the dog ate my homework...

...well, sort of. 

Last week I decided to stop at the car wash on my way to the bank. I pulled up next to the vacuums and began organizing the inside of the car, separating what was trash and what wasn’t. While I was doing this, one of the employees came up to my window and asked if I needed a vacuum token. I replied yes, but he put the token in the slot before I was ready. So immediately my adrenaline began pumping—because lets be honest, it feels like a life or death situation when you are being timed at the car wash—and I began vacuuming my car. 

When I made my way around to the front passenger seat, I realized I hadn’t removed some things off the floor that would make it difficult to vacuum. So, I tucked the vacuum tube under my left arm and began reaching with my right arm to clean off the floor. As I was reaching down, my stomach dropped when I heard the vacuum noise change, like it was trying to suck something up. I glanced at the head of the vacuum and to my horror saw that it was trying to eat a few hundred dollars in checks and 45 dollars in cash that I had left on the seat!! Curse that stupid vacuum. I quickly and desperately began tearing at the money trying to salvage what I could. I went for the checks first and to my relief managed to get them out in one piece.  Next, the cash: as I wrapped my fingers around 2 very crumpled 20 dollars bills and pulled, the five dollar bill slipped through the opening and into the abyss of vacuum land. Sigh. Most expensive vacuum job EVER. I almost left before washing my car because I was so bugged. 

If anyone was watching me though, they must have been thoroughly entertained as I clawed, moaned, groaned, and huffed at that silly vacuum, that is now 5 dollars richer.

{i love seattle}

As I write this post I am especially grateful for 2 things: family and business trips. My sister Chelsea and her husband are living in Seattle for the month of October, and as if it were meant to be, my husband had a business trip planned in Seattle as well. So it was a beautiful opportunity that we could not pass up. Last week we packed our bags, hopped on a plane and headed to Washington. And let me tell you something: there are few better families than the Chappell family. I love them so much my heart could just burst.

We had the BEST time. It was so fun playing with my little nephews, who as it turns out, are not nearly as little as they were the last time I saw them; I absolutely loved being able to see my brother-in-law Todd, as his visits are far an in between; and I just adore my sister Chelsea and the conversations and laughs we always have together. It felt like the good ol’ days when we lived in New York together! But let me tell you, we partied it up in Seattle. We went to the aquarium, the American Car Museum, the Public Market, and the beach. We ate yummy food all day everyday. We had a fun dinner with my Uncle and his family (wish we could see them more). We had movie nights, played with horses, chickens, and a cat named mouse (HA), went on pretty drives and walks, and laughed a whooooooole bunch. Thank you Chappell family...it was a trip to remember!!

And now, for picture overload:

we had the most beautiful landing! 

Chelsea is such a cool mommy

news debut! 

movie night with dinner in a pumpkin

The coooooold beach

my favorite car in America's Car Museum

fort building

Sadly, these bagels had NOTHING on Scarsdale Bagels...

snuggle time 

Star fish at the aquarium

an early morning for these tired boys!

just look at that view!!! The take-off was incredible! 

Whew! I don't think i've ever posted that many pictures at once. It was just such a fun trip, i couldn't decide which pictures to share. 

Until next time Seattle...

{shopping...and not the good kind}

I’ve got a question to put out into the void: Does anybody like grocery shopping? As fun as it is to drop 100 bucks every so often at the grocery store, I think I would much rather have my kitchen cupboards magically replenish themselves, and take that 100 dollars to Nordstrom to buy a new outfit. But, maybe that's just me. Something about the whole experience just doesn't sit well with me. It’s a pain looking for the best bargain; or not being able to cross something of my list because they are out (now what’s for dinner?); or watching the screen as they ring up my items and the numbers quickly bypass the amount I thought I would be spending; or walking past the bakery section and drooling all over those donuts I definitely want to buy, but won’t. Anyway, you get the idea…I find the whole experience to be miserable.

Due to my dislike of grocery shopping, I try to do everything I can to make the experience as painless as possible. For example…

1. Meal-plan and make a list. This will greatly shorten the amount of time I spend in said grocery store, and will also ensure I come home with every ingredient I need for the weeks meals.

2. Eat a filling meal before entering food zone. Going to the store on an empty stomach is the worst thing EVER!! When I am at the store hungry, everything looks delicious and it is a 100% guarantee I will come home having bought some random food item that looked good at the time, but is actually no bueno. Like those weird sugar coated pineapple things I bought once…

3. Grab the wallet lanyard and ditch the purse. I hate walking around the store with a cart or basket, plus a purse, plus my list, plus a phone, etc. Its waaaay too much to handle.

4. Use the mantra from one of my favorite movies (“Confessions of a Shopaholic”) “Do I need these?” most likely I don't need the M&M’s, or the Coconut Oreos, or the Sour Patch Kids. Unfortunately.

This past week I made my way to the grocery store and zipped into the closest parking spot I could find. It wasn’t my best park job—of that I was fully aware. I wasn't quite centered and was a little too close to the car on my right side. But honestly it wasn’t that bad. It just needed a little straightening out! I planned on re-parking just as soon as I texted Rob back and put my phone away. But, moments before putting my car into reverse, I looked out my window to see a very ticked off chick squeezing out of her car, giving me the death glare. Right as I was about to mouth “sorry” she angrily put her face to my passenger window, gave me the bird, and sneered “nice park job” (with at-ti-tuuuude) and stomped off. Sheesh!! The last thing I expected to happen at the grocery store was to be flipped off! So I re-parked faaaaar away lest I come back to my car to find that it had been keyed, and headed into the grocery store. So much for a painless experience!

Moral of the story: Someone out there dislikes grocery shopping more than I do.

Fate must have brought us together.

it's story time

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Brianna and—yep, you guessed it, that girl is me (side note: spell check keeps telling me to change me to I...but let’s be real, how weird would that sound? “That girl is I”? Ha no thanks). Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Brianna moved to New York with her newly acquired husband. One weekend, when Brianna’s mom and aunt were in town visiting, the four of them decided to pay a visit to the Brooklyn Flea Market.

Alright, who is as tired of third person as I am? Lets cut to first…

So we arrived at the flea market, and it was pretty rad. There were food stands, and old clothing, vintage furniture and décor, faded maps, awesome prints…you get the picture. Really neat stuff! But I knew I’d found the Flea Market’s crowning jewel, when I stumbled upon these oh-so-beautiful mirrors. I instantly fell in love. Each had a unique tin frame in a variety of colors and patterns, and, well, if I hadn’t already found my soul mate (ahem, Rob), I might have thought I was destined to be with these mirrors (I like to exaggerate oooooobviously). They were perfect and I loved them, until HELLO!!! How much does that cost?? Lets just say they were a little out of our price range. There was no way I was going to spend that much money on a mirror after we’d just spent practically our entire bank account to get married and move to New York. So, I walked away, head held high, but oh so sad.

Not too long after I bid the mirrors goodbye, we were meandering around the market a little more; when lo and behold, Rob disappeared. I instantly knew he was up to something. If I knew my husband like I thought I did, he had gone to buy a mirror. And that is exactly what he did. A few minutes later he came walking up to me with a mirror in his hands. I wish I was the heroine in this story, but sadly I am the villain. The second I saw the mirror I was furious! How could he tempt me with that mirror when I was trying with every fiber of my being to be a responsible, married, woman? How DARE he!! I could not keep it, and I would not keep it.

So, lets be honest. How ridiculous was my behavior? Out of control ridiculous!! Rob was being such a thoughtful husband, trying to do something nice for his new bride. I should have gratefully accepted the gift, but instead I shut him down hard core. Tears pricking my eyes, I angrily made him take the mirror back. It was a lose-lose situation for me: not only did I lose my opportunity to bring that beautiful mirror home, but I hurt Rob’s feelings, and felt like a horrible wife because of it. Sigh. I’m so silly sometimes.

Now, I know you are thinking this story has a sad ending…but it doesn't—because one year later, Rob decided to end this story happily. This weekend we went and stayed at the Little America to celebrate our anniversary. When we walked into our hotel room after dinner and I saw a large, rectangular, wrapped package, I knew (or at least hoped) instantly what it was. You guessed it…he got me the mirror. Awwwwwww! How lucky am I? Now, I have two soul mates…

Alright alright, I'm totally kidding! How materialistic do you think really think i am? Gosh! Rob's the only soul mate for me :)

So i guess it's only fitting to end this post with...

...and they all (Rob, me, and the mirror of course) lived happily ever after!

...when you're having fun

Well…looks like I took an unplanned sabbatical from blogging. Sorry to all my avid followers (aka Grandma Binny) for being MIA for so long…did ya miss me? That's all right if you didn’t; I do this blog mostly for me anyway!! And I’m back at it!

Today is a big day. For most of you that big day is Hump Day…yep, you are 2 days away from the weekend. Congrats! But for my significant other, and me well, we’ve been married one year--which, if you ask me is a bigger deal than hump day…sorry, we win! But hooooooly cow! 1 year?! How did that happen! To quote my insta post, “you know what they say…time flies when you are having the time of your life happily married to and completely in love with the best guy in the world! Well, that's what I say at least!”

In one year, I got married, moved to New York, fell in love with Scarsdale, only had a husband on the weekends, adventured on the East Coast, moved back to Utah, got a husband 7 days a week, and found myself more in love with him each and every day. For you hopeless romantics, cue the sigh. For you mooshaphobes, sorry, but it's true! Being married is the best. I highly recommend it.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the year…

Welp, one year. I guess that makes us old fogies now!  

Bring it on year number two!