Weekend in Review: Birthday Edition

Another year has come and gone. Saturday was my for real birthday. I am now almost 30. I have a feeling that this post next year will be considerably more self-relfective. Right now, I am where I want to be, give or take a few things. I have worked hard this past year, had some ups and downs, but overall 28 was a great year. I got married, bought a new car, fixed up my first home.

To celebrate, I decided to be extremely low key. I originally thought Japanese Steakhouse with friends, then decided to do a me and boo night. We went to the Melting Pot, which is one of my favorite romantic night out spots. Unfortunately, it was not the romantic experience that we are used to, but no worries. We can play kiss face anywhere. We went for the Cheddar cheese fondue, which has lots of sharp, bold flavors. Then, the wedge salad, our go to at most places. Next, we had the Fondue Fusion, which is a little bit of everything (duck, stack, chicken, lobster) cooked in the red wine. Last, but certainly not least, our chocolate was the Dark and Dulce, a dark chocolate laced with sea slated caramel. DELISH! I have to admit, at that point we were both so full and the food so rich, we didn't even finish the plate of goodies.

Sunday, my parents came over and gave me the best gift ever. A scrapbook of the Royals season this year, specifically the Post Season. I will have to take some pictures to show you all. It is too amazing. I also got a little Salvador Perez, catcher for the Royals,  lego man to put with my Royals collection. 

Shenanigans

she·nan·i·gans

SHəˈnanəɡənz/

silly or high-spirited behavior; mischief.

Ya'll the shenanigans of this past weekend left me exhausted, so I didn't even think about writing a post for Monday. My sister-in-law came into Kansas City from Houston, Tx with her fiancee and we all went to a huge family gathering about 2 hours away. This family gathering has become a time honored tradition of drunken buffoonery. 

This year, there were 45 people present and that many bottles of wine. The house is HUGE, looks like a compound, and I swear was actually made for a Lifetime movie where the man has 100 wives and children living there. 

This is Gabriel, my hubs, and his sister. 

The hostess has the biggest walk in shower/tub that I have ever seen, so of course all the drunk beavers had to go wander around in it. SIL was told this was the only family shower she was getting for her wedding, so she made the most of it. 

There is also a tattoo picture taken. Last year, it was the boys and their cousin in the pink shirt who had just gotten hers done. Me? I didn't tell anybody about my three tattoos because I didn't want to have to show any of them. This year? My foot was in the picture. The other two will stay hidden! Don't let the Hubs fool you, he ain't shy his shirt came off too. I just knew that would be too much for all the beavers in blogland  to handle.

Have you guys started your holiday get togethers? What do you do?

Weekend in Review {{12.1.14}}

I'm sure we all did essentially the same thing this past weekend- ate a lot of food and saw family. That's what we did too. So instead of writing all about it I'll just give you some photos.

I lied, these two photos are from last weekend. I like to make G take selfies and told him he HAD to take a birthday selfie, so he indulged me.

This is Gabriel and his dad, Big Poppa. We went out to Capital Grille last weekend to celebrate their birthdays. 

Our Thanksgiving feast may have been a little different than most people. We decided to go with filet, crab legs, skrimp, and other yummy foods that aren't traditionally served. Best. Decision. Ever.

These were my meager offerings. I love to make bruschetta it is super easy and healthy! 

We then went to the Plaza for their annual lighting ceremony. Even though I have lived in KC my entire life, I don't remember ever having been for a lighting ceremony.

Gabriel, myself, and my Uncle Marty. Marty hosted our Thanksgiving wonderfulness. 

After the lighting ceremony, we went to the local neighborhood bar. And everyone had a hang over the next day, except for me. Turns out, shots of fireball will do that to you. 

Did you do anything super fun for the holiday?

Look Over Here!

Today I'm not living at Tracie Everyday, instead you can find me over at Tiffany's. She is out of town taking baby J to meet his great-granny for the very first time! In honor of that, I wrote a guest post honoring my granny. So, you know it's killing you to not know what my fave memory of my granny is, so go look! It's actually pretty funny.

Go find me at In Pursuit today!

What My Weekend Looked Like

This was a fun weekend! To start it off, I saw more foxes in our neighborhood when out driving around. You know you live in the suburbs when the wildlife becomes domesticated. 

We got our kitchen floor in!!! This is a big one, no HUGE accomplishment. I wrote about our wall and floor getting damaged back in February. It is now all fixed. It has only been months and months, but I don't even care now that it is done!

Next up is me painting the room and the cabinets. My goal is to have this done by the end of summer. They are currently a black and white hideous mess. But, that is easily fixed, so I am not too worried about that. 

And to celebrate Father's Day, Big T came over Saturday and worked on his baby girls house. He did all of this... well and a few more little projects... all in one day! THANKS DAD!!!

Here is the before picture: 

During: 

During:

Man, he works hard! 

After, on the inside:

Our goal is to knock out the wall on the left and extend the bathroom, as right now it is tiny! To do that, we had to take this mud room, which had a door and window and make it a solid wall with a small window. Eventually, our crapper will be under that window. We needed to get the door and window removal done ASAP because we are getting NEW SIDING!!! Yeah!

After, outside:

Father's Day selfie. I mean my hair was looking fly as a mofo, so I had to document. And, I got a new phone, so I wanted to make sure you could read my name. Yup, my phone has my name on it. #noshame

Sunday evening, we went to my soon to be in-laws and had dinner. I finally got Mr. Cranky Pants to take a selfie with me! I love the big, fancy wine glasses that my MIL has, I feel so classy drinking from them. I own a bunch of amazing wine glasses, but am too afraid a dog will break them so I never use them. 

I just wanna roll around in this big bowl of greatness. This cucumber salad is SOOO easy to make, if anyone is interested I can put up the recipe. 

What did you do this weekend?

Monday is Here Already? Kitchen Update and a Great Deal

 

We are still trying to get our kitchen fixed.  If you don't remember what I'm talking about you can catch up here and here. After having a hole in our wall for months, we decided that if we were going to try and make the best of the situation we were going to remodel. Yup, you heard right. Since we had a hole in the wall and are supposed to be getting new flooring we were going to make the kitchen how we wanted it! Sooo... we decided to take out the ugly 80's style apartment sliding door and put in a nice backdoor with blinds in the glass (because boxers love to terrorize mini blinds) and move the window down. The fridge was covering part of the window, but it no longer does! The fridge is getting moved down and we are going to add a pantry cabinet where the fridge used to be. So, what was accomplished in just ONE day you ask? Well, here are the photos.

 

It started raining about 30 minutes into the project, so the boys moved inside to tear everything out.

 

The holes where the window and sliding door USED to be. And my boo thang being a man getting all dirty and shit.

 

 

 

 

oh, did I mention they also took the siding off the back of the house? Well, we are going to get new siding for the entire house! Woot!

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and I also forgot to mention that my Uncle is a contractor, so between he and Big T (who was an electrician in the Army) they got shit done with a quickness.

 

 

Covering up the hole where the old window used to be. And if you look at the left hand side, that's the frame for the new window.

 

 

 

Mr. hanging out the window, mad because I was making him smile.

 

  And... this is the finished product. For now at least. We are havign a company re-side the entire house, so the boys didn't put any new siding up. Yup, we are those cooties with house wrap on the back of the house.

 

 

Next up, we are having the insurance company pay for the new floor and putting up the wall on the inside, so they are going to send a company out ASAP to do that. While they do that we are going to continue to get estimates on siding, a new roof, and windows for the entire house. After the new floor is put in, we are going to add the pantry cabinet, paint all the cabinets with Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations and the Rust-Oleum Counter Transformations.

 

These are the two cabinet colors I am debating between. Which do you like better? Let me know, becuase we are having the hardest time deciding!

 

Castle

Tudor

 

 

 

And you know I hearts me a good deal, so I wanted to let you all in on this coupon! Between Gabriel's extra large extended family and me having worked for schools, I know how expensive graduation stuff can be! If you order from Tiny Prints now, you should be able to get it just in time!

Click here to go to the website and look around 

Offer expires 4/29/14 at 11:59 pm (PT). Save $20 off all graduation stationery orders of $49 or more using code GRAD49 at checkout. Merchandise must total $49 or more before taxes, rush processing, proofs, shipping and other charges for the promotion to apply. This promotion code cannot be combined with other offers. Offer applies exclusively to graduation announcements and graduation party invitations and is not applicable to previously placed orders, shipping, taxes, rush processing charges or greeting cards. Offer is only valid on Tiny Prints and is not applicable on treat.com, third party or partner websites. To prevent fraud or abuse, we reserve the right to discontinue or modify this offer or cancel any order.

Life Happens

 

After my last post, I realized that while I did need my cry fest, life happens. Shit happens in real life and I don't hide it. I get happy, sad, angry and I am not going to hide it as this is all about my everyday life. And my everyday life right now is hectic, but I am choosing to see the positive in all of this big pile of doo doo. Here are some of the highlights of the past few days.

To make myself feel good, I always put on makeup and take a little time with my hair. I mean, one I meet with people all day (kids are people too) and two I like to feel good. And hearing, "Ms. Tracie your eyes are sparkly! They pretty!" does make me feel good. And when the guy at the McDonald's drive thru, whom I see once a week for my egg white d-light, tells me "you lookin good today!" it boosts my spirits. I'm pretty easy to please just feed me and tell me I'm pretty.  

 

 

My uncle scored some of the coveted chocolate ale. YUM! He also had us over for a delish dinner that he cooked and sent us home with a bottle of our own. If you have never had Boulevard Beer you NEED to try it. It is brewed here in Kansas City and is the shiz!

 

My boo thang sent me the most gorgeous flowers to work. He said he sent them to work to make all the other beavers jealous... He sure knows the way to a girls heart.

 

 

Anyone see something wrong with this picture? Just look until you figure it out, then leave a comment letting me know. Cuz this shit wasn't too funny.

 

And then Gabriel does this, while I am fixing the sink. He is such a douchnozzle sometimes. And yes, the date is correct--- It was Valentine's Day and I changed to fix the sink. The moment of glory in this moment is that I FIXED THE SINK and IT WASN'T MY HAIR CLOGGING IT! I get shit all the time about my hair being all over the bathroom and how it logs drains, but it wasn't me! In yo face!

 

 

 

I had a great hair day on Sunday and was feelin pretty fancy so I put on blinging earrings. My mom and I went and rented some vintage party decorations from a local company. This wedding shiz is coming together!

 

Monday, was a holiday so there was no work! I went to the specialist my doc referred me to and they think I have a torn meniscus, so I go for my MRI on Wed morning. Hopefully, it is a strain and nothing more severe. The positive in this was the awesome paper pants I got to wear. I mean nothing is sweeter than paper pants that give you a moose knuckle.

 

DOES ANYONE KNOW GOOD WORKOUTS THAT I CAN DO WITH THIS INJURY? That is an all important one. If you do have any knowledge of ways I can stay active without putting  pressure on my knee, I would love to know. I can't do squats, ride the elliptical, or stretch... So, what does one do?

 

We are still working on figuring out the kitchen. Currently, we are living with a black hole in our wall as they dry it out. We also have a hole in the floor as they dry it out. I will post some pictures asap :)

2013 Year In Review

2013 has been a good year for me. I think that life has it's ups and downs and the year 2013 was no different. I do believe that getting through tough times make you stronger and more determined.

• March 2013- I went to Mexico with my handsome man and his family. It was my first time going to another country for more than a day trip (I went on a cruise in 2011). We stayed at a beautiful all inclusive in Cancun.

• April 2013- My boo thang popped the question! The Mr. and I got engaged and he found the perfect ring! He actually proposed twice. The first time was on a Friday afternoon. He came home from happy hour with some of his co-workers and started the convo with, "We need to talk."  I thought my ass was about to be looking for a new place to live. The convo ended with, "I think we should get married." My oh so romantic response, "We'll talk about it in the morning." Obviously, the conversation went well :) The second time was the official proposal :) My man went above and beyond to find a ring I would love that could be sized down enough to fit (you can't tell but my ring finger is a 3-3.5). On a Tuesday afternoon, I get a text asking if I want him to bring me lunch. My response is a resounding yes! When he shows up at my office I noticed he had no food bags... So, my hangry butt is giving him the stank eye. He comes up to the front door of the building and drops to one knee! I got a legit proposal :) The joke was on us though, the ring that was special ordered in my size was still too big and slid off my hand! I wore a sizer for the first week or so until we could get to the jeweler and have it sized. 

                                

• June 2013- Relay for Life of Shawnee went down! The past two years I was the Public Relations chair for the Relay for Life of Shawnee. I whored myself out to all the media outlets to raise money for the American Cancer Society. I had a lot of fun both years! I won't be participating in 2014's Relay because I am the Maid of Honor in a May wedding and have my wedding in July, so I won't be able to give it my all. 

• July 19th 2013- we bought a house! July was filled with looking at houses, putting in a bid, and paperwork! Then, we packed up our rental house and moved it into OUR HOME! We spent July unpacking and setting up our house. We deliberately bought a house that we could make our own, so we knew our future was going to be filled with DIY projects. We painted every single room and cleaned from top to bottom. We had our yard completely cleared out, as it was totally overgrown. I have to give massive props to my friends for helping me to clean AND paint in exchange for booze. 
  
• August through October 2013- My man and Big T created the workout room. When we bought the house we knew we needed a place to put the weight benches, elliptical, kettlebells, and have space to workout. There was an unfinished room at the back of the garage, so off to work the boys went. They turned a stinky spot filled with crap into room with real walls! This is now an insulated room with electricity, laminate flooring, a window and AC unit, and ceiling fan. 

• November 2013- My grandfather passed away. It was a really rough time between work and family needs. There was a lot of phone calls and visits to his house that occurred. My Aunt took care of so much, I have to admire her strength in caring for her father during his illness and then planning his services. 
• November 2013- My clinical training plan got approved! I am so excited to learn more about my profession and to become a better social worker. I feel like the more I know, the more change that I can be a part of. I got to date my hours back to October, which was amazeballs! I started my weekly meetings with my supervisor asap! My boo thangs birthday was at the end of the month, so we had a great night out with his parents to celebrate. 
• December 2013- It's hard for me not to love December. There is so much amazing stuff that happens in December. There is my birthday, my Grandma's birthday, my Mom's birthday, Christmas, fun timewith family aaaannnddd I get an extra long holiday break, Christmas lights, and to wear scarves & boots. December is sorta the best month ever. December gives me back my energy to keep going. Oh, and the boys also updated our living room this December!

I know that 2014 is going to be a great year too :) We have our wedding planned for July and I know that even more amazing things are going to happen!

What are some of your best memories of 2013? Is there anything planned for 2014 that you can't wait for?