Weekend recap

Happy Monday!  Did you all have a nice weekend?  Mine went by way too fast!  That just seems to be how it always goes though, doesn't it?  Anyway, thought I'd do a little weekend recap with pictures, because that's more fun than sitting here complaining about Monday!

Friday I got home from work and played with my favorite little guy.  He was getting ready for the Vikings game a little early here.  Sorry buddy, they didn't win this weekend!  After Nate got home we went for a walk and got Ollie off to bed and then we watched the movie Delivery Man - it was really cute, I really enjoyed it.

Saturday I got up pretty early and headed up to Alexandria, MN for my sister-in-law's best friend's bachelorette party.  They rented a cabin for the weekend and planned to go to a grape stomp at Carlos Creek Winery.  I didn't stay the night, but I went up for the day and hung out.  It was a fun afternoon - the grape stomp was insane, it was like the State Fair meets a Craft Fair meets a beer festival except instead of beer it was wine.  We felt kind of bad because one of the bride's friends is pregnant and the other one is dealing with some health issues in which she really can't drink, but they enjoyed walking around and looking at all the vendors.  It was fun to watch the people stomping the grapes too.  I told my sister-in-law if we ever decided to sign up to do one, I'd make her stomp since she's more of a runner than me!  Anyway, we had dinner in town and then I got on the road to go home, a little later than I'd planned, so I had to drive home in the dark which is not my favorite, but I cranked up my music and sang at the top of my lungs and I survived the drive back!

(My SIL Ali, Me, Lindsey the bride, Trista, Steph)

Sunday we got up and Nate got ready to re-do the beer that we had to dump out last weekend.  He tweaked his recipe a bit since he now had fresh hops to use.  This time things went much more smoothly.

While Oliver napped and Nate was at a point where he didn't need my help, I got my Betty Crocker hat on and made cupcakes.  I haven't baked much since Ollie has been born, but I especially haven't made cupcakes and I've been wanting to for so long.  I have about 80 cupcake recipes pinned to my Pinterest right now!  So, I chose to make Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with cinnamon frosting.  They turned out really good!  I think next time I'll choose a cream cheese based frosting though, this frosting was almost too light, but it sure tasted good!

And now I'm back to work for the week!  I guess it could be worse, it is raining outside!  I was excited to pull out a dress (as a skirt) today that I haven't actually worn in two years.  I couldn't wear it last fall when I was pregnant, so it's been since the fall before that since I've worn it!

Sweater - Ruff Hewn (consignment), Dress as skirt - ModCloth

Necklace - Zulily, Bag - Merona (Target)

So that's the news from here!  I'm looking forward to a calmer week and a quieter weekend next weekend! I'm glad we got as much done as we did though!  And it was fun to hang out with the girls, but I definitely missed my boys!

Old friends who just met

 So it might sound cheesy, but go with me on it.  There's a song in the original Muppet Movie from the 70's sung by Gonzo (yes the weird blue one) called "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday".  It's somewhat melancholy in nature and comes at a point in the movie where they're kind of down on their luck, but there is one lyric I have always loved - "There's not a word yet for old friends who've just met."  Well, that is how I felt about my meetup last night with Maca!  I don't want to take away from the other experiences I've had with meeting bloggers - I have made some wonderful friends and connections both locally and across the country and world and you all mean the world to me.  I just found that from the moment we sat down together it was like Maca and I had known each other for years.  We had so much fun!  We chatted about everything from fashion and shopping, to our childhoods, our husbands,  our pets, and we talked a lot about food - cause we're two girls who like to eat!  We enjoyed cupcakes - me a Tiramisu one, her a Dulce de leche one and also some rose wine and some nuts to munch on as well.  Before we knew it - three hours had gone by!  Being it was a work night we had to call it a night and head home at that point - not to mention the staff at the restaurant were kind of starting to clean up and kick us out since they were closing up in a half hour.  I even surprised Mr. Monkey with how long I was gone - he was getting ready to send out a search party!

Anyway, it was a blast and I can't wait to meetup again - thank you Maca for a delightful evening!!  Below is a picture we asked one of the restaurant staff to take of us - though I think she thought we were nuts and I'm pretty sure she was like "I wish you ladies would just get out of here so I can be done for the night!"  Besides that though - if you're local, I highly recommend Cupcake - the cupcakes are delicious and as long as you order something small (like the nuts we shared) you can also order wine!

And because this is still a fashion blog, I also had the Pants Monkey take a picture of me before I headed out.  I took my look from yesterday and jazzed it up a bit for nighttime.  

Shirt - Pequot Lakes Boutique

Jeans - Maurices

Shoes - Steve Madden, thrifted

Necklace - S&D

Sweater - Thrifted

Headband - C. Jane Create

And finally, I liked my casual Friday outfit enough that I thought I'd share that real quick too.  Channeling a hippie vibe today.  Thanks also to your feedback/patience as I test out Disqus.  So far I *think* it might be working.  We'll give it a few days I think!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Shirt - Decree, JCPenney

Tank top - Arizona Jean Co, JCPenney

Jeans - Old Navy

Shoes - Rampage, thrifted

Necklace - Bead for Life