the weekend in iphone photos

        

1. Walking to Joey's school with Gertie 2. Watching Joey's Soccer game. 3. Waiting for our healthy lunch at the waffle bus food truck (amazeballs by the way.) 4. Our waffle bus sammies. 5. Bought new stationary.-love writing letters, love getting letters, love rifle paper co. 6. went to the Menil Collection. -LOVED it and will be going back lots. 7. "The Greatest of all is Love."

*I don't understand the big white gap. It doesn't look like that when I am editing my post...I suck at blogger haha.

djesus

My teenage fan girl went to the moon and back when Christoph Waltz was the host on SNL last night. To keep the sabbath day spirit alive for the remainder of this beautifully sunny Sunday here is the clip that satisfies all my fantasies combining my two favorite Tarantino films with Mr. Waltz as the Star.

wanderlust

Is that so much to ask? I consider myself a low maintenance kind of gal, but one thing this lady needs to stay happy is wandering about this lovely world. I took this image from the stylebook blog (which is adorbs) but this balloon speaks truth. I need a vacation to look forward to. I found online there is a cottage tucked away in the mountains of Austria that will trade free food and lodgings to help with serving at their cafe...Sounds like Joey needs to stop being busy with this whole grad school thing so we can help these Austrian sisters out. I'll keep dreaming for now.

Two

 Disclaimer: This post (it's gonna be a big one) is strictly about food and our questionably unhealthy relationship with our dog. You have been warned. 

Two years ago this little

 peanut was born way out in the country a few hours away from Madison, WI. Still undecided whether or not we should even get a dog we drove out to the little podunk town she lived in to see what this pup was all about. The second I held her I knew she was coming home with us that day. Gertrude Leia Plater (explanation of her name should be saved for another day) has since been the joy in our lives and a constant source of happiness in our family. 

This weekend we celebrated Gertie's second birthday with a trip to the park to feed the ducks and baked a yummy (for people & pooches) almond strawberry cake. Here's our little party. 

  I am in love with Hermann park. I could go here everyday. It is huge! The zoo is attached to it and there is a long reflection pond, a duck pond, people practicing cosplay sword fights, a choo choo train, Japanese garden, ampitheater, the natural science museum is across the street...you get the point it's got a lot to offer. Not to mention all of these gorgeous trees.

 Gertie loves the ducks. She doesn't quite know what to do with them. As they would get closer trying to get our bread she would get super excited and lunge at them scaring the ducks away...We didn't end up feeding ducks for too long. Instead we just checked them out from a safe distance...unlike this chap here.

 Now on to the yummy things...don't worry I included a link to the recipe (with a much prettier presentation/photographs) HERE. This cake was so easy! It is pretty healthy too definitely something you could make as a guiltless dessert to share with your significant canine other. (I like it better taste wise without the "frosting")

 We cut a slice for Gertie and before I could get a cute picture of her with her cake she snatched it and tried to make a run for it. She doesn't get fed scraps so when the opportunity for "people food" arises she takes the money and runs.

 In a split second her slice was half...

...I mean all gone.

 You're a good dog, Gertie. You are the by far the best snuggler in the universe. You make a lovely 7am alarm clock...everyday with out fail. You always include your sister even though she's a cat. You have brought your daddy and me closer together as a couple and we thank you for that. Happy Birthday we love you lots!
-Mom and Dad.

for the tatas

this is by far the greatest ad for women's health ever created.

you're welcome...hahahahaha.

                                         

that wasn't yoga

I love groupon. I also love yoga. Put that together and I love that as an impoverished young adult I can get my yogi on by purchasing groupons and getting an unlimited month here or 20 class pass there. Sometimes though, groupon fails...big time. Take this morning's groupon adventure. I saw a killer deal that for $30 I could get 1 month unlimited to Dahn Yoga Studio. If you know what "Dahn" yoga is then you are probably busting up right now. Look it up or better yet go take just one class and you will understand the biggest WTF nightmare I endured for two hours at 6am today.

For the record it was not yoga. At least not the yoga I am accustomed to. Call me a naive westerner who only knows adapted yoga from India geared for Americans. I don't care that's the yoga I like. I can get centered, find my breath and inner peace (get a freaking work out) just fine with Bikram or whatever the other stuff is that I deem "normal" yoga.

This morning's adventure consisted of bouncing, pounding my chest while making sounds, grandma stretches, massaging my colon, breathing to pooch my belly, listened to an inspirational speech of us apologizing to our bodies and saying "we love you, we love you body" for about 10minutes, and then my favorite part: stared at a cosmic pokemon card and closing my eyes waving the card around my body. Because apparently we won't get Breast Cancer if we do these exercises.

Groupon you could have warned me. Or Dahn "yoga" maybe leave the Y word out of your name, it's super misleading. We didn't even use mats! I have learned my lesson next time always check out the yoga studio's website before buying their groupon. I assumed too much that the picture of happy people in warrior pose and the groupon title unlimited yoga $30 meant I would actually be getting some sun salutations in with it. 

 Last bit of my rantings: Seriously though yoga, for a sport/activity/lifetstyle that emphasizes on  inner peace, being equal,  promoting good vibes too all the world why are you so elitist? Why must I pay more than double to have a membership with you than with a regular gym? Why? You don't even need equipment we bring our own mats...just a thought for you. Make yourself affordable so I can just go to one place that I like and not have to fall into the Dahn yoga traps.
p.s someday you will see pics of me doing these poses, yo.

hello monday

Here's to a new week with new opportunities. I am going to try and be more productive this week and make myself a better person each day. I have a new inspiration to consciously and continuously improve myself. Here's to the start.