The president’s favorite cookies.  Supposedly.

I will miss our creek.  That’s about it.

Kitty spy.

Movie date.

Zombie Burger.

Exploring the East Village – a new to us spice store.

Frappy hour.

Coming soon- Insta: Zoo Edition!

My mom means the world to me and there is no way to ever thoroughly thank her for all she has done for me.  Without her I wouldn’t know how to quilt or garden or cook or bake or fold a hospital corner when putting clean sheets on my bed.  There was always a meal on the table, a cheerleader at every event, and sound advice for every situation I threw at her.  I have grown to appreciate my mom oh so very much over the years and I’m so glad and blessed she’s mine!

I’m so proud to call you my mom and my friend. I love you!

The rest of the weekend was spent researching and going to look at these.

SO EXPENSIVE! Who needs clean laundry anyway?

It started off harmless enough.  I had an early out today so I texted Seth to say I wanted all laundry to be done today.  I would get started when I got home from school and he could help finish up whatever was left when he got home.  Well, I managed to get four loads done by the time he got home.  Unfortunately, there were still two left to go.  I mean, really, six loads of laundry is ridiculous.  Granted, a lot of our winter stuff is in there because it is going to be packed up and stored until next winter.

Seth was helping me hang up the whites load when we noticed a lot of the clothes had a bluish tinge to them.  Weird, I hadn’t washed ANYTHING blue today.  Second problem, there were hot pink splotches over a lot of the clothes.  The magenta tank top had been washed in the previous load…both loads were cold water.  This is where I go into panic mode.  We have no vinegar and I’ve never owned bleach in my life.  A trip to Wal-Mart at 8:30, a box of  Biz and jug of vinegar later, I turn on the machine to fill up with water and leave it.  Only to find that miraculously, our machine will go through the cycle…even if the lid is open.  At this point, I’m about to give up.  That’s when we also realize we do not have enough room to hang up all our wet pants that just came out of the damp dry.

It was one of those moments where I had to repeat, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle.  And yes, I believe that applies to laundry disasters.  The whites are now happily soaking overnight in the washer (I turned it all the way off once it filled up with water) with lots of Biz and lots of vinegar.  I’m praying my favorite white cardigan survives.  I think this whole escapade has been a fabulous demonstration of the deadly sin of sloth.  Had we taken the time to do the laundry in smaller batches, today might not have been to stressful!!!

And I still have another load to do tomorrow…go figure!

Moving on.  If you follow me on Twitter or are my friend on Facebook, you already saw these photos.  I’m sure everyone has their own method of deciding on paint colors.  I chose the elements that will be seen most in the rooms the colors are going into and used them for inspiration.

The living room color was the hardest to pick.  Between in being the most amount of wall space and also the room we’ll probably spend the majority of time in, we really have to like the color.  I knew I wanted a gray because it’s a good neutral.  I’m not a fan of lots of beige so gray was the next most likely option.  We both wanted a warm gray that wasn’t too dark.  Some went to green, some went to blue.  Some even went a little purplish.  We both kept going back to the first sample I ever picked out.  It’s the one on the top left.  We’ll get it color matched at Sherwin Williams but for anyone who wants to know, it is Partridge Gray by Better Homes and Gardens.

This was the hardest set of colors to photograph.  They look nothing like what’s in the picture.  They are all actually soft, light greens.  Since my mixer will now actually have room to live on the counter, any green I put on the walls would have to coordinate.  I’ve narrowed it down to the two samples on the right.  Hopefully I can get a better photograph once we paint it on some walls!

The last color to decide was dining room.  We are inheriting china from my grandma once we move, but we’ll probably still use our regular plates the majority of the time.  So, while I didn’t feel the need to match our plates perfectly, I definitely wanted something that would look nice with them.  The first round of paint samples were too blue and just didn’t look great.  And we didn’t love any of them anyway.  So, I went back to Home Depot and picked up some more samples that went more towards turquoise vs. blue.  I’ve got it narrowed down to the one that looks like a leaf and the one to the left of it.  I’m leaning more towards the leaf looking one. I’m going to need my mom’s opinion when she comes this weekend!

So that is my paint color picking  journey.  Hopefully they will all look fabulous on the walls!

How do you pick paint colors?

I haven’t done a music post in ages.  This doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening to music.  It means that Grooveshark jumped the shark and I haven’t found a suitable replacement.  I could embed a YouTube video for every song…but that get’s really tedious and clunky – not to mention space consuming.  Seth is trying to get me on the Spotify train, but has yet to give me a lesson.  In the mean time, I’ve got some tunes that have been hanging out on my iPod a lot that should be shared SO.  I promise you the songs are awesome, just search for them in the music player of your choice to listen!

1. What the Water Gave Me – Florence + The Machine

2. Black Sheep – Metric

3. Can’t Go Back – Rosi Golan

4. Call Your Girlfriend – Robin

5. Somebody That I Used to Know – Walk Off the Earth cover 

6. C’est La Mort – The Civil Wars

7. One Foot – Fun.

8. Ho Hey – The Lumineers

9. Diamonds in the Souls of Her Shoes – Paul Simon

10.  Safe and Sound – Taylor Swift ft. The Civil Wars

When we came out of Boulder City and caught the first glimpse of Lake Mead, I kind of teared up.  Partly out of excitement and partly because I was thinking of grandpa and how excited he would be to get to see it.

We didn’t make it in time to do the super fancy tour, but we still got to go inside where the diversion tunnels run and see the huge generators.  The we spent a lot of time wandering around on the dam just taking it all in.

Seth kept wanting to throw a bouncy ball down the dam.  I figured that would get him arrested so I didn’t let him even spit off it.

He did manage to pee on it.

I was fascinated by the intake towers and all the surprising art deco touches throughout the dam.  We learned that there is a 2 years supply of water in Lake Mead at any given time.  And it’s really deep so I will probably never even step foot in it.

Not only did we cross the Nevada-Arizona border on a number of occasions while at the dam, we also switched time zones anytime we met the halfway point! Thankfully, no jet lag occurred.

We stopped at an overlook to catch a final glimpse of the lake before we headed back to Vegas.  This little side trip was probably the highlight of our trip.  I will definitely be going back!

I previously mentioned In-N-Out as being a highlight of our trip.  It truly was.  Obviously we did NOT coordinate on who was getting the ketchup for the table – whoops!

We also gave Fat Burger a try. It reminded me a little bit of Steak N Shake. Thoroughly enjoyable, but not In-N-Out.

Wishful thinking here. Plus, I don’t think Tom would allow me to have ketchup with my steak so it was probably for the better.

Serendipity was kind of like Mecca for chocolate lovers.  I could easily eat my way through their entire menu if I had tons of money!  Instead, we opted for a Smores hot cocoa and an original frozen hot chocolate.

It was a definite bring your friends and share kind of place.

And a have a longest straw contest kind of place.

Christy dominated. The rest of us didn’t stand a chance.

We also found the nameless secret pizza joint that serves the most amazing pizza slices.  Affordable too.  I don’t feel right announcing the secret to this place on the internet, but if you are travelling to Vegas and would like a hint – shoot me an email!

You’d think being such a huge proponent of the state fair and its food, you’d think I would have tried more deep fried wonders.  I stick to things that are supposed to be fried, I guess.  After a stop on Fremont Street, I can now say I’ve had fried Oreos and Twinkies.  The Oreos were beyond rich for me which was surprising.  I can down half a package no problem.  The Twinkie was pretty good, but I could only manage about 3 bites before I felt like I was going to die from clogged arteries.

We also ate at I Heart Burgers (it seemed appropriate).  I was kind of over burgers at this point so I got chicken tenders and they were amazing.  I’m not normally a ranch person, but the ranch sauce they served with them was amazing.  It was a tad pricey, but hey – we were on vacation!

We also made it to the show at the Excalibur where you eat the food with your hands while you watch the knights duke it out.  The food was meh but the entertainment was beyond fabulous.  I’m surprised I didn’t get kicked out.  And I was sober.  So that about wraps up the food tour!