Tag: wedding venue shopping

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!

Weekend Things

Lauren4 Comments

We were finishing up our ice cream at Cold Stone today when Hannah whined that she “didn’t want to go to work tomorrow!” and I could not agree more.  How is the weekend already over?

It’s funny, I was thinking back to last year around this time when I hated my job and the weekend was A) the only thing that got me through the work week and B) my chance to make up for all the fun I wasn’t having at work.  Nowadays, I have a job I like much more and there’s always fun things going on throughout the week too, but I still prefer the weekend.  Hey, who doesn’t?

IMG_4153Also, when this song comes on at 3 PM on a Friday, you just know it’s about to be a good weekend.  I left work a few minutes early to meet Hannah, Josh, and both their mothers at the first of four wedding venues we toured this weekend.  This first one set a pretty high standard.  It was beautiful, affordable and included a lot of details that might be a little stressful to put together by yourself.  But I think my favorite part was when our tour guide’s husband popped out from behind a bush (where he was fixing some audio wires) and yelled “Hi honey!”  Priceless.

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IMG_4158Afterwards, the bride, groom, Joey and I went out for dinner and beer at Udi’s.  Apparently they’ve downsized their menu since we’d last been there and we were all slightly disappointed.  Luckily, that downsized menu still included about 10 different pizzas (I guess they have their priorities straight) and this basil, olive, roasted garlic, arugula pizza hit.the.spot.  Also, I didn’t even notice that cheese wasn’t listed in the ingredients and am so grateful the waitress pointed it out and asked if I wanted to add it.  YES PLEASE!

IMG_4162Saturday involved a hike up Mt. Sanitas, which Joey and I had never been to before.  We drove through the “Historic District” of Boulder to get there and can I just say “HOLY HUGE BEAUTIFUL HOUSES!”  I know Boulder has this reputation for being full of “dirty hippies” and homeless people, but there are some well off people in that city.

IMG_4160It certainly wasn’t the most difficult hike I’d ever been on, but it definitely got my heart rate going.  As much as I love hanging out in Denver and visiting all the awesome neighborhoods and restaurants there, the views in Boulder just can’t be matched.  I swear the sky is bluer, the air is fresher and the trees are greener.  I do wish the other trail-goers could have been a little friendlier though.  Joey and I said “hello” to everyone we passed and a lot of not-even-half-hearted responses were given.  What gives, Boulderites?

IMG_4163I treated myself to Rush once we got back down the mountain.  I know that place is calling these smoothies, topped with granola and honey (or PB&J in my case), a “meal bowl,” but I’m pretty sure blending some fruit into frozen yogurt and topping it with peanut butter makes this dessert.  I ate it for lunch anyways.

IMG_4166Saturday also involved the cracking open of our 5th homebrew: an IPA.  I’m more of a wheat beer drinker, but I definitely know an IPA when I taste one and this was an IPA.  Joey thought it was kind of mellow for an IPA and I kind of agree but it still has that super hoppy taste and overall, I would call this a definite success.

IMG_4171Sunday was an all-day wedding venue search.  We headed up to Fort Collins this time (Fun Fact: I actually went to CSU for my freshman year of college so I’m familiar with the town and it was kind of cool being up there again) for 3 more tours.  I thought it was interesting that all of the venues we’ve seen thus far have been completely different from each other.  This one in particular had beautiful flowers everywhere and how cute is that Victorian house in the background?

IMG_4173As a thank you for tagging along on the venue search, Hannah bought us all ice cream at the end of the day.  Plus, did you know it’s National Ice Cream Day?  That basically meant we had to get our fix, right?

Hoping you all had a wonderful weekend too!

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What was the highlight of your weekend?

Did you celebrate National Ice Cream Day?

What’s the best wedding venue you’ve ever been to?