[ONLINE] LOCATION SCOUTING for DONUTS.

I have been quite the slacker this month at blogging, so many other things to do. I am coming down the home stretch of studying for the LSAT, only one more month of study time so I've been cracking down even more. Panic mode will be setting in any day now.

I ordered a donut pan this morning after seeing James' donut post yesterday and immediately took to the web to find the best recipes out there to try. Can't wait to try these.

1 /// Pecan Pumpkin Glazed Donuts by Purely Twins
2 /// Birthday Cake Doughnuts by Sweet C's Designs
3 /// Pumpkin Spice Baked Donuts by The Lemon Bowl
4 /// Donut Macaroons by The House That Lars Built
5 /// Baked Double Chocolate Donuts by What the Fork

Photo Credit: The House That Lars Built

CHAMPAGNE GIRLS LIVING ON A BEER BUDGET.

I haven't gotten the chance in the past (almost) month to thank my wonderful family and friends for a great birthday celebration. My office took me for a fun lunch out. Greg took me to my favorite restaurant, Eva, here in Salt Lake, for dinner, where I got to have my favorite Brussel sprouts and rosemary garlic fries (ahhhh so good!), followed by a small little group of us having after-dinner drinks. My parents then had us over for dinner the following night to celebrate, followed by a day at Causey Reservoir with Greg, kayaking for the last time this summer. My wonderful friends, Alexis, Maeve, Nate, and Mason threw me an amazing birthday brunch to top it all off on Sunday. I am one lucky girl. I wish we could do this every month. ;-)

Alexis and I showed up to my birthday brunch wearing the same outfit. Fashion minds think alike. Thanks to Maeve for the wonderful title of this post, I had never heard that phrase before until I was bitching the other day that every wardrobe statement that I'm on the hunt for ends up being $1,000. Why did my mother have to give me such expensive taste?

24 HOURS IN COLORADO.

From left: Greg's mama, Greg's stepdad, his sister Whitney (Don't he and his sister have the same smile?)

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, Greg and I got the opportunity to go for a quick 24-hour trip to Colorado last month with his wonderful family. Although it was for his grandpa's 80th birthday, it turned into a sort-of family reunion. Greg hadn't seen his cousins for over ten years! His sister and grandparents don't live in Utah so we don't get the chance to see them often enough. And I finally got the chance to meet his aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was a fabulous few hours, although too short!

I hadn't been on a horse for longer than a couple of minutes since I was a kid until this trip. I was a little nervous at first but after a few minutes, I became comfortable and had a blast. I wish I could do that more often. We went on a gorgeous 2-hour ride through the mountains around the property. I will admit though, I was feeling it for a few days afterwards! And I thought post-bicycle riding was bad! This little trip was also the beginning of Greg's new fly fishing obsession. Hey, it could be worse. ;-)

HOT RODS AND HOT DOGS.

We decided to head up to Boise this past weekend for a hot rod show at our friend Weston's tattoo shop, Devotion Tattoo. We need to make the most out of these last few weekends of summer, especially because I'm pretty sure they are all that's keeping me going in my mentally/physically exhausted state. I'm going to have to take up a new hobby this winter in order to keep my mind off of the anticipation of getting into school.

We went on the most beautiful 150-mileish ride on Saturday. The scenery was amazing the entire time, made me so thankful that I didn't have to pay attention to the road! We only had a couple of tiny issues along the way, including Greg's exhaust pipe deciding that it had had enough and fell off. Whoops.

I can honestly say, people in Boise are some of the nicest that I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, not to mention some of the raddest. They ride, they swim, they own rad vans (their cars are pretty awesome too), they are down for anything fun. A big thanks to Weston and Nicole for their hospitality. So happy that we came up and met so many new friends. Now it's your turn to come visit us!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

 

 

We were the lone swap-meeters until a couple of our friends showed up later on. Hahaha.

 

This guy, Jeff, is out at the races each year with this old Velocette. He wants everyone to ride it, I can't imagine being so calm about a ton of kids riding my prized possession but he's the raddest dude.

This weekend has been a blast. The vintage motorcycle races out at Miller Motorsports Park has always been our favorite summer tradition since we met and each year, it seems to get better and better. This year we ended up just sleeping in our van out there, rather than either missing out on half of the races or going back and forth from Salt Lake. We ended up spending most of the weekend with the rad guys from Salt City Builds, who we had only met a couple of times before this weekend. It was awesome getting to know them and watch them put together a kick ass bike show. Hopefully more people will participate in the swap meet in the future, we need more events like that around here.

Sunday morning everyone got a chance to donate some money to a local cancer charity and in turn, ride their bikes on the track. Greg was so happy, to say the least. He and one other guy were the only kids with choppers, amongst a lot of race bikes! The announcer thought it was pretty funny. Greg wanted me to ride on the back with him, but they wouldn't let me because I forgot closed-toed shoes. :-( Maybe next year.

Happy Labor Day! Don't forget to retire your white wardrobe. Black looks better anyway, FYI.

"I'M FOUR!"

Karen the cat turned four years old last week and has been strutting around the house ever since. Maybe it's in my imagination but we will never really know. Everytime she pauses and stares at us in her oh-so-regal pose with her head held high, Greg says, "I'm four!" as if she is so proud of it.

We have had lower temperatures in the city that past week (it feels so damn good) so we have been keeping the windows open more often. You can't beat free AC. She loves loves loves sitting in the window sills with the air coming in and the noises of outside. Some of the windows are a little higher than she expects and she ends up clinging on for dear life with her nails and hangs there while Greg points and laughs at her. Mean.

Life has been quite busy with work, studying, and fun-filled weekends. Last weekend we flew to Colorado and spent time with Greg's extended family at the most beautiful ranch you have ever seen, fly fishing, riding horses, and all of that fun stuff. It was so nice to see his grandparents and his sister, as well as to meet his aunt, uncle, and cousins. They are such a great group. (Blog post coming soon.)

This coming weekend we will be camping out at Miller Motorsports Park for the annual vintage motorcycle races. We haven't missed this event for the 4 years that we have been dating. It's one of my favorite traditions. You can see last year's photos here. We haven't ever camped out there though, we normally just go for the day. It should be a fun time.

[ONLINE LOCATION SCOUTING] FOOD PHOTO ALERT.

But look how delicious it looks, guys. Banana and peanut butter toast has become my favorite morning routine these days. We have gotten so much rain this August in SLC and I'm loving every second of it, minus the fact that my hair seems to look like Monica's when the gang goes to Barbados. I have been over the heat since the first day that it hit 80 degrees this year. Helloooooo, fall!

Here are links to a few of my favorite things at the moment. Enjoy.

1 /// I am so happy that someone pinned this Tumblr page. Could these posters get any more beautiful?

2 /// Fall is in the air and I'm craving everything pumpkin. Breakfast, dessert, I'll have it all.

3 /// I am dying for one of these mods from This Is Ground. So cool, yet so handy. And the inserts? What an amazing idea.

4 /// I am wanting to try all of these at-home spa treatments, especially the anti-redness facial. I love being able to treat myself with random ingredients that I already have from around the house.

5 /// My mom loves ginger ale and naturally, she has passed that on to me.

6 /// I am IN LOVE with this camper. Imagine how fun it would be to travel around in.

7 /// Adding all of these to my reading list.

8 /// And I think everyone needs to read this one.