Happy Anniversary!

Luke and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary the other day.  It was pretty low key.  We went to the cottage the weekend before and planned to go for a picnic lunch and a boat ride.  Well, it ended up being quite chilly and very windy.  Picnic lunch in the car for the win.

 Enjoying our lunches in my car.  Cottage style clothing at it's finest and my headband starting to pop off my head.

 Since it was so chilly we had a very snuggly kitty cat that joined us.  She took turns snuggling on Luke and I throughout the weekend and slept curled up next to me both nights.

 Here she is all snuggled up on me while we watched some Netflix on our ipad.

 When it was time to go home she was once again a good little girl and sat all curled up on the back seat.  I am so lucky that she travels well in the car.

 For our real anniversary we had dinner at home with breaded chicken, mashed potatoes and green beans with shaved almonds plus some Relax wine.

 Yup, we were bums just hanging out in t-shirts and jeans at home and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy 3 year Anniversary my love and here's to many more bummin' it at home anniversaries cause I rock the sweatpants like no one else.

One week Belated Papa Bear Day!

Wanted to wish my Papa Bear a belated Father's day.  I had a great time doing all sorts of little things with him at the cottage.  I had asked him about touching up the rust spot on my car a while back.  He brought some tool to the cottage to brush off the rust and then painted up the spot with a "primer/inhibiter for rust."  Another day we will put on some "Subaru Blue" paint to hopefully blend it in a little better.

Next we hung up a swing for when little guy is in town over the summer.  Papa Bear had the rope and clip thing so we just had to figure out how to get it over the branch and tie it up.  I must say that it came out fantastic and it is a good thing that he has so many odds and ends that he keeps cause you never know when you might need them.  He used some old hook thing to wrap the rope around so it doesn't tangle when he puts it away.

 Later he helped me to catch a sunfish on a fly rod.  I've never used a fly rod before and the fish weren't in a biting mood that day.  They would kind of nibble/play but not bite.   I did end up catching one but it took a long time.  I still need to work on the whole getting the fly out there part.

I also helped him to straighten out the one cable on his boat hoist since it was rubbing funny.  I had a great day helping my Papa Bear out and learning some new things (like how to fly fish--sort of, putting up a swing and fixing my rusted spot).  I hope you enjoyed the afternoon and your time fishing!

June Goals

1. Meal plan for 4 days of the week with a 5th day for left overs.  This is basically to cover week days.  I am good about planning a meal ahead on a Saturday/Sunday morning for that night but need to know what I am making ahead on the week days or we end up with soup and grilled cheese.
2.  Get all my Disney stuff for Goofy #10 in a folder/envelope.  Well, all my stuff related to my January trip together.  Also, all my other race information in one place, in order for the rest of the year so I can add others in as needed.
3.  Do something for our 3 year anniversary.  Something simple but something.
4. Finish Michael's first birthday gift.  I'm not telling.

That's it.  I've got my running goals in addition to this and those are my primary focus right now so I can have a few amazing races this fall with my hard work this summer.

May Goals Revisited

So I am 2 for 3 on my May goals.  My May goals were:
1.  Follow a weekly cleaning schedule.  I did this  successfully and now that I am in the routine of it I plan to keep up with it.  It makes life so much easier since I am not doing major cleaning all the time just one or two things a day.
2.  Stick to a grocery store list.  I did this surprisingly well.  Even Luke was impressed by this.  I planned out meals for the week roughly and made a list accordingly.  I also tried to use up a bunch of stuff we currently have so a major shopping trip will be necessary in a few weeks to stock back up on some basics (jumbo boxes of cereal and club packs of chicken to freeze).
3.  Blog 2x a week.  Major fail on this one.  I am trying to get better but I just don't find much of what happens around here to be that exciting.  Maybe once the school year ends and with summer I will think about those little projects and get better at taking photos of things we do.

Poppin' Tags

I am not quite sure how I stumbled upon this woman's blog but I did.  Most likely something on pinterest (her North Pole Party is amazingly beautiful) and then I started reading her blog because of her writing and beautiful photos.  Well, her and her sister have a challenge where they go to the thrift store with a set amount and an "outfit" goal (dinner party, picnic...) and see who can rock the budget best.  Check it out here.  I ran the idea by Jen and she was totally up for this.  We set a limit of $10 to get a casual summer outfit.
First up is Jen pretending to dive into the water.  She is sporting her brand spanking new pants from Kohl's (tags still on them at the thrift store) and a new tank with a necklace she had at home.

 Pants $4 and I love the blue color of them.  So refreshing to not see a khaki or black capri.  Shirt $3.  Love that the tank has wide shoulder straps and a faint stripe pattern that is shimmery.  The tank is also longer than most, which I really like because it dresses the outfit up a bit.  Also loving the shape along the bottom of the tank.  Cost of the outfit $7.  She is totally rocking the look and I am sure the pieces will become part of her regular wardrobe.

 I had a tough time finding an outfit.  For some reason most of the capris or shorts that I liked were going to run about $7 which would not leave much for a cute shirt.  I hit the jackpot though with these Bermuda shorts costing $3 (hooray for them being the 50% off color for the week).  I was looking for something that could double as acceptable to wear to school as well for subbing.

 The shirt is from NY& Co and cost $3 as well (another steal with the color of the week tag).  I love how it is like a tank but the cap sleeves are sheer.  I can tuck the cap sleeves up if I want to go for a more tank look.  I paired the shirt with my own white tank to provide some extra coverage.  Total outfit cost: $6.  Although this style shirt is not likely the most flattering I love that it is "cool" since it isn't clingy for those last days at school or at a picnic outside.  School gets hot since it is not air conditioned.

I have to call this version of Poppin' Tags a tie with my outfit winning on price/deal but Jen's winning on fashion/accessorizing.  This challenge was fun and we may have to consider going shopping together this summer for a different outfit challenge.

Memorial Day Lobster Fest 2014

My folks hosted a Memorial Day lobster picnic again this year.  The weather was a little bit chilly but not too bad.  Everyone was asked to bring a dish to pass and all the food was delicious.

 We set up all the tables for eating outside and the "buffet line" was inside.  We had pasta salad, fruit salad, salad, corn on the cob, cheese and crackers plus clam chowder and roseamarina salad.

 Of course the kids were entertained by the one and only babysitter called the sandbox.  Providing free hours of entertainment for over 28 years.

 Papa Bear was our chef for the evening steaming the lobsters and grilling chicken at the same time.

 Once we were adequately stuffed we enjoyed some cookie cake for dessert.  Two people said they would bring dessert and both showed up with cookie cake.  A crowd pleaser every time!

 That evening a large group stuck around to watch the Rochester Knighthawks lacrosse team play game one of the championship.  Unfortunately they lost the game.

 The next day Luke and I went for a row boat ride to check out the bay.  A few new stairs to the bay are being built, places are for sale and such but for the most part it was quite quiet.

 Of course a trip to Brooks for ice cream was necessary.  We all ordered a small and of course they were huge compared to a small anywhere else.

That evening, after several naps (cottage is for eating and sleeping and repeating), we headed over to Patty and Danny's for poker.  Luke won the first game of the season.  Aunt Patty thought that giving him a bunch of wine would provide her an edge over him.  It did not work this time.  We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend.  Let summer begin!