Weekend Wrap-Up (& a blog update!)

Another week, another weekend wrap-up! :) This week has been a pretty exciting one for me, as I launched a small home styling business, Mysa Home Styling. You might notice that there's a blog over there, and that might make you wonder if The Things That Make Us Tick is gonna stick around. Well, I can tell you that right now my plan is to keep this baby around for as long as I like writing about life and marriage and faith and food and music and travel and all the other non-home related things that I blog about. So YES! You will still find content here, it just might be slightly less frequent (especially at first here while I'm getting Mysa up and running), and there will probably be less home-related posts here since that will be happening over on the Mysa blog. So if you love home stuff as much as I do, make sure and follow the Mysa Blog!

So without further ado, some sweet stuff I found on the internet this week...
  This Brie and Grape Crostini from A Cup of Jo looks heavenly!

This post on how to style overhead still life photos from the Nesting Place is helpful... especially if you're into Instagram!

And lastly, just try and tell me that this doesn't look adorable. It comes out in a week! 

It's here! It's here! It's finally here!

You guys!!! The day is finally here! Today there is reason to celebrate! WHYYY you may ask? Today I am launching a very special project that I have been working on. Click here to check it out!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Friday, friends! There was a lot of good stuff happening around Blog-land this week... here's a peek into a couple of my favorites! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, in spite of the crummy May weather. We have a chill night-in planned with our new friend, Blue Apron (check out Instagram later tonight for final results!), and then some time with family, and Sunday I have work (wahh-wahhh). BUT, I'm excited for the next 36 hours, so bring it on!

It was fun to see A Cup of Jo feature Minneapolis for a city guide.

This beautiful guest room makeover by Emily Henderson is swoon-worthy.

These Sweet Potato Curly Fries by My Name is Yeh look divine!

This fake-out wallpaper DIY by A Beautiful Mess is ingenious and I could see it having a lot of possible applications in a home.

How to Spend a Weekend in Chicago (On the Cheap!)

This past weekend Loverboy and I headed to the Windy City for a few days. We got some cheap flights and thought, why not? And thanks to the awesome suggestions from Instagram/Facebook, we had a pretty great time. So I wanted to share some of what we did and saw with all of you... as kind of a pay it forward, ya' know? :)

We stayed at an Airbnb about 20 minutes outside of the city. We love Airbnb as an affordable (and adorable) option! Click here for a $20 credit!

Of course we had to check out the bean! A classic Chicago sight.

Going on a Thursday afternoon was a good idea! We also went on Saturday to meet up with some friends and it was way crazier!

We frequented Intelligentsia Coffee a couple times... my coffee loving hubby was in heaven!

The Field Museum was my favorite of the three we got into with our Science Museum of MN membership. $70 for the membership and you get into the Field Museum, Adler Planetarium, and Museum of Science & Industry. SUCH a deal, as it's $70 for two tickets into the Field museum alone!

Visiting Eataly was such a wonderful experience! It's a large building filled with all kinds of Italian foods... cheese, bread, wine, pizza, pasta, meat, fish, and more! They have a Nutella bar, as well as gelato and other sweets. 

Stan's Donuts may have been the winner of the trip. Brian and I both agreed that the nutella and banana pocket donut was one of the best we've ever had!

Plus, they had cute floors! :)

The other big winner was Nando's Peri-Peri. We went there for lunch one day and I was head over heels for the place.

We got to sit in swinging baskets. All the details were so cute!

And the food was delicious!

Brian loved the Museum of Science and Industry! This giant train model was amazing.

We spent our last evening at the Navy Pier. It was beautiful and sunny and we got to experience our first taste of Chicago deep dish pizza at Giordano's. Yum!

To see more of our adventures from Chicago, check out my Instagram!

3 TV Shows To Cure the Rainy Day Blues

Friends, it's spring. Which means that you should be outside frolicking in the flowers and taking in deep breaths of fresh air, right?! BUT, imagine with me, for just one second, that you live in a dark and gloomy place where spring plays tricks on you and comes and goes. Imagine for a second that you live in Minnesota. Then you might need some other form of spring entertainment than the flowers and butterflies and bunnies. Because in Minnesota, it can be 80 degrees and sunny one week, and 40s and rainy the other (let's just say it's been the latter lately). So, without further ado, I wanted to give you a few suggestions of ways to cure those "is it really springtime??" blues. Cue, the Netflix binge. :)

Parks & Recreation
Hands down the best comedy that's out there (in my humble opinion). You can stream all the seasons on Netflix (weekend plans, anyone??), but I will give you fair warning that you have to get through the first two seasons to really get to the Parks & Rec gold. But anyone who's done it will tell you that it is so worth it. The characters are loveable, the scenarios hilarious, and the setting charming.




White Collar
White Collar may very well be my favorite non-comedy, but also not action/intense/scary TV show. It tells the story of a white collar Criminal who is contracted with the FBI to help them solve art and other white collar crimes. Watching the character growth, as well as different relationships develop throughout the series is one of the best parts. Plus the cool heists and spy-esque aspects of the show are definitely a bonus! White Collar is also available on Netflix.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Andy Sandberg is a comedy genius, and the rest of the Nine-Nine crew are right up there with him. There's a quirky character for everyone in this NYC cop comedy, and the hijinks they get into are ridiculous and wonderful. This lighthearted show will definitely get you laughing, even if it's over how awkward a situation is. Unfortunately, this one's not on Netflix, but if you've got Hulu, then you're in the clear!

So there you have it! Three TV shows that will cure you of those rainy day blues. What are some of your favorites?

On Dreams & Fear

//via

Dreaming is scary. (The awake kind of dreaming about the future and your hopes and goals... although sleeping dreaming can also be scary! But I'm here to talk about the awake kind.) I guess the actual dreaming itself isn't too bad. In fact, that part is kind of fun! It's the acting on those dreams that involves risk, putting yourself out there, and the possibility of failure. Taking steps to make your dreams a reality is the real scary part. It's the part that induces fear and worry and anxiety. Because what if your dream doesn't work? What if people think it's silly? What if you fall flat on your face?

But, as my husband so gently reminded me last night, if you don't try, you'll never know. If you don't take those scary steps, don't risk a little, you'll never know if that dream could be a reality. And that's almost more scary than the fear of failure.

I don't want to look back on my life with a bunch of "what ifs." I don't want to have to wonder if things could have been different if only I had tried, if only I had risked. I want to put the work into acting on my dreams, and if I fall flat on my face, so be it. And yeah, there may not be a complete lack of fear, but who ever said there was anything wrong with just doing it afraid?

And after all, fear is just a lie.

Weekend Wrap-Up

It's the weekend! It's looking like it's going to be in the SEVENTIES all weekend up here in the north, so I am kind of freaking out. Tonight the hubs and I are laying low due to a busy Saturday and Sunday filled with conferences, coffees, desserts, football games, thrifting, and a double date. So lots of good things, but all in all, a lot of things. What are ya'll up to this weekend? Please just make sure and get outside, whatever you do!

//via

I've been obsessed with cheese boards lately, and this one looks divine. They just seem so fancy, but still relaxed and chill and not uppity, ya know? Definitely on my list to try my hand at making one in the coming weeks!

I love this post on how to be a better friend, even when you're busy. (Seems like it could apply to us, especially this weekend!) Who doesn't need a little bit of help being a better friend?

This article on your passion not being your full-time thing is probably right up every millennial's alley. ;) But actually, I found it really encouraging for this season of life.

Last week I attended a training on empathy and boundaries put on by an anti-trafficking ministry in Minneapolis and they showed this short 3 minute video on empathy by Brene Brown. It does a good job of showing what exactly empathy is and how it differs from sympathy.

As you know from my post on hospitality & dining tables, I've really been digging the idea of a supper club lately. This post on how to start a weekly supper club has some great tips and ideas!