Friday Favorites

It's a whole lot of random this Friday, friends. I didn't post last week so I have some residual favorites to share and then some stuff from this week which flew by and somehow still dragged on ;) thankful we've made it to the weekend though.

On to the faves...

We got some of the photos we took earlier this month with Sammy's family and we love them. His cousin is amazing (and if you're local, you should definitely check Kristy out!). Definitely want to frame one in our home.

In classic Alex form, dark ass picture as part of the Friday Favorites round-up ;) but I finally got around to trying the cauliflower fried rice from Trader Joe's and I really liked it! Finally a cauliflower product I actually liked, I think having it already seasoned helped. I threw shrimp in with it and it was a nice light dinner.

You're officially seventy-eight years old at heart when you include a watering can as a favorite. It's from Magnolia (where else?) and she's stunning.

We planted some new flowers in our backyard a few weeks ago and they're really blooming nicely. They don't really match with any of the other flowers we have haha (aside from the white ones) but Sammy and I picked the same flower at Home Depot in different colors (him orange, me yellow) while we were wandering the aisles on our own, so we decided to get both and combine them. We are nothing if not Mr. and Mrs. Symbolic.

I've really enjoyed seeing what the previous owners planted on the side of our home while they lived here because it's all a mystery as they've been blooming up! This picture doesn't do it justice but we have gorgeous purple flowers that I've never seen before and couldn't tell you the name of, white and yellow lilies (my favorite colors for flowers), white and pink peonies, dark pink roses, etc. Love, love, love.

Because everyone has been DYING to see a picture of me in our still-to-be-painted yellow bathroom...here I am in my newest obsession: the Gilligan & O'Malley lemon pajamas everyone has from Target. OBBBsessed. So soft and comfy (and I'm not a shorts gal when it comes to pajamas) and the lemons are so cute for summertime.

I've been obsessed with taking pictures of our entryway table lately. It's definitely not done as I feel like the proportions are still off, but I just love it. I cut some of those purple flowers from the side of our house and left them long. Love how they looked there.

The randomness continues with this screenshot of a remix Robyn Youkilis was playing on her Insta stories last week. I've been playing it on repeat since then only because it makes me think of Parent Trap. 

Sammy replaced the light fixtures in our kitchen last week and I love how the glass fixtures look in there. SO much better than the beige iron ones...

Told ya it was random today!...My mom got Sammy and I a snack box subscription service as a housewarming gift and you get around 5-6 different healthy snacks to try in each box and I loved this Jimmy Bar that came in our first box. It was seriously so good and I normally hate the taste of protein bars--why do they all have that taste to them?! Definitely want to try other flavors. Wanted to mention in case another protein bar hater is looking for a recommendation. 

Sammy's coworker proposed to his girlfriend at Disney last week and I just had to share these here because they're so. damn. cute. I can't handle it!

Aren't they just the sweetest?!

Speaking of sweetness... I can't wait to hang out with my buddy all weekend!

Laying with his broom and taco, as one does.

My sister posted this on Snapchat the other day, it's my mom's chalkboard in her kitchen. She's the cutest (and the smartest). I just love this reminder. And every time I come over, she's drawn more flowers "growing" :)

I have to brag on Sammy for a minute. While I was gone last weekend for my cousin's bachelorette party, Sammy did so much around our house. He cleaned the entire place, grocery shopped, replaced the light fixtures in the kitchen, returned a bunch of stuff for us, fixed our coffee table, and turned all the soil in our flower beds. He's a pretty great man and I'm pretty blessed to be living with someone as good as he is.

Also, I can't believe how nice our flowers are coming in this week! All those white impatiens were so sparse, I actually asked him if he had gone out and bought new ones, that's how full they are now.

And after all his work, he still went out and bought me these lovely purply-pink lilies to come home to on Sunday. That guy.

Dinner favorite of the week was definitely this lemon chicken I served with a quinoa and brown rice herb blend. Sammy loved it. 

Obviously her photo is better than mine haha.

I've been trying to watch my data use now that my train commute is a little longer (meaning I watch more Insta stories than usual), so I've been pulling out the Kindle lately and been loving it again.

I just started this book which came highly recommended by my cousin. It's been a little slow to get into, but I have a feeling it's going to pick up.

We have two parties on Sunday and one of them is my cousin's daughter's first birthday, so I picked up a few little things for our sweet lady. Old Navy for the win, per usual.

And I would be remised if I didn't mention my very, very favorite thing of this week...one of my favorite people is getting married TOMORROW! I can't wait to celebrate one of the sweetest couples as they start this new chapter together. They do so much for everyone else, I can't wait for them to be shown the same kind of love in return.

We had the rehearsal dinner last night at Lehmann Mansion in Lake Villa where their ceremony and reception will take place. It's SUCH a cool venue, I can't wait to walk around more on Saturday. 

The bride and her dad :)

How cool are these rooms? Ugh, love. They're doing a Gasby-eqsue theme and it's going to look so good in this venue.

The groom's parents hosted dinner at Mambo Italiano in Mundelein. It was a lovely evening spent with some of my favorite people.

My mom and I have mani/pedi appointments after work and I can't wait to spend some one-on-one time with her && get to snuggle my pup tonight!

So ready for the wedding festivities on Saturday and time with family on Sunday. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

xo

Linking up with Andrea!

Weekend Recap

I started writing this yesterday saying, "Monday is very much feeling like Monday. I don't know if it's because I was away from home all weekend, didn't get much sleep last night, or dealing with some anxieties at work, but today already feels like a day and it's not even halfway over."

And because yesterday turned out to be very Monday, the day totally got away from me and I wasn't able to press publish on this post. So here we are, another weekend recap on a Tuesday...

Friday

I headed up to the Wisconsin Dells for my cousin's bachelorette party with the bride and another one of her bridesmaids. After making a few stops, we made it in the early evening and spent the rest of the night walking the grounds (we stayed at the Chula Vista--not sure I would recommend haha. It was just kind of eh and not the cleanest in some areas, or so it seemed), playing some games in our suite, showering the bride with her gifts, eating junk food and sipping on cocktails (or several shots).

Obviously started the road trip out with the most trash snacks ever created.

Most graphic penis cake of all time.

Saturday

We woke up on Saturday, had some breakfast, and headed straight for the pool/outdoor waterpark. This was right up the bride's alley, and while waterparks aren't totally my jam, I'll do anything for my cousin, so I watched them go down many slides and only got myself in the water for the lazy river and wave pool ;)

My favorite part of the resort was definitely the back which we had a view of from the back door of our room. It was so different from the front--very peaceful and calming. There was a river running down below our room and lots of tall trees.

We stopped back to our suite midday for lunch and some snacks and a few more drinks before heading back to the pool. I camped out on a lounge chair for most of the afternoon reading and napping which was really nice. 

We all took showers and chilled out a little bit in the early evening before heading out into town for dinner. We had a quick bite at The Patio before heading back to the resort to pregame.

Lil' John was definitely playing during this moment. (We were about to play that pin the dick on the guy game which is why she's blindfolded haha.)

In between a few drinks/shots of Tequila, the bride and a few bridesmaids attempted to break the piñata that was brought (filled with condoms, shots of Fireball, and candy, naturally). We had no place to hang it from except outside and it ended up going flyinggg onto the walkway below our room as a result of a bridesmaid not knowing her own strength ;) it was hilarious as we had to go down to pick everything up to make sure kids weren't picking up condoms and mini bottles of Fireball the next morning.

We headed out a little while later to a club/bar which looked exactly how you would imagine a "club" in the Wisconsin Dells to look. Equally hilarious as it was disturbing/gross. We stayed until one of my cousin's friends deemed it was time to leave because she was about to singlehandedly take on a group of guys in line at the bar that "pissed her off." It was a WEEKEND, guys.

Cousin love

I mean is this not exactly how a club is supposed to look in The Dells?

Sunday

We got up decently early to start cleaning up the room and packing everything up and we were able to get on the road before check-out which was great. As much as I enjoyed spending time with my cousin, I was ready to get home haha.

Sammy had spent Saturday night at his parents' house, so I went to my mom's (which is a few minutes from theirs) and hung out with her for a little while before Sammy picked me up so we could go to his brother and SIL's house to celebrate his brother's birthday.

  

Can't see his cake, but that's what they're staring at haha.

It was a lovely evening catching up with his family and celebrating his brother, but after what felt like such a long weekend, I was ready to get back to Crystal Lake. We got home just before 8 p.m., straightened up the house a bit, and relaxed on the couch before crashing into bed. 

*

I can confidently say that if I never go back to The Dells I will be a happy woman ;) it's just not my kind of place, but it was fun to spend time with my cousins and her friends.

I'm looking at a packed week with a heavier load at work and wedding festivities starting with my girlfriend's rehearsal dinner on Thursday night (!!). All exciting stuff, but I'm looking forward to some downtime next week.

Happy Tuesday!
xo

Weekend Recap

Lots of family (and friend!) time this weekend which did my heart good. 

Let's get into the recapping...

Friday

I got home from work on Friday to find a man pillaging through the finds he stole his grandma gave him (she's selling her home and getting rid of a lot of items) when he went to visit during the day ;) he came away with a dart board for the basement, several holiday decorations, and I got some beautiful serving pieces. 

Nothing is overtly my taste, except the white tree candle and the cookie jar (which I about cried upon seeing because it's so darn cute), but I'm happy to have them since they were Sammy's grandma's.

I love these and want to possibly use them as display pieces around the holidays. Such a treat to find out the one with the lid was made in Italy and the dish was made in France. #Legit

After eating dinner outside, we did a little cleaning, and I got to making a lemon pie I wanted to serve on Saturday when Sammy's family was over. Neither of us were with his dad for Father's Day, so I wanted to make him a little something (he loves lemon!) so we could celebrate together on Saturday. 

We relaxed and went to bed relatively early as we were both exhausted from the week.

Saturday

We got up early Saturday morning and headed over to the farmer's market in town. I've been itching to go and while there weren't a ton of vendors, it was still pretty cute!

We didn't end up buying anything only because I didn't have any recipes in mind to use anything people were selling (I probably should have done a little research prior to going...), but I'll definitely be picking up some stuff to cook with once we have a little more time and plan to be eating at home on the weekends.

After that, we made yet another stop to Home Depot which has quickly become one of my least favorite places. I don't understand how a place so organized can be so difficult to find things in.

But look how handsome my shopping partner is!

Our list consisted mostly of grilling and gardening related items with some light bulbs thrown in for good measure. We picked up some house plants that I'm in love with and I'm so happy Sammy was up for getting them.

We came home and unloaded, Sammy did a little gardening while I started to get ready, and waited for his parents to arrive. We hung around the house for a little while with them before heading over to Three Oaks to meet his cousin (our photographer) and his brother's family for our family pictures.

Our niece was less than thrilled to be there (we think she's teething), so hopefully the group shots turned out okay haha. We took individual couple photos and I'm really excited to see how those turned out.

It was so sunny on Saturday that we had to use an umbrella to shade each other as we all took pictures...Sammy was cracking me up as the "assistant."

After pictures we all came back to our house to hang out with some appetizers and pie before our dinner reservations. I was born to host, I swear. I may not be any good at it, but I was born to do it. It just feeds my soul to host people in our house.

And this little girl has learned how to climb stairs... ;) It was so fun having her crawl and try to walk  all over the house. 

We headed to Da Baffone's around 5 p.m. for dinner to celebrate Sammy's parent's 30th wedding anniversary. The food wasn't as good as the first time Sammy and I went, but it was still a nice meal, and even better to be together to celebrate such a lovely milestone.

Sammy's family headed home after dinner and we went downtown to meet up with our friends who were going out to celebrate a few birthdays. We met up at our friend's brother's apartment who happens to have the best view of the best city in the world.

Got to celebrate one of my favorite girls.

Found this in my camera roll because my super sober self obviously felt this was necessary to capture... my favorite drunk food. For the record, I was told we would not be out this late... girlfriend can't always hang like she used to, but I stayed up for the Goldfish.

Sunday

I wasn't hungover the next morning by any means but I also wasn't moving at lightening speed either, so I took it easy in the morning lounging around on the couch with Sammy before he went into work.

I watched The Kissing Booth on Netflix which was equally as cringey as it was kinda cute. I did a few things around the house like emptying the dishwasher and watering the flowers outside (which was about all the outside I could take since it was in the mid 90s and humid all day) before my family came over.

My dad opened his gifts before we headed out for dinner and a movie. My brother filled a box with snacks and food items that have all appeared in various Seinfeld episodes and gave it to my dad as his gift haha. Can you tell we're a bunch of nerds? The two of them are obsessed with the show, so my dad got a kick out of it.

My dad wanted Mexican food, so we headed over to Cuco's in Cary for some tacos and burritos. Not as good as our beloved Taco and Burrito Express in Mundelein but it was decent enough.

We went to see Book Club which we all thought was cute! I'm a sucker for anything with Diane Keaton, so it wasn't a hard sell for me. And I now have a big ol' crush on Andy Garcia. I'm telling you, give me a salt and pepper haired man in his sixties and I'm a happy camper ;)

It was a really lovely weekend getting to see both of our families and having them in our home. They've all been over to our house since we've moved multiple times but it never gets old :)

Hoping for a pretty low key week before I head out on Friday for a bachelorette party weekend! 

Have a great week, all. xo

*linking up with Biana!