NE Heat & A Shook Pup: Thinking Out Loud #122

Happy Thursday! This week has been FLYING by! We are looking forward to the weekend because it's been a hectic week. This month is super busy for us with traveling, friends moving, charity events, and a million other things. Literally every weekend this month we have something going on. We're savoring all the quiet moments as they're far and few between and we are both very much home bodies. Anyway, let's jump into this weeks thinking out loud! 

1. THIS is how we've felt all week 😂 Ginger likes to lay on her back and her paws on the air and wag her tag telling us to pet her, but every once in awhile she has this shook look on her face 🐶 It kills us because it just embodies how we feel about Monday. Anyone else feel like this after the weekend 🙋‍♀️ 

2. Running. Sigh. It's been a love/hate relationship for me over the past year. Since I got hurt about two years ago there's been a lot of pain for me while I run so I stopped for a long time then moved to a slow trot, like turtle pace 🐢 This week I've been ramping up my efforts and running outside. But holy smokes it is still HOT outside 🔥Nebraska in the summer is not a runners friend. Case in point...

3. My husband is super supportive as you can tell 😂 I love the challenge of running outside but it's been so hot it's been horrible to do. The past few days have been over 100 with heat index, so not a chance I've been running outside. The treadmill is super boring to me but I didn't want heat stroke so I've been hitting it every day. Otherwise my husband would be scrapping me off the pavement. 

4. I cannot handle this dog 😂 She laid like this for over an hour sandwiched between the hubs and I on our bed while we read. She's such a drama queen, but when she lays like this all I can think of is a yogi pup.

5. We are heading to Kansas City in a few weeks so if you've been send us recommendations! Where should we go? What should we do? Where should we eat? We went for a few days last year for a Taylor Swift concert, but we'd love to try out some new places. We have a super cute AirBnB and Ginger is coming with us, so bonus if you can give us a few dog friendly places!

6. This quote has been on my mind since I stumbled across it earlier this week. The world has such a skewed perception of what beauty is. Beauty is about so much more than people. Beauty is in every single thing. Look around you at the magnificent sights, the sounds, the tastes, the people, the animals. EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." I pray those words speak light and love into your life. No matter what anyone says you are beautiful and you are loved.

Have a wonderful Thursday and a terrific weekend 🎉 🎉

Labor Day Recap & Sleepless in NE: Thinking Out Loud 121

Happy Thursday! It seems like coming off a holiday weekend the week just seems to drag by, it's either that or the fact I haven't slept more than an hour (or two MAX) in months is finally wearing on me. Nonetheless, we got out of Lincoln on Saturday and headed to a farm outside Omaha for their sunflower festival. Before I get into all of that, let's jump in this weeks thinking out loud! 

1. A little family farm about an hour and a half from us held a sunflower festival over Labor Day weekend. I love sunflower so we left bright and early Saturday morning- mostly to get out of town because the Huskers had their first game and no one wants to be in Lincoln then if you don't like the Huskers. We got to the farm only to be rained on some and totally covered in mud, but the sunflowers were beautiful 🌻 If we are still in NE next year we will definitely be going back! 

2. Of course Ginger got her trip to the dog park per usual. Thankfully it's started cooling down (although temporarily) and after the holiday weekend we were some of the only ones at the dog park. Ginger had the entire stream to herself and spent probably 10-15 minutes just laying in the water. Our dog is a little weird, trust me I am well aware.

3. Three batches of fudgey dark chocolate brownies have been made in the past five days. Prior to changing jobs I hardly ever had time to bake so having time to do that now is really nice 👍 If you would like the recipe you can nab it here.

4. My wonderful, sweet, slightly behind on the times husband just figured out snapchat filters. He got so excited when he figured them out that I have been indicated with snapchats because he's playing with the filters. He got upset when his favorite filter went away- I had to explain that filters change.

5. Have I mentioned Ginger is spoiled? I thought so. Just look at her. Spoiled rotten but so freaking cute 🐶 

6. As I've mentioned I literally have not been sleeping. Insomnia is part of lupus, but in the past few months it's gotten a zillion times worse. I've been getting at most an hour or two of sleep a night for months on end. I've tried every over the counter sleep aid in existence, tea, sleepy time yoga, and all the other suggestions that have come my way. When I told my rheumatologist about it she said she didn't believe it that it was that bad (what kind of doctor says that to a patient?!) and that if I wanted something stronger than over the counter I better find myself another doctor (I repeat WHAT DOCTOR TELLS A PATIENT THAT?!). So, in the mean time if you have any suggestions please drop them in the comments. I am desperate and so exhausted. 

7. This has been majorly resonating with me this week. People are so quick to judge before they even know what is going on. We are all guilty of it, but there's been a few in the past weeks that have been very hurtful to myself and I think the thing that astounded me the most was those who were judging were supposed to be friends and knew absolutely nothing about the situation. Lesson being, be slow to judge (frankly don't judge at all) and instead of extending judgement extend grace. We could all use a little more grace in this world. 

Have a great Thursday and a terrific weekend 🎉 

Fudgey Dark Chocolate Brownies

Brownies are sort of my thing. Whenever we get invited somewhere and we're asked to bring something there's a 99.9% chance I will be asked to bring brownies. Over the years I've made countless different brownie recipes, but right now these fudgey dark chocolate brownies seem to be a fan favorite. 

I made them over Labor Day weekend for some friends who came over for a pool party and they quickly evaporated. It's a quick and easy recipe to make and guaranteed to be a hit at your next gathering!

Fudgey Dark Chocolate Brownies

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (gluten free all purpose flour also works)
• 1/2 cup Hershey's special dark cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (dairy free butter also works)
• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• OPTIONAL (but not really) handful of dark chocolate chips
• FOR SUPER FUDGEY BROWNIES take roughly 1/3 cup chocolate chips, melt them, and stir it into batter

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and coat an 8x8 pan with nonstick spray.

Combine melted butter and sugar.

Once butter and sugar are combined add in eggs, vanilla, and canola oil. Whisk until turns lighter in color. 

Add in salt, flour, and cocoa powder and stir until combine. Do not over stir the batter.

Spread batter in pan and bake at 350F degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the brownies comes out clean. In my oven it's about 23 minutes.

Give brownies time to cool and then cut- or for super gooey brownies cut while still warm and devour. 

If you make them snap a picture and tag me on instagram!