Thank goodness it was Friday!

 

What a great day! I spent the afternoon with some lovely ladies and it was so much fun. It was a little mama/baby meet up, and we enjoyed lunch, lots of girltalk, and topped our day off with sweets and cupcakes. Perfect.  My friend Natalie is due so soon, so it was great to be able to see her adorable and pregnant. We did lunch at Joe's Farm Grill out in Gilbert and I can't say enough good things about this place. It's a really interesting restaurant. It's surrounded by farmland, and they use local, fresh food that's in season whenever possible. You can learn more about the Agritopia project and the Grill by clicking here, and I definitely recommend doing so- I was fascinated to find out the concept of this whole area. Super neat. And back to the food, last time I was there I had the grilled chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries, and today I had the hamburger and salad- it was delicious! I really, really need to remember to bring my Nikon when I go places and actually take a few minutes to snap some good photos- I'm starting to get annoyed with myself so I am not going to make that mistake again! But anyway, after lunch we walked over to The Coffee Shop to enjoy some sweet treats (my pal Chelsea actually blogged about it yesterday if you'd like to hear more about it). Natalie and I split a birthday cake cupcake (so good). It was really just the best day- it's refreshing to be around a group of mothers who are super like-minded. I'm not religious by any means and most of the Mom's groups I've encountered are more religion-based, meeting via church, etc...which is absolutely not for me. I have a few friends who are in Moms groups like that, and like I always say- to each their own, but that kind of thing just isn't up my alley whatsoever. With that said, I'm looking forward to hanging out again soon with these wonderful gals!

After lunch I hurried home to Prescott so I could get ready for our date night, and was greeted by a mysterious package at the front door. Upon further investigation I saw it was from one of our dearest friends Alex, and it then hit me why he asked me the other night while we were texting, "do you like presents?" haha. Oh, Alex. When Hank got home we opened it, and inside was an amazing amount of sweets from his bakery in San Francisco, Miette! OH LORD was everything good. And yes, don't worry, I sampled one of everything.

So, after getting super full on sweets, we dropped Henry off at Hank's Mom's and went over to Wild Iris for tea and (more) sweets. I indulged a bit too much (okay a lot too much) today and let's just say I'm already looking forward to a long walk tomorrow with Henry. Yikes. But anyway, it was so much fun. We spent two hours just drinking our coconut tea, splitting a slice of citrus cheesecake, and talking about everything and anything. I feel so lucky to be married to my best friend, and I love that we can sit and talk for hours and hours. While there I also ran into two old students which is always wonderful too- they were pretty much the cutest things ever and it warmed my heart to see them doing well. All in all it's been a really great night.

Tomorrow morning Henry and I are heading downtown to enjoy breakfast with my sister-in-law before she moves to Portland for a month for floral school. How neat is that?! I'm excited for her and I know she is going to have the best time. So tomorrow is a bit of a farewell breakfast before she heads to the airport. Afterward you can find Henry and I walking around town, trying to work off some of the sugar I consumed today. ;)

Here are some photos, taken with my point and shoot Canon and my phone.

present from Alex, thank you again sweet friend! Love you tons.

sunset from our front yard this evening

coconut tea, seriously AMAZING! Adie introduced it to Hank, who introduced it to me...and I can't wait to drink it a lot more often. Love it.

the citrus cheesecake. Yup.

I hope you all have a fantastic Saturday! Until next time, xoxo!

TGIF

Today was such a lovely day. I had a lot to get done, and I got all of it done, yay for me, right? I started out the morning with a movie date with my sister-in-law Brooke. Our big plan was that by going to see Eclipse at 10am on a weekday, the theater would be totally empty. We still got there fairly early, but when we walked in the theater was packed! We managed to find two seats at the end of the aisle which was good (although the seats where you can put your feet up on the bar are preferable), but we were still comfy. I was SO happy with the movie though. I've read all the Twilight books (in my opinion- great story, horrid writing), and I've also seen each of the films so far. I thought the movie adaptations were pretty good, but this one takes the cake for being the absolute best so far! I really, really enjoyed it and was pleasantly surprised. I'm usually really annoyed with Kristin Stewart but she wasn't so bad this time, and overall I kind of loved it! So, if you're on the fence about seeing it, I recommend it 100%! And if you did see it, what did you think? Do you share any of my sentiments? Which movie have you liked best so far?

Afterward I did a lot of errands, then came home and Hank and I decided to have a dinner date. We haven't gone on a just-us date in a week or so, so tonight was perfect. Originally Autumn's family was supposed to be up here, but unfortunately Jason has to work tomorrow, so they are having to reschedule their visit. I'm really sad but I know we'll see them soon. So due to the change in plans we decided to do a just-us night, and started the night off with a little stroll. I think it's so important to have nights like these, because I know when Henry arrives our lives will be a lot different than they are now. And not in a bad way, just a different way. We headed out down to street to see our friend Addison at the guitar shop he works at. They were having a little blues jam session, so we stopped by there to say hello then walked down to Taj Mahal, one of our favorite restaurants in town. It was so nice to enjoy a leisurely dinner and talk and talk. Everyday I feel a little bit luckier that I have Hank in my life, it's so neat to be married to your best friend, and nights like this always remind me to count my blessings and be so thankful for this love. :) At dinner I got to see my friend Robyn! She works there as a bartender/server and it was so nice to catch up for a bit, amidst the live piano music and delicious food. After dinner we strolled back home- I get tired pretty quickly so I wanted to veg out and rest. In a minute we're going to lace up our running sneakers and go on a little outdoor workout jaunt through the neighborhood and THEN....(oh I am so excited)...Hank is going to watch one of my FAVORITE movies ever for the FIRST time, Death Becomes Her.



I dvr-ed this via HBO the other day and it blew my mind that Hank had never seen it, so I've been looking forward to watching it all week with him. It will be nice to have a relaxing evening because tomorrow is going to be quite the day. All of my family is coming up to enjoy 4th of July up here in Prescott. Again, we're totally all going to miss Autumn and family but next year will be just as fun! Last year Sarah spent the weekend with us and we had a blast hula hooping, wearing patriotic crowns, and watching fireworks. This year should be great too and I'll be sure to take a million photos.

Speaking of, here are some pictures from today that I took using the shakeitphoto app on my new iPhone 4! Happy Friday, everyone!

Date night fun!

I love the weekends so much. This morning I slept in super late, and it wasn't until past noon that I decided to tackle my day! Oh well. I haven't been getting enough sleep this past week so it felt so good to catch up, and I feel like my body was happy about that choice. Once I was up though, I was definitely up, and got a lot accomplished. Mall run, Target run, New Frontiers and Fry's for groceries, and then home. Once Hank got home we walked to dinner over at Esoji, our favorite Japanese restaurant. Hank is vegetarian (eats vegan a lot of the time), so in our little town it can be hard to find good options when dining out, outside of our usual Thaifoon and Hugo's. Esoji has a few really awesome vegan options and I always love getting sushi so it's a good choice. It was so romantic walking down our street, all of the lights looked amazing and I couldn't help but just getting lost in that winter wonderland. More often than not I look around and I am in disbelief that a town like this exists. To us, it's perfect. It's a small town, with an even smaller town mentality. I feel fortunate that we are making this place our home, where we will raise our family and grow old together...until we retire in Hawaii! :) Hank will be taking over one of his family's businesses, so we really are rooted in this beautiful place, and I like that certainty.

Our dinner was excellent, and we spent a good two hours lingering over our food and talking. I love that. Afterward we strolled around a bit more, and then ended up at Starbuck's for some hot drinks. Hank had to play a show tonight with one of his bands (Hot Skin), so around 10pm we cut our evening short and he headed over to the practice space to grab his gear and then head back downtown. I'm spending the rest of my night wrapping up some gifts and putting the final organizational touches on our closet. I really enjoy quiet nights in like this.

I hope all of you had a fabulous Saturday night! Tomorrow is my favorite day of the week, and I'm planning on baking up a storm. I have four different cookies I'm making, and if there's time I am hoping to make a rhubarb strawberry crumble. Then next week we have just two full days, and three half days before winter break! Two weeks of paid vacation bliss. I love being a teacher!

Some pictures from this evening -

on our front porch


Hank's family (his Dad's side) owns/runs the funeral home in town (Hampton Funeral Home)- doesn't it look haunted?! And no, this isn't the business he is taking over, thank goodness!


Christmas carnival


ferris wheel






walking down to dinner






my seaweed salad! yumm


Hank's tofu dish, delicious!


all bundled up! :)


beautiful Prescott, AZ















back home!


failed family photo attempt:)