Weekend Surprises & Shenanigans

My weekend started off with the sweetest surprise from my husband. My heart has been hurting lately missing my older sister and her beautiful babies. They live in Buffalo and we rarely get to see them. I came home from work Friday and Jonathan pulled me into his office telling me he had something that would make me really happy. He handed me a folded sheet of paper with a note on the back that said, "Babe I love you so much. I can't wait to see your face when you open this."

I was already in tears before I saw what was inside, which happened to be two round trip tickets to Buffalo. In just three weeks, we'll be surrounded by my favorite kids on the planet and I absolutely cannot wait!

With that, I'd say our weekend started off on a fantastic note! After calling my sister to discuss how excited I was, we met up with some friends for Medieval Times. I know...what a random thing to do on a Friday night. One of the guys found a Groupon and we all thought it would be fun and it certainly was.

Saturday after cleaning the house, shopping and trying unsuccessfully to curl my own hair, I spent the evening with this lady.

Back in our single days, we used to go out all the time and as we spent the night joking about how we don't know how to go out anymore, we accidentally ordered a weird amount of food at dinner proving this point. Let's just say we met up with Jonathan and his buddies after dinner and were able to bring them an entire entree and appetizer to snack on. All in all, we had a blast and I'm proud to say we stayed out until almost 2 a.m.!

Our Sunday was spent at a family pool party and after a beautiful day of swimming and losing at beer pong, we headed home early for a relaxing night which meant Jonathan fell asleep at 7 and I stayed up watching a Revenge marathon.

Luckily it's a short week and we're already making plans for the long weekend!

Weekend Accomplishments

It's not often (lately) that I can honestly say it was a productive weekend. We've had plenty of super fun weekends and this one was fun too..just more of a productive fun than a drink too much and watch too much television kind of fun. 

one. Baking. I finally found a good recipe for jumbo blueberry muffins. I can make a regular blueberry muffin without a problem, but every recipe I've tried for jumbo, bakery-sized muffins don't come out like I want them too. I also baked oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for no reason other than the fact that I was in the mood to bake. Surprisingly, I have no photos to prove all this activity.

two. I made it to the grocery store before 9 a.m. on Sunday. This is my dream every week, but it rarely happens. I love getting there and getting my shopping done before I would normally be out of bed on Sunday. Not having to wait in line at the deli makes me feel like I'm really rocking at life. 

three. We biked 14 miles yesterday. I was in the mood for a long bike ride and since we've gotten my bicycle, we really haven't ridden more than a few miles. Less than a mile in we got sidetracked and stopped for a beer...okay, a few beers but eventually we were on our way again. We made a few other stops along the way and treated ourselves to Italian ice as we made our way back home. It felt good to spend most of the afternoon outside being active.

four. I took on the ambitious task of prepping our meals for the week last night. I've prepped meals and snacks for the week here and there before, but nothing like this. After a few hours in the kitchen, we have breakfast and several lunches, dinners and snacks all ready to go. Honestly, the whole process didn't take as long as I expected and Jonathan helped with some of the prep work. It's going to be real nice having everything ready for us so we can take time out each night for exercise without feeling like we have to choose between cooking a good dinner or working out. 

We managed to spend time with friends in the midst of all this, which made this a pretty perfect weekend in my book. I was sad to see it come to an end! 

Hope your weekend was a happy one! 

We Spent 3 Hours at the Movies & Forgot to See a Movie

This past Friday as I drove home from work, I couldn't help but think we were due for a spontaneous date night. I called Jonathan and told him we should go out to a movie or something and that is just what we did....

Well, kinda.

With nothing in theaters we were dying to see, we settled on the 9:45 showing of 22 Jump Street. We figured even if it wasn't great, we might get a few laughs out of it and hey, we never go to the movies so why not? We headed out super early so we could stop and have a drinks and some appetizers near the theater first. Even still, we got to the movie theater a good hour and a half before the movie which is totally fine because they have a bar and video games. We ordered ourselves a round of drinks and after playing a few games, started to wonder what the heck we were going to do with ourselves for the next hour or so.We grabbed a table at the bar and were were having a blast just talking. It’s so funny how you can live with someone and see them every day but it’s still so important to go on actual dates with each other to really engage in conversation and focus on each other. I was loving every minute. 

So much so, that Jonathan looked at the clock and realized it was 9:45 and the movie was already starting. We’d been doing plenty of drinking, but not much eating and we’d also planned on grabbing food before the movie. Where did the time go? Jonathan jumped up in a panic and I spent about 30 seconds trying to convince him we should just skip the movie all together because I was having too much fun. Always the more reasonable one, he convinced me to go in the theater but not before we picked up pizza and snacks on our way in.

Finally, we walked into the theater to find there were no seats available. Zero. I couldn't help but laugh as we stood there with snacks and drinks and nowhere to sit. Luckily, they were kind enough to let us swap out our tickets for something else. We ended up with tickets for the 10:30 showing of Neighbors and decided to head straight in the theater so we didn't miss another one. By this point, we’d been in the movie theater since 8:00 and I was 3 vodka tonics down. We found seats and ate our snacks while we waited for the movie to start. Finally, 10:30 came around and as the movie started, I started to feel sleepy and antsy. I’ve made the mistake of going to a movie drunk before and I’m just not cut out for it. I need conversation. I need activity. Give me a few drinks then sit me down to be quiet for a few hours and I’m ready for bed in no time. I powered through the first 15 minutes of the movie when like music to my ears, Jonathan whispered in my ear, “Let’s go home.”

We spent 3 hours in the movie theater and after attempting to see 2 movies, we went home after seeing zero movies. As Jonathan said, "Only we would get to the theater an hour and a half before a movie and somehow miss the movie."

The best part about this whole thing? I'm not the slightest bit upset that we missed the movie both movies. I loved every minute of these shenanigans. I had the most fun sitting at the bar with my husband, then sitting in an empty theater eating pizza and laughing at everything. The nights that don't go as planned always turn out to be my very favorite ones. 

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! We stayed up way too late last night finishing season 2 of Orange is the New Black and it was so worth it. Has anyone else finished it? I’m happy to say season 2 did not disappoint. It definitely wasn’t our intention to watch the complete season in less than a week, but we just couldn’t help it. The good news is that we don’t need to find time this weekend for binge watching, which is good because it’s looking like it’ll be a busy one.

I’m spending tomorrow with my friend, Sarah for some much-needed girl time while Jonathan works, then tomorrow night we’re attending my 10 year high school reunion. It’ll be fun, although I have felt somewhat indifferent toward the whole event for some reason. I guess with Facebook the whole mystery of what everyone is up to since high school is a thing of the past, not to mention that my best friend isn’t attending. I am looking forward to it, though! It’ll be fun to catch up with everyone and have a fun night out with Jonathan.  

Sunday I’ll be heading to my parents’ house to celebrate Father’s Day. On that note, today’s Friday Favorites are all about this man I’m lucky enough to call my dad.

Photo by Lora Rodgers Photography

one. His dance moves. I told the story of how my dad just recently debuted his dance skills and just this story alone is one of my favorite memories with him. Read it for yourself, but the short version is that his approach to dancing is on point.

two. His strong conviction. For my sweet father, no matter what the topic, there is no gray area. He either loves it or hates it and he doesn’t sugarcoat it when it’s the latter. President Obama? Don’t get him started, seriously. The Boston Red Sox? He doesn’t miss watching a game. Irish Car Bombs? Loves them.

I have strong opinions for the most part, but I can be very indecisive and all too often, I see both sides too clearly to take a strong stance on something either way. I love that my dad has such strong beliefs and that he stands by them.

three. He freaking loves his family. I know, this isn’t out of the ordinary for dads as a group, but I admire how much my dad genuinely enjoys being with his family. Ask him and he will tell you his favorite vacations have been the ones where we are all together. We all have such a good time and you can truly see the joy he feels when we are together. Growing up, he put our family first and he made sure we all learned to do the same. It’s why my siblings are my very best friends and they always will be, because we all learned to stick together and be there for each other.

four. Him and my mother raised 5 children, 4 girls and one boy. I don’t know how he survived my sisters and I going through high school one after another. We certainly didn’t make it easy on him and he was tough on us at times, but I know my siblings would all agree that he has always been our biggest supporter and even when he was hard on us, we always knew he had our best interest in mind.

five. He speaks up. My dad isn’t afraid to give you his honest opinion. He’s not afraid of speaking up when he doesn’t agree. He’s always reminded me to do the same without being afraid of what people might think of me. There are so many times I think of him when I don’t know how to handle a situation and I know he would tell me to speak my mind. There have been so many times when I could’ve kept my opinion to myself but instead, decided to speak my mind and in those times, the situation has always worked out for the best.

There you have it; just a few of my favorite things. Happy Father’s Day, Dad!

Linking up with Amanda for Friday Favorites.

Because Life is a Special Occasion

Last night had the potential to be so productive. I always have so much I want to accomplish in the evenings when I get home from work and quite often, I ditch those plans pretty quick to relax with Jonathan. Last night was one of those nights. After sitting down for one of our favorite dinners as of late, spaghetti squash with turkey pesto meatballs, Jonathan pulled a bottle of champagne out of the fridge and suddenly my plans to be productive were long gone.

We rarely drink champagne and hardly ever keep it in the house, but we happened to have a few bottles leftover from Easter brunch. Jonathan made a comment about how he'd normally want to save it for a special occasion, which obviously prompted me to pull up the following quote on my phone:

We popped open a bottle (or two), settled in for a few episodes of Orange is the New Black and clinked glasses no less than 6 times because when I'm drinking champagne, I can't hep but cheers to anything and everything. It was quite the celebration, let me tell you. Nights like this are my favorite nights. It was just an ordinary Wednesday evening and because we decided to do what we wanted to do rather than what we needed to do, it turned into something special. It's just another reminder that we shouldn't wait for the right moment or a special occasion to wear something, do something or drink something. Our life is a freaking special occasion and there are always so many reasons to celebrate, so why wait?

Cheers to marriage, living in the moment and waking up hangover-free and making it to the gym at 5 a.m. It truly is a Christmas miracle that I don't have a pounding headache right meow. 

10 Things I Thought I'd Never Do

I'm pretty sure I saw these posts floating around blogland a few months ago, but as usual, I'm late to the party. All this talk lately about how we adopted a cat got me thinking of all the other things I've done that I never thought I'd do, so here are a few of them:

one. Meet my husband at a bar

two. Wear matching swimsuits to the beach with said husband. What can I say? I bought an American flag bikini and Jonathan couldn't resist matching me. Thank you to my sista for capturing this candid...

three. Have an NRA sticker on my car. I'm all for the NRA, but it was Jonathan who felt we needed to show it on our vehicles.

four. Try (and fail) at online dating, but thank goodness for my lack of success because eventually I fell in love and married the most amazing man

five. Break my finger playing kickball. I know...

six. Own and sell my first home before the age of 28

seven. Participate in a mud run

eight. Find out I need bifocals at the age of 28

nine. Enjoy cooking and actually be kind of good at it

ten. Turn my love of baking into a little side business

What about you? What's on your list?

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! It's been a busy work week and therefore my plans to blog all week have been sadly pushed aside, but it's Friday and I'm determined to make time for a quick post. What better way to do that than to join Amanda's Friday Favorites link-up? I'm excited to share my favorite things from this week and check out some new blogs to follow!

Celebrating this hunk. Today my dear husband turns 26-years-old and I can’t wait to spend the weekend celebrating with him. I’m so grateful I get to share my life with this man!

Sore muscles. I successfully got my butt to the gym at 5 a.m. three times this week and if you know how much of a struggle that has been for me lately, you’ll understand this is nothing short of a miracle! I joined Living in Yellow's 1,000 minutes in 30 days challenge this month to help motivate me and it feels great to be getting back in the fitness groove!

Hulu Plus. I mentioned we canceled cable several months ago and we’ve never looked back. This week, we finally made the move and signed up for Hulu Plus. It’s been pretty sweet catching up on Modern Family…we are several seasons behind and I forgot how much I loved the characters in this show, especially Phil.  

Our new addition. I never thought in a million years I would be blogging about how adopting a cat was my favorite part of the week, but here I am, doing just that. She seems to feel at home here and is just really sweet and calm. I’m so very glad we decided to bring her home. You could say Jonathan is in agreement…

Feeling like a new woman because I finally got my hair trimmed and highlighted this week. I was way overdue so I’m feeling like a million bucks now that I ditched the roots. Speaking of hair, I’ve been on the hunt for a good dry shampoo and after trying several without any success, I’m kind of liking Herbal Essences dry shampoo. It’s the best I’ve found so far, but if you have a better suggestion, please share it!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! What are you favorites this week? 

Duck Farts Taste as Bad as They Sound & Other Weekend Happenings

Hello and happy Monday! I'm gonna keep it short and sweet today, but I want to fill you in on our weekend fun!

On Saturday evening, we met up with my parents who were staying at one of the Disney resorts for the weekend. We booked a room at the resort so we could have a good time without worrying about the 45 minute drive home from Disney. We went out on the town for dinner and drinks...lots of drinks. My dad is on an Irish Car Bomb kick lately and while everyone else proceeded to do several of those, my mom and I just knew that wouldn't end well for us. Instead, we were convinced to try a Duck Fart, a shot made up of Crown and Kahlua. For the record, this tasted as awful as it sounds. We moved on to Lemon Drops which are always a good choice. Lemon Drop Em'!

 It was a fun night. Sunday morning we found a spot by the pool and relaxed for a few hours before heading home for a family BBQ. Having my parents in town for the night was such a treat and I loved having some uninterrupted time with them!

After spending a few hours at Jonathan's uncle's house for a BBQ, we went to pick up the newest addition to our family! We haven't quite decided on a name for her yet, but we are super excited!

It's so strange, actually, because I am not a cat person at all. I have always disliked cats for the most part and that hasn't really changed. I can't explain it, but when we first saw this one a few weeks ago, I fell in love! They weren't doing adoptions that day, so we left and that was that. I surprised myself by planning to back and see her again on a Saturday when they were doing adoptions so I could get more information and a few weeks went by before I could make it back there, but this past weekend, I did. I sent Jonathan this picture telling him I was in love and wanted to take her home.

He loved the idea and we talked a lot about it that night before going back to see her on Sunday. Needless to say, Jonathan was totally on board after hanging out with her for a few minutes and we decided to go for it!

I'm not going to get ahead of myself and call myself a "cat person" or anything crazy like that, but I seriously never thought I'd be the one telling my husband I want to adopt a cat and there we were yesterday, adopting a cat.

Now, we just need to decide on a name for this sweetheart. Only we would have our future children's names picked out but not be able to choose one for our pet. If you have suggestions, please share!