26th Birthday Recap

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I recently turned 26 years old and I think it has been one of my best birthdays in recent years. Maybe it’s the old lady in me or more of my maturity kicking in. I spent it with the people that mean most to me (my family) and we did some of my favorite things. I felt super surrounded by love.

One of the things I remember most about my childhood is family meals around the dinner table, but those became more rare as I got older. So when they do happen, I love to soak in every moment of it.

I had the best birthday breakfast set up, everything homemade. Mickey shaped pancakes, scrambled eggs with veggies, sausages, toast, and pastries.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my husband, niece, nephew, mom, dad, and my sweet dog.

For lunch, my dad picked up my favorite carry out Chinese food, Happy Uncle. We got our usual, which is: chicken fried rice, chicken lo mien, orange chicken, and general-tso chicken. So yummy!

Shortly after lunch, we had birthday cake! Two to be exact! A couple of birthday’s ago my husband and mom didn’t communicate correctly and they each thought the other one was buying me a birthday cake, so neither got me one. This year, miscommunication happened again, but hey I’m not complaining about getting two cakes! They were both so good.

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I got some awesome gifts from my family too. They ranged from a new camera lens, a Cricut machine, new clothes, accessories, to my favorite Arizona iced tea!

The way I celebrate my birthday has changed in the last few years but I wouldn’t have it any other way. ❤

Second Year Anniversary

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The second year of marriage was sweet bliss. I’ve heard a lot of people say that the first year is the best because couples are still in the “newlywed honeymoon” phase, but in my opinion, the second year has been the best. By the second year, you’ve gone through an adjustment period of living together and have a better idea on how to work together, such as schedules, finances, chores, goals, etc.

We went into our second year of marriage outlining some of our joint goals for the year. These goals included saving up “x” amount of money, going on more dates, and working on communication, among some other things. Growth, individually and together, is so important in a relationship and I truly believe it’s important to keep setting goals (individually and as a couple).

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On June 10th, we checked into the same hotel where we stayed the weekend of our wedding. After dropping our belongings off in our room, we walked around the property. We found the cutest gazebo out by the pool area. We had planned on ordering carry-out, but decided to eat at the hotel’s restaurant, Copper Mill. No regrets here! Mike was super proud of me for the way I took charge and ordered the food. If you’ve ever gone out to eat with me, you know that for some reason I get a little anxious when ordering. Then, I end up either ordering whatever the last person got or something totally random that I probably wasn’t even thinking of getting. I ordered the following for us, which we highly recommend:

-Tater-tots with sauce

-Angus Burgers with fries

-Big Chocolate Chip cookies

-A flight of beers (Mike ordered this one, I just know they were non-IPA’s)

The service was great! We got checked on a several times, water was refilled several times, a bug actually flew into one of Mike’s beer flight cups and our server ended up bringing back a full size glass to replace it, so Mike was happy.

After stuffing our faces with so much food, we spent the rest of the evening watching Hawaii 5-O (one of the shows we like to binge watch together). We also did a cold face mask by OleHenriksen. You know what they say, “couples who do face mask together stay together, right?! “ Haha. It was my first time using this face mask and I loved it! It made my face feel nice and cool while it was on me, which felt amazing, considering how hot the weekend had been. When Mike tried it, he mentioned that the facemask felt minty and left his face feeling fresh (agreed).

On June 11th, our anniversary, we slept in and then made our way back to the hotel restaurant, Copper Mill, to get breakfast from the buffet. Eggs, waffles, chicken sausage, and a little bacon…. It was all good! I think sometimes hotel restaurants don’t have the best reviews, but Copper Mill is definitely top notch.

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Mike is so thoughtful! He got this “Two Years Married” cotton print that has how much time we have been married detailed. I can’t wait to frame it 😊 He also got me a shirt that has the “Mawaige” quote from the Princess Bride. Mike always quotes and his impression makes me laugh so hard!

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After checking out, we went to drop stuff off at our house and planned a trip to Linganore Winery for wine tasting and small picnic. We LOVE Linganore Winery! We haven’t done a tasting in a while, so we were delighted to know that there were a bunch of new wines added. We bought two bottles, one to drink there and another to take home. We sat outside, ate our sandwiches and finished each other’s sentences (see what I did there? haha), and goofed around with my polaroid camera.

We finished our evening celebrating our cotton year WITH cotton candy ❤

 

Redskins Draft Fest and 5K

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I’ve never been a football fan. I own a Cowboys Jersey, but only because I wanted a football jersey when I was in high school and I liked their team colors. On April 28th, Mike and I met up with friends and coworkers for a tailgate at the Redskin’s Stadium. The Redskin’s Draft Fest is an event where fans can come to the stadium for free. Essentially it’s a huge event to celebrate the new draft picks. A lot of people tailgate, but there is also food and beverages for sale inside the stadium. The field has a lot of activities set up for people to do. These include catching a football thrown from one of the practice machines, see if you can make a field goal, a moon bounce, and performances by the cheerleaders. There were also current players, fresh draft picks, and veteran players for meet and greets. There was a huge line to be able to enter the team’s pressroom and the locker room. We waited in line but I must say, it was a bit disappointing. Perhaps it’s because we entered closer to the end of the event but the locker room was bare and not set up, other than the lockers of three players. It was neat to see the Super Bowl trophies they won. After all, I’ll never be that close to a Super Bowl trophy again!

Mike also participated in the 5K run that was held in the stadium this morning. In a previous blog post I mentioned Mike did three 5K’s in April but I forgot about this one! He is a 5K running machine! It was a little bit of a pricy entrance fee since he signed up the week of, but worth it for the experience. Although, he said it was one of the toughest 5K’s he has ran due to all of the hills in the course! Glad I was only there to take pictures!

Check out the vlog we posted from the event!

 

Three 5K’s in a row

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So in April, Mike signed up for three 5K’s on back to back Saturdays! I like to say I got Mike into running when I suggested he start to run to burn off steam. After all, like Elle Woods said, “exercise gives you endorphins”, right! Mike started signing up for 5K’s last year by doing the RAINN 5K and the Roberto Clemente Middle School 5K. This year, he signed for those again.

The first 5K of the month was on Saturday, April 7th for the Clarksburg 5K. I signed up spontaneously when he went to pick up his race packet the night before. Worst decision ever. I had not trained at all and the weather was absolutely horrible. I believe it was in the 20 degrees and I had not dressed appropriately because I assumed I would get warm from running. Nope, it didn’t happen because I spent more of my time speed walking due to not being able to breathe through the running in freezing temperatures. Mike was so sweet though. He stayed with me throughout the entire course. I felt so bad because I was obviously holding him back, so not only is his time (which he usually cares about) going to be “late,” but it also meant I was keeping him in the cold weather longer. Luckily, I somehow survived and crossed the finish like. Looking back, I can’t decide which was worse… the freezing temperature or having completed the course and no medals being given. The Start/Finish area had a lot of vendors and snacks to give out, which was nice!

The second 5K of the month was on April 14th. Mike did the Roberto Clemente Middle School 5K. We randomly found it last year and all the money went to the school. It’s nice to know that the funds were fully helping a school. I grabbed myself a good book and waited for Mike at the finish line to make sure I got the picture shot of him crossing the finish line, since I completely missed it last year!

The third 5K of the month was on Saturday, the 21st, to benefit RAINN. Mike signed up for this one last year as well (you can read about it here). This year, the race was virtual and I signed up to run it as well. We got out packet a couple of days before race day in the mail. It included a shirt and race bib. Even though we had all day to complete our 5K, we started our run super early morning because we had a wedding later that day.

I think we are likely to do these all again next year and hopefully the races I sign up for will give out medals, so I can finally earn one from a 5K. For some reason, whenever Mike signs up by himself, they always give out medals but when I sign up they aren’t provided. They aren’t important but I kind of just want one.

 

If I stay by Gayle Forman

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Summary: 
Mia is a seventeen year old girl living in Oregon with her mother, father and little brother. She is very talented cello player. Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, also shares a strong passion in music. He is in a band that is gaining popularity and has started touring. Ultimately, with Adam’s band going on tour and Mia possibly attending Julliard for college, there relationship slowly starts to fizzle out due to the tension of knowing their paths will be going in different directions and different parts of the country. Mia has a lot of choices to make regarding her relationship with Adam and where to attend college. Should she follow her musical dreams or follow her heart? The biggest choice she has to make comes following the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family. Mia is the only member of her family to survive and she finds herself in a coma. While suspended between life and death Mia faces a choice that will decide her future.

Opinion:
I’ve seen the movie a couple of times and had no idea it came from a book so I was pretty excited to read it. There are specific scenes of the movie that make me shed a tear no matter how many times I’ve watched it. The book is no different when it comes to those same moments pulling at my heart strings. My heart always aches at the thought of Mia’s situation. The storyline is immensely devasting but I love it! It really makes you think about how every choice in life changes things. I won’t spoil the ending incase you haven’t seen the movie or read the book yet. But I have always wondered what the aftermath of Mia’s decision is. How it changes things and affects everyone else. I found out that there is a sequel to this book titled “Where she went” so I’ll be on the hunt for it!

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

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Summary: Darcy Rhone appears to have a perfect life… perfect fiancé, perfect job, perfect friends, etc. Darcy has depended on her good looks, outgoing personality and her best friend her whole life. Which allowed her to be cunning and selfish to say the least. But that soon changes when her fiancé and best friend get together and Darcy is left completely alone with a baby on the way. Follow her journey of redemption and rediscovery when she flees the country to a childhood friend living in London.

Opinion:
*You can read this as a stand alone book but its basically a sequel to Something Borrowed.

I loved Something Borrowed (and the movie too)! I was told through instagram, when I posted my review on Something Borrowed that Something Blue was the sequel from Darcy’s point of view. Naturally I had to get the book and it did not disappoint! It took me three evening to finish reading this book because I could not put it down! I mean it! One night I was under the covers at midnight with my phone flashlight trying to not wake up my husband as I turned each page!

As always, I won’t include any spoilers but I HATED Darcy when I began reading this book. I hated her character from Something Borrowed because of how selfish and self absorbed she was. So for the author to write this book from Darcy’s point of view is brilliant! I gasped a few times reading this book, so many surprises! I found my self starting to feel sympathetic towards Darcy and even cheering for her as she tries to prove that people can change. Ok ok ok confusion, I teared up while reading towards the ending of the book.

Both books raise a lot of questions about friendship, infidelity, and forgiveness.

If you’ve watched Something Borrowed, the movie, then you probably saw the little teaser at the end…. so Emilly Giffin, I sure hope that Something Blue is in the works to be a movie as well!

If you’ve read either books or watched the movie Something Borrowed, let me know what your thought were in the comments!

A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

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Summary: Its an emotional and funny story of a dog that goes through multiple lives trying to figure out what its purpose is. It gives commentary from a dog’s point of view on how humans live and relationships within families and with pets.

Opinion: I saw the movie first, I tired not to but I did. I cried several times throughout the movie and literally laughed out loud. I don’t know if I was more emotional because I had just gone through a scare with my own dog but it got to me. My verdict is that although the movie was good! The book was simply better. The book had a lot of commentary from the dog and everything was from the dog’s point of view, but the author also does a great job at describing things, so we know exactly what is going on. The book dove more deeply into each “family” that the dog lived with and what it gained and learned from each of its lives. It was all tied beautify at the end. I won’t spoil the ending but it was different than the movie! I’ll leave the review stating that the dog really is a good boy!

And I also can’t stop looking at my own pup and wonder what he is thinking or how he views things!