Scenes from the weekend....

First rule of moving? 

Pack booze last. 

Well, more importantly, have booze handy

throughout entire move. 

These shoes have moved me 6 times! 

Good tunes are a must.

Between Prizzy, seeing a friends band,
and impromptu St. Lunatics dance parties in the car, 

we did pretty well this weekend music-wise.

High brow and low brow reading at the Bowers house. 

Jax in the labyrinth of boxes. 

Moving also means eating out. A ton. 

Taco bell, sushi, pizza, Chinese, hotdogs. 

Ohhhhh yeahhhhhhh.

To get to Taco Bell though, 

I had to go to my most hated spot in Chicago;

the Fullerton, Damen, Eltson cross.

Ugh. So annoyed.

Those of you in Chicago unfortunately know 

exactly where I'm talking about. 

The return of cinnamon rolls! 

I've been saving them in the freeze just for the occasion! 

Because of the stress of moving

(and feeling like crap from above foods), 

I ran on the lake for the first time in a while. 

Only bummer of running on the lake on Sunday?
Chick-Fil-A (on my way home) is closed Sundays.
Post run chicken minis are the best.

Also good though?
Post run China Town trips! 

Which is where I remembered that I was born
in the year of the rooster.

Chicken?!
Did somebody say chicken?!

This weekend was very filled
with ton of Arrested Development while packing.
Thank God for Netflix.

How was your wkd?!

Happytime

It's been a stressful week to say the least. 

Making me happy though? 

1. The hubs.

Not only is he calm and collected as we're moving 

and dealing with an annoying theft

(catalytic converter...again), 

but he's just randomly hilarious. 

Out of the blue today 

he pointed at his coffee and yelled to it

"Cool down!"

Hahahaha. 

I love him so. 

2. Being a regular.

Last night we went out for sushi at our fav spot, Yuzu. 

If you haven't been there, go today. 

Other than their sushi making me happy, 

somehow the last 5 times we've been, 

no matter how packed it is, 

we always get a spot at the bar. 

 (Thanks to Chicago Gourmet for the awesome pic!) 

Sitting at the bar is great

because you are basically are in the kitchen. 

Watching an amazing chef cook is such a treat. 

Chef Yut Vong always laughs to himself

watching Anth and I because 

we get so excited about the food.

Other perk of being at the bar? 

Tasty samples from the chef.  

Oh man. Love everything about that place. 

3. Trivia. 

The Threadfriends that I play with 

at Cleo's got 2nd place this week. 

Little to our knowledge, it won us 100 smackers. 

In the words of Joey Lawerence, 

WHOA! 

 (yeah, I went there) 

4. Jason Leonard's photo blog of his daughters. 
The photos are so creative and fun. 

Check it out...it'll put a smile on your face.

How was your week? :-)  

Today has been totally crappy. 

This made me feel better. 

The end.

Whewwwwww.....

In the last 36 hours....

The apartment has been packed.

We've celebrated 2 birthdays, 

1 bouncy and 1 boozy

 (so much fun, I'm in the red!)

2 very successful trips to Half Price Books

(4 giant bins, 4 giant boxes)

 12 loads of laundry. 

1 trip to Buffalo Exchange. 

Now? 

Cue exhaustion.

butttttttt....

I did take some time to take a couple of pics...enjoy! 

JDog enjoyed playing dress-up 

with a bunch of my old Sass costumes. 

He also made sure to park himself 

in the middle of wherever I needed to be.

My dear friend Heather painted these in grade school. 

They've been sneakily passed around for years. 

Who's next ladies?! 

Moving means Coinstar trips. Yay! 

One of my drinks last night

included a slingshot and an ice ball. 

The booze was inside...

Best (and most expensive) Old Fashioned, ever. 

Oh man. So tired. 

Also super sad we couldn't make it to Evansville this wkd

for my niece Ellyson's baptism. 

Thinking of trying to fit a 12 hour drive, baptism and party 

into this weekend though, makes me even more sleepy.

How was your wkd?!

A Little Dab'll Do Ya....

A couple weeks ago I took my first class at Dabble. 

For those of you who don't know about Dabble, 

it's just like it sounds. 

The class meets only one time, 

is pretty inexpensive, 

and you get to "dabble" in something you're curious about. 

Me?

 Pasta Making. 

Of course it was food related :-) 

Here are some pics from the night!  

I definitely wanted to take more, 

but my hands got all goopy 

and I was caught up in the cooking! 

The pasta reminded me a lot of my great-grandma's

recipe for home made noodles, 

which is always a plus. 

It was also a lot faster than I expected

and would be really fun for holidays. 

All in all, 

the class really exceeded my expectations. 

The teacher was super helpful and knowledgeable,

the class size was small, 

I walked away with recipes I could easily use

and the food was great! 

What would you Dabble in?

They've definitely got a little of everything!

Since my last adventure with tamale making was a dismal, 

I'm thinking of trying that next!

Happy weekend!

So many things making me happy this week! 

1. A Happy Monday. 

Returning to work after a great vacation is difficult. 

However, I returned to a Protein Bar breakfast, 

an Easter egg hunt, 

and a sweet gift from my lovely friend Colleen. 

9am on Monday never looked so good! 

2. Internet happiness. 

 I'm sure all of you have seen this video. 

Caine's Arcade from Nirvan Mullick on Vimeo.

I'm sharing it anyway. 

So joyous. 

 And also Texts From Dog. 

So so so so funny. 

3. Party Time!

This weekend is my sister Kara's Bachelorette Party in Chicago. 

I am so excited!

Happy Week! Happy Weekend! 

Happy Birthday Kara! Happy Bachelorette Kara!

Dear Anthony....

I just found Saved By the Bell 

on Netflix Instant. 

Every episode. 

"I'm so excited! I'm so excited!"

and I'm so sorry....

You're going to have to pry me away from the tv. 

Happy trails to you....

A little late, 

but making me happy last week....

1. Hiking

"Wow, Kim and Anthony must be sleeping 

in late today, they're so quiet!" 

Mom and Dad B thought to themselves....

Actually I had convinced husband 

to wake up super early and hike. 

Being that we were surrounded by mountains for 9 days, 

I spent every possible moment outside. 

 

Luckily for me, I've got a husband 

who likes being outside as much as I do. 

Hurray for sun therapy!

2. Real Green Chilies...and on a hot dog.  

My Aunt Dori lived in Albuquerque for 30 years

and we talk about true green chilies all the time.

We've mailed her dried ones, 

she's tried to grow them
in the Southern Indiana's moderate temps,

(once even spraining her wrist to save the seedlings!), 

but never are they as good as the real thing. 

Oh! And there was bacon too. 

Maybe the best hot dog ever.

I thought of her with every bite! 

3. And family. 

Spending a week of vacation with Momma and Poppa B

was truly awesome and so restorative. 

We stayed up late playing cards,
made big life decisions, drank beer at lunch, 

and explored gardens, lakes, zoos and mountains. 

The only crappy part*? 

Leaving.
Hahaha. 

I'll post more vacation pictures soon!

*Husband and I didn't plan this pose. 
The fact that neither of us 
has our eyes open or is smiling, 
absolutely cracks me up.

The Amazing Race

On our last day in San Fran, 

husband and I woke up early. 

(time changes are fun)

Rather than bumming around the city another day, 

we decided to rent a car and drive to Muir Woods

before our afternoon flight. 

Not surprising to people who know us well, 

we found a random

"rent other people's cars for a couple of hours"

site that gave us a Mini Cooper for $15 buck for the morning. 

Not two minutes after booking did someone call 

and say it was in the shop....

but they  had a great '95 Carolla for dirt cheap.

Cheaper than $15 bucks? Awesome. 

Being that we had driven across the country in a Carolla

when we first began dating, it seemed nostalgic and fun. 

We giddily drove 45 min out of the city

into the mountains listening to MJ

with the windows down. 

We got to Muir Woods and it was majestic. 

If you're ever nearby, I strongly suggest the trip. 

It's just nice to be overwhelmed by nature. 

After a couple of hours hiking, 

we knew it was time to head back. 

(still giving us enough time 

for a trip through In-and-Out Burger,

I mean, we were on the West Coast.)

Get back to the car. 

Buckle in. 

Keys in. 

Nothing. 

Radio? Lights? Gas? 

All working. 

Car won't turn over. 

Smiles fade. Heart sinks.

After about 10 min of trying everything 

to fix the car, I grabbed my phone. 

No signal. Ha. Figures. 

So I hoofed it to the pay phone. 

After about 15 minutes of holding, 

yes, while Europeans giggled at me on a pay phone, 

I finally connected to someone from the company. 

 

"Oh, I'm so sorry, we'll send a tow-truck. 

He can probably be there in about 2 hours."

Shit. At this point it was noon. 

In 2 hours, we should be boarding a plane. 

So we made signs. 

Begged. 

Pleaded. 

After about an hour, 

an awesome couple,

who I chased after in the parking lot, 

said, "Oh yeah, of course we'll take you!"

Along with them and their two kids, 

we jammed ourselves into their vacation. 

He was a race car driver, 

their daughter commented on my hiking outfit, 

and their son poked me with his "icky finger". 

It was hilarious.

Thank God for nice people. 

Once back in the city, 

we hopped in a cab to Oakland 

and made it there right in time to check in. 

Whew. We are two lucky ducks.