The Terrace:)

Hey, yo! Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful summer! While we haven't had as many really warm days as I'd like (I say that on a day we hit 90;), I have really been able to take advantage of some fun excursions in the past month or two. Work is a lot more lowkey for me over the summer, so it's a lot easier to just relax and enjoy rather than stressing about the next day. That being said, that means I spend less time blogging too, but I suppose that's not too much different than any other time of the year, ha!

One of the fun things we got to do about a month ago was go to The Terrace at Memorial Union on UW's campus to watch L's brother perform during their weekly open mic night. He got to sing 3 songs (he did great!), and since we got there early to save seats, it also allowed us to just spend some time with L's family. Always fun! It's kind of crazy that despite us all living in the Madison area, we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like. Life gets so busy, I tell ya. Anyway, I took a few fun photos that night and thought I'd share. We don't go too often because we hate the logistics of getting there and parking, but I sure like it once I'm there! :)

 

 L's nephew Tai Long. What a cutie! :)

 

 

 They are known for their colorful chairs. Love 'em!

 <3

 L's niece Dahlia. She loves yellow:).

 

 

 Gorgeous sunset views!

 

 

 

L and his brother Chark!

All and all, a really fun night. Was great to see family and see Chark perform! :)

Crockpot Potato Soup

After a stressful few weeks at work, I can happily say that this weekend was perfect (minus L not being here, of course;). I got to explore the city a bit, I got to relax, and I don't feel a single ounce of stress about going back to work tomorrow. Not sure where the shift in mindset came from, but it feels SO good! Perhaps it's just me being happy that L will be back in 4 days (ahhhhh!:), but overall, I think I'm just getting a better handle on things in general, and when you can have a relaxing, productive weekend like I did, it just helps give some peace of mind. I'll share a few photos from my early weekend adventures, and I'll end with a potato soup recipe I made on Saturday. Stay tuned for another post soon about my crazy adventures today of preparing six crockpot freezer meals! That kitchen of mine and I are gettin' reallllll close these days. I think L might start to get jealous!;)

 My coworker Megan (left) and her new fiance Ilsa! Out celebrating with them this weekend!

Met up with L's sisters and sister-in-law yesterday for breakfast, a museum, and lunch. We had such a great day! Some evidence of that includes this delicious hot cocoa from Bradbury's!

 And cinnamon and sugar crepes. Mmmmmm.

 Still love seeing the Capitol!

 Had to have a bloody to snap me out of my hangover from the aforementioned night out!;)

 In love with the mini chaser that came with my bloody!

 Don't judge us for all ordering drinks while L's niece Dahlia was in tow. ;)

And now onto the Crockpot Potato Soup! (Original recipe here.)

 The ingredients!

 Throw your big bag of square hashbrowns into the crockpot. (I use a 6qt crockpot.)

 Add in the onions.

 And the cream of chicken soup.

 And the pepper.

 And the broth! (Just an FYI: I added a little more broth than the recipe called for since I read in the comments that some people thought it was too thick.)

 After the soup cooks for about 5 hours, cube up your cream cheese and throw it in the crockpot!

 

 Add in the cheese as well. 

(Sorry I didn't take one once it was all cooked up in the crockpot. My bowl below is as good as it gets!)

Num num!!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 bag (30 oz.) hash browns (The square kind is recommended.)
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth (That comes out to a little less than 4 cups; I used 5 cups total to address the issue of it being too thick that came up in the recipe's comments. As it cooked, I worried that I had used too much because it was rather liquidy, but it sure thickened up in the fridge later!)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 cup chopped onions - (As usual, I used the frozen diced kind.)
• 1/3 tsp pepper
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 1 (8 oz.) block of cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

• Combine 1 bag frozen hash browns, 2 cans chicken broth (or however much you choose to use), 1 can cream of chicken soup, 1/2 cup chopped onion, and 1/3 tsp black pepper.
• Cook in crockpot on medium for 4-5 hours. (I am still getting used to my crockpot, and I only have 'low' and 'high' options, so this timing didn't quite work for me. After 4 hours on low, nothing was really mixing together, so I put the last hour on high.)
• Stir in cream cheese and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I had an issue with the cream cheese not melting that well, so there were little small chunks of cream cheese still in there after an hour longer on high. Once I whisked it and got them mostly taken care of, I gave it a shot and it was pretty delicious.)
• Top with cheese, green onion, and bacon crumbles (optional). 

Christmas in Colby and Birthday in Madison!

I feel like I got a little spoiled with all the holiday festivities I had this year. After all the wonderful time with L's family (see here), I worked a couple days and then we got to head back to Colby for a long weekend. We started off the weekend by having a delicious dinner at Royal Tokyo (LOVE that place!), so that was a perfect welcome home. We had our family Christmas on Saturday, which was fun as always, and then we celebrated a BIG Packer win on Sunday. Loved every second of the weekend! I sadly didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked with my family at Christmas, but I was able to capture a few good ones. Guess that means I was just too busy having a good time! :)

After Colby, we came back to Madison to celebrate my birthday and to enjoy some time off work since I had this whole week off (yes!). Pretty sad that it's already Friday, but it's been a great week nonetheless. Some good friends from La Crosse came down to help celebrate with me, so we had a whole day of activities to help ring in my 28th year. We had breakfast at Sofra, a restaurant around here that we'd never been to. We'll go back for sure; it was great! After that, we stopped at Hody so I could get a bloody since I love them there, and from there, we went to Nitty Gritty, which is a place that basically markets itself as a birthday bar. I got a free glass mug from there, and I was able to drink all the free tap beer I wanted for the entire day. Not only that, but they gave a card that allows me to come back for a free birthday sundae once a month for a year. Seriously?! Loved it. We stayed there awhile, ate some good food, and then migrated to our regular mainstay of Paul's Neighborhood Bar where we remained the rest of the night. I was rather buzzed, but overall did pretty good throughout that day! We came home and had ice cream cake and rang in the new year quietly. It was a perfect day!!! Feel free to take a look at photos from Colby and from my birthday. Happy new year!

 Mom and dad at Royal Tokyo!

 So much delicious food!

 Onion volcano!:)

 Back of my birthday hat!

 No RT trip is complete without sake bombs!

 :)

 Drew taking after Aunt Nae Nae with the olive fingers. ;)

 Jake sporing his fake bacon tuxedo shirt. Ha!

 Me and L!

 Me and my cousin, Sarah!

 Pretty soon, I think he's gonna have to give up the "special hug." :)

 L and I got a Traeger tailgate grill for Christmas. SO excited!!

 Yummy meal at home! :)

 Go Pack Go!

 Celebratory drink after the Packers beat the Bears!

Group photo!:)

MY BIRTHDAY!

 Birthday mimosa!

 Amazzzzzing breakfast quesadillas!

 Enjoying my free beer for a good chunk of the day!

 A little unsure about this... ;)

 

 My friends:).

 Me and Kayleigh!

 

 Happy New Year!:)

Can't go wrong with an ice cream cake from DQ! And L surprised me with cute little Wizard of Oz figures. What a guy, I tell ya! :)

Big birthday shout out to my nephew Tayt who shares my birthday! Happy 7th, little guy!:)