#Obsessed.

A few weeks ago Neil and I went on a bender. I'm talking appetizer sampler (AKA all things deep fried), beer tower, the works. So on Sunday we were feeling pretty gross and shameful and decided to have a healthy dinner. Neil proposed a salad. I immediately turned up my nose because everyone knows that salads do not fill you up, and apparently I'm not happy unless I'm uncomfortably full at all times. 

But marriage is about compromise (I'll give him this one), so  I made a kale salad with homemade caesar dressing and it was so good! Since then I've eaten it for dinner and lunch almost every day for 2 weeks. I literally CAN'T STOP! 

I've mixed it up a few times by putting shrimp, salmon and chicken in the salad, but my favorite is definitely shrimp. I like that it's so easy to throw together and requires absolutely no clean up (best part!)

My boo.

Adopt-iversary!!

Two years ago today Neil and I brought home a little black puppy with floppy ears and big eyes who completely stole our hearts!

Sixty pounds, three collars, 2 dog beds, one small tennis ball, and a million stuffed animals later Clark continues to make us laugh and smile everyday! There's nothing better than coming home to Clark's sweet welcome and a long howl!

Weekend Wrap Up

What an amazing weekend!

This summer Neil and I haven't had a lot of big plans or things to do, so we've really had a ton of chill weekends and I'm getting VERY comfortable with that!

Friday night I was still a little hungover from the night/day before so we laid low and ordered dinner in. I think I was asleep by 9:00 pm.

Saturday we got up and headed out to the dog beach with Clark and then took a long walk on the lake. It was gorgeous out and a great way to kick the day off!

After the beach I ran some errands, cleaned and hung out. Neil and I had a few cocktails and then went out to my favorite Italian restaurant Bella Notte. It was, as always, so yummy and a great night out!

Sunday we started the day off by laying out on our rooftop. It was absolutely perfect and we could hear Lolla festivities going on!

                                                                              View from our rooftop


It was an amazing, relaxing and lovely weekend! I'm super bummed it's officially August and the end of summer countdown has begun. Wah wah

Someone always has it worse than you....

Friday!!

Yay!! It's Friday, it's beautiful outside and I had McDonald's for breakfast. Today is off to a great start!

Yesterday we had a team outing at work and it was a blast/mess! We left work around noon and headed over to the J.Parker for drinks and snacks. The weather was perfect and the views were insane!

                                                                                            St. Mikes :)

My intentions were to pace myself because Megan and I were going out to dinner that night. Well, I really tried but it didn't go as planned. YOLO.

I did end up meeting Megan for dinner at the place near her called Kinmont. YUMMY!! It was so good and cute! I love our sissy nights! After dinner Megan and I went to her place and sensibly sipped on ONE glass of wine and talked about how full we were!

Or wait... did we proceed to drink a ridiculous amount of wine while I singlehandedly killed a bag of tootsie rolls and may or may not have ordered pizza?

I can't recall, but one of those versions definitely happened.

Great day, great night! Now I'm ready for a nap!

On Wednesday my manager gave me tickets to the Cubs game and the seats were amazing! It was a beautiful night and Neil and I had a blast! I hadn't been to a Cubs game yet this season so I'm glad we were able to go. Too bad the Cubby's didn't win (shock)!

                                                  Thought I was super artistic with this one. Thanks, Instagram!

I'm baaaaaaack!

No better time to start blogging again than when your work computer crashes!

While I wait for my computer to be fixed (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ) I thought I'd catch up on some blogging.

Keep with me because I am super old now. Since my last post I turned 30. Berf. That said, 30 was the best birthday I have ever had!! It was a surprise/family/friend filled weekend! Neil and I went to dinner at Bavettes on my actual birthday (Thursday) and proceeded to drink our faces off. The food was amazing and I love the restaurant!

Friday we moved in ultra slow motion and actually took a mid-morning nap! We then went to lunch and the dog beach. Amazing recovery/post birthday afternoon! Neil said he wanted to plan our night out so I did not ask any questions. We arrived at dinner (Adobo Grill!) and as we walked to our seats my parents and sisters popped up and were there to surprise me!! It was so great to see them. I've been super home/parent sick lately, so it was the absolute perfect surprise (well done, family)! We then went over to Second City which is my favorite thing to do in the city!

Saturday we met my parents for brunch and then went to Lincoln Park zoo. It was a banner day at the zoo! The polar bear was super active and swimming around/playing with a ball, one of the giraffes was eating in front of us and his super long black tongue kept grabbing leaves. Then we saw two baby chimpanzees that were adorable and hilarious. One carried a little blanket around like Linus! After that my family went back to get ready for dinner and Neil and I decompressed on the couch for a few hours. My parents came over before dinner and we went to the rooftop to have a drink. Little did I know they planned a surprised party for me on our rooftop!! It was SO MUCH fun and SUCH a surprise! Thank you so much to Megan who is a party planner extraordinaire; the Michael Jordan of parties. Thanks so Neil who kept such a big secret and played the role of Luke Longley to Megan's MJ, my parents, Kelly and all my friends and family who came! It was an amazing night!

The rest of the weekend we went on an architecture tour and walked around the city, went to the dog beach, walked around Lincoln Park and hung out with my parents until they left on Tuesday. It was the best birthday I could have asked for! Thank you to everyone!!

                                                          Dad's first selfie on architecture tour.

Now that summer is starting to wind down I'm in a panic that I have not done enough summer things, so I think August is going to be the month of outdoor activities and summer fun!

Also, Clark is still loving his dog bed.

I'm Embarrassed

I was caught dancing on tape...

THIS IS AWESOME

Spring Weekend

As the polar vortex pushes it's way (slowly) out of Chicago, it seems everyone is itching to get out and enjoy some nice weather!

Neil and I realllly pushed the weather this weekend, but it was a blast!

Friday night we continued our annual tradition of going out for crab legs the first nice Friday night of the Spring/Summer. The past four years we have gone to King Crab in Lincoln Park for some crab legs and corona's on the patio. This year we could have used a heat lamp, but we stayed outside and enjoyed the seafood, which was awesome! Neil and I can't figure out why we only go there once a summer, but at this point it's become a rule.

Saturday we had what we like to call a "Clark Saturday" which consists of taking Clark to the dog beach and then going to bars/restaurants in our neighborhood that have outside patios so we can bring the dog. We were at the beach for about four house before heading home and going out in the South Loop. Once again though, the wind got a little too cold and we were forced to move inside to finish up our day. The great thing about Clark Saturday's is how tired he is afterwards. He sleeps for about two days (and moans very loudly while sleeping).

                                                                     Buckingham Fountain is back on!!

                                                                             Relaxing on the balcony.

                                                    Dog tired on the way home from the beach!

                                                  Trying to go low carb, embarrassed to order this in public!

                                                      A man and his best friend far out there!

Sunday was the most productive Sunday I've had in years! Since we weren't out very late Saturday I woke up bright and early and headed out to the grocery store to stock up for the week. Once I got back I did a massive deep clean of our apartment. It felt so good to clean the walls, cabinets, floors, etc. Neil cleaned the balcony and was able to make it out for a bike ride, too. It was a great day and now our place looks spotless!

                                                                    Where's Clark?

                                     Sunday night dinner: beer can chicken, bok choy and corn on the cob!

Hola!

Today is the first day back to work after an AMAZING week in Punta Mita, Mexico with my sister Megan!

As previously stated, my sister is amazing and a kick-butt sales rep, so she won her company's President Cup trip to Mexico! It was such a blast! We flew (first class) to Punta Mita last Monday morning and had such a great, fun, sunny, relaxing week!

Monday we arrived in the late afternoon and just went to our room to get ready for the welcome dinner, which took place at the resort on the beach! The food was amazing and they had live, local music.

                                                                  View as we walked in to the resort.

Tuesday morning we got up and went out on a boat trip with a good portion of the group we were with. We saw a bunch of dolphins, went scuba diving (and got stung by Jellyfish), went to a small little beach and saw blue-footed and yellow-footed bubi's (beautiful bird). That night Megan and I went off-site to a local restaurant right on the beach!

Wednesday morning we got up and did some fly-boarding, which was a blast (pictures to come)! From then on we pretty much sat pool side, or floated on the lazy river, sipping on Pina Colada's and Agave beers! We had a few more group dinners, including one at this INSANE house right on the beach and an Italian dinner off-site at someone's house!

                                                                   Exceptional Coronas

                                                                    Hotel send off.

                                                                           Sisters

Everything was absolutely amazing and relaxing and I am SO thankful that Megan took me as her guest!!

Megan, if you're reading this, get back to work, I've grown accustomed to these trips and expect to be there next year! :)

Happy April 25

Amazing

I shared an elevator ride with the cutest little boy the other night and I have been smiling about it all week. Allow me to set the scene.

The little boy was probably about 3 (or so, I'm TERRIBLE with children's ages) and he looked like THIS LITTLE NUGGET.

He was talking to himself (which is awesome) and he said F**K! I looked over at his mom who just nodded her head and said "Yeah... we are working on that...."

As I got off the elevator his little hand reached out to hold the door open and he yelled after me "Hey! I have to go poop!!"

I wish I could tell this little boy how much he made my day/week/month (perhaps, even year)!

Relaxing Weekend

I've been feeling really run down and tired lately, which is super annoying. I was supposed to hang out with my cousin and sister on Saturday night, but just felt too gross to do anything. Instead Neil and I stayed in pretty much all weekend which was much needed.

I don't think I've ever lost my appetite when I've been sick, and since I felt mostly cold/allergy sick, Neil and I decided to eat all weekend (I mean it's almost Fat Tuesday, right?)

Friday we just ordered in and watched Gravity, which I really liked! I never really wanted to see that movie, but in a quest to see as many Oscar pics are possible before Sunday, we made ourselves watch it. Sandra Bullock (we call her Sandy) was really great and, as always, Gorgeous George played a great role. Overall, I really liked the movie, but I didn't think it was Oscar worthy.

Saturday Neil went to work and I took Clark to the park for a bit and then came home and worked myself. Once work was out of the way we went to the grocery store to stock up for the night and weekend. Pretty much daily we talk about how much we loved our New Years Eve menu, so we decided to try to do a mini version of that menu.

                                         We had a little shrimp cocktail to get the day going.

My friend Mary Kate sent me the recipe for a caprese dip the other day and we HAD to try it. Just tomatoes, mozzarella and basil put int he over for 15 minutes. Yes, please. 

After this we took a breather and watched Bridget Jones (I mean, it was about 4:00 by this time, we had to pace ourselves, big night). 

We then had a little piece of seared Ahi Tuna, which was great! 

Later in the night we had oysters, which are my FAVE, and they were MASSIVE! 

                                                Cant' have oysters without champagne.

At that point I went into a food coma and fell asleep for a bit and woke up to Notting Hill on TV which revitalized me long enough to have some mussels. When I say some, I'm pretty sure we had about 150 mussels each. 

 

They were awesome and Neil did such a great job making the mussels and the sauce!  Can't wait to do it again!

Since I'm a total fat girl and am convinced sea food will never fill me up, I can completely admit we got way too much food and didn't finish what we planned on eating throughout the night. Plus, I'm old and fell asleep early. 

Saturday was just what the doctor ordered and I woke up feeling much better! We bummed around, took the dog out and enjoyed a mellow Sunday. We had some left over food from Saturday that we didn't eat, so for lunch we had octopus! 

                                                                  Just like eating Ursula!

Neil and I also had some food cooking during the day for our lunches during the week. Someone smelled something good cooking and sat in the kitchen staring up in the stove for awhile.

Last night we went to dinner with Neil's parents and his sister to celebrate his dad's birthday! We went to a place we saw on Check Please a few weeks ago and it was great to catch up with the Bermans! We got home in time to catch the end of the awards (phew)! To wear one of those dresses just ONE day would be the best thing ever! I was obsessed with the red dress Pink wore. 12 Years a Salve comes out this week on demand, so I can't give my feedback on the Oscar choices yet, but I was really happy to see Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey win, they both definitely deserved it!

While we were watching the Oscars, Neil discovered that Clark LOVES the back scratcher! Who knew! 

Have a great week!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

AMEN! TESTIFY! Good Lord, it's Friday!

Although this week went surprisingly fast and really wasn't that busy, I am definitely ready for the weekend! What's better than the weekend?

I don't know if it's the never ending winter or my cuddly dog in the morning,  but lately I have NOT been able to get out of bed in the morning. Usually, I would consider myself (mostly) a morning person. I wake up and play with Clark for a little bit, which usually wakes Neil up. Although he's much nicer about it, our mornings usually consist of him pointing out how early it is.

I'm banking on next week being easier to get out of bed. I have Mexico motivating me to get up and get moving (and to not eat.. at all... for 2 months)!

Proud Sister

I'm so proud of my sister Megan, she's an incredible and impressive person and everyone who meets her loves her. Daily, I try to be more like Megan by wearing the same exact clothes she does, cutting my hair the same way she does, and trying to emulate pretty much every thing she does (sounds more "Single White Female" than it really is...). Recently she found out that she was ranked third in her company for sales. INSANE! She moved to Chicago about a year a half ago and already is kicking butt in her territory, it's amazing! I'm so proud of how hard Megan has worked to make a name for herself and become so successful in her company.

Because Megan worked so hard this past year she not only was ranked so highly in sales, she also won a trip to Mexico for a week and she has asked me to join her! I'm so excited! It's going to be a great sissy trip and a chance to hang out all week long (because we don't hang out nearly enough). Our fair, little Irish skin has no idea what's in store for it; look out Tan Mom, we're gunning for you!

                                                        "We're the three best friends that anyone could have"

                                                                   My little worker bee. Her job is never done. 
 (I have pictures of us other than wedding pics, but I was picking pictures for an album this week and these are fresh on my mind!)

Love you, Meg!! xoxo

Productivity

Yesterday was one of those days I love. I was super productive in all aspects of life!

I woke up early to take the dog for a long walk/play and then came home and worked out (gasp! It's something new I'm trying, not a fan). I then worked from home because I have an amazing boss. Work-wise I finished up some items that had been open for awhile and . It felt great.

The highlight of my day was making my next dentist appointment. As previously discussed I love the dentist. I love teeth. I love how going to the dentist makes me feel. And, I have to say, when I walk in there, I feel a bit like THIS!!!

On a sad note, I am headed to Cleveland today for my Uncle Larry's funeral. I'm really sad that he is no longer with us and my heart breaks for my Aunt. I can't imagine being alone after 61 years of marriage. Lots of thoughts and prayers headed her way and to my cousins over the next few weeks and months.

I hope everyone has a safe/warm weekend fill with lots of this:

All Work and No Play

Man, these last few weeks have been bananas! Work has been cray cray and I think it officially caught up with me today (Neil might say it caught up with me last week). I'm super cranky and on top of that, trying not to eat carbs again. I have the worst life ever (take my flair for the dramatics, add no sleep, and that statement is the result).

I kept snapping at Neil because I was tired and hungry. Lethal combination. This was pretty much me last night.

I am so happy it's Friday!!

Weekend Goals: Nothing but sweatpants. All. Weekend. Long!

Birthday Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend we celebrated Neil's birthday! The young lass turned 28 this year (in case anyone who is reading this didn't know I was a cougar).

We both took the day off of work on Friday and celebrated all day long! We slept in a bit and had a leisurely morning before heading out to lunch at one of our favorite stomping grounds, Brownstone. From there we went over to see "The Dallas Buyers Club" which was amazing. Seriously, Matthew Mcconaughey and Jared Leto were insane in this movie! I can definitely see how they are both winning so many awards.

After the  movie we quickly went home to change and went over to a yoga class. From there, my sister came over and we went to an Indian restaurant across the street from us for dinner. Neil loves Indian and I do not, but, I will admit, this wasn't the worst thing I have eaten (Ethiopian food will always remain public enemy number one), but I am also glad I only have to eat it once a year.  It was a super fun and relaxing day!

On Saturday we had a very slow start to do the day, and then ended up going over to the movies to see the Wolf of Wall Street. This was awesome! My cheeks literally hurt from laughing at one point. Leo was awesome and Jonah Hill's character was amazing and so ridiculous. Even though it's a long movie, it never really dragged on and I thought it went by very fast! I highly recommend this movie!

After the movie we went to meet Neil's family for dinner to celebrate Neil's birthday and his mom's. It was a cute little Italian restaurant in "the old neighborhood." Very yummy and very fun to spend time with them! Afterwards, Neil's sister Lizzie came over and spent the night at our place so we could hang out and catch up. I love hanging out with Lizzie, she's such a great person and we are both so impressed by her!

Sunday, after we dropped Lizzie off at home we met up with Neil's friend Nick and his wife Becky (who just got married a few weeks ago) for brunch at "Milk and Honey." The food was awesome and super cute inside, but the order system there was really annoying and ridiculous. You have to wait in line to place your order and also wait for a table at the same time. I don't get why they didn't have people taking your order at the table. It makes for an awkward time when meeting other people there. Neil and I just kept filtering through the line. That aside, we had a blast hearing all about Nick and Becky's honeymoon and recapping the wedding!

For the rest of the day I cooked and prepped for the week. We were both pretty beat and hit the hay at a decent time last night!

.... until about 3:00 am when I heard Clark crying outside. We had him sleep in his crate last night because he wouldn't go to the bathroom before bed. I opened the door to the family room and immediately figured out he resolved the bathroom issue. It smelled like the monkey house at the zoo. Without going into too many details, I can now say I've gone to war and seen some things I don't think I can ever talk about again. Long story short, an hour later I was able to finish up and head back to bed. When my alarm went off in the morning I went to check on Clark to discover rounds two and three took place in the bathroom (courteous dog) during the 3 hour window he was alone in the family room.

I think this is Clark's way of conditioning me for motherhood, but I think I should tell him it's going to be a bit and he can hold off on the training.