it was just like that...: Our Weekend: March 16-17

**This was initially written in my journal, but I wanted to have most entries like this consolidated on here. Hence the dates not quite matching up and it being even more rambly than my usual posts.

This weekend was another fun one. I always feel like we're not all that busy or we don't do too much outside of the orderinary - but maybe it's more that we're just really good at condensing all our fun into little 2-day bursts.

Saturday morning I had planned to stop by the Winter Pop Up Market and hit a Step and Strength class at the gym [when did waking up early to go to the gym become so laughable?!] As I was lazing around I received an email from my mom that my dad had had a little health scare - I'd go into more detail, but I'm sure he wouldn't want me, as he puts it, 'telling his business,' so I'll just leave it at that. She assured me he was fine overall but encouraged me to come up and visit. I was overdue for a hangout at my folks' anyway so I drove up there with Owen for a bit. We didn't do much, but it's always nice to see them and Owen has the best time playing with Woody and Lucy.

Once I left my folks, I took Owen home and got ready for the free Alkaline Trio show at In the Venue. After an insanely long wait at the bar and an insanely bad opening band I was able to find/meet up with my new-ish internet-turned-IRL-friend, Chelsea, her fiancee, and her friend Katherine. It was a really fun time, but considering all my favorite of their songs are over a decade old by now and a third of the crowd probably wasn't even alive when the band got together... well, I sort of felt old as hell... but at least I wasn't clinging to 2003 half as hard as some of the people I'd eavesdropped on.

After that show, Devon picked me up and we headed to Urban Lounge for our friends' band King Niko's CD release show. It was really great fun. I felt like we knew half the people there and almost all my favorite people were in attendance. It was impossibly loud - I have got to start bringing ear plugs with me - so I wish I would have been able to talk to people more, but it was just the best time! I had a few drinks, but it was really great seeing Devon have such a great time given how hard and how much he's had to work lately.

I'm really excited our friend Nate is going to be King Niko's new drummer. Their bass player, Tim, and his girlfriend Maggie are two of our closest friends and were both in our wedding party, and their guitarist, Ben and his wife Hollie, who was also one of my bridesmaids, are great friends as well... so anytime we hang out with that crowd it always feels like those friends-turned-adopted-family times. Nate's wife Hollie [two Hollie's, both super sweet babes - what are the odds] always looks amazing, but she was just stunning Saturday night. Such a great lady.

After the show a bunch of us headed to Betos on 4th [now Mezquite?] for post-fun burritos and wandered home around 3am.

Sunday we kept it pretty mellow - Devon had to go into work for a while and I stayed pretty lazy until it was time to go grocery shopping + make food for Cardy and Jenn's annual St. Patrick's Day Dinner. I made the Chocolate Brioche Pretzels I'd made a few weeks ago, but incorporated a little oatmeal stout into them this time. They turned out really well, even though the stout flavor wasn't very noticeable.

Dinner was great as usual - I love Jenn's corned beef and cabbage feasts. She also made bangers and colcannon with Irish soda bread. Alex, and later Steve came too, brought some delicious chocolate chip cookies and pretzels with mustard dip. Once Alex and Steve headed out we kicked out an episode of The Walking Dead, went home, and that was our weekend!

Oh, to be young again.... no thank you!

Chocolate Brioche Dough!

Chocolate Brioche Barely Stout Pretzels! Not quite as cute the second time around, but considering I shaved an hour and a half off the time, I'll take it!