A.D.D.

WHAT.  How is it Monday.  (Grumble, grumble.)  This weekend flew by in a millisecond, though it was full of fun and shenanigans.  First, I dropped some mah-jor cash on outfitting our new apartment here in Chicago.  My favorite find?  The least expensive one — this stately little steed ($39), which is now gazing into our fireplace, though it may make the trek to our coffee table, as I fully intend to copy the look below from my new favorite read, The Everygirl:

Yes.  Yes.  I need those green mossy poufs, too.  So I shelled out some bones on new home accents and the apartment is sloooowly coming together.  I know this is a good problem to have, but our new spot is about 2x as big as our old one, and there’s just a lot of space to cover…so.  Mr. Horse was my favorite new addition to the magpie nest, and I know he’ll enjoy being outfitted seasonally with various accents.   Mr. Magpie and I also enjoyed a boozy night in on Friday.  He made Zuni roast chicken, the most legit roast chicken recipe you’ll find in the universe.  (Zuni

is a famous restaurant we visited in San Francisco when one of my besties lived out there…and it is scrumdiddly-umptious.)  Cook caveat: you need to salt the chicken 1-3 days in advance of cooking, so plan ahead.  Mr. Magpie and I like to let it sit/dry for 3 full days, so this is a week-long process.

Mr. Magpie and I are pretty formal when it comes to dining — we sit down at a set table most nights of the week and eat off of our wedding china with relative frequency.  (We both love cooking and eating well, so why not make every night a little more special?!)  Friday night, we ate off of our china (Kate Spade’s June Lane collection in platinum) and a be-linened table (placements — $98 for 4; napkins — $48 for 4):

We enjoyed a California pinot noir with our chicken.  Pinot + roast chicken = match made in heaven, and we felt pretty slick since we were drinking Iron Horse pinot, which is a short drive away from San Fran’s Zuni.  We really kept it local.  Mr. Magpie’s mom had gifted us the pinot along with the “wedding cuvee” champers as a two-year anniversary treat, so we enjoyed it and celebrated our wedding (again…)

Yum, yum, yum.  Plus, the horse emblem brings it full circle — maybe the label was what inspired me to purchase Mr. Horsey?  Saturday, I got a true taste of the “Midbest” when we drove up to Milwaukee to tailgate and attend a Brewers game.  I had previously (mistakenly) thought that the further south you travel, the more serious folks become about their tailgates.  I was mistaken.  These Wisconsans have made an art of it.  (Or they are at least comparable in intensity and scope to those I’ve seen in the Deep South, where tailgating is often more important than attending the actual game.)  I saw families deep frying things in the parking lot (blblblblb?  Dangerous?).  I saw many, many large tents and several coolers large enough to sleep in.  My plot, because it was manned by well-intentioned but decidedly masculine bachelors, however, featured a “grill” that was probably under 6″ in diameter; zero utensils (and therefore, a makeshift “fork” forged out of a flattened Milwaukee’s Best beer can that one brave “grillmaster” used as an extension of his hand in order to flip bratwurst); and about 3498983498 beers that were probably “frat cold” (i.e., at room temperature) and promptly guzzled by the group.  (Meanwhile, I inappropriately sipped a mimosa and probably stood out like a sore thumb, especially since I was also wearing a blouse — on sale for $68, plus 30% off! — jeans, and spiffy flats ($135), and should have been sporting a t-shirt.)

I even wore some bling (LOVE THESE EARRINGS and have already gotten a ton of mileage out of them — $75):

I wore a cross-body, but this clutchski (personalized!) has been on my wishlist for a few weeks and would have been equally perfect.

If I don’t snag that puppy, I at least need one of K. Slademade’s tassel keychains ($18 each):

Oh, and I also wore a Nats hat.  Just because — can’t forget my D.C. roots.  Probably another reason why I didn’t quite fit in.  All jokes aside, it was a blast.  I had my first bratwurst on a “Sheboygan hard roll” (ketchup is a no-no in these parts, FYI); met some very kind, absolutely hilarious Wisconsans (with very, very strong accents — “doooon’t ya knoooo”); ate lunch at Comet Cafe, which Guy Fieri raved about on “Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives”; and got to see one of Mr. Magpie’s best buds, who recently relocated to Madison, WI.  All in all, a great trip North.  Then, Mr. Magpie and I drove home and enjoyed a lazy Sunday of TV, laundry, a late dinner, frozen yogurt at StarFruit (yum), and online shopping.  I placed these “gurgle pots” ($46 each) in my proverbial shopping cart about 3498 times before realizing that there were probably more pressing ways to spend our money, like buying the new bed we need in order to put up guests.

They would look so good accenting my coral-and-green themed bathroom, which prominently displays this rad vintage canvas poster of seaweed I found on Etsy from Arminho ($70):

Le sigh.  So instead I put it into my basket, took it out, put it into my basket, closed my laptop.  Thought about it while eating fro-yo.  Took it back out.  Etc.  Then we watched BREAKING BAD.  HOMYGOD.  Does anyone else watch this joint?!  It is delicious, edge-of-your-seat programming.  All in all, a fab weekend, but…where does the time go?!

Hope y’all are off to a great Monday!