Bi-weekly round up and a cutesy story.

Dear Readers,

Here’s a fun story. Last night Aaron and I went out on a date. [Stay with me, it gets better.] We have a list of places we want to visit before moving away from the beautiful Pacific Northwest and one of them is a place called Red Hot. It’s this great bar that is designed to look kind of like a hipster hole-in-the-wall bar. They serve a variety of microbrews and hot dogs. Bonus?! They serve vegetarian hot dogs [they’re a real thing], so I’m not forced to stare at Aaron while he’s inhaling some sort of crazy cream cheese + tomato + meat hot dog concoction. I can have one, too.

Not at Red Hot, but still, together.

So we’re on a date at Red Hot and it’s packed. Every table, booth, and stool at the bar is taken. I was pretty annoyed. I mean, I know we’re not the only ones who love this place, but we were on a mission, people! We walked out to find a different date spot and this girl comes screaming out of the bar yelling things about, “There are two seats available at a table! Take them! Take them!” [Red Hot is one of those places that gets so packed you’re forced to share a table with other patrons.] So we booked it back into the bar while yelling “Thank you!” over our shoulders to this totally rad lady.

We sit down. The other patrons at our table got up and left. Perfect. Let’s order hot dogs and get this date goin’. I look up from my menu and notice this guy about our age with his father standing in the middle of the bar looking forlornly around the room. Over the blare of the obnoxious metal music [only strike against them, but Aaron loves it], I shouted something about, “Sit here!” They were grateful and took the seats and asked us what we recommended, yadda yadda. The date continued. We ate our food and drank our beers [a Saison for me] and got ready to pay our tab. And then the waitress whispered the best news at our faces: “The guys at your table paid for your first round.”

Being nice pays, guys! It pays so big. As you venture into your weekends, remember that niceness pays. I encourage you to pay for someone’s first round or hand-off your street parking pass or pay someone’s museum admission. Something. 

And now for our bi-weekly round-up, which we're initiating now.

• These have become our go-to quick, delicious summer meal.
• Maybe this is old news to some of you, but Michael Wurm at Inspired by Charm has an adorable front porch that you have to check out here.
• My kind of tank top can be found at Wicked Clothes.
• My disjointed thoughts on rescinding my deferment from grad school.
• Seven summer hairstyles to try.
• A toasted coconut, roasted strawberry popsicle recipe for Mallory's popsicle "have-to"
• Healthy (really) oatmeal chocolate chip miracle cookies. That's all.
• Mallory's realization that she now identifies with Mrs. Darling, and no longer Wendy.

 
We hope everyone has a great, happy weekend.

Amy & Mallory