Tag Archives: fun

Feb18

Middle Class Fancy Valentine’s Day

Posted on by
Standard
Middle Class Fancy Valentine’s Day

Hello! Johnny and I live for a good Middle Class Fancy Date Night and that is exactly what we did for Part One of our Valentine’s Day celebration. After work on Friday, we got ready and headed over to Red Lobster for a V-Day dinner. It might seem like a strange choice because I don’t eat seafood. BUT, I freaking love their pasta and have been craving it something fierce. In fact, I have told Johnny I had been craving it for weeks which is how he decided upon our date night location. It was absolutely perfect and we even started a Lobsterita Revolution at the bar! Check it out:

Despite getting to Red Lobster around three thirty, the joint was already jumping. We were more than happy to wait the twenty minutes for a table, but we were famished. So, Johnny had the ingenious idea to eat at the bar which was fairly empty. As we decided on drinks, I planned on going for a classic Margarita. That was until we learned that Lobsteritas were a thing lol. The Lobsterita is basically a super sized Marg that comes with a festive lobster necklace. We were immediately sold and couldn’t stop laughing about the enormity of the glasses our drinks came in.

By the time our drinks were made, more people arrived at the bar and were nothing short of intrigued by what we were sipping on. And it was thus that the Lobsterita Revolution began. Guys, I kid you not: We literally had everyone seated around the bar drinking them. What made it even better was that people were actually wearing the necklaces too, just like us! A frenzy was created and it was hysterical to see what transpired simply from our drink order. Johnny and I essentially turned into the mayors of Red Lobster and we were chatting it up with everyone and toasting to an excellent Valentine’s Day. Truly, it doesn’t matter where Johnny and I are because we always end up having fun!

After the Great Lobsterita Revolution of 2025, our food arrived and not a moment too soon. We were ravenous! Johnny got his traditional fish and chips and was elated to see that Red Lobster had brought back The Daily Catch that nestled his meal. There is a story behind that so stay tuned! I ordered my go to garlic Alfredo pasta and it was so divine. I’m not sure if it was because I was really hungry but it was even better than I remembered it being! We finished our meal, said goodbye to all of our new friends at the bar, and headed home with full bellies and giggle fits. Our V-Day concluded with a viewing of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and the joy of one of the best dates EVER. Every date with Johnny is the best EVER. ❤

Our Part Two of Valentine’s Day will happen this weekend when we do dinner and a show. We are seeing our favorite musical, Hadestown, and cannot wait!

How did you spend your Valentine’s Day? What is your favorite chain restaurant? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Feb10

Completed Lego Malfoy Manor Set

Posted on by
Standard
Completed Lego Malfoy Manor Set

Hello! My brother treated Johnny and me to a Target gift card for Christmas and we both knew what we would like to spend it on: A new Lego set! During our Target Run, we decided on the Malfoy Manor from the Harry Potter collection. I had no idea that this set even existed and we were really excited by it because it spoke to our spooky vibes. In fact, this is probably one of my favorite Harry Potter sets yet. We completed this build in two parts and here is the end result:

^^^ Why does the Dobby Minifig look so terrifying but this one looks so cute?!

Johnny and I have countless Harry Potter Lego sets and they are great. As we expanded on our Hogwarts Castle, however, all of the sets kind of blurred together. Yes, they formed a cohesive whole. BUT each set was so similar to the last. The color palette was the same, the building process was the same, and themes were repeated. That is exactly why the Malfoy Manor was one of my favorite and most memorable builds. It was so completely different than the Harry Potter sets we were used to and it was invigorating to try something that felt brand new.

The Malfoy Manor set was not only exciting to complete but a ton of fun and we were enamored as it began to come together. The dark colors, gothic style build, and snakes at every turn enhanced the creepy aesthetic of this set beautifully. I am especially partial to the gargoyles, moving stairs, and the NPU of the monster hands. They look so cool!! Our Malfoy Manor really does look old and haunted and it reminded us of an old and wildly expensive Lego haunted house set that we both want desperately. Although we may never get our hands on the throwback set we covet, this was definitely a suitable replacement! I highly, highly recommend it if you are looking to add to your Harry Potter Lego world.

I’m not sure which Lego set Johnny and I are going to purchase next. Whatever it is, I can’t wait because building Lego together is one of our favorite things to do! ❤

What is your favorite Lego set? Which old Lego set would you love to have? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan27

Fun Valentine’s Day Crafts For The Kiddos

Posted on by
Standard
Fun Valentine’s Day Crafts For The Kiddos

Hello!! Is it just me or has January felt like an entire year? Lol, every time I look at the date, I assume it’s the fifteenth or something yet here we are nearing the end of the month! And, of course, this means that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. I am so excited to celebrate with Johnny by seeing our all time favorite musical, Hadestown, in Akron. I also plan on having a Valentine’s Day craft party with my three niece girl squad, which is going to be a total blast! I’m arranging to do a few of the following with them and thought I would send some inspiration your way too:

Hand & Feet Hearts:

First and foremost, I am sure that my girls would love to make a special Valentine’s Day card for their parents. I am going to get some construction paper as well as pink, red, and white paint. They can make their cards however they would like, but I thought it would be really cute to make some hand and foot print hearts. If your kiddo isn’t opposed to messy hands or the sensation of cold paint on their feet, this is such a sweet and simple way to make a memorable keepsake. My big girls will probably want to do their own thing, but I just know they would be happy to help their new baby sister make some hand prints for her first craft!

Pipe Cleaner Bouquets:

When it comes to crafting with the girl squad, it is all about easy projects that are relatively quick to complete. Pipe cleaners are always a good option because even if they don’t make anything at all, they are still fun to play with! Whether you are making hearts, flowers, or even animals with the pipe cleaners, it is an opportunity to let creativity shine. If you are going the bouquet route, you might even want to pick up a a vase to paint or decorate with tissue paper and make your pipe cleaner flowers look like the real deal.

Picture Frames:

My best girls really enjoy looking through photo albums and seeing pictures displayed throughout the home. One of their options is going to be picking out their favorite picture of themselves and painting a wooden picture frame to house it in. This is a perfect gift for parents to display on their desk or on the mantle and gives the kiddos the chance to see their handiwork front and center.

Sweets & Treats:

It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without a sugar rush! My big girls are the best helpers for cookie and cupcake decorating and are always so proud of what they baked with their mom. If they would prefer to bake on our craft day, we will make a trip to the grocery store so they can pick out whatever sprinkles, frosting, and cut outs that they like. Then, they can have homemade Valentine’s Day treats that they designed for their parents and grandparents. Chocolate making is also a fabulous activity for littles and something different from the norm. Should they want to go this route, we will be making a trip to my in laws house instead of the grocery store! My mother-in-law is an amazing chocolateer and has molds and chocolate wafers for days to come in with the assist. ❤

Every holiday is infinitely more fun when I have three little minis to celebrate with. I can’t wait for our crafting jubilee!

What are your Valentine’s Day plans? What are some other ideas for V-Day crafts? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan21

Date Night!!

Posted on by
Standard
Date Night!!

Hello!! As per my New Year’s Resolution, I have been diligently penciling in at least one outing per weekend. Honestly, I can’t remember doing so much over the weekends as I have these past few weeks and it feels awesome to be having fun! This past Friday, Johnny and I went on a special Date Night to celebrate his new position at work. We are simply thrilled over this latest development so a night out was definitely in order. Johnny wanted to go to the arcade restaurant located in downtown Cuyahoga Falls called The Workz. That sounded great to me because their food is the bomb, so off we went:

By the time Date Night rolled around, Johnny and I were both famished and, thankfully, we were seated immediately. The Workz is a really popular spot, especially on Friday, so we had a Plan B should it have been too crowded. Happily that wasn’t the case because we both had been talking about their food all week lol. We had a delightful waitress who recently moved back to Ohio with her daughter, who also worked at the restaurant. In between waiting for drinks and dinner we had a lively chat about recommendations for hair and nail salons and it was so nice for two reasons. 1) I love sending people to my go to salons. And 2) It took our minds off of how hungry we were!

After sipping on drinks, a Margarita for me and some tropical cocktail or another for Johnny, our food was hot and ready. I’m pretty sure I heard the hallelujah chorus when our meals arrived at the table! Johnny got a smashburger with truffle fries on the side for us to share and I got their white cheddar mac n’ cheese which is DIVINE. We were both enamored by the little basket the fries came in and even more so by the taste. This was the first time we tried their truffle fries (My favorite!) and they were easily some of the best I’ve ever had.

We made quick work of our dinner and decided to stick around for a bit longer to play some games. By this time, The Workz was pretty jam packed so we opted to get forty credits on a game card and head home afterwards. This didn’t take long at all because the hatchet throwing game took eight credits per player so we could only play through it together twice. However, I could have stayed there playing all night because your girl was a natural!! Almost every single throw, I got a bullseye and there was nothing more satisfying than hearing that “thwack”!!

After retiring home for the evening, Johnny and I finished building our Malfoy Manor Lego set and it turned out amazing. I can’t wait to show all of you! Needless to say, it was a very successful Date Night!!

What did you do this weekend? Do you have any arcade eateries in your neck of the woods? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan14

New Malfoy Manor Lego Set

Posted on by
Standard
New Malfoy Manor Lego Set

Howdy!! Johnny and I received a very generous gift card to Target from my brother and sister-in-law for Christmas. We couldn’t wait to hit the store and cash it in because we knew exactly what we wanted: a new Lego set! This past Friday, we made our Target Run and, unfortunately, it was slim pickings in the Lego department. Understandably so after the holiday rush. We considered three different sets from the limited options – the Durmstrang Ship, Hogwarts Express, and Malfoy Manor. Each one had their pros and cons but we went with what originally really caught our eye and that was the manor. Check it out:

IMG_2398IMG_2399

The last time Johnny and I built Lego together, it wasn’t exactly together lol. For my Christmas gift, Johnny got me the Lego Dobby set and I completed it *almost* all by myself. While it was cool to achieve a milestone like an independent build, my favorite is still when Johnny and I work side by side. That’s actually exactly why I wanted to get the Malfoy Manor set. It had the most potential for us to pick back up on our normal building routine with me handling the big pieces and Johnny taking care of the detail work. Those tiny bricks are a total pain with my talons!

As soon as we got home after making our purchase, we proceeded to be kids on Christmas Day. We zipped to the game room, set up our folding card table, and got to work. Johnny and I spent a fantastic two or so hours building, listening to music, and chatting away. We made it about halfway through the set before we called it quits for the day and I was glad for it so we could build more this weekend. Breaking up the build also gives us the time to truly appreciate it. There are SO many unique things about this set and we were astounded by some of the outcomes. I can’t wait for all of you to see it!

Stay tuned for the Part One breakdown of our Malfoy Manor build. They may be villainous but I guess it can be good to be bad because this is, easily, one of my favorites from the Harry Potter collection!!

Did you get any Christmas gift cards? Have you spent them yet? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec27

Lego Dobby Set

Posted on by
Standard
Lego Dobby Set

Howdy!! Johnny gifted me with two of my favorite things this Christmas: Lego and Hadestown and it was awesome. He got me the most adorable Dobby Lego set for our knick knack shelf and the deluxe original cast recording of Hadestown on vinyl. All of the fixings for a perfect date night in! This past Friday, we spent the evening listening to my new record in its entirety while working on building Dobby. Well, actually, it was more like me working because this was the first Lego set I completed *almost* all by myself. Johnny was most proud and called me his “little builder” lol! Check out my handiwork:

IMG_2053IMG_2054IMG_2059IMG_2061IMG_2062IMG_2064IMG_2065

I’ll be honest, I was slightly worried when Johnny presented me with the Dobby set because I could tell that it would be a lot of small pieces. And, let’s just say that with these talons, small pieces and I don’t mix well. Normally, when Johnny and I build together, he will handle all of the itty bitty details and I take care of all of the big pieces. This time around, myself and Jesus took the wheel and it shockingly went… really well! After a few initial fumbles, I was breezing through this build like magic and it was so fun to see the little house elf come to life before my very eyes!

If you are a novice builder and Harry Potter fan like myself, I truly cannot recommend this set enough. Yes, it was small. Yes, it was simple. And that is exactly what I needed! It was such a confidence builder to be able to work on a smaller scale. I was able to fully understand the directions which were far less intimidating than the bigger builds I am used to. And, for the first time, I was able to correct the mistakes that I made like accidentally doing two right arms for Dobby on my own. The whole time I was building, Johnny kept saying how surprised he was and, frankly, so was I lol. Everything went without a hitch, of course, until it was time to put the cake together because those pieces are still WAY too tiny for me. 🙂

I had such a great time during mine and Johnny’s big night in and I absolutely love how my Dobby turned out. It’s seriously so cute I can’t stand it! ❤

What was the last thing you built with Lego? What is your favorite thing that you have built with Lego? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec11

Community Fun

Posted on by
Standard
Community Fun

Hello!! Listen, I’ll be the first to admit that there are downsides to living in Ohio. It’s basically just corn lol. However, I love my life here and still wouldn’t change it for a thing. One of the best parts about the greater Akron area is the true sense of community we have and it’s greater amplified by all of the fun events hosted throughout the city. Concerts, food truck festivals, vendor fairs, you name it and chances are we have done something similar in our neck of the woods!

A particularly fantastic community gathering spot is the Quirk Cultural Center in Cuyahoga Falls. At the Quirk, they offer workshops for people of all ages. From tiny tots to seniors, there is something for everyone there. In fact, I used to take pottery classes there for several years in my youth and have enjoyed watercolor painting classes in my adulthood. And, this past weekend, I took my nieces there for a special crafting workshop so they could make Christmas presents for their parents.

All I knew for the craft class was that we were going to paint mugs and the girls were so excited. I was too because any time with them is the best time! Even though it was a simple activity, our hosts at the Quirk did such a phenomenal job of making it special. When we walked into the space, we were greeted by a huge Christmas tree, holiday inflatables, festive music, and a hot chocolate and cookie station. The greatest surprise was how neat the mugs to be painted were. There was a snowman, a reindeer, Santa, and a mug with Santa’s belt going around the middle. They seriously looked like something you could paint at All Fired Up and it only costed ten dollars per person to participate.

The girls and I had SO much fun and my eldest niece did a banner job painting the mug herself and my younger niece, who is two, did the best she could lol. Either way, I knew they both knew that they were making something for their parents and they were so happy to have a gift for them that they made all by themselves! There were so many families at the event and it was a joy to get in the holiday spirit all together. I hope that they will be doing more paint parties soon because it was a hit for both the adults and kiddos!

A wonderful time was had by all at our pseudo All Fired Up workshop and I am definitely feeling merrier and brighter for it!

What kind of events does your community put on? Have you ever taken a crafting workshop before? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Nov26

Middle Class Fancy Date Night

Posted on by
Standard
Middle Class Fancy Date Night

Hello!!! While driving home from a particularly long day last Monday, I was already looking forward to the weekend lol. Of course, I was eager to relax but I also wanted to do something fun with Johnny. So, I decided on treating us to a Middle Class Fancy Date Night. I also knew exactly where I wanted to go because I had been craving it something fierce: the Olive Garden! Johnny and I haven’t been there since my thirtieth birthday and the Fettuccine Alfredo was calling my name. As soon as I got home, I announced the Friday night plan and we were excited for it the whole week. We had the best time, even if this picture of Johnny makes you think otherwise:

IMG_1648IMG_1651IMG_1652IMG_1653

There are countless amazing restaurants in our general vicinity that aren’t part of a chain and that’s fantastic. However, Middle Class Fancy nights are all about embracing the chains and we both have our preferred spots. Johnny loves Outback Steakhouse and the Olive Garden is never not far from my mind. A vegetarian can never go wrong with pasta! After work on Friday, we both took a half hour or so to get spruced up and then we made our way to the OG on a rainy afternoon. Despite the weather, it was all sunshine and rainbows in my world because we come alive during date night!

For our meal, we ordered our old standbys: Fettuccine Alfredo for me and the same for Johnny except with chicken. We gorged on our pasta, soup, and bread sticks and sipped on tasty cocktails. The entire time we were at dinner, we chatted away and at some points were in hysterics laughing in our cozy corner booth. This is exactly why I love date night – being in any date style setting with Johnny forever will bring me back to our first date. That feeling that we could talk and laugh until it was time for the restaurant to close and wanting the night to last forever.

After we finished our delicious meal, we had one final stop to make before we could retire home to get comfy: The Exchange. Johnny’s pay day treat to himself is a couple of new records so this was a necessity. He selected a few for himself and then surprised me with a record for my minuscule collection: Rio by Duran Duran. I am an avid Duran Duran fan and as soon as I pointed the record out to Johnny, he plucked it from the shelf and added it to the “To Buy” pile. It was the sweetest! With records in tow, we headed back home to listen to all of them, play games, and revel in a perfect Middle Class Fancy Date Night. ❤

It has been a while since Johnny and I had a night on the town together and this was our reminder that we need to do it way more often. I can’t wait to start incorporating more date nights into our schedule because there really is no better way to wrap up the week!

What is your perfect date night? What is your favorite chain restaurant? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct7

Halloween Fun

Posted on by
Standard
Halloween Fun

Hello!! Last year was a pretty rough time for yours truly and although Johnny and I always revel in the Halloween season, we didn’t do a whole lot of anything. I am pleased to report that this year, we are back on our BS in a major way and I love that for us! We have grand plans for this beloved time for the both of us and I can’t wait to complete everything on our Halloween checklist:

Haunted House:

Johnny and I started dating in September of 2019 – mere months before the Covid-19 pandemic. That Halloween was the only time that we went to a haunted house together and I just won’t stand for it. There is an absolutely fantastic haunted house about a half hour or so away from us. It’s called the Factory of Terror and it is one of the largest indoor haunted attractions in the country. This is the haunted house we went to when we first started dating! However, it will be nothing like what we saw during our outing. The cool thing about the Factory of Terror is that they change all five of their haunted houses every year into something unrecognizable to prior visits. I can’t wait to see what it looks like this year!

Something you might not know about me is that my first job was working as an actor at a haunted house called Carnival of Horrors. I know every single trick in the book, yet all that knowledge goes out the window as soon as I go to haunted houses. Much to Johnny’s amusement, I become the prime target for the actors because I get got every time lol. I’m sure it will be the same thing this time around but, hey, that’s the fun of a haunted house. 😀

Pumpkin Patch:

One of my all time favorite Date Days with Johnny was when we visited a local pumpkin patch. We got the cutest tiny pumpkins, took the cutest pictures, and enjoyed a yummy meal afterwards. We also never did this again so we are adding it to the agenda! While we don’t have a yard to decorate due to apartment life, we need a little something and no porch is complete without a few pumpkins. Johnny also takes great pleasure in throwing them at trees so we’ll grab a couple of extra ones for that purpose lol.

Trick or Treat:

Last year, Johnny and I made a bonfire and passed out candy with my parents at their house. It was SO much fun to see all of the kids in their costumes parading throughout the neighborhood and we definitely plan on doing that again. We also will be joining our nieces for their Trick or Treat outing and are looking forward to it so much. We are keeping our fingers crossed that our nieces will share the loot with their Fun Aunt and Uncle! 😀

Costumes:

Johnny and I have never done matching costumes and we are going for it this year. We are going to have Candyland inspired costumes with Johnny being Lord Licorice and me being a Candy Queen. I am so excited for it! In fact, we already have our costumes for next year picked out too: Alice Cooper and Cold Ethyl. The hilarious thing about both of these costumes for Johnny is that he literally already has everything he needs in his own wardrobe. Does that mean he’ll go halfsies with me on the costumes I have to buy? #fingerscrossed

31 in 31:

Finally, Johnny and I are VERY committed to completing the 31 scary movies in 31 days challenge this year. We haven’t missed a day yet and it has been great. We have been working our way through Johnny’s silly slashers and my atmospheric picks in alternation. And, of course, wearing our matching spooky pajamas and noshing on movie theater treats. I look forward to what we are going to watch every day upon our return home and it is such a nice change of pace from our usual post-work screenings of SVU!

All aboard the Halloween Fun express because we are living it up this spooky season!

What are your favorite Halloween activities? What is your favorite holiday? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug28

Weekend Fun

Posted on by
Standard
Weekend Fun

Hello everyone! I don’t know about all of you, but I had a fantastic weekend. Well, it was fantastic until I got randomly sick on Sunday night. I spent a majority of the night awake with a scratchy throat and low grade fever. It was absolutely miserable and I ended up having to call off on Monday to catch some extra Zs and recuperate. Everything leading up to that was awesome and jam packed with a lot of fun. It was a bit of a rough week so I definitely needed it!

On Friday, Johnny and I spent the evening going shooting at Range USA with our neighbor, Tony. It had been a long while since we hit up the range together and we were all looking forward to it. After work, we loaded up in Tony’s car and made our way to Range USA. Tony is seriously the best neighbor in the world and we love spending time with him to shoot the breeze, watch movies, and have dinner parties – and go shooting on occasion! We made use of every minute of our hour time slot at the range shooting .22s and Tony was able to give me lots of pointers. This was only the third time I have been to the range and it really helped. I even got a few bullseyes. 😀

Once we were home from shooting, Johnny and I took it easy for the rest of the night because we had Saturday plans too. On Saturday afternoon, I had a lunch outing with one of my best girlfriends and then Johnny and I were going to go to another one of my best girlfriend’s birthday party. Lunch was divine and before I knew it, over three hours had passed at the Mexican restaurant while we sipped drinks and chatted away. As always, once the girl talk starts it is damn near impossible to stop! It had been way too long since I was able to get together with her and I can’t wait to do it more often.

Unfortunately, Johnny ended up not feeling great on Saturday so I had to fly solo to Lea’s birthday party. I admit, I was a bit anxious to go without my main squeeze. I don’t hang out in groups a lot, much less a group of people that I went to high school with lol. I put on a brave face because I knew that I would have as much fun as I decided to have. So, I decided to have fun. I ended up staying way past when I told Johnny I would be home because I was enjoying myself so much. I truly do come alive at events and it was really nice to catch up with lots of familiar faces. I’m even getting coffee with one of the girls who I talked a lot with soon. I’m excited!!

Despite ending the weekend on a sour note, the build up sure was a blast. Being a tad bit under the weather was a small price to pay for tons of fun!

Do you keep in touch with people you went to high school with? Do you like hanging out in group settings? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah