Things I Love Lately

~The map my run app. I can pick my playlist and have a voiceover that will tell me distance, time, pace, split. It's pretty awesome!

~My new glasses. I haven't had new glasses in probably 4 years! 

~Our church. It.is.awesome.

~Getting a good report from the dermatologist! I had to do 6 weeks of chemo cream and it was awful. Even my dr said I looked "barberic". My chest lit up like a Christmas tree! I was itchy, I was grumpy, and I didn't get a lot of sleep. 

~The spring weather. 

~Vests. I love them right now. 

~Tim McGraw's new album. With the exception of one song. 

~Weekend naps.
~Finding new recipes that are delicious and easy.
~March Madness!  It's just beginning, but I love the craziness and hype.
 

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

Chattanooga!

We headed down south for a long weekend to visit the Hungenbergs. Ben and Eric had signed up to do the inaugural Chattanooga marathon as part of a research project. They did great! You can read more about the research project here if you'd like. Erin, Tate, and I drove around and cheered them on at 3 different spots. I'm so proud of them!

The next day we rented bikes and went on a ride along the riverwalk down to the Chattanooga dam. It was a lot of fun and the weather was gorgeous! 

Our last day was so much fun! Our morning started out with a hike at rainbow falls. It was really pretty! 

 

 

These bridges were crazy!! They would shake and rock so bad.

That afternoon Ben, Eric, and I headed over to the Tennessee Stillhouse downtown. It was the first distillery after prohibition. It was really cool! It's a neat brick building and they use whiskey barrels for a lot of their decor.

We went on a tour and learned all about the making process and how aging changes the color and taste.

Their barrel room was underground so they made us wear these sweet hardhats!

After the tour we headed over to their tasting room and got to sample their whiskey.

Chattanooga has some weird laws. You can't just order a drink from this place. You have to have an educational piece before they can serve you. And they are limited to serving you 3 oz. 

After our tour we met up with Erin and Tate and did some shopping before going to dinner. 

It was a really fun trip! 

Date night

I used to love Denver's Restaurant Week. I would get so excited about looking through the menus and figuring out which new place we should go check out. This year was ridiculous! All of the good downtown restaurants booked up so fast! Like within the first 2 days. Unless you wanted a 9 or 9:30 reservation. I was so bummed!!!  

So, we create our own version of restaurant week! Lucky for me, my boss got me a giftcard to a new restaurant for Christmas. The restaurant is called Beast and Bottle. It's a cute, small little place. 

I didn't take this photo- but thought you should see how cute it is! And their kitchen is surrounded by glass windows, so people on the street can see in. 

Paul and Lesley met us there and we had a fun double date! We all did the tasting menu- 4 courses. I had the octopus crostini, crab pasta, pork 4 ways, and a chocolate peanut butter deliciousness. It was seriously so good!!

This is Ben's selection...although I don't really remember what all he ordered! 

Things I Love Lately

•Afternoon walks

•Nike outlet sales- new shoes for $23?!?! Yes, please!

•Skinnytaste.com. Delicious and easy recipes with all of the nutrition info, including serving size

•Our church's new worship cd. It's only 7 songs, but I can't stop listening to it

•Our fireplace. We keep our place pretty chilly, and I LOVE turning on our fireplace and cozying up in front of it

•Accountability. Good grief it sucks sometimes, but it's nice to have people to push you

•Coconut chai tea

•My new UGG house shoes. They're like fluffy clouds for my feets! 

•Finding the perfect shade of nail polish

•Lunch dates with friends

•Coloring books! 

Bedlam

I've been getting a lot of pressure lately to bring back the blog. I won't mention names, but you know who you are! 

I figured a good first post back would be a highlight from last year- my very first Bedlam game!! 

Ben surprised me with tickets for my birthday. It was the best gift! Maybe ever? 

We headed down to Stillwater gameday morning and our first stop was Hideaway Pizza. It was the 2nd pizza place to ever open in Oklahoma. And it's delicious. 

After lunch we walked around campus a little bit and got an idea of the tailgating scene- which is intense! They don't mess around. 

Then we hit up Eskimo Joe's. I've known of Eskimo Joe's since I was little. We used to have their sweatshirts and cups all growing up. And honestly, I didn't think it would be as cool as it actually turned out to be. It was awesome!! It's a 2 story restaurant/bar and they serve their beer out of these cups.

 And they're like collectors items. People literally had stacks upon stacks of these cups on their tables! The marching band came in to get the crowd fired up. 

We headed over to the stadium early to check it all out. That stadium is unbelievable. And, it has an amazing sound system. This is a view from our seats during warmups. 

The weather was freezing. The game was a blow out (not the blow out we were hoping for) but it was so much fun! The atmosphere is unlike anything I've ever experienced. I told Ben this is going to have to be a new tradition. 

Go Pokes!

Birthday weekend

This weekend, we went up north to hang out with family and friends and to start celebrating birthdays! Friday night we headed out to Ft. Collins and hit up Coopsmith's with the Wiederspans and Hungenbergs.  After dinner we headed over to Kilwin's for ice cream. if youve never been to Kilwin's, i highly recommend it!

Saturday, Ben and Casey completely surprised Melissa and I by creating a gourmet dinner- complete with wine, crab legs, steak and chicken, and jazz music! They even sat out dresses for us to change into!  It was a perfect night.

Casey and Ben all decked out, even with their aprons!

Our dinner spread!

Me and Melissa 

Me and the hubs! Love that guy

Melissa and Casey

On Sunday we met up with my parents and went out to dinner at the melting pot.  It was so delicious! 

I love my family!

On my birthday, Ben took me to D Bar Desserts downtown.  This place has the most amazing desserts! Ever!  I had the cake and shake. You get to chose between a chocolate or vanilla shake and it comes with the most decadent piece of chocolate cake you've ever tasted! 

Ben had the cherry waffle sammie- sweet waffles with vanilla ice cream and cherry compote.  

I think I gained about 20 pounds this weekend. Totally worth it! Bringing in the 30's right!!