turning 24 and other things

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it has been quite the time lately.  things seem so up in the air these days i'll admit i've been avoiding the blog a little because it's hard to know what's going on from one minute to the next.  while things haven't exactly settled around here (except the cold temperatures... they have settled in and will not budge) it's time to check in and announce a few things that we actually do know for sure at this point.

1.  my birthday is saturday!  steve and i are planning on heading out of town to the west side of the state to inaugurate me into my mid-twenties.

2.  we have officially booked our flight to greece and will be making a brief rome-antic flight connection in italy!  sadly we won't have much chance to explore, but at least we'll get a feel for the airport for when we decide to go back! ;)

3.  our wedding is less than six months away!!  woo hoo!

i'll leave you with that for now, but there's things brewing that i hope i get a chance to come gush about later!  happy thursday!

it's feasting season

hello lovely readers!  the americans among us have a short week otherwise known as feasting initiation night otherwise known as thanksgiving!  essentially we've arrived at the time of year when the influx of food never stops.  even though our double thanksgiving dinners (yes read that: dinnerS) aren't coming til tomorrow, steve's birthday last weekend got us a head start on stretching our bellies.  last friday several of our friends from out of town came over for a surprise party i threw for steve (it was only so surprising, seeing as he requested such a thing).

i left work early to grocery shop, clean, and cook like a crazy lady.  lucky for me our apartment isn't too big so the place was good to go by the time andy and cha showed up to yell surprise.  not to brag or nuthin, but the food was pretty darn good.  in honor of steve's birthday bash and all the eating we've yet to do, i'll share a couple pretty delicious recipes i invented for the party.

black bean, corn, avacado salad (10 servings)

in a large serving bowl combine:

1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)

1 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels (thawed)

1 large diced avacado

1 large diced red bell pepper

1/2 large diced red onion

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 tbsp cumin

salt and pepper to taste

christmas cranberry face-punch (25 servings)

(please drink responsibly... this stuff is delicious and FAR from baby formula...

consider yourself warned)

in a large serving bowl combine:

3 1/5 cups of vodka (1 fifth of a gallon bottle)

1 1/2 cups of triple sec (about 1/2 a bottle)

2 litres sierra mist cranberry splash

3/4 litre simply limeade

4-5 large scoops of lime sherbet

handful of frozen cranberries

hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

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happy birthday stevedore!!

happy birthday to:

my personal comedian

my co-cat wrangler

my bff

and my very favorite human in the entire universe

steve is officially 22 today (does it feel like the perfect night to dress up like a hipster bebay?)

happy happy happy birthday to my handsome, hairy younger man!  the world has been infinitely better the past 22 years since you've been busy livin' in it!!

[insert excessive/obsessive proclamations of love here]

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a look at my to-do list

saugatuck selfies

in case you haven't noticed, i haven't been great about posting all the time lately.  since it's been a bit tough to stop by frequently to talk about what's going on, i figured i'd just present y'all with a little list of what you can expect to find me doing while i'm away from the blog these days.

1.  wedding planning.  specifically, we're starting to get down to the point where actual commitments have been made, which means the NEW commitments need to work with the OLD commitments.  i'm starting to feel like john nash in a beautiful mind, plotting the bizarre insane connections with string between flowers and bow ties and stemless martini glasses on a conspiracy theorist's basement wall collage.

2.  money planning.  seriously people,  no wonder we have worldwide financial crises.  cash feels like the least authentic form of currency in our world today.  i feel like i need a pirate map to figure out WHERE most of my money is between virtual wallet, checking accounts, growth saving, reserve savings, 401K, IRA, and each of the bloody credit cards.  actually we don't need a pirate map, we just need a home computer (which is supposed to arrive today, OMGOMGOMGOMG sweet panchen lama, i do believe i am mere hours away from a functioning macbook, be still my heart) and a serious sit-down with some file jackets and manilla envelopes.

3.  honeymoon planning.  ok, so we might have officially decided on our honeymoon destination and i might be pooping my pants about it a little bit.  i refuse to blog about it until the plane tickets are officially purchased, but the mind-blowing level of excellence is actually unreasonable.

4.  steve's birthday is friday, our four year anniversary is four weeks later and thanksgiving/christmas family festivities are filling in pretty much all of the blanks.  i'm pretty sure when 2014 hits we're both going to have full on psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.

on the plus side, planning extravagant events and travels is literally one of my very favorite things to do.  is it possible to have too much of a good thing?  eh, probably, but you can bet we're definitely having a lot of fun along the way.  hope everybody has as much to look forward to as we do (though i wouldn't wish the stress on anyone)!  happy tuesday!!

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instagram dump

 

it's a bit busy round these parts recently so for now you just get phone pictures of what we've been up to lately.

the good news is: i ordered a 50mm lens for my DSLR and it. is. off. the. hook.  hopefully this means you'll be seeing a lot more of our adventures through a much prettier point of view, but as of right now iphone photos will have to suffice.

unfortunately i completely forgot to get a picture from last night when steve, my parents and i got dinner to celebrate my mom's birthday (and a little bit belated fathers day for dad)!  we had a great time and stuffed our bellies like piglets and we were practically the last ones there when we finally headed out.  happy birthday mom (and thanks for dinner parents... we are still young and poor)!!

as far as the rest of things go, steve and i recently found ourselves our new favorite park in ann arbor and we have been having a blast exploring in what little free time we have right now.

being busy is making time fly though.  when on earth did we get so far into june??

slow down summer!  i'm still not tan yet!

(oh and hey are you following me on instagram yet?)

more happy things and birthday photos

happy thursday!  i don't know about you, but i am really geared up for this week to be over... like now please?  well since i've still got to get through two more days so let's make a list of the good stuff lately shall we?  i'll throw in a few pictures from my birthday with my family to lighten the mood (excuse my hair and overall look of death pale... i was probably still a bit hungover when these were taken).

mmm spaetzle

1.  steve's interview last week went very well and his interview with a company in chicago, which was supposed to be today was pushed back one week (which was a life saver since he's been working and writing nonstop for the past week and still needs a haircut and new shoes).

2.  we are almost 2 weeks in to april which means we should know pretty soon if / where we are moving.

3.  i ordered an excellent looking floor lamp that will hopefully provide some actual light in the living room.

4.  i think i've successfully established a balance to managing my modest income.  saving for retirement makes me feel like a grown up.

5.  in a temptation that contradicts number 4... i have discovered that fancy camera lenses are a lot cheaper on ebay... 

6.  i still have about half a carrot cake in the freezer for whenever i want to num it.

7.  ann arbor got a shout out in one of the clues on jeopardy last night and it was amusing.

8.  on at least two occasions i have been able to walk around outside without a coat.

9.  arrested development's season 4 teaser posters have been popping up around the internet and it is very exciting.

10.  even though the past week hasn't been stellar... there are lots and lots of lovely things coming up soon to look forward to.

hope the rest of you have some happy things going on!

bargain watching

so here's a fun fact about my family:  i have two older siblings, and all three of us were born on the 29th of the month (march, april and july).  this means my big sister's birthday is coming up at the end of this month, AND mother's day is right around the corner.  gift giving is literally one of my favorite things to do, and when the internet produced "the private sale website," shopping got put in a whole different ballpark.

if you are not a member of at least ONE of the following websites, swallow your pride and sign up (no, i am not sponsored or being paid to tell you this, it's just really solid life advice).  they are free to join.

hautelook

rue la la

my habit

gilt

one kings lane

ideeli

fab

sole society

they do spam your inbox a tiny bit (only with their own emails) but the deals you can get on these sites are absolutely incredible and they will totally change the way (and amount) you shop... forever.

if you don't believe me check out some of the things i have fallen in love with, while shopping for people's presents:

1.  14k gold thunderbird etched cuff $110:  $59 from gilt 

2.  hangtime koi fish wall clock $149: $59 from myhabit

3.  tosca colorblock tote $60: $28 from hautelook

4.  lily pulitzer lottie dottie dress $198: $79 on ruelala

5.  14 piece bamboo utensil set $40: $22 on onekingslane

6.  tracy reese wylie wedge sandal $140: $70 on myhabit

7. best society draped wrap front dress $79: $59 on gilt

8.  wiener dog oil and vinegar set: $40: $24 on fab

birthday / easter weekend recap

there is no better way to get through Monday than bouncing back after a weekend as good as this last one!  we had so much fun!  the night of my birthday steve took me out for tapas at one of my favorite restaurants in town and we stuffed our bellies so full of beef tournedos, risotto balls, smoked gouda mac and cheese, and sweet potato fries, we barely had room for the free chocolate mousse they gave me!  (yeah elliptical machine every day this week, obviously).  

we got a bird's eye view at dinner!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

 after dinner we watched michigan make a pretty ridiculous come back against kansas securing their place in the elite eight (and now the final four woohoo)!  with everybody's high spirits and festive generosity things got pretty outrageous in the joint birthday / afterparty bash... so let's skip to saturday...

fortunately we avoided photo evidence of friday night...
except this smashing image of me and tim.

after a hangover related debacle with our dinner reservation we finally made it out on saturday to enjoy some very tasty german food with my parents and grandmother, who all spoiled me rotten with too many birthday presents, easter candy, and carrot cake.  i'm pretty darn lucky to have such an awesome (and flexibly understanding / forgiving) family.  

speaking of awesome families, remember that gorgeous arrow bangle bracelet i posted last week from stella and dot?  well imagine my surprise when it showed up on my doorstep, with a very sweet birthday card, all compliments of steve's lovely parents!  i sure was feeling pretty darn doted upon this weekend!

thanks karpinski's!

steve and i spent easter sunday enjoying the start of some real spring weather here, and we took an easter walk through the arboretum, where we found some ducks, a plastic egg, and a real life easter bunny.

quack

hope everybody had as lovely a weekend as we did, and here's wishing everyone a belated happy easter!  best wishes on this april fool's day... and an extra happy birthday shout out to my dear friend sari, who is not only cool enough to be born on april fool's day, but is also the baddest biotch in NYC.  believe me, lady, 23 isn't too shabby.

cheers!

moi

sooo today is my birthday.  and nobody at my office knows, which is just fine with me.  but since i am spending most of my birthday formatting proposals i'm going to take this opportunity to tell you all a little bit about myself since it's the day i get a free pass at narcissism.

1.  in college i majored in philosophy, which was one of the best and most rewarding decisions i ever made.  i joke about it a lot, but i genuinely believe i would not be the same person if i had done it differently.  unrelated to philosophy, but still on the topic of college:  my biggest regret from college was chickening out and choosing not to audition for the starkid potter "a very potter musical" that eventually went viral on youtube. yeah, i went to school with darren criss.  we had a class together.  no big deal.  sometimes i fantasize that i would have made an awesome cho chang, alas, take this as a lesson about missed opportunities.

2.  i am distantly related to alexander hamilton and one of the original pilgrims.  me and america go way back.

3.  when i was in middle school i was pretty rough looking.  i had a seriously too long awkward phase between the ages of nine and seventeen.  when i was thirteen the one and only boy who had a crush on me in middle school invited me to his bar mitzvah.  unfortunately a few weeks prior to the event a tree fell on me at summer camp and i broke my tibia.  like straight up snapped my shin bone clean in half.  i'm pretty sure this boy's mother thought i was lying when i explained in my RSVP that i couldn't come because i had a broken leg.  i still feel weird about it to this day.

4.  i really love my job.  i work in marketing for an architecture, engineering, and interior design firm and it's one of the coolest things to feel like you're a part of building something new.  i work in a renovated stone church that was originally built in the 1800's right by an original tiffany stained glass window.  if you've ever been to the city creek center mall in salt lake city, utah, which was designed by my firm, you probably know that i work with some pretty incredible people.

so there's a few fun facts about becky!  now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to make a checklist of all the stuff i can get for free today in this silly little town of mine.  i think i've heard a rumor about free bagels from zingerman's...