Friday Forecast: Frozen Jacks

FRIDAY!!!!

So it's pretty cold down here in Hotlanta. I'm starting to worry that last winter was warmer than normal. Now I know I've got a good amount of Midwest readers who are probably thinking, "Buck up buttercup!" But really guys, we've got a feels like 36 F going right now. That's chilly and you know it!

Perhaps the weather is preparing us for a move back to the Midwest, same as it did during the HOT HOT summer before we moved down here...Only time will tell on that one.

In the meantime, I've got my space heater cozy-ing up my cube and a delicious mug of Peacan Pumpkin oatmeal from TJ's waiting to be devoured. 

Here's our Weekend To Do's

1.) Finish up our costumes. The party is Saturday night so we've got time. I've got some cutting, tying, and gluing to finish up, but that's it. I'll be sure to post pictures of the completed costumes on Monday. In the mean time, here are some clues to help you keep guessing:

              - We are not an animal or person

              - We can be found in the US

              - We are not very hug-able

Any new guesses??

They look so sad...at least they have each other.

2.) Carving our Plumpykins! Our poor plumpies have been freezing their stems off in their per-Jack state. I've given up on the idea of carving them outside in the fresh fall air and come to terms with the fact that in this chilliness our Jacks won't be the only thing frozen by the time we are done.

3.) Bank Run!! Ok it's not really that exciting, but I've finally found time on a Saturday to head over to the bank and get my name changed on the account. Mike and I have also been talking about different ways to budget and track our spending (more below). So opening up a savings account will also be part of the run.

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4.) Now that the crazy wedding spending is over, it seems like a good time to re-evaluate our monthly spending habits. I recently read a few blogs about cash-only envelope systems and I'm thinking it could work for us. If you're interested in what this method entails, this blog does a good job covering the basics. It also has a link to envelope patterns that cane be printed out on scrapbook paper to make the envelopes extra fun. Sounds like a great project for my silhouette! And that my friends is called a Win/Win :)

And last but not least....

5.) Allegiant!! I really don't know how I've managed to hold off on this til the weekend. I think it's been a mix a busy-ness at work and projects at home. I think I might try to cross off my other more pressing to-do's first, but I can't guarantee that I won't change my mind over lunch today. 

Happy Halloween Weekend! Have fun celebrating!

Friday Forecast & Fall Book Review

Sigggghhh....weekend, thank you for gracing us with your presence.

First off, a Fall Bucket List update: Fall Reading List Complete! Woot Woot! 

Divergent Series, The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, Wonder, and The Giver.

Now technically I have not officially finished the list because Allegiant won't come out until October 22, but I've already pre-oredered it for my nook. I might need to call in sick that day :) 

Here's my super quick review of each:

1.) Divergent Series: I couldn't put it down, but I could have done with less of the unrealistic teen love nonsense (i.e. girls sulks in secluded hallway, boy magically shows up to console her). I preferred book 2 over book 1, and am expecting the greatness to continue.

2.) Wonder: This was so cute. Very funny and very uplifting with some serious messages about bullying and being kind. Great read for all ages really.

3) The Fault in Our Stars: Loved it! So great. Definitely worth the tears. This book is about teens with cancer, so you know what you're getting yourself into from the start.

4) The Giver: This book was nicely inline with the themes in Divergent minus the love story, but I found myself wanting more plot. I felt like the first 80% of the book was setting up for what turned out to be a very short plot line. I'm excited to see the film adaptation.

5) Looking for Alaska: I had a hard time connecting with these characters. I'm not sure if it was because it was from a boys point of view, or just that The Fault in  Our Stars was sooooo good, but i found this one to be overall meh.

Geeze, I feel like that was harsh. You'd think I didn't enjoy reading those at all. Really though I read the last 4 books in 6 days. I've been quite a book worm lately. My obsession has quieted down a bit, but October 22 is only 17 days away!!

Back to the Forecast...

Have you guys seen the first Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?? If you haven't go see it. Now! Or actually finish reading this post, THEN go watch it. Seriously underrated movie.

Mike and I have a special love for Cloudy and even made-up our  ( )'_'( ) emoticon based on the 2nd most awkward kiss of all time. For the first most awkward kiss click here at your own discretion (warning: you can't un-see this).

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Well Cloudy 2 has arrived!!! We tried going last week, but alas I was exhausted. Tonight's the big night! It's been FOR-EV-ER since we did a real person date. I'm pumped.

Saturday, Mike and I are heading to Hoptoberfest with some new Atlanta buddies. After a week of headaches, I have mixed emotions about spending Saturday day-drinking, but hey, I wasn't raised in WI for nothing. I might need to add making pretzel necklaces to my Saturday morning itinerary :)

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Mike is volunteering at a 5k on Sunday which means.....GIRLIE TIME!! I haven't yet decided how I'll be spending my precious alone time. Sadly I think grocery shopping and some cleaning might make it on to the list. I'm sure I'll fit in plenty of Glee to balance it out.

Happy Friday! Try to sneak in some romance if you can!

Fall Bucket List!

Another Wednesday here, another weekend right around the corner. I'm going to switch it up a little. Instead of telling you about a project I recently did, I'm going to share some of my projects for the future. So, without further ado:

My Fall Bucket List:

1.) Fall Reading List I've mentioned this in other posts, but I've been trying to spend more of my free time to reading. My goal is to get through five works of fiction before Thanksgiving. One of those works is actually a trilogy, but I don't hear any booklist police complaining.

Slots 4 and 5 are still up in the air. I've found that it's best for me to pick new books on the fly.

2.) Harry Potter Weekend This idea has been floating around in my brain for a while, but until recently our Harry Potter dvd collection was seriously lacking. (Fun fact: the first Harry Potter movie was the first dvd my family owned growing up...and our only dvd player was in the computer). 

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In addition to marathoning the movies, I have plans for some serious Lego Harry Potter board game battles and possibly some  Lego Harry Potter on wii if I can hunt down the game in time. And to accompany all this activity: lots of pumpkin based recipes and of course butterbeer! 

3.) Pumpkin Carving! I am seriously pumped for this. I've asked Mike about a million times now if we can carve pumpkins this year. He says yes every time, but you better believe that when I see my next pumpkin I'm going to ask again :) Not only do we have a great outdoor space to display them this year. We can also use that same space to carve them, meaning less mess in the house! Soo Pumped! (pun intended of course)

I've already started fall-ify-ing  our patio. Can't wait to add some pumpkins.

4.) Christmas Cards Last year we thought about sending out Christmas cards, but mass mailings have never really been my thing. Now that we are married, I'm feeling a bit more obliged to partake in this tradition. I'v got some ideas, but I'm going to keep it a secret for now since there's a pretty good chance anyone reading this will also be a recipient.

What's on your fall bucket list? Share your plans in the comments!

Want to get jazzed for fall? Check out this article. Swooon.

Weekend Recap: Our Lovely, Lazy Weekend

We were so lazy. Sooooooooo lazy. It's a good thing that we stayed pretty healthy with food, because we barely left the apartment. It felt great :)

I knew going into the WIIIIIIIIDDE open weekend that my main goal was to watch New Girl and read, and well...Mission Accomplished.

Friday after work I had one task in mind: hit up Whole Foods for a quick and easy dinner and some provisions for the weekend. I find so much comfort in our neighborhood Whole Foods. Just walking through the doors makes me feel healthier. Our past two runs have been very fruit and veggie focused. Pat of the back for us. After all that I've read and heard about the power of intention I know that health by proximity might but by a long shot, but I like the idea so I'll stand by it. (pun intended)

Post Whole Foods, we bottled the heck out of our cider. Socie Cider 2013 will be ready for consumption in two weeks. We'll probably try cracking one open this weekend to preview (pre-taste?).

It was a good thing we hadn't planned to go anywhere Saturday because multiple factors would have made it completely miserable. First being that this weekend was Music Midtown, meaning that traffic was extra headache inducing and our "it's really no so bad" street parking became more "ok maybe a reserved lot would be nice" in the convenience department. Second being that it rained all day, allllll daaaaay. No worries though. We had food, and drinks, and Badger football, and no pressing business to attend to outside the home. Winning combo.

Sunday continued in laziness. We watched football mixed with New Girl. i got into the number 2 slot of my fall book list:  The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Very good so far. Although I foresee a tragically depressing ending...blerg.

Here's the photo version of the rest of our laziness:

Food! Mostly healthy. I few indulgences here and there:

Cards! My second project on using the Silhouette. 

And look what didn't get done. Oooops.

Tonight we head to Moe Monday. It's the little things...especially on Mondays, it's the little things.

Weekend Recap...not much happened

Monday...whoomp whoomp

It was a pretty uneventful weekend around our place.  Here's the rough outline:

1. The League, Season 4: Completed. Yup, we watched the whole season start to finish. It's really the only way to watch a show on Netflix. BTW, does anyone else really not like Rafi?

2.) Crafty-ness I made Mike this awesome chop shirt. I'll go through how I did it in the next post. He likes it. I'm happy :)

Chop won't stop

3.) FOOTBALL It's here! Football Season. We had a great time at Ian's place. Grilled out in the courtyard, then went upstairs to watch the game.

Go Tech!

We also go to play the Frisbee game! It's a really great tailgate game that I've seen but never played... until Saturday. Team Socie totally dominated. I credit our UW upbringing.

One of last year's second years showed up with his gf. We ended up heading to their place for dinner and the Iowa vs. Iowa State game and left the little ones to their own shenanigans.

4.) Fall Reading List! I'm making a list of 5 books I'd like to read this fall. The first one is actually a trilogy, but after hearing rave reviews I knew I could knock out all 3 no problem. I'm currently a few chapters into book two of the Divergent series. It's safe to say I'm hooked. Book three arrives in late October. Can't wait!

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Still looking to fill spots 4 and 5. I'm hoping my friend over at Bee in Milwaukee can provide some suggestions.

Smoose Update: We are 3 smoothies in, and so far so good. We ended up heading to Moe's last night as a last meal of sorts. We've got about two weeks til our next Moe's run :( Fingers-crossed we can make it. It will be interesting to see how a work day goes. I think it might be easier than when we were just sitting at home yesterday.

Hope you have a great week and remember, it will be Tuesday soon!