Back From Vacation

So you might have noticed my lack of posting the last couple of weeks, and I promise it wasn't without good reason. In a little over a week Andrew and I will celebrate our first anniversary. I think I mentioned to just about everyone that would listen the last couple of months, but for our anniversary this year we headed up to Green Bay, WI to watch the Packers take on the Bears, and take them on they did. The game started off a little, ok maybe more than a little iffy, but they pulled it together in the second half of the game and had us on our feet cheering a lot! The game was awesome, the weather was awesome, the whole trip was amazing except for the part where we missed Buddy like crazy. We were super happy to get home and see him. We have already picked our next trip. We tend to always have our next trip on our mind. Next go around we are taking Buddy with us and headed to the mountains in beautiful Colorado. The plan is to rent a cabin up there for a week. Now to stock up on the PTO again at work...

Here are a few photos from the trip

There was a sign in this yard that said bear hunting season started early this year.  Andrew I don't think believed me about how into the games they get in Green Bay until he saw this.

That's right, I got Andrew to take a photo!  I had to tell him it was for the blog!

Clay Matthews baby!

For those that can't see... that is Green Bay 23, Bears 10~ Pack Wins!

Over 70,000 people at this game!

I was going to try and get photos posted of the deck before we left on vacation, but that obviously didn't happen. We finished staining the deck before we left, put the grill together that my parents bought us as a housewarming gift and even used it to have a friend over and grill. Andrew made some pretty amazing BBQ ribs. While we were at Target picking up a few last minute things before we left, we spotted two love seats on clearance for the deck, so we picked those up along with an end table.  Love end of the year clearance.  We have been patiently waiting all summer to find some seating for the deck!  I will do another post about that maybe tomorrow. I have so much to post about this next week and then there are tons of awesome things going on next weekend for me to post about. I love fall!

Another Crazy Wedding Weekend Come and Gone

Well, we made it through another crazy wedding weekend.  This past week Andrew and I thought we might fall over from sleep deprivation, but we made it through and we are getting closer and closer to the Green Bay trip!  Have I mentioned how super excited I am about this trip?  I will let you know when pictures are posted from the weddings last weekend, it may be a little bit.  I can assure you the weddings were amazing!  By the end of the weekend, flowers and I had a love hate relationship.  I was mostly on the hate side.  Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?  I think there can be, and I had enough of flowers for a while.  I am in luck though, my next flower fun isn't until the end of the month!  The month, why/how is it September already?  How can it be that Andrew and I are only a few short weeks from celebrating our first anniversary?  The time has flown!  It hasn't always been easy, but we have figured it out along the way.  We have kind of had a whirlwind year... we became an aunt and uncle, adopted Buddy, bought a house, started our adventures in weddings, bought a new car.  What will the rest of the year bring? Well, an AMAZING anniversary trip is one thing we have to look forward to.  Every wedding we work, I am reminded of how lucky I am to have my best friend by my side every day.  Sometimes I get kind of crabby and this last weekend I was just plain insane, but he puts up with me.  He stands by my side and reminds me to breathe and it too shall pass. 

For a moment, I would like to vent about a current annoyance.  As I sit here watching the democratic convention (before you jump my case, I would have also watched the republican convention but I was working last week), I wonder why we can't have an election year with no negative campaign ads.  Why can't we just have an election where each side voices their opinion and let the voters decide?  Is that too much to ask?  Now, I will tip my hat a little bit here, but I absolutely love Michelle Obama.  I think she is an amazing woman! 

Another vent, cell phones... smart phones are a pain in my butt.  Does anyone else have issues with their "smart phone"?  Perhaps Andrew has the right idea with his old school flip phone.  I don't think he will ever switch until he is forced to because they don't make flip phones phones anymore.  That will be a sad day for him.  The last time we got new phones the sales guy told him the next time around he may not be able to get a flip phone.  Needless to say, he wasn't very happy about it.  As for my smart phone, it sounded like a good idea when I got it, but as with all my cell phones I am getting sick of it after about a year.  Thank goodness for ebay and phones you can get to replace phones you don't like or, in Andrew's case phones you break.  I don't know what he does to his phones, but he goes through them like crazy.  The first phone he had when we were together was busted within a couple of months.  Be backed into a post at work and cracked the screen straight through.  Then we just wore out the screen on one of my old phones.  After that he had an old krzr and that seemed to last him the longest.  The phone we replaced what with last about 6 months before it became a casualty too.  Now, we are back to the krzr and as luck would have it, it has decided to crap out slowly.  When we plug it in to charge to have to put the charge cord just right, or it can sit on the charger all night and do nothing. 

Enough venting for tonight.  Now, I will leave you with a photo of Buddy's Halloween costume.  I think he is pretty much the cutest thing ever! 

Yard Work Update

As promised, here is an update on the yard work.  With weddings the last four weekends, we were happy to have a weekend to finish up some of the projects we had going.  Our main goal was to get the side yard project finished since we have been working on that all summer.  Thankfully, it was a cooler day out so we didn't die out in the heat.  I would love to have this post also include a finished deck, but that didn't happen this week.  I worked on it a little at a time last week, but then it rained on Saturday all day and the deck had to dry out again on Sunday.  Maybe that's what we will finish on Monday for the holiday! 

We still have some mulching to do around the flowers, but things are really coming together.  I'm not sure we are going to plant much more this year, I might though.  The funds are running at little dry from the nine million lbs of brick we bought this year. 

Check out the steps Andrew made!

Here is the full view

And from the other way..

you can see where we need some more mulch.  We will get that finished up before the end of the year.  I also want to plant some bulbs so we have spring color!

There is your update for tonight.  Tomorrow night I may post, but after that, no promises are being made until next week.

A Belated Update

Alright, so I was kind of a slacker last week and didn't get updates done like I wanted to. Things got a little crazy last week, and this week isn't going to be much better.  We have three weddings this coming weekend, which means flower production will start on Wednesday night, it might be the other side of Labor Day before anyone hears from us again.  Andrew is working all week building backdrops and bookshelves for weddings.  Yep, you read that right backdrops and bookshelves.  We take EVERYTHING to weddings. 

As promised, here is the recipe for last week. 

Upside Down Ravioli

8 oz. Jumbo Shells
1 lb. ground beef
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
6 oz. bag baby spinach
1 C. finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
Small container ricotta cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 C. finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 jar Pasta Sauce (your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook jumbo shells according to package (reserve 1/2 C. pasta water)
Cook ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat, drain the grease, stir in oil, spinach, onion and garlic.  Add some of the reserved pasta water, cook 10 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove from heat; add seasoning and blend well.  Let the mix cool and add egg and cheeses.  Pour 1 C. sauce into 9x13 baking dish.  Fill jumbo shells with meat mix and place in baking dish.  Pour remaining sauce over shells.  Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes or until heated.  Makes 4-6 servings.

That's it for tonight.  Andrew and I redboxed Hunger Games... gotta see what all this is about. 

Tomorrow night if it isn't midnight when I get done outside, I will post and update on our yard work.  We were busy bees this weekend.  The deck is partially stained, the path is complete, the stairs from the path are in, the edge work on the path is done, and more flowers have been planted.  I hope to have the deck finished up in the next couple of night, but there is only so much daylight when I get home from work.  I will try to post pictures tomorrow night.  Hope everyone has a good Monday!

I Love End of Season Sales!

As promised, I am going to share my amazing finds with you from last nights shopping trip.  I figured there should be plenty of sales for end of season clothing.  I was right.  Before I share my amazing scores with you, I have a rant.  Since when did all of the latest fashions turn into sacks?  I tried on several things things at Younkers, and they all looked like gigantic bags on me.  If I wanted something totally shapeless, I would wear a garbage bag and tie a rope around the middle.  I wasn't a fan.  After being thoroughly disappointed, I moved on to Eddie Bauer, one of my favorite stand by stores.  I also enjoy Lands End, but after cruising their website the other night, I didn't find anything I couldn't live without. 

I saw on Eddie Bauer's website earlier in the day that they were having a buy one get one 50% sale on their jeans.  I am always on the hunt for a pair of jeans that fit.  Enter other rant re: pants shopping.  I HATE shopping for pants.  My hips and waist and thighs and rear just are not proportional at all.  If I find a pair of pants to fit my thighs and hips, they are huge on my waist.  I have never been one for jeans that make me look like a stuffed sausage.  Some of you might be thinking duh lady, just get a bigger size if you don't want them suctioned to your thighs.  All well in theory, but not in practice.  Even the trouser jeans I tried on last night, which I thought would have a wider leg and mean they weren't suctioned to my thighs, were still suctioned to my thighs.  All in all it was depressing.  I'm not knocking Eddie Bauer on their jeans, they just re-did their jeans to be better for women, I think every company has the same issue.  I feel like jeans for the "curvy" figure aren't curvy enough.  I would much prefer dress pants, their legs are made wider.  Rant over, now onto the bargains.

Rather then stay depressed about not finding pants to fit, I found several new shirts!

Shirt #1 Original price $44.95-- my price $ 17.50

Shirt #2 Original price $39.95--- my price $15.00

Shirt #3 Original price $44.95--- my price $ 5.61

Shirt #4 Original Price $44.95--- my price $ 17. 50

Shirt #5 Original Price $19.95 --- my price $ 7.49

My only pants purchase of the night...

Original price $ 79.95 ... my price $15.00

All in all, a good night shopping.  A total of five shirts and one pair of pants for $80.00.  The t-shirts I will wear all year and just throw on some sweaters over the top.  Now I am off to look for some awesome new scarves.  Off to etsy I go!  Tomorrow I will share the recipe of the week, upside down ravioli.



A Break In The Madness

This last weekend we worked out last three weddings of a four wedding weekend stretch.  We have a weekend off this coming weekend before things go crazy again for Labor Day.  I feel like I got my true intro into wedding world this weekend.  This weekend was the first time I came face to face with a bride that was less than happy with her bouquets.  But, we made a quick fix and all was better.  Now, I would like to teach you all a valuable lesson and please, pass this along to all your friends.  Pay close attention here.... flowers do NOT grow in one consistent solid shade in nature.  Flowers come from nature and therefore, the color cannot be controlled.  For the final part of the lesson, if there are things you do NOT want, it is best to speak your mind before it is down to the wire.  Thank you, that is all.  Oh, and if you want to check out a couple of the wedding from the last few weekends, head on over to Cynthia's blog and check out some photos!

Since we hadn't hit up the fair yet this year, we thought we would venture out there for the final day and half price admission.  It may have been the last day of the fair, but it was still plenty busy and the food was still amazing.  We had to start off with the usual corn dog and root beer.  Yum!  Then we moved onto a pickle dawg.  I saw they were also frying these this year, which was a new option, but Andrew and I decided pickle dawgs just aren't meant to be fried.  And yes, we paid $3 for a pickle spear slathered in cream cheese with ham wrapped around it, don't judge.  After a brief hike to the rather disappointing wine makers exhibit, I decided it was time for some chili cheese fries, and man were they good!  As usual, we had to get our bucket of cookies, which we got for free this year thanks to one of Andrew's coworkers that was working the cookie stand (don't hate me because I have connections).  We also made away with some taffy and finally, I had to pick up a apple turnover.  I think that just about covers everything that we ate.  Oh, and I threw a snow cone in there for good measure.  Now, you might be asking yourself what about the funnel cake, what is a fair without a funnel cake?  We went back and forth on this and landed on no for the funnel cake.  Why?  Because the last three we spent over $5 a piece were total crap.  I think two we blamed on old oil and yes, you can tell when it is old and the other was just bad batter.  Needless to say, I think it has been a couple of years since I had a funnel cake. 

Next weekend we are planning to take advantage of our free weekend and finish up a project in the yard.  Last week Andrew worked on the stairs from the deck to the path.  This coming weekend we are going to work on edging the path and re-doing a couple of spots that are less than level.  I super excited that we might be able to call this project done at the end of this coming weekend.  Who knows, we might even get the deck stained too! 

Stay tuned tomorrow when I show you my scores for end of season bargain hunting!  I love a good clearance!   

A New Bed for Buddy

When we got Buddy, we got him a bed for the bedroom.  When we moved, it made its way out to our living room for him to sleep in when we are watching TV.  That left nothing in the bedroom for him to sleep on at night.  Enter random old pillows we had in the house.  For the last couple of moths, he has been sleeping on a couple of old pillows we covered with a blanket.  He didn't seem to mind at all. 

After a while, I got tired of looking at this random setup in the bedroom and went on the hunt for something a little classier for him to sleep on.  In pricing out dog beds at the pet stores, there was no way I was going to spend $50 + on a bed (sorry Buddy).  I took to Pinterest!  I'm not very handy with a sewing machine, so I had to find something that required little to no sewing.  Anyone remember the fleece tie blankets everyone was making a couple of years ago?  Yep, I made a dog bed using that technique and it turned out pretty sweet if I do say so myself.  I found some adorable paw print fabric that is super soft, and backed it with black fleece.  I spent about $20 on the fleece, the print fleece was a little more expensive, but I had to have it.  For the filling, I cut open the 3 old pillows we had sitting around and filled his new bed with the pillow filling.  Check it out...

I tried to get a picture of Buddy on the bed, but he just ran away.  I think he is camera shy.  The other night I tried to take a picture of him while he was sleeping and he woke up and turned around with his rear facing me.  Andrew thought it was hilarious, probably because he doesn't like photos either. 

Success!!!