TOOTIE

Four years ago next month, I walked into the Animal Humane Society in St. Paul to check out a tiny 8 week old little fuzzball I had seen online named Trapper Joe. 

He was wild and independent and just the tiniest bit crazy and he had the most high pitched manic little squeak purrs. It's safe to say he stole my heart from day 1. 

Four years later, he's still wild and independent and just the littlest bit crazy, but he's also so funny and affectionate. He's a creature of habit, but it's so neat to watch him develop new weird little habits over the years. 

For example...

He's taken to cuddling with Matt before bed (always on a blanket, and always between his legs), but once the lights are out, he'll find his way to my side of the bed. 

In the winter he paws at me until you lift the comforter, crawls underneath, circles once, and lays down. His new summer routine involves meowing until I move into the position he prefers- which is big spoon position with my legs partially tucked up- allowing him to curl into my stomach area. 

Lately in the mornings when I wake up and can't find TJ, I know the first place to look: under my bed. Matt has usually left for work by this point (I sleep in, what can I say) and TJ is curled up under the bed. He usually emerges eventually once I've woken up. 

When I would shower, he used to hop up, pace between the curtains, and sit on the tub. Now? He waits until he hears the water stop, the drain plug lifted, and without fail he's sitting on the sink or the toilet waiting for me to come out. I pop my head out of the shower and he meows. I climb out, put on my robe, lower my head, he gives me one good nuzzle before hopping down and walking away. 

He's always got his nose all up in EVERYTHING you're doing, often annoyingly so- but when I find myself snapping at him I just remember how nice it is to have such an affectionate and loving little guy. If M and I are working on a project (painting, woodwork, staining) that he shouldn't be in the room for, and we kick him out? He sits outside and WAILS. And no, I don't mean "meow" I mean he honest to God just howls and wails. He hates being away from us. He's got the worst case of kitty-FOMO I've ever seen. 

Which means when we come home from a weekend away, or haven't been around a lot at night during the week due to other obligations, he gets so needy. 

Besides marrying M, adopting TJ (or Tootie as I more often call him) was the best decision we ever made. He completes our family in such a big yet understated way. The house just feels warmer with him padding around and being weird.  

Happy 4 year birthday/gotcha day, Toots. You're my furry-best-friend, and I love you to pieces. 

FALL IN 10 SECONDS.

HOLA. 

When I kept getting comments on the McDonald's Case post, I started to wonder if it had really struck a nerve. Then I realized it was the most recent post on my blog, ya know.. back on OCTOBER 16th.

Sooooo hey, I'm alive.

Here's a recap of our fall (since winter is here with a VENGEANCE) in reverse order, through photos. 

{camped out in front of the heat register after shoveling- which was a total bitch.} 

{tootie contemplates winter, tucked under his blanket. He loves being snuggled into a blanket}

{Hanging out with Squish- he fancied himself when I turned on the reverse camera, which made for this spectacular photo} 

{spooning my bitty- this fall involved a lot of cat cuddles. JUST LOOK AT THAT FACE. wahh}

{sideways dessert from our day-of-the-dead themed dinner party. Being an adult is fun :) } 

{day-of-the-dead themed birthday dinner party. Seriously so much fun.} 

{M's Halloween pumpkin...}

{and my uncle's ridiculously over the top Pumpkin Carving Party- because everything he does is over the top. M won third place!}

Sooo that's an abbreviated version of our fall in 10 seconds. Because now it's winter in MN.
I will say, there's a lot of pressure on Minnesotans to soak up spring, summer and fall and BE OUTSIDE and DO ALL THE THINGS, so I for one tend to embrace the first few months of winter as a chance to hibernate and recharge. That of course expires in, say, February right about after my birthday when I realize we have THREE MORE MONTHS of this frozen hell. 

But for now, I'm loving the flannel jammies, warming up under some blankets after work, candles burning, and a snuggly kitten who is also bracing for a long winter. 

I'm hoping to get my poop in a group in the next week or two to make a little announcement. I'm not trying to overhype it, but I've been toying around with the idea of opening up a "shop" for some time and am finally taking steps to do so. Some of the stuff will only be available locally, unfortunately, due to the nature of the items but if there's enough interest, maybe I'll delve into shipping. I just think it'll be a hassle, since it's wood- and would be heavy and cumbersome.. but never say never! 

stay tuned. :) 

CATS.

I was going to refer to this as some sort of weekend recap but in looking at the few photos I took/am posting I notice a theme: cats. My life, in one word, really.

Friday night M and I made dinner and had a couple over for some impromptu drinks when I happened to see them while driving home from the grocery store.
Weekends (and really every day, now) means tootie gets to snuggle, so here we are spooning before bed.
This is actually how we sleep (minus the eyes open and the light on)- he's my little spoon. Love him.

Saturday I was pretty spectacularly worthless. 

I had every intention of being productive but when M left for an all-day golf tournament with my dad, brother and cousin I found myself on the couch watching back-to-back(-to-back) episodes of Sex and the City on HBOGo. [As an aside, it's amazing what I see when I watch them in order and after all these years I can finally say I sort of understand why people hated Big so hard. I get it.] 

I did manage to put away heaps of laundry that had been sitting in my closet for most the summer, but this picture of TJ pretty much sums up the day: 

I had plans to go over to my dad's and hang out with them after the tournament but I should've known what I was in for when I got a text from M as I was heading over that simply read, "sleepy." .... sure enough I drive 25 minutes and find 2/3 of them passed out on the couches. My 1/3 being one of them, my brother the other. Oy. I lasted 40 minutes before telling them I'd see them the next day (which was consequently my brother's birthday) when they were all more conscious, and I dragged M home. 

Sunday we lounged, I went to the gym and Costco, and we ran errands to Goodwill and Target. I got some new flats for Italy, since my other ones have the bungee-heels that KILL my ankles after a long day, and I actually bought 2 shirts at Goodwill (LC|Lauren Conrad top and a brand new with tags on top from Target for a total of $11 !!!!)-- I need to shop here more often. I exercised some self restraint in re-shelving a top from Banana Republic and American Eagle as well. I have to say I'm usually not big on Goodwill because I hate picking through the racks but I may be a convert (also, see the previous post on the B word..). 

Sunday night we picked up a small strawberry tort and headed over to my dad's for a birthday dinner for my brother. We plopped Lucky at the table and he thought this slice was his. #cruel 

Don't feel too bad though, dad snuck him a lick of whipped cream (in case anyone is wondering why this cat is like.. 100 lbs.)

The big 2-4!

Overall a low key weekend. 

The next 2 weeks feel packed- tonight we're using a Let's Dish gift card to make ourselves some freezer meals for when we inevitably return from Italy and are jet lagged and lazy; a HH on Jess's patio is on deck, and another HH/movie night with book club to discuss Courtney Robertson's book, "I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends" (#BachelorNation- yes, it's true) and watch If I Stay, which was last month's book. 

So, stay tuned. Maybe I'll take photos. 

I've also been thinking about my mom a lot lately.. per usual, but have a post drafted and a few others stewing so maybe I'll publish those as well. 

#QUISTYSDIRTYTHIRTY

I heard on the radio not too long ago that the way to make a weekend feel longer is to actually DO more things over the course of the weekend. 

Not necessarily run yourself ragged, but having some plans can stretch those 2 and a half days. Not that I'm ever ready for Monday to roll around but I didn't dread it as much as some weeks. This weekend was SO great: full of tons of fun events and yet relaxing at the same time. This weekend was all about that guy I married, M! 

On Sunday, M turned 30, so I planned us a whole weekend of surprises. 

Friday night (not pictured) we went to dinner with his mom and step dad to kick off the festivities. 

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to hit the road to Surprise #1. I was concerned about the weather but thankfully the forecast proved true: overcast, but no morning rain, which was perfect for a morning of hiking at Taylors Falls. Taylors Falls is about 40 minutes straight north of Minneapolis/St. Paul, followed by another 20 minute straight east, until you hit the Minnesota/Wisconsin border. 

The only thing I was disappointed with was that the trails weren't LONGER. This was seriously the most beautiful trail I've ever seen (not that I've done a TON of hiking), but wow. I honestly felt like I was in Montana or somewhere significantly more rugged than a typically farm-area of Minnesota. 

After hiking we devoured lunch at Romayne's in town.. all that exercise worked up quite the appetite. 

We hopped in the car and made the long, rainy drive home to shower up and get ready for Surprises 3, 4, and 5. 

Surprises 3 and 4 were stops at 2 local breweries in town: 612 and Indeed (for you locals). M loves beer, and finding new beers, so I knew this was right up his alley. A selfless date-idea indeed for the girl who doesn't drink beer (and poo on 612 for having nothing besides water from a Culligan stand for us non-beer drinkers.. womp). Thankfully Indeed had flavored San Pellegrino. 

After encouraging him to nurse the second beer a bit longer (he slammed his beer at 612 in about 20 minutes.. I had allotted about an hour for each brewery.. haha.. I think he was just excited to keep the day rolling :)) we drove over to Surprise 5: Dinner at Hola Arepa. Ho-ly SNOT that was a fabulous dinner. For locals- Hola Arepa was (still is) a food truck during the week in downtown Minneapolis and they recently opened a restaurant on 35th and Nicollet. It was out of this world tasty. 

Surprise 5.5 was going to be dessert after a walk around Lake of the Isles, but we took home dessert from Friday night's dinner so we went home and scarfed that and watched The Wire instead. 

It's quite possible I was more excited about Sunday's surprise than Christmas morning, but first, Sunday morning. We woke up early and walked to the Caribou that's about 8 blocks from our house, where we sipped coffee on the patio and split a lemon poppyseed bread. 

By the time we got home and showered I knew Surprise 6 was close. M's dad lives in Moorhead, MN (about 3 hours northwest of where we live) but emailed me and told me he was going to be at a motorcycle rally in Iowa and would be passing through on Sunday on his way home. It worked out perfectly to surprise M with a birthday lunch with his dad. He had NO idea, I was very casual about everything... right up until I saw the motorcycle drive by the front of our house to head out back and park. M wasn't expecting anything so he didn't glance twice at it but I hopped up and began pacing as M's dad took FOREVER (it was probably 7 minutes but OMG I was jacked up) taking off all his cycle gear and coming inside. I honestly thought I was going to pass out I was so excited because I know how much M loves spending time with his dad. 

I opened the back door and motioned him in, but put my finger over my lips to tell him to not say anything.. and as we walked into the living room I said "Surprise #6 is here!" and the look on his face was PRICELESS. It was similar reaction to the surprise trip to Florida reveal. 

I had arranged for M's sister who lives in the cities to come to lunch, too and realized I never told M's dad about it, so that was a fun surprise for both of them when she showed up. His dad had told me he wanted to be "in and out" since he had a long drive in front of him so I picked a place nearby with fast service typically (Rojo at West End, for locals- again!). We got back home around 1:45 with plans to visit for a little bit when the guys realized the World Cup final was on at 2:00. Well, "in and out" slowly devolved into all 4 of us watching the final together (and when I say I watched I mean I watched the entire first half then napped through the second. woops). So, he hit the road later than expected but I know how much M loves watching sports with his dad, too.. so that was extra special. 

By the time his dad left we only had about 45 minutes until the 7th and final surprise of the weekend, which was going to be a casual surprise get together with some of his friends. Nothing huge, just about 12-14 of us in a back room at a local restaurant. Except, unfortunately 6 people bailed shortly before so it was a smaller group of 8 of us.. but it was almost preferable that way.. it was a small enough group that we all had one big conversation and it was an eclectic mix of his friends so it was nice to chat with people I sometimes wouldn't. We also got to hear some big news from 2 of his friends- they're 12 weeks along and expecting a baby in January! This is the first baby in a while, and they just got married in April 2013, so I'm excited to see the wave of kids start, now that almost everyone is married in the group! 

That was the last surprise of the day- after which we head home and watched more of The Wire- duh. 

I'd be remiss to not mention that it was also TJ's honorary birthday. We got him in late August and he was about 8 weeks old so we estimated his birthday back to be around early July. Since I was a bad cat-mom and spaced it until this past weekend, we celebrated tootie's birthday too. He's 3! So he was treated to some sloppy smelly wet food and just wolfed it down, squealing and purring the whole time- hilarious. 

It may have been M's birthday weekend but I had SO MUCH FUN planning it and enjoying all of it with him. I love doing things like this and I think he had a fantastic weekend. Make me want to plan weekends like this "just because" more often! 

LIFE LATELY

Hi, I'm here. 

It seems like every weekend that passes, by the time I realize I haven't posted it's Monday or Tuesday, and then next thing I know it's Wednesday so I pretty much give up on that week and vow to try again next week. And on, and on, and on. 

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to lately: 

Lots of snuggling with my buddy:

       

     

Embarrassing my buddy by putting scarves on him and making him pose for pictures: 

Last Friday, due to the fact that a large contingent of my co-workers live over an hour away from the office in Wisconsin, my boss let us work from home. It was a rare moment for me, who has never really been a "work from home-r".. but TJ really enjoyed having me around, and I enjoyed working from bed. M also worked from home.. so it was a nice start to the weekend.

That night I went and saw "Once" with M's mom, his step-sister, and his sister. I'm really not a musical person and find myself antsy for it to get over by about halfway through the second act, but I actually really enjoyed this one. It was more modern, with modern sounding music- and I liked it a lot. There's a movie "Once" - which I googled in the car on the way home- and while I'm intrigued, the actors in the movie look NOTHING like the play and I think I'll have a hard time with that so I may wait a bit until it's not so fresh in my memory. 

We went to Crave beforehand in downtown Minneapolis, too. #nom:

Saturday I judged moot court at my law school with my #LSBFF (law school bestest friend forever-- long story, but I couldn't resist) and then we went antiquing at Hunt & Gather in Edina. I took a brief nap, and then M and I went to check out Yard House, a new restaurant near our place. It was SO. GOOD. The menu was huge, I had these orgasmic parmesean truffle fries, egg rolls, and M got a giant deconstructed spicy tuna roll (M and I shared the appetizers but the heaping mounds of avocado on the sushi prevented me from partaking..what with the allergy and the vomiting that takes place):

M had a client dinner Monday and I was the laziest sack of $hi* on the planet. Being too lazy to cook for one devolved into ordering delivery, which devolved into being too cheap to hit the delivery minimum and going to pick up Pizza Hut and then becausewhynot ..stopped for booze at the liquor store across the street from Pizza Hut. Total 100% #fattynight:

We've also been enjoying the warm weather (FINALLY) and cracking the windows. TJ has been able to expel some winter cabin fever by sniffing all the live long day. Meow: 

 

So that's that. I swear I'm going to bring out my nice camera this weekend... I say that every weekend. So far we have a surprise birthday thing tomorrow, brunch with M's mom, dinner with my dad Saturday, lunch with a friend Sunday, and watching the Masters on Sunday with  M's sister and her bf. I need to squeeze in some time to pick up decor for the bridal shower I'm throwing next weekend. All good stuff, and I'm looking forward to the weekend!

PIGGY WEEKEND

Bonus about getting a new phone is that it's actually feasible to upload photos straight to blogger, and then continue to edit a post on the computer. Not that this function didn't exist on my android, it's just that the camera was awful and the chances of the upload attempt working on any given day were about 1 in 10. 

I'm drinking the iPhone kool-aid pretty hard, guys. I love it. 

This weekend was a relatively lazy one, but a good one nonetheless. 

It started with a slow wake up Saturday... due to our absolutely out of control cat, we sleep later on the weekends now. We'd probably wake up around 8:30 or 9 except by that point TJ has been howling and pacing back and forth outside our bedroom for an hour.. which means little actual sleep. We crack, let him in, and then pass back out from mental exhaustion until about 9:30 or 10. 

It's worth it though because-- that FACE.

                               

This particular Saturday involved frittatas.  I even went out and bought a special pan (that we discovered stained our sink slightly from it's maiden voyage earlier in the week: pro tip, do NOT let a cast iron skillet soak in the sink for an extended period of time. Womp.) The frittatas were good though and the ring of grime is now so faint that we've deemed it tolerable. (We being me, I still hear M scrubbing it sometimes in the kitchen). 

This was also my attempt at being sort of artsy with my food photo but it's quite clear I put my frittata on the floor..which I realize is incredibly weird. (So weird that before I did it I told M, "you can't make fun of me for this." -- he did. 

{Paranoid TJ hears the mailman- firmly believes death is imminent.}

Friday night M and I went to a place called Pig and Fiddle- sort of a modern take on scandanavian comfort food. It was delicious.

Saturday my streak of bad luck (scum ring, included) continued when in less than 5 minutes I managed to crack the side mirror of our new-ish car, and then crack the bumper. I realize how incompetent this makes me sound and I'm livid it happened, but the bumper was solely a result of the overcorrection after realizing what happened to the mirror. OH and lest I forget to mention, earlier in the week a rock flew up and hit the windshield and left a small nick. 

I came back in the house (after making a barely-composed trip to the post office after doing the damage to the car) SOBBING to which M of course responded very panicked.. lord knows what he thought happened.. and I proceeded to curl into a ball in his lap and cry "don't be made at me!" .... I'm such a grown up, guys. 

After sitting perfectly still for a few hours (lest I break anything else) and being emo a good majority of the afternoon, M and I went out to eat again- this time to Pig Ate My Pizza (notice a  theme? Piggy weekend? GET IT!?)

This is kind of a hipster bar/restaurant (very tiny, no reservations, but SO worth the wait) with some gourmet artisan pizzas. The owners of this also own a spot called Travail -- which is a way more high end restaurant. The food was delicious and the company wasn't so bad either. :)

                               

{philly cheese steak pizza.. to die for.}

Sunday I went to a barre class after reading Lisa's post about it and realizing my Liftime offers barre classes for free that a lot of people pay a lot of money at a special studio to attend, so I figured I should make the most of my gym membership.

Holy. crap. I. hurt.-- muscles are burning that I wasn't sure existed before (so cliche) but it was such a great work out. It's something I hope to keep up since it's on a Sunday, and not TOO early..and maybe if I make my way over there every week I'll be more consistent with grocery shopping on a set day too since they're right next to each other- which is what I did today and it was fantastic.

I may post more about it later this week but basically it's a bunch of small, tight movements (ballet centered) that you repeat over and over. My thought process each rep went something like this "oh, holding these itty bitty weights and pulsing my arms up and down? I got this... 2-3-4..okay this is starting to hurt a little... 5-6-7-.. it's embarrassing how much pain I'm in.. 8-9-10.. AAGHHHHH"... hurts so good.

Tonight we went to my dad's.. two of my mom's high school friends brought over dinner and visited for a while, which was nice.  I got home, prepped lunch for the week, and am hoping to squeeze in a nail-paint session (BADLY needed) and some reading before bed.

Anyway, that's about it. Hope you all had a good weekend! I took some bedroom photos, that I'll post this week. It's not finished, but it's as finished as it's going to be for a little while now (need to decide about a paint color.. you'll see..and a little bit more more art, a new rug eventually.. but otherwise it's pretty much done). I've never been so in love with a room.. our bedroom upstairs went from a place I'd only go when it was time for bed- it was cold, darker, and so not cozy... to now my absolute favorite room in the house. :) Can't wait to share it. 

MASTER MANIPULATOR

It was at about 12:45 a.m. last night (this morning?) that I realized Matt and I have raised a furry little monster manipulator.


When our room was upstairs, we wouldn't let TJ sleep with us during the week. He generally ran amok around 3 a.m., which meant waking up, locating him, trying not to fall down the stairs, as we kicked him out and shut the door. Sleep usually came pretty quickly and peacefully after that.


However, moving our room downstairs has created a problem we didn't anticipate.
We've sort of let him sleep in our room now during the week, but usually only if it's a non-morning-workout day for Matt or I.. because we need some good sleep those nights. Apparently TJ has enjoyed this a little too much, because he goes BALLISTIC when we don't let him in the room.


You people with dogs and no cats are probably eye rolling and wondering, "how much of a ruckus can a tiny 8 pound cat make...?"


Well, two things happen in our house now. We either let him sleep with us until about 4 when he gets annoying and we boot him.. he usually eats soon thereafter and is not as big of a pain, or the alternative- we leave him out of the room from the start, and what happened last night unfolds.


12:45 a.m., TJ must have finally realized it's bed time and he wasn't invited. He's PISSED. He starts with a small mewl. "waaa....................waaa waa. waaa."


He waits maybe 30 seconds before realizing he's not being acknowledged. His mewl turns into a louder wail. I say wail, and not meow, because it's not a typical cat meow. It actually sounds like he's screaming. Have you seen the screaming goats video? That's my cat. "AAAHHH, ... AHHHHH."


45 seconds go by, he's at DEFCON 1 now (fun fact, 1 is actually more severe than 5): "BLLAAHH!!! BLAAHHH!! BLAAHHH!!!" he then begins his assault on 2 fronts and starts THROWING HIMSELF at things. The door. The old dresser sitting in the office. He'll rear up and start to mess with our doorknob. It'd be hilarious (still kind of is) if I wasn't so tired. I weigh my options, because upstairs we could ignore his howls through the door or even with a pillow, he's so ornery not even a pillow over my head will help. I open the door and surrender (I'm going to be a great mother) and see him standing there. He lets out a cheerful little "Mrawr!" and is just purring and purring.. happy as a clam. He runs over to the bed, hops in, lays down, and purrs so hard he can barely breathe.


All of this to only get booted at 4 a.m. again when he decides its time to run back and forth on the headboard.


I've created a monster.

Every monday morning.

I don't have much in the way of a weekend recap for you guys.
Friday M and I went to the Galaxy Drive in and ate like fatties.
Saturday afternoon we took my grandma for lunch and guess what? Ate like fatties.
The remainder of Saturday was too hot to function (and just because MN gets to -30 in less than 5 months doesn't mean I have to roll over and take 95 degrees and humidity. THEY'RE EQUALLY AWFUL, people).. M and I decided to start a new show: Orange is the New Black. We finished all 13 episodes in 2 days. Soooo, that's an indication of why I took no photos this weekend.
Sunday we went to M's mom's for breakfast, and.............ATE LIKE FATTIES.
and Sunday night we went to M's friends' for dinner, and I'm not even going to finish the sentence.

I do have something to share with you this morning, though.
It's a little antecdote about my favorite furry friend, my bitty kitty.

This has become a bizarre ritual that I really can't explain, but it seriously cracks me up every time he does it.
When I hop in the shower in the morning, TJ will run into the bathroom, stick his head in at the far end, and meow at me. Then, he hops up onto the tub ledge, and paces/sits there until the water stops. (Extra fun mornings involve TJ not realizing the water is still running... few weeks ago I was lathering up my hair with my eyes closed,.. I open them up, look down, and see a dark blob at my feet. Oh, just TJ hangin' out. I start screaming because the water is on, he PANICS, and if you've never seen a cat try to crawl out of a wet bathtub mid-freak, it's hilarious.)

Anyway he usually waits for the water to stop. Then, like clockwork, when he hears the shower plug release, he hops into the tub, walks over to the drain, and does the same. damn. thing. every time. We have a hair-catch over our drain (my bad)...and he'll lift up his left paw, and slide the hair catch off the drain, and then stare down the hole. Sometimes he'll shove his paw down there, but usually just looks. Then hops out of the shower, trots off, and cleans his wet paws.

Strangest thing ever. I finally had the wherewithal to snap a picture of it post shower today. (Ignore the drain that's obviously in need of a good scrub down).

Anyway, happy Monday, people. :)

When the cat's away..

The mouse will do sake bombs for the first time. 

Yeah, that happened. Let's back up though. 

This past weekend was M's bachelor party weekend up in Duluth, MN. The guys rented out a ginormous cabin, drank, played yard games, golfed and fished. AKA M's version of heaven. 

Some of the girls decided to seize on this opportunity and do something that the guys don't particularly enjoy anymore- go out in Uptown.

We started at Stella's where we had dinner. 

Because I'm super classy, I was the girl who ordered chicken wings at the seafood place. Woops. 

We decided after to relive our younger years and head over to William's Peanut Bar. It's exactly what it sounds like: a cesspool of college kids packed into a dingy basement eating peanuts and discarding the shells on the floor. On our walk, we were going to pass by Chino Latino- which is the exact opposite of William's. A super classy, modern, asian/latino fusion restaurant. We got on the subject of sake bombs and when Holly and I mentioned we'd never done one before, Brooke decided it was imperative we do one. So we marched in, plopped down, and bombed. 

I will say, I'm not a fan of vodka, OR beer, which is apparently what comprises a sake bomb.. but together they were remotely tolerable. I was still the last to finish mine since chugging isn't my forte. 

Holly then bought everyone a round of mojitos, which were on special and also delicious. 

The girls with our sake apparel:

We then continued on to our original destination and wound up at William's. 

We were easily the oldest people there, but still had a good time. 

 

Holly decided before we left that she wasn't done with her peanuts so she dumped the basket in her purse. I recall telling her she's going to regret that decision in the morning, what with all the peanut dust. 

 

I will say, I did thoroughly enjoy them at the next bar... which was Bar Louie. Uptown is hipster central and apparently Bar Louis is where all the fratsters hang out. We were standing in line when Katie told the bouncer she taught the owners' daughter in dance. After some light quizzing, we ended up getting to skip the line and go right in. #bonus! It was here that someone actually tried to use f.e.m.a.l.e. m@$terb@tion (I don't need that as a search term for the blog) as a pick up line on me. I promptly told him I was married (close enough) and he's effing disgusting. I will say, I enjoyed our ridiculous night out, and getting a little wild, but I'm so glad I don't need to use it as a means to meet a dude anymore. oofta. 

I spent the night at Brooke's, who lives by me, so she could give me a ride to the car in the morning. Woke up ridiculously early given the fact that I went to bed at 3:30 (after a pizza, of course) and went downstairs to chug water for an hour. Definitely was the turning point between debilitating hangover, and not. Snuggled with this guy:

I came home and watched a movie, and then after the immense guilt of watching my neighbor weed, seed, and water his lawn, I hauled my ass to Home Depot to finally get flowers to plant in our window boxes (as well as some herbs, a hanging basket, and potted plant). I figured it was now or never.

I then posted this photo which apparently repulsed some of you ;-). I only had one glove so I pretty much said "F it." and went for it.

 

Spent the rest of the day Saturday hanging out with this guy..

and finishing (almost, just a small handful more!) addressing wedding invitations. Now I just need to finish designing them and print them!

Sunday I met Jess, Lauren and Syndal for coffee and had some lovely conversation, per usual. Stopped at Rainbow on the way home to pick up some last minute provisions before hosting my family and M's dad for father's day. It wound up being a beautiful morning and afternoon, which we enjoyed out on the deck.

How was your weekend? I'm off to crawl into our cool basement and snuggle with the bachelor-boy. He's going to be crashing early tonight. ;-)

Sundays of nothingness..

..Result in weekend recaps on Tuesday.
Guys, I just can't be bothered to do anything on Sunday, and that includes uploading and editing photos, or writing a blog post.

This weekend was equal parts lazy and productive.
Friday night M and I had a "fatty night"...

I had asked M if he wanted to watch a movie and have pizza as a "date night" Friday, so I beat him home, stopped by RedBox and got Pitch Perfect (2nd time seeing it, never gets old), and Django Unchained. We ordered pizza, and laid on some cushions on the floor, and watched the movies. It was perfect.

Saturday I cleaned the house, and did a ton of laundry. Super blog-worthy.
Snuggled with my buddy, obviously: 

M and I went out to eat once we realized we had nothing in the house for dinner. We read our book and headed to bed.

Sunday I had lunch with a few law school girls at a Thai place down the street. So, I clearly did Cinco de Mayo right.  (O_O) M went to watch the Wild playoff game with a friend at the bar (aanndd we won! in overtime! woot!) I stopped by Michael's for some wedding crafts, which I'll hopefully post about sometime this week.

Got home, and snuggled some more.

 

M and I went on a walk around a park near our house, and then decided..since we both were pretty full from big lunches, to just go to a bar over at the West End for an appetizer and drinks. Turned out Rojo, the mexican restaurant (duh?) was having a block party for Cinco de Mayo. Being the crotchety old folks we are, M and I headed to the restaurant across the street- Crave. I've never actually been to Crave, but we sat outside on the patio and I had a tomato salad.

 

It was heavenly, and I currently have the ingredients in my fridge to try to duplicate it for lunches this week. I used to have a major aversion to tomatoes.. (I still do, when it comes to sandwiches or burgers. That squishy burst of fruit just weirds me out).. but I've come to love them on salads, especially when paired with mozzarella (only the fresh kind) with some balsamic. Drool.

I had every intention to go get groceries on Sunday, too.
This was as close as I got: 

Haiiiii Rainbow. We went tonight though, so, close enough. I feel the same way about grocery shopping on Sundays as I do with blogging. I prefer lounging, apparently.

My favorite routine with the kitty, when I get home, is to hoist him on my shoulders like a baby, scratch his ears, and let him peek outside. I snapped this pic of our shadows on Sunday night when we got home. 

Overall, it was a good weekend. :)

Unrelated, but kind of funny in a "ha ha, nobody tells me anything" sort of way: Had a mini-panic attack at work this morning when I realized the scheduling order said our motions were due 2 weeks before the first date of the trial block (which was May 13th). Although we had a date certain of May 20th. (When initially scheduling out cases, the court will give a big window of time when the trial will occur, called a 'trial block'... as the dates get nearer, if the case is showing no time of settling, they try to give you a more specific day... known as a 'date certain'). 

So I'm working up the courage to email the partner to ask for an update on the motions, essentially prompting her to hopefully realize we missed the deadline. It was then I was informed our trial block was moved to JULY. #nobodytellsmeANYTHING. Crisis averted, but man. I was a hot mess for a few minutes there.

Tomorrow night (er, tonight, by the time most of you are reading this) is my first photography class! I conned Jess into taking it with me. :) any of you Minnesota ladies with DSLR's- it's not too late!! It's Tuesday nights from 7-9, tomorrow is week 1, but you could still probably get in late with 4 full weeks!