Sometimes I forget the definition on busy until it literally attacks me and bites me in the neck to suck out all of my blood (yea so what I have a think for vampires!). Anyway that is exactly what this Saturday did. I woke up early on Saturday to get ready to head out to co-host my friend Kara’s wedding shower. Up at 8am to pack up the car and make sure the check list I had made the night before got completed…

• Pack buffalo chicken dip
• Get sherbet out of freezer
• Pack make-up
• Pack outfit
• Fill out card/gift card for gift
• Pack curling iron

Luckily that was about the end of my list because I had done so much the night before. I was out the door at 9 with wet hair and comfy clothes to go set up for the special parrrtay. When I got the Kara’s mom’s house there wasn’t too much to be done. The girls are awesome and had been working hard the night before so it was really more cleaning up and getting things out and less of oh my gosh what the hell do we still need kind of set up. The party was a ton of fun and it was so nice to see Kara get all of those cool presents the couple gets at a shower and see how excited she was to  have so many friends and family there to celebrate in her happiness. Kara is this amazing person who has this unique way of truly showing you how much she appreciates having you in her life. It is unique because she doesn’t have to send cards or hug you 100 times but the look in her eyes when she just says “thank you- you made this special for me” truly let’s you know that she means it. I really enjoy doing things for her because her friendship means so much to me so hopefully this shower was just a small way of me saying “I love you and appreciate you right back!”

Me and my bestest at her shower!

We had a variety of foods to eat the shower and I did some picking throughout the party. My favorite items were

• My own buffalo chicken dip of course
• Meatballs
• Stuffed mushrooms
• Veggies
• Mini Cheesecakes

Those were probably the items I had trouble staying out of but I tried my best not to go too crazy! We played some fun games at the shower including a quiz about Kara and Dana which her friend Robin from college won! I was in charge of the prizes for games so as you can imagine they were pretty sweet options haha. They included bottles of wine, candles, and gift certificates to Starbucks. I think the wine disappeared the fastest! The other game we played was that famous make a wedding dress out of toilet paper game and it was so fun! I was helping organize so I got to just walk around and check out all of the dresses and I was honestly so amazed at how awesome they all were. Some of them were like legit wedding dresses… maybe I should recruit those girls to make a dress for me! In the end Kara and Dana decided on the winner and Kara’s grandma and her team came out on top!

Kara and Dana enjoying some gifts!

So overall it was just such a fun time to be with Kara, her family, her friends, and the rest of the girls in the wedding party! Now, I am just really looking forward to the actual wedding day!

Saturday Afternoon/Evening

Our dates for the evening!

After the shower I came home and passed out (no, not from the vampire sucking out all of the blood) but from pure exhaustion. Tim was nice enough to wake me up a half hour later to tell me to get ready for our night out with Casey and Mark. We were headed intoAkronfor the Hamburger Fest going on. I am not really sure how to describe this event other than to day Holy Hamburger. It was pretty much a blocked off street that had an enormous amount of vendors set up to feed the very hungry and interested people ofAkron. There were SOO many choices very similar to the Feast of the Assumption we just went to a few weekends ago except this was HAMBURGERS which happens to be one of my favorite things to eat! So anyway we went to the burger fest and did some walking around before we decided on what we wanted.

First, we decided on wine. Well Casey and I decided on wine and the boys decided on beer. So I got a Moscato and Casey got a Pinot Grigio. Usually I am a red wine drinker but it was pretty warm outside so I had no interest in drinking a room temperature beverage.  The Moscato really hit the spot and was just what a needed for a refreshing sweet treat. Casey said it tasted too much like juice and not enough like wine but I thought it was pretty perfect for the mood I was in! After scoping out all of our options Tim and Mark both decided on a deep fried burger from Metro Burger and Casey and I got a giant burger from Menches Brothers. They use this “special sauce” that I was forced to try but guaranteed from the man at the grill that I would love it or he would give me my money back. So, since I had his promise, I went for the sauce and LOVED IT. It didn’t add quite the flavor I thought it might however I LOVE pickles and put a serious mound of them on my burger so I was glad to not have that flavor over powered by a sauce. It’s a good thing I am an honest perfect but I half considered eating the thing and going back to say nope didn’t like it to get another free one. But.. that would have made me dishonest and probably made me look like a fat kid so I decided against it. As if this picture doesn’t make me look like a fat kid right?

BIG Burger!

Our Matching Burgers!

After the burgers we agreed that the 4 of us would be crazy not to split a funnel cake so that is exactly what we did. Casey and I sent the boys to the dessert line and we went back for a few more cocktails =) The boys decided on a Reese Peanut Butter and Chocolate funnel cake with powdered sugar… sounds delicious right? Well take a look!

Try not to be jealous!

Yes- that thing was just as tasty as it looks. Since we all shared it we agreed it wasn’t that bad for us (we can pretty much always come up with a reason something is healthy for us). I am not sure how or why I have never had this wonderful masterpiece before but I haven’t. I was truly a virgin to the Reese funnel cake… but not anymore haha.

Needless to say it was really good

After the funnel cake Casey and I decided to get our photo taken with the Eat n Park man. I think he enjoyed having some adults like him because I had only seen little kids messing with him earlier in the night.

Smile Cookie Man

Then we made our way back to the wine haha to get our picture taken with the big Barefoot Wine Foot. I think this is my new favorite picture of us actually.

We Love Wine!

We ended the evening with a group picture so that we could remember what a great tasty evening it had been! Paul, Amanda, and a few of their friends came and sat with us for a bit to listen to the band play as well so it was fun to be with lots of friends! Plus, the band was a Jimmy Buffet tribute band and I don’t know if I have mentioned this or not before but Tim is OBSESSED with Jimmy Buffett. So this was like the highlight of the night for him… well besides the funnel cake.

Our Group Picture

The Jimmy Buffett Band that Tim loved!

Oh wait- I’m sorry- did you think that was the end of our evening. NOPE… the best part happened next. The 4 of us (Casey, Mark, Tim and I) decided to check out a new FROZEN YOGURT place near us. For those of you that follow you know I have been waiting for Menchies to open… waiting so much that I already signed up online for their rewards program. So we walked into Menchies and then the magic happened….

FRO-YO everywhere. We walked in and the girl that works there (the manager maybe) was SO friendly and gave us the run down of how everything works. You pick the type of frozen yogurt you want (sample whatever you like first) and there were probably like 20 flavors. You can add whatever flavors into the cup and then go to the topping bar. They have everything from fresh fruit cut up to cheesecake bites to gummy bears. I went with the Kiwi Strawberry Sorbet mixed with a little Mango Sorbet with kiwi chunks, strawberries, and raspberries and a few gummy bears for good luck. O M G. I think I will be going back to Menchies A LOT. Casey and I couldn’t get out of the store without taking a picture….

We love Fro-Yo

My Fro-Yo Cup

And even though it doesn’t look like it- Mark loved his Menchies.

Yummy!

Tim did too

Tim wants to go back... I hope!

Heck- even the spoon was adorable!

But the best picture of the evening and the one that sums out how wonderfully terrific Menchies really is (drum roll please)…

Yes so I don’t know how many of you live near a Menchies but find one on their site and then go there! SOOO delicious. I’m sure you will be hearing about a lot of Menchies trips on future posts. I can’t always see into the future but this time I know that will be happening!

Oh and one more thing… when you go to check out at Menchies or go to leave the store this is what the employees say to you “HAVE A SMILEY NIGHT”. If that doesn’t make you smile something is definitely wrong with you! So needless to say, for 25 years I have believed that Disney was the happiest place on earth… turns out I have a serious competitor right down the street from my house.