Wooo – what a crazy weekend!
It’s been absolutely gorgeous out, and spring, it feels, it definitely here to stay. Tree buds are noticeable all around the neighborhood, and bright green flower shoots are popping up everywhere. Check out the difference one week made on the day lilies in my garden!
I spent the entire morning on Friday spring cleaning and decluttering like a friggin’ CHAMP. My trunk is completely stuffed with, well, stuff to donate to Goodwill, and I’ve never felt more organized. Remind me to do this more often, mkay? 
Ben had the day off to watch March Madness, so while I cleaned he smoked us a thousand racks of ribs. We joined forces in the afternoon, along with some friends and my parents, to chow down and relax under the sun while watching the games on a TV we dragged into the garage. Think The Ultimate Home Tailgate, swapping football for basketball, and no dub-T driveway haircuts.
Saturday seemed to last forever (in a good way!) and after running errands all afternoon, then doing a bit of lot shopping, Ben and I decided to spend St. Patrick’s Day on the back patio with a bottle of Flip Flop Wines’ Malbec (awesome red with just a wee hint of sweet) to sip while watching Iowa State get spanked by Kentucky.
I think this was the first St. Patty’s Day in years where I haven’t had a green beer and some rafters to swing from. It was…really nice, actually!
Truthfully it was a miracle we stayed in, because four hours later at 10pm I got a text from my brother, “Taking Kerry (my pregnant sister-in-law who’s due in 2 weeks) to the hospital, can you come over and watch Finn (their 2 1/2 year old son)?!” Ahhh, it was go time! Or so we thought…
We found out when we got there that the baby wasn’t on her way, rather my sister-in-law was very sick (she and baby are totally fine now!) and they didn’t know if she’d need to have a c-section that night. They jetted and we hunkered down on the blow up mattress with the monitor nearby to keep an ear on Finn.
Like nervous new parents, Ben panicked every time he heard Finn move, while I panicked wondering how we were going to explain to a 2 1/2 year old where his parents were if he woke up!
Despite a few squawks Finn remained asleep, but we laid there wide-eyed worrying about him and Kerry the whole time. Thankfully they returned from the hospital around 3am, tired but on the mend. Hallelujah!
This morning Ben and I slept in, then went grocery shopping and got quick and easy Jimmy John’s subs for supper. Two Vegetarian Subs sans mayo, por favor!
They were heavy as all get out, so Ben weighed ‘em – 10+ ounces each, plus a pickle spear each.
Blerg, I’m stuffed!
Although we’re exhausted, I think Ben and I are going to try and get out for a walk around the block still this evening. It’s so nice outside, and I think the exercise and fresh air will do us some good.
Have a great start to your week, everyone!
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What was the best part of your weekend?
Hands down best part of the weekend was the weather! And getting out and enjoying it with the husby and friends. Also tried Smokey Ds for the first time and got a huge plate of chopped pork nachos!
Hey IGE, this early Spring in the midwest, ROCKS! I have been out for walks daily for the last week and a half……today, t-shirt and capri’s, 79 degrees in Burnsville, MN! Glad you had a productive wknd!
Being a kind person and not wearing my UK shirt while watching the game with a bunch of ISU fans. (We were visiting siblings, and they were with good friends) We are huge Hawk fans, and have UK shirts from a trip to Kentucky visiting family.
Ok… maybe the best part was secretly smiling while our siblings friends were really sad.
Enjoy your walk with your love!
Sitting here drinking a glass of Flip Flop Malbec while reading your post. Nice little wine and I love the screw top!! Love, love your recipes! Keep up the great work!
I tried on wedding dresses! It was fun and the best part was when I found “the one!!” It was a super good feeling… sounds like a perfect weekend for you! Have a great week!!
I <3 the word Blerg.
Celebrating my 6 year wedding anniversary (today) and yesterday! Hearing bag pipe players in the downtown Chicago yesterday brought us back to our ceremony. The drinking yesterday brought us back to our honeymoon of debauchery in Cabo. Getting a little too old for Chi-Irish shenanigans =)
Best part of my weekend was the weather and a 23 mile bike ride today. Worst part was the Friday afternoon loss of Mizzou in the tournament. Our dream season didn’t have such a dream ending:(
The past 3 St. Patricks Days, I have either been pregnant or nursing a newborn. Next year, there will be green beer in my life on March 17th!! Haha.
We went swimming (it’s 82 in Florida) and took a family nap. That was pretty much the highlight of my weekend.
The best part of my weekend was going to Manhattan Deli in DM. If you haven’t been there, you should definitely try it.
I’m glad to hear everything is ok with your family. That wine looks awesome! I’m always looking for a good malbec. Also, I love that you say supper. I don’t hear that so much, but it sounds so pleasant.
No green beer here either but I did enjoy a few pints of Guiness. We were home at a decent hour so as to enjoy the beautiful weather to the fullest today. Hubby went golfing, I did yard work. Guess I drew the short stick? Glad to hear My Wise Mom and Baby Poppy are doing well!
Today hit 80…OMG Love it! I slept until 10 first time in a long time. Headed over to mom to re-pot a bunch of plants that have been a little root-bound during the winter, picked up some more potting soil then vacuumed and cleaned out my whole car, had dinner with them and came home and opened all the windows. This week will be spring cleaning for myself, I did the downstairs last week, upstairs this week and it will be all spic-n-span for Easter.
Glad to hear everything is okay with your SIL and the baby. I can’t believe she is due in 2 1/2 weeks! Wow, that came up fast!
the best part of my weekend was the weather!!! it’s beyond beautiful in chicago… very similar to iowa it seems
The weather was fabulous here too…amazingly so for this time of the year for sure. Purging the closets is always a good thing. Of course, for me it was the Jimmy John’s that made me comment…so wish we had one here in Ontario. Closest one for me seems to be in Michigan.
Love their sandwiches for sure!
OH MY GOSH I LOVE JIMMY JOHN SUBS!!!!! I can’t wait to come home to WI for a visit next week and have one!!! That and a good ol’ fashion Friday night Fish Fry!!! GGGEEEEE I’m giddy as a teenage girl just thinking of the good eats I miss so much!
Love Jimmy John’s subs & I always get the veggie too!!! Oh and the wine sounds great, will have to try that one, always looking for new reds to try!
Best part of my weekend was that my son started sitting on his own and we got to see it!
I’m a new reader (originally from Iowa) and love your blog!
I ran my first 5K and did better than I hoped!!! I also signed up for my second 5K in May!
Best part of the weekend was definitely the weather, but for a much different reason than most of you have posted. Rain! In So Cal, it’s nice to get a little rain once in a while (a rare treat). Blustery weather, a fire in the fireplace, and a spice cake in the oven…pure delight!
The best part of my weekend was watching Iowa get spanked by Oregon.
Just had to get that in since you enjoyed ISU’s loss so much. 
Otherwise we enjoyed the weather and I baked/decorated cookies for a little 2 yr old’s birthday party.
We were actually rooting for them!!
Yeah, it was hard to watch once we got cold. I was impressed with the scoring in the Iowa game–haven’t seen a game over/close to 100 in awhile.
The best part of my weekend was hanging with some close friends at a cookout and my 8 month old son. I got him a Kermit the Frog shamrock tee. Too cute!
Love this blog!
The best part of my weekend was dancing my butt off with my friends decked out in green! Loving this warm weather too!
I loved going through my stuff and finding some books to sell, clothes to donate and just doing NOTHING yet feeling super productive. I’m not sure how that happens, but it’s awesome.
Oh! And the mimosa I had for a snack this morning…
Looks like you had a lovely weekend! I love sorting through and cleaning out all my stuff – such a good feeling!
The highlight of my weekend was finishing up some craft projects and getting my nails done with one of my closest friends. Can we repeat this weekend and not start the work-week, please?
Love your wine glasses! Glad mom & baby are good…….and you didn’t have to
explain where mom & dad went in the middle of the night! Had to do that once, no fun!
Beautiful here in my part of Fl, went for Bonos Bar-b-que….yum! Visited with my 95 yr old mother and 26 yr old daughter while hubby watched basketball. Yay, Gators won! Fl teams are doing well, I hear!
Thanks for sharing your life experiences with us…….brings excitement to a mundane chore like cleaning out closets and drop offs to Goodwill. (Personally I like Salvation Army cause their head guy only makes $15,000 a yr so He must not do it for the money, huh? Hard to find people like that who truly care about their cause!). Sorry, didn’t mean to get on my soap box!
Have a good week! God bless.
The weather was glorious this weekend! Best part was clearing out the flower beds and seeing my hydrangeas coming back to life
So sick of dead looking brown bushes and trees!
Haha, I just posted about eating a Jimmy John’s sub for the first time (sort of) this weekend, and it was a veggie one! So good
Glad your sis-in-law and the baby are okay! You’ll have an exciting couple weeks while everyone waits for the baby!
The vegetarian jimmy johns are my fav sandwiches.. I get them with no mayo but add on their vinigerette sauce.. You should try that next time, its to die for!!
I love JJ veggie sandwiches too. I usually get the mayo thinking how healthy the rest of the sandwiches are since i order it in the lettuce wrap. I now intend to substitute the mayo for the vinaigrette and see what I think. Thanks for the idea.
Me and the BF went out to his family farm in the middle of NE. It was nice and relaxing looking out over the corn field ((doing my homework)) while the boys played on their new gator.
I NEED to do some spring cleaning!! A to the SAP!!
I’m a first time visitor and I’m enjoying your blog very much so far. Your photos are great! It’s so nice to see signs of spring already, but I’m a bit afraid of what this means for late spring/summer here in the Midwest!
The best part of my weekend was watching a great man named Brian complete a 135 mile run to honor fallen Wisconsin soldiers.
The Promises to Keep event (which was the name of the 135 mile run) also had a 10K, in which active service members, veterans, and runners could join in and push a veteran in a specialized running chair. Such an amazing weekend!
The highlight of my weekend was a candlelight mass at church Saturday night. Gorgeous!
By the way, I have those same wine glasses! I have a few sets of the Mikasa Cheers glasses. I use the highball glasses and the double old fashioned ones as my every day glasses, and I have the white and red wine sets, too. They are so pretty and unique!!!
my best part of the weekend was going for a 2 1/2 hour hike/scrambling in the MD/DC area on the billy goat trail! it was truly gorgeous outside! and of course on sunday playing with my nieces!
i totally get you when it comes to having the little ones spend the night – I’m not a parent at all, so when i have to do an overnight with them, I’m sooooo paranoid. my god little kids move so much!
My favorite part of the weekend was getting to spend time with friends I don’t get to see often enough. I, too, am loving this early spring weather and later sunsets! Have a great Monday!
Love the wine glasses! And I forget how the weather this time of the year makes me want a Berry Weiss!
Best part of the weekend? Hard to pick because it was such a good one.
We didn’t participate in a lot of the hoopla of St. Paddy’s Day activities, but just really enjoyed the weather.
Cheers to a fantastic week!
Have you tried the Jimmy johns sandwich on their homemade wheat bread? It is my favorite!
Isn’t this midwest weather fantastic? The whole weekend was great at our place, spring cleaning the house and the garage! Ready to plant flowers until realizing its only mid March!
Now you have me craving JJ’s good bread. mmmmmmm
Glad you SIL is A-OK! Talk about stressful!
The best part of this weekend??? Hard to pick one! But I’d say just being outside in this early spring weather takes the cake. It’s the little things, ya know?
Jimmy John’s just hasn’t been the same since they had to stop using sprouts (in Michigan anyway) due to E. coli. I hope they make it back on the menu soon!