2013: Year in Review!

Even though 2013 proved to be a low blogging year I still wanted to do a quick review! So here we go-

January- I started my new corporate adventure early that month and tried to adjust to a new life back in MPLS. January 18th we welcomed King Louis of Ulysses Street (Louis or Lou for short) into our family. We spent a few weeks all getting used to each other!

February- I threw a Stella & Dot Trunk show and it was a fun week night event with friends and family. We squeezed in a Valentine's Celebration a night early to avoid the crowds...probably a new tradition!

March- Per my iPhone pics it looks like we did a lot of celebrating with friends! We did an impromptu pub crawl, celebrated St Patty's, and threw EEH a Welcome Home party. So glad he is back!

April- We ventured out to Jax Cafe to celebrate the season premier of a Mad Men. Definitely a fun environment, but hard to watch TV with 200 others! DJC and KMC visited and it even snowed for our southern pals :)

May- Enjoyed the annual Cinco de Mayo/Kentucky Derby Fusion party. This year I found that great hat from a little boutique in our neighborhood! I headed to Orlando for a work conference and got to see my old pal's from the consulting company. Great time even though I never got to enjoy the weather. We also learned that we would be Aunt and Uncle again come January!

June- Celebrated 365 days of marriage with a trip to Cabo! Where did that year go?!

 

Last piece of wedding cake :(

July- We stayed in MPLS for the 4th and watched the fireworks from our favorite bar's patio (also a new tradition). Enjoyed Matchbox 20 and Goo Goo Dolls with friends at Basilica Block Party. Then I hit the beach during a quick trip to Ocean City, MD for a bachelor/bachelorette party!

August- I was on bridesmaid duty! My pal KND married her love on 8/3 in downtown Philadelphia. Philly was a great city to visit and we will definitely go back in the future!

Also, got to see Vanessa and her beautiful fam!

September- Labor Day weekend was spent in Canada....well almost! We headed to Lake Vermillion to HEH's family cabin and had such a blast! HEH is new to the blog, but thanks to my new job we became good friends. I also hit 2-7 and celebrated with MDK at Ichiban!

October- I took another work trip this time to San Antonio- what a fun city! EAT turned 2 and enjoyed his last birthday as an only child. We tried out the Nordeast Big River Brew Fest for MDK's birthday this year. After it we had a house full of people for a chili party and some Cards Against Humanity (a new favorite game).

November- We went to the Gopher vs Penn State game and enjoyed a rare victory at TCF Bank! And the exciting news for start of the holiday season was when MDK's brother popped the question! We can't wait to celebrate their wedding on 8/8/14!

 

December- We hosted our 2nd Annual Christmas celebration and had a very fun time with our close pals! Gavin arrived just in time for New Years! He is an adorable little guy, much like his brother, and we can't wait to watch him grow in 2014.

We celebrated a lot of births in 2013 and it was fun to finally have a reason to buy some girl outfits! Looking ahead to 2014 we are excited to finish our bathroom remodel, plan our 2nd anniversary trip, celebrate the new Kovalik's in August, watch our nephews grow, and maybe build a patio in our backyard (...that might be ambitious).

So there it is- 2013!

Have a Nice Day!
LMK

New Years Eve!

One last post for 2013! I know I wasn't the best blogger for 2013, but heck there's always next year :)

We had very fun surprise for the last day of the year...a new nephew! Gavin James will get to enjoy a festive birthday every year- lucky guy! 

Cheers and until next year- Have a Nice Day!

LMK

MDK Guest Blog

Greetings Loyal Followers!

MDK here with a surprise guest blog, get excited. Never done one of these bad boys before so I'm just going to wing it and I guess we'll see what comes out.

First off: CABO! That's right, LMK and myself treated ourselves to very well deserved 1st anniversary trip to Cabo San Lucas. We took some time off of work and flew down the 1st of June. As usual, we hadn't done too much research or schedule any excursions so we didn't feel obligated to do anything. A perfect strategy for us because you never know when a lazy day at the ocean/pool will come calling.

We arrived to a terrible weather forecast of about 85 and sunny for the whole week we were there (Someone coin a sarcasm font already, seriously). Took a taxi to our resort and that's where the awe of our new surroundings really sunk in. Our resort, Hacienda Encantada, was built on a cliff overlooking the Sea Of Cortez and had incredible views of the ocean and all of downtown Cabo. We quickly checked into our room and decided to hit the pool and were greeted with a swim up bar. Needless to say it was easy to overindulge, and I seemed to have done just that. The rumor is that I ordered an expensive bottle of wine and a steak for dinner that I proceeded to eat with my hands. It's all hearsay as far as I'm concerned, it's a vacation, right!?

Throughout the rest of the trip we ate at some very good restaurants and strolled about town finding fun little shops to see. A couple of the places we ate were Salvatore's and Sunset De Mona Lisa. Salvatore's was an Italian joint that had the largest portions I've ever seen in my life. LMK and I shared a pork shank on a bed of fettuccine alfredo and asparagus... we didn't finish it all and probably could've been rolled back to the hotel. Sunset De Mona Lisa was our anniversary dinner and picked it based on recommendations and the view of, get this, the sunset. It's set up on another cliff overlooking the ocean and as the sun sets the play a gong and sea shell horns, a pretty incredible experience indeed. LMK got an amazing shrimp dish that Forrest Gump would be jealous of and I had some pretty tasty gnocchi. Great views along with dinner and good company, can't beat it.

As far excursions go, we went on a sunset catamaran cruise and had a blast. The boat wasn't packed full of people and the crew was extremely helpful and made sure you always had a full drink. We set out from the marina in downtown Cabo and made our way out toward the famous arch that Cabo is known for. We snapped from great pictures and saw some amazing things. We then got around the peninsula and traveled up the Pacific Ocean side of Cabo. The waves were crazy on this side and as we sailed we got to see the crazy waves crashing on the rocky shores. All in all is was a great time and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Have a Nice Day!
MDK