Snogged: An Insatiable State of Mind

My delightful fiance surprised me this evening by getting home from work before I did (which never happens.) This meant we were able to get an earlier start on dinner. He took me to Northshore, which is a restaurant that's attached to the Portage Country Club. It also has a beautiful view of Swan Lake. Since it's Friday night in Wisconsin, we both had fish.

I tried the breaded walleye with a chive hollandaise sauce. It came with coleslaw, a side salad, and bread. I also had my choice of potato. I went with potato pancakes and they were some of the best I've ever head. Nick had the beer-battered bluegill and as an extra surprise, ordered the deep fried turtle cheesecake for dessert.

When we got home, Nick had one more surprise for me. A Blue-Ray copy of one of my favorite movies: Mallrats. It came with the theatrical version and the extended version that has 25 minutes of extra footage. We watched the theatrical version tonight and it just made me grin from ear to ear. I know it's raunchy and wrong, but it's oh-so-freaking hilarious.

<3

I definitely feel like I did a variety of things this weekend and that's not a bad thing!

On Friday, I came home from work, watched some TED talks, ate a wrap from Murph's for dinner. Then, I hung out with some of my neighbors. Carol and I drank wine (the guys and Erin drank beer) and Lee started a fire. It was lovely watching the sun set. Less lovely getting bitten by skeeters, but the fire kept some of them at bay.

On Saturday, we went to Taste of Wisconsin Dells with Amber and Joe. I was glad that all the food choices were cheap (under $4) and you actually got a tasting size vs. regular meal size. Nick and I did share a few things though. I tried crab rangoon, mini cheese meatloaf and beer cheese potatoes, coconut rice, BBQ rib tips, and deep fried pickles. (YUM!) We also stopped at the Dells Distillery and tried a tater tot creation. We all sampled the mac and cheese one and it was so good! Then, we walked into the gift shop for Wizard Quest and the shop lady loved my Harry Potter jersey. In fact, she loved it so much that she decided to give me a hug. It was random, but I was fine with it. She seemed nice. I bought two plush dragons there. :)

After this adventure, we headed over to the casino. I have never been to a casino in my life and Amber, Joe, and Nick were excited to show me around. I did play one game at the nickel slot machine because I always wanted to pull one of the levers. I put in a $1 and got back $5.90. I was totally cool walking away with that and I don't really have the desire to go back.

We also went to Knuckleheads and the mall. We played a bunch of arcade games and I went to the Disney store and got my niece's birthday present. I also got some wine bottle stoppers.

Then, we went back home and Joe lit a fire in his covered fire pit. It was nice to sit and enjoy and talk to good people.

Today, I braved the slight chill in the summer air and tried an Aqua Zumba class. There was a free one being offered as part of a summer kick-off. It wasn't quite as exhilarating as regular Zumba, but the people were cool and that often makes the party worth it. I'm also definitely feeling it in my legs.

Tonight, Nick and I will be getting subs from Jimmy John's after my regular Sunday night Zumba class and we'll probably watch more Adventure Time on Netflix Instant.

Why must weekends be so short?

Nick and I enjoyed ourselves way more than we anticipated last night. His work party was held at JB's house. JB is the director of advertising and lives in a ridiculously nice house in a subdivision just outside the city Nick and I live in.

There was a positively delicious spread of food including stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped shrimp, fruit and chocolate fondue, mini taco cups, mini strawberry cheesecakes, Chex mix, pulled pork sandwiches with BBQ sauce, and Everything bars.

There was an "open bar" and everyone was invited to make their own cocktails. I started off with a Brandy and coke because it's familiar, but inevitably switched to Key Lime Martinis because I thought they'd be fun to try and JB's boyfriend was whipping them up. I wound up having three of those so I was plenty giggly.

Then, there were games. Nick's work friend Rick and his wife brought over the game Cards Against Humanity. It's like the game, Apples to Apples, but it's for "horrible" people. We mostly joked that it was HR Violation: The Game since it was a work party. We played the game for about two hours and Nick emerged the winner. After that, Nick and I spent some time downstairs and watched the newspaper sales reps play quarters. They were pretty darn hilarious.

I had a lot of fun and there's a good chance we'll hang out with Rick and his wife again in the future since they're only a street and few blocks away from where we live. It's nice to make more friends in this city. It really is. :)

So this weekend held even more holiday celebrations and more good times with friends and family.

1) To start, I must thank angelskuippo and her husband for the beautiful hats and scarves that she sent Nick and I to keep us toasty warm. The package arrived Friday morning and I was quite pleased. Nick also says thanks!

2) Friday night, we drove down to our friend Kit's and I got a Doctor Who puzzle. It's the Van Gogh/Exploding TARDIS image and I can't wait to try it out.

3) Saturday morning, Nick and I went to my parents' house for gift opening. I got an aromatherapy pillow that's shaped like an elephant, Brave on DVD, a cookbook, an iTunes gift card, two sweaters, a candle, two foaming hand soaps, a set of Pyrex dishware, and a new vacuum!

4) Saturday evening was pretty crazy as we had some relatives over. 16 adults. 10 kids between the ages of 6 months and 8 years. Let's just those odds got really interesting.

5) This morning, I made my annual creme brulee French toast and then Nick and I drove off to see his dad. Nick's dad got me my favorite body wash (Shikai), some yummy loose leaf tea, and a gift card.

It's been a good weekend all around.

How is everyone else doing?