april happy list

planning our first Nats game of the season
our besties Allie and Ryan got engaged!
Amy's visit
General Conference
Easter
Diore glow nail polish (recommended by my fave blog)
spring weather- finnnallly!!!!!
my mom sent me a surprise wish bone necklace, I've been eyeing one for years!
our fun  weekend in Atlanta
chocolate covered cinnamon bears- best candy ever
going to Utah TOMORROW to celebrate my mom's birthday!

Beijing for a day

Yes we are crazy.

Its no secret that Blake loves all things travel. He is linked into this "flyer talk" group that gets together once a month to do dinner and discuss all things aviation. I stay home and watch Gilmore Girls :) They email back and forth about different deals that come up throughout the month as well.

One night I was showering and Blake comes running into the bathroom screaming that someone from his flyer group had just emailed him about a mistake fare to Beijing China. An airline had miscalculated the fare from a couple thousand dollars to $400 in business class! He booked a flight as fast as he could because mistake fares are only up on websites for a few minutes before the mistake is caught and taken down.

I finish showering and ask Blake how long we are going for and he replies, "one day"
I got bamboozled!

We are going over Memorial Day weekend and he couldn't get off any more time from work. So we will be in Beijing a whopping 24 hours. Yes we are crazy. But it at least we get to lie down flat in a little sleeping pod and watching movies on the 13 hour flight, right?  Yes we are crazy.What an adventure!

A bunch of his flyer buddies also booked tickets on our same flight so it will be a party in business class! One guy had these luggage tags made as gifts for everyone to commemorate the trip.

Yes we are crazy.

Trader Joes favorites

A few of my favorite blogs have recently posted their trader joes favorite lists. I love reading what gems people find at TJs (best grocery store next to wegmans) so I thought I'd add our list to the mix!

fruit/vegetables:
freeze-dried fruit
bags of apples- so cheap and a normal size, not gigantic 
reduced guilt chunky guacamole- put it on chicken, fajitas, pita chips, anything!

dairy:
nonfat greek yogurt- black raspberry and coconut cream are my favorite!
reduced guilt string cheese

frozen:
chocolate croissants- made with real butter and frozen into shape. All you have to do is proof at room temperature the night before. They'll be puffed up and ready to bake fresh in the morning!
chicken tiki masala paired with the naan
corndogs (don't judge)
mac and cheese (amazing!!!)

snacks:
reduced guilt pita chips with sea salt
joe's O's 
kettle corn
whole wheat pretzels
popped potato chips

bread:
refrigerated pizza dough
handmade tortillas
pumpkin bagels (seasonal)

random:
tomato and roasted red pepper soup 
various lemonades- perfect for parties
flowers
spices (21 seasoning salute)

desserts:
smashing smores! best treat ever!
sea-salt dark chocolate-covered almonds 
chocolate lava cakes 
chocolate covered pb pretzels pillows
basically any other treat they sell

want to try: 
julienned root vegetables
kale quinoa salad kit
colored carrots

tell me if there are any gems I'm missing out on!

Amers came to town

Amy had spring break last week and was a feeling a little stir crazy. Blake generously donated some of his miles to fly her out last minute. I tried to pamper her with a good People magazine, chocolate, face mask and mini amenities in the hopes of bribing her to come back soon. Our air mattress had broken so I went to Costco to pick up another one before she flew in. It was some deluxe version with a headboard and everything! For the same price as our old one! Score! Now we had a very fancy guest bedroom ;)

Our main goal for the weekend was to find Ben and Jerry's Tonight Dough. Wawa, aka the best convenience store known to man, came through and we found some after searching a million grocery stores. Unfortunately we were heading back from Richmond and still half hour away from home when we found it. Sooo we just had to eat most all of it in the car driving home :) 

We spent the rest of the weekend shopping, watching shows and just chatting. It was the best! We also had to take her to Sugar Shack of course.

Sunday night we joined with some extended family out in Oakton for a delicious birthday/Easter dinner. It was great to catch up with everyone.

Your visit was too short Amers! Come back soon!

march happy list

pretend house buying on real estate apps (also depressing given DC housing prices :S)
a sunny Seattle trip a few weeks back
2 snow days!
House of Cards marathon
planning our Primary's Easter egg hunt. I love holidays!
bright lipstick for spring
finally finding the Tonight Dough. Best. Ice cream. Ever.
putting my parka in storage
stalking this purse online praying it goes on sale someday
buying $80 tickets to Utah for next month- score!
spring sunrises/sunsets
buying matching sunglasses with my Mom, Amy and Angie
a surprise donut tee shirt- thanks Blake!
buying mistake fare tickets to visit Beijing over Memorial Day...more on that later
Amy's spontaneous spring break visit...more on that later too!

yay for spring!