A Happy List: 164

Painting again. I am giving away paintings every Monday on my Instagram. Check it out! / Tucker found a little girlfriend at the dog park and it was SO. CUTE. / Finding this table and these chairs on Craigslist for $70!!! / It was cool this week and it was sooooo nice. NOT a summer person. / Being driven in the car in New York City. Front seat view was A+. / The black and white cookies from Pick A Bagel. Also the bagels from Pick A Bagel. / I started reading a Stephen King book (I am going in chronological order) and thought I hadn't read it before. Well, after I got like 20 pages in I remember I already read it lol. / Driving around looking at all the pretty old houses in Connecticut. / Tucker cuddled me for like, 10 seconds and it was so glorious. / OK ALSO. Freckled Fox is following my photography Instagram and Alexys Gabrielle is following my personal Instagram!! I'm like, do you guys like my stuff or was this an accident? Fan girling either way.

Comment something that made you happy this past week!

XOXO

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E

Dog Park and Chill? Also a PSA to all dog owners.

HAVE I TOLD YOU GUYS HOW GREAT IT IS TO LIVE CLOSE TO FAIRFIELD YET? CUZ IT IS GREAT. It's has like, 100% more food places than where we were at. A lot of these food places are the no-waiter-but-not-fast-food types that we are fans of (cuz #collegestudentsforever). We tried Pronto and it was v good.

We just split a small margherita pizza and it was so. good. Are you picky about marinara sauce? I am. Like, very. I remember when I was a wee child my mom would make calzones and when she rolled them together the sauce would spill out and it looked like a little surgery cause the sauce was red and the dough was tan haha. Anyway, the marinara on this pizza was very, very good. Also it was thin crust, which is something I appreciate. 

We will return pronto.... get it? (This is a pun.)

After dinner we got the baby (moms everywhere are hating me in this moment) and took him to the dog!!!! park!!!! Our old apartment had a dog park 5 minutes away. When we moved I kept trying to find one and couldn't find one that was closer than 25 minutes. J found one using his Android because it is obviously the superior phone. It's 15 minutes from us! 

Wait. As I am writing this I realize these pictures are not from that dog park? But I have a really great dog park story I want to tell? Ok I'll just tell it at the bottom.

SO THESE PHOTOS are actually from a different dog park that isn't fenced. I'm like ????? let's not? Like why would I take my dog somewhere that is not fenced so he can run away and get killed? Hard pass. But then he gets really crazy so we don't have a choice. We tested his off leash-ness and he did pretty good!

He played for like 10 minutes and then was done. So it was pretty decent. There weren't any other dogs there for him to play with though. So it was kind of sad. 

Us in real life.

Us on Instagram. (Notice J is very much the same in both photos.)

MA BOY T!!!

Oh what's that? Are we in 2004 when it was really emo and cool to take side mirror photos of sunsets? No, I'm just a 23 year old stuck in a teen angst phase. It's fine, don't worry about me. 

Ok so here is the other dog park story. Wait, I think I have a photo of it on my phone... ok yeah, here you go.

So we go to this dog park that is 15 minutes from our house and there are 3 dogs there. They are all playing nice (Tucker loves other dogs and is really nice) and then this big wolf mean dog growls at him! And the owner was like, "Was that Cujo?!" (Dog wasn't named Cujo, it is just fitting.) I'm like ???? Does it look like my dog is mean? He is like, licking everything in sight. 

Whatever. Then 5 minutes later (I am having panic attacks this whole time, because remember when my brother's lab bit my dog in the neck and there was literally blood everywhere and I had to apply pressure while we rushed her to the pup hospital and then I had to clean up my bloody hands in a public bathroom like the freakin' mob??? YA ME TOO.) 

Where was I? Ok yeah. So then 5 minutes later Tucker is just like, romping around by himself in a corner (same tho) because he's a little rattled from earlier and this mean wolf dog comes over and starts sniffing him and then JUMPS ON TOP OF HIM AND PINS HIM TO THE GROUND!!!!! Tucker is submissive apparently, because he just laid there until it was over. It was sad.

The dog's owner is just like, over in la la land being the worst dog owner in history (Ok fine he was a nice guy and waved to us when we saw him later. Maybe oblivious is a better label). After Cujo let Tucker go he came over to us all scared. :( It was so sad. Then the mean dog had the audacity to come over AGAIN! Tucker hid underneath the bench and that's when we decided to leave.

The moral of the story is: DON'T TAKE YOUR FLIPPIN' DOG TO THE DOG PARK IF IT IS AGGRESSIVE AND MEAN TO OTHER DOGS. SOME PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A BACKYARD OR AN OFF LEASH TRAINED DOG AND RELY ON DOG PARKS TO RELEASE THEIR DOG'S ENERGY. Ugh.

Is this how mom's feel when other kids are mean to their kids? J is all like, "He has to learn how to be in the world!" And I'm like, "He was in a shelter for months!!! He has been in the world!!!" 

Gotta love it. This is a long post? It's been awhile since I posted posted, ya know? Can you tell I don't have friends in Connecticut? Lulz.

XOXO

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E

TUCKER'S FIRST BATH!!!!

If these pictures aren't the cutest, tell me what is. 😍😭💗

XOXO

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E

A Happy List: 163

Tucker learning how to cuddle. / Finding houses in Portland we could actually afford after graduation, and that aren't totally crappy. So obviously now I am pushing for our next move to be Portland lol. / Okja. / Officially hitting our budget goal for our Harry Potter World trip in October. / Making a good dinner! This recipe is bomb, fast, and vegetarian. / I have always loved the way Zoe Laz (IG: @zoelaz) edits her photos. This week I found a filter on VSCO that achieves a similar look! It's C9 for anyone who's curious. / New England rained days. / We may still be in the student phase of life, but one thing I am really proud of us for is having 0 credit card debt. I forget about this a lot but when I remember it, it makes me really happy. / Dog's cheeks. 

XOXO

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E

Weekend Links + Fave dresses under $100

Can one of you Portland readers please buy this house and then sell it to me in a year? Thanks!

This state raised it's smoking age to 21. What do we think? Yay or nay?

Got this puppy cam for $50. If you have a dog and want to know what they do when you are gone, you NEED it! You can even speak through it. Yesterday at dinner we saw that he had something but couldn't tell what it was. So I got on there and told him to drop it, and he did! Came home to find out it was a dead rose that had dropped off my plant lol. But imagine if it was a shoe or something! #lifesaver #notsponsored

Trying to be more #nowaste and #ecofriendly so I picked this up and am loving it so far. Plz drop links/suggestions of your fave ways to be no waste or eco friendly! My current struggle is with lint rollers ughhhhh. It seems like such a waste of pape.

One of my fave blogger friends start a YouTube! Go subscribe!

This movie looks SO GOOD. Have any of you seen it? What did you think?

Last, here are all the cutie clothes I found online this week that I WANT. I'm tellin' ya, life when we're double income will be a whollllllllle other ball game!

XOXO
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E

Tuckergram

Lil' monster learned how to cuddle!! I am obsessed.

XOXO

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E

Connecticut Guide: Source Coffeehouse

So probably the best thing about our new apartment is that it is in proximity to the city in Connecticut that has gooooood food: Fairfield! We tried out Source Coffeehouse. It was really cute! It had the good coffeehouse vibes that are v important to me. 

My favorite hot chocolate is still Beans and Brews in Utah, but this wasn't too bad! It just isn't as sweet as Bean's, I would say.

Sitting outside was really cute and got me PUMPED for our movie to the PNW. I switch a lot between Seattle and Portland, but right now I am on a Portland kick. I blame Portlandia.

Where we move next will probably just depend on J's job. I can get a therapy job anywhere, but there are only so many big businesses, ya know? So we'll just have to wait and see. 

I am trying to remind myself to live in the present and appreciate where we are! When Tucker is sleeping, I can appreciate this stage of life. When he's hyper and peeing on the rug, I reallllllly want a house with a backyard hahahahaha. 

Also the above photo is one I had J send to my grandma so she could see my haircut, but I figured I would add it here. I am bad at getting photos of myself places haha. All my photos are of like, things or J standing by things. I need to just have J take one of my after I take one of him! He actually told me he would rather take the photo than be in it, but I just feel dumb being like, "Hey take a picture of me with this hot chocolate" hahahahah.

These things are why I am not a good blogger hahaha.

XOXO

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E

Dean, Ma Boy!!!!

Bachelorette spoilers ahead! Read at your own risk! Did anyone else feel so bad when Dean had to do hometowns? I don't get why he had to go home? Remember on Jojo's season how the show kept trying to get him to talk bad about his brother? I thought he handled it so classy. He was always like, "Oh, we don't need to talk about that." "It is what it is and we don't need to discuss it here." SO. CLASSY.

Dean handled it well at first too when Rachel was like, "Why don't you talk to your dad?" And he was like, "Why is that my responsibility?" Like totally agree, Dean. I am so mad they made him go back and address like, personal family issues on camera. Idk. I just wish they would have respected him not having a relationship with his dad more. 

ALSO! I am a newbie therapist-in-training, but it really seemed to me like his dad had a mental illness. Did anyone else think that? I'd say schizotypal personality, but idk. 

AND THEN DEAN GETS VOTED OFF?! Like THIS KID DOESN'T GET A BREAK! He was just pressured into doing something he didn't want to do, it didn't go well, Rachel trees to comfort him, and then kicks him off. I hope he gets some time to process everything that happens. I also hope he is the next Bachelor! I would 10/10 watch that season. Anyway, I just had to get this of my chest haha. 

(Please note this McDonald's. It was v vintage and the first in New England.) Ok also do I have any readers in either Seattle or Portland? I REALLY want to buy a house shortly after graduation, but I'm feeling like Portland is way more affordable than Seattle? I wouldn't mind because we could still make the 2 hour drive to Seattle for the airport, like that isn't too bad. I just want to be within 30 minutes of the actual cities where all the fun stuff is. So if anyone can off me insight on that, that would be really great.

Vampire Diaries is getting so dumb. It's literally a cycle of people turning their humanity off, people dying, people coming back to life, and a bad guy(s) trying to kill someone. I only have one season left so I feel like I owe it to myself to finish it. If you guys have any recommendations for shows to watch after this, please let me know! I am always in the market for a good show!

This pictures are all just random things, but tbh I miss random posts like this. Did I tell you guys I don't have any friends in Connecticut?? Because I actually don't. I have friends at school and in the city who I would hang out with... if I lived in the city. In Connecticut I have my coworkers, but I don't know if any of them would want to be my friend friend haha. You know what I mean? Me being an intern kind of makes our relationship more like teacher student, I feel like, 

But yeah, so these random posts kinda make me feel more connected sometimes! You internet friends never let me down!!!

XOXO

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E

Pup-date!

How far along? 5 weeks

Gender: Boy

Sleep: He puts himself to sleep every night at like 9:00! It's so cute. He sleeps in his crate every night and actually really likes it. He doesn't whine or anything when we put him in. 

Likes: Sitting with me while I'm in the bathroom.

His bulldog friend at daycare.

Looking in the mirror at himself. (This pic is from our puppycam haha.)

Dislikes: When we don't let him greet other dogs on his walk. He lays down until they leave. In this particular situation the other dog wasn't moving either. So eventually his owner brought him over. They sniffed each other and then moved on lol.

Milestones: He learned how to get on the couch!

He learned how to watch T.V. with me.

Best moment this week: When he learned how to jump up on the bed! I've been waiting for this moment forever.

Food cravings: He ate a Cheese It that I dropped on the ground. Other than that we give him 0 people food.

What I'm looking forward to: Him getting older and becoming calmer haha!

XOXO

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E and Tucker

Utahhhhh, People Working Together

So these are all the pics from our trip to Utah! In one post! I took minimal photos and got most of these from J and our moms. Yay for other people taking photos. Without further ado!

Tuesday // So this is us flying over Connecticut. IT. IS. SO. GREEN. I actually really love the green. When we first moved here, we kept driving around trying to find neighborhoods and suburbs, and there weren't that many. Seeing an aerial view, it makes sense! It's mostly like, houses tucked in the woods, which is v cute. 

Cookies and cream frappuccino at the Minneapolis airport. THE BEST. I can't remember what this place was called, but it was v good. Bless coffee shops. They are like my home away from home.

Anddddddd here we are flying over Utah lol. Alllllll suburbs and brown! Is there somewhere that has the suburbs like Utah, with the green like Connecticut? Let me know. In the market, here!

I was telling J he could be a model because he has a beautiful resting face. This was the photo I took afterward of his resting face lol. Gosh, especially once he gets his man bun he gonna be on that model train!

We stopped at Pizzeria Limone before we even went home. Straight from the airport, my babies. Yes, it's that good. Also I forgot to get a picture of the divino, but it is still the best dessert pizza in all the land. Oh, maybe Max Brenner ties or is better? Idk. 

So we use Rover (formerly DogVacay) when we are out of town/gone all day. It's like Airbnb, but for dogs. I love it because it's just someone's house and you know your pup is well taken care of. If you sign up for it, use this link so I can get $20 for T. #notsponsored. Just a fan. When I really wanted a dog I signed up for it. Watching a few dogs definitely held me over until we could get Tucker!

Anyway, Tucker made this bulldog friend last week while I was in the city for school, and he was there again on the 4th of July! They are cute. It makes us feel like we need to get a bulldog friend for him...

The rest of the day we just swam and chilled! Utah is flat, so we were able to watch fireworks (it was the 4th of July) from my inlaw's backyard! It was so nice! They went on for a long time too! I miss them haha. In Connecticut, each town does them on a different day, and you have to park and take shuttles to the places to view them, so it's pretty crowded. (We never went, this is just what I heard. So if it's wrong, forgive me.)

Wednesday // The next morning we picked up Kneader's breakfast for J's fam! I make a pretty mean French toast with sweet syrup, but nothing beats Kneader's. 

This is J pre-haircut. Keep reading to see him post-haircut.

This is what like, 13 orders of French toast look like, in case you're wondering. They had to take some out and hand them to us separately, because they couldn't fit through the window lol. 

Also, lol. So on this trip I was still in school. Like, we left on a Tuesday, and I had class Thursday and the next Tuesday. I kept forgetting? I had papers and stuff due though. So on Wednesday (and for like 1 hour early Thursday morning) I wrote a paper. It was supposed to be 10 pages with 8 references, but I just did 8 pages with 6 references because I'm over it. I wasn't expecting to get a good grade, but guess what? This girl got a 90/100 lol. Also, on that note, I studied for a research final the night before and the morning train ride to. Guess what I got? 104/100 lol. I got every single question right, including the extra credit!

All of this is to say that I think I do better in school when I miss some days and don't do any of the reading, lol!!!

So our friends own JZ Style Salon in American Fork, and it is seriously the cutest ever! We always go when we go back to Utah. If you haven't been, YOU. NEED. TO. It has such a cute, fun vibe and all the girls are so nice. Like I need to get them to decorate my house because the interior design there is 10/10. 

Anyway, I got my bangs back this time! I feel like I am my true self with bangs. When we were driving home, J was like, "Welcome back!" lol. I got them choppier this time, so they don't have to always look so perfect. I am v excited!

Also this is J's parent's cat. He was laying in the sink and then I tucked him in. We bonded.

That night we had a birthday party for J! This is my nephew swimming lol. 

My side of the fam came straight from the airport. They were just in Spokane visiting my grandma and I am jealous. I love Spokane.

Thursday // We went to Beans and Brews for breakfast. I am sad they don't do a points card anymore because I was like, SO CLOSE to getting a free drink. And they do 24 oz hot chocolate there which is amazing. The road getting off the freeway to AF Canyon is one of my favorite views in UT. 

Then we drove up to Tibble Fork. It was a fave of ours when we lived there. I don't know what construction they did, but it looks really pretty! I would be really interested to see before and after photos.

We swam for a bit and then went to lunches! I went to lunch with one of my friends from my old work who I LOVE AND MISS SO. MUCH. It was good to chat and catch up. People are cool and doing cool things. It's fun to be gone for a bit and then come back and hear what has changed!

J went to Station 22 with his mom! How cute is this picture he took lol. I found it on his Google Photos. I just want my sons to love me as much as J loves his mom! 

I can't remember what happened after that. Probably we swam, because that's what we did in all our spare time lol. Do you think I got tan? Cause guess what, I didn't. One of these days I'm going to go to frickin' Hawaii or something and just get so tan. Just so I can say I was tan once in my life. 

For dinner my mom and I went to Tsunami! It was SO GOOD. So I thought the roll I liked was called Sean Connery, but it's actually the Honeybadger that is my favorite. It has these little crunch onions that are SO GOOD and is wrapped in avocado. GET IT. We sat at the bar and chatted with the guy making the sushi. It was such a funny experience. When we first sat down, my mom jokingly was like, "You don't mind if we watch you, do you?!" Just to be funny, ya know? And the guy was like, "Well, it used to make me nervous but I am used to it now! So it's fine!" And we were like.... "Good?" Lol.

AND THEN there was tofu in one of the rolls. My mom is like, weird about tofu for some reason. So she was trying to pick it out of a piece of sushi but is like, beginner chopstick level. So I was telling her it's like a little surgery and was picking it out for her. Then, we looked up and the sushi chef was like, "What are you guys doing???" And we started laughing and were like, "She just wanted to taste it without tofu!" "I'm just curious!" And he was just like, "You're playing Operation!" Lol. 

Needless to say, I would definitely sit at the bar again.

So this next part is way sad. I wanted to hot tub and watch The Bachelorette. So we like, got some treats and drinks (ok they were already there but we got them out of the fridge and stuff) and got all settled in to watch it. AND THERE WASN'T A NEW EPISODE.

Why do they do this to us, you guys? I mean honestly BE CONSISTENT. We just chatted instead and it was pleasant. 

Friday // We went to breakfast with J's mom at The Original Pancake House. I got the eggs Benedict and it was A+. They give you SO MUCH food there! It's v good though. 

Right after that I went to lunch with my friend Leah and got açai bowls! It was good to catch up! 

When I got back I swam for a bit and then J and I got Orange Peel. J gets the Orange Burst (or something like that) and I get this. I saw the recipe on Utah Grubs and let me tell you. IT'S SO GOOD! Boba, man. 😋

Friday was the night of J's bachelor party (we were there for a wedding), so I hung out with my mom. We went through all the stuff J and I had at her house from living there last year. It felt good to get organized! Then we got snow cones from Hokulia, aka the best snow shack ever. Are there snow cones in Connecticut or New York City? I need one, bad.

So also we went through old photos. It was so funny. My mom put all our profession photos into a photo album, and in my 3 year old and 4 year old photos I am dressed in the exact same outfit hahahahaha. She said she feels bad about it; I just lol. I guess I grew like 0% those years?

Also we found this vintage photo of Trixie with our old dog, Buster. This photo was taken in 2001 YOU GUYS. She just died in 2017. It made us feel so weird when we found it. We were like, "She was almost 17 or 18?!?!" My mom is convinced we got her in the summer and she was smaller than this. So, it was like a Twilight Zone. Also notice how she was all black! The white on her was just grey because she was so old haha. Oh, and Buster was a Scottish and Boston terrier mix. They say he was pretty ugly but I think he's a cutie. I like his ears.

Saturday // We took a family picture with J's family. This is my mom doing a test photo on me after I set up the settings haha. Awkward turtle for sure.

The family picture! We did really well matching for it being a very last minute thing! Proud.

Then we went to see my sister's new house. J hadn't seen it so he got the grand tour! My niece was like so excited to show us her room lol. She turned on Taylor Swift and made us all dance hahaha. Also idk what my nephew is doing in the picture but it's funny and cute.

So it was also J's birthday (well it was technically the day after we got home, but we celebrated it there). If you remember from my last trip, my mom had this bathrobe that I was OBSESSED WITH.  They found them at Downeast for like $20 and I was like, "Why didn't you buy so many?!" So my sister got J one for his birthday, but then was like, "I know Em will steal it so I got her one too" lol. She is very right. I love bathrobes. 

Here's what me and J would look like if we were parents lol.

Then we went back to J's parent's house and swam for a bit. 

Then we got ready for the wedding. This is J post haircut. SMOKIN', MAN. He could model like... a men's fragrance.

Some pics from the wedding we went to! It was seriously the cutest ever! The bride had a daughter and the groom brought her up there during the ceremony and asked if he could be her dad forever. She said yes and he gave her a necklace and IT WAS THE CUTEST THING IN THE WORLD. Like writing it now I have goosebumps. SOOOO CUTE. Also, J was the best man and gave a lil' speech lol. It was cute as well.

Sunday // We left! My mom is still feeding Skully, the feral cat I have been trying to condition to be domesticated for like 2 years lol.

We munched on some candy sushi my sis gave J for his birthday on the ride home. It was v good!

All in all it was a successful trip! It confirmed for us that we want to be in the West! So we are v excited for our next move there! It takes flippin' forever to get to Utah from Connecticut, so it will be nice to be like a one or two hour plane ride away in the future! Thanks to everyone in Utah who spent time with us! You all made it a good trip!

XOXO

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E

P.S. The title of this post comes from this song, which my friend Sydney introduced me to. I sing it all the time. Especially when in Utah lol.