Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas to all!

What a lovely and relaxing Christmas! This year Megan, Neil and I headed to Doylestown on the 22nd to spend the week with my parents. I always love going to my parents house. My mom does such a great job making our house feel so inviting and cozy. We arrived to a hot pot of chili waiting for us and our wine.com order chilling in the fridge.

Christmas Eve turned out a little differently than I had planned because I ended up working the majority of the day and even missed church with my family. That said, I am SO LUCKY to work for a company that allows us to work from home and are very flexible with our schedules.

I did sneak out for a bit to get our annual picture with Santa Claus! This year, Neil was our special guest star and our theme this year. This was our 13th picture with Santa and every year it's a mad rush to get the picture done, but we are so happy afterwards because it's such a fun tradition.

After wrapping up work we did our traditional Christmas Eve dinner which consists of a ton of apps!

                          Because I am a fat girl I only took pictures of food. Seriously, not one picture of humans.

                                                   Home made mac n' cheese. YUMMMM

                                                                                   Best. Hoagies. EVER!

Christmas day was a very chill, relaxing day! My family decided not to do presents this year after the insanely expensive year we all had (sorry, guys). It was nice not to stress over money, etc, but at the same token, it did feel like something was missing a bit!

                                                                                   Christmas Dinner!

The day after Christmas we were going to walk around Doylestown, see a movie, something fun, but I came down with SARS. Ok, maybe it wasn't SARS, but I felt terrible. Thankfully, P.S. I love you was on TV so my dad, Neil and I watched that while Megan perfected her Gingerbreak Shale (fancy house).

We left bright and early on Friday and I still felt like garbage. On the way to the airport we hit standstill traffic for awhile, which resulted in us running to the gate to make our flight with 4 minutes to spare! While we were catching our breath the flight attendant asked if anyone wanted to move to the front of the plane, so Neil and I took one for the team and were moved into first class which was a great way to end a great week!!

Since coming home I haven't done much  besides cough and clean. I was getting so stir crazy that I had to do SOMETHING so I just started deep cleaning our apartment (over, closets, cabinets, all the gross stuff). Great way to start the new year!

I Heart December

I really love December, and this weekend was a great Christmas weekend!

Friday morning I woke up to this

An absolutely beautiful way to start the weekend off!

Friday after work Neil and I met Mary Kate and Kirk for an Italian feast at Balena (one of my favorite places in Chicago). It was so great to catch up with them and hear some Abby stories! I am so lucky to have Mary Kate as a friend and her husband Kirk is amazing. He cracks me up and is such a genuinely nice person. Neil and I always love hanging out with them.

Saturday was our 5th annual Christmas walk! I got up early and cleaned the apartment (mainly the guest room which has become my arch nemesis) and took Clark to the park. Then we began our trip. It seems each year we follow the same path: Start at the Christkindlmarket, head over to Macy's and walk around, stop at a hotel for a drink (the hotel always changes), walk up State Parkway and look at the insanely gorgeous houses, make our way to zoo lights and then end with dinner. Sadly, this was our first year that weather really got in the way. We made it all the way to the hotel, where we stopped at the Penninsula for a a drink (or two, or three) and we had to pump the breaks on the walk.

 Our jeans were wet (worst feeling ever), it was chilly and we just couldn't imagine walking another 3 or 4 miles in that weather. So, we officially called it and headed over to my all time favorite restaurant for dinner. We then met up our friends George and Brian for a few drinks at Twisted Spoke.

Though we didn't stick to our original route, it was still a blast and we will chalk it up to another successful Christmas Walk!

Yesterday we met my sister Megan for brunch and then she and I went to get a mani/pedi. After that I came home with the best intentions of packing and cleaning. Instead we watched about 8 episodes of House Hunters International. I mean, doesn't this look cozy?

          I was cleaning the sheets and the pup feel asleep on top of all the pillows and blankets. So comfortable! 





Today we leave for Philly to celebrate Christmas and I can't wait!!

Really, Clark?

After having surgery to take a small tennis ball out of his belly, you think Clark would stay clear of tennis balls.

Nope, the pup loves him some tennis balls!

Well, this is the cutest thing I've ever seen

Lamar, you lied.

I'm pretty sad about Khlo and Lam Lam splitting. Though I'm happy that she's leaving him because he's acting like a dirt ball lately, I did love them together when things were good! She loved her some Lam Lam and it makes me sad for her that he was so awful to her.

Neil and I are scared now. If a Kardashian can't make their marriage last what chance do we have?

Christmas is Here!

What a fun filled, festive weekend!!

Friday after work Neil and I met my cousins Jim, Syd and their two boys for drinks at Gibson's in the Gold coast. It was a very fun night! The gold coast looked so festive and we laughed and caught up (mostly about the wedding) over some cocktails (the boys had Ginger Ale)! I love seeing Cameron and Brandon and it's been so fun to see them grow up over the years, they are two sweet, fun and funny little boys!

After drinks Neil went to dinner with his friend Nick and I headed home because there were cookies to be made for Saturday morning!

Saturday we headed to Christmas off Campus. Each year, the University of Dayton alumni association hosts this and it's a blase to see everyone and help out for the morning. Pattie Brosnan always does an amazing job and each year gets better and better!

After COC Neil and I went to lunch with Mary Kate, her sister Bridget and Miss Abby. It was such a great lunch and great to chat and catch up. It was snowing outside and the perfect winter day!

                                             How cute is this baby?! I LOVE the Christmas outfit!

                                                       Aunt Bridget and the little nugget

Saturday night my sister Megan hosted a wine tasting party and it was SO.MUCH.FUN!! John, our wine expert was a lot of fun and brought about 12 bottles over for us all to taste. Every wine we tasted was delicious and it was so fun to catch up with Megan's friends. One of the couples there just got back from South Africa as well, so we chatted about that ALL NIGHT LONG! Megan is an amazing host and everything was perfect! 

                                                                            Selfie!

                                                                         Meg's spread. It was all amazing!! 

Shockingly, after a night of wine tasting Neil and I were pretty useless on Sunday and we just lounged and watched Christmas movies (and 16 and Pregnant. What else puts you in the Holiday spirit?!)

Oh, we got boots for Clark this weekend because the salt always gets in his paws and hurts him. They were the definition of a failure. Sadly I did not record a video, but watching him walk in those boots was classic.

Also, last week Neil and I went through our guest book and I found this pic: 

Might be one of my fave's from the whole day!  

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

No, wait, it's FREEZING!!

Winter is officially here in Chicago and everyone hates it. The only small potential silver lining is that we are supposed to get more snow! Yippie!! In the meantime, this is not right...

Also, I found a funny picture of Clark watching Neil pour a beer...

Post Gobble Gobble

My pants don't fit. Signs of a great weekend!!

As previously mentioned, I did not travel to Doylestown for Thanksgiving this year. While I missed my family and the comfort of my parents house, I did NOT miss traveling one bit. I loved the relaxed day and weekend and really wish every weekend could be this great!

Neil and I went to his parents house on Thursday for our official Thanksgiving dinner. Everything was yummy and I was in a serious food coma when we got home that night. Still being a bit jet lagged Neil and I crashed early.

Friday morning we went over to Crate and Barrel to get some items off of our registry and then we picked up our first Christmas tree; my first REAL Christmas tree!! It smells amazing and it was super fun picking it up!

 

Pre Decorations  

Busted the Santa Suit out as well, doesn't really fit like it did last year when he was about 50 lbs smaller. 

After decorating, cooking and cleaning we headed back to Neil's parents house because they were hosting Neil's moms side of the family for dinner. It was great to see everyone and rehash the wedding and honeymoon! Neil and I crashed early again right when we got home. 

Saturday morning started off with the Ditka Dash! My sister, our friend Nick and I all met to "run" this new 5K. Everyone gets mustaches and aviators to look like "Da Coach." It was a blast and a great way to start the day! 

                                                       I know I look like a man, that was actually the point!

When we got home we got right to cooking since a few people were coming over for Friendsgiving! 

 All total we had 9 people come over to recreate Thanksgiving. Everyone brought amazing food and drinks and Neil and I cooked turkey with all the fixins'. The night was a blast! It was great catching up with everyone! They all allowed Neil and I to share our honeymoon pictures and stories, too! 

I am so thankful for so much this year! It's going to be very hard to ever top 2013!  

Thanksgiving!!

It's the best time of the year!! It's getting chilly out (ok, it's freezing), the latte's taste amazing and we are vastly approaching a Holiday that is 100% focused around food! Yippie!!

I love Thanksgiving, it's such a fun day and a great kick off to all things Christmas. This is my first year that I won't be home for Thanksgiving and I'm super sad about it. My mom does such an amazing job making our house feel so warm and welcoming. She always as the best decorations up, candles lit, and plenty of food and wine! I will be there soon enough for Christmas!

As sad as I am not to go home, I'm super excited not to travel! I've always wondered how the other half live. The people who work in the office the day before Thanksgiving, drive to dinner and then home, and just relax all weekend!

This year we are going to have dinner at my in-laws (still weird to say that)! Then, on Friday they will be having another dinner with extended family. I'm super excited to see everyone and recap the wedding! Saturday I am doing a 5k in the morning with my sister Megan and our friend Nick. It's called the Ditka Dash and everyone gets fake mustaches and aviators to look like Mike Ditka. I can't wait! After the race we are heading back to my place to cook and prep for our first Friendsgiving! Neil is making turkey, which officially makes me feel like we are married! I can't wait for this weekend, it's going to be full of friends, family, booze, football and mashed potatoes (obvi, my favorite side)!!

Gobble gobble!!

Last night was a BLAST! My college roommates and I all chatted on Google Hangout! Krista, ever the tech wiz, proposed we all chat so we can see each other and catch up together, and it was SO MUCH FUN!! I'm pretty obsessed with my college roommates and everything they do makes me laugh and smile daily. So it was really  fun to see everyone in their "natural habitat." Mary was snuggled up with Abby and Krista with Tripp, Shea was in a hooded sweatshirt (sad it wasn't red), Laura was wrapped in blankets, Hosty (who has the best posture out of anyone I know) sat perfectly sipping wine, while I was in bed guzzling wine. Love those girls and can't wait to hit many more milestones together over our lives!

I'm baaaaack

Ok, so I couldn't stay away!! As much as I told myself I was going to stop blogging because "no one reads my blog," I realized that I actually like blogging and I have referenced it a good bit over the last few months. Having a blog has became a great way to track pictures and everything going on, basically a blog is the new diary.

So a few things have happened over the last 6 months, mainly, I got married!! Today is my first day back after our honeymoon and it's obviously going to be a productive one if I'm already planning blog posts! It's snowing like crazy (YIPPIE!!) and I am in the holiday spirit like crazy!

So for a quick recap of the wedding: it was amazing. The day was absolutely beautiful; 50 and sunny!! Sure we had a little bit of wind, but I'll stick to my life motto of: it's better to be cold than hot.

                                            Beautiful city day (thanks to my friend Chris who took all these pictures!!)

I was so happy with the day and how smoothly (most) everything went! It was truly the happiest day of my life and I am so thankful to everyone who came (and who was thinking of us from a far)! I am still glowing from the day and can't wait until our pictures come back so we can re-live the day over and over again!

                                          In Lincoln Park with Neil and his parents aka my in-laws! 

                                       Megan and Neil working on their promo for the BIL and SIL show 

                                                            My beautiful bridesmaids!! 

                                                                  Honeycomb pics! 

                                                     Maid of Honor, Me, Neil and Best Man. 

                                                            My parents with Neil and I

                                                                           My husband and I in Lincoln Park! 

We took a TON of pictures (literally, 1700) on the honeymoon and are just sifting through some of our favorites now! Can't wait to share more about our crazy fun honeymoon!!

Catch Up

Lots to discuss in the last week!

First off, I went home to Philly last weekend to see my parents for a few days! It was a great weekend and an excellent break from the hustle and bustle of things around here! I flew into a "new" airport in Trenton which is closer to my parents house. I use the word new VERY loosely! This is actually a super old airport that looks like it was an old Airforce base or something. It made the airport from Wings look like O'Hare. But it was cheap and easy to get to, so that's all that matters to me!

My dad and I went to lunch and took this insanely scenic trip home. New Jersey is actually a beautiful state and I always love driving through it! After meeting up with my mom we went home, ordered pizza and just relaxed. Saturday morning my mom and I got up at at 'em! We headed out to King of Prussia mall to begin the daunting task of finding a mother of the bride dress. It was hard because everything looked so great on my mom! She ended up taking a few home to test out.

We then hurried home to meet my dad for dinner! We went to my favorite place in Doylestown and sat outside. While that sounds nice and relaxing it was literally torture. Even though it was warm all day, we assumed it would cool down at night and there might even be a nice breeze. WRONG!! It was so flipping hot and not a breeze rolled through. My mom and I, who have slightly abdnormal body temperatues (aka we are both constantly hot, and when I say hot I mean, sweating, about to pass out, hot. Also, we aren't dramatic at all about it.....), and we both wanted to die. It was so hot that I couldn't finish my dinner. I can count on my hand the number of times I wasn't able/willing to finish a dinner in my life, so it was a big deal.

Due to the heat, I think we both got a little too intoxicated (it was completely the heats fault) and my mom and I stayed up gabbing until about 3 am.

Sunday was my mom's birthday, so we both dragged ourselves out of bed, downed a bunch of water and went out to breakfast in a town near us called New Hope. It was nice relaxing morning and we strolled through the town and came across an Art Fair.

Once we wore ourselves out we headed home to hunker down on some wedding work! It's so nice to do wedding stuff together! A lot of things just don't translate over email or the phone.

That night we went to my fave Mexican place and called it an early night since I was flying out the next day.

I always have a great time when I visit my parents and can't wait for the next trip!

                                                      Beautiful flowers from my parents garden! 

 I came across this picture of me as a baby and it always makes me laugh because I was SO FAT and clearly just ate something, too. When I was home my dad said that jacket wasn't "flattering." That's it. It's definitely not me. 

Proof that I was (and still am) OBSESSED with Back to the Future. I got this shirt at Universal Studios and wore it (in addition to a Jaws t-shirt that had bite makes on the side) pretty much every day. I even went as Doc Brown for Halloween. The shirt says "Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads." Heavy. 

In other news, I got a new job! Though it may seem that I change jobs like I change my underwear, I'm hoping that this will be a good move for me and I will be with the new company for awhile! I start on June 24th and couldn't be more excited!!

God Complex

Ever since we brought Clark home in September, I've noticed how many people love to pat themselves on the back for rescuing a dog. Not that this isn't a great thing to do, and there are so many dogs out there that need a loving home, but sometimes I'm pretty sure people just adopted their dog so they can tell you all about it!

Typically, when I'm walking Clark and we meet another dog owner the conversations go something like this:

Rescuer: "You're dogs so cute, what's his name"
Me: "His name is Clark, what about yours? What kind is he?"
Rescuer:  "HER name is (insert some thought provoking dog name) and we have no idea what kind of dog she is. We rescued her."

This is the point where I can't help by roll my eyes. We got Clark from a shelter in Lincoln Park, when we got him they give us tons of paper work letting us know that he'd been chipped and fixed and what they think (based on a vet evaluation) the type of dog he is. This isn't an exact science or 100% true, but they can tell you what kind of mix your pet most likely is. So the people who always making a point of saying, "we have NO idea" are lying.

I can't help but chuckle at the people who think it's totally necessary to point out within five seconds that they selflessly rescued their sweet, innocent pet! Berf.

Before I go on, I want to say that I am a million percent aware that dogs are nothing like children and having children is a billion times harder and more complicated than a hairy little animal. That being said, I feel like having Clark is, in a VERY small way, prepping us for some of the annoying things that go on when you have children; ie: the annoying parents. Some of the dog owners we meet not only have a God complex, but they seem to forget that our little bundles of joy romping around together are just dogs. They bite, they wrestle, they bark (or in Clark's case, howl), they may even cry, but they are, in fact, dogs.

End Rant.

By the way, when I went to google to find a picture or video that complimented this rant, I came across this picture.

                                                            I mean, really? We get it.

Long Weekend Wrap Up

God Bless America!

I love Memorial Day Weekend! It's always so warm and sunny, filled with BBQ's and relaxing in the yard. Wait, that didn't happen this weekend, it was 50 degrees, cold and overcast. Regardless, it was a very fun and lazy long weekend!

Friday ended up like most Fridays do; ordering in and relaxing with our pet.

Saturday we woke up to this:

I guess Clark was so excited for the long weekend that he ate his pillow in the middle of the night. Shameful.

Neil and his friend Nick went to an Asian market in Arlington Heights to purchase some food to make for dinner while Megan and I went out to lunch. It was a very gloomy and chilly day and I just couldn't wake up! When I came home Neil and Nick made an amazing Asian feast!

                                                                        Asian pancake

                                                                     Salmon rolls 

                                                                    Shrimp tempura 

                                                                                     Toro. Best Thing Ever!!! 

                                                                      Neil and Nick working their magic 

Sunday we did a little Old Town bar crawl with my sister and friends George, Brian, Nick and Bill. It was so much fun!

                                                              Group shot at Corcorans. 

                                               Neil and I outside of Wells on Wells, where we met! 

                                                                                          Megan, Nick and I

Sunday morning required a greasy breakfast at a diner near us and lots of couch and Arrested Development time! Later on in the day we went to Neil's parents house for a Memorial Day BBQ, which was awesome! By the end of the weekend we were all pooped!

 

                                                              Love his American themed scarf! Thanks, Mom!! 

Amazing Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was PERFECT!! It was fun, sunny and relaxing!!

Friday night we started off by meeting Neil's cousins Dawn and Michael at Three Aces in Little Italy. It was a great dinner (and I remember the food a bit more than New Year's)! I had such a great time getting to know them both a bit more! We chatted about restaurants, traveling, their adorable boys and so much more. I can't wait to hang out with them again!

Saturday Neil and I woke up bright and early so we decided to go to Little Goat for brunch. Lately, we've been trying a bunch of new places for an early morning meal and in my eyes it's hard to find a place that beats Publican, but I do have to say Little Goat was very good! Especially their hash browns; they were shredded with some cheese (couldn't put my finger on what kinda it was). So great!

Afterwards we picked up Clark and headed up to the dog beach for a few hours. It was a very big day at the beach because Clark finally swam!! It was adorable and he did such a good job!

After we left the beach we walked around the Lake path for awhile because it was an amazingly beautiful day outside. I even bumped into someone I went to middle school with in Naperville! As Neil and I walked more we decided it was the perfect day to have a beer somewhere, so we drove home, ditched the car and went across the street to have a drink. 

                                                 Cheap Watermelon shot that I'm pretty sure had no alcohol in it! 

One of the many things I love about the South Loop is how dog friendly out area is! We have about three or four bars that all have outside eating areas that allow dogs, so we brought the pup with us as we popped around to a few of the bars in Printers Row. 

As the day passed we sipped on craft beers and worked on our first farmers tans of the summer. Before too long, the beers and early morning caught up to us and we called it a night pretty early. It was the perfect Saturday! 

Sunday morning we went to a park down the street and had a picnic of lox and bagels and mimosas! It was super relaxing and a great way to kick start a Sunday. I love finding areas in the city that make you forget you're actually in the city! The park was very quiet, surrounded by nice houses and there were plenty of children and families out playing. 

After running some quick errand, we came home to clean and hang out. Neil cooked some amazing brats on the grill and we just relaxed and watched a movie. I wish every weekend could be this amazing!