Anniversary: Part 1

In the matter of a few hours, I will be climbing into a car with the boy to head up north Michigan to the beautiful Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. I can barely hold in my excitement. Sorry boss man, this girl probably won't be doing too much engineering work done because I am in a constant daydream.

Last night was only part one of our anniversary extravaganza. We had an amazing dinner at my favorite bar... (yes, you read that right) at the Noggin Room then we scooted out for a movie date to see Lawless. Once we got back from the movie, we curled up and indulged in a little ice cream cake I picked up. It was delicious due to it was just cookies 'n creme ice cream rolled in cookie crumbs. Of course I topped it with a little 1 year candle. Sorry but we thoroughly enjoy the mussy lovey-dovey stuff.

 

Overall it was great laid back night... now its onto part two which is complete with:

• Golfing
• Waterpark fun
• Bar crawl in the city
• Riding a ferry over Lake Michigan
• Spa treatments
• Picnic on a horse-carriage ride

Can you see why I cannot wait to get up there? Anyone else in the need for a little vacation getaway? I want to know all of your weekend plans, loves.

It's Been a Year?

If you would have told me that 5 years after I graduated high school, that I would be dating one of my classmates I would have said you were crazy.

I even left the state to go to college at Miami University, just so I could meet new people and get away from the "norm." Well, five years later I moved back to my hometown to accept an engineering job with the company I interned for during college. Once I was back I got reconnected with old friends and one of those people was Mike.

Today, I have been dating this amazing guy for a year and it has been one hell of a ride.

We've known each other forever. But last September, during the weekend of the Michigan vs. Notre Dame football game, I was at the local Buffalo Wild Wings with my girlfriends having drinks. Mike had been texting me throughout the night about how I should meet up with him at our local club afterwards. The game ended up pretty epic so I texted him, "Order me a beer. I am on my way."

I got the girls together and we headed to the club. Sure enough, Mike was waiting by the front door and handed me my beer. That started everything... He had me at "here's your beer." Haha! We had the best night ever and I was hooked.

Shortly after that on September 27th, 2011, he asked me to be his girlfriend in the parking lot of the ice rink after his hockey game.

It has now been a year of numerous hockey games, TV series marathons, dinners at random restaurants we find, movie dates, and bottles of wine. He is hands down the greatest thing to happen to me... Sappy, yet true.

{Cheers, babe! Here's to many more years together. Happy 1 Year Anniversary!}

 

So does anyone have any advice for me? How to keep the love alive? I need all the help I can get. I don't want this boy to get away. Thanks, my lovely followers!

In the meantime, I cannot wait to celebrate the first holiday we had together again... Halloween. We will be the losers who will do a "couple costume" this year. So excited... time to start brainstorming!

What I'm Loving Wednesday {7}

It’s my favorite time of the blogging week… I get to talk about what I love on this beautiful yet freezing Wednesday. I am linking up with Jamie so I can share my obsessions and hopefully discover a few new ones as well.

Here we go!

Nicole Miller golf club covers. I got new clubs on my birthday in April and my sister was trying to find me Miami University covers for them, but everywhere is out of stock. So finally I bit the bullet last week and ordered these babies. They are in Warhol print which have little bright golf bag designs throughout them. Love!

Sweet shoutout tweets from little brother.

Margarita date with my love. Endless chips & salsa. Laughs. Tequila. Great combination!

Qdoba date with my mom. We went on a shopping spree this past weekend and worked up quite an appetite. We don't have one in my hometown so it was nice to eat something that reminds me of my days at college.

Modern Family premiere is tonight!

Sundays & Wednesdays at the rink. Its great seeing all the boys again after the summer suited up and hitting the ice. How I have missed this.

Decorating my apartment for autumn. So cozy.

Seeing House at the End of the Street with my best girlfriends. I highly recommend it... Very suspenseful and a great story! Not too scary though, just creepy to think about.

Punking the boy with a 6 pack of mini Budweisers. These things are only 7 ounces and cost around $3 bucks... Best prank ever. He didn't even notice their size until he went to put one to his lips and had to lean in to meet it. His face was priceless and his friends' reactions to him drinking them at a football tailgate later was so good!

What are you loving today? I need new loves in my life, so let me know.

Weird Combinations...

Last night was very interesting...
After a birthday dinner for my dad, I headed back to my apartment with my boyfriend to curl up with some red wine and watch Game of Thrones season one episodes. Of course, I couldn't sit still regardless of how epically great that show is, so I started brainstorming a little DIY project to do while watching. Little did I know this combination:

Creates these beautiful, glittered, dazzling, and brilliant pumpkins:

Mike just laughed at me as I am sprinkling glitter over cheap looking pumpkins and said, "Wow, those turned out really cool."

Of course I just smile and say, "Do you know how much these babies would be at Pier 1? Yeah, see with a little creativity, wine, and mid-evil violence anything is possible." (Why is he dating me?)

Now I just need a trip to the local farm market for some real pumpkins and autumn corn to create a centerpiece with these glittered pumpkins. Pictures of that project are coming up!

Safe to say I am fully throwing myself into this fall weather. Michigan is freezing so as long as there are fun projects to do, I will be game. Anyone else doing fall-related DIY projects? Come on, give me something else to do while we finish this season and continue onto the second season.

To My Favorite Man...

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Well today is a day definitely worth celebrating. My father is hands down the hardest working man I know and tonight my family is dragging him out of work EARLY for his birthday party. It is about time that he clocks out with the normal people and takes some time off.

I have gotten the privilege of working at the same aerospace company for the past 5 years with him and its safe to say we are best friends. We usually eat lunch together and our desks are actually located next to each other this year. Family bonding while getting paid. Win-win.

At work, I am an engineer and he is head of maintenance. Its crazy because I will be walking across the plant to check on a fixture and there will be my father inside of the machine trying to figure out why it has malfunctioned. He's one smart dude... He has years of experience while I went to college to learn half of what he knows from real life situations. Crazy!

But anyway, cheers to my wonderful dad. I will have a shot (or two) of Jameson waiting for you at the table tonight. I love you to pieces!

True Life: I Am A Movie Junkie.

Confession: I am a movie junkie.

I have to see everything at least once to say I’ve seen it. My DVD collection is obnoxious and I don’t even want to think about how much money I’ve spent on movie theatre tickets. Good thing I’ve got a boyfriend that loves movies the same if not more than me. It's the reason we are dating... No joke.

So I just checked our cinemas movie selection for this weekend and died. There are way too many movies out that I have been dying to see and not enough time in my weekend to see them all. (Well there is but I don't want the employees of the theatre to think I am crazy.)

Either way there will be a  movie date (or two) this weekend.

1.      House at the End of the Street.

My girl crush, Jennifer Lawrence, in a scary movie? Hell yes.

This is priority #1 on the movie hit list this weekend. First and foremost.

2.      Trouble with the Curve.A new baseball related movie? Yes please. I adore JT and Amy Adams is stinkin' adorable.

3.      End of Watch.Jake Gyllenhaal as a cop? Mmmhmmm. Shot in a found-footage style? My kind of movie!

So who wants to help me decide the order? Anyone hear anything about if they are worth the trip/money?

Gallery Accent Wall Project

I had always envisioned myself having a blog that would feature all of the little DIY projects I have conquered, but at the time when this blog was created I was in college and didn't have a place of my own. So in turn this website became a diary of sorts, which I have loved because it has captured moments in which I would have forgotten. I am hoping to revisit the earlier posts years down the road and relive my 20's. But now there is a new chapter in my life... I am going to try to switch this blog up a bit.

Today I have my dream apartment. It is located downtown my hometown above little stores and sits in an alley that provides the back entrances to my favorite bars. Go figure, huh? What comes with our outdated and old downtown is outdated, yet charming apartments. Just what I wanted. Before I even moved in officially, I was already talking accent walls and fresh paint with my boyfriend... who happens to be a professional painter. WIN!
Like this wall for example:

It was desperate for some paint, so I decided on a nice green color.

Sherwin Williams - Artichoke

I came home from work one day and this surprise was waiting for me. The boy got done with a job early and headed to my apartment still in his painters pants and finished this in probably 5 minutes. But as you can see, there is arleady a huge difference.



My favorite project so far has been putting up a gallery wall on the accent wall of my living room area. It turned out way better than expected. First I started with sketching out the arrangement I wanted for the frames:

Then I traced each picture frame with newspaper or scrapbook paper and postioned them upon the wall. I also drew a dot where to position the nail. Saves a lot of time and takes out the guess and check of where to postion the pictures.

Final product:

This has become my favorite corner to curl up and read at the end of the day. Surrounded by my favorite people, places, and of course, Audrey Hepburn. So has anyone else thrown together a gallery wall and fallen deeply in love with it? So far this is my favorite DIY project for the apartment... Don't worry more pictures of the apartment coming soon!



What I Love Wednesday. {6}

I haven't done one of these in forever, so I am sure I can easily fill this post up. Here are a few things I am loving this rainy and cold Wednesday morning.

• Pumpkin Spice Lattes.
• Getting flowers from the boy for honestly no reason.

• Tonight I will be attending my first hockey game of the season. Yes, the NHL is currently in a lockout but at least that doesn't mean the boyfriend won't have a season. Thank goodness for men's league hockey! I need a hockey fix, badly.
• Finishing the One Tree Hill series. I am currently on Season 6 and I'm trucking my way through it on Netflix.

• Fall themed candles.
• Having three kinds of wine in my refrigerator. The boy couldn't decide on what kind to get so he got all three. In his words, "I figured we could have our own private wine tasting party."

• Received a new People Puzzler for this hockey season. I spend a lot of time waiting for the boy before and after his games, so this baby gets me through it.

• The Grand Valley State University football team. Little brother is on the team & I am so proud.

• Hunkering down on rainy, cold days like this on the couch.
• Bones has started back up with season 8. I am still smiling after its season premiere on Monday. So good!

• Loving my family and friends who have made my life busy and extremely fun lately. Never a dull moment.

So what are you loving this Wednesday in September? I want know so maybe I can be talking about my new found love next week.

Romantic Getaway Anyone?

What better way to jump back into the blogging world then to start planning my one year anniversary trip with my boyfriend? I figure its a way I can keep my plans secret (he will never check the blog) and maybe even get some input from you guys.

So I won 4 tickets back in March for the Jewel Golf Course located on Mackinaw Island. Remember this post? I have put off using the tickets all summer since life got busy. (This blog suffered from the insanity as well.) Now things are slowing down and the leaves are starting to change, which inspired me to finally dig out the tickets and start planning an anniversary-worthy trip. The only thing the boy knows is I booked a tee time on the 29nd of September and to tell the couple that is going with us that they can either meet us on the boat dock that day or come up with us. That is all he knows...

Here's my game plan:

#1. Pick him up from work that Friday and drive him to Mackinac City, which is 45 minutes away. Check us into our hotel for our hotel room complete with balcony and Jacuzzi!

#2. Dinner at the Dixie Saloon and then after dinner drinks at O'Reiley's Bar:

#3. Wake up Saturday morning and board the Arnold Ferry, which is literally docked next door to the hotel, in order to travel across Lake Huron to Mackinac Island.

 

#4. Our tee time is set for 10:44 am. So we will leave the dock and head straight to the Grand Hotel for our golf outing. The greatest thing about Mackinaw Island is the fact that motorized vehicles are prohibited. Visitors are to walk, ride bikes, or take a horse and carriage ride around the island. Its simply amazing... This is the main reason why I chose to bid on this item at the silent auction months ago because part of the package involves:

 

As part of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, The Grand Course and The Woods Course create what is known as The Jewel Golf Course, where a 20-minute horse-and-carriage ride is required to make the turn between nines.

 

“ The best thing about it is the tranquility of the island itself and the pace of play,” head professional Ryan Maibe said. “You need to take a carriage ride back and forth between nines and you can catch lunch in between. I’ve never heard of another course having that.

#5. Which brings me to my next point.. We can have a carriage ride picnic! My next door neighbors actually gave me this advice when I first told them of my weekend. They said "you must pack a lunch for the carriage ride. You'll be starving by then and plus its romantic." Sign me up!

So now I have to come up with some picnic ideas... I want food that screams fall yet light enough that we can finish the final 9 holes afterwards. Thanks to Pinterest I have been having a field day...

BUT, I want to hear from those who have had amazing anniversary trips. What should I bring? Champagne and picnic food... That seems like a brillant weekend in the making already. Please help me with some details and advice!