How To Turn That Frown Upside + A Year Of Fun Bright Idea

Yesterday was a pretty crumby day.  Nothing seemed to be going right at work & I was feeling defeated by the day.  Right after work I went to the gym to, as I texted Erik, "blow off some steam from this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day." (Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day is a book & it's great!)  What it talks about is not letting a couple things going wrong ruin your entire day.  Not to mention, one of my favorite songs, Good Day clearly tells me, "Instead of waiting around through ups and downs...I just say we're gonna have a good day."

So, it was me, not the day, that was the problem.  It didn't hurt either that after telling Erik about this terrible horrible day, he took me out for pho. 

Pho cures all.

While at dinner, we started talking our "Year of Fun" (our first 2 weeks are here & here).  Erik suggested we do "Meatless Mondays" (I think hell froze over when he said that) and have a movie night every Wednesday.  I suggested each Wednesday we trade off who gets to pick what movie we watch and the other person can't complain! He agreed.  So instead of posting every single day on our Year of Fun updates, I'm going to share our Meatless Monday recipe & a review of the movie we watched on Thursdays. 

I've been jamming to Good Day all morning & thinking about what lil Alexander taught me, because heck yes TODAY IS GONNA BE A GOOD DAY!

TGIF!

A Year of Fun: Week 2

Last week I posted about how one of my goals for 2014 was to do more fun things during the work week; because in all reality that's the majority of our existence, so if we're not having a little bit of fun, we're wasting a whole lot of time! These fun things I've been trying to do aren't anything super extravagant or spectacular, but making a concentrated effort to do something just a little bit fun really adds up. I want to inspire people to do the same, so I will (try!) and post what we've been up to each week.  So here it is, Week Two!

Monday.  I decided to try a new recipe for dinner (always exciting) and this one was a winner, winner chicken dinner... pun very much intended, as this fantastic new recipe was Chicken Curry.  It was no where near as pretty as it was delicious, so there is no photo evidence that this dish even existed, but my tastebuds & I can swear to you that it did! You can find the recipe here.

Tuesday.  Almost every Tuesday, my boyfriend and one of his besties head to the driving range after work, and this Tuesday I decided to venture along with them.  I am no golfer, but I quickly discovered you could drink beer at this driving range, ummm heck yes golf is my favorite sport!  And after all that golfing, Erik & I had worked up an appetite and decided to use the giftcard my parents got us for Christmas at our favorite pho place.

Wednesday. Same as last Wednesday, gym and Subway. I can definitely get enough gym, but can never get enough Subway!

Thursday.  I convinced Erik to BBQ, and he agreed under one circumstance, we also rent a movie.  So he headed to the grocery store & to pick up a Redbox, and nearly an hour later (the grocery store is not his forte) he came home with steaks, mussels & potatoes.  Oh and the best movie EVER (insert sarcasm here) The Family. My apologies if that's like really your favorite movie ever.

He may have questionable taste in movies, but the man can cook!

On Thursday night, Erik also asked me if I thought I would be able to get February 13-14 off work.  Why, you ask... because he wants to plan a long weekend in Vegas! That little tidbit was the cherry on top of my Thursday night, and we will indeed be heading to Vegas come February!

Friday.  The weekend is finally upon us!!!! And what better way to kickstart the weekend than with a marg, fresh salsa, and great friends?! 

Friday night my BFF, Sarah also came down to spend the weekend with us in Tucson. We wine tasted on Saturday, hit the casino, watched the Seahawks land a spot in the Superbowl, and didn't stop laughing the entire weekend.  I blame all the fun we were having on my absolute lack of pictures taken.  That's a lie, I do have quite the embarrassing fabulous picture of Sarah, but since she's my BFF, I would never share it on my blog, just mention its existence ;)

Happy Monday, here's to another fun week ahead! 

Post-Vacation Life

Well friends, Erik & I survived our first week back at work after 2 glorious weeks of vacation.  And you know what?  It wasn't half bad.  

On New Year's Day, I got a little depressed thinking about how soon our vacation would be coming to an end.  I knew New Year's Eve was the last "big hurrah" of our trip and what a FUN hurrah it was.  (I promise to post the rest of our Montana & Seattle vacation soon!!)  So I was quite sad to see it all coming to an end.  But when Erik & I were in the airport January 4, we talked about how we actually liked our jobs and weren't completely dreading going back to work.  (But I mean, who doesn't want to stay on vacation forever?!)  We also couldn't wait to sleep in our own bed again, finally!  

We got back to Phoenix late Saturday night, and drove back to Tucson early Sunday morning.  We I unpacked and started laundry in record time and OH. MY. GOD. it felt soo good to be sitting on our own couch catching up on all the TV shows we missed.  We also decided to have some of our friends over that night for an early BBQ and were in bed by 8 o'clock.  So far, post-vacation life wasn't shaping up to be as bad as I thought!  And when Thursday hit, I really started thinking, "Wow, this has been one of the best weeks ever!"  A thought I don't think I've ever had post-vacay.  Erik & I tried to do something semi-fun each night, to help ease our vacation ending woes, and I think we're going to carry this "doing fun things durning the week" goal out for the rest of 2014.  So here's how Week One went:

Monday.  We brought back some Steelhead Salmon from Seattle & Erik grilled it up Monday night.  He topped it with a light brushing of mayo (a trick he learned from his Mama), lemons and rosemary.  I was on side dish (and wine drinking) duty and made some garlic green beans & rice pilaf.  The salmon was perfection & oh so delicious. 

Tuesday. UGH. Alright story time... Every year my Aunt & Uncle host a football pool for the college bowl games.  I don't think I've entered it since I was in college but this year I was feeling frisky and did.  There were only a couple teams I picked with intention (Arizona State & University of Arizona), the rest I picked based on their team colors or whether I'd want to visit the place they're from.  ANYWHO.  There's like close to 30 games, cut to the last few and I realize I'm tied for first.  TIED FOR FIRST!!! I became obsessed with watching these last few games and winning.  I am so competitive, I can't help it!  The last game (Auburn/Florida) was played on Tuesday.  I had chosen Auburn to take the cake & the 2 guys tied for first with me picked Florida.  I could smell victory!! In case you didn't see the game, it was cray.  Auburn had the lead for 4 quarters.  Then some bad bad bad things happened and victory slipped right through my their fingers.  Although a football pool victory was no longer in my future, Erik & I still had a fun night of cheering like maniacs for Auburn.

Victory was not mine.

Wednesday.  Erik & I finally made our first trip to the gym in 2014. Wooooo! The gym isn't necessarily my favorite place but I always feel better after I leave.  And bonus! Subway is conveniently located between our gym and our apartment complex, so sometimes we decide to stop their on our way home to grab some dinner.  I love Subway nights for many reasons, but my favorite being that it means I'm gonna have a bomb lunch the next day! And going to work is so much better when you know you have a tasty lunch waiting for you. 

Thursday.  One of my friends got me a movie gift card for Christmas, so Thursday night Erik & I decided to use it to see Wolf of Wall Street.  Who doesn't love a movie mid-week?! Especially one starring Leonardo DiCaprio. And what a fantastic movie it was! I would highly recommend it if you're thinking about venturing to the theater this weekend.  It is on the long side (THREE hours) but who doesn't want to spend 3 hours with Leo?!

Friday. Girls Night!! Two of my coworker besties & I had a pho date.  After our first week back to work, some pho and boba drinks (infused with alcohol!) were just what we needed. 

What a perfect start to the weekend!