Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Welcome to My House

I wish I had some taken before photos to compare, but things got so hectic- that I forgot. Plus it would have been hard to tell anyways. 


So, these changes have been in the works for years. We moved into our house 6 1/2 years ago, and I've wanted to replace the carpet the entire time. I literally hated our old carpet. It was very light, showed every string, stain, and piece of dirt. And it just wasn't comfy. Well, we finally got around to replacing the carpet and then we decided to get new furniture as well! And then since everything was being rearranged, the fall decorations went up too! 


So the tour starts in the dining room. I like to think our style is rustic chic, at least in this room. 




These potato sacks are one of my favorite decorations in the house. I bought them off of eBay years ago and love the blues and reds. The candle holder was a find at a local antique store. Normally, I would think pieces like this are hideous- but this one just works.




This is the fireplace in our living room. We're not huge fans of the tile, but that's a change that's been way down on the list. 




We like to keep memetos from our travels on the mantle. You can spot the Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Golden Gate Bridge, etc. And the yellow candles have become so sentimental that we can't burn them or get rid of them. We bought them when we hosted our first big Thanksgiving dinner right after we got engaged. 




This antique sewing machine used to belong to my great great grandmother. My dad refinished it for my mom when they were first married. I made the bookpage wreath when we first moved into the house. The typewriter is from my husband's grandfather. And the lamp was given to us by a previous boss in Minneapolis. We love filling our house with sentimental items and reusing things when we can.



Here is the view of our living room with our new sectional! It seemed to dominate the room at first, but we love it. We are huge snuggle bugs, so having tons of options to spread out and get comfy is huge to us. 




Another wall that I love in our house is this one. The living room has two accent walls that we've painted a light brown in contrast to the golden beige color. The framed building art is from a random date my husband took me on in the first few months we were dating. He called Foshay Tower in Minneapolis to see if we could get a tour. Unfortunately, they had just closed for renovations. My husband made up this story about how we were visiting from out of town, so a security guard said he would take us up in the tower for $20 on his lunch hour. I still laugh about this- oh the things you will do to impress a girl. I guess it worked!

And of course, Snoopy had to crash this photo. You can see his bed and his rarely touched basket of toys on either side of the tv. 




Here is our wine rack from Pier One. I can't wait to dig into that wine again! It's barely been touched the last 8 months! 




Now, into our bedroom! Hubbs was working in here, so there aren't many pics of the full room. This is one of our new dressers. We also have a tall dresser and two matching end tables on either side of our bed. I love the canvas below the rainy France picture. It says "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is your future. Today is your life. Live it." A good reminder to stay in the moment and enjoy it!




Here is my night stand. A nice little photo that my husband made me for one of our anniversaries, a coaster for my water bottle, a plate for jewelry, etc. And another bed for Snoopy off to the side. Dog likes to be comfy, what can I say? 




And that's pretty much it for now. We are starting to tackle the nursery now, so I'll post about it when it's all put together. Hope you enjoyed this peek into my life! 

Monday, August 29, 2016

Sunday Brunchin'

This weekend was stay-at-home babymoon, and we decided that since we were saving hotel money, we would just eat out a little more than normal. I had wanted to hit up Harvest again before baby comes so I made a reservation.

I seriously love this place. It's only 5 minutes from our house, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is great... But people must be finding out about this treasure because it was pretty packed.




I started with the grapefruit juice. Can't wait to try their grapefruit mimosas soon!

I ordered the Rockbridge Trout. It wasn't quite what I expected. 



The menu said it came with potato pancakes, so I was expecting something a little more hearty than this. The horseradish was also a little strong for me. It was good, don't get me wrong- just not what I had in mind.

Ben ordered pancakes and sausage, and after a few bites of his, I put in an order for blueberry pancakes.



So glad I did! Those pancakes were amazing!! And definitely hit the spot. Another great meal at Harvest!

The rest of the afternoon was spent on the couch watching the Vikings!! I'm so excited that football season is finally here!



If anyone needs us on Sundays, we will be on the couch!

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Saturday

Saturday, we spent the day cleaning up around the house and running some errands. The house is finally put together so look for a post on that later this week!


For dinner, we ate at Bao Bao in Chesterfield Village. Hello, authentic Chinese! 



Hubbs had the duck. It was good!




I went for the veggie lo mein. My favorite!




After dinner, we stopped by Hy-Vee. I was super stoked to finally get my hands on some Halo Top Birthday Cake! Sadly, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Plus a little more spendy and smaller than I imagined. I think when I splurge, I'll stick with gelato from now on. Go big or go home!


Saturday, August 27, 2016

Date Night!

This weekend was supposed to be Babymoon, but after a hectic week and traveling last weekend and next weekend, we opted for a Staycation. With all the renovations in our house, it feels like a vacation to us anyways. :)

Apparently, Flo is closing. I love this restaurant. It's been one of my favorites, so we stopped there for sushi, wontons, and chicken skewers.




Plus, they have the best bathroom. I'm sure they will keep it for the new restaurant coming in though. Can't beat that seat warmer. 




After that, we did some shopping before heading downtown to check out the new CB Social House for a drink. It was packed and had quite the line so it looks promising. 

Their caramel corn was delicious! 



Fun date night. Today we are just running some errands. Hope to get the fall decorations up too and post about all the house changes soon! Happy Weekend!





Saturday, August 20, 2016

Maine to Foxborough and Providence

Last full day on the East Coast! I kicked it off with some more cookie dough, duh.




Then, we headed to brunch at Bintliff's. Delicious! Everything looked good, so we decided to share. The Raspberry Almond Pancakes were delicious!




So was the Tuscany Scramble. I loved the chunks of garlic in it. Amazing.




After brunch, we headed back to Boston. We made a little stop at the Bass Pro Shops in Foxborough. 




I love how the wildlife is always native to the area. Hello, Moose!




Then we walked through the shopping area and over to the Patriots stadium. Can't say I like this team, but I am super excited for football season!




Then, on a whim, we decided to head down to Providence, Rhode Island. Another state to check off my list. Only need 5 more to complete the US!


We dined at Ten Prime. The atmosphere was great. We also had a really nice server. There was a little confusion because they had their happy hour sign out, so we thought the sushi was half off. Apparently only on weekdays. This was a Saturday so it didn't apply. I mentioned this to the server and spoke with the GM. Can't say I was super impressed with how they handled it. Other than that issue, this place was great!




And our server made me a delicious Momtail. Seriously counting down the days until I can drink again. Wine, I miss you!!




We also ordered some meat skewers that were pretty good. The coconut shrimp one was by far my favorite. 




After dinner, we walked around to kill some time until WaterFire. Providence is a beautiful town, and I can't wait to see more someday! 




Love this row of buildings!




WaterFire is also a cool experience. There's a river along the downtown area that there are little bonfires planted in. A train of boats floats along and lights them all while music is playing. It's quite the show, and it's free. Such a neat thing for Providence to do. I highly recommend checking it out!




What a great trip to the Northeast! So sad that it has come to an end, but I am so thankful to be able to explore such awesome places and eat delicious food with amazing friends!

Maine

We kicked off the day with Congdon's Donuts. Holy cow were they good! I would prefer these over Hurts any day!



We took our donuts to the road and headed to South Portland where we had massages booked at Harmonic Energy. Can't beat a good massage- plus we found a Groupon so it only ended up being $35 for an hour. Killer deal!


After the spa, we took the 1 down and hit the coastal towns. Old Orchard Beach was fun. Reminded me of Atlantic City with the pier and amusement park. I was also surprised how hot it was there!




We continued on to Kennebunkport. I think this town was one of my favorites!




We ate lunch at Alisson's. The sandwich with crab, bacon, avocado, lettuce, and tomato hit the spot. The sweet potatoe fries were delicious too!




We made it back to Ogunquit and hit the beach. Thankfully, it was 4 so we got free parking. The beach was great but the breeze was chilly so I ended up wrapped in my towel the whole time. I also realized the beach is not so comfortable when you have a big pregnant belly. It's impossible to lay out on a towel! Bummer.





After the beach, we cleaned up and stopped at Cornerstone Artisinal Pizza. The kale salad was good!




And the margherita pizza as you can tell! We couldn't wait to drive in!




We strolled through the shops after dinner before grabbing some dessert and taking it back to the room. I'm pretty sure this stuff is a pregnant lady's dream come true!



Wonderful day with more adventures to come! 



New Hamps!

The next day we headed up from Boston to Maine. We stopped for lunch in Portsmouth, NH. Super cute little town!!




We ate at Popovers on the Square. Delicious crab cake and a mini popover! Plus some greens to make me feel somewhat healthy.




Then we did some shopping! Love all these quaint shops.




Then we made our way to our VRBO in Ogunquit, Maine. It's crazy how close together everything is. I feel like it took no time to get there from Boston. You drive forever in the Midwest and get nowhere! 


We ended up exploring our way to Perkin's Cove and had dinner at Foot Bridge Lobster.




We took our lobster rolls to go and ate on the dock while dangling our feet in the water.




It was such a beautiful night!




Loving Maine- stay tuned for more!

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Boston- Day 2

After my meetings wrapped up, we took an Uber down to Faneuil Hall. 


Had a delicious afternoon snack at the Cookie Monstah. I had an ice cream sandwich with turtle ice cream in between two chocolate chip cookies. Delcious!!




We walked around exploring for a few hours.




We found the Boston Tea Party site.




Then took an Uber to Cheers for dinner.




Hello, all the appetizers!! Fried food to counteract all our healthy walking.




We checked out the Make Way for Ducklings statue.




Then strolled around Boston Commons soaking in the beautiful night on our way back to the hotel.




I think I'm loving you, Boston.




Even found Macarons for dessert!




Such a beautiful day in a great city!