10 on Tuesday

10 things I'm looking forward to this summer  (in no particular order)

1 - Eating outdoors at restaurants

I love to eat, seriously, food is the best.  I LOVE summer, because you can sit outside, on the patio & enjoy your meal while people watching.  Nick and I are fortunate enough to live right in the middle of Denver's Restaurant Row... so we have TONS of great restaurants right at our fingertips!!

At our favorite local Mexican Restaurant

2- June trip to Wisconsin for my Grandpa's 90th Birthday

My Papa Joe turns 90 the 2nd weekend in June.  We are flying back to Wisconsin and making the 3 hour drive to attend his party.  Growing up I was so very lucky to have him live just across the field from us.  He is the kindest, most gentle human being I know.  He attended every sporting event I ever had and was always good for sneaking us some candy when my parents weren't looking!

Dancing at my wedding, he had taken the prop glasses from the Photo Booth & was wearing them around

3 - Flip Flop Season
Does this really need an explanation?  Flip Flops are seriously the best.
I've heard good things about Rainbow Sandals - has anyone tried them?

4 - Patio Drinking
Yes..

5 - Hiking trips in the Rockies

6 - Our trip to Chicago for Jeri & Dan's wedding
Our friends Jeri and Dan are getting married in August in Chicago.  We are planning on making a long weekend out of it.  I'm so happy and excited for them!!

With Jeri and Dan in Chicago, 2012

7 - July trip to Milwaukee for Summerfest (and to see my boyfriend Luke Bryan)
Milwaukee in the summer is like no other place I've ever been.  People come out of the woodwork to celebrate & it is the #1 thing I miss since we moved away.  Summerfest is the Worlds Largest Music Festival.  It's 10 crazy days on the Lake Michigan Lakefront.  Every night there is a headliner, but there are also a TON of free stages as well!  We have tickets to Luke Bryan as the headliner & I'm sure will check out quite a few other shows while we are in town!!

8 - Driving with the windows down
Best feeling ever - sometimes I wish I was a dog so I could stick my head out & just take it all in.

9 - Milwaukee Brewers Baseball
We are going back to Milwaukee for an entire week!!  I'm literally so excited I may wet myself!!  Between the Brewers & Summerfest & catching up with friends and family - it is going to be amazing!!

10 - Memorial Day trip to Santa Fe
Santa Fe has been on my bucket list since pretty much forever.  When we decided to move to Denver I was SO EXCITED since it's only about a 5 hour drive away.  After nearly 2 years of talking about it, we are FINALLY going over Memorial Day!

What to do when its rainy in Denver

Usually Denver offers excellent sunny weather & I have no complaints... This weekend was not that. This weekend was cold, windy, rain/snow mix and gross.  Since Denver normally has such amazing weather, we usually spend our weekends outside; either at the park down the street, walking around and exploring the bars/restaurants in our neighborhood or being 'one with nature' in true Colorado fashion.

Friday we didn't even venture back out after getting home from work.  We turned on the fireplace - nestled under some blankets & finished the last few episodes of Season 2 of Better Call Saul.   Have you watched this show?  Both Nick and I were HUGE Breaking Bad fans.  We binge watched the first 4-5 seasons during a cold and snowy winter a few years back in MN.  Binged to the point where we were both dreaming we were drug lords.  We were obsessed with the show.

When Better Call Saul first came on the air, we tried to watch it.  Really, really tried, but I think it was just too soon after Breaking Bad (for us at least) to get into it.  Fast forward a couple of years and we started DVRing it again, turns out the show is awesome and we were hooked!  If you haven't check it out you really should!

Saturday was another dreary rainy day.  We woke up Saturday morning and watched Bering Sea Gold.  This is our new Saturday routine, Nick DVR's the episodes during the week and then we watch a couple on Saturday mornings.  Remember how when you were a kid you would wake up on Saturday mornings and watch cartoons?  Well...I guess this is the grown up version of that!

After we'd finished our shows and done some weekend cleanup around the house, we decided to venture out and do a bit of exploring.  We went to The Farmhouse at Breckenridge Brewery.  If you are in Denver, or visiting Denver, I would recommend.  The complex it self is HUGE.  They have a few different brewing operations, a restaurant, tasting room as well as a huge patio/backyard space that I'm sure is a blast in the summer!
 

 
It was pretty busy when we got there so we had about 15 minutes to kill while we waited for our table.  We sampled a few beers, looked over some items in the gift shop & before we knew it, our table was ready.  The dining area itself looks like an old farm house.  There is a huge fireplace, a bunch of old chandeliers, mis-matched dining chairs at the tables and an absolutely gorgeous interior.  On weekends they have a brunch buffet, or you can order off the menu.  We both ordered some lunch off the menu and a flight.  Everything was excellent!!


      

On our way home we made a last minute decision to stop at Big Lots.  I'm not normally Big Lots shopper, but we were looking for plastic bins to re-organize our storage unit with.  One of the downfalls of condo living, is NO space... And on of the downfalls of our condo, is lingering water issues.  First it was our dining room, then living room and then storage unit... so we decided plastic bins were necessary.  It happens that it was our lucky day.  They had these blue bins on sale for $4.95 each.  PERFECT.  We loaded up our cart and dropped $100 on bins and headed home!

Saturday night we watched the movie The Revenant.  Have you seen it?  I'm not a huge Leonardo DiCaprio fan, but DAMN he was amazing in that movie.  The beginning was a bit bloody/violent for me, but I enjoyed the movie.  I loved how they tied all the Native American history into it and really 'explained' a lot, with very little dialogue.

Sunday we were up bright and early organizing our storage unit with the new bins.  One of the problems we have is that some of our boxes hadn't been unpacked since 2010.  We've moved a few times in the past few years (including twice in 6 months back in 2014/2015) so we seemingly always have boxes full of stuff - and we're never quite sure what is where.  We were able to go through every box/bin in the storage unit, get rid of the crap we don't need, make a considerably large pile for donation & then repack/relabel everything, so we know exactly what is where!  It was quite the undertaking, but so very worth it!

Before

After

 
Sunday afternoon we ventured out to a local pizza joint Tony P's to grab some slices & beers.  They have all day happy hour on Sunday - so we figured we'd take advantage.

    

All in all - we were pretty productive, considering the terrible weather this weekend.  What did you do with your weekend?

I'm back!!!

I'm back!!!!!!!

After a few years & a cross country move, I've finally decided to dust this old blog off and get serious about it! 

Looking forward to sharing all of my adventures from the Mile High City!!!

View from City Park, just down the street from our home...

Weekend Recap - Link Up!!

Weekend Recap!!

Hello there friends!!  Today I'm linking up to share our weekend's activities!!

Friday Night

We went to dinner at one of our favorite seafood restaurants.  This place is great in the summer because it has 2 rooftop decks and you can get a great view of downtown Minneapolis while you dine!  I had a popcorn coconut shrimp plate with an orange marmalade dipping sauce.  YUMMY!!

We had an early appointment on Saturday morning, so we had a pretty low key Friday night.  We ended up getting into our sweats & watching Unsolved Mysteries.  It's sort of an inside joke with us, we got to talking about the show on one of our first dates and then ended up renting a DVD shortly after.  I bought a 'greatest hits' DVD awhile back and now it's just cute to reminisce!

Saturday

We were up bright and early to go and get our taxes done.  Yuck!  Usually we do our own, but since 2012 was our first year married, we wanted to take them somewhere and be sure we did them right.  We were nervous about filing joint taxes, but (thankfully??) we both have enough school loans that we are actually getting a refund this year!  It only took about an hour and was completely worth every penny.  I have a feeling we won't be doing our own ever again!!

After we got our taxes done - we spent the rest of the day running some serious errands.  

We went to the post office, the bank, Nick got a haircut, then we let the serious shopping begin!

We hit up Target, Kohl's, Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware & a bunch of other shops in the mall.  We got some stuff for our apartment at Target, found a bunch of kitchenware on super sale at Kohls and I got a few new purses as well!!  It was a LONG day of shopping, but in the process, we discovered a new neighborhood to house hunt in!

my new purses!!

After we got home, I went on a cleaning rampage.  I went though all of the boxes that had been sitting around since we moved in (in 2010 -oops) and did a serious downsizing of my closet.  After I got through all of my clothes, I started posting some of my nicer things on EBAY, hoping to sell them.  We'll see what happens.  It does feel really good to get rid of a bunch of stuff and actually have ROOM in my closet again!!

believe it or not - this is the 'after' pic.  I'm too embarassed to show the 'before'

All the clothes I'm either selling on EBAY or donating 

Nick met up with some friends for dinner/beers on Saturday night (while I was in cleaning mode).  After he got back we had another Unsolved Mysteries date on the couch!

Sunday

We spent the morning/afternoon attending open houses in one of the neighborhoods we discovered Saturday.  We actually found a house we REALLY liked.  It's overpriced for the neighborhood - so we aren't excited about that.  We'll see what happens though.  The up-side is that for the first time in all the months we've been looking - we finally found something we could actually see ourselves in!  On our way back from house hunting we went and got Shamrock shakes from McDonalds!  Yum!!  It's my favorite time of year (and the only time I eat at McDonalds).

We went and saw the movie 'Chasing Ice' at the cheap theater by our house.  The photography was simply amazing.  It's so sad to see what is happening to our planet though.  It really makes you re-think all of our actions and how they impact the world on a whole.

I spent the evening going through my office area and getting rid of all papers I don't need.  It was a bit ridiculous how much stuff I had accumulated.  I may have went a bit crazy with our shredder -it stopped working after while - oops!  Hopefully I didn't break it for good!  I still have a bit more stuff in the office that I need to go through, and then it's on to our basement storage unit.  I'm really trying to get rid of all the clutter in my life (and make room for wedding presents that are currently sitting in my aunt's basement...)

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!!

Happy Monday!!

Sunday Social Link-Up

Hello blog world.  Sorry I've been MIA this week.  It's just been one of those week's where I can't seem to get motivated to blog... It's been a busy weekend at our house, so today post will be quick.  I'm linking up with the Sunday Social.

5 songs you’ll listen to the rest of your life: 

1. 100 Proof - Kellie Pickler

2. Everything - Lifehouse

3. Don't Stop Believing - Journey

4. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard

5. Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

5 things on your bucket list: 

1. Visit all 7 continents - I've only made it to 2 so far

2. Visit all 50 states - I'm only at 27-ish

3. Figure out where I want to live

4. Buy a home

5. (maybe) have children

5 celebs you’d love to hang out with for a day: 

1. Britney Spears

2. Brian Williams

3. Carrie Underwood

4. Jennifer Lawrence

5. Will Ferrell

5 things you always carry on your purse: 

1. Hand Sanitizer

2. Chapstick (usually various types)

3. Bobby pins/hair ties

4. Kleenex

5. my Wallet

Note:  not really my purse

5 books on your reading list: 

1. Anna Karenina

2. A Small Furry Prayer

3. The Memory Keepers Daughter

4. 3 Cups of Tea

5. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy (I've tried a few times and can't get into them - but I'm determined!!)

Share the last 5 photos on your phone

I found these t-rex wristbands while doing a deep clean of our apartment (aka - unpacking boxes that had been sitting since we moved in in 2010)  One of my friends had these made back in 2008/2009 and they were 'all the rage' amongst my friends back then.  We literally all wore them around -sort of like a stupid fashion statement!  lol!

Nick, testing out a chair while we were shopping at Restoration Hardware...

Popcorn Shrimp at Stella's Fish Cafe - YUM!!!

My drink at Stella's

A dress I'm trying to sell on EBAY

I hope you all have a great Sunday!!  We've got another busy day ahead of us, but check back tomorrow for my weekend update!!