1. Brian and I always joke that when we retire, we’re going to plan a road trip and travel across America. Apparently someone was reading our minds and came up with a perfect road trip for us.

2. This list kind of made me chuckle. I haven’t personally experienced a whole lot this, but I do catch myself talking a whole lot about the weather here on SEF. And for the record, the Minnesota State Fair is NOT stupid.

3. Looking for a summer book list? Here’s 16 books that apparently you should read and will love. I’ve read a few on here and have a few on my to-read list, but I don’t know if I would consider Gone Girl a personal favorite…

4. Healthy freezer-friendly breakfast sandwiches that can be made ahead of time? I foresee a lot of these in my future. I’m pretty sure I can eat breakfast sandwiches and breakfast burritos every morning for the rest of my life.

5. Pretzels are on my baking bucket list and I actually have a few pretzel recipes saved in my recipe box, but when I saw these sweet almond ones, I knew these would have to be the first ones I ever make.

6. I’m really really sad that our Kitchen Aid ice cream maker broke last year. Because this. I want to make this. Or can someone make this for me?

7. Scallops and shrimp and pasta? Holy yum. I need to make this sometime. Except I haven’t cooked with artichoke hearts before. I like spinach artichoke dip, so I think I’ll like it from a jar?

8. Here’s a pretty comprehensive list of some of the best food trucks in the U.S. – did your favorite make the list? Last summer we went to a food truck festival in Minneapolis that was loads of fun that I’m sure we’ll be doing again this year.

Have a good rest of the week, friends!

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1. I think spring has finally arrived in Minnesota. The moment the temperature becomes warm enough to bust out our grill, it’s officially spring in our house. Grilling weather also means s’mores before dinner.

2. Speaking of s’mores, did you hear Starbucks is coming out with a limited time s’mores Frappuccino? We all know I love s’mores things almost as much as mint chocolate things. So yes, I’ll totally be trying it out. Duh.

3. For years the mister has been trying to convince me that seasonal Reese’s peanut butter eggs/bunnies/hearts/Santas/whatevers taste way better than the regular peanut butter cups. I guess he was right, because apparently someone has proved that the Valentine’s ones won out with a whopping 60.34% peanut butter.

4. If you happen to live near these 10 best donut shops in the U.S., I’m jealous. I’m still searching for a favorite artisan/gourmet donut shop here in Minnesota.

5. Pasta that you won’t have to drain? Is it a genius idea, or is draining pasta really that big of an hassle?

6. This “Truth or Drink” video, Kids vs. Parents edition is both awkward yet cute at the same time. I would never ever ever in a million years play it with my parents. Noooo thank you. I envision a whole lot of awkward silences and blushing. And drinking. Definitely lots and lots of drinking.

7. Homemade cookie butter baking chips?! Say what??????!!!!! I think I’d be renaming them as “snacking chips”.

8. It’s been years since I’ve watched Grey’s Anatomy, but apparently they killed off Derek Shepherd last week and sparked an uproar on social media? And here I am, finding out about it a week later…

9. I stumbled upon this article on Yahoo! the other day that talks about the food blogging business. The food blogging world really is a wonderful little community with some amazing people in which I constantly find myself learning so much about all sorts of aspects of it every day.

Have a good week everyone!

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1. During a moment’s lapse of judgment, I decided to join Snapchat. I’m not sure what made me do it, but I thought I needed to jump on the bandwagon since it seems like a lot of people I know have been joining the Snapchat community lately. I don’t even know where to start – I’m still slightly confused at the point of the whole thing. If someone could enlighten me, that’d be swell.

2. Who’s ready for summer? Oh me!! Over here! Meeeee!!!! Can you see me frantically waving my hand over here? I can’t wait to make this Mexican street corn recipe this summer. It looks so crisp and fresh! Not to mention the fact that our family eats corn in the summer like it’s going out of style.

3. Speaking of summer, Minnesota’s been super blessed with some amazing sunny warm weather lately. Here’s a list of restaurants around the metro that have amazing patio seating. I intend to check a few off of my list this summer.

4. Scrambled eggs and cheese-stuff biscuit waffles?! OH. EM. GEE. I saw these a few weeks ago and made them for dinner one day, complete with homemade sausage gravy. It was delightful and ridiculous. Biscuits and waffles and eggs and cheese and sausage and gravy?!  Mmm mmm mmm.

5. Did anyone else see this? I really thought this was created by some guy who was sick of his cranky PMSing girlfriend/wife and designed this out of frustration. Nonetheless, it’s genius. “I need a scoop of “I Think I’m Dying” and a scoop of “Don’t Come Near Me” in a sugar cone please”. Bahaha!

6. If you were born without the fashion gene like I was and have trouble figuring out what to wear with what, I found this guide on to how to layer clothes. Every day I’m thankful that I have a job that I don’t have to think too much into what I’m going to wear to work. Usually the biggest decision I have is planning out whether or not my coworker and I want to be matchy-matchy or not. Throw on some scrubs, make sure they’re not inside-out, make sure your hair is presentable, there’s no drool crusted on your face, and out the door I go.

7. And if you’ve been called a hoarder and your loved ones have staged an intervention for you before (this has not happened to me… yet), here’s a link to ways on how to part ways with things that you may think you need, but you really don’t need.

8. When it comes to mac and cheese, I’m all about using spiral-y pastas… unless it’s the traditional 79-cent boxed mac & & cheese (with yellow cheese) – then only elbow macaronis will cut it. I’ll totally be making this recipe sometime in the near future.

 Have a good week everyone!

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1. I’m all about storage hacks that can effectively de-clutter the house, because organization is kind of my thang.

2. I grew up being a Disney child, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I still watch Disney cartoons to this day, especially the classics (Beauty and the Beast, anyone?). But have you ever thought about these questions when you watched Disney movies? I haven’t. What happened to watching cartoons for the pure love and enjoyment of it all? Do we really have to think that much into everything? (Although I’ve gotta admit that many of these questions are all very legit)

3. I can relate to almost every single one of these. Does that mean that I’m old? But for the record, hospital personnel (and many EMS people) still carry beepers around.

4. Last week, Nadia Cakes rolled out their annual April Fools cupcake line. Of course I had to get them. I felt like many of them tasted similar (vanilla cake, vanilla frosting), but kudos to them for the beautiful, meticulously decorated cupcakes. I couldn’t get myself to eat the Tootsie Roll kitty poop. I just couldn’t.

5. Speaking of April Fools, did you see this? Imagine ALL THE GLITTER with one simple spray.

6. Peeeeps. You either like them or hate them. Here are 6 things that you probably didn’t know about those yellow marshmallow chicks. Me? I don’t mind them, but I also don’t buy packs and packs of them at a time. But Peeps s’mores? That’s something I’m on board with.

7. In case you’re into listening to Podcasts and you just happen to love food as well, here’s a list of some food Podcasts that you might want to check out. I’ve tried getting into the Podcast thing but listening to people talk on air just has never been my thing.

8. Sweet, decadent dessert bars that ooze melty chocolate, salted caramel, creamy Nutella, and peanut butter? I think I need to have every single one of these in my life.

9. These homemade noodles. They remind me soooo much of home. Chewy, non-uniformly knife cut noodles that puts any other kind of noodles to shame.

Have a wonderful week, folks!

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Welcome to the very first post of my new weekly series here on SEF, which I am calling “What You Need To Know Tuesdays”. I wanted to call it “What You Need To Know… Or What You Might Not Care About But I Want To Share It With You Anyway”, but then the abbreviation would’ve been WYNTKORWYMNCABIWTSIWYA, and that seemed a little ridiculous.

I figured this can be a place where I share interesting links I have stumbled upon on the interweb throughout the week, and serve as a platform for everyone to chime in and share things as well.

1. Did anyone try the birthday frappuccino from Starbucks last week? You know, the cake batter-flavored blended sugary drink that is topped with a pretty pink whipped cream that they rolled out to celebrate Frappuccino’s 20th birthday? It sounded amazing, and it tasted just as equally amazing.

2. Does anyone have any experience with compact digital cameras such as these or these? We have a big trip coming up and I really don’t want to lug around my giant heavy DSLR camera during this trip and would really like something that’s light, compact for traveling but yet still takes high-quality pictures like my DSLR. Thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

3. In case you’re planning on spring cleaning soon, here’s 10 handy-dandy little shortcuts you can use. I’m quite dreading the weekend when we decide to tackle cleaning and purging things from our garage.

4. This potato salad. Bacon and Sriracha? Sold.

5. Apparently I’m on a salad kick because this pasta salad also looks and sounds amazing. I have a feeling I’ll be making a lot of pasta salads this summer.

6. A brewing guide for all coffee lovers. It’s more like a flowchart, which greatly pleases my Type A OCD personality. Me? I usually either go for my Keurig or Starbucks/Caribou.

7. A list of useful nail hacks for future manicures. I don’t paint my nails and get manicures on a regular basis (unless you count once a year as “regular”), but I’m definitely going to refer back to this guide next time when I get them done!

8. Are you ready for Easter? If you’ll be knee deep in dying Easter eggs this weekend, here’s a guide on how to make your own natural dyes that’s pretty, vibrant, and bold in color.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week!

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