Sentence Per Picture

Goooooood morning, people!

I am currently in a cookie cake and taco dip coma from our weekend at the lake. And apparently my Internet is too, because it is running slow as molasses this morning.

Justin's family has a lake house up in Michigan and it is one of our absolute favorite places on earth during the summer months.

You take some winding back roads to get up there and once you arrive, your worries disappear along with your cell service. It's glorious.

We spent the weekend sleeping in, breakfasting on the deck, grilling burgers & brats, tubing with some cousins, reading a good book (me), cleaning out garages (Justin), watching the Blackhawks lose while the cable was coming in and out, pontooning at sunset, and ending the night by the bonfire. Perfect lake weekend.

Let's recap the weekend sentence per picture style.

Why does morning coffee taste so much better at the lake? 

Is there a 12 step program for La Croix water, because I think I had 16 this weekend?

Wine, cheese, and oldies music on the pontoon at dusk.  (Heaven on earth.)

My favorite captain. 

Roasting marshmallows by the fire, and listening to all the drunk people have sing parties spinning around the lake...good, good times. 

The Sleepy Brewers Inn: early bird breakfast 6AM. Lake Rules: relax, relax, relax. 

So that's the weekend in a nutshell! 

On Sundays, we drag the days out as long as we can up at the lake and scheme about how we could swing taking Monday off for just "one more day." 

But, reality calls and after a drive through a white-knuckle thunderstorm home, we are back at it on this Monday morning. 

Hope your coffee is strong and your Monday is short today, friends! 

If you need something to look forward to....bachelorette tonight and RHOC starts! Are you watching it all in one night?!?! 

xoxo

Jess 

Friday I'm in Love

Hi friends!

Happy Freaky Friday!! We MADE it!!

Sorry for the two day hiatus...it's been an unusually busy week over here!

Today I'm linking up again with Mary Beth, Kendra, Misha, Amanda, and Laura for "Friday I'm in Love."

This week let's do Friday I'm in Love Birthday Treat edition...

I was seriously spoiled on my birthday this year.

I slept in just a little and woke up to a bag of candy, a funny card, and a gift card from my hubby that I plan to use on some Lululemon gear for our upcoming trip to Costa Rica.

When I got to the gym in the morning and checked in, the girl at the front desk knew it was my birthday and greeted me with a big "Happy Birthday!"

That is some customer service. (And another item to add to the list I use monthly to justify the small fortune spent on my gym membership. Win, win.)

Work was super upbeat because I think everyone was excited for my birthday the Hawks game, and I got delivered the most beautiful flowers from my husband in the afternoon (#spoiled).

These things are making my office smell like heaven.  

On my way home from work I stopped and cashed in my free Starbucks birthday drink. 

I am such an amateur. I didn't realize you can literally get whatever drink you want in whatever size you want?!?! I still cannot get over that! I ordered a decaf vanilla latte made with coconut milk and loved every second of it on the train ride home. 

When I walked in the door at home I had a ridiculous amount of surprises waiting for me. Cookie cake, more flowers from my hubs, cards, and flowers from my sweet neighbors. 

Every birthday calls for a cookie cake, people! (Thank you so much, Megan!!) 

After getting cleaned up, we headed out to Cooper's Hawk for dinner to celebrate.

We are members, so we had some wine to pick up for the month. This month's wine is a Chilean Cab. If you have a Cooper's Hawk near you, go get some PRONTO! :)

I love love love the potsticker appetizer at Cooper's Hawk. One of my absolute favorite things is to get that app, a little soup, and wine in the bar area. My happy place!

We were home at a decent time and I may or may not have been in bed by 9:30. Perfect end to the perfect day.

In other favorites news...if you are looking for a fun weekend dinner recipe this week, you have to try these Beer Cheese Joes. Ohhhhh my lord. So good. 

I made ours with this Blue Moon Summer Honey Wheat beer, which turned out to be a great choice.

Served with a little broccoli for some green and loaded up on a sandwich thin. Perfection!!

And a final Friday Favorite is that we are heading to the LAKE this weekend! I am literally cartwheeling inside my head. Cannot wait.

I will make sure to stop back by on Monday to share with you some highlights from one of my favorite places on earth.

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

xoxo

Jess

Show & Tell Tuesday

Good morning!

Happy it's no longer Monday!

I have to say, yesterday was a doozy of a day for me. One of those days where I was just happy to make it through and breathed a sigh of relief when I hit my pillow!

Bachelorette was much improved last night. Well done, ABC.

Today I am linking up Andrea for Show & Tell Tuesdays.

This time, we are supposed to be sharing what we wanted to be when we grew up.

Well, I will say that I did not know that I wanted to be an attorney until about 1/2 way through college.

When I was growing up, my dream was to be on Broadway.

Yes, I kid you not!

I was in civic theatre as a little girl, then choir and musicals all through high school. I actually love to sing and back in the day, I also loved to perform. I'll have to look for some old pictures from musicals to share with you all sometime.

I think my Grandma deep down was heartbroken I didn't go on to be a Broadway star. Hey, there's still time, right?! ;)

In college, I was a business major. I started out thinking I wanted to be an accountant. Ha! That still makes me laugh. I do not think that profession would have worked for me at all.

The moment I knew I wanted to be a lawyer was when I took a business law class at IU. I ate that up! I had never enjoyed a class like that. So, the dream was born!

Tell me, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?? 

Have a fantastic Tuesday, everyone! This is my last day as a 28 year old. Holy cow.

I'm not sure if I'll be stopping in tomorrow, but I'll see you sometime later this week!

xoxo

Jess

Monday Thoughts

Hi friends!

I hope you had a perfect, relaxing weekend, and are going into this week ready to kick some butt!

I'm going to keep things simple today with my Monday thoughts.

1) WTF was that weather this weekend, Chicago?! I'm just gonna pretend that didn't happen. Rainy AND cold AND windy. You owe us a week of sunshine and warmth, please and thank you.

2) My friend, Mary Beth, had a beautiful wedding shower yesterday. She looked stunning in her Kate Spade dress!

The theme was "Sweet & Spicy" and it turned out so, so cute. The food was delicious, the details incredible, and it was great to see all of my wine club girls. Cannot wait until September, MB!

2) I am super excited to try out this recipe tonight for Green Chile Chicken Baked Tacos. How life changing are the stand & stuff taco shells?? I want to hug whoever came up with that idea!

3) I'm really hoping The Bachelorette brings its A-game tonight because last week's episode was super lame. I did see a very interesting preview suggesting there may be a different kind of in-house romance brewing this week...part of me thinks maybe there was just some crafty editing of a little bro-mance, but we shall see!

4) I am turning 29 this week! AHHHH! I have to say this is the first birthday where I actually really want to just stop the clocks. I can't handle the fact that this is going to be my last year in my 20s. On that note, I agreed with almost every line item on this BuzzFeed article. Particularly numbers 1, 7, 15, 22, and 24.

5) I am hosting my neighborhood book club this week and we are discussing The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos. If you're looking for a good, relatively easy summer read, go get this. Everything about it, the family themes, the love themes, I just got it and it felt so good!

That's all I have for you today, but check back tomorrow for some more BEBT fun!

Have a great day, everyone!

xoxo

Jess

Friday I'm in Love

Ok guys, I have to say it...

Happy Freaky Friday....we made it!!!!!!!

#TGIF

Today linking up with Mary Beth, Kendra, Misha, Amanda, and Laura for "Friday I'm in Love."

Our Yard

I don't know about you all, but I would just like to freeze my yard and flowers right where they are. Everything is finally blooming and it's too early for things to start dying because I've neglected to water them.

(I have, however, already killed two of my planters I'm made, #imspecial)

Everyone please admire how good our grass looks and tell my hubby he's a stud.

He's been workin' hard in the yard!

Our Bird Friends

This year we have not one, but TWO birds nests on our garage. The one that is further to the right (kind of hard to see, its up in the rafters) has been there since we moved in, but the one on the left is brand new this year.

Is it weird that I am proud that these birds chose to come live with us? Like, they thought our house looked cozy enough to make there home here. How sweet, right?

What I don't love is that in the morning when I am heading to my car in my sleep-walking state to go to the gym the birds get all freaked out and go kamikaze at my head.

How can I get these birds to understand that I am not here to disturb them??

This Song 

If you're looking for someone who has sophisticated taste in music, you have come to the wrong place.

I have been playing this song on repeat this week. I love love LOVE it!!!!

Brings me back to old school Mariah Carey and I just can't stop.

Lake House Dreaming (& Pinning)

Justin and I have always talked about getting a lake house of our own some day.

Until then, I am pinning my little heart away with pictures of my dream lake house.

All donations will be reciprocated with a weekend invitation! :)

This Quote

Enough said.

Have a fantastic Friday and an even better weekend, everyone! Relax and soak up some free time with your loved ones.

Don't forget to go check out Mary Beth, Kendra, Misha, Amanda, and Laura.

See you on Monday!

xoxo

Jess

My Latest Obsession

Hi there!

I love me a Thursday. The weekend is so close, I can just feel it! I hope you are all having a great week! 

So, I have a confession to make. 

Something about this confession feels a little dirty. 

So, I'm just going to rip off the band aid...

I am currently OBSESSED with Lean Cuisines.

Gah!!! 

I don't know why I feel so guilty about this? I think just because we all know that I love to cook, and eating Lean Cuisines just feels like cheating!

But, at this point, if Lean Cuisines are wrong, I don't wanna be right. 

I have to admit that I used to kind of judge people who brought lean cuisines for lunch. 

I thought...how lazy! Does that really fill them up?? 

I'm not sure how it all started.  

It was like some devious force pulled me over to the frozen foods section and whispered in my ear that my whole week's lunch was right in front of me at the great low price of $2.00 a box (they were on SALE!). 

So, I picked up a couple of boxes. A little dabbling with the dark side can't hurt, right? 

I rotated them in with my usual lunches of leftovers from dinner or homemade salads.

Then, slowly, I started picking up some more of these little boxes. 

I started thinking to myself..."damn, these are actually pretty good!" 

It was genius! 

I cut down my morning routine by 5 precious minutes because all I had to do was grab a little box out of my freezer and throw it in my lunch bag. Done and done!! 

Also, I have to say that I think these Lean Cuisines are actually having a positive effect on my waistline. Who knew?!? 

I would credit this to the fact that the meals are perfectly portioned and portion-control when packing leftovers probably isn't my strong suit. 

One other thing I love is that, as I mentioned before, I have been using MyFitnessPal. These things all pop up INSTANTLY on that app. 

We're talking every single stinking meal - it's there! 

Ok, so, in case you want to get in on my dirty little secret (assuming you aren't already part of the boxed-lunch club), here are some of my current favorites...

Chile Lime Chicken

I bought this one because it reminded me of Applebee's Fiesta Lime Chicken (yum!). 

Sesame Chicken 

This tastes like Chinese food delivery to your desk. 

Spinach Artichoke Ravioli

Spinach. Artichoke. Sign me up.  

Chicken in Peanut Sauce

Reminds me of Pad Thai. 

Asian-Style Pot Stickers

These are great. Don't over-cook them or they get tough. 

So, that's my latest life hack. I am praying I don't get sick of these meals, because they are constantly on sale at my grocery store and they are making my life so dang simple.

Do you have any favorite Lean Cuisines?? Tell me your secrets!!

xoxo

Jess 

What's Up Wednesday

Happy hump day!

Wow, getting to Wednesday this fast is the best! 

Today, I'm linking up with Shay, Mel, and Sheaffer for What's Up Wednesday.

What We're Eating This Week: Well, I kind of already shared that with you on Monday. But, I must say that I went ahead and made the  Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Burritos for dinner last night and they were a huge hit. 

I threw two chicken breasts in the crock pot with a little BBQ sauce, the crushed pineapple, a can of green chilies, a little cajun seasoning & garlic powder, and 1/2 cup water. Cooked on low for 7 hours, then came home and shredded the chicken and filled fajita-sized tortillas with the mixture (drained) and a little swiss cheese. Once they were all rolled up & in the pan, I drizzled a little extra BBQ sauce on top and added a little more swiss cheese. Baked for 15 minutes @375. 

Basically the same recipe as Mix & Match Mama's, just a few little changes. Do it!! So good. 

What I'm Reminiscing About: Our wedding! With wedding season in full swing, I'm loving reminiscing back to our wedding day. I still can't believe they called for rain all week long, then we got a perfect, sunny & 75 degree September day. 

What I'm Loving: I will save most of that for "Friday I'm in Love," but currently, I'm loving on this new La Croix water I picked up for the first time over the weekend. I went through the whole box by the end of Monday and I am dying to get my hands on some more! 

What We've Been Up To: Hmm...well, a lot! Obviously working, trying to keep our house in order and doing little fix it projects here and there, getting ready for a very busy summer! 

What I'm Dreading: I always hate the end of the month because it's a last minute rush to get all of my billable hours entered at work. So, there's that. #lawyerproblems

What I'm Working On: Trying to get back to consistently blogging and gearing up to do some re-vamping of this site!

What I'm Excited About: A weekend at the lake!! Grilling out, boat rides, country music, bon fires. And, let's be honest, probably a sun burn. 

What I'm Watching/Reading: RHONY, Botched, Bachelorette, Million Dollar Listing New York, WHHL, Kardashians, Rich Kids of Beverly Hills. 

You can see I have very sophisticated taste in television, right? 

Reading The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos for June book club, hosted at chez moi. 

What I'm Listening To: Country all day every day. 

Loving the new Jake Owen Song - Real Life. I think it's hilarious how he talks about "and we really did just drive around cause there wasn't sh!t to do." Driving around was THE thing to do in my hometown (at least with my girlfriends) because there really was nothing to do. Hours upon hours of blasting Britney and Ja Rule making loops around town hoping we'd maybe drive by our crushes...yep, we were cool! 

What I'm Wearing: Those Christmas-colored PJs I swore I was putting away for the season. Don't judge me. 

What I'm Doing This Weekend: Hopefully working on that photo wall project! I have all of the pictures picked out, I just need to go get some frames. I'm leaning towards the Ribba Series from Ikea. 

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month: A family trip to Costa Rica and Justin's cousin Johnny's wedding. 

What Else is New: A lot is new, because we're just catching up! :) I updated my little "about me" blurb in the sidebar, so that's new.

xoxo

Jess