kitten bowl weekend . . . i mean, super bowl weekend

almost everyone will be tuning into the super bowl on sunday (and we will too, but only for the commercials and the half-time show), but don't forget to check out the kitten bowl on the hallmark channel on sunday too.  we have watched it in the past with leko, and it's always so cute!

have a great weekend!

love, laurie

where did january go?

how is january almost over?  i can't believe it went by so fast!  i'm over here starring at my plants on my office window ledge, dreaming of warmer temperatures!

love, laurie

a night away at turning stone resort

we had such an incredible time seeing the dancing with the stars live tour on saturday at turning stone resort in upstate new york. 

yesterday i shared a bunch of photos from the show.  i didn't take a ton of photos around the resort since we were only there for a little bit, but i did snap some . . .

^when we arrived on saturday it was lunch time and we were starving after such a long drive.  since we had to wait for a little bit until we could check in, we ate lunch at "upstate tavern" and we really enjoyed our sandwiches.^

^after lunch, we checked into our room and wandered around the resort.  we found a cozy spot in the lodge section of the resort with some pretty cool chairs and a great view of the snow outside.  we took some time to veg out and rest with a cup of coffee.^

^there were a ton of restaurant options for dinner.  we chose a bbq-themed restaurant called "tin rooster" and really loved our food.  we couldn't believe how reasonable the prices were too!  if you look closely behind my head in the picture above, you can see a disco-ball encrusted cowboy saddle which was lit up and spun on the ceiling.^

^a view from our room of the snow (which was mainly ice) on the property).^

love, laurie

dancing with the stars live tour 2020!

have you ever been so happy you could cry?  that was me on saturday night while sitting in the audience watching the dancing with the stars live tour.  i couldn't contain myself!

i constantly talk about the fact that ryan, leko, and i absolutely love dancing with the stars.  it's our favorite show on tv and we always look forward to monday nights to watch it together curled up on the couch.  last year, our dream came true when we finally got to see the dwts live tour show at turning stone event center in verona, new york.  we enjoyed it so much that we knew we had to go back.  we bought tickets to go again this year way back in september when they went on sale.

since it's january, and the weather is gross in the northeast in the winter, we booked a room to stay the night, and i'm really glad we did.  we drove up saturday during the day (in the middle of an ice storm), walked around turning stone, saw the show, stayed over, and then drove back home on sunday morning (in much better weather than we had on saturday).

when we arrived at turning stone we were coming down the escalator to go to the lobby and as soon as we entered the lobby ryan said "look, there's sasha!"  we were shocked to see him just strolling right through the lobby.  a little while later while we were standing in line to check in, ryan said "look, there's witney!" as she stepped off the elevator.

the show was absolutely awesome and we loved it so much!  it was so incredible to see all of our favorite dancers in person again.  we were also happy to see that the star who was joining the cast for the saturday night show was kate flannery.  we loved watching her on "the office" so it was really neat to see her in person too.

we took a bunch of photos and videos on our phones during the show.  here are a few . . .

love, laurie

sounds like a good thing to celebrate to me

i woke up this morning thinking about chocolate cake which was pretty random.  then, i turned on the computer and found out that today is national chocolate cake day!  ha!

well, in honor of national chocolate cake day, here are a few of our favorite chocolate cake recipes from over the years . . .

andes mint chocolate cake with peppermint buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache
chocolate peanut butter checkerboard cake
chocolate beet cake with beet buttercream frosting
chocolate buttermilk cake with chocolate whipped cream and fresh strawberries
chocolate cupcakes
chocolate hazelnut cake
chocolate peanut butter pretzel cake
chocolate raspberry sacher torte
chocolate sour-cream cake with raspberry filling and chocolate-raspberry frosting
chocolate zucchini cake
german chocolate cake
s'mores cake
and chocolate pancakes too!

any of these would be perfect for valentine's day coming up!

love, laurie

excited for the weekend!!!

ryan and i have been huge fans of the show "dancing with the stars" for years.  (it's leko's favorite tv show too!)  last january, our dreams came true when we scored last-minute day-of tickets to the dancing with the stars live tour in upstate new york.  we absolutely loved the show!

when tickets went on sale in the fall we grabbed seats (in almost the exact same spot as last year).  after months of waiting, we're so excited that we are finally getting to see the show this weekend!

i'll share lots of photos next week!

love, laurie

stupid quizzes

since my brain is fried this week, here's another one of these stupid buzzfeed quizzes that tries to guess your birthday month based on your food preferences.  of course mine wasn't even close.

happy thursday, we're almost to the weekend.

love, laurie

my cat is actually a penguin

it doesn't matter what time of day it is or how cold it is outside, this guy always wants to get soaking wet in the sink.  i swear he is part penguin!!!

love, laurie

a belated stage hands holiday party

our stage hands union wanted to have a holiday party but it was absolutely impossible to schedule one in december since there are so many holiday-related shows that we all work during that month.  so, they decided to have it in january.  the only problem with having a party in january is that when you get a big snow storm no one wants to come out.  even though the weather wasn't great and i really wasn't feeling well, ryan wanted to show face at the party for a little while so we pulled ourselves together and went over for a bit.  only 17 people made it to the party (it really should have been postponed).  at least the ice sculpture was cool.

love, laurie

is it summer yet?

uhhh, i was out of commission the entire weekend with this stupid stomach flu/virus that then turned into a full-blown head cold.  way to kick a girl when she's down.

on top of not feeling well, the weather was gross with lots of snow, sleet, and more snow.  i hate shoveling on a normal day but especially hate it when i'm sick. 

i was shocked to see the sun come out for a little bit on sunday and actually see some blue sky show through the trees.

is it summer yet?

love, laurie

dr. leko

man oh man, i came down with some type of a stomach flu/virus this week and it really took a toll on me.  i'm glad i have the best two doctors and the cutest two doctors around! 

love, laurie

keeping an eye on the neighborhood

who needs a watch dog when you have a cute watch kitten keeping an eye on the neighborhood?!

love, laurie

back to school again

school starts back up today and i'm back at it teaching.  it's time for lots of photocopying!  gosh, how did the spring semester get here so fast?

love, laurie

a little spring in winter

my parents bought us hyacinth flowers at the grocery store for our kitchen window.  we couldn't keep them at home in our kitchen because of a very curious furry 8 year old who is obsessed with water in vases, so i brought them into work to enjoy.  it's probably better that way since i will get to see them more in my office than i would at home.  they are enjoying the sunlight on my window ledge in my office.  it's nice to see a little bit of spring in mid-january!

love, laurie 

will travel for food!

the weather was gorgeous on sunday (it felt more like a spring day than a mid-january day) and we had the day off work, so we took a day trip to new jersey with my parents for . . . food!  the main purpose of our trip was to have lunch at the cheesecake factory since we all had gift cards and certificates for free slices of cheesecake from christmas. 

while we were in new jersey, we stopped at a brand new trader joe's that just opened up a few months ago for groceries.  on the way home we stopped at another grocery store too.

yup, a whole sunday revolving around driving to new jersey for food! 

love, laurie

birthday (veggie) burgers

we like to make birthdays last as long as possible in our household.  it's easy to do when so many stores and restaurants give great birthday freebies!  the other night we went out to red robin to use my free birthday (veggie) burger coupon.  it was a nice little date midweek on a cold january night!

have a great weekend!

love, laurie