was gone” is a real thing he said to me — before heating up leftover wings and grilling some zucchini for dinner.  We started watching Thor Ragnarok and oh my god, I heard it was funny but it’s really funny.

It was nice all weekend, it’s going to be nice all week and I am fully in the summer spirit so I am pretending it’s not going to be chilly and rainy this weekend.