Being a Homebod and a Traveler is Not Mutually Exclusive

As is evident from my posts, Alex and I travel A LOT. And we love to do it. A weekend trip is always a nice opportunity to get away from it all and spend time with people that are important to us. It really puts life into perspective. Not to mention, our trips usually involve tasty food, exploring new sights, friends and family and too much fun {You know it was a great weekend when you get home and feel the need for a full day to recuperate and catch your breath}.

As much energy as we have, it's a difficult pace to keep up, and we don't always want to. Often when we have that lone weekend sandwiched between two traveling weekends we become total homebodies and spend all of our time just the two of us. This past weekend was no exception. And I LOVED it. It's absolutely rejuvenating.

Friday I got home from work early {which is always a bonus, especially on Fridays} and I convinced Alex we should head to Whole Foods for Flights After 5. I think I've referred to this before, but basically Whole Foods features a brewery, or sometimes several, and has five different beers that you get to try with food pairings. The whole shabang is only $5; actually only $4 per person if you bring back your beer tasting glass! It's always an interesting crowd and this time it was a local brewery {for Craft Beer Week} and the owner/brewmaster was on site. I got my fill of beer and food while Alex got his fill of answers {well, let's be honest, he probably would've stayed and talked even more if I let him}.

It's such a great value and a really good time. I also love it because it's early. On Fridays I don't usually have too much energy to spend the whole night on the town, so an hour or two is perfect. They also had wood fired pizza outside, so after our tasting we picked up a little more food for a light dinner {sometimes the tastings are filling, but usually you leave even hungrier than when you came in because of all of the beer you've had!}. We had a margherita pizza and split a salad from the salad bar, a double chocolate chip cookie and a sparkling peach izze soda. It started to drizzle, but that didn't stop us from enjoying a few minutes of the live music outside as well. I cannot resist any opportunity to eat outside. All in all we had some delicious food and met some new people while only spending $20!

Then we headed home and camped out on the couch to be lazy and watch a few episodes of Sons of Anarchy on Netflix. The show was recommended to Alex by someone and somehow I got sucked into it. Sometimes it feels good to just sit and not worry about where you have to be next. It also feels strangely luxurious to be able to watch a couple episodes right in a row.

The next morning we got up pretty early to drop off my car at the dealership and to drive to Shelbyville for a 10 a.m. appointment. We finalllllly had an appointment at a lighting distributor/showroom to pick out some new ceiling fans! I had been wanting to replace our ceiling fans since the moment we moved in. Two years later... We found three ceiling fans for the bedrooms and a complimentary one for the living room. Then we ended up picking out some outdoor fixtures as well. Might as well do it all in one swoop right? Since we had driven out that way we decided to stop somewhere nearby for lunch.

One of the culprits. See what I mean?

We ended up at Wallace Station which I had been wanting to try. They were actually featured on Diners, Drive-In's and Dives, which is one of my favorite shows to watch when I have nothing on my DVR. It was a beautiful scenic drive and we both had yummy burgers. They were the type of burgers that you really don't need all of the extra stuff piled up on them because the burger itself is so juicy and melts in your mouth. I was a little upset at my pimiento cheese for trying to steal the thunder.

On the way to Shelbyville

Versailles, KY close to Wallace Station

We finally made it back to the house and started installing the outdoor lights. Everything went smoothly with the four towards the front of the house. It became a little sticky when one of the old screws broke off in the outlet box out back. My car gave us the perfect excuse to step away for a minute and brainstorm, as well as make a stop at Lowe's. We found a new outlet box and Alex had to do a little mortar chiseling to get it to fit just right, but man he did a great job problem-solving. Of course big projects like these can sometimes cause some bickering, but I am always so impressed by how well we work together and how much we can accomplish when we set our minds to it. We make a heck of a team if I do say so myself.

In the left picture the bronze light is the one we used next to the front door and side garage door. The brass one next to it is what we removed from the side garage door and also out back.

We replaced the one out back and the two next to the garage with the ones in the picture above. They are more of what you would call statement pieces. They reflect the light beautifully and as a result you get a bright light without looking at just a plain light bulb! It's difficult to tell in the pictures, but I was instantly wowed by the difference. There's also a certain satisfaction that comes to doing home improvements yourself too. Then we moved on to the inside and we decided to tackle a ceiling fan. The first one is always the most challenging because you have to figure out the instructions and where all of the pieces and parts fit! We replaced the one in the office without too much trouble and then decided to break for the night.

Alex made panko-encrusted tilapia with green beans and broccoli-cheddar flavored brown rice {made from the leftover soup from Soup's On that we attended on Thursday}. Then we went for a nice walk through our neighborhood and split an icee {Alex's idea, not mine}. After a relaxing night we got up early again and got right to it. You definitely do not want to lose your momentum because that's when a project can easily drag out for months or maybe even years! I took everything out of the boxes and dealt with the trash so it was all prepped once Alex returned from his workout. Then I played assistant while he did all of the actual installations. He's a little bit taller than me and actually knows something about electrical wiring so he was the chosen one on that. We installed the fans in the other two bedrooms which were easy because they were the same as the one we had done the day before! Although, the fans we removed were not necessarily the same.



Then it was on to the big guy, the one in the living room with the drop rod! We decided to go a little bit nicer with that fan just because that room is the focal point of the house. I was very surprised when that installation went pretty smoothly as well. I could hardly believe we were done! My next task was to get rid of the evidence. While Alex mowed the lawn and got busy outside, I cleaned up all the trash and thoroughly cleaned the house for a few hours. I love love love to clean the house. {Okay, I don't always feel that way, but usually I do}. That was my therapy alone time as well as Alex's. We like to share the chores around the house, but it's still nice when the other person likes to do something that you don't really enjoy too much.



Then it was time to get ourselves cleaned up to head over to church! Having a 5 p.m. mass is really nice just to change up our schedule a little bit, and I love that service because they have a praise band so it's a little more contemporary. After church we hit the grocery store together and split the list right down the middle {It was literally one of those weekends were we did everything together}. Then we made a Buffalo Chicken Salad for dinner using this buffalo chicken tender recipe. We cut the chicken into even smaller pieces so it would cook faster, because by that time we were STARVING. We added a little ranch dressing, some diced celery, mozzarella cheese and that was it.

After a "it hit the spot perfectly" dinner we capped off the weekend with a few more episodes of Sons of Anarchy and some cookies and cream ice cream. Then to bed early! It was a very productive and rejuvenating weekend spent together. We had some fun, got a lot done around the house, and just enjoyed each others' company.

The only thing missing was some time with friends. We made up for that last night though when I hosted book club at our house. Up next on the docket is Memorial Day Weekend in Cincinnati! It should be the perfect mixture of travel, yet being at home at my parent's house and Alex's grandpa's house. The two are definitely not mutually exclusive, and what I love most of all, is the fact that whenever I am in the mood for a weekend spent mostly at home, Alex usually is too.