happy new year (OMG we're getting married in 2014)

i promise i will be back with a better post soon.  historically i have always really liked taking advantage of the new year to reflect, regroup, and reassess and i know this year will be no exception.  in the meantime, here's a bit of fun from one of my stocking stuffers: the fortune telling book for brides.

according to this knower-of-all, here's a little bit of what is in store for steve and i based on details of our proposal and our wedding plans:

if your proposal was on bended knee:  "if your husband to be got down on one knee and proposed, it is likely that you will be parents tot three or more children."

if you got engaged by trees:  "trees are symbols of life and the soul.  becoming engaged under a tree symbolizes that you and your future husband will shelter each other all your lives, and serve as a grounding influence for each other."

if your wedding is between september 1-15:  "you will be blessed with many opportunities throughout your life.  don't hesitate: reach out to them as they are offered to you.  chances you pass up may not come again."

aries / sagittarius:  "this high-octane pairing will be full of laughter and adventure."

orchids as your wedding flower:  "you and your husband will always be passionate about each other, and you will live in great luxury."

well fortune-tellers... there's a look into steve's and my future ;)  see you all in 2014!

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good morning blogland!  i'm hoping this week i'll get us back on track here at loosefromthezoo.  last week was a bit of a panic-stricken one trying to get everything done in preparation to replace steve's car slash try and make a dent in our mess slash work on wedding details slash feel like i'm making any progress at work.  but the past weekend was one big pleasant surprise!

we accomplished some of our to-do list, but not all.  our living room is still a mess, but sans financial hardship, steve has upgraded from herman (chevy monte carlo) to hank (mazda tribute).  another extra big thank you to my mom and dad for saving hank for us, instead of trading him in.  even after driving the new car from kzoo back to ann arbor, steve couldn't get enough of his favorite new toy, so we had to take an extra little joy ride around town.  since i lazily took next to no pictures this weekend, here's a great shot steve's mom got of him and his new ride.

we're still plugging away at the wedding plans, but one of the exciting parts we got settled this weekend was "finding" our wedding officiant.  we met up with steve's roommate from his freshman year in the dorms, alex, along with his lovely girlfriend erin, last night.  alex has been there pretty much since the inception of steve & becky (steve's five AM profession of love, the dorm fort, wizard people: dear reader, etc.).  we all treated ourselves to some serious face-stuffing last night, and plenty of wine, fish tacos, mushroom risotto, chocolate pumpkin cheesecake, and brandy alexanders later, one of our best friends was signed up to officiate our wedding!  oh and the four of us are having a combination j.crew outlet shopping, hockey game watching, cat and kitten introducing slumber party next weekend.

a sunday feast of epic proportions with wonderful friends sure is the best medicine to get your week started right.  now it's time to get on with the cleaning house so we'll be ready to host my sister when she comes for a visit the weekend after halloween!  busy?  yup that we still are, but we're filling life up with happy times, so i'm ready to stop complaining!

hope everyone's week is starting out on as good a note as ours! we are feeling like lucky ducks these days!

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view from my iphone: emily and colin's wedding

yesterday i was so overwhelmed with all the amazing pictures we got from our weekend away i had to take an extra day off blogging just to keep my head on straight.  steve and i are still grinning back and forth at each other with how much fun we had.  we can't believe how lucky we are to know such incredible people and how fortunate we are to be able to spend such a fun weekend with friends and a little bit of sight seeing!  the long drive was definitely more than worth it.  mr. and mrs. b, can you please get married again every year?

it sure is exciting to think that steve and i will be the ones getting married next september!  i didn't think it was possible to be more pumped to marry steve, but after this weekend we can barely stand to wait!  i'll be posting our photos in spurts as time permits.  for now, here's a look at the wedding festivities.

me and steve with my sister sarah and her fiance dave.  a snazzy crew ready for the rehearsal dinner!

^^ rehearsal dinner fun! ^^

steve gettin' ready!!

me and the beautiful bride!!

first dance

toasting the bride and groom!

omg bubbles!!  omg glowsticks!!

if you follow me on instagram you've probably already seen a lot of these pictures.  don't worry there will be more!  i got some great ones of the ceremony with my macro lens!  woohoo aisle seat!

weddings are also like college reunions when you are in your early twenties.  in case you can't tell how awesome that is from this picture, you'll just have to take my word for it.

sarah and the best man, russell!

arriving in style!

mom and dad of the bride's toast!

cupcakes!!!!!!!!

mazel tov mr. and mrs. b!!

:)

if you can believe it, that's not even all the fun we had over the weekend!  thanks to both families for showing everyone such a great time!  have fun in new zealand em and cobra!  we're already green with honeymoon envy!

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how do you talk?

this dialect similarity survey is extremely entertaining.  i wonder if the university of michigan's hefty alumni network in california has anything to do with this distribution...

i'm finally picking steve up today!  hoorah!  so excited!

happy thursday!

sometimes we don't go to the arb

happy happy happy monday!  (yup today gets 3 happies... fun things are happening at work, but more on that later this week).

i'm going to rewind the weekend a little more slowly than usual because i'm starting to notice my monday posts are getting a little out of control (what can i say, we like to pack our weekend full of fun).

now that steve is done studenting and we are going to be living together, the two of us are really starting to embrace ann arbor as a city instead of just a college campus.  we've been poking around trying to find new corners of the city we haven't yet explored (guess what: there are a TON).

even though we did go to the arb on saturday (the peonies are blooming so i'll post all the pretty pictures later) steve wanted to check out someplace closer to the huron river, so we spent sunday afternoon walking on the boardwalk at gallup park.

shhh i may have told steve to take pictures of me, since there are so rarely any on this blog that don't involve my arm holding out the camera.

hope everybody's week is off to as good a start as ours!

trees

i didn't get around to blogging yesterday because sometimes you just need a second to whine to your boyfriend about being blamed for others' sloppiness at work.

and sometimes you just need a second to go outside and enjoy the 80 degree weather.  we took an adventure in the arboretum and i got all instagram happy (and actual happy too).

it's been so great that steve finally has a chance to relax before starting work in june, but it does make my job feel like such a bummer time-suck since i can't go out an play in the sun until dinnertime.  how am i ever going to get anything like a tan?

it's not the most fun feeling kind of bored, but i suppose we should get our kicks now because i don't think we are going to get a chance to be bored too often in the near future.

for now we are looking forward to the weekend and hopefully we are going to be able to tour our potential "first place" on saturday morning!  it's so exciting that we are finally moving in together after all this time!! happy thursday!

(and if you want to get all my instagram updates before i rehash them here)

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super celebratory mother's day weekend!

happy monday everybody!  i find that blogging is extra fun on mondays (which really helps improve the start of my week) because i get to tell everyone about all the fun we had on the weekend!

steve officially accepted a job offer on friday and will begin working as a management trainee for wesco distribution in june!  we could not be more excited, but it does seem like i spoke too soon because it means we will not be moving out of the area yet!  we are staying put for at least a year, but it will definitely be worth it!  you'll see!  we're so effing excited we can't wait to tell you all about our upcoming adventures!

here's a quick phone dump

steve and i went out to dinner at our favorite place in town to celebrate on friday and feasted like piglets.

we headed back to the zoo on sunday for mothers day and filled in the blanks with a lot of relaxation and laziness.  hope you're all looking forward to a nice week ahead!

p.s. make sure to check out the vintage shop soon to see some of the new items that will be put up for sale this week like this super cute vintage 1950's electric fan!  (it works really well too... i might have to use it once in a while myself if it starts warming up!) 

how to throw a cinco de mayo party in under 12 hours

last year around 11:59 pm on the 4th of may i was scrolling through the DIY section of oh happy day!  i stumbled across one of jordan's many pinata tutorials and decided i was going to throw a cinco de mayo party... which would be scheduled to begin in about 12 hours.  

now i'm not going to say i got a lot of sleep that night (thank god meijer is a 24 hour superstore), and it was a risky move considering nobody was going to be invited with more than a few hours notice, but ultimately, it turned into one of my better parties!  almost 20 people showed up (which was PLENTY considering the party was being thrown in a 800 square foot 3rd floor walk up).  everyone had a blast and for a few hours of lost sleep, this easy peasey party was totally worth it!  so in case you're looking for a reason to entertain, let me walk you through the essentials to pulling it off!

step 1: food

enticing people to drop their plans in favor of a last minute party is a lot easier when you promise to feed them.  the best thing about a fiesta is how easy it is to prepare mexican food in bulk.  here was the menu:

short notice calls for super easy recipes.  with no time to make homemade salsa or queso, i settled for my favorite store-bought brands: garden fresh gourmet, and on the border monterey jack.  the tacos and rice are effortless, idiot-proof recipes that require only a few inexpensive ingredients along with a crockpot and a rice cooker, which is perfect, as both appliances can be used to keep food warm throughout the course of the party.  see the recipe for tacos here and the recipe for the mexican rice here.

step 2: drink

the best part about mexican-themed anything is that it usually can be used as an excuse for margaritas!  but every good host knows that variety is key for happy guests so here is how we stocked the bar:

limes (and salt!) are probably the most critical element to a cinco de mayo bar menu.  they can garnish a margarita, take the edge off a tequila shot, or freshen up the neck of a cerveza (psst modelo is definitely worth the upgrade from corona)!  i went with frozen margaritas, so be sure you have a good blender.  if you are going with margaritas on the rocks i would definitely recommend daily's margarita mix.  cheaper options are fine for frozen, but won't hold as good a flavor without all the slush.  if you really want to add variety grab a bottle of jose cuervo's premixed flavored margarita as well!  it couldn't be simpler (already mixed in the bottle.. just add ice and blend) and it adds a sweet twist as an alternative to lime lime and more lime.  my favorite flavors are mango and pomegranate!

step 3: fun stuff

it is a party after all!

if you've never made a homemade pinata (tutorial here), i would really recommend you try it.  it is easy, it is fun, and it will save you so much money in the long run (those store bought things aren't cheap)!  i'm not talking paper mache, a balloon, and mess... you can make an adorable pinata like that alligator with nothing more than scissors, a cardboard box, crepe paper, and glue (or tape if you're in a pinch like I was last year).  if you're thinking it won't turn out like it does in the picture you're wrong.  they are easy peasey and so stinking cute! they're a total crowd pleasing party game too!  i mean, who doesn't like to bash an adorable box full of candy after a couple shots of tequila?

i also threw together a flag garland like the one pictured (which has a tutorial here).  i used construction paper instead of tissue, which gave it more structure and kept the flags from looking wonky from the tissue folds.  it made a great festive touch!

no party would be complete without some music.  obviously i say go with what your guest list likes, but for something that sounds a little indie-pop and a little mariachi band, i would recommend heading your playlist with the song mission bells by armistice.  it sets the fiesta tone without getting too over the top theme-y.

so there you have it!  the easiest way to throw a cinco de mayo party in less than 12 hours.  adios amigos!

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!

photo recap

 

my signed peter doig print broke the bank, but looks incredible in its frame.

steve created the most awesome chocolate-cinnamon sticks with the remaining trader joe's pizza dough.

i discovered the best delivery sandwich in town.

i got lunch delivered to work because it looks like this outside.

steve sent me a happy surprise picture of himself and bert while i was working.

and.... i'm only a lot obsessed with these sunglasses.