Happy Valentine's Day!! & Link-Up

This morning Nick & I exchanged Valentine's Day cards...

His card to me.....

My card to him....

Clearly we have different opinions of this holiday..

Happy Valentine's Day to my Valentine!!!

I hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

Ever wonder if your spouse really knows you?! Well now is the time to find out!

HOST:

The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife

CO-HOSTS:

JanLoves, The Marvelous Flight of Cara, Delightfully Dunn, From Awkward to Art,
Planned in Pencil,   Jessica Who?, Northern Belle Diaries, You and Me are We,
The Family Darr, Songbirds and Buttons, The Grace of Southern Charm, Just Simply Live,
Pretty Living PDX, The Lemonade Diaries, Life as I know it

How long have you been married?

Nick: almost 2 months

Erin:  almost 2 months

Where was your first date?

Nick: Bar Louie Downtown Milwaukee

Erin:  Bar Louie Downtown Milwaukee

Where was your first kiss?

Nick: Parking lot of my apartment

Erin:  In the parking lot outside of Nick’s apartment

Who first said, "I love you"?

Nick: Erin

Erin:  me

What were your wedding colors?

Nick: Chanukah blue & silver

Erin:  Royal blue & Silver

Who is her celebrity crush?

Nick: ?

Erin:  Probably Brian Williams

If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get?

Nick: Leinies for me and a cider for her

Erin:  Probably a Miller Lite for Nick & a UV Cake & Pineapple for me

What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?

Nick: She doesn’t cook – although she does make good omelets

Erin:  I don’t cook

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?

Nick: She doesn’t really cook

Erin:  I don’t cook

What would she say is your most annoying habit?

Nick: shaking the box of Goldfish crackers when I eat them

Erin:  He comes home from work and IMMEDIATELY goes for this giant box of Goldfish crackers,  shaking it LOUDLY between each handful….drives.me.crazy!!!!!!

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?

Nick: reads

Erin:  reads

What's her blog's name?!

Nick: no idea

Erin:  the erin episodes

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today I'm linking up with Jamie to share what I'm loving this week.

 

These breakfast wraps.

I'm obsessed.  

I find that I frequently go through 'food obsessions'.  I'll find something new that I like and eat it over and over and over again.  I'm not sure why I do this?  Anyways - I've had these every day this week for breakfast and even had one for dinner last night..They are so simple and yummy.  Just take a tortilla, throw on some peanut butter and then add granola & whatever fruits you like!  I've tried apple & banana and both are great!  It's also a great snack as well!

 

 

This movie date I have planned for this weekend with Nick

Ok.  So just to be clear, we aren't renting this movie.  Top Gun in 3D is playing at one of the IMAX theaters here.  Nick LOVES Top Gun - LOVES it.  When we were on vacation in San Diego a few years ago we had to go to Kansas City BBQ (aka the Top Gun Bar) and hang out for a night!

When he saw that it was playing at the IMAX, he immediately asked me if we could make a 'date' out of it!  :-)  Seriously, he is more excited than a kid on Christmas!

 

That we booked our hotel for our trip to Chicago next weekend.

We love Chicago.  When we lived in Milwaukee, it was just a quick 75 mile trip south - we would frequently go just for the day, usually taking the commuter train.  Now that we are in MN, the trips require a bit more planning!  We try to go a few times a year.  Nick & I both have friends that live there, so usually we end up meeting up for dinner/drinks with them. 

On our agenda for this trip is the Sears (Willis) Tower and a night out with our friends in Wrigleyville.  I'm sure we'll do some shopping along Michigan Ave as well!

 

 

 

The fact that we have another lazy weekend on the calendar. 

We spent so much of 2012 being so ridiculously busy.  Between both of us finishing up our MBA's and taking frequent trips back to Wisconsin to finish wedding planning - we just got a bit burned out on being away.  This weekend we really have nothing on the calendar (aside from our 'Top Gun' date) and I'm LOVING that!!



ok - I'm not sure why I found this polar bear being lazy so funny... but I did.  Plus - the snow seems fitting for MN!



 

What are you loving today??

 

 

Weekend Recap

This weekend Nick & I headed back to Wisconsin!  It was so so good to go home!!

We got into town pretty late on Friday night, so we didn't really do much...

Saturday 

I went bridesmaid dress shopping for my sisters wedding...it was a bit of a disaster at the bridal shop...

To start with - they wouldn't let us make an 'appointment' for bridesmaids dress shopping, they said they only reserved 'appointments' for brides.  Fine we said, we knew what we were looking for and they said they would reserve a few fitting rooms for us.  My sister had picked out her color and designer and had called ahead and they said they carried 'a bunch' of dresses by that designer.  

Turns out 'a bunch' was 6.  Fail!

We tried on what we could, and when the shop realized it clearly wasn't going well - they became quite snarky.  It was awful.  They told us they could take our measurements, so we agreed - but then they refused to show them to us.  (I'm sure they didn't want us to go order the dresses elsewhere...but they really shouldn't have offered to take them in the first place, they clearly knew we weren't ordering from them)

After we left the shop, we ended up going back to my parents house for lunch and then just shopped online and ordered our dresses.  It turned out to be fine - but the shop was extremely un-helpful!

These are the dresses (and the color) we picked 

(the long dresses are being hemmed to the length of the short one)

After the dresses were ordered and the 'non-family' bridesmaids left, we went over to visit my Grandma.  My Gramps passed away in December, so it's still a bit of an adjustment period for all of us.  When we got there, my Grandma gave us all hats she had knit!

So of course we needed to model!

 We spend Saturday evening just hanging out at my parents.  Nick cooked us up a delicious meal on the grill and we just watched a movie!  It was so nice and relaxing!

even the dogs were relaxed!

Sunday 

We got up early and headed back to MN....as you heard in my previous post, the roads were awful!!

We spent 200+ miles driving though this..

Yuck!

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!

Snowy Sunday

Nick and I had a great weekend back in Wisconsin....  

(More to come on that in a future update..)

Unfortunately we got stuck in a winter storm during our drive back today...  Ugh!  It was awful!  I hate winter weather!!  It took us almost twice the usual amount of time to make the drive back.  Yuck!

We've spent most of the evening just relaxing after the very stressful drive....

Here's a few pics from our drive... we drove for 200+ miles in this...  (awesome)...

As soon as we got back ... we walked around the corner to one of our favorite bars...

This was definitely necessary....

Happy Sunday!!

Fab Friday Link Up!!

Today I'm linking up to celebrate the FAB in my life!  

Here are the things I'm celebrating this week!!

Fab #1 

my Superbowl winnings in the work pool - granted I really didn't care about the game, but I was pumped that somehow I landed the correct numbers to 'win' the first quarter in our work pool!!
 

Fab #2

the phone date I had with my wonderful friend Heather!  We really hadn't talked since the wedding and it was so great to hear her voice and catch up on her life.  She has 3 beautiful kiddos and unfortunately they've been battling the flu for a few weeks at her house - here's to hoping thats over with now!

Fab #3

yesterday was FREE BAGEL DAY at Brueggers!!  The work girls and I were all over that!  Yummy!!

Fab #4- #5

I'm heading back to WISCONSIN this weekend!!!  This counts for at least 2 'fabs' this week!  I get to see my wonderful family, hopefully some high school friends AND we are going bridesmaid dress shopping for my sisters upcoming wedding!!  I CAN'T wait!!

My brother & sister in law @ our wedding

My parents with  my sister & her fiance @ our wedding

my fabulous high school ladies @ my bridal shower

Tell us what is FAB in your life this week!!!

How Well Does Your Spouse Know You?

Ever wonder if your spouse really knows you?! Well now is the time to find out!

HOST:

The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife

CO-HOSTS:

JanLoves, The Marvelous Flight of Cara, Delightfully Dunn, From Awkward to Art,
Planned in Pencil,   Jessica Who?, Northern Belle Diaries, You and Me are We,
The Family Darr, Songbirds and Buttons, The Grace of Southern Charm, Just Simply Live,
Pretty Living PDX, The Lemonade Diaries, Life as I know it

Instructions:

1. Fill out the questions below with your answers
2. Hand over the same set of questions to your spouse and see if they can answer the questions about you. 
3. Write your post and compare both of your answers
4. Link up here on February 14th

I am so excited to read all the answers.  Have fun!

Here are the questions: Feel free to add or take away any questions you want.

How long have you been married?
Where was your first date?
Where was your first kiss?
Who first said, "I love you"?
What were your wedding colors?
What is her most commonly used phrase?
Who is her celebrity crush?
If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get?
What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?
What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?
What would she say is your most annoying habit?
What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?
If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be?
What would you say is your favorite thing about her?
What's her go-to drink at Starbucks?
What's her blog's name?!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Today I'm linking up with Jamie to share what I'm loving....

In no particular order.... here are a few things I'm loving this week!

this weather

don't get me wrong - it still isn't warm by any stretch of the imagination in MN - its MUCH warmer than it was last week.  I absolutely hate winter.  I mean hate it.  I want to curl up in a ball wrapped under about 50 blankets in my nice comfy bed....and sleep from about Nov-April.  'Why do you live there' you may ask?  Well...I'm not exactly sure is our answer.  We're both WI natives - so we're used to winter.... and even though neither one of us enjoy them - we still can't seem to leave for a warmer climate...

This week                                 Last week

my job

yes, I actually said it.  I really do love my job.  I work for a large corporation (30,000+ employees) however, I'm located in a tiny 15 person sales office.  We frequently describe ourselves as a 'family'.  It's great, everyone is friendly, and it's a relatively low stress job.  I'm honestly quite blessed.  I've had jobs that I've DREADED going to every day - and I give thanks often that this one is so great.  My office is way up on the 30th floor of a building - so when it snows (which it does often here) it's almost like we live in a snowglobe!)  We also have a relaxed dress code (hello blue jeans everyday!!) and did I mention we play 'put for a buck' mini golf on Fridays?  Oh - and I won $20 in the Superbowl pool over the weekend!



Friday mini-golf



'snowglobe'



Superbowl winnings!!



donald driver

love him. love him. love him.

I'm (slightly...ok majorly) obsessed with the Green Bay Packers.  Nick & I both are 'owners' of the team.  (ie - we both spent a ridic amount of money to 'buy' Packers stock a few years ago when they went on sale).

anyways..

Donald officially retired today.  He has been with the Pack since 1999 - and is literally my favorite player.  Such a class act.  He's humble, generous in the community and overall a wonderful role model.  This is the type of person you would hope EVERY professional athlete could be.  He is someone you WANT young children to look up to and to aspire to be like.

On the field he holds the Packer franchise records for receptions, yards, number of touchdowns and is 2nd in regular-season games played (to Brent Favre...yes, the spelling was intentional - look for a future post on how NOT to be a role model)

Off the field - he has helped countless people both in the Green Bay area and nationally through the Donald Driver Foundation.  He hosts a golf outing every year, a celebrity softball game, football camp, pool tournament and charity dinner/auction.  The foundation provides scholarships as well as helping families in hard financial times - this man is seriously amazing.  Not to mention - he did win a season of Dancing with the Stars!



seriously... who doesn't like to look at this???

  

my amazing hubby

Seriously. I'm lucky.  I know it.
No marriage/relationship is perfect - but ours is pretty awesome.  We can truly just be ourselves with each other.  We are both pretty independant people and I love that our relationship allows us to not only spend time together, but also to be ok with doing our own things. 
I love that he cooks me yummy meals (frequently, since the only meal I really cook is breakfast...)
He drives me to work every morning, its great because we get an extra 15-20 minutes together every day on the commute in.  It's also great because then I don't have to drive and can just take the lightrail commuter train home at night.



the view on our drive to work

  





us...being 'us'  (and supporting our beloved Green Bay Packers!!!!)



What are you loving this Wednesday?