A Birthday On The Town

My sweet Matthew gave me the BEST birthday gift this year...an entire day on the town with one of my dearest friends, Natalie. Oh, and a $100 bill :) I plotted and planned where I wanted to go and what I wanted to buy for weeks. It has been a very long time since I've had time alone and money to spend on JUST ME. It was an amazingly blissful day.

We started our morning at one of my favorite restaurants in Boulder, Brasserie Ten Ten. I love their simple and delicious French fare...and you cannot beat the ambiance. We talked and talked and laughed harder than I've laughed in awhile.

I have dreams of their Eggs Florentine: poached eggs, seared greens, tomato confit, english muffin & hollandaise. Like I said, very simple...but the taste is outstanding. I savored every bite without having to take anyone to the bathroom in the middle of it all.

Next on the list was a leisurely walk down Pearl St. with stops at some of my favorite stores. We spent a lot of time in Peppercorn, a fabulous home/kitchen store. I have a little bit of an obsession with the gorgeous Le Crueset cookware line. I'm thinking of asking for one for Christmas. I spend so much time in the kitchen every day...one of these beauties would make me happy every time I touched it.

I can't pass up an opportunity to meander through a bookstore without children...and Boulder Bookstore is a mighty fine place to do that. And when I have a voracious reader at my side, it's even more fun. Natalie and I had fun picking out random titles and laughing at their contents. I ended up picking out a spy novel at her suggestion and it's great so far!

I love love love a little store on Pearl called Bliss. So many fun things to look at. Lots of stationary, paper, cards, candles, jewelry. A store you can get lost in.

We ended our day with steamy cups of almond milk Bhakti Chai at The Laughing Goat. After sitting down at the very last open table, we continued chatting about marriage (have you read her guest post on that topic yet?), travel, holidays, and more. So good to catch up. Our time was coming to an end...it all went by WAY too fast, but I was so thankful that we had that time to celebrate my 35th birthday together.

Are you wondering what I bought with my birthday cash?! :) I've had my eye on this gorgeous Anthropologie mug forever. I've been longing for it ever since my friend Khrista starting posting photos of her beauty with gorgeous lattes. As a side note: her blog is a beautiful place to hang out. Go there!

I love salt. And I REALLY love it when I'm pregnant. While we were at Peppercorn, I spied this mortar & pestle and tons of delicious gourmet salts. I've wanted one for awhile, and this was the perfect time. I also picked up this cute little handmade & fair trade salt bowl and spoon at Momentum. I found some yummy plum colored hand warmers there as well.

And lastly, Natalie made me this awesome hand painted sign..."Let us lay in the sun and count every beautiful thing we can see". Ahhhhh...yes my friend. Let us. Thank you for sharing in my beautiful day!

A Snowy Surprise

The girls were THRILLED to see snow outside our window just a week after moving to the mountains. The big, fluffy flakes danced down slowly from the sky all day...finally stopping after about 7 inches had piled up. It was so fun to see the landscape change in such a dramatic way. We're looking forward to lots of snow to play in this winter!

Snow against weathered wood and aspens...I love it.

Still coming down.

A few days prior...my burly mountain man worked on getting all of our firewood in order.

He had an enthusiastic (and cute) little helper.

I'm sure glad we were prepared...

...there is nothing quite like a crackling, toasty fire inside with the snow falling outside!

Savored Moments & The Open Road

:: nebraska ::

Today we spent 13 hours on the open road...en route from Colorado to Minneapolis for my brother's wedding. We stopped in Des Moines to crash for the night, and let me just say that sleep will be SO WELCOMED!

Let me also just say that SUMMER + LIVING REAL LIFE = LESS BLOGGING.

At the end of the day, I've been crashing onto the couch for some quick online catch up time...but haven't felt motivated to blog at all. This isn't an apology or a promise for more blogging...just keepin' it real. I tend to blog a lot more when life isn't moving so fast and when the sun goes down at 6pm. :)

I have a backlog of ideas and drafts of blogs that are half written, but haven't had the time (because wow, blogging takes a lot of time yo!)...or the energy to complete. I tend to be a perfectionist in all things, so if I don't have time to write a perfectly well-thought out post, then I won't post at all.

However, I really like what my friend Olya at Life Inspired said about her new goal in blogging:

I am going to embrace the randomness of our daily life and not be afraid to be random here as well. Because in reality, our life consists of a myriad of random moments that happen throughout the day, every day. Trying to tie them together into one post with some deep meaningful title to go along with it is what often overwhelms me, takes too much time and causes me to not document those things after all.

And in that spirit, here are a few of my favorite moments from the last couple of weeks:

I have received several lovely letters in the mail from treasured friends. I SAVORED their every word and soaked it all in...with a delicious hot beverage in hand.

We had friends over for taco night and we enjoyed a beautiful evening on the patio.

After supper, we listened to some live music in downtown Longmont.

Bella spent 3 days at Sun Pony Ranch for horse camp! She had a BLAST and can't wait to go back next year.

Shortly after that, she got her cast off! She will still wear a splint for playing for 2 more weeks, but she is enjoying the freedom!

I rode my cruiser and met Natalie on the front porch of Caffe Luna early one morning. It was a really fun time of connection and laughter and I cannot wait to do it again.

We spent time in southern Colorado at Monument Lake...what beauty! God's creation is truly incredible.

We had a slumber party with our cousins in Castle Rock. A sweet time of fellowship by adults and kiddos alike.

We spent time with Ellen and her family in Lyons for the Outdoor Games. Fun!

Matt and I celebrated 11 years of marriage on June 17! He still makes my heart skip a beat with that killer smile and his sweet sense of humor.

We had some hard days after saying goodbye to Bella's best friends in the neighborhood...they are moving on July 1, before we return from the wedding. She has spent so much time with them over the last couple of months...up to 6-7 hours a day between the park and in the backyards. It will take some time to adjust...luckily, they just moved an hour away and we plan to see them again!

And lastly...I've been hanging out these two amazing daughters of mine who teach me daily what it means to truly live life in the moment. To see beauty in the small things and remain in awe of airplanes and birds in flight. They make me smile. They make me crazy. They are the best gift I've ever been given.

And now I must get to bed, so I can be rested for the amazing wedding weekend of family, feasting, and fun!