And the Douche Award Goes To....

               

USA's very own Ryan Lochte. Don't get me wrong, I love America and all the athletes at the Olympics, but after seeing a very disturbing interview with Ryan Lochte, I was so disappointed that he won the gold medal. And I liked him even less when he wore that ridiculous grill AGAIN! During his interview he came off so cocky and, as the title suggests, really douchey. I get you feel like the red headed step child to Michael Phelps after Beijing, but that's no reason to act like a total tool because people are starting to know your name now. I really hope if he wins another award he'll be a bit more respectful and take that crap out of his mouth (whoa, I just sounded like my mom there..)

Blah. Monday

I have a serious case of the Monday's today.

After an amazing and VERY relaxing weekend I can't seem to focus on ANYTHING! So instead of doing what I should be doing, I've been focusing on my friends bachlorette party this weekend in Michigan! I can't wait, its going to be such a fun weekend filled with wine tasting, dancing and lots of neon!

Book Club

I just finished reading two really good (and different) books.

"How Evan Broke his Head and Other Secrets" by Garth Stein:
A coworker of mine had been talking about Garth Stein for awhile so I thought I'd check one of his books out. This book was pretty interesting and I liked his writing style... overall. There were points in the book where I thought the writing was a bit choppy, but I think that was supposed to be the style because of the plot. I am definitely going to try another one of his books though. But, the book does read quickly and I would recommend it to others!

After this I read "The Letter: My Journey Through Love, Loss and Life" by Marie Tillman.
My sister had just finished this book and said it was a good read and helpful. I thought this was a great book! While certain points were absolutely heartbreaking, Marie's writing style makes it so that she's not tyring to make you feel bad for her, but understand the crazy emotions and feelings that come with loosing someone so close to you. Her relationship with her husband seemed so beautiful and innocent and I thought it was great how she never forgot who he was and what he would have wanted. This was a pretty quick read that I recommend to anyone!

It's Friday!!!

This is one of my favorite things to wake up to when I'm traveling:

The receipt under the door means it's time to go home!!

Best. News. EVER!!!

Over the past few days the best news I've ever received has been announced... my sister Megan is MOVING TO CHICAGO!!!! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself!!! My whole family is big believers on "don't jinx it," so Megan has been patiently awaiting the final word on this news over the past few days and finally everything has been confirmed!

I don't know all the deets (final moving day, where she's going to live, etc) but all that matters is Megan and I will be within a few MILES from each other in a very short amount of time!! Can't wait to finally watch Housewives together instead of texting through each episode!

Get ready for a whole lot more of this:

Avalon, NJ

Monday was my brother Colin's birthday. He would have been 37. Last year for his birthday we decided to start a new tradition where we all get together somewhere (the Jersey shore has been our place of choice the last two years) for his birthday. One of the things I miss most about my brother is how fun and funny he was. So, this year and last year I've really tried to focus on having fun and laughing and celebrating Colin's life. He would not have been one to sit around or cry to mourn someone, so I am really trying to honor him and act as he would have.

Last year, the shore was INSANELY hot, but this year was a different story. We arrived midday on Friday (after stopping for a Wawa hoagie) and the day was a bit overcast and rainy. The highlight was getting crab cakes that rocked my world! We also stayed up and played games at night, which is always fun!

Saturday, my sister Kelly came down and we all just laid out by the pool as much as could, despite the lack of sun! At night we all went out to dinner at a local Italian place, which was a fun (gotta love Jersey Italian restaurants). Whenever we are at the beach we try to eat as much seafood as possible and every year, they do not disappoint!

Sunday, the tanning God's looked down upon us and we all went to the beach for the morning to soak up the rays. It felt great and the sound of the waves crashing was amazingly peaceful. It's moments like that, when everything is quiet and warm that I wish Colin was there with us, making a hilarious joke or quoting some obscure 80's song or movie.

Monday was ridiculously hot, so we just had lunch and headed out. Neil and I were able to catch an early flight, which was followed by sitting on the run way for about 2 hours. Gotta love travel!

Thanks to my mom and dad for putting this weekend together! As always, thank you to Megan for carting us around and allowing the trip to happen! Also, thank you to Kelly and Neil for making the weekend what it was!

From Up in the Air

I officially feel like an adult (also like a bit of a jet setter). I am blogging from up in the air! In attempt to avoid doing actual work I have decided to update this instead! So much has been going on lately, but I've also been thinking that I haven't been doing the best job of relating my posts to the whole "year of doing" thing. Since moving and starting my new job I feel like I've had little time to do much else and in turn, have been volunteering less (here comes the excuse train). I know that once things settle down a bit, I need to get back into PAWs and Willow House. In the meantime, I will continue to feel bad about my half assed effort to helping people.

Now back to the fun stuff! Last week was my birthday! My sister Megan was in town for the night for work and she met Neil and I up for drinks, which was a ton of fun! Before meeting up with her, Neil and I went to Guilt Bar, which was super good! The food was excellent and they had a bunch of fun drinks.

The next day, Megan's flight was cancelled and she had to stay in Chicago another night, which resulted in her and I getting pedi's, eating sushi and getting smashed off of champagne. Man, it would really be nice if she lived closer to me!!

Chicago Cut

For my "official" birthday diner, Neil took me to Chicago Cut on Saturday. It was amazing!! Chicago Cut has been on the top of my list of places to go for ages (mostly because Bill Rancic is always there). The ambiance was classic and definitely felt like an old school Chicago steak house.

(Because I'm a fat girl and got excited when the food was placed, this pic was taken a few bites in...)

We then went to one of our favorite spots in Chicago, the Tasting Room on Randolph, for some flights of wine

It was a wonderful night! Thanks, Neil for making another birthday amazing!

Things That Make you Go Hmm...

Now that I am at the ripe old age of 27 (for one more day), and everyone seems to be getting engaged or married  I have found that I am even more perplexed by the whole process than ever before. Let me first say, I am not a feminist. In a perfect world I would be a stay at home mom and cook, clean and take care of the children while "the man" brings home the bacon. With that said, I find is fascinating how old fashioned the whole wedding process is.

The engagement: Let's assume you have been dating someone for some time (for some people it's 6 months, others 4 years...ahem) and you feel that you are ready spend the rest of your life with them. This is the point in the relationship where the "roles" of male and female come into play (because by this point you have forgotten about all the games that were played in the beginning; should I call him, will he call me, etc). So basically, during this time the woman sits patiently while the man determines when, where and how he will propose. Sometimes that waiting period seems to drag on a bit and all the while the girl is left to wonder and wait. It seems crazy to me that in this world of female empowerment, no matter how smart and successful the woman is, she still waits for that blessed day when she will be asked to marry the man of her dreams. Until then she waits and fends off comments such as "when do you think you'll get engaged," and "HOW long have you two been dating?"

The wedding: Lately, I have been lucky enough to see some amazing weddings! Whenever I question what type of wedding I want (Destination? Elope? Local?) I think about all the friends and family dancing and smiling the night away with everyone they love in a room together. It's amazing to see and makes me excited to do it as well! With that, I wonder where the idea of the woman's family paying for it came from? Granted, 99% of the things that go on during a wedding are the girl's idea and about 82% of the those things go unnoticed by the husband, but I would think this is your first event together as husband and wife, shouldn't everyone come together to throw this event?

Based on the comments above you probably think I'm bitter (waiting for a ring) and jaded (thinking about paying for the wedding), which I will say, I'm not at all! I love the idea that I don't know when and where and how I will be proposed to and I think the idea of planning a wedding is fun and exciting. I just find it interesting that of all the things that have changed and evolved over the years, weddings seems to stand the test of time.

Book Club

Per my sister Megan's recommendation, I recently read the book "Gone Girl." Wow. This book was amazing! I sat in bed and read it in one afternoon because I could not put it down!! This book was written really well and had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The main character is insane and I always wondered what was going to happen next. I highly recommend this book to anyone!

Side note: I just saw they are making a movie out of this as well! Can't wait to see it on the big screen!

KickOuttaYou (meant to be one word)

I love this picture that was taken of my friend Krista (see: The First to Get Married post). Nothing is better than laughing with great frinds

Exploring the New 'Hood

This past weekend was a weekend for exploring our new neighborhood! Friday night was actually the first night in ages that we didn't have anything planned, so, for the first time since moving into the new apartment, Neil and I stayed in Friday night! We pulled an old school night and ordered pizza and made cocktails, and did our favorite new activity: laundry. Wonderful evening!

Saturday, since it was still 815 degrees out, Neil and I decided to "do something" but do it inside. Since we are both insanely cultured and sophisticated, the Art museum was the only logical choice. It was a lot of fun because there was a Roy Lichtenstein exhibit, the paintings were all amazing! We also spent a lot of time looking at Monet's, I don't think I ever realized how amazing all of his paintings are!

We also had our very own Ferris Bueller moment

The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking at a new local watering hole, Kasey's, which is the ultimate dive (the menu consists of microwave popcorn and frozen pizza's), and so much fun!

We went to Davanti Enoteca (http://davantichicago.com/) on Taylor Street for dinner, which we had previously seen on Check Please and the place was amazing!! Great Italian food and an awesome ambiance. I highly recommend it!

In an effort to take more pictures, Neil and I tried to get a picture of the two of us on our patio. After about 36 attempts, this was the best of the group. Needless to say, our patio is a little windy..

File That Under Who Gives A....

The most amazing thing happened to me the other day!! I was sitting on the couch, minding my business, catching up on Bravo, when my phone chimed. It made a noise that I am not familiar with so I looked down to see a notification from Twitter. Since I never tweet and only go on to follow Gary Janetti (HILARIOUS) I assumed it was some sort of settings notification. I looked down to see this:

Alex McCord (formerly) of the housewives of New York City was following ME!! Why, you might ask? I have no idea, but it still makes me super excited. I forgot to mention that months ago, her husband, Simon Van Kempen started following me as well. I feel like this makes me one step closer to becoming a       Bravo-lebrity.

Happy Birthday, America!

Well America, you did it! Your birthday completely threw off my week and I feel like I just came back to work from an incredibly short weekend. I'm confused, but I hope you had a great birthday!

4th of July eve (AKA July 3rd) we had some friends over for a BBQ. Since it was hotter than Haiti outside, we mostly stayed inside and ate a lot of food and played some games, namely, Cards Against Humanity. If you are easily offended then STAY AWAY from this game. But it made for a great night!

Thanks to Hosty, Hunter, George, Brian and Bill for coming over, bringing snacks and booze and making it such a great night!!

In my continuous effort to be the next Martha Stewart (without a prison record), above is a picture of the American Flag cake I made for the 3rd of July.