just between you and me (vol. V)

Confession #5: Just between you and me, I came home from work twice this week and downed 4 Oreo cookies.

Phew. I feel better.

Seriously. Whenever I eat junk food, I feel like I need to go to some sort of Calorie Confessional. True story.

Oh, and I totally ate them Parent Trap style.


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Hallie: "Want one?
Annie: "Oh, sure. I love Oreos. At home, I eat them with peanut butter."
Hallie: "That is sooo weird. So do I!"

Awesome.

Happy Friday, friends.

reminder

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Just a little reminder to myself to be positive today. Breathe...

Current Obsessions

**Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds

**Couch to 5k
**Browsing Etsy, just because
**This video (I told you I love Muppets.)

**The greatest hits of Fleetwood Mac and Simon & Garfunkel on repeat
**Sunshine

**Peacock feathers (Blame it on the wedding planning)

**Truman Capote

**Falling asleep to Twilight Zone

**These shoes (Wedding reception?)

What are you currently loving?

f&$% yeah

This weekend, one of my favorite coffee joints in GR closed its doors for good. Sad day.

76 Coffee was a hole-in-the-wall next door to Yesterdogs in Eastown that my friend Morgan and I discovered this past summer. Overrun by hipsters and always smelling vaguely of pot, it quickly became our favorite place. (Oddly enough, since neither of us are hipsters or pot-smokers.)


But how could you not love a place with a larger than life painting of Biggie?

Seriously.


Morgan and I would meet here throughout the summer and fall to get our favorite drink and chat about life. School, work, men, future in-laws, books, gossip, dreams...like ya do.

Our favorite drink was the aptly-named F&$% Yeah. Described on the menu as 25 cents better than a Hell Yeah, it was pure, creamy coffee goodness. To this day, it's a mystery to me what was in it.

The following conversation occurred on my final visit.
Me: "So, what exactly is a F&$% Yeah?"
Barrista: "Um, it's delicious."
Me: (obvious disappointment) "Oh. Ok."
Barrista: (lowers voice) "It's a secret."

Riiiight...

Morgan moved to Florida this winter. (Along with her boyfriend, Jeff, who is Kyle's best friend. Sad day.) I really wish that she could have come with me to get one final F&$% Yeah. Because I couldn't bear the idea of drinking the final F&$% Yeah without her, I stuck one in my freezer, to defrost and drink with her in August when she and Jeff journey to the Mitten for our wedding.

Me & Morgan, Summer 2010

Like Morgan said, a freezer-burned F&%$ Yeah is better than no F&$% Yeah at all.


Thanks for the good times, 76. Godspeed! you black coffee.

weekend in review (vol. V)

This weekend was absolutely wonderful and I was sad to see it end. I'm so happy warmer weather is finally returning to the Mitten. Let's hope it just stays this way!

Friday night was very low key. I had a rough day week at work, and didn't feel like going out. Kyle went out and grabbed us a few Yesterdogs for dinner. I spent the evening reading In Cold Blood and following the Cubs game online. Kyle watched Look Who's Talking on Netflix and drooled over the baby. Obviously, typical gender stereotypes do not apply in our relationship.

Saturday morning we went to our first of two rounds of premarital counselling. Holy cow! In the evening (after a nap) we took a walk downtown and ran into one of our former professors. It had been awhile, and it was great to see him.

Sunday was amazing. Kyle and I got up early and spent a beautiful day at the park with Henson. We tried to play fetch, but the lazy dog just wanted to lay in the sunshine. We still mananged to wear him out.

This snapshot is quintessitially captures this weekend, and hopefully many like it will follow.

I truly hope your weekend was just as delightful. 

between you & me (vol. IV)

Confession #4: Just between you and me, my hair is starting to go gray.

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Ok, so maybe I'm not quite ready to join the cast of The Golden Girls reboot. But some days, it feels like it.

If we're being really honest, I had my first gray hair at 19. It's really quite a miracle that I held out that long. My parents started getting gray hairs in their early teens and my grandpa's locks was almost completely snow white by the time he was 30. Eh, blame it on genetics, I guess. (And the wedding planning. And the job. Hmm, mostly the job? But I digress.)

To my credit, I think I've taken my premature graying pretty well. I don't pull out every one that I see, and I don't have a meltdown each time a new one appears. I don't meticulously comb my hair, searching for each fading strand. I don't dye my hair every 2 weeks. 

Really, I'm taking it very well.

But, hey. Every girl needs a change now and then, so as of Monday, my hair will be this color.

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But, uh, just between you and me, I will be thinking of it as this color.

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Please, don't judge.

Happy Friday, friends.

childhood faves (vol. II)

When Kyle and I catch a movie, we typically forgo the concession stand to save money, but this Friday we were feeling adventurous.

Remember these? Dip n' Dots? The ice cream of the future!

I didn't even realize that Dip n' Dots were still around. I was so jazzed to snag myself a pouch of cookies n' cream! Yum.

This takes me back to the days of Pixie Stix and Zebra Stripe gum. Except Dip n' Dots don't stain my tongue or lose flavor after 10 seconds...and are still just as enjoyable as they were when I was 10. True story.

weekend in review

After working late on Friday (and an after-work drink with a few co-workers), Kyle and I had dinner at our favorite hole in the wall, The Cottage. The Cottage is the oldest bar in GR, and has fantastic food.

Then we caught a late night showing of this.

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Umm, awesome! Am I the only one who hasn't grown out of their elementary school dinosaur obsession? It's ok. You can admit it. We're among friends.

Saturday we had some errands to run, as per usual. We finished with stopping by our favorite used book store, Argos Book Shop. Ok, it's my favorite used book store. Kyle goes for the comics. And the Spiderman swinging out of the wall.

Sunday was rain, gray, and cold. Again.

(Snow or hail? Whatever it is, it needs to cut it out.)

We spent the day in our reading corner, avoiding wedding planning. And laundry.

How was your weekend?

april goals

I know I'm a few days behind the beginning of the month, but I just wanted to share a few goals I have for April. I really like the idea of setting small goals for each month--it makes me feel productive!

April Goals
**Send out Save the Dates ASAP.(Am I behind in doing this? Eh, probably.)
**Seriously check items off of our wedding to-do list. (And I mean seriously.)
**Finish In Cold Blood and start another book. (Fun Fact: Because In Cold Blood was written by Truman Capote, I keep referring to the book as In True Blood and sounding like a tool.)
**Go through my closet. (Like, whoa.)
**Keep on keepin' on with Couch to 5k.(Week 3!)

Speaking of April, I'm sooo ready for the trees to start looking like this...

Cherry blossoms on Michigan St.

  ...and stop looking sad and barren. I'm not sure if Nature got the memo, but it's spring. Please start acting like it. These gray, windy, chilly days just aren't cutting it for me any more. 

What are your goals for April? Are you as ready for spring as I am? 

between you & me (vol. III)

Confession #3: Just between you and me, I’m a Cubs fan.

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Any Cubs fan and they will tell you that this is the year. Every year. It’s easy enough to dismiss us as crazy, and go back to cheering for a team that actually wins. But who says that you need actual wins to love a team? Not me. A true fan is with a team through thick and thin. So what if the Cubs haven't gone to the World Series since 1945 (and haven’t won since 1908)? In some weird, twisted, kinda backwards way, this just makes me love 'em even more.

I'm a card-carrying member of the Cubs Fans Since Birth Club. (Ok, not really. But if there was such a club, I'd be all over it.) I was raised to love the Cubs, hate the Sox, and that Wrigley Field is the greatest place on earth.

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My dad started telling me that I was a Cubs fan before I could crawl. While he always taught me to think for myself and make my own choices, baseball was the one area of my life that was nonnegotiable. I didn't know that the words to Take Me Out to the Ballgame were "root, root, root for the home team" until I went to kindergarten. (I always thought the lyrics were "root for the Cubbies." Who knew?) In pretty much every picture of me taken between the ages of 8 and 13, I was wearing a Cubs hat. (Consequently, I am still recovering from hat hair.)

There really is nothing like sitting in the stands at Wrigley, sun beating down on your head and a cool breeze from the Lake on your face; hot dog in one hand and an Old Style in the other. Pure, simple contentment.

Dad & me @ Wrigley circa 2009
(Yes, those seats are 9 rows up from the dugout on the 3rd baseline.)

I will be spending this Opening Day in my office in Grand Rapids, surrounded by cranky Tigers fans; but my heart will be in Chicago with the Cubs. 

C'mon, Cubbies. Win this one for Ronnie.

This is our year. I can feel it.