Happy Tulip Day

Well, according to my hoops & yoyo calendar, today is Tulip Day. So...
Happy Tulip Day!
Can we just take today to appreciate how much beauty tulips bring into the world?!

"Flowers are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty

outvalues all the utilities of the world."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

{all photos from here}

~Eye Candy~

Today is cold and dreary and rainy.

I don't know about you, but on days like this

I need a little eye candy inspiration...

and here it is:

Ahh, that's better.
Now let's stay inside and away from the windows,
so we don't realize what it's really like outside today.
Deal? Deal.

{all photos from here}

A Little Survey

{if you haven't notice, I'm kind of obsessed with sunflowers}

It's Tuesday, I'm bored at work, so I decided to do a survey to occupy myself! Surveys are fun. Sometimes it's nice to just read something and answer, instead of just writing a post about something. I think I'll do some more surveys in the near future, hopefully to show you guys a bit more about me that you haven't picked up yet from my other posts. So here goes:

1. First thing you did this morning? kissed my fiance, brett
2. Last thing you ate? everything bagel and hazelnutt coffee from panera
3. Is your cell phone a piece of crap? no way, i have an iphone that i love dearly
4. What's the thing you look forward to most in the next 6 months? our wedding & honeymoon in august :)
5. What's annoying you right now? work and the thought that i have to staple millions of levels together today
6. What's the last movie you saw in a theater? 'how to train your dragon' in 3d imax with brett!
7. Do you believe in long distance relationships? haha believe? yes long distance relationships exist haha they aren't much fun, but you can get through them, we did :)
8.What do you hate the most in life? hate is a strong word, but probably pittsburgh drivers ha
9. Is there someone you miss? of course, not everyone can be near you all the time
10. Who was the last person you texted? the brett man
11. If you could put together a concert of 5 bands or artists who would you choose? 1) Hanson 2) The Black Crowes 3) The Band 4) Jack Johnson 5) The Avett Brothers
12. Song that sums up your love life? the avett brothers - "swept away" ;)
13. What are a few things you wish you were better at doing? cooking and not falling asleep so easily at night!
14. If you could be anywhere this second, where would it be? on a beach with a cool drink in my hand and brett by my side
15. What's your most vivid memory from 6th grade? my sweet 12th birthday party where we had dance parties and drank SURGE all night! And I got my first CD ever: hanson - middle of nowhere
16. Latest addiction? vintage cocktail rings
17. Have you ever had the urge to kill someone? haha yes pittsburgh drivers
18. How many people would you say are interested in you? one, my fantastic fiance :)
19. What do you love doing? traveling, going to summer music festivals, taking evening strolls, laying in the sun, relaxing with brett, goofing around with my family, blogging!
20. Do you think someone thinks about you daily? surely
21. Who was the last person you saw or talked to? my co-workers, unfortunately
22. What do you want to be when you grow up? good question, i'm almost 25... better figure that one out :) ideally, i'd love to own a bed & breakfast or a coffee shop/bakery or live off of my etsy store... and more practically, be an elementary school teacher
23. What is your favorite food? watermellon!
24. How many people do you know with the same name as you? i've met a lot of anna's over the years, but my roommate from college has my first AND middle name, imagine that!
25. What was the last thing you spilled? hmm, i honestly can't remember... i must be getting better at my clumsiness :)

Hope you learned something new about me. :) Now it's your turn!*

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

~to the most beautiful, wonderful, and sweet mother there is~

3 Months Until I'm a Wifey!

Hi everyone!

TGIF! It's Friday morning, I've got my iced coffee, and it's going to 82 degrees and sunny today. I'd say we're off to a good start! So I've decided that I'm not going to do the 'Things I Loved About This Week' post EVERY Friday. I've decided that I'm only going to do it when the inspiration hits me. I don't want to be forced to do specific blog posts on specific days. So now they will be spontaneous, so look out!

My fiance, Brett was in Colorado all last week visiting a friend and he sent me some pretty cool pictures that I thought I'd share. I've never been out west, so these mountains are just awesome to me:

~driving through Colorado~

~Red Rocks!~

~view on a hike Brett took~

Aren't these views awesome?! Brett says he's going to have to take me there someday because the scenery is just unreal and so different than the east coast. I'm holding him to that. :)

On Wednesday, we went out for Cinco De Mayo! We took the bus downtown, went to happy hour, frolicked in the park down by the point, then headed over to Station Square for dinner & drinks at Houlihans! Now some pictures...

It was a fun day and the weather was goregous! I'm looking forward to many more beautiful sunny days like this! It's May and the start of summer... so that means that our lives are just getting busier and busier with weddings, events, birthdays, and a million other things. Busy busy but really fun stuff, so I'm excited!! Hope you all have a WONDERFUL weekend! And treat your mother extra special on Sunday, it's Mother's Day!*

PS - Exactly 3 months until I'm a wifey :)

Check out my blog post on my wedding blog over here. :)

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

It is a BEAUTIFUL day! Doesn't that margarita look delicious?? I may need to indulge in one tonight. I love the month of May! It's the month where Spring really starts to shine through, you start getting excited for summer, and it's my birthday! May is just happiness to me, much like the rest of the summer months - it's my favorite season. :)

Tonight, Brett and I are planning on going down to Station Square & heading to Houlihan's for their Cinco De Mayo specials of margaritas and wild mushroom enchiladas... ole! We also plan on frolicking through the park downtown by the Point, because it is just such a perfect day for frolicking...

Have a fantatic day!*

I DID IT!!

I know I haven't posted in a while. It's probably because for the last couple weeks, I have been physically and mentally preparing to run a marathon. Well, I hope to be back into regular blog posts now because.... I DID IT!! I ran and FINISHED the Pittsburgh Marathon on Sunday, May 2nd!!! Here we are at the finish line with our marathon medals:

It's truly an amazing, amazing feeling! To read my full recap of the marathon, visit my health and fitness blog.

So now back to regular blog postings, I promise!*

Woops!

It's been over a week since I last blogged... oops! I guess I've been pretty busy lately. It's the afternoon, work is almost done, and I'm sleepy. It's cold outside and I'm not a fan. But it's supposed to be 80 degrees on Friday?! Earth, you do not make sense!

Anywho, randomness:

~I dropped Brett off at the airport Saturday morning. He's in Colorado this week, so I'm home all by my lonesome

~Hanson announced tour dates! Bought Pittsburgh tickets: August 20th!

~I love strawberries! Can't wait until the farmer's markets open

~Hanson is live streaming their 5 of 5 concerts in NYC this week = sweet

~We found the groomsmen attire for the wedding and a great sale!

~Brett and I discovered an awesome new thai restaurant in Squirrel Hill called Bangkok Balcony

~Saw 'How to Train Your Dragon' in IMAX 3D and it was super cool

~I got to see a ton of people I grew up with this weekend and it was great!

~I got my coupon in the mail for a free birthday burrito!

~Uhh the marathon is in less than a week and I am freaking out. I cannot wait until this thing is over

~I'm slowly checking things off the wedding to-do list

~Holy crap, every single weekend of the entire summer is slowly (really fastly) filling up! I guess that's what happens when you're getting married and are in another wedding all within a month

~LOST only has like 4 more episodes! They better start answering some questions

~I'm hungry

~I really wish I was in NYC this week seeing Hanson play every one of their albums from start to finish

Ok, so yeah. That's my mind currently... It's Tuesday, so please forgive me. I just wasn't in the mood to write out full paragraphs today. :) I'm really hoping to finish up my Hilton Head post tonight, so I can get that out there in the cyber world. I have quite the to-do list made up for myself tonight, we'll see how far that goes... I definitely need to go running at least. That's a start! Ok, enough babbling.

Happy Tuesday!!*

Things I Loved This Week

Woohoo! Friday!

A couple weeks ago, I started a Friday posting ritual called "Things I Loved This Week". I've only done 1 of these posts so far (I was on vacation last Friday with barely any internet service), so here goes round 2!

Things I loved this week...

~our hilton head trip (got home Monday so it counts!)~
~Brett reading me twitter feeds while we drove home from Hilton Head~

~learning about the amish on a 'how stuff works' podcast~

~drinking out of my new coffee mug from Hilton Head~

~looking through our approximate 800 pictures from vacation & missing it already~

~finally getting all caught up on LOST~

~silly car rides~


~registering at Target for wedding gifts (and Brett accidentally chucking the scanner across the store)~

~reading 'Eat, Pray, Love' on my lunch break in a cute little hidden garden in the city~

~Brett making over the sunroom into a pretend porch where we can now eat dinner~

~finsihing my champagne from Hilton Head~

~taking a walk up to Walnut Street with Brett to get ice cream~

~watching the moive "Moon" but falling asleep halfway through~
~checking things off my to-do list for the wedding~
~Brett making me dinner every night this week~

~delicisous cibatta eggplant parm sandwich from Magee's Cafe~
~Brett's homemade stromboli (YUM)~

I'm looking forward to this weekend! Tonight, Brett & I are planning on going to the Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville to check out a band called the Pawnbrokers. I'm excited for that. Tomorrow we are supposed to go to the Pirates game, but the weather forecast is looking kinda nasty, so we'll see about that one. But in general, I'm ready for some weekend relaxing!

What did you love this week?!*

Quick Hello

Hi Everyone!

Just wanted to stop by and say a quick hello! I got back from vacation on Monday night and am still in the process of catching up on sleep and getting back into my normal routine. I plan on doing a blog post all about my trip, I just need the time to sit down and do it! So just wanted to stop in real quick and give you a little update to let you know a great blog post is coming soon!

Hope you're all having a fantastic week! I will leave you with a silly video of me from vacation attempting to open a bottle of champagne. :)

Happy Thursday!*

Hello From the Road!

We packed our bags, rented a car, and kissed our apartment and jobs goodbye (for a couple days...). Our roadtrip/island getaway has officially started! Brett and I decided to plan a little beach/warm weather getaway back in February when we had 40 feet of snow. Little did we know that it would be 85 degrees on the day we are leaving. But obviously, we are stoked regardless!

So here we are on the road, headed south for sunny skies and a warm island. I'm hoping to blog throughout our trip, so I can remember all the fun and exciting (to me) things we do! So here's until next time...

Happy Easter!

Hello all!

How is everyone today? I hope you all had great Easter weekends! My weekend was absolutely wonderful. The weather was FANTASTIC the entire weekend, how perfect.

On Friday, Brett and I grilled some tasty shish kabobs including red peppers, sweet onions, shrimp, and sweet potatoes. They were delicious (even if we had to use Popsicle sticks because we couldn't find any skewers at the store...). I was too excited to eat them to take any pictures, sorry! And what made Friday night even more awesome... as I was assembling my work-of-art shish kabobs, my phone goes off with a new tweet message: jeshi "Hehehehehe :-X (@ Anna and Brett's home)." Say what?! I open our door, run downstairs, and find my brother Lee and future sister-in-law Jess (also my maid of honor) peering through the window with beer and a guitar! Let the fun night begin! And fun we had. This is usually what happens when Brett and Lee are together...

...while Jess and I drink and get yelled at for talking too loud causing the boys not to be able to hear themselves play. :)

On Saturday, we headed over to my parents' house for Easter festivities (celebrating a day early). We pretty much played cornhole the whole afternoon before feasting on Easter dinner.

{I'm pretty sure we were discussing bachelor/bachelorette parties at this point}

After dinner, some took naps, some ate desserts, and everyone chatted and enjoyed each other's company. And the Easter bunny came! To be 24 years old and still get an Easter basket... it's wonderful. My darling mother gave me this beautiful flower in my Easter basket:

Though she did say that once we are married, no more Easter baskets... just household goods! No complaining here! So this year marks the last Easter basket I'll receive.

Sunday started with an 18 mile run. Woof! As most of you know, I am currently in the middle of training for a marathon. And yesterday was my 18 miler. I will not lie.. it was tough, but I made it through! And then downed about 5 large bottles of water. Once I was re-hydrated and not a sweatball anymore, it was time to brew "Anna's Birthday Brew"!! My fiance Brett has taken up the hobby of homebrewing and it's pretty awesome. He absolutely loves it and it has become quite a passion of his in our neat little kitchen. And I'm being honest, the beer tastes GOOD! At first... not so much. But he's really gotten the hang of it. I do not really take part in the brewing, it's more of his guy thing. But Brett decided that it would be fun to teach me the ropes and brew a birthday brew together! We decided to brew a Hefeweizen. And it will be ready to drink just in time for my birthday in May! Brewing takes a long time. It took up most of the day... there would be a lot to do really quickly and then wait wait wait for something to boil, cool, etc. But all in all, it was a fun experience and I can't wait to see how it turns out!

So that was my weekend in a nutshell... and now it's Monday already. Time flies too fast.

How did you spend your Easter weekend?!*

Things I Loved This Week

Happy Friday!!*

This morning I left my house in flipflops and no coat... It's going to be a good day! I've decided to start a Friday ritual post called "Things I Loved This Week". I'll post every Friday recounting the things that made me happy throughout that week. It'll be a nice little remind of how "the sweet, simple things in life are the real ones after all." Enjoy! :)

Things I loved this week...

~trying a new dance class~

~blueberry beer at Fat Heads Saloon~

~South Memphis String Band show at Club Cafe~

~taking a Wednesday evening walk with Brett to get coffee at the Coffee Tree~

~photography lessons on the couch with Brett~

~dinner at the Fajita Grill outside on their cute little porch~

~wearing flipflops and no coat this morning~

~Thursday night walk with Brett and good conversation~

~sincere compliment on my dress from a stranger~

~getting off the bus a couple stops early just to walk in the nice weather a little longer~

~panera hazelnut coffee~

~the weather forecast for this weekend: 80's and sunny!~

~hanging with my family on Saturday~

~the way warm weather and sunshine puts people in better moods~

Those are some of the things I loved about this week. And now it's Friday and I have the whole weekend to look forward to of things to love! We are planning on grilling shish kabobs on our grill tonight for dinner, celebrating Easter with my family tomorrow, and brewing my birthday brew on Sunday! It's going to be a great weekend full of fun, family, and sunshine!

What are some things that you loved this week?!*