High Five For Friday!!

Happy Friday everyone! It's the 'official' birthday weekend of the husband so instead of doing things I think he might enjoy (aka sumo wrestling), we are doing things he will actually enjoy (aka drinking a lot and eating food that is really bad for us).

So I am linking up with Lauren to share some of my five favorite things today...

one.

photo by Ryan Russell

If you live in the Atlanta area, you most likely have experienced the awesomeness that is 'The Vortex.'

My husband loves it for its extensive beer menu and double coronary burger (half pound sirloin patty, topped with two fried eggs, six slices of American cheese, eight slices of bacon and is served between two grilled cheeses which serve as the buns).

I am much more delicate and enjoy it for its fried pickles and yokohana burger (pineapple slice, jack cheese and teriyaki glaze).

I am definitely going to be unladylike and will unbutton my pants about half way during the meal.

two.

Picked up some of these bad boys outside of Wal-mart today.

There is really no point in arguing that these are the best. Hands down.

PS....anyone else notice inflation? I mean, I'm addicted to them like crack, so the $3.50 price tag isn't holding me back, but can I say I remember the good old days when they were $2.00 a box?

three.

Tomorrow night we are going to an Improv show with some friends. We had a blast when we went about a month ago, so I am really looking forward to hearing more about drunk sharks and giggling to really bad Obama impersonations.

four.

Someone got their birthday present today!

My mom and stepdad got JE a grill for his birthday so he spent the evening building it and grilling cheddar-wursts on it for us. He absolutely loves it and is currently reading about grilling tips online while I write this.

Please excuse the mess - we were grill building.

five. 

Tomorrow my favorite yarn store in Atlanta is having a 20% off EVERYTHING sale!! Also, the first 50 people get a free gift. 

You best believe I am going to be there at opening and will not hesitate to throw the elbows to any old lady that gets in my way. 

Just kidding. 

(not really).

I hope you all have a great weekend!! Eat some girl scout cookies for me!

~With Love, Ashlee~

Semi-Naked Sweaty Men

If I had asked my husband, 'Hey Honey, do you want to celebrate your birthday by having sweat tossed onto you while watching two almost naked men wrestle around?' 

I assume the answer would have been 'no, not really.'

I had stumbled upon a LivingSocial deal about a month ago which advertised a package including a sumo competition, sushi dinner and sake tasting. 

If those three things don't spell out, 'Hooray, I'm turning 30!' then .... I'm confused. 

Sunday morning after a month of secrecry, I spill the beans to my husband that we are going to go watch a sumo competition. After a lot of confused laughter, the excitement set in. Then like the true pupil he is...he began studying and read all morning about sumo culture, rules and fun facts. 

 

The event took place at the Opera house in downtown Atlanta. Nothing spells sumo competition like opera house. 

 

When we got to our seats, we were greeted with edamane and sake.  

My personal favorite was the Bonzai Bunny Blueberry Sake.

 We also got a pamphlet on sumo wrestling with all the US Sumo association sumo wrestlers and their stats. No trading cards though :(

 (sidenote: Did you know that there are female sumo wrestlers?? And I weigh more than a lot of them?????)

 Oh did I mention that I paid extra so we were VIP. That meant we got sit front row, center. Only feet away from the ring. 

The two men that we got to watch were Byamba and Kelly Gneiting. 

Byamba is from Mongolia and has been the World Sumo Champion three times and Kelly is from Idaho and has been the US Sumo Champion four times. 

Their stats - Byamba is 27 years old, 6'1" and 365 lbs. Kelly is 42 years old, 6'0" and 420 lbs. 

(Byamba left, Kelly right)

While they sumo wrestled, we ate sushi, drank sake and I was delighted to be a handed a cupcake when I had consumed my daily quota of raw fish.

Here's a video I took of their last match of the evening...

And lastly, afterwards we got to do a meet and greet with them.

Note to self: next time you get your picture taken with a sumo wrestler, do a thumbs up.

Colorado friends, I just looked at the LivingSocial website and the tour is heading to Denver April 27th and 28th. 

Jump on it!

High Five For Friday!

Hey You! It's Friday! Hooray! I'm linking up with Lauren to share the five things I am pretty excited about this Friday.

one. 

This weekend the husband and I are doing part 1 of his birthday celebration! It's not for another week, but I have a special day planned and it had to be this Sunday due to scheduling constraints, so that's when we will pretend he is turning the big 3-0. 

I am wayyyy more overwhelmed by him turning 3-0 than he is. I keep staring at him and going, 'I can't believe you are turning 30. You're going to be like....30' And then he goes, 'Meh.' 

I can't even imagine the third-life-crisis I am going to have in three years.

His big birthday surprise has been just that. A surprise. As soon as I planned out his surprise, I asked him if he wanted to know. This was my way of asking, 'Hey Honey, you know that I can't keep a big surprise secret for very long, so can you please pretend like you want to know so I can tell you and not feel guilty about it not being a surprise?' He told me he wanted it be a surprise, more out of wanting to watch me squirm for a few weeks, rather than actually caring about having a surprise. 

I am t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e at keeping surprises to myself, and I figured out what we were going to do over a month ago, so I have been sitting on this damn surprise for way too long and I can not wait until we can all openly talk about how awesome his birthday gift was. 

I think on Sunday it is going to feel like I finally got to pee after holding it for far far too long.

two. 

This past Birchbox I got a sample of Miss Jessies Pillow Soft Curl Cream. Besides it smelling like a dryer sheet (literally...it says that was what they were going for with the scent on the label) it is so fabulous. I have really wavy, fuzzy and poufy hair and this product actually gives me big, loose curls without making my hair crunchy. 

It is honestly the only product that I have ever used on my hair to make it curly that I actually like.

I went out and bought the full size of it from Target for $22.00 and I think I can make it last for about three months, so I consider the sticker shock to be worth it. 

(P.S. - if you don't do Birchbox and want to try this product, if you go to Miss Jessies website here, you can get two free product samples of any of their stuff. I really recommend it.)

three. 

Tonight we are hanging out with our 'little.' 

John and I have been doing Big Brothers, Big Sisters for a few months now and really love our little. Tonight he is coming on over, eating dinner and watching a movie with us. 

This is basically just an excuse for me to get to buy frozen pizza and watch 'The Lorax.'

four. 

My husband bought me a 'just because' present the other day and it arrived today. I had been wanting to read it for a while but I was number 387 (no joke) in the HOLD queue at the library so it was going to be a few years before I got it. Hoping to dive into it this weekend a bit. 

five. 

A new Indian food restaurant opened in town today and I am so excited. The hard opening was only today, but it is already getting rave reviews from a lot of trusted sources. 

Indian food is my ABSOLUTE favorite (besides the Olive Garden, Chipotle and Panera) so I think if I play my cards right, I might be able to go stuff my face with some saag paneer within the week. 

Hey husband, let's go get Indian food this week! Please?!?

Grown Up Things

Today was a day filled with doing all sorts of grown-up things that you never want to do.

The type of things that you write on a to-do list and transfer over to the next day's to-do list for a whole month.

Today...

I used the extender thingy on my vacuum and sucked up cobwebs in the corners and got peanut butter M&M's out of the crevices in my couch.

I called a company and got put on hold for 35 minutes. Once I got through, I spoke to them in my adult voice and told them how my bill was wrong for the third month in a row. Even asked to speak to a manager after the representative was no help.

I washed pillows and cushions and blankets and rugs and sheets and towels.

I used fabric softener for the first time during the wash cycle (thanks Downy for the free sample).

I put little wool pads on the bottom of my furniture since I have hardwood floors now.


I fixed a table (and by fix, I mean I slathered the broken part in gorilla glue and hoped for the best).  

I did accounting and filed important documents.

I cleaned all the weird parts of the coffee machine.

I laughed until I had tears rolling down my cheeks as I watched America's Funniest Home Video and drank a glass of wine.

Today made me feel old, boring, accomplished and satisfied.