Hello hello. Ah, Monday…and the first full work week in a while. Isn’t it depressing to think that for the majority of companies that the next paid holiday is Memorial Day? Lucky for me, we’re headed to Europe in March; so at least we won’t have to wait until June for another 4-day work week.
Getting back into work isn’t as terrible as I thought it’d be. We got really busy at the end of last week with some deadlines. Do you know what it means for a building to be LEED certified? Essentially it’s a rating system by the US Green Building Council, which uses a credit system based on different criteria to give points to a building and then based on the points, a LEED certification is given. Retrofit/remodeled buildings can been LEED certified and obviously also new construction. However, unfortunately for us, our client didn’t mention that they wanted be to LEED certified until after we designed the building and construction started. Ugh. So now we have to go back to our design and find ways to tweak it to get the credits. It’s very time consuming…but I have to admit, it’s a nice break from the other work item’s I’ve been focusing on recently.
Anyways, by the time Friday afternoon rolled around, I was more than ready for a cocktail and a break. Friday we had some friends over. It was a lowkey get-together, but we had six cases of Bud Light 24 packs leftover from our trolley and Lord knows Ben and I could not drink them all by ourselves. So friends and free booze, what could be better? Although the only downfall is that I paid for it Saturday morning, realizing once I woke up that I must have had more to drink that I thought. And…I also misplaced my ipod (which I just bought in May). Ben and I were having a little music war with the ipod speaker. I think he must have hidden my ipod because I hid the speaker remote (hence, waking up with the remote shoved down my cami? Geesh!). Anyways, the nano is yet to be found and I’m a little nervous.
Saturday afternoon/evening we went out to The Glen. It’s a shopping complex in Glenview (a northern ‘burb) which I can actually convince Ben to go to because of the restaurant Yardhouse, which has over a hundred beers on tap. I love going because it’s the easiest Vonmaur to go to. Regretfully, I didn’t find anything at Vonmaur, but as usual our food was good at Yardhouse. The best part of the trip was that as we were eating dinner at 4:30pm (due to my hangover we’d eaten brunch around noonish and were geared up for an early dinner), we considered that we should have invited Ben’s sister and BIL to dinner. We agreed it would have been strange to call someone at 3:30 and ask if they wanted to go to dinner at 4pm (it’s about a 40 minute drive or so depending on traffic). So, as we’re finishing up our meal, low and behold, Ben’s sister and her husband walk into Yardhouse for dinner!!! Lol. What are the odds that we both decided to go out of the city and happened to go to the same restaurant at the same time?! Craziness.
Following our trip to the ‘burbs, we opted for a cozy night in and watched Super 8. It’s about some supernatural forces and a group of middle schoolers interactions with them. It was okay and I won’t ruin it for you if you haven’t seen it, but I still don’t really understand the plot/background as to why the destructive forces come to the town anyways. Oh well.
Sunday morning I woke up early (for a Sunday) at 7:45am to try to finish my book for 11:30am bookclub. I also whipped up a breakfast casserole that I was planning on taking to club, until I remember I’d signed up to bring cookies and someone else was bringing a quiche. Then I got nervous it would be too similar, so I baked some cookies in addition and left the casserole for Ben and I to eat throughout the weekend instead (I’ll post the recipe today and you can reap the benefits too).
For bookclub we read The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I have to confess, I wasn’t planning on going to bookclub because I hadn’t had time to read the book…but then I decided it’d be great to see the girls, so I hurried to read the book, but have yet to finish. I’ll post a review when I do. The group decided it was their favorite book thus far. Right now, I don’t agree, but as the book wraps up, maybe my mind will be swayed.
Post club, I stopped in two stores (and left emptied handed) and then went to the grocery store. Despite it being January, I refilled out propane tank and am geared up for Ben to do some grilling this week. After our usual pizza-Sunday dinner (and the Bronco’s win) we watched Midnight in Paris. It’s about an engaged couple vacation in Paris. The guy is a writer and starts taking midnight walks when he runs into some interesting characters. Both of our parents (and my sister) have raved about this movie, having gone to Paris. However, while the scenery was gorgeous and got me really excited to see it in person (three months from now), the plot and characters themselves were not as impressive and neither Ben nor I were sure that we even liked the movie. It was just kind of “out-there”.
So, that’s our wknd! And now for some deals:
· Banana Republic: Take an extra 30% off sale items, online only through 1/11 with code BREXTRA30
· J. Crew: Take an extra 30% off all final sale items in store and online with code WINTER through 1/13
· JoAnn: 50% off one regular priced item through 1/14 with code FDE14
· Snapfish:
o 30% off home décor items and free shipping with code DECOR2012 through 1/15
o Get up to 500 4”x6” prints for a penny each with any $10 purchase; use code JANPRINTS through 1/15
o Get 10% back on your purchase via ebates.com
· West Elm: Last day for extra 20% off sale items; use code SALE2012
We watched Midnight in Paris over the weekend too, and had the same reaction. It wasn't what I was expecting. Love your blog!
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