Our Anniversary Weekend!

*This post contains affiliate links. A small percentage, stipend or credit helps support my blog without any additional cost to you. Thank you!
---

Bryan and I had planned on spending the weekend at Harris Ranch for our 5th anniversary, but the hotel was booked because of the horse races so the plan changed from "weekend" to "dinner". Then, it was so crazy on Friday night that I didn't want to deal with Shepherd out there on Saturday, for three hours and all those visitors in the lounge, so Bryan and I decided I would just stay home the whole weekend and we'd plan on going out another weekend.

Bryan was super bummed that we weren't going to get to spend time together, so I asked my boss if I could take a few hours off in the afternoon to surprise Bryan! I was going to go get him his gift (yeah, I'd lagged a bit) but then Bryan, Rick and Shepherd were at Round Table for lunch, so I just decided to "show up for lunch" and my lunch hour never ended! I think Bryan was pleased (and Rick was more than happy to take Shepherd for his nap and the rest of the afternoon) that we could hang out for a few hours before he left for work.

I had a coupon for a free mascara at Ulta as part of my birthday rewards, and I had a few gift cards for my birthday, so we headed there. I made out like a BOSS! I got so many things! I plan on putting up a haul/review of the products once I've used them a bit more. Stay tuned!

Then, we headed over to Famous Footwear and bought Bryan a new pair of Vans. He desperately needed them. We didn't have much time after those two errands so we headed home and continued to watch the Harry Potter series out of order, because Bryan is super weird. I went to pick Shepherd up after Bryan left for work and stayed for hamburgers and to hang out with Rick and Olivia. Shepherd had fun digging in their plant pot.

Later that evening, my sister Alison came over to hang out. We watched My Best Friends Wedding and played with my new make-up, ate popcorn, I taught her a pinterest hairstyle and we ended up painting our nails. We kept sending pictures to Kari to encourage her to hurry up and come over!

Kari, Owen and Parker joined us at about 10:00pm and then Bryan got home shortly after. An hour or so later, Adam showed up! He's been working on their new house until late in the evening so he was starving! I baked him some bagel bites and poured him a Dr. Pepper. Gotta love food like that after house projects! :) We all sat around talking and watching TV until about 12:30am.

It was so fun. I love having Alison and her family back in town. I love that I have both of my sisters and their families around to do life together.

On Saturday we slept in late, got ready and headed to the Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale. They have them twice a year and I rarely miss them. I stood in line for twenty minutes and then picked up eighteen books. FOR EIGHTEEN DOLLARS! Ahh, it's so fun. Bryan walked around with Shep and let him play in some dirt while I got my shop on.

Something that I love about the sale is that almost everyone there is so polite. We are all book nerds so we queue peacefully and move along at an appropriate pace. There is no cutting or book grabbing. Everyone is so kind and we all just end up chatting about our favorite books. It's a great community event!

I've been really into weird books lately, especially random autobiographies. Don't ask me why, I just enjoy reading other peoples stories! I already put them in my new library (yay! That post is coming!) but I'll try to remember what I picked up:

Kind of random but Kendra Wilkinson was my favorite when they had the show, and I love how tom-boy and crazy she is. I'm interested to read this. Don't judge me! :)
--

Yup. For all the internet to see, I picked up Roseanne (Barr) Arnold's autobiography. I couldn't put it down. That hair. That pose. She's always been pretty annoying to me but that doesn't stop me from wondering what her story is.
--

A complete shift from Roseanne's autobiography, but Max Lucado's In The Eye of the Storm looked really interesting, especially in the season of life I am in. I can't wait to read this one!
--

The Vacationers by Emma Straub looked like a good vacation book, so I picked it up. Basically, an America family goes on a two week vacation and a bunch of stuff happens. I should write book descriptions for a living. ;)
--

Not sure if I've mentioned it before, but I'm a HUGE Castle fan. Castle is a show on ABC that airs on Mondays. I watch it on Hulu on Tuesdays in the morning now that I don't have cable, Anyways, I knew that they released books based off the books that Richard Castle writes about his muse (and now fiance) Kate Beckett. I'm extremely interested in reading this books to see if they really feel like the Castle character wrote them.  (Heat Wave is book one, Heat Rises is book three. I couldn't find book two, Naked Heat, at the sale so I'll have to pick it up on Amazon.)
--

I remember when the Jon Benet Ramsey fiasco happened and how it consumed the nation. It was so sad, all around. I'm interested in reading Jon Benet: Inside the Ramsey Murder Investigation to see where the author is coming from and what their research has determined.
--

This books hardly needs an introduction because I'm sure everyone in America has heard of it. But I've somehow gotten away with not reading it. Again, since I'm going through a season of growth in my personal and professional lives, I figured this book may contain some tools that will aide me in my journey!
-- 

I picked this up mostly for Bryan, since I am always on the lookout for books that he may want to read. I know that he wants The Fountainhead but I only managed to find We The Living. I still need to read Atlas Shrugged.
--

Again, random autobiographical books. Who doesn't like Michael J. Fox though? Seriously.
--

I've heard that David Sedaris books are pretty funny, so when I saw this I thought it was the perfect chance to see if I like him as an author.
--

I've read Barbara Taylor Bradford before and I enjoy her books. This one is about an art consultant in London with a gritty past. Playing the Game will be a perfect rainy day read.
--

WHAM! You didn't even see that coming huh? I picked another weird autobiography, this time from Fran Drescher, She's a pretty spunky woman and I bet she has a lot of hilarious stories.

--

Of course I had to pick up a Nora Roberts book! Her books are always quick reads, but are interesting and the characters are always realistic.
-- 

None of you are surprised that I picked up a Danielle Steel book are you? Cause you shouldn't be. I am a huge Danielle Steel fan and I had to add this book to my collection. Yes. Collection. I have a LOT of her books. 

--

I also purchased a two books for Shepherd (they were pretty picked over by the time I got there. :( ) and a Kit Carson book that I need to take to work. I couldn't pass it up! My books are a lot like my music choices - all over the place! I will pretty much read anything, I do not judge a book by its cover - or it's author! You'll never know if a book is good until you start reading it and when you buy used, you have a lot more freedom to explore authors. 

Okay, back to the weekend, so Saturday I had plans with my Mom and Larry to eat Chinese food, so Shepherd and I zoomed over to their house when Bryan left for work. I got a call about an hour later from Bryan saying they weren't going to have him play since they had customers that wanted to watch the World Series that night! He got to come home! We hung at my mom and Larry's for a little while and then we dropped Shepherd off with Rick and Lee so we could go catch a late movie. We saw St. Vincent, which was great! It was funny but with lots of feels. I'd recommend it!

We slept in too late to make it to church on Sunday so we got ready and took some bread to the park to feed the ducks and geese. Shepherd had a great time throwing bread at them and then he played on the play places there. That evening we met up with my Dad and Delia to attend their church harvest festival! My Dad, Bryan and I all took turns taking Shepherd on the little train and Shepherd got an Elmo balloon animal!

Our plans may not have worked out as we had hoped but we still spent meaningful time with each other and the people that we love. It was a great weekend!