Weekend Recap - Garth Brooks

I had the Best. Weekend. Ever!

Saturday was such a good day that I think I've blocked Friday out.

After a workout, packing and 4H pig buying, Danny and I headed south for our trip to Louisville to see Garth Brooks. I was so excited for this concert. Thursday I listened to his biggest hits and at the start of each song I found myself saying "I can't wait to hear this one!" And not a single song disappointed.

Let's start with our food first. When I was discussing the trip with a client, he and his wife recommended that we go to Stoney River. They said it was pricey and worth every penny. Awesome. And we could wear jeans. Even better. I made reservations before our trip and looked forward to this meal for 3 weeks. Now I'm trying to figure out how to go back. Here's what we ate:

App: crab cake with mango salsa and the best little rolls.
Drinks: Danny loves Johnny Walker so he had a Black Label and Diet, I had a Honey Duchess. Not sure what all was in it. I read Sparkling Wine and was sold.
Entrée: Danny got a Ribeye with French fries and a house salad. I got the Coffee Cured Filet Mignon with au gratin potatoes and a house salad. *Fail: I only have a picture of the salad. 

Oh. My. Goodness. The best meal of my whole entire 26.5 years of life. If you're ever in Louisville, do yourself a favor and eat there.

Concert time. We drove back to the hotel to park and so Danny could take his medicine since he was on the tail end of an ear infection and walked to the concert. 

That place was a madhouse, as to be expected.

We used the bathroom, got some beverages and walked to our seats. Almost at the very top of the KFC Yum Center. By almost I mean the second to last row. My husband that runs into burning buildings for a living was fearful of his life. I ended up not drinking my second beverage not only because I didn't want to miss a second of this concert, but because I was certain I would fall if I tried to get out and come back in. 

But it was still the best concert I've ever attended. I've seen a lot of great artists, including Reba and George Strait in very close seats, but this was fantastic. Garth Brooks puts everything he has into every single song. He played 4 shows in 2 days, starting at 7:30 both nights and I don't doubt for a second that the last show was as good as the first. Sidenote: Garth is on the big ball in the middle.

He played all of the favorites, ran laps around the stage and gave me a night I'll always remember. It was worth sitting so high up I was nervous. Next time though I'll be splurging for the good seats. I almost did this time but wasn't sure how big the Yum Center was. Its pretty big, go ahead and get the more expensive tickets on Stub Hub.

Sunday was a productive day. We picked Tucker up from my mom's house. He had a pretty good weekend too.

Danny and Tucker went to go look at more pigs when we got back. While they were gone I was able to go to the grocery, go for a run, prep some food and make dinner.

It was a weekend for the books.

My Husband is a Big Deal

When Danny and I started dating in high school, I got my first glimpse into the firefighting world. Prior to that I had no idea what that was even like. Zero knowledge.  Since then I've seen how much hard work, dedication, loyalty, and selflessness the career takes. Sometimes its not even a career. Sometimes you're just doing it and not getting paid if you live in a rural town that only has a volunteer department, which is where Danny got his start.

At 18 years old, Danny was a volunteer firefighter and became an EMT while we were seniors in high school. I remember wishing him good luck as we walked down the halls at the end of the school day. He passed with flying colors.

When we were 20, with just a  year left to go before he was eligible to be hired full-time at a paid department, he began medic school. He had interest in becoming a paramedic, but his true desire was to become a full-time firefighter in our hometown where he had been a reserve for 2 years, filling in when guys were sick or wanted time off to be with their families. He began his 2 year degree, got hired at the fire department 5 months after turning 21. While he had the job and was officially a firefighter, the job depended on him completing medic school and passing his National Registry. He graduated medic school in May of 2012 and took the test in June. He passed with flying colors.

Fast forward 3 1/2 years to this February: there are lieutenant openings. The position is based on your ability to answer some scenario questions and also how you perform on the written test. It came as no surprise that Danny passed the test with flying colors. With that, came a promotion to lieutenant. The promotion happened this Monday.

Monday evening the promotion was approved and my husband is a lieutenant. I could not be prouder of him.

When I asked him what he wanted to do to celebrate, he wasn't sure. I decided to bake him a cake and he requested Boston Cream Pie. I had never made a Boston Cream Pie, let alone even tasted one. Thanks to Pinterest, I found a great recipe and it turned out great. After his promotion, our moms came over and we all had cake. I shared with Tuck since I started a semi-whole30 on Monday. All Tucker cared about was the chocolate topping and the custard.

I am so proud of you Danny Summers. Thank you for all that you do for our town. And thank you for letting me be apart of this journey.

Why Did I Become a Beachbody Coach?

This weekend consisted of... not much. Tucker and I ran errands (which included a donut breakfast) and my family came over for dinner. We had Pizza King (if you're from Indiana, you know this is pizza at its finest) as part of a fundraiser for a local family who has a little girl around Tucker's age who is battling cancer for the 2nd time. We bought 2 pizzas, I paid $8 for 3 cookies and 3 brownies, and I hugged Tucker a little tighter when he got out of bed to snuggle a couple extra times last night.

This weekend also consisted of a lot of thinking on my part.  Thinking about my "why?" Over the last few weeks of getting acquainted with this Beachbody journey of mine, that's what I've been thinking about the most. Why am I doing this?

When I did T25 over the holidays in 2014, I fell in love with exercise and what it does for me. It was because of that program that I realized my body needs to move, not only for the physical benefits, but the mental benefits as well. The confidence, the endorphins, whatever. Exercise makes me a happier person. Beachbody helped me realize this.

Those 2 guys in that picture deserve the best version of me that I can give them.  Being healthy is about so much more than looking good at this point.
Its about... having enough energy to keep up with my 2 year old bouncing from one activity to the next.
Being able to crawl around on the floor building castles and playing trains because my back doesn't hurt.
Going on long walks around our neighborhood with my husband, our son and our dog.
Being focused on my date with my husband and not the fact that my outfit was picked because its the only one that fit right.
Setting a good example for Tucker.
Growing our family and being healthy in the process.
Being able to balance all of my roles.
Being HAPPY.

Those are some pretty big Why's.

What's Up Wednesday

My favorite post of the month is here. What's Up Wednesday with Shay, Mel, and Sheaffer. I love doing this monthly link-up, for more reasons than I'm a terrible blogger when I'm busy.

What we're eating this week....
Aside from way too many Reese's Eggs (the little ones thankfully), I'm working towards a Whole30 again. I'm tired of feeling like a run down busted can of biscuits, so Whole30 it is. There will be breaks for special events and I'm not going to beat myself up over it. It is what it is. But anything will help. Since most of our meals are Whole30/Paleo, the most difficult part is snacking and wine. Oh, the wine! Anyways.. last night I made this Thai Steak & Green Bean Stir Fry. Oh. My. Gosh! We all devoured it. I threw in some red pepper just to get it used and subbed cauliflower rice for actual rice. So, so good! I want to make it again asap. And probably will tomorrow.

What I'm reminiscing about...
I honestly can't think of anything I've been thinking about. That is so unlike me, but I'm just not.

What I'm loving...
I came up with a very refreshing drink a couple of weeks ago. A local red wine + lemon lime seltzer water. Its basically a spritzer. Delicious.

Also loving that we are down to the last few steps of the mudroom. My handy hubby got the flooring done a few weeks ago. I am in LOVE with it. I want it everywhere in the house. Of course, I said that as it was freshly completed and Danny told me I was shit out of luck on that one. 

I got all of the trim painted last week and its ready to be hung. It was a LOT of trim and a LOT of work. But worth it. 

What we've been up too...
Getting back into our "normal" routines. Its taking a lot longer than I expected. I really thought March 15th would get here (end of my busy season) and everything would just magically be okay on March 16th. No. Not how that works. I apparently have forgetting just how often I really did do laundry and cook dinner and workout and sleep and do anything. Danny has only not had a clean uniform twice. Getting sick didn't help anything.

We've been playing at a new park. Our park in town is just kind of "meh" so driving 15 minutes to get to a much better one is totally worth it.

What I'm working on...
No longer working on trim or losing my mind at work. So, I'm moving on to actual projects. I am hosting a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law in less than a month so I'm slowly plugging away at that. I should probably pick up the pace.  I've also got materials for something like this for our living room, thanks to this tutorial at A Girl and A Glue Gun.

We have this bare space over our couch that needs some attention. I can't wait to spruce it up.

What I'm excited about...
Next weekend the hubby and I are going to Louisville to see GARTH BROOKS in concert. I'm excited to cross an item off my bucket list and spend a night with Danny. I've been so busy lately and he's about to get busy so the trip is needed. Plus a customer of mine told me about a really good restaurant in Louisville so that is something I'm also looking forward too. I will report back.

What I'm watching/reading...
Still reading Big Little Lies. I'm almost done though!

I'm watching Law & Order: SVU and getting caught up on my Chicago shows, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. Still on the fence about starting Chicago Med.  A new show came out that I think Danny and I will enjoy and that is The Catch on ABC.

What I'm listening to...
For the next week it will be mostly Garth to get myself pumped up for the concert. I get this from my dad. On the way to concerts, he would always have to listen to the artist. I haven't been listening to much music though. After spending sometimes 5 hours a day in the car by myself 2-3 times a week, I got kind of burnt out.

What I'm wearing...
I'm wearing one of these Portofino Shirts from Express. I got kind of burnt out on wearing them since that was my "meeting uniform" so I haven't worn one since my last meeting 2 weeks ago. In all seriousness though, I loved having a uniform. Do you know how refreshing it was to have one less decision to make every day? I need to find my summer "uniform" now because it was just awesome.

What I'm doing this weekend...
The only thing I really want to do is go watch my niece's play volleyball on Sunday. I don't really care what happens this weekend since next weekend is going to be the BEST!

What I'm looking forward to next month...
Garth, obviously. The bridal shower. I really love throwing parties! And hopefully getting the camper ready and the mudroom done. April is shaping up to be pretty busy and exciting!

What else is new...
Tucker is now in a big boy bed!

Danny sent me the top picture while Tuck and I were out shopping with my mom and future sister-in-law and I showed it to Tuck to get him excited. Because of that picture, he thinks Diesel "opened his bed for him."  And why did Diesel open his bed? So Tucker can "get out."  Its gone much better than I anticipated after that response.

Also... I am now a Beachbody Coach!! I fell in love with PiYo so much that I became a coach. There are other reasons that I became a coach, but PiYo was the biggest. I'm very excited to see where this little journey takes me!

Bonus: What's my best spring cleaning tip...
Have a drink while doing it. Really though.

Easter Weekend

Hi! Crop insurance sales season is over, I barely survived, and I'm hopefully back to blogging regularly. I was told that my posts were missed by my mom and a blogging friend and I've missed it too. A holiday weekend is the perfect way to get back in the game.

Easter weekend started Thursday for us. I left work around 3:45 so Danny and I could take Tucker to see the Easter Bunny. It went sooooo well....

Our good friends that moved to Ohio over the summer were in town and the guys went out with my brother and to my brothers because they were told they were not allowed to stay and watch Pretty Little Liars with us. No even playing. We enjoyed too much wine, chit chatted and literally jumped out of our seats a couple times when we finally got around to watching PLL. We have soooo many questions and ended up talking about it the next night on the way home from dinner!

I was in desperate need of a mental health day, so I took Friday off. Which is probably what led to me drinking so much wine I was convinced the headache at 4:45am was the end of me. Since it wasn't I'll probably make that same exact mistake again and again. 2 cups of coffee and ibuprofen did nothing for my headache. I caved and broke my no pop rule as a Hail Mary and thankfully I did because the Diet Mountain Dew cleared that bad boy right up. Friday I lounged, Easter and meal planned, took a short nap and showered at a leisurely pace. It was lovely and much needed.  I picked Tucker up to play at home for a bit before our friends arrived to go to dinner. We dropped the grumpy toddler off at my moms and went to eat. Our first stop was packed due to IU playing, so we went to PF Changs which wasn't crowded at all. After dinner we walked to Cheesecake Factory to pick up dessert to take back to our house after making a pit stop for some wine. Told you I don't learn.

When we got home we watched old home movies. Amber and I have been friends since 1st grade and participated in our school's talent show when we were in 4th grade. She wanted to watch the recording. Our husbands were questioning the fact that they asked to spend the rest of their lives with us while we were laughing so hard we were crying. Danny went to a private catholic school that didn't have gym AND talent shows and Noah went to a smaller public school. We also watched a 30 minute "news special" that Amber, myself, and 3 other friends recorded at one of my birthday parties. It was 30 minutes of nothing but horrible video camera operating. Again, the guys were concerned about their intelligence. Before they left Amber and I got a picture with our wine glasses that I made for us. I saw similar ones at a winery in the fall and told Danny I wanted to get a set for Amber and I, but couldn't stomach paying $20 for just one. So I made some!

 

If I look sick, its because I am.

Saturday I got up and did 2 PiYo workouts then headed off to the grocery store before it got crowded.  I prepped an Easter dessert then met my mom to pick Tucker up to head to Easter #1. Danny was at work so it was just Tucker and I. We ate, hunted for eggs and played wiffle ball(which I shouldn't have done). Tucker really enjoyed the egg hunt. While Danny's brother was throwing them on the ground, he kept putting them back in his bag because he "was dropping them on the ground" so that was pretty funny. Then during the actual hunt he would yell the colors of the eggs as he gathered them. So cute!

Easter Sunday rolled around and I sent the boys off to church and headed to MedCheck to figure out what was wrong with me. My mom thought I had bronchitis and.. of course she was right.

But, Easter doesn't care about bronchitis, so I left and played Easter bunny at my father-in-laws and hit about 60 eggs. I picked up my meds then went home to sleep for a bit. I woke up feeling much better, but only for long enough to make it through lunch and an egg hunt. Oh, and to smash a raw egg on my forehead. My niece thought it would be funny to do Jimmy Fallon's egg challenge. There were 3 raw eggs out of the entire bowl. Of course I got handed a raw one. Tucker made out like a bandit with the egg hunt unfortunately. I've eaten all of the mini-Reese's eggs. We snapped a family photo then came home so I could rest and we could wait on my family. We were classy with our dinner and ate Taco Bell while we sat around watching Tucker come down from his sugar high. I wasn't too worked up about it since I was pretty sure it was par for the course for a toddler on Easter. Even Diesel was nuts.

Now its over and I'm still eating Reese's eggs. I'm eating them from the comfort of my living room this morning. I took the morning off to relax and cough up the crap in my chest. Relaxing morning, right?