Tag: Steuben’s

Exciting Weekend Things

LaurenLeave a comment

As you may have guessed, something exciting happened this weekend.

WE ARE OFFICIALLY UNDER CONTRACT ON A HOUSE IN DENVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Caps lock and every.single.one of those exclamation points was totally necessary.

On Friday morning, we saw a house that we loved and immediately put an offer (and a good one at that!) in on it.  At the end of the day we got word that the seller had decided to wait until Monday to give us an answer.  We were bummed, but at least it wasn’t a no.  Saturday morning, our realtor called saying he had a house we needed to look at ASAP.  We thought we loved the other house, but this second one was perfect.  We loved it even more.  Within two hours of being on the market, we had put in an offer and 5 hours later — our deadline time ON THE DOT — the seller accepted!

Now that we found “the one,” it feels so worth it to have passed up on all the other houses we looked at, including the one we thought we loved on Friday.  This one just feels so right and we could not be more excited.  As soon as we found out, I gave Joey such an excited hug that my sunglasses flew off my head and both lenses fell out (oops!).  But you know, I didn’t even care.  We celebrated with drinks and dinner on the Linger rooftop, which is all of 5 minutes from our new place (!!!!!!).

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Gah, that place is just so cool.

In other non house-related weekend news, we took my dad to Steuben’s for dinner on Friday night.  My mom and sister were in New Orleans until Saturday evening, so we didn’t want him to be lonely on a weekend night.  I ordered a Moscow Mule and fell in love.  My dad ordered the trout amandine minus the almonds because he once ordered the dish and almost chocked on those almonds.  Apparently he was traumatized by the experience.  He went back (with my mom and sister) the next night so I’d say our restaurant pick was a success.

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Before we dashed off to look at our house on Saturday morning, we met my dad at the Louisville Farmers’ Market — he does massage there once a month — to help him set up.  It was HOT but otherwise, a beautiful day at the market.  Plus it was nice to get a good dose of quality time with my dad, who was smart enough to have the floral tent next to us make up a beautiful “Welcome Home” bouquet for my mom.  How thoughtful, right?

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Today has been spent tying up some loose ends — our leasing office allowed us to extend our lease another month while we wait for our closing date, phew! — and spending time with the bride.  We went to a bridal show in Denver and had no idea what to expect, but there were lots of vendors, cupcakes and giveaways.  It was hosted by the Curtis Hotel, which is super eccentric.  We may or may not have ridden the elevator to 10 different floors because each had a different theme and a funny recording that announces which floor you’re arriving at.  I think I liked the 7th Floor, with a “Lots of Laughs” theme, the best.  Oh and I bought this candle at the mall while getting my sunglasses fixed…too soon?

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I think I’ll just end by apologizing for being annoyingly happy and excited for a while.  Hazard of being a first time home owner 😛

Thanksgiving Weekend: Top 15 Moments

LaurenLeave a comment

What day is it??

I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been off of work for the past 4 1/2 days and I’ve lost all sense of time.  I kinda feel like I’m back in school and have been on Thanksgiving break.  And I kinda like that feeling.  In other words, I’m not ready to go back to work tomorrow.  Anyone else?

I feel like so much family, food and fun went on this weekend, so I won’t bore you with a play by play.  Instead let’s recap the top 15 moments.  In no particular order:

1. Thanksgiving prep on Wednesday.

I made clover rolls on Wednesday evening and finished them off on Thursday morning, but they came together really easily and relatively quickly.  Relatively, because when you’re working with yeast and it has to rise, it can’t ever be that quick.

2. Thanksgiving morning Turkey Trot.

On Wednesday night we got an email from the race director saying he had gone out to California and personally driven the race shirts back to Colorado only to discover that the design had never been printed on them!  So yes, there were a few minor races glitches and the wind blowing against us for the entire 3rd mile wasn’t my favorite, but otherwise it was a nice little race.

3. Realizing we forgot to make a dish 5 minutes before we were supposed to leave for Thanksgiving #1.

As we were running through the list of things we needed to bring in the car before leaving, I basically screamed “the brussel sprouts!!”  Luckily, we had chopped them up the night before and it took all of 10 minutes to finish the dish.  Gotta love doing those kinds of things on important holidays 🙂

4. Thanksgiving meal #1.

Joey’s mom aced the turkey this year!  I’m not a huge fan of turkey and honestly it’s my least favorite thing on the Thanksgiving table, but it was so good that it was the first thing I cleared from my plate.  Oh look, brussel sprouts.

5. Getting to eat the clover rolls.

Mmm, buttery.

These turned out great.  There’s nothing like warm, fresh, homemade bread, is there?  Okay, I promise to stop talking about the rolls now.

6. Spending time with Joey’s side of the family.

I could basically sum it up by saying there was (too much) football, moonshine, slow-motion watching of a certain TV commercial and that awesome Kraft turkey.

7. Thanksgiving #2.

Joey’s plate always looks the best.  Thanksgiving just wouldn’t be right without mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and a home-cooked meal made by my mom.  I have such fond memories of my mom cooking on Thanksgiving.  Our celebrations might have been small, but they were always special to me.

I’m happy to report that not a thing has changed.  Except there’s a few more people and I love my mom’s stuffing even more.  I didn’t even think that was possible.

8. Spending time with my family.

Okay, so maybe my nephew was bouncing off the walls and driving my brother insane and Andi didn’t want to stop barking and the men decided to watch Monster’s Inc. by themselves, but I love spending time with that crazy bunch.  After my brother and co. left we settled down to watch Casino Royale because my family is all into James Bond after seeing Skyfall last weekend.  It was such a relaxing, albeit slightly violent, end to a great Thanksgiving.

9. Watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

It was as silly and embarrassing as ever!  I just love those cheesy Broadway performances and all the awkward lip-syncing.  Why can’t the artists on the floats actually sing their songs??  Also, I’m kind of scared for the future of music after listening to some of those younger singers.

10. Christmas ornament painting.

Joey and I did this once a few years ago and haven’t done it since, despite thinking it was tons of fun.  Turns out getting lost in concentration while painting intricate lines and shapes and listening to weird conversations going on around you really is that fun.  Plus I’m super excited to see how these turn out.  I may have also got a parking ticket while we were painting.  Definitely not a top moment.

11.  Putting up our Christmas tree.

I tried to convince Joey that while he might be allergic to real trees, I’m allergic to fake ones.  It didn’t work, so fake tree it is.  Anything decked out in pretty lights can’t be that bad though, right?

12. Impulse buy.

We were at the mall for an hour yesterday and I managed to buy two things… for myself.  Wow, I really suck at this Christmas giving thing.  Anyways, See’s lollypops totally remind me of my childhood and upon seeing them at the mall, I instantly knew I needed a box.  Life is so much happier now.

13. This sky.

Oh my god.

There was no shortage of pictures of this sunset on Instagram yesterday.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought it was breathtaking.

14. Dinner with friends at Steuben’s in Denver.

I truly think Denver is such a cool town.  Maybe one day I’ll live there, we’ll see.  For now, I’m totally content to visit its swanky restaurants every now and then.  Steuben’s is like an upscale diner with classic but fancied-up comfort food.  And also $10 cocktails.  Apparently.

15. Sunday morning cinnamon rolls.

I used this Alton Brown recipe and did everything but bake them last weekend.  After the second rise, I wrapped the dish in aluminum foil and plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer.  I took them out and put them in the fridge on Thursday night so they could thaw and then all I had to do was bake them this morning.  They turned out perfectly!  I totally recommend this recipe.

Okay, I guess that was in a particular chronological order.  So I guess that makes it Sunday night.  How depressing!  I truly hope you all had an equally long, relaxing and fun holiday weekend.

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How was your Thanksgiving celebration?

What else did you do this weekend?

Do you watch the Thanksgiving parade?