Food Feud

Yes, this post is mostly about food.  Food and what happened this week.

First, if it weren’t for my sweet friend Lindsey, I would have never known that there was a new copy-cat Swig so close to home.  Their sugar cookies are A MAZ ING.

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And because there wasn’t enough going against me with the FIIZ, Easter showed up at all the local grocery stores.  Could it be any more obvious?  Reeses Eggs are the devil.

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Since I was busy eating sugar cookies and Reeses Eggs all week, I had to combat it somehow.  So I ran multiple times outside this week because the weather was so nice.  I got all geared up and went outside looking like a human traffic cone.  I was running by our little neighborhood park and I heard a little boy ask his mom, “Mom, is that a space man?”  As soon as Zach got home form work I told him all about it.  He agreed with the little boy that I did look pretty ‘futuristic’ but I didn’t care what either of them thought.  My new Nike jacket purchase was worth it.  I am definitely not going to get hit by any automobiles.

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I also went to lunch at From Scratch…AGAIN.  My friends came along with me and have all been converted.  Their pizzas are to DIE for.

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Thursday I took a little road trip down south to hang out with these darling girls [and their mommas].  We met Mary’s daughter Keila for the first time and she is just the sweetest thing.  Not to mention all that gorgeous dark hair!

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We ate lunch and chatted for a few hours.  It was so fun to catch up with all of them!

Along with sunny days and Easter candy…comes wedding season.  I am in the midst of 6 weddings currently, and although I am a crazy person, I really LOVE to create wedding invitations.  I’m working on my first hand painted wedding invitation.  The invitation and the menus went pretty well, but the escort cards were a little more…involved.  Not pictured below are lots, lots, more of them.

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Friday Zach and I had a very romantic double date.  With the two of us and House of Cards.  After a meal out for pasta we enjoyed Season 2 from the comfort of our own room.

Saturday we went for sushi and a movie.  We shopped around the Gateway for a bit, including an impromptu visit in a new soda and candy shop.  They had every kind of candy imaginable…and unicorn heads.

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We went to see 3 Days to Kill – with Kevin Costner.  We walked out 3/4 of the way through.  I adore Kevin (not sure if Zach does, but he made me watch that baseball movie he was in like 50 times because Classic’s helicopter is in it) but this was not his finest film.

Nothing really special happened Sunday, but I did break out my most recent clearance find:

8 dolla necklace.  Pays to dig through the rejects some time.

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8 dollar necklaces and NASCAR.  That was the finale of our weekend!

Cabining with my Valentine

This year it was Zach’s turn to plan our Valentine’s Day.  We decided to make a weekend out of it and go up to the Hendo cabin.  Friday morning Zach left me a V-day surprise in the office.

He left a trail of puppy and kitty Valentine’s to a gift bag adorned with stickers.

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My gift to him was not as well executed, although it did take a lot of effort to put all of his favorite candies into a hardware organizer.

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Once Zach got home from work we drove up to the cabin.  We shared a pizza dinner [my favorite kind of Valentine’s dinner is when you DON’T have to cook anything].  We spent the majority of our time up there lounging in the main living room in front of the big windows watching the Olympics.

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The next morning Zach came up with a pretty creative plan.  He was going to snowboard down the main road from the cabin and I was going to follow him in the Ranger.

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True love is following your husband down a snowy path so he doesn’t have to hike back up afterwards.

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Afterwards, inspired by all the olympic events we had been watching, we created a luge track.  It has rained the night before and the existing snow had turned into slick slush.  Perfect for luging.

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Then I treated my husband to his favorite meal:  turkey roast with twice baked potatoes.

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Later that night we packed up all our stuff and made our way back home before it got too dark.  With all the snowboarding and luging, we forgot to roast our s’mores.  So after we had unloaded the car with all our cabin gear we treated ourselves to some stove top mallows.

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It was so nice not to have to fight the crowds this year for V-day!  I couldn’t have planned the weekend better.  And let’s be honest…Zach only can go up after our very first Valentine’s date at Hot Dog on a Stick over four years ago.  He’s my best friend and Valentine for life!

Celebrating in Vegas

Weeks ago Zach asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday.  All I really wanted to do was be warmer.  We looked into getting a hotel in St. George a week or so ago.  My plan was to sleep in and eat two dozen Swig sugar cookies.  For some reason the hotels in St. Geez were very expensive this particular weekend.  When we saw that hotels in Vegas were not only cheaper, but that our favorite hotel the Vdara was giving away a $50 food credit that weekend, we went for it!

The day before we left I got a pedicure with my two friends Lindsey and Jenn.  They know me TOO well because they surprised me with so many sweet gifts, including my favorite:  Sweet Tooth Fairy Cake Bites.  We had dinner afterwards at Arella and then I ate not ONE, but F O U R Cake Bites by myself.  What can ya do?

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Thank you Lindsey and Jenn, I love you both so much!

I also received a few Etsy gift cards for my birthday and decided that I would purchase two Elizabeth Mayville watercolor portraits from her shop.  No, these were not custom of Zach and I.  They looked so much like us, I had to have them for our bedroom.

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Friday after Zach got home from work we made our way over to the airport to leave for Vegas.  Our view right after take-off…

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…and our view right before landing.  It was so nice to get away from the snow, if only for a few days.

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We got in later than expected and I drug Zach through a few of the Miracle Mile shops before returning to our hotel.  We decided to cash in our free food credit and order room service while watching the olympics.

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We slept in the next morning but I had Zach up and ready to go before Fashion Show Mall opened.  After making all our other stops we made our way to Topshop.  After shopping for a few minutes a sweet guy asked me if I wanted to go in the Personal Shopping wing of the store.  Uh…yes?  It was my first time, but definitely not my last.  They give free [and ice cold] Diet Cokes in there.  Not to mention jars full of Starbursts, jolly ranchers, and other treats!  How have I never meandered in that wing of the store before??  I was sold from the moment he asked me if I wanted a soda, to be honest.

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My sweet husband.  He braved Fashion Show Mall and the Forum Shops with me with absolutely no complaints.  The sad thing is that I didn’t buy much at all, but you would have thought after stopping in nearly 20 stores that I would have something to show for it.  Poor Zach.  After walking almost five miles we made our way over to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner at Nobu.  As always, worth the hype.

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We ended the night at the Blackjack tables.  Not our most successful attempt, but pure entertainment nonetheless due to our hilarious dealer.  Also, there was dancing…

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We were making our way back to our hotel when I saw an advertisement for the new Pinkberry at the Aria.  We both decided Zach deserved a heaping bowl of frozen yogurt for his full day of sacrifice.

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The next morning we decided to hit up the Wynn for the exotic car show.  All of the hotels were decked out for Chinese New Year.  It was incredible!

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We weaved our way back and forth through all the cars.  It didn’t take me long to spot my favorite, the Ferrari FF, the automobile which I got pretty personal with on my project with Cobra and Ferrari last year.

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Zach was craving some red meat so we decided to dine at BurGR – Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant.  Yes, I am a huge Master Chef fan, so when Zach asked me to go I was elated.  The food was really good, but I find it hard to mess up a cheeseburger.  So maybe I am biased?

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We had a few last hours to spare, so we walked down to the Venetian.  The warm weather was really taking a toll on everyone, including the people working the strip.  I guess everyone needs an Insta break every now and then…

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I scored some macarons from Bouchon Bakery and we stopped at a few shops at the Grand Canal.

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I am so grateful to Zach.  He always makes my birthday [and all holidays, honestly] so special.  He inherited his acute thoughtfulness from his mother, which I am so appreciative of.  It was so nice to sleep in, shop a bit, eat some delicious food, and enjoy some 60 degree days.

SUPER Birthday

A lot has been going on the last few weeks of January and these last few days of February.  Here are some totally random highlights of our last few weeks.

It wasn’t until after the event with Yosi Samra that I remembered this gem of a photo…marshmallows haunt my dreams these days.

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We have been lucky enough to attend several Jazz games the last few weeks.  I was lucky enough to see Kevin Love in the flesh…

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We were getting worked so bad 80 percent of the fans left, but we stuck it out…because we are true blue fans, I guess?

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I have been working on some fun stuff and have finally seen a lot of it come to fruition.  The supplement labels I have been working on are finally in production…

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I have worked on four kiddie birthdays, Curious Olivia’s 2nd Birthday was one of my favorites…

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At the end of January my Valentine’s prints were featured on Brickyard Buffalo and did pretty darn well!

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It was so fun to see the people that tagged my prints on Instagram.  I love to see them around their homes!  I have three of them being featured in an engagement shoot coming up!

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Zach started up roller hockey again.  He is currently on two teams.  One is really good [hence the 3 to 18 score]…

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And the other is so-so.  I’ve had so much fun watching him get back out there.  I am counting down the days until ice hockey.  That’s my favorite!

My friends and I are planning a girls trip in March [it’s been in the works for years, let’s be honest] and they surprised me for my birthday with some of my favorite cupcakes!  I am so lucky to have these girls.  Some of them I have known since the 2nd grade.  Missing Alison, of course…

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One of the items on my never ending to-do list is to finish our bedroom.  I have been working on several prints and I wanted the Belvedere [our first apartment] to be incorporated some how.  So I made a print of it to hang on our bedroom gallery wall.  I am thinking I might sell these custom home prints online some time soon…we will see!

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Then came my actual birthday.  Zach let me open my presents at midnight the night before and we spent several hours after playing with my gifts and eating two whole bags of Crazy Bread.

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Zach is extremely thoughtful and always makes my birthday so special.  I am enamored with him more and more each day.

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The next day we went to Tona for a sushi dinner and caught a movie I have been dying to see.  Employees at the Cinemark don’t lock the party room…such rookies!

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Since the following day was the annual Super Bowl tradition of watching the game at Classic Skating in Layton, we bought a birthday cake to share at the party [which Zach pranked me with by pretending it was my birthday cake].

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I had such a fantastic birthday.  I am so grateful to my family and friends who always make me feel so loved.  I am also grateful that football season is officially over.  Probably the best birthday gift a wife could receive!!