The Return of Summer - Insta-Gratitude Week 25

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Hope everyone enjoyed National Splurge Day yesterday (aka Treat Yoself Tuesday.)  I didn't splurge on anything because I'm still so excited about the plane tickets I bought last week to sunny California.  

I had another great week of things to be grateful for.  I am almost halfway through the year and will explain a little more about why I do this next week when I hit the halfway mark.  I'm excited that one of my favorite people, Heather, started doing this last week (here's her latest).  Also, prepare yourselves to see her picture on this list when we play in San Francisco in less than 3 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sorry, I'm a little excited.

1 - Actually stopping to smell the flowers.  They are blooming everywhere around my house right now and it's nice to take a second and actually appreciate them.

2 - Thursday was our of our first beautiful sunny days this summer where the temps were in the 80's and there wasn't a cloud in sky.  I should have mowed the lawn judging by this picture, but instead I went and hung out with my nieces for the day and played with the pups outside.

3 - A no-spend summer has led to some interesting evenings at home, like Saturday, we played Jeopardy on the Playstation. Yes, we were wearing our matching Mighty Ducks shirts and taking a shot or two of Fireball.

4 - Dinner on the patio.  Veggie burger topped with an egg and blue cheese, with Strawberries and Sweet Potato Fries on the side.

5 - Did a charity 5k last night and enjoyed the beautiful lake and the weather. Ran the first mile in 9 minutes and then had shooting knee pains (seeing the doctor on Monday).  Still happy to be outside.

6 - Fitz and the Tantrums - still can't get over how much fun that show was

7 - A nice little drive through downtown and over the river on a beautiful Monday evening. Summer makes me so happy.

What were you especially grateful for this week?  #dailygratitude on Instagram.

Treat Yoself Tuesday

Have you participated in treat yourself Tuesday?

If you don't watch Parks & Rec, then you are seriously missing out on Tom & Donna and I feel bad for you.  They are my favorite people, other than Ron Swanson (who has a lot in common with my husband.)

They are my inspiration in treat yoself Tuesday (or any day that I decide it works for me.)  

After work, I'm going to indulge in at least 5 no bake energy balls (thanks Erin for that obsession) and then participate in a charity 5k tonight for a good cause.  You can check out the Center for Girl's Leadership and even come and run with us tonight by clicking here. 

I plan to end my night with a glass of wine, possibly a bath (Lush bath bomb, check) and some patio reading time.  It is necessary to make it all about me sometimes.

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Also, I guest posted in Cortney's world today while she's on vacation.  Check it out.

Fitz & the Tantrums (and other weekend fun)

Quiet weekends are few and far between in our household, but we pulled it off this weekend.  Friday night, we had an awesome dinner on our patio.  FINALLY.  We walked the dogs to my parents to deliver a Father's Day gift and have a glass of wine.  Finished off the night with a little TV and some Italian ice.

I had to work Saturday for the majority of the day.  About ten minutes before leaving, the sky opened up and started to downpour.  So much for my sunshine and patio, we decided to meet my friend, Emma, for a margarita at La Cucaracha - mostly because she was obsessed with the fact that a restaurant was called the cockroach.  We finished off the night playing jeopardy on the Playstation.

Sunday was the highlight of my weekend.  We chatted with fathers and grandfathers in the morning and then enjoyed a lazy day around the house.  The highlight of the weekend came in the evening.  We got tickets from our friend, Brian, to see Fitz and the Tantrums.  He couldn't use them because he had to leave town for work.  I love the band, but Justin hadn't heard much of them.  The first opener was pretty good, the second band was a little boring and we were all a little tired.  Once they took the stage, it all changed.  They put on a show.  We danced and sang.  We ran into Caroline and Keiko.  It was SUCH A GOOD SHOW.  I recommend them to everyone.  They are opening for Bruno Mars later this summer and are labeled as "soul revival" and they are just a good time.

Let me know what you think.  Also, I'm guest posting today on Samantha's blog on the lessons I've learned from country music.  Go check her out and wish her a happy vacation.  Happy Monday!!

Linking up with Sami for weekend shenanigans.

A Real Classy Post

Translated this means Drunk (in French) +  I added the ending 'ster'

(because we are a classy bunch and French is classy)

Rules:

(And with all due respect to the Leibster creator... 11 is a stupid number)

Acknowledge who nominated you
Answer the 10 questions listed below
Nominate 10 bloggers you think are excellent drinkers
You can't nominate the blog that nominated you (But why would you? They clearly just answered the questions already)
Don't make any more questions, everyone just answer these questions below... why are we making so many questions for this Leibster guy?
If you are nominated, just answer the questions and nominate 10 more people. That is it.
Why are there rules for this? Q&A. That is all. 

I was nominated by Miss Ivrester herself, VENUS, and then again by Chloe, clearly my mother should be proud.  I would have been way more entertaining if I would have answered these questions in college, but here we go:

The Q&A Section:

1. What is your favorite drinking game and why?  I am a big fan of yelling and screaming games, but my two new favorite games to play while drinking are Cards Against Humanity and Telestrations.

2.  It is your birthday, what is your idea of the perfect evening?  I'm a day drinker, so my perfect evening would be spent with fried mac & cheese wedges and some water preparing myself for a long night's sleep.  Obviously, I would be tired from my themed pedal pub (this actually happened.)  

3.  Money is no object, what is your go to drink of choice at a bar?  I don't have one "go to" because it depends on my mood, the weather, my company and the bar.

4.  How many times have you played the game "Edward 40 Hands?"  Never, and I don't feel like I missed out on anything.  Sorry.

5.  Take this alcohol screening quiz here, what score did you receive?  20% - is that a fail or a pass?  Also, there wasn't a "sometimes" option.  Sometimes, I do want a drink in the morning.  If you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of mimosas and bloodies.  Also, I don't sing karaoke without drinking, so in that moment, I drink to build my self confidence... this quiz was hard.

6.  What is your favorite memory with Alcohol?  Definitely Las Vegas for our senior year spring break in college.  I went with 6 of my best friends and we had an absolute blast.  

7.  What is your favorite song about drinking?  Or song to drink to?  Anything with Michael Jackson immediately transforms me into a performer.  Also, I'm really good at the Cupid Shuffle.  Final answer?  Ke$ha.

8.  What is your favorite activity to do while drinking?  I enjoy eating, dancing and taking pictures while drinking.

9.  In your opinion, which is the number one party school in the country and why?  I'm going to have to say the University of MN - Duluth (blah blah blah with your big schools and football shenanigans and sororities - we drank in basements).  We literally lived inside all winter.  The whole school including dorms is connected by tunnels because of the nasty winter and winds from Lake Superior.  We had nothing better to do than drink.  Hockey games were always fun.

10.  When do you know you have had too much to drink?  What are your signals?  Hiccups and sleepy eyes.  I get super cranky and when I'm ready to bed, there is a 15 minute window to get me home.  My husband is a pro at that.

So, I'm supposed to nominate people, but I would rather that you ALL fill out all these questions and post them whenever you want.  K?  Thanks.

I'm Just Sayin'

So, it's one of those Fridays where it's not really Friday because I have to work on Saturday.  That makes it the perfect day to link up with my favorite person ever (unless she's sending me Nicolas Cage pictures) Heather.  Every Friday, she just says some stuff.

I love saying random stuff.  So, it's Friday and I'm just sayin'...

Southwest Airlines made my whole week.  Trying to plan our five year anniversary was proving difficult and just when we had settled on a Texas sized road trip to visit family because flights are usually pretty cheap to Dallas, Southwest decides to have a sale and our number one spot on our US travel list is all of a sudden cheaper than ever... Now we are headed to:

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Yes, Tahoe, Napa and San Francisco.  Can't even handle my excitement.  Now begins NO SPEND SUMMER so we can save up some money to continue travelling.  Can't get enough.

I miss TGIF on TV.  Why can't they just give us a good Friday night sitcom line up?  It might actually keep me out of trouble on Friday nights... just kidding, I have DVR.  But I do miss Step by Step.  Why don't TV shows have good theme songs anymore?

I'm not excited for the Superman movie.  My husband is about ready to cry because I don't want to go see it.  I always feel bad when he gets so excited for something that just looks boring to me.

I never win anything.  Like anything.  I was a second or third place kind of kid.  I feel like pouting all the time.  No giveaways, no lottery wins... one time I won $14.00 at bingo and I screamed with excitement.  One of these days, my patience and good sportsmanship will pay off... maybe it will be when my Superman costume wins me the "cutest child ever" award.  Have you voted yet?  Click here

I am liking Lydia on RHOBH.  The first few episodes, she didn't really do it for me, but this last one I decided that I'm on her team for now and I'm not ashamed of it.  Also, I'm not ashamed that I watch this crap each and every week.

It's #backthatazzup Friday and there are too many people going on fun summer vacations this week and I'm working tomorrow.  Boo.  At least I got to play outside yesterday and you didn't.  Here's my current summertime jam:

Notes from the Pups

Dear Internet people or whatever "friends" our mom has out there,

We are Lola & Quincy.  You met us once in this post.  We heard there were new puppy parents and people that are thinking about taking the plunge.  Are you looking to get a dog/puppy soon?  Do you look at us in the little window and your heart just melts?  Obviously, because we are clearly better than anything else you would find in a pet store.  We want to make sure you know what to expect.

Once we cross through the front door of your home, we take over.  The first few months are exploration to make sure we understand each nook & cranny.  Once we get through that phase, we get comfortable... like real comfortable.

We know when you buy the cheap stuff.  This applies to food, treats and toys.  We will retaliate.

We are experts at hiding things.  There is the boring bone in the yard bit, but there are also movies, socks and DVD's.

Remember that retaliation threat above, leave us for too long and we will shred magazines, toilet paper, kleenex and sometimes the things we've hidden.

You shouldn't buy cheap sunglasses either because we will chew those to save you the embarrassment.  Buy yourself a nice pair.

We will hang out on whatever furniture we want.  We age quicker than you humans, so we need to be comfortable.  If you think you're keeping us off the bed, you clearly have no idea what we do when you are at work.  Trust us, it's better to just let us do what we want.

You know those "dance parties" you have every morning where you make obnoxious noises you call "singing?"  Maybe it's just our parents that do that.  Anyways, we do that too.  Sometimes we sing and yell (aka bark) loudly just because we feel like it.  We don't tell you to be quiet, so don't tell us to be quiet.  Just enjoy the music we make.

Along those lines, dogs do some weird things, just like you humans.  Taking videos like this and posting them on Facebook is OK unless you're mocking us.



All of your friends will love us and want to be around us, but we will only like some of them.  We are extremely good judges of character, plus some of them just smell funny or don't scratch ears correctly.  We don't apologize for our high expectations either.

Dressing up animals is real funny... NOT.  We hate it.  We understand that all children go through a period when their parents dress them, so we're not saying that you have to completely refrain, but it must be designer (according to Lola) or bad ass (according to Quincy.)  If you don't know if it fits in one of those categories, don't get it.

We don't understand computers, TV's or any other electronics.  We might bark at a dog we hear on that television every once in a while.  We may sit on your computer when it's cold outside because it's warm.  We may convince you to start a twitter account for us and then never use it.  Just enjoy the fact that we show interest in these things you spend all your time on.

Last, but not least, here are the things we can't ever get enough of:  walks, treats, belly rubs, attention, dog parks, sunshine, laying in the grass, throwing the ball, tug-o-war, getting dirty, nicknames and getting into places we shouldn't be.

Every dog deserves a good life.  We both started our lives in different homes and ended up here. Adoption is AWESOME and it's not always easy.  Puppies are AWESOME and they aren't always easy.  We are worth it though if you are willing to work with us a little.  If you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to our mama - I'm sure she'll tell you how well behaved and awesome we are.

We have to race to bed so we get our favorite pillows.  Thanks for oooohing and aaaahing over our pictures.  We are pretty cute.

Linking up for Thursday's Thoughts.

Insta-Gratitude Week 24

1 - Eating some new stuff.  It's hard being a vegetarian sometimes and finding new recipes for things, but I'm working on it... or at least buying magazines and paging through them.
2 & 3 - You must all think I'm a little obsessed with Kelsey, but she made the cut twice last week.  First, she finished her first 5k in 34 minutes when we did a beer run on National Running Day (and then gave me a thumbs up.)  Then, we celebrated her birthday with Margarita Monday!!!
4 - The Aerial Lift Bridge in Duluth.  It's one of my favorite sites in Northern MN and we spent Friday night at Grandma's Up Bar & the new rooftop area enjoying the view.
5 - The wedding venue from Saturday... and one of the reasons I thought it was a little Gatsby-esque.
6 - A night at home with Lola catching up on some stuff & enjoying a nice cold Abita.

Yesterday at lunchtime, Justin & I were in search of something with vegetables.  We decided to head back across the river to Saint Paul to try a cafe that's been recommended many times and counts towards my 30 new restaurants in Saint Paul.  The place is called Trotter's Cafe (website here) and it's known as a farm-to-table kind of place.

We sat on the sidewalk patio and enjoyed some awesome sandwiches.  Justin had a tuna melt on gluten-free bread and I tried the vegetarian special of the day which was a white bean pesto sandwich with sprouts, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, red peppers, onions and smoked gouda.  I've heard such good things about their pizza as well, so I know we'll be going back for lunch in the future to try that.  I love a place that says they source as much organic, local and seasonal produce, plus you can't go wrong on a lunch place with soup, sandwiches and pizza.

Another good week with lots to be thankful for.  It's exciting to see things actually getting checked off of my 30 before 30 list and to be around when other people cross things off of theirs.  Do you have a list?  I dare you.

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Oh yeah, and I'm trying another one of these blog hops today.  Check it out.