Sunday, June 30, 2013

Manifesto

My birthday was yesterday, and I wanted to share something I put together for me to focus on as I enter my late twenties. A "manifesto," if you will, for my 27th year. Here it goes:

Friday, June 28, 2013

Guess who's back...

Back to reality I go! It has been an exhausting week trying to get back in the swing of things, I still feel like my mind is in vacay mode, but really when isn't it. Sleeping in for 2 weeks and relaxing with my great friends and family was wonderful! I definitely did not want it to end. But I did miss my pups very much, 2 weeks is too long to be away from them! I am also thankful that I made it through another plane ride without completely freaking out, I have a huge fear of flying that my husband finds hilarious...men.

Being back in Michigan always makes me feel as though I never left. Luckily I feel like I am always able to pick up where I left off. It also makes me realize just how much I miss it. Once I start feeling comfortable with being away from home and content with our life here, our trips back home always throw me through a loop and make me miss Michigan again. I cannot wait to move back. Plus, this whole Arizona being 112 degrees thing is not working for me.

I am just thankful that we got to spend some much needed time with friends and family (although I feel guilty that I wasn't able to spend time with everyone I wanted). As my sister mentioned before, I got to go wedding dress shopping with her (so exciting!) and she looked absolutely gorgeous in everything she tried on. 1 more year to go until the big day! Time for me to start planning her bridal show and bachelorette party... it is never too soon :)




We also made a trip to Greenfield Village with our parents (Alex's mom was taking the picture). I haven't been there since I was a little girl, and it is amazing how differently you remember and perceive things when you are younger. I felt like I had deja vu the whole time, yet it all seemed so different from what I remembered. All in all it was a great trip. I felt like I spent most of my time eating, and mainly eating out (not that I am complaining), so for once I am actually looking forward to cooking meals for us. This girl needs to start saving her money.

If you are a Channing Tatum fan and haven't seen this video yet, I'm going to share it with you. My husband showed it to me and it is pretty hilarious.

Happy early birthday to my sista, love you!!

Have a great weekend!





- Jenny

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Happy Early Birthday to Me

Treated myself to a birthday gift yesterday ...

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Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on tour!!

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Cannot even wait !!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Whew

Whew! Again, sorry for the lack of posts these past couple of weeks. Jenny was on vacation, and I was just busy. Time is flyyyyying by! It's hard to even remember what I've been doing. Here are some highlights:

  • Went wedding dress shopping for the first time (more on that later)
  • Chose our cake flavors (also more on that later)
  • Saw This is the End (high-larious)
  • Played Cards Against Humanity (the best)
  • Ate lots of food (including a cheesy gordita crunch with a Doritos Cool Ranch taco, oh yes)
  • Took my mom to a Detroit Citiy FC game
  • Went to Mat's nephew's kindergarten graduation, he is growing up so quickly!
I'm sure there's more. It's the summer though and I love being busy! It's finally been getting nice and hot here, just how I like it. 

Anyway. It's getting late. More on the aforementioned wedding stuff to come. In the mean time, here's a story Fox 2 News did on Detroit City FC. You can catch me gettin' down in the background shortly after 0:48.


Fox 2 News Headlines

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Sorry!

So sorry for the lack of posts this week! We've just been having too much fun. We will be back to regular posting soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd do my latest Sonic shake review: Peanut Butter and Jelly.



This was my favorite shake yet! The sweet + salty combo is just perfect. The "jelly" favor is strawberry, and you can tell that they use real strawberries, as opposed to a strawberry syrup. It was delicious. I slurped it right up.

It's officially summer! Yay!

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Father's Day!

Just wanted to pop in and say Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's out there!

I have definitely been enjoying my vacation, 1 more week to go! I am very lucky to get to spend today at home with my dad! He is an amazing father and I am so blessed to have him in my life.






Love you dad!

- Jenny

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Dick Party

Whether you are a Ryan Hansen fan, a Veronica Mars fan, both, or neither, just watch this video.




*p.s. i wonder how much traffic that title is going to generate, huh? haha.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Nothing Better


The Postal Service and Give Up are definitely in both my top five favorite artists and favorite albums lists, respectively. I love them so much and having the chance to finally see them was amazing. The night didn't go quite like I planned but they put on an incredible show all the same. 


First up was Ra Ra Riot, who were great. 



And then the main event!



I can't think of many other bands that I would be as excited to see live. And I have a new obsession now with Jenny Lewis.

I'll leave you with a couple of songs.






Sunday, June 9, 2013

Weekend recap

Food-filled weekends usually equal fun-filled weekends (and vice versa). This weekend was no exception, except I was too busy shoving food in my face to remember to take pictures.

On Friday, after work I headed with my mom and Jenny's mother-in-law to the airport to pick them up! Afterward we had dinner at Cracker Barrel and then I came home to watch the US beat Jamaica whilst in a food coma.

Saturday, Jenny and I went for a walk and out for crepes -- I went all out with peanut butter, banana, and nutella and an iced french toast latte. Then later on we went to a cousin's graduation party, and later in the evening I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. 


This morning, we woke up bright and early(ish) to go to the Detroit City FC game.


We also got some delicious mac 'n' cheese from the Mac Shack at the game. Mat got "Cheech's Trip" (chorizo, jalapenos, cilantro) and I got the City FC Chicken (chicken, habanero sauce, shredded cheese). 

Now I am eating a bowl of ice cream and mentally preparing for the Game of Thrones finale. Tomorrow we are going to see the Postal Service (!!!), and then the rest of the week I will hopefully get in more sister time!

Since Jenny and I forgot to get a picture of us together this weekend, here's one from her bridal shower:



Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Rando

This post is going to be a long stream of consciousness, so hopefully you can all bear with me :)

This stuff is a lifesaver. I didn't have a chance to wash my hair last night (after also not washing it on Monday night) and my hair looked better than ever today. With other dry shampoos that I've tried, my hair would still look greasy. There is no grease and it adds so much texture. It also makes my hair look a little bit lighter. I am obsessed -- and it's cheap! I kind of never want to wash my hair again.

I'm still reeling over Game of Thrones (and still laughing at @RedWeddingTears - click only if you've seen/read it!), but I am getting so excited for True Blood!

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God bless HBO.

I tried a Sonic Peanut Butter and Banana shake last night and it was delicious. I love bananas but hate banana flavoring -- they use real bananas and there were chunks of banana in it. Sonic also has the best whipped cream! Our cat loves it too, ha .... she gets very excited when she sees Sonic cups.

Awwww
And perhaps most importantly ... we found a DJ for our wedding!! That was the last big thing really, so it feels like a relief! Although we do still need someone to do the ceremony. It's funny, I'm the least worried about that, but it's probably the most important detail, ha. 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. I cannot wait to see Jenny (and to eat at Cracker Barrel .... family tradition, ha!). 

What's new with you?

Correction

Ok so I got a little carried away, yesterday's post was only our 97th post, not our 100th.

So close though! Thank you regardless for reading our blog!

- Jenny

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

100!

Hooray! We made it to our 100th post!

A BIG thank you to our blog readers, we appreciate each and every one of you :)
I am very excited because my countdown to vacation keeps getting smaller and smaller! I must admit something though, I have a terrible fear of flying. I have a lot of fears, but flying is definitely up there. I'm not exactly sure where this anxiety towards flying stems from, and at this point I have flown over a dozen times, yet I still grip the seat until my knuckles turn white during take off. I am hoping to try reverse psychology on myself though. I am going to tell myself over and over again this week that I love to fly, and hopefully I will trick myself into actually believing it. Worth a try right? Luckily, the reward of being home (I still call it home even though I don't technically live there anymore) in Michigan for 2 weeks is more important to me than being nervous for a 4 hour flight.






As excited as I am though, there is a small part of me that always gets slightly sad (not quite the right word but I can't think of anything better) about being in Michigan again, because it reminds me of how much I have missed out on over the years. Yes I try to keep in close touch with my family and friends, but it still doesn't change the fact that we have missed many important moments in their lives, many events that we can never be a part of again. The hardest part about going home this time is knowing that my Grandfather is no longer there. He passed away a few days before Christmas this past year, and I was unable to attend the funeral or be there for my family on that day. Being back is going to serve as a strong reminder that he is truly gone, and the house my father grew up in, the house that was such a big part of my childhood, is no longer there for me to visit. Something I have to come to terms with.

I am very excited to spend some quality time with my friends and family again though, and to try to put my worries and stress aside for a brief period of time.

Have a great night!

- Jenny







Game of Thrones

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I didn't have time to get something together, but I did want to pop in and share my reaction to Sunday's Game of Thrones, via gifs:



(I usually try to keep it clean on the blog, but this one just sums it up so nicely.)



Saturday, June 1, 2013

May Recap

I can't believe that it's June! June is my favorite month, but I may be a little bit biased -- it is my birthday month, after all. But it's also the official start of summer and just a happy month all around. 

May was fun too, as we unofficially kicked off summer and started filling our weekends with plans, but the best part was definitely this past week. 

I had Monday off for Memorial Day, and then on Tuesday we went with Laura of Ginger Bloom and her husband to see Of Monsters and Men!




It rained all day but thankfully stopped for the outdoor show! Our seats were up on a grass hill, so we kept ourselves entertained by watching everyone slip down it -- which thankfully we did not (success).

The next day, Mat and I headed down to Cleveland to see the US take on Belgium!


We lost, but truthfully, since it was just a friendly, we were pretty pumped to see some Premier League players.
Fellaini's afro!
Vertonghen! Vermaelen! Fellaini! Lukaku! Kompany!
Uncle Sam
USA

The game was really fun and then we looked for ourselves on TV afterward ... can you find us? 


The next day we visited the Cleveland Aquarium and then went to Melt before we headed back.



Look at this weird little turtle!
At Melt, we split a Cuban:


And "The Dude Abides," which was meatballs, marinara, cheese, and cheese sticks:

Yeah.
We found out later that they were actually shooting the new Captain America movie just a few streets from our hotel.

(our hotel)
We had to go back to work on Friday, but I can't complain about a two-day work week! All in all it was a fun trip. Friday night I took my mom to her first Detroit City FC game. It had rained during the day but we thought it had cleared up -- it started pouring the second we got there and didn't stop until the game was almost over, ha. But we had fun!

Now, what am I looking forward to in June? Lots, but a few big ones that stand one include seeing the Postal Service on June 10, my birthday on June 29, and having my sister come home !! :D 

It's going to be a great month!