What's Up Wednesday: May 2022

 

 

Hey there Besties. Here we are at the end of May. Can you believe it? This has been a pretty eventful month. Since we are at the last Wednesday of May, I am linking up with Shay and Sheaffer for What's Up Wednesday. Let's jump in and talk all things May!

What We're Eating This Week

Monday-Cheeseburger meatballs and chopped salad. I am tinkering with the cheeseburger meatball recipe and hope to post it soon. Even Hockey Guy had some ideas on how to serve these.

Tuesday-Sausage and polenta with sautéed baby zucchini.

Wednesday-Parmesan roasted shrimp with roasted vegetables. 

Thursday-Burgers, dogs, sweet potato puffs and chopped salad.

Friday-Take-out before All Night Graduation Party 

What I'm Reminiscing About

We have a group of amazing kids in our lives graduating from 8th grade this year. It brings me Joy that they are getting a more "normal" 8th grade graduation season. I remember that Hockey Guy's 8th grade graduation two years ago we really didn't know if we were graduating in person until 48 hours beforehand. His school did an amazing job keeping everyone safe that year but they truly missed all of the fun traditions like field day, trip and post-graduation party. Looks like many things are back on and that is a Good thing. 

What I am Loving

My friend told me last month that they used Butcher Box to have high-quality meat delivered to their doorstep. We signed up and we are loving it. We have used everything in our box and it has been really easy to plan meals around what we have in our freezer. Plus, the special right now is "free ground beef for life." This basically means that we get two extra pounds of ground beef for free in our box every month. Believe me, I can always make something with ground beef. If you want to try Butcher Box you can save $30 off your first order and right now the special is NY Strip Steaks for a year. Just use this link. 

We are also loving our chopped salads. I started buying the chopped salad kits this month and we are loving them. They are a little more expensive than buying salad makings, but we have such less food waste and the lettuce doesn't go bad. I also don't love making salads and getting pretty bored with them. The chopped salad kits are solving all of our salad problems. Are salad problems a real thing?

What We've Been Up To

In May, we celebrated Mother's Day with steaks, flowers and Running Daddy got me the new book on Anna Wintour. He knows me so well. I am kind of obsessed with Anna Wintour.

 

We also celebrated Running Daddy's birthday in a real way. We went to dinner in Annapolis, MD and walked around and looked at the boats. It was such a fun night despite the rain and we were so glad to be able to celebrate him.

We also wrapped up spring hockey. Hockey is such a big part of our Friday nights and we had the last game this past weekend. Looking forward to next fall when things really crank up again.

We also got back to the Mount Vernon Wine Festival which is one of our favorite events to attend. The rain stopped just in time for the event and then held off until right before the event ended. This is all key because it is an outdoor event and we have been there during downpours. 

This was also Running Daddy's birthday weekend and General Washington himself stopped by our table to send his birthday wishes. If you visit Washington, DC be sure to take time to visit Mount Vernon, it's truly spectacular.

We also had a mouse in our house, and no, it was not cute. There was pest control, there were glue traps, there were snap traps, there was a whole lot of screaming and there was no mercy for that rodent.

I also had some pretty intense dental work this month. It was not fun but in the end it is going to be Better for my health and there is also a big cosmetic benefit. 

What I'm Dreading

Honestly, nothing at the moment, not even weeding our yard.

What I'm Working On

I have a whole lot of work on my plate for my day job. It is going to take a lot of my time over the next few months. Basically, I am really busy from now until the election. Frankly, I am probably really busy from now until the beginning of December. 

We are also sprinting to the end of school. We are working on Hockey Guy's exam schedule and making sure we are all covered for drop-off and pick-up times. 

I am also working on making more time for Good Better Best. It brings me Joy and really helps exercise my creative muscles. 

I have also been working really hard on the flowers in our yard, especially the planters. We even have a new fig tree that we bought at Mount Vernon at the end of April.

Fig tree

Iris

Potted tomatoes and planters

Cherry tomatoes and flowers in planters

What I'm Excited About

I am excited about hopefully having a real summer this year. The last two years we all held our breaths and hoped for the Best, but I think this year we might actually get as normal of a summer as we can have.

Speaking of summer, I am excited about our community pool opening this weekend. Our pool is really the epicenter of our social life in the summer.

What I am Watching/Reading

I am looking forward to cracking open Anna, the book above that Running Daddy gave me for Mother's Day. Hoping to start this book this weekend.

I finished up Real Housewives of New Jersey last week and this season was really Good. I know that there are rumors that Jackie is going to be a "friend of" but honestly they should not make any changes to this cast.

I still have a lot of red flags when it comes to Luis. Things just don't add up to me. Anyone else?

Teresa's reunion look was insane, even by New Jersey standards. Dolores is still my favorite and I cannot believe I am going to say this, but Jennifer grew on me.

That brings us over to the left coast with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. I don't believe that Dorit's robbery was a set-up, I totally believe it happened. Dorit's emotions were just way too raw by the time PK showed up and there is no way she could be that Good of an actress. Speaking of bad acting, Kyle was way over the top as usual. The whole thing was truly scary but Kyle made it about her. The shock and crying and the "Noooo" from Kyle at her house was too much. I mean she already heard the story about the robbery earlier but she acted like it was new news.

Speaking of my girl Sutton, I do not believe she canceled her table. I believe she paid for Harry and Lisa's tickets and do not believe she left them scrambling. I believe she told them she was putting together a table and invited the Hamlins to sit with her. I think Lisa thought Sutton was paying for her tickets from the get go, I think Sutton thought Harry and Lisa already had tickets or bought tickets. When she realized that they were making a big deal of this and didn't have tickets, Sutton paid for Harry and Lisa's tickets. Two words: Amex receipt. Frankly, I might be willing to die on this hill. Lol. And yes, I have spent way too much time over the last week thinking about this. 

As for new shows, Hockey Guy introduced us to a Netflix show called Outer Banks. So much of it is filmed where we have vacationed in South Carolina and is beautifully shot. We got totally sucked in because it rained almost all Mother's Day weekend. I don't really binge shows but the weather really gave us the opportunity to do this. This is not really a show for young kids even though the main character are supposed to be in high school but I think it is ok for older high schoolers. Heads up, you may want to look at any ratings sites and choose for yourself.

Besides the beautiful scenery, the other fun thing about this show is that the main character, John B, looks a lot like Hockey Guy. A lot of people tell him that.

 

We have watched the first two seasons and we are waiting for the third season to come out. I think it comes out in June. 

What I'm Listening to

I am mostly listening to my usual podcasts but I have a new one. I have been listening to Two T's in a Pod with Teddie Mellencamp and Tamra Judge. While these ladies are probably two of my least favorite housewives, they get really Good guests and have an interesting perspective as viewers and as former Housewives. They believe that "you are only as Good as your last episode" and I think that is spot on. If you are a Housewives fan you should check them out. Yes, I know this whole paragraph is basically a backhanded compliment.

What I'm Wearing

Honestly, I am not wearing anything new and interesting. I am really trying to shop in my closet and figure out what my work wardrobe will be now that we are in the post-pandemic world.

Plus, the weather has really not been cooperating lately, so that makes outfit selections less fun. We had a hint of summer and now it is cold and rainy again. Boooo!

I have some fun beauty products to share with you and I hope to do that in the next few weeks. Are you up for a little beauty review Besties? Let me know in the comments below. 

What I'm Doing This Weekend

Friday night I am helping to set up for the All Night Graduation Party. It is a really cool event that they have at school and I feel like it is really important to help out while Hockey Guy is an underclassman because in just a few years it will be his turn. Plus it is really fun. 

Saturday morning I am getting my hair done and then we have a party that night. We have another party Sunday. Crossing fingers that the weather holds out for both events. Plus, our pool opens Saturday and we all try to get there as much as we can that first weekend even if it is just to socialize.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month

Running Daddy and I will be celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary and we are looking forward to going out for the first time in years due to the pandemic. We missed our 15th anniversary due to being during the early part of COVID, so this year we will celebrate 15, 16 and 17 years together.

I am also looking forward to kicking off summer and the end of school.

What Else is New

I think I have covered everything but make sure you join Holly and me here tomorrow for Monthly Musings. This month will be a summer fashion preview and the topics are below. Come join us as a writer, reader or both. 

Thanks for joining me today. See you back here tomorrow Besties!