¡cinco de mayo!

last week, my coworker and i were helping an international student in our office. she was from mexico! as we were making small talk with her, my coworker asked, "so what are you doing for cinco de mayo?" and she responded with laughter. "why do americans celebrate cinco de mayo? we don't even celebrate it in mexico." ... what?! really? i couldn't believe it haha! i always thought it was a big deal. she said, "americans just like an excuse to celebrate."

and i realized that yes, yes we do.

i don't know what cinco de mayo represents or why it is even a "holiday," but we celebrated because we could! and we celebrated the best way i know how...

cafe rio!

can i tell you my five favorite things about cafe rio? 

(five in honor of cinco de mayo)

1. the heavenly house dressing

2. the perfectly soft tortillas 

3. the mints and the dr pepper w/ the little balls of ice 

4. everything else

5. one meal = TWO MEALS! 

¡ay ay ay! ¡we should celebrate the cinco of every month! 

the avengers

despite what scotty's facial expression suggests in the following picture, he was SO excited to see the avengers.  he had been looking forward to it for the longest time. i have been constantly reminded over the past few months that "we WILL be seeing the avengers on opening day." okay, then. 

so we went on friday night. and let me just say, i normally don't appreciate action/adventure movies. i want either something funny, or something romantic. typical girl. so i just shrugged my shoulders and followed my skipping-with-joy husband into the theater. not really comprehending what all the hype was about. 

that is... after we got a mr. pibb at this awesome pop machine! have you ever seen anything like this? we hadn't haha. touch screen! i love technology. 

and i LOVED the movie! we both thought it was amazing. i was entertained the whole time haha. scotty says it is the best movie he has ever seen.  i thought it was very well done. it was funny, it was never slow or boring, it was witty, it was exciting!! i loved the whole cast... 

but if i mean, if you want to know my favorite, it's captain america. hands down. he is so cute!! for one thing, he has like an 8-pack. muscles on his muscles. i left a big pile of drool on the theater floor. 

he was so respectful and honest and goodhearted. he was the best all-around guy. personality, looks, hair, ABS! i mean really, look at this guy:  

mmm. scotty's fave is iron man. he loves the wealthy business man/super hero combo.

overall, it was a great movie.  the second we got home, scotty asked if we could go again haha. i don't think i've ever seen a movie twice in the theater. it's just not worth the money to me. i can't justify $40 for going to the same movie twice. stupid. but that being said, we're going again on wednesday haha. 

it's that good! 

when life hands you lemons

have you ever quit the master cleanse halfway through? 

leaving you with two almost-full bags of lemons that you have no idea what to do with? 

i mean, really. what are you supposed to do with two bags of lemons? 

do they go bad? should i juice them all and can it for later? 

i've never made lemonade from real lemons before?! 

thinking about squeezing a half lemon on my dinner every once in a while made the end of these lemons seem eternities away. 

my cute husband knew exactly what to do. 

apparently in brazil they use limes. 

scotty peeled the lemons and plopped them into our blender with water a pinch of sugar*. 

he's a keeper!

i had my doubts about the taste of his concoction, but honestly it was great. 

tasted delicious! 

*maybe a few cups

the artist within

after numerous accounts throughout the last 2 years of me dropping obvious hints to scotty about going to Color Me Mine, the sweet guy caught on. 

we went two saturdays ago... and i might go as far as to say that it was one of the top 3 most fun dates we have ever been on. i soaked up every creative and productive second of it! it reminded me of living in washington and taking watercolor classes at a house up in the mountain. so artistic, i know. 

i missed painting. the vast array of colors, the different types of brushes. it's all mesmerizing to me. i feel like my creativity has deteriorated over the years. another thing that inspired the date is the fact that lately, i've acquired a random obsession with mugs. plus i am always hungry for more scotty-ashley-bonding time. so this activity fed all three of my desires. greatest husband ever? it was perfect. 

documentation of the night: 

scotty got an oversized bowl and i got an oversized mug. 

i guess we like oversized.

hard at work!

 waiting for our masterpieces to be glazed was a nightmare. i hate suspense. i hate waiting. i hate all of it.  i could only imagine the Color Me Mine employees pulling my mug out of the oven and accidentally dropping it on a tile floor, breaking it into pieces. thursday night practically felt like christmas eve. 

our works turned out beautiful! i love them! it's funny how we used the same amount of resources and time, yet our creations are completely different. scotty is the abstract, contemporary artist, while i will forever be a pink-lover. the frills, ruffles, polka dots, and banners are what warm my heart. 

scotty's:

mine:

 it's like... bigger than my face.

so excited. 

detox?

i did the master cleanse last week with some of my choice coworkers.

well... i tried. i really did. 

the master cleanse is a detox in which people only consume a mixture of lemon juice, water, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. 

i think you're supposed to do it for 10 days. 

we aimed for 5. 

i quit* after 3. 

.

.

.

.

*was obligated to resign because my mom came into town and wanted to take me out to dinner, lunch, ice cream, and other mother/daughter bonding experiences. can you blame me? look at the options.

 vs.

maybe the detox is overrated. 

O.S.S.

my dear friends, 

i come before you today with a problem. almost a disease, if you will. something i need to work on and overcome. it won't be easy, and the transition to a new and better lifestyle won't come quickly. i have slowly dragged myself deeper and deeper into this unhealthy habit. so much so, that it just seems normal to me. 

until saturday night. 

i ventured off to target on a mission to buy three simple things: 

1% milk

egg roll wrappers

the hunger games books 1 & 2

easy, right? 

in and out. 

wrong. 

as i was driving home, i was self-diagnosed with what i call O.S.S.

obsessive shopping syndrome. 

seriously. the second any amount of money comes into our bank account, i am giddy with adventure and suspense of what my newest future purchases will be. 

this problem is extremely dangerous because it can be triggered at any time, on any day, and ANYWHERE. walking to my car from work? pull up the nordstrom app. sitting in bed? surf online at www.asos.com. run to smiths for some eggs? come back with nail polish, candy, and children's books. go to target for milk, egg roll wrappers, and the hunger games books? 

come back with this: 

what part of "milk, egg roll wrappers, and the hunger games books" inspired me to compulsively buy 9 bags of merchandise and one box of capri suns?

my purchases couldn't even fit on one countertop. 

see blurred picture because of laughter below: 

i love shopping. i really do. it doesn't matter the store, the day, the time, the amount of money on me, or what i need. i just love shopping. 

someone help me. 

cheesing it up.

i've had a strange past few days. 

school ended, which was awesome. 

and i had all of this excitement and build up toward summer like i do every year. 

i even found myself singing this great summer song: (click here) 

and then all of my friends had facebook statuses like "home at last!" or "finally in my own room!" or "i love las vegas!" and all that type of stuff. 

and it hit me... im not going home this summer! i'm married now... so pootah is my home.

what. the. heck. 

i obviously knew i wasn't going home. but i didn't really understand that i wasn't going home until just recently. 

and it's a pretty heartbreaking concept to accept when you think of memories like these: 

 hanging with my girls. 

stratosphere rides.

 beach trips. 

 laying out with mom. 

 kissing my babies. 

 laughing at tanner. 

 swimming in my backyard. 

suddenly i didn't know what to be excited about. 

what is summer if you're just working full time and you don't even get to see your parents or friends or brothers or laugh at the fresh crop of weirdos in the singles ward or spend an entire saturday laying out by the pool with a cafe rio salad or have nightly BBQs from john and the grill? 

it's kind of depressing. 

but, as i was watching glee last week, i heard a quote that totally applied to the situation.

rachel was like "my home isn't some place, it's someone" 

and i was like "omg my home isn't vegas, it's SCOTTY!" 

so boom. i will be home for summer. 

cue "i'll be home for christmas" tune with modified lyrics. 

i'll be home for summer,

you can count on me. 

i'll be home for summer,

if only with my scottyyyyy

and now i'm excited.
our first married summer!
i love him.