weekend recap

Weekend Recap – A Perfect Weekend Away

| The Bee Life

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared a weekend highlight. One, because last year it felt like a cardinal sin if you had an ounce of fun or socialized with anyone — and this year, is just an awkward light-switch back to normal, so you better be prepared to live life like last year never happened! Sorry, not quite there – and have been taking baby paired with big steps into trying to get back to live pre-19.

But we had the most perfect weekend away, so I just had to share a few highlights from our time away.

Our annual STBC trip. A trip to the cabin means an automatic trip to our favorite spot, Southern Tier Brewing Co. We first went to STBC in 2013, and have made it back almost every year since as it’s our annual tradition. We usually make it there in the fall so that we can enjoy their fall seasonal beers, but we got there a little earlier this year! Luckily they had their fall beers on tap – so I was able to have my fave Warlock. The forecast for the weekend, specifically Saturday was looking like a wash, but we were going to try and arrive to STBC when they opened at 11am, so we could snag an optimal covered outdoor spot since we brought Moz. Well, when we were heading out, the forecast looked like it was clearing up, at least for our morning timeframe. It couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. We got our prime covered, outdoor seat – avoided the crowds – and splurged on some yummy eats and brews! And by the time we left, it was a crazy downpour, so it was seriously the definition of perfect timing.

Homemade, local ice cream! I wanna scream right now — I ate real ice cream… in a cone… and didn’t die! After being diagnosed lactose intolerant almost 6-years ago, I just came to grips that I needed to opt for dairy-free or yogurt-based ice creams to avoid a problem. BUT after going on this gut cleanse, I was interested in trying out ice cream again, I think a big thing that helped is we went to a homemade local ice cream spot near the cabin. I really wanted cookie dough, but they didn’t have the flavor (can you even believe?) so I opted for buckeye and thin mint. Thin mint was definitely where it was at – I wish I had a whole cone of thin mint. It was basically amazing.

Cabin life. Our cabin getaway is a family home, so we are so lucky to be able to enjoy our time away, make memories with a quick drive to the middle of nowhere. Once you arrive at the cabin, you’re just welcomed with a sense of relief — the real world is so far away, even when you’re scanning work emails or posting something for a client. The covered deck is perfect for early morning breakfast and late night game nights with fun lights, tiki torches and quiet ambiance of nature. Even with the rain, being “stuck” inside is welcomed, because either way it’s a retreat and a break from the real world. We love our walks around the grounds, our morning coffee, sleeping in, and making breakfasts.

Between the rain working out with our schedule and being able to get our STBC trip in – to enjoying some ice cream – having a fun game night – and then meeting some fun farm animals at a neighboring farm, the weekend was simply perfect.

Weekend Roundup – May 2020

| The Bee Life

May has been tough, but it’s also had some glimpses of normal — well, what used to be normal. And it’s also had glimpses of “the new normal” as everyone seems to be calling it. May has been a month of slowly starting to see family again, some in normal ways, some in different more protected and distant ways. May has seen some lows and it’s seen some highs. May has also been the last month of the temporary hope of this thing all being over, because this new normal definitely isn’t going away anytime soon. May has even had a few WTF moments.
MayRecap(1)We started the month off with a little road trip to finally see my parents.  It was much needed on both sides. The best part was we were able to make it there in one trip, and hunkered in over the weekend with lots of eats, drinks, board games and laughs and still able to maintain social distance from the world. My mom even surprised me with a homemade birthday cake, so we finally got to celebrate a belated birthday since our big plans in March all got kiboshed. It was great to be together in person, instead of 4-hour virtual chats, and as I mentioned, a much needed visit.

Mother’s Day consisted of a masked and mostly socially distant family gathering with our in-laws and supporting local to shower our mom’s with some special gifts. We also attended not one but two of our first virtual college graduations for my younger cousins, and even a virtual wedding (technically the last day of April)! The virtual graduations definitely had their advantages, beyond just being a new concept — but it also gave us an opportunity to actually attend and participate in these moments when we might not have been able to travel to them before (pre or post corona).
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More May highlights included lots of walks with Moz and even a few car rides to the Starbucks drive thru for puppachinos. We’ve also been perfecting our breakfast sandwich making skills, including grilling bacon on the grill in a cast iron skillet along with grilling out local meats from MeatboxLocal to help mix-up our dinner menu. We’ve also finally gotten around to planning a few fun house projects while also reaching out to contractors for a few not so fun projects. We’ve been admiring all of our flowers budding and blooming and all the beautiful green with all the rain we’ve been getting. B and I also celebrated 9 years together with burritos and a brisk walk. We’ve also had fun counting down the days until when we can get our haircuts… which is now only one more week away! The weather also started to feel a lot like summer, so the weekends have been spent outside, like all day, every day — which has been really nice.
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The month of May was also a big month for the state of Ohio as they started the phased re-openings early on in the month of May. I was actually surprised at how much started to reopen so quickly. Dentists, veterinarians, retail, dine-in at restaurants, salons, hair dressers and gyms have all been able to reopen (among many other things) this month. And it’s been interesting to balance and start having conversations with family and friends to understand what everyone is comfortable with as things reopen.

As much as I’m craving for getting back to “normal” and back into a routine, there is still a major fear factor — although it’s not a fear of even getting it, it’s the fear of potentially spreading it and also other people’s perception along with trying to be responsible for our community and those who are close to us. It’s a very weird time, but luckily there were a few moments of normal — so I hope that continues to be the case as we jump into June. And hopefully, we can get a trip in still this year. What were your May highlights?

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Easter 2020 Recap

| The Bee Life

All of us around the world and U.S. altered our Easter traditions this year — stayed away from family, didn’t attend church and opted for workout clothes instead of our Sunday best. This year is already making to be one for the books and I know this Easter will also be one of those moments that is talked about years from now. We definitely missed spending time with our families this year but tried to make the most of our this untraditional holiday, which I hope is one of the few holidays affected by this pandemic.
Easter2020(1)I woke up pretty early, for no good reason — so I took the opportunity to take Moz for a car ride to the Starbucks drive thru for some hot coffee and a puppachino for Moz! She got her Easter treat and loved every minute of it. We had a pretty low-key morning, sipping coffee and catching up on Little Fires Everywhere before cooking our yummy brunch. We had plans to make my parent’s waffle recipe, had bacon queued up and even mimosas ready to go 🥂! Waffle’s is my families go-to holiday brunch breakfast and always paired with bacon and hash browns — we opted for some eggs instead of hash browns. While we ate our brunch, we watched Easter mass
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Once brunch was done, I snuck a nap in with Moz. And woke up to the weather shaping up and the sun peaking out — making for a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I made myself get out for a 5-mile run, which felt pretty good and was much needed after over indulging in our delicious brunch. I even got to see my aunts by chance on my run and from a 6-foot distance for a quick hi! When I got back, B and I took Moz for a nice long walk — enjoying all the blooming trees, flowers, fresh air and sunshine while Moz was just loving life, smiling with her tongue out the whole time.  Luckily we were able to maintain good social distance during our walk, and even while I was on my run — as I’ve opted to just run in the road to avoid the sidewalk traffic, especially on the weekends. As you can see, my Easter outfit consisted of PJ’s and activeware with zero make up and some pretty great hat hair.
Easter2020(3) We spent the rest of our day FaceTiming with our parents and a few other family members catching up, sipped on a Manhattan and had a super fancy Easter dinner with a DiGiorno pizza and salad and finished the night watching the latest episode of KUWTK.  We made it a pretty great day (minus breaking a dining room chair and champagne flute 🙃), enjoying the incredible sunshine and weather, had the perfect mix of active and relaxing while eating some pretty great food — while  documenting the day to family/friends via pictures and texts.  How did you send your Easter?

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Baking during quarantine? Check out this easy bundt cake recipe!

Weekend Roundup – October

| The Bee Life

It’s the final few days of October and I have to ask, how is this month already over? Although I feel like I’m a broken record lately saying that same thing every single month. But these last few months have just been a constant whirlwind, and although October is usually a whirlwind, there is something different and just something I love about October. Our weekends were packed with friends, late nights and fun… with a few quiet  moments, long walks and plenty of sunshine that was soaked in — I even got our front porch festive for fall!
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The first weekend we snuck away to the cabin again, and it was definitely feeling a bit more like fall then when we were there last month.  It was chilly and the leaves were finally starting to change. We did our typical trek to Southern Tier Brewing Company, but kept it a little shorter since we didn’t bring Moz and they were having an Oktoberfest event, so they didn’t have their typical food menu available. Whenever we’re at the cabin – it’s always a break and treat from reality.  Moz even got to see some piggy’s that were following us from the nearby farm on our morning walk!

The second weekend got kicked off a little early on Thursday for our big annual fundraiser event for JD Breast Cancer Foundation, the nonprofit I’m a board member on. We had a successful evening and were able to honor some amazing breast cancer fighters! That weekend we also had family in town for my aunties annual clam bake — which is one of my favorite things in the month of October. The clam bake is always a delicious meal, lots of laughs and always great seeing friends and family from out of town.
OctoberRoundup(2)-beelifeblogThe last two weekends consisted of more festive October/fall gatherings! Our friends hosted a pumpkin beer themed party and then we went to a Halloween party this past weekend — B and I don’t typically Halloween, as the Clam Bake is more our speed, but we had fun and finally figured out a cute and clever couples costume that felt like us! We were Jim and Pam from The Office, during Season 4’s episode featuring the Michael Scott Rabies for a Cure Fun Run.  Our hostess house was completely decked out for Halloween and we had a feast of delicious eats to enjoy with our drinks!
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I also was lucky to celebrate one of my best friend’s baby shower — she is a stunning mom-to-be and it was a beautiful afternoon with our little group of friends.  On top of all the fun, B and I have been volunteering with a local organization which has been filling in our free time between all the fun above — I’m excited to share more about in a future post about what we’ve been up too (because we love it!). And we love October — it’s always one of our favorite months filled with traditions and new memories.

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Weekend Recap – 21st Night of September

| The Bee Life

I may or may not still be recovering from the weekend! For nearing the end of September, the weather was toasty warm and full of sunshine – it was perfect for porch hangouts, two year old bday parties, a wedding and even a nap outside on the patio.  Yup, that was the flyover recap of the weekend, but the highlight was definitely K&J’s wedding on Saturday.

Funny enough, this was the first wedding we’ve been too in almost 2-years, the last wedding we went to was ours! So we were feeling a little rusty with the whole wedding guest game. K&J’s wedding also happened to be the 21st night of September – queue the Earth, Wind & Fire’s song September.  The ceremony was intimate as it took place in a wine cellar with friends and family gathered around. In addition the the intimate setting, the vows were personal and special to the couple with plenty of laughs for all to be had – it was the perfect mix of what makes up K&J.  The reception was full of dancing, laughs, pictures, catching up with coworkers and bonding with the bride and grooms family. It was a beautiful night for the newlyweds, not to mention the bride was simply stunning!
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Other highlights from the weekend included getting a Saturday workout in and enjoying a homemade breakfast afterwards on the patio with B as we enjoyed more of the beautiful weather and sunshine.  We did some housework, cleaned up the house and just enjoyed the day being home.  On Sunday we celebrated our nieces second birthday with her big party! The theme was minnie mouse and the weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor party – the girls even got me into the bounce house for a bit. I also got a major nap in on Sunday after the birthday fun, we had a late night from the wedding so apparently I needed it.
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It’s hard to believe we’re in the last full week of September with one more weekend left.  Where did this month go? Not to mention, Monday was officially the first day of Fall – but the weather definitely doesn’t feel like fall just yet, so I am still clinging onto Summer!

What were your weekend highlights?

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Weekend Roundup – August

| The Bee Life

The month of August has been a constant whirlwind and we still have almost two weeks left! The weekends have been packed from weekend trips, to birthday parties and girls meet ups.  On top of the weekends, the week nights have also been jammed packed, back to back, leading right into the weekends – I’m honestly exhausted! But, as exhausting as it’s all been, it’s been a lot of fun, with great moments, so here’s a quick round-up so far.
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The first weekend in August was spent back home celebrating my brother and sister-in-laws baby shower!  It was a busy weekend, as I was helping mom with a lot of the party details as I was in charge of the woodland themed decor, while also making sure the shower went off without a hitch.  Family and friends traveled in from near and far to celebrate and spoil the parents to be and future baby girl.  After the shower, the little bit of the weekend left was spent with extended and immediate family during this quick 36-hour trip.
Weekend Recap(3)-beelifeblogWeekend #2 was a little less busy? We hosted dear friends on Friday night, grilled out and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the patio, we even had s’mores! It is always great catching up with those two and we’re always thankful for the time we get to spend with them especially now that they have a little one!  Saturday, I got together with the girls, we went for a hike through the park and got our monthly catch-up in. Again, the time with these girls is so precious as we’re all in different stages of our life, Beks has two beautiful little kiddos, A is expecting her first and I am just living life.
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The rest of Saturday, B and I were able to actually relax, take a nap, grab a bite to eat and watch our shows.  Our Sunday was crazy, as we were double booked with bday parties, that weren’t so close geographically.  Our nieces’ 4th bday (unfortunately I can only post photos of the delicious sweets due to political reasons) was earlier in the day and then we went to a surprise 60th to a dear family friend.  Both parties were fun, we got lots of time in with the 4th birthday princess and then helped pull off a successful surprise party and laughed the night away.
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Weekend #3 – We headed back home again this time on Thursday night so that I could get my wisdom teeth out Friday morning!  It was something I wasn’t looking forward to doing, but was told it should and needed to be done. I opted for no gas, so after the procedure was done, mom and I ran a few errands before heading back to the house to ‘rest.’ Saturday the guys went golfing, while Mom and I did a few more errands for a project she asked for my help out – a closet makeover for my brother’s baby nursery (which turned out amazing.)  The rest of the weekend was fairly low key, as I tried to eat soft food, iced my face and did salt water rinses for my wisdom teeth post op care.
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In between all of these weekends there has been week night dinners, after work functions, work summer outings, hair cuts, running errands, a few runs, walks with Moz and reality TV.  The rest of August is still jammed packed, but more of that will be shared with you all soon! xox

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Weekend Recap – Summer Things

| The Bee Life

This weekend was a hot one, with the weather apps saying it “feels like 100” most of the weekend, we didn’t let that deter us from summer fun activities! We also wasted no time getting started with the weekend and were in full weekend mode as soon as I left the office Friday afternoon.  Weekend(1) - the beelifeFriday we headed to get drinks pre-Tribe game at a low key cocktail lounge just outside of downtown.  We made it in time for happy hour and half priced handcrafted cocktails that were absolutely incredible – we will definitely be heading back for another date night.  It was the perfect pre-game to the Tribe game that happened to be dollar dog night, and happened to be one of those ‘feels like 100’ and super sweaty nights.  We ended up going with my aunts and then my aunt and uncle came up for the fun as well – it was a family occasion and a great night for a ball game, and a big W for the home team! And we didn’t let the heat interfere with the fun!
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Saturday was a mix of fun – as my parents got into town Friday night, so the guys headed out for golf with the aunts, while mom and I got to hung out, went shopping and had a delicious lunch on a patio with some bubbles before more fun started!  My other aunt ended up coming into town too, so we had more hangs with all the aunties and a delicious dinner of fresh walleye, summery salads and plenty of laughs and an unplanned late night!

To round out the weekend, Sunday kicked off with church and brunch – the guys got in another round of golf too! Then I was off to eastern Ohio for a bridal shower in wine country at the beautiful Ferrante winery.  The picturesque venue was the perfect compliment to the weekend and enjoying all the amazing summer weather, while also showering a sweet friend with lots of bride-to-be love!

The evening wrapped up on the patio with B before the rain started which ended up being the perfect transition inside to watch the Big Little Lies season finale! The weekend was definitely a whirlwind of fun, but so totally worth it and so much family time ❤
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Weekend Recap – Flowers & Family

| The Bee Life

We got lucky this past weekend with an extra day making it a long weekend visiting the family back home.  The weekends are already jam packed, so the extra day was much needed and allowed a bit more time to relax and do some normal running around with the parents.

Mom and I went to the local nursery where she picked out some flowers to plant around the house, which I was able to get for her as a belated Mother’s Day present! Growing up, we always went this local farm to pick out flowers to plant around the house, so it was nostalgic while also realizing some things never change – like this little local green house, the owners, the flowers and the fact that my mom can’t make a decision even when she’s shopping for flowers! But it’s all those little things that never change that made the trip with Mom a memorable one.
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With the extra day, beyond the flower shopping, I was able to help mom with some decorating around the house (which she never lets me do!) we shopped a yard sale and we were even able to get all her new flowers planted and ready for spring! B and my dad went golfing, to a golf demo day and up to the local brewery – so they definitely stayed busy, while Mom and I got extra one on one time in.

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Weekend Recap – Easter Things

| The Bee Life

Easter fell super late this year, so it’s crazy that April is nearly over – eeek! But the Easter weekend flew by just like the rest of this month has been. Not to mention the weather was gross and rainy (but those May flowers are coming!!) it made you just want to lay around and not do much besides watch some playoff basketball – which we did!

All of last week, I was prepping to host my first Easter brunch, even though it wasn’t going to be for the masses – I wanted to make sure I had a nice well-rounded meal planned.  I knew I wanted to make this Overnight French Coast Casserole recipe, so that was a definite (recipe coming later this week!), bacon is always a brunch staple in our household, and then I made a batch of scrambled eggs and had blueberries and raspberries too! The guys made up bloodies, while mom and I stuck with coffee. It was so all so delicious and so filling, yum!
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We wrapped up our Easter weekend with B’s family with a tasty ham, mashed potatoes, baked carrots and salad – we definitely ate well this weekend, that is for sure.  We even helped our nieces with an Easter egg hunt! They were so cute and excited to open their plastic eggs filled with coins and candy and find their Easter baskets – it was super fun to see them so excited about the holiday fun!

Beyond all the Easter festivities, we enjoyed some local eats at some of our favorite spots and even a few new ones – we had a lot of good catching up and laughs, not to mention a house full of pups that kept us busy! How was your weekend?

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