Holiday Party

My office Holiday party was this past weekend. This year it was held in a beautiful sanctuary downtown that our company actually got to work on to restore. The top bar where the choir used to sit now has a giant circular light fixture and is called the Halo bar, awesome.

It was a lovely night, there was a live band to dance to, truffle gnocchi!, lemon tarts and a chance to dress up. We had a lovely time! And luckily I owned a dress that fit:)

Pastaing

Last weekend we had some friends over to make pasta. The first round of dough was a bit tough to work with but the pumpkin pasta dough rolled out like a dream. We laminated a few of them too so they looked all full of herb confetti.

We had dessert before dinner, multiple cups of tea, attempted to see a Harry Potter  set in an alley in our neighborhood but were diverted by the 200 person line.

It was a lovely sunny Sunday.

Katy Kats

We did a lot of casual hanging out once we were in Denver. We ate fancy donuts, got tacos, walked around in the sunshine, found fun and sunny places to eat outside, walked around the parks, took some naps. The one thing we did plan was going to the Katy Perry concert. We were very very excited. We had tier 3 tickets but no one was seated in front of us - until - we walked up the stairs and were diverted to a woman giving out better tickets. We ended up in row 1, like THE row 1. It was fabulous. I've never been to a really big concert, mostly small shows and small productions. This was amazing. There were dancers running all over, a huge lion head, she flew on a planet towards us, lots of confetti, giant lips that opened and closed, she was in the air multiple times. It was a great night. We very much enjoyed it!

Halloween

We didn't have any plans for Halloween this year but I did want to dress up. I have a fabulous tunic and I've worn it before and been told I look like Rey from Star Wars. So I've had my idea for months. Plans or not we were going out.

Over my lunch break I crafted Joshua a BB8 costume out of a some cardboard and a bowl. He was actually very excited about it. We both donned our costumes and went out for tacos and a drink. It was a lovely little date night that included costumes.

4th of July

I had the priveledge of spending the 4th of July on a friend's rooftop. We had a view of the water, all the boats, the ever expanding amount of people crawling on Gasworks park, and a dog to bother. Spent the day eating chips and grilling. It was a lovely day spent with lovely people, even met a few new people that I deeply enjoyed. Then we watched the fireworks go off and I biked home past the long lines of traffic.

For work the next day I also made some citrus shortbread cookies with plum buttercream filling. I had a jar of plum jam I had canned last summer that I needed to use up. They were very tasty!

Cincy hang : FC game

I was so excited we got to go to an FC soccer game while we were home. My whole family talks about this team and these games, I've been dying to take part. Even better the game was against Columbus Crew. We were outfitted liberally in FC gear, I got to wear the Fiona hippo shirt :)

We even got to take part in the march to the field. Being a part of the energy and the pride marching its way to the field was a real treat. Everyone was chanting together, high fiving, and smiling.

Our brother-in-law got us great seats and then the game was off. Overall not the best soccer ever played but a fun game. In the end we won and I yelled/cheered A LOT.

Bunco!

Had our small group over to play Bunco this past Wed. We had a table full of appetizers and exactly 12 people. The disco ball light bulbs set the mood and we were off. Luckily some people had also played at Josh's birthday and everyone else learned pretty quickly. The night ended with prizes of items such as a wind up swimming otter, bumblebee paper yo-yo, hipster hippo magnet, and more.

Gals weekend in Texas

Spent this past weekend in Dallas with some college friends. We explored, Waco, Fort Worth, and Deep Ellum in Dallas. It was short and fast but I'm so excited we were all able to make it work!

First up we drove to Waco to visit Magnolia Market. We drank watermelon chunks out of whole watermelons, sat around in the sun, chatted ourselves in circles, bought zebra stripe gum, and pet a kitty in a hot vintage store surrounded by cacti.

That night we got all dressed up and spent a really long time putting on metallic temporary tattoos and wore blinking led rings. Kayla had a little glitter sash, she just got married! Stopped at multiple bars- some with music, some with beet juice cocktails, some with rooftop bars. We ended the night with hot dogs and french fries and a guy named Rob that randomly ended up with us.

photo from Laura

The next day was sadly cloudy and cold. We wandered around an art fair in Fort Worth and the Stockyards which looked like they belonged in a cowboy movie. We lazied around a bit and all gathered back up to have bbq for dinner.

Happy all these ladies took time out of their lives to make this happen. I had a really great time and loved chatting with them for a whole weekend. I even got to share a bed with my sister :)

The first night we were there the ladies

came home with this monster of a pizza.

We ate it all but 2 pieces!
-photo by Laura