Once Upon Another Time...
First post—be excited! Or maybe I'll just be excited, no pressure on you. After all, this is one of my New Year Resolutions for 2012 : to leave the old school Xanga and Livejournal days behind (along with a few ridiculous blogs posts that need no repeating or re-posting--Hanson anyone?) and join the world of Blogger. It's time to be a little bit more grown up and talk about grown up things. And not the grown up members of Hanson.
Alright, let's see...
Start a blog.
Done.
I guess I should have included "consistently update the blog" ...
So here I am—what to write.
We'll start with my husband's birthday weekend I planned for him. I absolutely love birthdays—and the always fun "un-birthday(s)" as well! I think birthdays should always be celebrated for at least a few days, but for my husband and I, an entire week is our tradition! His birthday was January 12th and this birthday was a bit of a bigger deal than most : The Grand 25. It marks the point of turning a quarter of a century old—at least that's how I felt when I turned 25. I know, I'm such a glass half full kind of girl! Or maybe I was just heartbroken to leave 24 behind (such a great birthday number), along with the fact that I just don't like getting older ;)
Anyway, my husband and I are both low-key and enjoy the simplest kind of date. We're quirky, have weird inside jokes and sayings, and as long as we can just sit beside each other and have silly or serious conversations, we're happy. However, I wanted his birthday to be special, fun, and not so low-key. I decided to celebrate the week with Costa Vida (you should try their sweet pork quesadilla and horchata!), random birthday cards left by his lunch box in the refrigerator and also mailed to his work, chocolate Shatto Milk (because it's amazing), one of his favorite desserts, and fun presents (who doesn't love presents?). One of his presents is absolutely hilarious. After giving him Legos for Christmas, I thought that The Brick Bible would be perfect for his birthday. The book contains a section of the Bible's Old Testament depicted Lego-style! Even though we were laughing at the pictures of tiny plastic figures, it's true Biblical history that really happened! I know some of the Old Testament books can be hard to read through, but this book helps make those stories come to life even more! It keeps anyone's attention riveted to the actual story unfolding while still keeping true to the original Biblical text. Check it out! :)
The grand finale was a weekend away! Ok, maybe not away away, but 30-40 minutes was perfect and do-able! We had just spent Christmas out in Ohio with my family, and though it was a short trip, it was just so relaxing to get away and literally spend every day together. Granted, his birthday wasn't too long after Christmas break, but I already missed all of that face time with him! I think with being married, we get into a routine of seeing each other every day, but the busyness of our work and class schedules doesn't allow us the amount of quality time that we'd like to have! We treasure the time we do have, but we're that sentimental kind that miss each other all the time. ;) That being said, a weekend away was the perfect end to his birthday week!
Trying to remain frugal in this fun birthday process, I kept my eye out for any Groupon deals that I could use. After researching and reading the reviews about a particular place, I settled on the Groupon for Hawthorn Suites in Overland Park. And now it's time for my mini-review! The Hawthorn has their regular bedrooms to choose from as well as suites that include a fireplace, living room, and a small kitchen. In general, it's decently priced (you can also save 15% by paying the advanced rate online) and great for a short get away or business trip. We loved the ski lodge feel to it and thought it was unique the way the rooms were set up--instead of a long hallway with however many rooms lined up on either side, the rooms were set up around their business campus apartment style and adjacent to each other on every floor. The Groupon allowed us to try both a bedroom and a suite. Both places had the same kind of decor--and by that I'm talking more about the wood finish, paintings, and bed comforters--all of which I personally thought could have been a bit more updated, but that's just me! Everything was clean and well stocked, and the bathrooms were nice and spacious enough. I know the suite was our favorite and it was really fun because it was more like a mini apartment! We loved using the fireplace and being able to store a few things in the kitchen--which by the way, was small, yes, but it had a full size refrigerator and stove, a microwave, and was also stocked with dishes, utensils, and a few appliances! Overall, our stay at the Hawthorn Suites was nice and simple and included a helpful and accommodating staff.
In all reality, we barely spent time at the Hawthorn because we had too much fun at places like Krispy Kreme, furniture stores, H&M, Express, Whole Foods, The Mixx, and another Groupon find--Victor's Chicago Pizza!
That was the whirlwind birthday weekend! Complete with Mad Libs too. :)
And now I've set myself up for one more quick review: We decided that while Victor's is not horrible, it's not great. The food was fine and the staff was sweet, but the food just didn't have a wow factor. In all honesty, and for a cheaper alternative, we would most likely choose Papa Murphy's Take ‘N’ Bake stuffed pizza before heading back to Victor's! You have to eat amazing pizza and I'm just trying to help out my fellow bloggers and readers.
I'm sure you've noticed my multiple uses of the word "Groupon" in this post, and the truth is, I have recently become slightly obsessed with their mobile app. I.check.it.every.day. There's the discernment between good, ridiculous, and unnecessary, but there are some random great deals at my fingertips! And despite the not so great deals, I love the amount of options and how the app is so easily accessible! I would just recommend checking reviews on the business or person offering the Groupon. I know any descriptive review has been extremely helpful in my decisions to purchase a deal, and it spurs me to want to write reviews of my experiences to help others in their decision making as well!
I've come to find you either win or lose with Groupon. However, it's fun trying new things or places, and for the experience with my best friend, it's always worth it. He makes anything fun. :)