meg & ryan's wedding celebration!

this weekend i had the honor of standing up in my oldest friend's wedding! it was truly an amazing day and we all had so much fun! meg is my oldest and dearest friend - we've been buds since 4th grade! i am so glad that we are still so close and that i had the opportunity to stand up in her wedding. it meant the world to me. i love meg, her hubby and their beautiful baby bella SO much! we had the rehearsal on friday and had the dinner at castos for yummie italian food. she gave all of her bridesmaids coach wristlets! they are so generous!! after the rehearsal the bride invited all her bridesmaids to stay over for a little slumber party. the next day we woke up to yummie brunch and started to get our hair done while her daughter bella watched blues clues. it was super relaxing and the stylist rocked it with all of our hair, i loved my up do! we all got dressed and headed to the church, took some pics and got ready for the ceremony to begin. the ceremony was great because the deacon is the father of a friend from grade school and high school and he made it very personal. meg's sister also sang and she is so talented, it was beautiful. after the ceremony we hopped on the party bus for drinks and fake mustaches :). we got to gaelic park where the reception was held and took really fun pictures with the photographer and then hung out in the bridal suite while everyone arrived. then the reception began and we ate delic dinner and started to dance the night away! the room was so perfect and the dj was great so we were having a wonderful time. my parents were there and i got them to dance with me to ushers "yeah" - pretty hilarious. i caught the bouquet which is pretty fun! but meg basically threw it to me so i don't think it counts. we did lots more dancing and then the reception ended before we knew it and then we went to the hotel they were staying at for drinks and more catching up. then rob, my wonderful DD drove me and a couple of buds back to his parents. rob and i woke up the next day to mrs. j's delicious breakfast and were able to catch up before heading back to the city. i spent the rest of the day in a zombie like state in front of my tv. super productive :)

overall it was incredibly special and fun and i wish i could do it all over again!

food filled weekend!

i had a great weekend despite being a little under the weather. this weekend was all about the food, just as i like it to be. it started on friday afternoon when i met my old boss and her new adorable baby for lunch at caffe de luca in bucktown. i had a great salad and we caught up on their patio. it was so nice. later that night, rob and i went to pho&i a new vietnamese/thai place in our neighborhood. i've been wanting to try it because it's the same owners as my favorite cheapo thai place, duck walk. we split an order of crab rangoon and i got spicy fried catfish in a red curry and rob got a spicy fried rice. it was very very spicy but i really liked it! i was excited to try something different. afterwards we went to a show at the metro. it was a good date night.

after a relaxing mani/pedi with my friend darc, i met my girlfriends mary and tara at jam for a delicious dinner. jam originally only did brunch but they expanded to lunch and dinner and man, am i glad they did! we split 2 tasting menus and 1 entree. the tasting menu included a heirloom tomato salad with blue cheese and a chocolate puree - yum! the next course was foie gras ravioli - bigger yum. then we had pork tenderloin on toast with olive tampenade which was very tasty. the entree was a pork chop with quinoa and apricots. super good. and the desserts were to die. one was a panna cotta with fruit on top and the other was a chocolate hazelnut cake with melted chocolate on the inside with ice cream on the side sprinkled with hazelnuts. we ended up ordering another of the cake because it was so damn good. i really liked it and i'd definitely recommend it.

on sunday i laid around a lot to try to feel better and eventually met all my rugby friends out for burgers at urban burger bar. i was pretty disappointed. the service was not very good and the food was sub-par. i had a braised short rib burger with warm onions and a fennel slaw. it was good but i was bummed everyone else's food was just ok. all the burgers came out SO rare. and they forgot toppings on one of them. not cool! regardless, it was lots of fun to see everyone and catch up!

overall it was a great weekend full of food, friendship and love. couldn't ask for anything more.

fall obsessions.

i LOVE fall. it brings back a lot of memories of colorguard, first days of school and halloweens. we've had a few autumn days here and there but it still has been in and out of the high 70s. on days like today when it's a bit overcast and the air is crisp, i get a little giddy. all the students are back on campus and it feels alive again! i started classes and while they are already kicking my butt, it's fun to be back in a classroom. i am very excited to wear my favorite fall fashions: my gray cape/wrap, my black boots, my leather vest and all of my fun jackets. i have approximately 7 jackets that are only wearable for a few weeks a year. i'm obsessed with lightweight jackets and they are totally impractical in chicago because it's really either summer or winter here with mini falls and springs. i just bought a new black belted jacket that i definitely didn't need but i love it and i can't wait to wear it! fall is also a time when i can show off all of my leaf decor in my apartment. i keep it out all year because i love leaves but at this time of year it actually makes sense :) i also love fall food. i ate butternut squash ravioli today. DELIC! and my absolute favorite holiday is thanksgiving! i love that it's about giving thanks and spending it with people you love and are grateful for but i especially love the food ofcourse. especially the cold turkey sandwiches. i hope we get a good fall this year and that it doesn't jump right into winter! what does everyone else love about fall?

wonderful weekend!

this weekend was a great way to wrap up summer! it was full of amazing highlights and quality time. on friday it started with....OPRAH!!!! my friend entered a raffle for last minute tickets and WON! she got 4 tickets total so we got to do a girl's outing to see the big O. we had no idea what to expect and no clue who the guests were. we were just SO excited! we all got there bright and early at 7 a.m. we discover in line that the guests were to be winona and naomi judd. SUPER RANDOM. but people were excited so we got excited too! we wait and wait and wait and finally get moved into a large room where they announce that they will be calling people by the number on their sheet or some parties by name. we look at our sheet and it was in the 200s. we were a little bummed because we thought we wouldn't get good seats but nope, they called our party name and we got seated SECOND ROW CENTER! we were like giddy little school girls! we don't know how this happened or why we got selected but we did and it was awesome!!!! people take their oprah experience very seriously. there were lots of tears, even more screaming and lots of freak show oprah super fans. the show went by so fast but it was so memorable!

later that night i went out for drinks with a few girls and we had a blast. lots of laughing. saturday was the BEST day ever! rob and i drove up to michigan and made a stop in st. joes for pastries, their farmers market, craft fair and art museum. it was absurdly windy but we still enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. the art museum had ultra realistic sculptures which rob really enjoyed and i found some cute stuff at the craft fair. after that we drove to an orchard and went apple picking. we were really in the fall spirit and got some very very delicious apples! then we had to make one last stop for the season at redamaks. it was So yummie! later that night i rallied a bunch of my girlfriends for an evening out. we started at a major dive and just caught up and then moved on to some other stops. it was so great to have so many friends out!

sunday i slept in and then went to see rob play in a friend's band at the bash on wabash with tara. the fest was a total bust! there was no one there and nothing to do. very odd fest. but it was beautiful out so it was nice to be there. then rob and i wanted to go to jazz fest that night but it was sprinkling so we went to see the switch instead. it was a cute flick. on monday i went to pick up a new foster cat and i got mister. a 14 year old white cat that weighs 19 pounds. he just had surgery so one side of him is shaved and he has a big scar. he smells awful, licks weird things like the blinds and the scab is really freaking me out. i don't know if i've ever had such an aversion to one of my cats before. i've been petting him with big fleece gloves on so my hands don't stink. but he is pretty well behaved and very sweet which i'll gladly take. later on i went to bingo and hung out with my seniors and it was great! overall it was a really wonderful weekend!