Five on Friday - Week 2 - 2016

Back to posting Five on Friday! 

1. I am not a huge binge watcher, but I have done a few shows lately thanks to our Netflix subscription. I know I am late to the game on this one since it came out last March, but I watched Bloodlines this past week and LOVED it! Who doesn't love Kyle Chandler though. Great story line!

 

2. I am a paper planner person. A goal setter. A list maker. An agenda follower. And I love to write it all down in one place and see it! The Start Planner is new this year and so far I LOVE it! More to come of course!

 

 

3. We have been using some of the meal planning services for a while now, and we just LOVE Hello Fresh (there are others we use as well, but I think this is our favorite). Scott loves the directions and how easy it is to follow them, how the ingredients are all portioned out and the serving sizes are just right. We have done 8 meals from them so far and we have loved all of them. Last night was Italian Ciabatta Burgers, SO good!

 

 

4. Adele. Enough said. We are going to see her in July and I cannot wait! But, I just LOVED her in Carpool Karaoke!! SO good! I just love her!

5. Happy Hour! We have such a great neighborhood with wonderful neighbors. Tonight is happy hour at our house and I am looking forward to some cocktails, appetizers and a little Cards Against Humanity!

I am linking up with the girls for Five on Friday, check it out!

Five for Friday - Week 9

It has been a couple of weeks since I have posted my Five on Friday and linked up with these girls Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci!. Work has been crazy lately!  

 

1. Restaurant Week - We have gotten out a few times this week for Restaurant Week, so delicious, even though we didn't try anywhere new, we had some great meals at some of our favorite places, including Borough, which I love. One more tonight, can't wait!  

 

2. Trying new restaurants! We checked out a new to us place last night, Parka. They have been open for a little over a year. It was delicious. We started with bacon wrapped figs in a blue cheese whip, then had perfect burgers with bacon fries (the white stuff is powdered bacon) and dessert was chocolate lava cake with both vanilla and salted caramel ice cream. The burger was by far one of the best I have ever had. 

3. Home & Garden Show - We had a great time and got lots of ideas. Now we have more projects and more resources. Can't wait to cross more off of our list.

4. The Day Designer. My new planner came in the mail yesterday. I love it and I can't wait to spend some time in it this weekend. I have spent a lot of time in the past couple of months trying to figure out what kind of planner works best for me, but I am really excited to try this one. 

5. The Food and Wine Show. This weekend. Can. Not. Wait. It is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. We volunteer on Saturday and then attend on Sunday. There are always so many fabulous vendors and we usually go with a big group. I am really looking forward to it, I always find new wines, new restaurants to try, new cheeses, a little bit of everything! Then of course we have the Oscars after, so it is double the Sunday Funday!

Five for Friday - Week 6

Linking up for another Five for Friday with these great girls, Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci!  

  1. Last week I picked up some new hair products and tools to help bring some life back to my hair in the middle of this cold cold winter. I had a 20% off entire purchase at Ulta, so it was perfect timing.   

I can't believe what a difference these products have made on my hair. I think it is the Borata products that are really making a difference, but I love Perfect 10 products and I didn't know that they made them specifically for blondes!

2. The Olympics! I have my mittens, and my favorite hate, and I am already to go! I love watching the Olympics. In past years we have done events with my wine club, but we have just been too busy and have not done a ton of wine events in the past year. I love the downhill skiing, skating and the bobsledding!

3. Keeping my skin hydrated! Along with my hair, I am trying to do my best to keep my skin hydrated. I love the H20 products, they seem to work really well with my skin.

4. I am really feeling the doldrums of winter, so of course I look for products or spruce ups. I was thinking my office could use a few of these things.

Gold Glazed Bowl

  Monkey Business Card Holder

5. During one of our trips to Costco in the past couple of weeks, and amongst the many samples they passed out and we of course sampled (a.k.a. lunch) this was a clear stand out, makes a great snack!

     

Five for Friday - Week 5

Back for another Five for Friday with these great girls, Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci!  

    1.Workout wear. I have two "go to" stores for workout wear. Target and Old Navy. Most of the time these are part of the working remote "uniform", which happens anywhere from 2 to 4 times per week, or running errands or actually going to the gym. I don't think this type of clothing has to be really expensive, but cute is always a plus. A couple of weeks ago, Target had a one day sale of their C9 brand on sale for 40% off, perfect time to pick up a few things! My favorite is the long sleeved yoga tee, I just ordered it in another color because I have already worn it so much!

  2. I love Ashley Brooke Illustrations, and I stumbled across this mug, I think it is a little more than perfect for me. My niece and nephews are always calling me fancy, everything I do or say, they say oh that is so fancy. I wish I drank coffee but I am trying to get into tea, so maybe?  

  3. With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I have been getting some good ideas of course. I follow blushshop on Instagram and absolutely LOVE everything they post. These happen to be one of my favorites though!

  4. We have really been having a true Minnesota winter here. Between the arctic like temperatures and the snow, it just doesn't get more Minnesota winter than that. I guess one thing that we have going for us is the ability to wear all of the cute hats, scarves and accessories. I just ordered these from Urban Outfitters, can't wait for them to arrive!

  5. Getting ready to set the Valentine's Tablescape, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do or the look I was going for. . . until I saw these on sale from West Elm! Wait and see how it comes together!

Five for Friday - Week 4

Its time for Five for Friday! We are getting ready to head to the lake for a nice long weekend. Can't wait to just kick back and relax with good friends, good food and some good movies, books and wine!   Linking up with these great ladies for Five for Friday! Natasha, April, Christina, and Darci!  

Here are some of my favorite finds that I have come across recently.  1. One of our favorite things that we enjoy with L & J is cheese. I picked up a few at Trader Joe's and we are also stopping at Surdyk's cheese shop on our way there. What I love about Surdyk's is the skilled cheese professionals. You just tell them the occasion, other food you may be serving and they make recommendations. They also have a huge selection of local cheeses as well. These are the cheeses we picked up from Trader Joe's!  

2. The other thing I love about a good cheese platter, is adding in jellies, honey or pate/mousse to enhance the flavors of the cheeses. I have a few that I have picked up that are already packed and ready to go. Our local Byerly's (Lunds) has a wonderful selection which is where I find most of them. Cannot wait to try these.  

  3. The perfect accompaniment to cheese, cute cheese knives! I ordered these from Etsy last week, with the hope that they would make it here on time. They will also make the perfect hostess gift, along with the next item on my list.  

  4. A good slate cheese board. You need a good cheese board in order to display your cheeses. I love using a slate board. What is so nice about the slate is that you can refrigerate it if you want your cheese chilled (I like mine at room temperature) and you can also label your cheeses with chalk. Works perfectly!  

     5. Of course you need the right add ins to go with your cheese and add to your cheese board. Grapes, marcona almonds with rosemary, cornichons. And of course the right dishes to put them in.