Money, Money, Money, Money, MOOONEEEYY!!

Last night was the $550 million Power ball and while I don't live in Missouri or Arizona, I'm still clinging to hope that a very close relative of mine did, in fact, win the lottery. Neil went in with 55 of his closest colleagues and bought some tickets. He studied all 55 tickets last night starting at about 9:40 until 10:05. Though he did win $7, split 55 ways I don 't think we are in a position to quit our jobs just yet.

It did get me thinking about what I would do besides the obvious of getting out of debt, making sure our parents are set for life and quitting my job Jerry McGuire style. I wonder if I'd adopt a bunch of pound puppies (obviously only the cute ones... kidding...), travel the world helping out people who need it, take care of all my friends and family, build a gold plated shrine to Clark in place of the Bean in Millennium Park? The possibilities are endless, which I guess is what is fun about actually playing the lottery, it gives you something fun to think about. As the years go on, I find myself getting more and more stressed and overwhelmed about money, so it's nice to step back and pretend what life would be like if you won half a billion dollars!

Move over Jay and Bey, we're taking over the south of France soon!

Sleepy Pup

If only you could hear the snores!

Book Club

So I've been in a dry spell when it comes to books. I was reading some books about Mediums, which is interesting, but slightly depressing. Also, the books were all making me wonder what was the truth and what was not, so I finally had to get back into something good! My sister had been talking about a book called 'The Kitchen House' so I finally started it the other week. I have to admit, it starts off a bit slow and was hard for me to get into, but all of a sudden it takes an awesome turn and I can't put it down! I'm only about half way through, but LOVING it!! I will report back when it's done, but as of now, I highly recommend it!

Christmas Time

When we got back to Chicago on Monday it was evident that Christmas time is here! Not only was it freezing (when we left on Thursday, I didn't even bring a coat with me) but the lights were lit, the decorations were up and there was a buzz in the air!

                                                                           View from the apartment

I'm so excited to shop, do our Christmas walk, drink warm drinks, stay in on the weekends and hunker down for the first snow of the year (which my parents got the day after we left)! Clark's even excited for his first visit from Santa!

                       Hopefully more pictures to come, he was more interested in eating the outfit than posing in it.

Happy Holidays!!

Gobble Gobble!

Last weekend was Thanksgiving, one of the best Holidays of the year! Wednesday Neil, Megan and I went to Neil's parents house in Oak Park for a pre-thanksgiving, thanksgiving dinner. Neil loves cooking this meal and does a great job! He took a half day, headed out to his parents with his trusty sidekick, Clark and began cooking right away with his sister Lizzie, her boyfriend Kevin and his mom. The meal was great and the company even better! Clark played with his "pal" Biscuit and slept under the table while we ate. At one point he snored so loud we all stopped our conversation to listen to the dog. We left fairly early because of the insanely early morning we were about to have on Thursday!

Thursday morning we woke up well before the sun, got dressed and headed to the airport to fly home to Philly! We were back in the 215 by 9 am and ready to eat turkey and relax! My sister Kelly picked us up along with my brothers friend, Tim who took the red eye in from Arizona to Philly. Once we arrived in Doylestown we started eating and did not stop until late Sunday night :)

My mom cooked an amazing dinner and had all the Thanksgiving staples, including her newly introduced and reinvented stuffing. Yummmm.

                                                 Love this counter of candles my mom put up!

                                        My mom and Tim, in their aprons, ready to get dirty!

                                                             The bird, right as he came out

                                                                                      All the fixin's

After dinner we watched Christmas Vacation and all dozed off with full bellys.

Friday we just hung around Doylestown, and then popped over to an area in Lahaska called Peddlers Village, which I love! This area has tons of cute, independent (mostly) shops. Every year they go all out with great Christmas lights, a ginger bread house contest, hot cider, and Christmas tunes blasting through the speakers. This is one of my favorite places to visit when I go home!

                                                              Neil and I in the lights

                                                                    Walking into Peddlers Village.

Saturday we got up and headed to Stephanie's in Doylestown, which is one of the few sports bars (or bars in general) in town, and we took over a table to watch the OSU vs Michigan game! Since we were the only people in the bar they put the game on all the TVs while we drank beer, ate apps and yelled at the TVs during the game, which, thankfully, the good guys won! Afterwards we went home with all intentions of going out to dinner, but ended up snoozing on the couch (which my parents just got and is insanely comfortable) and ordering pizza for dinner.

Sunday we got to decorating! After a leisurely morning and breakfast we started de-pumpkining the house (my mom has a serious obsessed with pumpkins) and putting up Christmas decs! Once the tree was done we all lost steam and my mom and I cooked up some chili for dinner.

It was such an amazing weekend home and was so nice to relax and just hang out with my family. My parents always do such an amazing job with the meals and making the house feel like a bed and breakfast away from home! Can't wait for Christmas in a few weeks!

Girls Weekend Wrap Up

This past weekend my college roommates Mary Kate, Laura and I went to visit one of our other college roommates, Krista in Las Vegas and it was SO FUN! Mary Kate and I have never been to Vegas before, and since Krista has been out there for about 4 years now, we figured now was the time. Krista was an amazing host and put together a great agenda for the weekend!

We all arrived late Thursday night and met in the airport bar for a drink. Krista then drove us to the strip to have a drink and plan the weekend. It was crazy to finally see in person. So many lights, so many people, so much to take in!! We then went back to Krista's house to catch up more and hit the hay. We all woke up pretty early on Friday (too excited to sleep) and ended up hanging out and chatting all morning long. Once we finally got at it, we headed over to the strip.

We started off with lunch at Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay. While we were waiting for our table we popped next door to a bar for a drink and what do you know, the Dayton basketball game was on TV! It was a sign! We then went to lunch, which was awesome (http://www.mandalaybay.com/dining/burger-bar/). After lunch we went to a bar called Minus 5 (http://www.minus5experience.com/). This place was my heaven. The temperature is actually minus 5 degrees (although Mary and I weren't sold on that). When you get there, they give you jackets, boots and gloves and you enter this room where everything is made of ice, the tables, the chairs, the cups, everything. It was so crazy and the drinks were awesome.

Since Mary was on vacation he made it her goal to do the VIP experience throughout the weekend and she started that at Minus 5 by purchasing the upgraded VIP package which included a long fur coat and hat (as opposed to the traditional parka) and a picture. Totally worth it.

                                                 Wish my eyes weren't closed, but it's a good pic of the Ice Queen

                                                                       VIP Forever

After Minus 5 we went over to New York, New York where we walked around the casino and rode the roller coasted (twice). There's something about attractions and tourist traps that really gets my group of friends going! We are suckers.

                                                                        Laura and Krista gambling.

After NY, NY we went to check in at your hotel, the Cosmopolitan which was insane and super swanky! Krista pulled some strings and got us an awesome room that looked over the strip and the Bellagio fountains! When we got in the room the girls surprised me with a little pre-bacholorette bachlorette party! We popped the champ, I wore a veil and we played some bachlorette party games (they had Neil answer questions ahead of time while I tried to guess his answers). They are so sweet and thoughtful and I even got to wear a sash and veil all night!

                                                         Champ and strawberries in the room

We continued to push our dinner reservations back the longer we stayed in the room from 6:45, to 7:45 to finally a 9:30 dinner. We left our room and went to a bar in the hotel called the Chandelier Bar which was so beautiful! We met some Australians and had a drink before heading to dinner.

 



 

We had tapas at Jaleo for dinner and every single plate we ordered was awesome! We had food in a shoe and were served Sangria by our little tiny waiter, Donny all night!

                                                              Donny, cute as a button

                                                                     Food in a shoe.

                                                               Group shot at dinner.

                                                                                         Krista and I

After dinner we went to Comme Ca for a drink outside that overlooked the strip, it was so cool!

On our way to the next bar we walked past the Bellagio Fountains

We then went to Hyde, a club at the Bellgio. It was definitely an experience! None of us are "clubbers" but it was really cool to see the scene and see what it's all about. We then walked around a bit, Mary Kate and Krista hit up Secret Pizza to bring back to the room and we all crashed.

In the morning we headed over to Paris to eat at Mon Ami Gabi. We sat outside and watched the fountains and everyone walking up and down the strip. I also saw my favorite sign that I think should be at every public building in America:

After brunch we walked all up and down the strip hitting every casino and drinking along the way. I didn't realize that Donny and Marie have a show at the Flamingo. I'm obsessed with Donny Osmond. Mary Kate looked at tickets and they were ridiculous so instead I stared at every sign we saw.

                                                                                   Love you D.O

I think my favorite building, besides the Cosmo was the Venitian. It was gorgeous! We toyed with taking a Gondolla ride, but the line was a bit too long!

After walking all day we headed back to Krista's to get ready to go to Old Vegas. We sat down to recoup for a bit and have some apps, and the next thing you know we all slowly put on our comfy clothes and then Mary came up with the bright idea of soaking our feet (which we really needed after walking so much). So we sat around the tub with wine, listening to Christmas music.

                                                                     Nothing better than a good soak.

It was great catching up together and Joe, Krista's husband was around as well so we got to chat and hang out with him!

Bright and early Sunday morning Mary and Laura left to get their flights. Krista and I ended up lounging around a bit in the morning then Joe, Krista and I headed to Old Vegas to check it out. It was very... interesting! Definitely cool to see and not like anything I've seen before! It's cool to have older bars and then a brand new place right next door to it. Most of the trip I was literally speechless because there was so much to take in and see.

Thanks so Krista for putting together such an amazing weekend for us all! I had an amazing time and can't wait to do it again. You and Joe are so nice to have us all take over your house for the weekend!



Weekend Wrap Up

So weird, apparently I have some sort of virus with my blog and I don't know what to do about it! But, oddly enough, it's only when I try to log on from Google chrome. Who knows. Maybe it's a sign that I should end the blog, who knows!

This weekend Neil and I went to Bloomington, Indiana to visit his sister Lizzie and see the IU vs Wisconsin football game. Neil's dad went down on Friday before us and we all met up and hung out for a bit at night. Saturday we got up and at them! Lizzie gave us a tour of campus, we had breakfast and then headed over to the game. It was 70 degrees and sunny out, great for sitting outside!

                                                                         Mr. Berman, Lizzie and Neil

After the game I headed back to Chicago to spend some one on one time with my sister! She came over and we had the best intentions of going out, but having a late Friday night caught up with the both of us and we ended up staying in and catching up. It was so great. I'm so happy Megan's here in Chicago!

Sunday I cleaned and took Clark for a long walk/play in the park. Neil came home later in the evening and I cook some lasagna for dinner, which, if I do say so myself, was super good!

 

 

This week I am going to be prepping for a weekend in Vegas with some of my college roommates!! Can't wait! 

Dear God,

Please let this election be over. Please have people stop repeating everything they here on TV as though they are a political analyst. Please tell celebrities to stop endorsing candidates and making ridiculous videos online about who you should vote for. Please tell people on facebook to stop putting up statuses that say "vote." Please tell the people directing traffic today that we know that red means stop and green means go. Please
tell me why Diddy hasn't been as vocal this time around (maybe I'm not watching enough MTV?).

Thank you

Halloween

Have I mention I hate Halloween? Since I worked on Wednesday and flew out that night, we didn't dress up Clark for Halloween, but he did wear his costume the night before. I think he needs to wear this year round!

Looking for bad guys 

Just take the picture and give me a treat

Being a super dog is hard work

Paradise Weekend Wrap Up

Wednesday after work I headed down to Key West for Annie and Ben's wedding and it was UNREAL!! I landed in Ft. Lauderdale and drove down to Key West, which is about a 4 hour ride on a one lane road in the dark. I cranked up the music, put the windows down and drank about 3 cups of coffee and arrived safely around 3:30 am.

My college friends had rented a house for the weekend and it was so great! There were 12 of us who shared the house and it was perfect for the weekend! We had a big kitchen and family room, pool and a bunch of space for us all. Thursday morning we got up and headed out to the pool and layed out and swam all day. The bride and groom were over as well and both cool as cucumbers!

That evening Annie and Ben hosted their rehearsal dinner; a sunset cruise on catamaran. It was beautiful and a great way to kick off the weekend! We had booze and food and enjoyed the amazing views! Afterwards we went out on Duval Street (which is the main street of bars and restaurants in Key West) and bar hopped our way to a restaurant/bar that Annie and Ben had rented out for an after party. It was so fun and really cool to see a new town!

Friday we headed to the beach in the morning and layed out, swam, played games, drank and relaxed all day long. Neil finally arrived that night as well! We had a few drinks at the hotel pool (literally, the best cocktails and drinks ever) and then went out to dinner. We came back to everyone hanging out at the house playing games and catching up.

Saturday was wedding day!! Neil and I started our morning on the beach and then headed back to the pool at the house to relax before the celebration! The wedding itself was amazing! Annie and Ben were married on the beach, right outside of the Southernmost Hotel shortly before sunset. It was so beautiful and words can't even describe how amazing Annie looked! Ben's dad and close family friend married them, so the ceremony was so personal and special. Truly amazing.

After the ceremony we went over to the tent for drinks, food and dancing! Time flew and before we knew it it was time to head to the "after party" at a bar on Duval St. near our house and the hotel.

                                                          The beautiful bride and her dad 

                                                                         Flyer pride 

Oh, and this was the last text I sent for the night. Obviously, it was a great time :) 

The next day Neil and I got up bright and early and made the ROUGH trip back to Ft. Lauderdale where I flew out. Neil is staying in Florida for a few days to see his grandparents. After I arrived in Chicago, I went to pick up Clark and Mr. Berman invited me to dinner so he and I were able to recap the wedding and Clark's weekend as well.

Congratulations to Annie and Ben and thank you for arranging an amazing vacation for us :) Love to you both!