start of summer!

Well, Memorial Day really marks the start of summer. Especially because pools are open!! Here is a summer collage to kick off the Summer!

[click to enlarge, set as desktop background]

Happy Memorial Day!

[found here]

lake fun

So we are leaving for the boyf's lake house in Minnesota tomorrow morning through Wednesday! His parents live up there permanently, so we will be visiting them. Along with the Mall of America! I'm pretty excited. And look what his dad sent us:

Sherby eggs! I really hope they are safe and sound when we get there! So I will see you Wednesday bloggy friends! Hope you have really fun plans for Memorial Day!

getting life in order

I recently found this website mint.com that tracks all of your money! I know some credit card websites do this, but bank of america doesn't break down your spending my category. Mint.com is easy. You link it to all of your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, investments, etc, and can track it all in one place! You can see pie charts and graphs of spending by category, compare to previous months, and even make budgets.

 I haven't used the budget function, it automatically created one for me by category. But one of these days, I'm going to sit down and create an actual budget and attempt to stick to it.

 One of the most helpful functions is net worth. I didn't realize that I've been spending more than I'm making the past couple months. I've never been good at tracking my money, and this is a great first step! 


Another great tool that my friend recently introduced me to is My Plate on livestrong.com. 

You can track everything you eat and it calculates the amount of calories you need to achieve a goal. It's really cool, and has pretty much every single food you can think of! And you can also track your fitness and amount of calories burned. Check out her post here! 

almost there..

A lot of people are taking off work tomorrow for Memorial Day. I'm unfortunately working, but getting excited for the lake on Saturday!! And this will be the start of an amazing month of June!

pump up the jams

Going on a trip with the honey? This headphone splitter would be perfect for plane rides! Except if you are like me, the boyfriend hates my girly music and I'm not exactly a huge fan of other people's music. I really like listening to music I pick out. But me and the sis could def use this on trips!! 

Speaking of headphones, how cute is this:

pep talk?

Need a pep talk to start off this Wednesday? Try this little girl's strategy:

got milk?

few things about me..

Found here. How awesome is her handwriting?!

what to wear?

life is good today

So it's official!! Booked my tickets to Paris, Barcelona and Madrid! Leaving June 11, ah!! Oh and this weekend leaving for Deer Lake, Minnesota to visit the boyf's parents (and the Mall of America) until Wednesday. Work Thursday, then leave for Charleston, SC for a girls weekend. Work for a week, then leave for Europe!! Can my life get any better? I'm so lucky!!

it's the weekend!

Hope you have fun plans!! 

ciao bella

Well, the BBQ last night was a huge success! Tons of friends, food, drinks and good times had by all!! My parent's even stopped by to man the grill. It ended up being about 40 people!! In breaking news- I'm going to EUROPE!!!

My cousin just graduated from college and was planning a trip. She was going by herself and was just going to wing it. But my sister and I know better, that you need some kind of plan. So we graciously offered our services as tour guides! haha They are leaving June 3, probably to Ireland or England, Amsterdam then I'll meet them in Brussels June 12, and travel to Paris then Spain!!! AH, CAN'T WAIT! We haven't planned a single thing, so we need to get on it! haha

BBQ

So it's finally sunny again, and just in time for our "housewarming" (after a year of living in our house)/ new roommate BBQ! We should have about 40 people over tonight, so the unemployed sister took care of the menu! I whipped up a batch of creamsicle and bomb @ss sugar cookies last night! We created a facebook invite, but I would have loved to send out these cute invites from tiny prints. 

taste the rainbow

[found here]

rainy

Ugh, rain is so dreary. And the boyf is leaving for his great grandma's funeral until Saturday. Just another boring day at work... 

airshow

So this weekend I went to the Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base and saw lots of cool planes! The boyf's family is big into planes. His dad was the #1 fighter pilot in the world in 1988 (Top Gun style) and now is a pilot for United. His brother is currently in pilot training, and he has his pilot's license. So he was very excited to show me all the planes and helicopters. It was actually really cool! We saw the F-22 (most advanced fighter jet) in action, along with an F-16, F-18, Harrier Sky Soldiers helicopters, Skytypers, and the Blue Angels. And a lot more that I may or may not have forgotten the names... I'm pretty proud of my photography skills! 

Look how close the Blue Angels fly together, so crazy!! 

ben's chili bowl

So after living near Washington, DC my whole life, I FINALLY went to Ben's Chili Bowl. I've heard so much about it, and have been talking about going forever now. But what finally got me was watching The Food Network and The Travel Channel this weekend and seeing it on 3 different shows! So I knew there was no better time than a random Sunday to make the trek to U Street. 

I'm not going to lie, it was pretty good, but wasn't the BEST chili I've ever had. It was a fun experience to visit the place and the pictures of all the famous people who have gone: (Obama, Denzel, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock..), but I wouldn't go back for the food. We got the famous Half Smoke, a hot dog with half pork and half beef, which was pretty good. And the chili fries were decent, but nothing I would write home about. 

But I'm glad I went! 

weekend.. sigh

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Mine will be filled with an Air Show, going out for a friend's birthday, hopefully seeing The Last Song (FINALLY), and seeing Sugarland in concert!!! Can't wait! 

don't touch the...

Trouble Button!!

Really, bar in Georgetown?!?! You have a TROUBLE button on the wall right next to the door?! hahah hilarious. 

Announcing... Mr. and Mrs. Voltin

The wedding was SO much fun!! Jessi was gorgeous as expected, and everyone had an amazing time!! Ah and we just got the proofs, here are a couple of my favs:

I wish them the VERY best, and am so happy for them!!!! Aren't they a pretty couple?! They sure set the bar high for the rest of us! love them. 

Mothers Day

going to the chapel...

Remember Jessi's bachelorette party? Well this weekend is her wedding! I'm SO excited. She is going to be a gorgeous bride!! And Chris is a great guy, I'm so happy for them! AND we get to spend the weekend with all of our best friends from college. It's the first wedding I've been in (since a 5-year-old flower girl)! 

Hope you have fun weekend plans! 

bomb @ss sugar cookies

Remember these creamsicle cookies that were such a hit?! Well it was requested that a make a batch of "Bomb @ss Sugar Cookies" without the orange zest, so I went ahead and made both kinds for my friend's housewarming party.

And they were a huge hit again! (This time I didn't accidentally melt the butter and used less vanilla chips for rounder and fluffier cookies!)

taking the plunge

How crazy/ cool are these underwater engagement/ save the date pics?!

Found here.

keep calm and have a cupcake

rose colored glasses

It's a gorgeous day out there! What a great week this has been and I have an awesome weekend planned! Hope you do too.