Tomorrow's To Dos

Twilight

Posted on July 28, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

How can there possibly be more update: I will admit, writing thank you notes is a lot more fun when the season premiere of Project Runway is on. On that note, it looks like I’m only going to get five done tonight instead of ten. Meh, no biggie. In other news, it’s our two month anniversary today! How did we celebrate? With McFlurries of course.

BONUS NOTE: Immediately following Project Runway was one of the most ridiculous, yet mesmerizing, reality shows on TV right now – Dance Moms. You should probably check it out.

A nice little Thursday night

We have been invited to play a round of twilight golf with Marcus’ brother and his wife tomorrow evening out at Des Moines Golf & Country Club. This should be comical considering I’ve never played a round of golf in my life. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m supposed to wear?!

If I had these readily available, and ever thought I would actually get into golfing, this is what I’d wear:

Ralph Lauren Golf, Kylie sleeveless mesh polo, $36.75

Callaway, Belted Pique Polo Golf Dress, $100

Lilly Pulitzer, Jarvey skort, $78

Posted in Family, Fashion, Sports | Tagged fore, golf outfits | Leave a comment

How can there possibly be more?!

Posted on July 27, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Holding memories update: After work I headed straight to Walgreens to pick up my printed photos. With the glossy prints in hand, I swung by my sister’s town home (not for long though because they finally sold it! HORRAY!) to watch the little bean while they went out ~~with their realtor to look at houses~~ to BUY A HOUSE! Who knew?! They found what they were looking for and pounced on it. Now, if only I could do that with looking for a car…

Now all I have to do is sit down and stuff it with memories!

My little bean. She's getting so big!

Tomorrow – MORE THANK YOU’S! Right? Right.

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Holding memories

Posted on July 26, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Jazz in July update: It feels good to be the mayor of something. Of course I am talking about being the mayor (Foursquare reference) of the Jazz in July venue tonight, Terrace Hill. With all the wedding and family trips to the compound I know that place inside and out! The evening went off without a hitch and included a few of my favorite things: music outdoors, family, wine and sweet treats – you gotta love that, even though it was a little bit sweaty.

Jazz in July at Terrace Hill

I need to get started on getting our wedding album put together. We received this fabulous personalized album as a gift and I can’t wait to get our photos organized and into it. It is such a great gift if you know a couple getting hitched anytime soon. Especially if the bride is as crazy about photos and organizing as I am.

Pottery Barn, Engravable Wedding Album, $79

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Jazz in July

Posted on July 26, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

DELAYED POST SINCE THE INTERNET REFUSED TO WORK IN OUR HOUSE LAST NIGHT!

Summer daze update: I have uploaded all of my wedding photos to all of the appropriate venues – Walgreens and Facebook, obviously. It still is so hard for me to pick my favorites, but if I HAVE TO, then I would go with these:

Now, just have to start on that wedding scrapbook/album work. Oh, and finally be done with the thank yous. I did crank a lot out over the weekend, but yet I feel like I didn’t even make a dent. BOO!

Check out the friends we found in our backyard this weekend. I proceeded to throw them a piece of bread and they came unglued!

We also had a man-tastic Sunday filled with getting deer cocaine (yes, there really is such a thing) at Wal-Mart, checking out the deals at Sportsman’s Warehouse and finishing up strong with wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. Actually, it was a pretty good Sunday. Check these cute little hunting dog boots out. Even though Karl isn’t a “hunter” these boots were almost too adorable to pass up.

Tomorrow, Terrace Hill is hosting Jazz in July for the evening with the Ballyhoo Foxtrot Orchestra taking the stage at 6 p.m., so you know where I will be. Personally, I’m looking forward to sipping a glass of wine while enjoying some outdoor music. Last time I did that at this venue was for our wedding day. I can’t believe it’ll already be two months ago this Thursday – crazy! SLOW DOWN SUMMER!

Posted in Wedding | Tagged wedding photographer | Leave a comment

Summer daze

Posted on July 18, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Sky high update: Kind of funny that my previous posts’ name still portrays how I feel after this weekend. No, I did not find the car of my dreams – still looking. But, I did get all 549 of our wedding photos late Friday night from our fabulous photographer, Mark Kegans. Once again, I will try not to gush too much about how great he is – but seriously, he’s THE BEST! Even though I had to be up early the next morning to stain our deck before it got crazy hot and humid outside, I stayed up and went through each frame and basically relived our wedding day. I will be sure to post my faves when I receive the disc of images later on this week.

It was hot, hot, hot this weekend, but that didn’t keep me indoors. Deck staining on Saturday, and pool and BBQ with friends on Sunday. Gotta embrace the Iowa summer!

Deck stain, more like neck strain! Glad to be done with that. A HUGE thank you to my dad for helping out!

BBQ fixins

One of THE favorite dishes of the day was the strawberry couscous salad. I’m still having dreams about this one and I can’t wait to make it again!

These next couple of days are supposed to be even hotter than the last few (how is that even possible?), so my plan is to hit the pool after work to cool off and unwind – and hopefully get in the right mindset to bite the bullet and finally finish our wedding thank yous. We get a year, right?

Posted in Family, Friends, Wedding | Tagged wedding, wedding photographer | Leave a comment

Sky high

Posted on July 13, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Fighting Irish update: Now that I have fully recovered from the 3-day trip to Indy (it’s crazy what just an hour time change will do to your body), I am ready to get back into the swing of things. I’m feelin’ pretty good about the fact that I’ve managed to do some sort of cardio for three days in a row (WILD, I know!) and was pleasantly surprised when I received an email from one of my besties last night titled “Winner winner chicken dinner”. The subject, of course, referred to having a DSM ladies night out for dinner – and the chosen restaurant was Americana. I have only been there for lunch, so I was really looking forward to trying out their dinner menu, and better yet, their long list of cocktails.

I ended up ordering the Mac & Cheese with chicken and while waiting for my piping hot cheesy noodles I sipped on a cool concoction called a Strawberry Bitch. I highly recommend both!

Cool cocktails and hot noodles - great combo!

Tomorrow I am going again to a dealership to check out a Volvo S60 that just came available on their lot. Really hoping that this is the ONE. Fingers crossed. This time I will remember that 4 inch wedges are not the best shoes to be wearing when test driving a car that isn’t yours!

But really, I LOVE my summer wedges and can’t get enough of them! I had these bad boys on today.

My Dolce Vita for Target wedges

Check out this pair that I have my “summer sale” eyes on:

Anthropologie, Bright foundations wedges, On sale $79.95

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Fighting Irish

Posted on July 10, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Go Fourth update: I had short work week without Monday or Friday because we had the pleasure of being invited to share in our high school friend’s big day, which just so happened to take place in South Bend, Indiana – the site of the start of their relationship during their years at Notre Dame.

I first met Onie (our nickname for Meghan O’Neill) in grade school when we played against each other in parochial league basketball. We ended up playing various sports together on traveling and high school teams and became friends. Onie was always light years ahead of me in school and went on to become our class valedictorian. She headed off to Notre Dame and was lucky enough to meet a great guy, Nick.

Their wedding weekend was full of family, tradition and a whole lot of love. And man, what a beautiful campus. Cheers to the newlyweds!

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Guzman!

Posted in Family, Friends, Wedding | Tagged Notre Dame | Leave a comment

Go Fourth

Posted on July 4, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Coral reef update: I finally got around to pampering myself a little bit on Friday by getting a much-needed pedicure. That eve Marcus and I made our way down to Yankee Doodle Pops to enjoy some outdoor music and fireworks to kick off our long 4th of July weekend. On Saturday we headed down to Sun Valley Lake with a few friends to partake in all that summer is about – sun, water and the outdoors. After we returned on Sunday we celebrated Mack’s official birthday with grilled cheese and strawberry cake – both hit the spot! I finished off my patriotic 3-day weekend by joining Sidney at her first parade in Urbandale. After such a full weekend it’s no wonder that I’m already tucked in under the covers and it’s only 7:45 p.m.

Yankee Doodle Pops

Sun Valley Lake

Mack's B-day

Sid's First Fourth

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Coral reef

Posted on June 28, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Rapunzel, let your hair down update: And let her hair down she did, all the way from the tower. I’ve never seen so many kids in one place all hopped up on PB&Js and chocolate cake. Maybe Marcus and I can continue to wait a little bit longer before we are ready to have kids. But, gosh, they were all so darn cute!

Mackenzie Branstad's 5th Birthday Party

I am in desperate need of a pedicure so that is exactly what I will be treating myself to tomorrow. Now that my tootsies are exposed daily, I have to keep up on their maintenance. Plus, who doesn’t love sitting in those magical massage chairs! I’m thinking of going with coral this time around since it seems to be all over the stores right now.

Here are a few hot coral pieces that caught my eye:

Kenneth Jay Lane, Coral link necklace, $80

Kate Spade, Terrazzo Sandra skirt, $135

J. Crew Factory, Short sleeve open cardi, $49.50

Posted in Birthdays, Fashion | Tagged Birthday girl, coral | Leave a comment

Rapunzel, let your hair down

Posted on June 27, 2011 by tomorrowstodos

Baby you’re a firework update: While the husband is away the wife will find new blogs to read. Well, it’s close enough to the original saying, right? Anywho, I’m in the market for some new lifestyle blogs to follow. Now that the wedding is over I have no real need to keep checking out Style Me Pretty, Snippet&Ink, and Once Wed on a daily basis. Do you have any blogs that you would like to recommend?

In other news, I finally got to try out the hot new restaurant in town, Americana. We did a little co-worker lunch outing today to welcome a newbie to the team, and the new digs did not disappoint the taste buds. I sipped on an Arnold Palmer while I enjoyed the Grilled Cheese Panini with Parmesan french fries. Man, did that hit the spot! I can’t wait to go back to try out their list of cocktails. Happy hour anyone?

Americana, 1312 Locust Avenue, Des Moines

Tomorrow is a big day for a special little gal in our lives. Ms. Mackenzie is celebrating her upcoming 5th birthday with a magical Rapunzel-themed fete at Grandma & Grandpa’s castle, aka Terrace Hill. I cannot wait to see how all the decorations turned out that her mom put together, and her birthday cake of course will be out of this world!

Check out these adorable, themed birthday parties from my favorite party inspiration blog, Hostess with the Mostess, for the kids in your life:

Arts & Painting birthday party

Very Hungry Caterpillar birthday party

Super Hero birthday party

Posted in Birthdays, Blogs, Local Spots | Tagged Birthday girl, Local Eats, nieces | 1 Comment