Anna Maria Locke

oh hey

AnnaComment
Greetings, internet!

Yes I am still alive.

Life got a liiiiittle crazy over the summer and the craziness never really stopped, and since I'm an "all or nothing" type of person and it's hard for me to commit less than 100% to an endeavor, this blog kind of fell off the plate. But I want to bring it back! Can you believe I've been blogging here for four years now? Me neither. I'm scared to click back and see what I used to post about.

I'm going to kick off my blog revival with a reverse timeline of the past five months' highlights, beginning from last weekend, because why not? So settle in and get ready for a long catching-up.

Ben's birthday was this past Sunday the 3rd, so naturally we celebrated with a costume party! I was a My Little Pony and Ben was a brony. If you don't know what a brony is, I highly recommend educating yourself via this video. We busted out the wedding silver, ate Pinterest cupcakes, drank a huge jar of caramel apple cider punch, and a tree was in attendance. Ben also got an extra hour to celebrate his day, which might be the best gift ever. Sorry solar system and ancient Romans, but I think 25 hour days should be AT LEAST a monthly thing.



All summer I was in a pretty deep creative slump, but now that the air is getting crispy and cool I'm ramping up the Etsy shop again! I'm hoping to boost my inventory in time for the holidays, but this dang full time job keeps getting in my way. I did celebrate a small/huge milestone recently by hitting 100 sales! I posted a celebratory coupon code on my shop facebook page, and (shhhhhh) it will never expire. My tip for anyone contemplating opening an Etsy shop is to just do it. Tip number two: the more work, love, stress, and joy you put into it, the more sales and amazing customers you will get back. I love when the universe works out like that.


In August I made a commitment to my personal health and joined the Tone it Up community, which is a fitness and nutrition program. I have no words that can fully describe it, but it has really changed my outlook on life, connected me with hundreds of amazing women around the world, and boosted my self confidence by a million levels. I've become addicted to eating clean (aka almost no food from a box), working out, and documenting it all on Instagram! You can follow me if you want, but expect to see lots of sweaty workout selfies and strange foreign cult-like hashtags. I'm @joyofanna.


On October 6th Ben and I celebrated our first anniversary with a mini-vacation to Madison, WI. We ate copious amounts of delicious Midwestern food, drank beer with some cute dogs, and went apple picking at a tiny little roadside farm. Everyone keeps asking if we saved some of our wedding cake, and to that I say are you crazy??? Who wants freezer burned cake?? We got ourselves some fresh cake, and then realized that it's really hard to split a whole cake between two people. Good thing I'm doing that healthy living program the other 95% of the time...


This is just a random collage of things that make me happy. Our weekly date night, low humidity hair days, my sister moving back to the States after 2 years abroad, and Monet at the Art Institute.


When life gets extra crazy and stressful I try to make an effort to relax and re-connect with the outdoors. I LOVED seeing a gorgeous wintry sunrise (and coyote!) on a recent visit home. One thing I really miss while living in Chicago is being able to see the sunrise and sunset, since we're stuck in a first floor apartment in the city. Also, dahlias and cone flowers are two of my favorite late summer blooms. And I came up close and personal to a great blue heron! I feel very lucky to work in Lincoln Park, the most gorgeous little part of Chicago. I would go crazy here without my green space!

 And wayyyy back in June we made a trip to the breathtaking Black Hills of South Dakota to watch two of our good friends tie the knot and smash cake into each others' faces. We also saw lots of buffalo and rock formations carved both by nature and by humans. I sure do miss the mountains.

Well I think that about covers it! And now my eyes are glazing over from staring at a screen for an hour, which I think is the sign to hit publish and go to bed.

I'm planning on making blogging a weekly event in my life, so I will see you again soon!

Love, Anna

palm trees and lily pond, and summer vacation

AnnaComment


This week is the official beginning of Ben's summer vacation, and therefore I feel like I should be on summer vacation too! Well, I'm only really jealous at 6 am...but having a month and a half of paid time off is still not enough for me to ever consider becoming a teacher!

This June is flying by, just like all the other months of this year. At the beginning of the summer it always seems like the season is endless and big enough to hold tons of bucket list activities as well as lazy weekends at home. But every year without fail, the weekends fill up before I can even finish planning everything I want to accomplish, and I spend the weekdays recovering from mini-excursions!


Last weekend Ben and I drove to Indiana for an infamous tiki party at my aunt and uncle's house. This is their backyard--my uncle used to work in construction and built this enormous tiki bar himself, using an old telephone pole, a tap from a Dutch bar, and thatch from ornamental grasses in his yard! He's also obsessed with collecting palm trees, in case you can't tell from the photos.


And he is crazy-awesome in the way that only the Dutch can achieve.


As is my dad. Guess which one he is? Luckily he was wearing his "lounge trunks" in this photo, and not his pool Speedo's.


Ahhh, paradise. The weather was absolutely perfect all weekend, mostly sunny and low humidity in the mid-70's. A relaxed fun time (and lots of Heineken) was had by all!


I've spent the week so far trying to detox and regroup. I love seeing family, but hate being away from home all weekend because it's always a scramble to catch up on groceries and the boring things of life (ahem laundry)! On Monday I finally walked down to the Alfred Caldwell Lily Pond, which I've been meaning to check out ever since I started my new job since I've seen it featured so often in engagement shoots by our wedding photographer Christy :) It is literally an urban oasis of calm between the zoo and Lincoln Park Conservatory. I think I've found my new summer lunch spot!




Can you spot the bunny?


Zoomed in. I love bunnies! They are everywhere in Lincoln Park, probably destroying the vegetation, but they are so cute!


I never get tired of this view!

And of course I can't leave you without a couple of zoo animals...


Our polar bear who is usually shy and hiding behind the scenes,


And sleepy sand cat! (I die.) 

I hope you are having a great week so far! 
I also hope you're staying safe if you're in the path of the crazy storms that are rolling through Illinois right now. So far we haven't gotten much besides some showers and distant lightning here in the city, and that is fine with me!


recipe time: a cocktail and a muffin

AnnaComment
Happy Friday!! Is it just me, or did this week crawl by??? The weather has been cool here, in the 60's and low 70's and it's hard to believe it's almost summer!

As promised by my last post, I've got a couple of delicious recipes for your weekend!
One is a summer cocktail and one is another banana muffin variation. I don't recommend eating them together...unless you're having a muffin for an afternoon snack :)


First up is my new favorite summer cocktail, the Pimm's cup! I recently discovered Pimm's No. 1, the British liqueur that tastes sort of like an extra herbal-y gin. It's not that great on its own, but mix it with some fruit and ginger ale or bubbly lemonade and it makes a delicious sweet and herbal punch! There are apparently a million different ways to make a Pimm's cup, but here's my current favorite:

Pimm's Cup (Anna's version)
Ingredients for one drink:
  • 1.5 oz (one shot) Pimm's No. 1
  • ginger ale
  • cucumber
  • mint
  • lemon slices
  • optional: strawberries, lime, any fruit you want!
Directions: Add a shot of Pimm's to a glass with fresh ice. Toss in sliced cucumber, mint leaves, a squeeze of lemon or lime, any other fruit you have, and fill to the top with ginger ale or lemon-lime soda. Stir to combine and enjoy! Super easy. You can also muddle (aka smash) the mint and fruit together in the glass before you add the ginger ale. If you're having friends over, it would be easy to make a large batch in a pitcher or punch bowl! Just combine amounts of ingredients until it tastes good to you!





Next up, here's an easy healthy muffin recipe to make the morning after your Pimm's party!

Banana-Cranberry Oat Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour (or unbleached white)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 t. baking soda
  • 1 t. baking powder
  • 1/4 t. salt
  • 1/2 t. cinnamon
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries
  • 1 egg
  • 2 T canola oil
  • 2-3 mashed bananas
  • 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
  • 1/2 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 400*F. Line a muffin tin with liners or grease with non-stick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, rolled oats, and cranberries.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg. Add oil, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla.
Carefully combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, be careful not to over-stir.
Spoon into muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Do you have any fun weekend plans? Ben and I are road-tripping to Indiana for a family get-together at my aunt and uncle's house. We have several wedding anniversaries and birthdays to celebrate, and it's always a crazy fun time when the Dutch side of the family gets together at my uncle's backyard tiki bar :) 

See you next week!