Weekend Highlights

Despite some pretty terrible weather, this weekend was pretty great. Unfortunately I'm officially back to work on Tuesday this week, but I have to go in today to "strategize" with my boss about meeting with a parent tomorrow morning. So, my last day off kinda went out the window. Oh well...

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This weekend's highlights included:

~A massage on Friday which was heavenly

~Spent time with my friend at her place. Sangria may have been involved.

~Enjoyed a monumental day in our country's history:

~Date night with MG with this deliciousness:

~Finished Orange is the New Black

~Early Saturday drive to IKEA, in the crummy, rainy weather

~Bought a new duvet for the guest bedroom downstairs, and a tv console for the basement

Still need some accent pillows, but we're getting there!

~Put together the console (aka, provided emotional support while MG did it :)

~Went to our friends' house for a big group get together/cookout. Ended up staying there till 11 at night.

~Sunday errands; picked up some pretty ceramic citronella holders for the deck

We also bought a new toilet for the guest bathroom--so there's a toilet, in a box, sitting in our dining room currently. Nothing says sexy more than that ;) 

~Finished doing touch ups and painting the ceiling in our guest bathroom (which should be finished this week since our vanity and countertop are finally in!)

~Made a delicious turkey wrap and ate lunch with MG on our deck, al fresco since the weather was so nice (which was a nice change after the icky mega rainy day before)

~Saw Jurassic World (Chris Pratt just gets hotter and hotter...oh, and the movie was good too ;)

 

{via} He could sic his velociraptors on me any day ;)

~Had yummy Noodles for dinner and relaxed with the hubs and Coop for the night

I hope your weekend was fun, and you didn't get hit with the storm on Saturday!

Linking up with these pretties today:

Friday Faves!

Happy Friday, pretty friends!!

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Hopefully your week's been nice and easy, and if it hasn't, it's almost over now so you can enjoy the weekend ahead!

Friday Favorites // Friday Favorites // Oh Hey Friday// 5 on Friday

My favorites this week included:

{1} Happy Hour with some fellow SLP friends

I rarely do happy hours during the week unless it's on a Thursday or Friday. I can't handle feeling tired or drained the rest of the week, so it was nice to get to hang out with some work friends without worrying about that. We also tried out a new restaurant/bar which has a great view of the waterfront, some good happy hour deals, and a really cool interior (which is hard to see in this photo since it was so bright outside):

{2} Pool Days

Wednesday was the most gorgeous day we've had in a while--there was no humidity, the sun was shining, temps were in the 80s...it was perfect! I had a pool date with my friend Bree, and today my other friend from work and I are hanging out at the pool again! #gimmethesunshine

{3} Massage

I'm getting a massage this morning. Even though the stresses have been low this week (altho somehow I'm still dealing with a crazy parent from work, even on my vacation), it's still a good time to get all of the end of the year knots out of my shoulders, neck and back. Remember last week when I said I needed a haircut, pedicure and massage? Two out of three checked off so far!

{4} Sale! Sale! Sale!
You know I love a good deal! I went to the mall yesterday to return some things to Loft and on my way out, walked past NY&Co. Typically I don't shop here because their stuff rarely fits me well, but they were having a sale: 50% off everything in the store!! I'm so glad I stopped in because I got these two beauties for $50 total:

I'm obsessed with the first one, and the second one has pockets--love a cute dress for a steal!

{5} Funny Video
Qwest Love and Tyreke from The Roots reenact the scene from the Bachelorette this week with Ian. Hilarious!

Hope your Friday is easy breezy, and your weekend is fantastic!
Catch you on Monday, loves!

Thursday Thoughts

It's already Thursday-the week is flying by, but that typically happens when you have time off and are just enjoying yourself.

With downtime comes random thoughts:

~Countess Luann from RHONY has a new single called "Girl Code (Don't be So Uncool)". She performed it on Watch What Happens Live.

It was.....uhhh....I'm still trying to figure out what I felt about it

~Pedicures in the middle of the day are the best

~I feel bad for the husband of the woman who helped those two prisoners escape. Not only does he have to deal with the fact that there are rumors that his wife wanted these guys to kill her husband (likely true), he's now in the lime-light with interviews on tv. He doesn't come across as the smartest guy. I just feel bad for him.

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~Pretty skies after mega rain and thunderstorms are incredible

~I love closet organization photos. I don't love that they show 7 shirts in each section of a closet. Sure, my closet could look amazing if I only put 5 shirts in there, too. Where do the other 200 go??? 

~No matter what your political affiliation is, I think we can all agree on this:

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~All of the shows on Bravo lend themselves to some of the most amazing gifs. I just wish I knew how to make gifs so I could use all of the great clips I see on the shows, here!

~"It's 5'clock somewhere" is one of the best quotes. Especially for Summer time. Or Spring time. Or a Thursday.

What are some of your thoughts this Thursday?

Bachelorette Talk

So much dramatic stuff happening in Bachelorette this season. But, kinda not really. Let's talk about what's been going down or should I say WHO has been going down? ;)

This week's episode started off with another cliffhanger from last week (seriously, ABC, this is getting old) with balding Ian confronting Kaitlyn because his ego was bruised that she wasn't into him. He goes on to insult her intelligence, and say (in an interview) that his last girlfriend was way hotter than Kaitlyn), he brags about going to Princeton and makes claim that girls would be clamoring to date him if he was the Bachelor.

News Flash, Ian: NO THEY WONT.
He leaves on his high horse, stating, after everything he just said about being educated and super amazing, "I need to get laid." Toodles, Ian!

Nick swoops in to make Kaitlyn feel better.
Shawn continues to stew about not liking Nick. The circle of Bachelorette life continues.

At the rose ceremony, Matt Damon look-alike and Josh (who still has the janked up haircut Kaitlyn gave him--why didn't he get that cut and managed so he didn't look like a psych-ward escapee?) get sent home.

The gang sets off to Dublin Ireland, and Nick gets the one-on-one date, much to all of the guys' chagrin. Jared and Shawn have a long heart felt convo about it while Nick is off walking the streets with Kaitlyn. Kissing Kaitlyn. Drinking with Kaitlyn. Kissing and manhandling Kaitlyn. Walking some more with Kaitlyn. Biting Kaitlyn's lip. Did I mention they were kissing??

(Look up the definition of "tonsil hockey" in the dictionary and you'd see a gif of Kaitlyn and Nick's date).

They have a night date at a church where the mauling, make out fest continues. Which seems slightly inappropriate given the background, but hey, who am I to judge. Oh wait...I'm here TO judge. 
I'm judging.

They go back to Kaitlyn's room to "hang out"...and little does Nick know that it's going to be with his "wang out". 
We hear the moans and groans as they go into her bedroom. At this point, Kaitlyn should have taken some advice from Heather Dubrow:

(In case you can't hear, she says: "my fancy vag*na is staying in my fancy pants, thank you very much")
Kaitlyn wakes up the next morning saying she doesn't regret what happened, but then has a full on conversation (seemingly with herself) on the balcony about her mistake, saying she will kill Nick if he tells the other guys what happens.

Nick makes his way back and no one seems to be aware that he was gone for the whole night.  He tells the guys he was invited back to Kaitlyns room just to "hang out" (he left out the "wang out" part) and Shawn is visibly pissed because he was invited back to Kaitlyn's room on their one-on-one, too. (No moans and groans were caught on that date tho).

The guys go on their group date which is kind of morbid--an Irish funeral for Kaitlyn who is laying in a coffin when the guys get there. Admittedly she is laughing and drinking  from a flask during it all, but still. The guys tell funny anecdotes/rhymes about her, the way she died, etc, but Shawn wins by saying that he doesn't blame her for committing suicide because he would have done the same if he'd had to spend the day with Nick (little does he know what they did during that time)...
It's also kinda weird that she had Ben Z on this date given his openness to her about his mom's death. But, let's be real, the casket thing is just weird in general.

After several heart-to-hearts with the guys during the night portion of the group date, Kaitlyn gives the rose to Jared. They go off to have a private dance while being serenaded by The Cranberries (whose lead singer looks strangely murderous as she's singing to them...awwwwwkwaaaard).

Meanwhile, Shawn is freaking out about not getting the rose, and is later seen going to Kaitlyn's room to talk to her. This is kind of how he feels about her:

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She thinks it's about her nighttime tryst with Nick and is freaking out. And that's where we are left. Another cliff hanger.

{Recipe Files}: Lemon, Tomato and Feta Zoodles

As promised, I'm here to share one of the tasty zoodle recipes that I tried recently with you!

I found it on Pinterest, but made a few of my own changes/additions

It's super tasty and comes together in minutes!

What You Need:

-4 medium zucchini

-2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes (about one carton)

-1 cup feta

-1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp from jar)

-4 Tbsp olive oil

-Juice of 1 lemon

-1 tsp honey

-salt and pepper

-*Optional: chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

What You Do:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Using 2 tsp of olive oil, add in the garlic and mix.

3. Half your tomatoes (for a quick and easy way to do this in seconds, check out my easy tip here), put on a baking sheet and drizzle with the garlic oil you just made. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss them (you can use your hands!)

Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Let cool.

3. Spiralize those zoodles!

4. Add the feta, chickpeas and the roasted tomatoes on top.

5. In the same bowl you used for the garlic/olive oil mix the lemon juice, honey and  the remaining olive oil. Pour over the noodles, toss, and enjoy your tasty, healthy meal!

Healthy, tasty, filling, and super easy to make! What more could you ask for? :)

Weekend Highlights

This weekend was the first of Summer vacation and it was an absolute blur of fun!

My weekend highlights included:

~The last day of school! (And showing up to work dressed like my teacher friend by accident:

#greatmindsdressalike?

~Low key night in on Friday after a crazy week

~Helped a friend with the beginning stages of carrying out his proposal (so exciting!!!)

~Finished Wild--review to come

~Cooper got a new 'do for the Summer

~Saturday trip to the outlets where I picked up these cute finds:

Romper, super soft linen shorts at Banana Republic, and some new light-weight Clarks sneaks

~SO glad that I tried on the romper at the store because it was SO comfy and cute that I wore it out that night

~Met up with some friends in DC for some drinks before they went to a concert

~Had a celebratory end of the school year dinner at Del Friscos with my love (We split the worlds best macaroni and cheese, he had the best steak I've ever tasted and I got the crab cakes--so much yum!)

~Engaged in a dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives #ohheckyes

~Had a little trouble getting a cab home due to the torrential downpour that occurred (and stepped in a massive puddle on my run to the cab...oops!)

~Skype'd with my bestie

~Ran some Sunday errands

~Called my dad for Father's Day (will be seeing him this week)

~Did a little house cleaning, laundry, and some reading

~Had Mexican for dinner at our favorite spot

~Relaxed for the night and watched the first episode of True Detective

What were some of your weekend highlights?

Linking up with these pretties today:

Friday Favorites!

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Happppppy Friday!!!!

This Friday is one of the best Fridays of the year because it's the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!

This year has been a challenge and had its ups and downs (and they especially came out of the woodwork this past week), so I'm happy to say good-bye to the year and welcome Summer!!!!

Friday Favorites // Friday Favorites // Oh Hey Friday// 5 on Friday

So this week, my favorites revolve around the end of the school year and what I'm looking forward to!

{1}-Teacher/Friend Time

Since a lot of my friends are teachers, there will be lots of people to hang out with during the days. Lunches, hanging out at the pool, shopping, etc are all on the docket for this summer!

{2} Vacations

(and we'll get to see these friends, plus the newest, cutest little member!)

MG and I already have two vacations planned, with the potential for a third one mixed in there somewhere hopefully. July will be more sparse for travel because I'm working summer school (boo), but we have plans for almost every weekend in July already. Lots of fun stuff in store to look forward to!

{3} No Stress!

Ok, there will likely be some stress involved since I'm working summer school (and will still be dealing with a case that is not over at my school and will continue into the summer--ugh), BUT there won't be endless meetings to attend, parent emails and phone calls to answer. I'll get to relax a bit and actually just do therapy this summer, which is the part of my job that I really like doing and gets interrupted so much during the school year with all of the other demands.

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{4} Reading

Oh my gosh I can't wait to just sit down with a book and read for as long as I want to. Inside, on my deck, poolside, or at the beach. It doesn't matter. I plan to read my little heart out. My Kindle is gonna get a workout this summer ;)

And then...because I have to share at least one funny with you every week:

{5} This Buzzfeed

26 Signs You're a Teacher on Summer Vacation

pretty much sums it all up!

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Have a happy Friday and a fabulous weekend!