Fifty Shades of Valentine's Day

Campers, Valentine's Day 2015 was officially my first V-day as a single gal since my sophomore year of high school. YIKES. Slash...FUN. I was super excited to celebrate this awesome holiday, which, duh, ranks high on my list solely because it's all about rom-coms, chocolate, and the color pink...and it totally exceeded my expectations. 

Because she is the best, Kelsie agreed to be my Valentine this year and continue a tradition we started a few years ago: girly dining out and a movie! THIS year, though, we totally kicked it up a notch because, duh, this year "Fifty Shades of Grey" came out, and we wouldn't be basic white girls if we DIDN'T see "Fifty Shades" on Valentine's Day. 

We started off with Bellinis and present exchanging at my place...how cute is this "Relaxation in a Jar" present Kels put together?! Completely Pinterest-worthy and I can't wait to enjoy all the fun treats inside! 

I had pre-ordered tickets a long time ago for the West End theater's VIP showings of the movie, and of course Rojo is conveniently across the street from the theater. So we put the cherry on top of our basic-ness and pre-gamed the movie with margaritas, guacamole, queso, and sangria too! 

As for the movie...sweet friend, do, just do, or don't, just don't. No skin off my back. I'm not going to go on any kind of soapbox or tirade here: I firmly believe that it's everyone's choice both to see the movie/read the books, and really, to do whatever the hell you like in the bedroom. Frankly, I'm irritated and saddened by how many people use the movie/books as a platform to shame others. Really, the only person who should be shamed in the whole equation is EL James, for writing a book at a fourth-grade reading level. (It's truly appallingly badly written...)

Personally I truly enjoyed the movie, primarily because Kelsie and I were just the right amount of drunk to laugh through the funny parts, the awkward parts, and the sexxxay parts. I thought Jamie Dornan was super man-pretty, I liked all the skyline shots of Seattle, and the soundtrack was fantastic. I won't be rushing out to buy whips and handcuffs, but it was exactly the girly, escapist, slightly ridiculous fantasy film I was hoping for on Valentine's Day. 

We, naturally, couldn't just end the night on that note, so we Ubered home and arranged our own little double-header of Channing Tatum movies. Just picture two girls in jammies, "Magic Mike," and "Step Up" with still-drunk commentary, and you've got our evening. I couldn't have asked for a better friend to be my Valentine, or for a more enjoyable day!!

Spontaneous Saturday

Every so often, I get the urge to have an adventure. Fortunately, I'm surrounded by people who are usually all too willing to indulge me and join me on crazy escapades! Earlier this month I had one of those days, and it turned out to be a weekend for the record books. 

My friend Matt at work mentioned a hot-air balloon festival in passing on our regular Friday morning coffee run, and it piqued my interest just because it sounded so weird and different and awesome. Turns out the Hudson Hot Air Affair is the largest winter ballooning festival in the Midwest...talk about bragging rights! I emailed Hannah right away to see if she'd be interested, and she was, so we finalized our plans...

...to get up at the crack of dawn and drive to Wisconsin! There were forty balloons scheduled to launch at 7:30 am, so I picked Hannah up at 6:15 and we made our way out there. Fortunately, we arrived early enough to scope out the surroundings, which included the cutest bazaar ever in the elementary school adjacent to the launching grounds. Check out these cute papier-mâché balloons! 

Of course, it being before 7am, the first thing on our minds was coffee. Friends, this was the steal of the century. For just $2, we not only got 16 ounces of coffee, but ALSO these sweet souvenir mugs to keep!! Score, right?! 

Fortified with caffeine, we ventured back outside around 7:20, only to notice there was remarkably little activity occurring on the designated launch field. We spotted one balloon spread all the way out and headed over there to observe...

Only to be devastated by the announcement made at 7:31 by the "Official Hudson Hot Air Affair Balloon-Meister:" the balloons would be unable to take off due to unfavorable weather conditions. Little did we know at the time, ideal ballooning conditions are ridiculously finicky and hard to come by. The conditions that Saturday morning weren't right, so we prepared to leave after watching the Family Fresh Produce Balloon inflate on the ground for awhile. 

To my surprise, though, more balloons quickly set up! I got crazy-excited, took 100% too many pictures, and froze our butts off enjoying the spectacle. Though we didn't get to see balloons in flight, it was awesome to see them up close, and it's now officially on my life bucket list to take a hot air balloon ride!

After thawing out from our Hudson adventure, I met dearest Kels for A La Mode manicures. After, we had a Northeast adventure! I had a Groupon for a free brewery tasting that I thought was for Day Block Brewing in downtown Minneapolis, but it turned out to be for 612. Being super-hungry, we headed to Psycho Suzi's first to grab some lunch, but more importantly take advantage of their massive Bloody Mary Bar...

Once we'd polished off our Old Bay-pickle spear-Tabasco-everything-you-could-dream-of Bloodys, we drove to 612 and quickly realized it would be easily an hour before we could snag a table or even a spot at the bar. What are fun, adventurous girls to do? Hot route to Sociable Ciderwerks, of course! 

We day-drank substantially, and then I met my parents for a fantastic dinner at Ling and Louie's before the Minnesota Orchestra's "That's Amore!" Pops concert. OH my gosh, the concert was amazing. Featuring dozens of classic opera and modern Italian love songs, I quickly fell in love with Sara Hicks's personable conducting (as always) and the stunning tenor. 

FINALLY, I closed out the longest, most adventure-laden day with a trip back to Northeast to stop by Greg's birthday dinner at Northeast Social. I got to catch up with Claire and Mike, enjoy some beverages, and celebrate another February birthday! Eventually, I totally crashed and bailed to my bed. 

Not too bad for a completely spontaneous Saturday! I may have spent the entire next day sleeping and relaxing after all the activity, but there's something to be said for cramming that much fun and adventure into one day. Already looking forward to next time's adventures!

Birthday, birthday!

I'm convinced I'm the luckiest girl in the world. My friends and family have spoiled me rotten with love, celebration and good wishes as I turned 26...I have such wonderful people in my life!

I started celebrating fully a week before my birthday with the annual Anthropologie February Birthday event...since my mom and I are Anthro card members, we get to attend private shopping events in our birthday months! We had our nails done, enjoyed a happy hour at Mozza Mia, and shopped to our hearts' content...it was so fun to splurge a little after my January shopping hiatus!

On my actual birthday, last Wednesday, I had a really busy workday punctuated with a lot of great interruptions. My colleague/friend Matt and I hit up Caribou for my free birthday drink, Stu and I lunched at Kincaid's, and I braved 30-mph winds to run to Cossetta's for an assortment of Italian pastries to share with the office. The real party started after work though...meeting up with the madre and padre for dinner at the Saint Paul Grill!

Oh yes, martinis abounded. We had the best time pre-gaming dinner in the bar, then snagged the perfect window table with gorgeous views of Rice Park lit up for the winter: 

Of course, it wouldn't be a birthday dinner without lots of toasting...

And it wouldn't be a Schwegman family trip to the Saint Paul Grill if it didn't include shameful numbers of bathroom selfies! 

I spent the night at home and got to open all my cutely wrapped presents, which were apartment-themed! I can't wait to show off all the darling new additions to my lovely home. 

The party kept rolling on Thursday with a trip to see "Oliver!" at the Pantages Theater. We stopped at J.D. Hoyt's for a hilarious pre-theater dinner in which my dad ordered basically the entire happy hour menu and then chased it with yet another birthday dessert. While he did deign to allow me to blow out my own candle, I think he was more excited about the banana split than I was...

The best part? My birthday fun has yet to draw to a close! Claire and I are throwing a giant joint birthday party this coming weekend to celebrate both our days. I'm so excited...what better excuse to celebrate a month of fun than the otherwise-uneventful 26?! 

Party down, I'm 26!

26! Today I'm celebrating an unremarkable birthday to close out a highly remarkable year. I had so many plans, goals and dreams for 25...and watched them all change, crumble or become irrelevant as I changed careers, ended relationships, and completely re-evaluated my priorities. For 26, I'm not setting deadlines or worrying about the future or benchmarking myself against some invisible, self-established timeline.

Instead, I'm going to embrace the fact that I'm a twenty-something Millennial, and live it up accordingly. After I quit my public accounting job, I joked about how I left behind busy season and started enjoying "Lizzie Season." After a year of bizarre personal growth, I'm excited to enjoy a Lizzie year. 26 is going to be a good one...I can just feel it. 

In the year of 26, I am going to: 

-wear lipstick as often as I feel like it and smile enormously with or without it on. 

-go to the gym as much as I can, but stop hating myself on the days when I just plain can't. 

-happy hour spontaneously and laugh with my friends without worrying about how loud we're being. 

-grow yellow flowers, and if I kill them, buy and grow more. 

-travel with open eyes and comfortable, pretty shoes and my camera always at hand and people with me who enhance the experience. 

-tear up at wedding ceremonies...and tear it up at wedding receptions. 

-send cards and thank-you notes and texts and Snapchats and emails to everyone I love to tell them that I love them. 

-devour books and write volumes and see movies and watch tv and visit museums and see plays and experience music and study art and seek beauty everywhere.

-enjoy all the pretty, funny, delightful things that make me happy, no matter how big or how small. 

-embrace my hyperbolic, superlative excitement about life in general and stop giving a damn if that's to everyone's liking or not. 

So there you have it. Frivolity, happiness, little things...all of which I am determined will add up to a great year. With that, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEEEEE...I'm off to pretend to work and really just spend the day celebrating :) 

Life is full of wonderful things.

I'm just getting proverbially smacked across the face with all sorts of delight these days, and it's all about re-framing negatives into positives.

No matter what, I find myself getting really crabby and downer-Debbie this time of year. Chalk it up to winter—I know I’m not the only one who thinks this time of year utterly sucks. It’s bone-crushingly cold, it’s terribly dark. Work for all accountants all of a sudden just takes a nosedive into year-end reporting or, God forbid, public busy season. Everyone’s a little bit fatter and a little bit hungover from the months of holiday partying and eating, or following super-stringent diet and gym routines to reverse that holiday bulge. Bottom line…winter can make me miserable.

I don’t like being miserable. My default setting tends toward the bright-and-sunny end of the spectrum, and being such a cranky downer makes me feel dissonant. With that in mind, I’ve made a conscious effort to notice, and appreciate, little things that make me happy.

Although I’ve been coming to and leaving work in the dark lately, during the day my window desk means I get to bask in sunshine and soak up all that life-affirming light. And views like these don’t hurt, either:

Sure, the cold saps every drop of moisture out of my skin, hair and lips, but that’s been a great excuse to spend a ton of girly evenings soaking in bath oils, exfoliating and doing masques, and slathering up in the best smelling lotion.

I may be totally cutting out or back on alcohol, carbs, sugar, and takeout, but the excessive healthiness of my diet lately makes treats like Cossetta's macarons or the dark chocolate Hershey Kiss I pack in my lunch every day feel so decadent, they're even more satisfying. 

My boss-buddy-man may be in Colombia bonding with his new son and finalizing his adoption, leaving a void in my day-to-day coffee runs and hilarity, but that's opened up a handful of other cool opportunities to step into his shoes at work and prove yet again that I'm a capable, talented team player. 

The gym may totally annoy me with its sweatiness and overcrowding and...well...exercise, but putting the every-weekday-right-after-work miles on the treadmill and elliptical has become built-in time to indulge in my new "Netflix on the iPad in the gym" obsession with no interruptions. 

Sloppy winter roads may leave my car a dirty mess on the outside, but gas hovering around $1.99 a gallon continues to leave extra $$ in my wallet to splurge on a car wash way more often than I normally would this time of year. 

The baby next door whose nursery shares a wall with my bedroom may have decided 5:15 am is a great time to get a daily lung workout in, but my new, improved, earlier wake-up time gives me 45 extra minutes to read in bed, have an extra cup of coffee, or give myself an at-home blowout. 

HA! Suck it, winter blues! Negative Nellie's taken a hike and I'm going to keep my little-miss-sunshine attitude rocking until the actual sun decides to make a reappearance. Here's to forcing the little things to make every day a bit brighter.