Weekending

Happy Monday, friends! I was kinda dreading this morning after what felt like luxuriously long weekend, but so far, the day is going well and less stressed than I thought it would which I'm grateful for. Every time I "dread" Monday morning, the day is never as crazy as I think it's going to be, so I need to chill out, especially since there are so many worse things that could be happening in life than dreading a Monday morning. 

I worked from home on Friday since we got many inches of snow and traveling to work would have been tricky since they didn't plow many streets until the late morning. But it was SO nice to work from home. Ugh, you remote workers have it so nice ;) I could really get used to that. 

I powered through my entire to-do list before ending the work day and then I got ready to go out to dinner with Sammy's parents and his brother's family for Sammy's birthday. He requested BBQ so we stopped into the Rack House Tavern where he split their BBQ platter with his dad, brother, and SIL, and I tried the beer battered cajun shrimp with jalapeño coleslaw. We thought the food was just OK, definitely good, but we're kind of BBQ snobs, but our server was really lovely. 

The birthday boy always requests Portillo's chocolate cake on his birthday, so his brother and SIL hosted us at their house for said cake and coffee. We got some more quality time with our niece who is so much fun and eight months old now! 

(also, if you're a chocolate fanatic like Sammy and live near Portillo's, you get a free slice on your birthday ;) )

Afterward, Sammy met up with a few friends at the bar and I was very content to go home and relax for the rest of the night ;) I spent the night doing some vacation research (more on that later!) and working on an anniversary project for Sammy and I which led me to discover that you can order photo prints from Amazon! I love Amazon so much I can't even deal--they can do anything over there! I'm hoping they deliver a little sooner than they're scheduled to just 'cause I'm anxious to start working on the project. I also stayed up until after 2 a.m. finishing The Paris Wife. Brought me to tears.

On Saturday I slept in and stayed in bed for hours which was glorious. I finished another book I had started a few months ago. I ended up liking it, so I was glad to finish it and add another book to my Goodreads reading challenge for the year. 

(I gotta step it up a little...)

When I finally got up (and by "got up" I mean I moved from my bed to the couch...), I watched A Walk to Remember and She's All That both of which I've been itching to rewatch. I distinctly remember watching each of them for the first time as a kid, so they're nostalgic ones for me.

  

Later that night, my girlfriend and I decided to grab dinner and go see Fifty Shades Freed. I don't get a lot of solo time with this girlfriend so it was really nice to spend time together and she ended up treating me as a belated birthday gift which was so sweet of her. 

The movie was good. I mean, it's not good, but it was good haha. I proceeded to go home and watch the first two back to back and then texted Sammy to maybe search for some scenes on YouTube if he was in the taking notes kind of mood.

On Sunday I went with my mom and sister to a baby shower my cousins were throwing for their brother's girlfriend. She's the sweetest woman and they make the cutest couple, so we're thrilled they're expecting a baby girl!

The shower was so lovely down to every little detail. My cousins are so talented when it comes to throwing parties, everything is always so unique and tailored to the occasion and/or person. 

It was a tea themed shower, so we all had individual tea sets at our place settings, a tea pot filled with flowers as the centerpieces, and mugs to take home as favors.

My cousin collects dishware, so she just had all these settings at home... 

She's too much. I just love her.

I loved all the alternating fabric as table runners as well.

I loved that they hung little hats, headbands, and socks instead of onesies. And the two little robes on the ends!

My cousins cooked all the food because and it was delicious. We had chicken salad sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, Greek orzo salad, and a plethora of desserts.

Loved spending the day with some of my very favorite ladies (many of whom are not pictured here!).

Always gotta take a serious pic ;)

Me and my favorite, favorite love (and the centerpiece I won ;) )

One of my cousins hand personalized each of these mugs with a guest's name on it to look like a tea bag was hanging out. How cute is she?! 

And my other cousin made the cookies (which is actually her full-time job because she's incredible at it). If you're in the market for some crazy cute cookies for an upcoming event, check out Pretty Yummy Bakery. She does amazing designs.

After the shower I did a little laundry and mostly bummed around. I was in kind of a weird mood because of the "Sunday scaries"and then I couldn't find anything I wanted to do to occupy my brain (while being super lazy this weekend, I kind of exhausted myself of movies and books), so my thoughts were just festering in my mind for a while. 

But being back in the groove of things at work today has helped and I have plans to try a cycling class after work at the gym I just joined, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes. 

Here's to a productive week ahead! 

xo