Category Archives: 5 Faves

5 Faves – Chick Flicks

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

In honor of Valentine’s Day and after being inspired by Lauren Conrad’s post of her top 10 favorite chick flick movies, I thought it would be fun to share my 5 Faves when it comes to romantic chick flicks! One glance at my movie collection someone may come to the conclusion that a: a girl lives here or b: a child, it’s definitely a fair mix of romantic comedies and disney movies. I’m not ashamed to admit it, not even a little bit!

1. The Notebook – This is a classic chick movie, makes me cry every single time. It is on my list of favorite movies period – Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are incredibly talented actors and make you fall in love from their first moment together. The clip below is my absolute FAVORITE scene in the entire movie…. love love love:)

2. The Holiday – What girl doesn’t dream of venturing off to a foreign country and meeting a gorgeous man? This is just that – if you haven’t seen this movie, get a group of your girls together, popcorn and enjoy.

3. Dear John – Nicholas Sparks is a writing genius and when his books are adapted to the big screen it’s a mystery to how it’ll turn out, this movie starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried is a story of falling in love with someone after 2 weeks and everything that comes after. It’s heart-wrenching and inspiring at the same time.

4. 10 Things I Hate About You – To say I was obsessed with this movie is an understatement, to this day I can still quote every single line. Hands down one of my all time favorite movies, this may have been the movie where I fell in love with Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon Levitt – long before Batman and 500 days of summer:)

5. Crazy, Stupid Love AND Friends with Benefits – It’s only fair to have a current movie in my 5 faves but there is no way to choose between these too. Ryan Gosling vs. Justin Timberlake – nope, I just can’t do it! They both make me laugh out loud and fall in love with the male leads – the perfect mix for a chick flick.

Friends with Benefits

This weekend I’ll be heading off to the theaters to see The Vow with a bunch of girlfriends, hoping it’ll be added to the list of favorite movies!

*Yes I’m aware, I have a minor obsession with Channing Tatum and Ryan Gosling – as you can see by the trend in movies, but a girl can’t help it. They are on “the list” with Ryan Reynolds and a few others;)*

Posted in 5 Faves

Fall Edition of 5 Faves – Minneapolis Lifestyle Photography

Monday, October 24, 2011

The leaves are changing, as we step outside there’s a nip at our nose and we come home at night to curl up next to the fire; fall has arrived. Thankfully it’s appearance was slow this year and it’ll take its sweet time making its exit because as much as we know it’s coming, we’re never fully prepared for winter. This is one of my favorite times of year, the temperature hovers around 50 degrees and people seem to be more cheerful with all the holidays approaching. I found it would only be fitting to share some of my favorite things about this fall, so far.

1. Discovering new music

Spotify has become my new go to music application, sorry iTunes, but the ability to listen to an ENTIRE album for free is genius! Not only that, but I can find out what my friends are listening to and add their playlists to mine. Wish I came up with this! Recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Matt Nathanson, Mat Kearney and James Morrison, but this weekend while I was editing I discovered Mayer Hawthorne and re-introduced myself to Ryan Adams. They are all extremely talented artists, which is why I couldn’t choose just 1 to share with y’all, join me on Spotify and check them out because you won’t regret it!

2. Scarf season

Black. Blue. Red. Yellow. White. You name a color, most likely I have a scarf of it hanging in my closet right now. It’s a minor addiction, but a healthy one because they are perfect for this time of year. Pair it with a long sleeve shirt, skinny jeans and boots, perfect yet simple outfit; like the outfit in the picture, cute…right?

3. Engagements

Seems this time of year has those gentlemen getting down on one knee and asking their beautiful lady for their hand in marriage. Luckily two of my FAVORITE couples are engaged! I am so overjoyed for both of these couples, Molly (who is a long time friend and avid blog reader) and her man Phil have gotten engaged after 5 years of dating. We just had coffee last weekend and were talking about when Phil would pop the question, little did we know it would be a few short days later! Now Keri and Curtis, after ten years of dating, they are finally ENGAGED! I received a text from Curtis a few days before he proposed informing me he was going to pop the question and I was shaking from excitement. I feel extremely lucky to have watched their relationship grow over the last 5 years and can’t wait to see them get married! Congratulations to both couples, I am so incredibly happy for you!

(Molly and Phil at her sister Abby’s wedding 2 years ago)

(Keri and Curtis at Denae’s wedding this summer)

4. Birthdays

In our family, the 3 of us kids have fall birthdays… 1 in October and 2 in November, so I have to say it may be another reason why it’s one of my favorite times of year! My brother Jesse turned the big 25 last month which means in 2 weeks I will be turning (big sigh) 27, I have told myself I am going to embrace it… let’s not even think about how I’m going to handle turning 30, at least I have a few years until that moment! My mom and I were talking about how we were going to celebrate Tyler’s 23rd birthday this year, usually it’s a movie and this year it happens to fall on the release of Happy Feet 2. (sidenote: my mom and I have no shame in seeing kid movies) Mom said “Ty’s probably wondering when we are going to see a movie he would ACTUALLY go see,” because we all know a 23 year old boy would not be going to see an animated movie on his birthday.:)

5. Yoga

My newest workout obsession, at least over the last year or so, has been Yoga at Lifetime Fitness. Now that the girls are back in school, I have mornings available to head to the gym and grab a hot yoga class. Whoever said yoga isn’t a workout has not tried LifePower Yoga, between the heat and how long we hold poses it is seriously intense. While I’ve been practicing yoga for awhile now, recently I’ve been attending classes at least 3 times a week and can’t get enough! On a cold fall day it’s refreshing to be able to walk into the warm yoga studio and get a great workout done in an hour, so if anyone ever wants to try it out… let me know! I’ll gladly accompany you!

(someday I will be able to do this!)

Posted in 5 Faves, Personal

5 Faves – Summer

Sunday, July 17, 2011

 Sadly, 5 faves have not been getting a lot of blog attention lately which means it is only fair that on this incredibly hot day I have locked myself in my office to blog, edit and rock out to some great music. It got me thinking that I needed to share a few of the things I am loving so far this summer, feel free to leave a comment down below if there’s something you’re loving too!

1. Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean featuring Ludacris

They performed this song at the CMAs earlier this summer and I have been OBSESSED ever since, a country song with LUDACRIS, done and done!

2. Pop Chips

I’m always looking for new healthy snacks and stumbled across these at Target, I heard good things about them so I figured they were on sale.. why not?! They are delicious and SUPER addicting! Thankfully they have lots of flavors, so I’ll be able to switch it up!

3. Summer shows: Franklin & Bash, Suits and Rookie Blue

If you haven’t been watching TV this summer, you are missing out… go set your DVR right now to record these three shows, Franklin and Bash, bringing back Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell and he looks even better now… (ladies, he’s shirtless in the first episode), Suits… looks at that picture, do I need to say much more? Rookie Blue has been a guilty pleasure since it debuted last year, it is phenomenal and just got picked up for a 3rd seasons so I highly recommend catching on now!!!

4. Fitz & The Tantrums

I am a frequentl listener of Cities97, I love the variety of music they play… even if they play Adele’s Rolling in the Deep 8 times a day (a little burnt out of that song), but when they were getting ready for the Basilica Block Party they were featuring many of the artists who would be performing. One of the bands that stood out to me was Fitz and the Tantrums, I am terribly disappointed I couldn’t make it to the block party because I heard they put on an incredible show!!! My favorites on their CD: Moneygrabber, L.O.V. and Rich Girls!

5. Hawaiian Topic Sunscreen

Skin Cancer? No thank you, I’ll stick with my SPF 30 every day for the summer… I have finally found a suncreen that doesn’t smell like SUNSCREEN! There’s something about Hawaiian Topic, it makes me feel like I’m on a vacation on a tropical island.. yes I’m a dork:)

Hope everyone is having a great summer so far, can’t believe it’s almost half way over and it’s going to be 120 (with humidity) today in Minnesota! It is a hot one, but I will not complain because come January and February I will be begging for this!:)

Posted in 5 Faves

Freeziac – A Fave :)

Monday, May 2, 2011

Do you like frozen yogurt? Do you like to put on as many different toppings as possible?! Well then you HAVE to make your way to Freeziac in Eden Prairie, there’s also one in the Mall of America! My friend Kelly took me to this fantastic place almost 2 years ago and I have been a frequent customer ever since. Emma (the youngest of the girls I nanny for) and I LOVE going there, at least once a week to get our “ice cream” fix. It’s such a great concept, you can pick out whatever kind(s) of frozen yogurt you want and a massive array of toppings. This is perfect for kids, because what kind doesn’t love to load ice cream with LOTS AND LOTS of candy, fudge and more candy! My personal favorite is vanilla yogurt with m&m’s (duh), cookie dough pieces, heath bar and a little fudge. This is by no means “healthy” but it tastes so good!!!!:) Once the weather starts to warm up, we will be making our way to Freeziac on our bikes, that will help to justify the eating of it, right?

Posted in 5 Faves, Personal

5 Faves – Music Edition

Saturday, February 19, 2011

“Without music, life would be a mistake”

A day doesn’t go by without music being played at my desk, in my car, at the gym and even in the shower, it’s a large part of who I am as a person. I have wondered if you can tell the type of music a person listens to by looking at them, if so what would people think I listen to? Country? Pop? Rock? Hip Hop? Well, it would be ALL of those! I believe I have a very eclectic taste in music, I can go from listening to Brad Paisley to Ludacris, a little Michael Buble, Jay-Z and back to James Morrison… I’d say I enjoy everything other than Polka. Sorry, can’t say that does anything for me:)Here’s a little of what I’m listening to right now and a few of my all time favorites….

1. Amos Lee

Until last month I had no idea who Amos Lee was and now I can’t stop listening to him, my dad bought his newest CD Mission Bell and after listening to a few of the songs I had to buy his self titled CD. This has to be one of my favorites from the album, gives me goosebumps. Love his voice.

2. Lupe Fiasco

A certain 15 year old and I have been playing this song every day for the last few weeks, it’s on MTV Jams daily and on my work out music… his lyrics are not what you would assume from a “rap” artist. His new CD comes out March 8th and I’m really looking forward to it, so much good music!

3. O.A.R.

Junior year of high school, one of my first concerts sans the parentals… incredible. Since then I have seen O.A.R. 10 or 11 times, oh my I can’t remember! It’s usually at least once a year but last year their tour didn’t bring them close to Minnesota.. I’ve been going through withdrawal. According to a tweet I received from Richard On, they are hoping to include us on their 2011 tour. YESSS!!!! I will not miss it, that’s a promise!:)If you haven’t seen them, come with me… you will not regret it!!

4. Lady Antebellum

Their first album was amazing, I wasn’t sure their second could top it.. but it most definitely did. After watching the Grammy’s the other weekend, it just reaffirmed how talented they are. It was one of my favorite performances of the night! My most recent obsession from their CD is Hello World.. love love love.

5. Girl Talk

I’m always looking for new music to edit and workout to, so what did I do… oh I posted it on facebook that I was looking for new music. Miss Kellee suggested Girl Talk, I had one of his other albums on my computer but honestly never listened to it. So when she said that it rocked and was FREE, I jumped all over it. This cd has to be one of the BEST to work out to, and for those of us with Song ADD it’s PERFECT. He’s a mash-up genius! My brain doesn’t work like that, combining songs to make it flow perfectly.. no way Jose! If you have Song ADD like me, DJ Earworm is another great mash-up man!

Posted in 5 Faves

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