the weekend.

this weekend was the perfect mix of fun and lazy which i totally appreciated. my bestest gal pal, jillian, threw a little 4th of july bash at her place where we ate lots of yummy foods (i made gluten free whoppee pies in adorable little whoppee pie tins), drank lots of frozen umbrella drinks, caught up with an old friend who recently moved to Chicago, and reminisced about all the funny things we did in college. the rest of the weekend was spent sleeping in, cuddling up to my hubs and our bully, and just generally avoiding productivity at all costs.

1. walking over to jillian's. it was 1085897746746 million degrees outside.
2. jillian and two teeny puppies.
3. julie being sassy.
4. the reason why i had to join weight watchers this weekend.

the great banger fail.

jillian, caroline and i hit up wicker park's Bangers and Lace on saturday morning for some brunch action. 

the decor was deliciously cozy and cabin-like which was nice because there were some serious april showers outside. 

only prob is that i don't like sausage. and jillian doesn't eat meat. so there wasn't a whole lot we could eat on the menu. 

oh well! we stuck around for the coffee.

it's all good in the 'hood. as they say. 

last weekend. this weekend.

1. stranded kite. so sad.
2. it was 80 and sunny this day (last sunday); i was in heaven.
3. thai soup with tofu.
4. i love it when my friends laugh.
5. dog with a faux hawk.

whoopee! also, whoopie!

 

this is my dear friend jillian, and this picture was taken shortly after we popped a bottle of sparkling wine at a little byob thai place and the cork went flying across the restaurant. 

{lucky for us, our neighboring table thought it was hilarious.}

jillian has recently convinced me to start working out which i think is laughable awesome. 

i will miss all those nights that i used to spend eating whoopie pies on the couch in my underwear, but i supposed this is an ok way to spend my time after work as well.

tart

did you know that chicago is home to the largest whole foods in north america? 

it is. and it's amazing. 

jillian and i often go to "the whole" {as i like to call it} for lunch because this place has an amazing food court. 

they have a wine and cheese bar, a coffee bar, a bar serving draft beers, a 50's diner serving {humanely raised} burgers and hot dogs, a taquoria, a sushi/noodle kiosk...not to mention a gigantic salad and hot food bar, a trail mix station,  a bakery, a gelato station, a deli sammy spot, etc. 

it's basically insane. 

it's the only grocery store i've ever been to where 1) people shop for food while sipping pints of beer or glasses or wine and 2) i would voluntarily go to eat an entire meal of food and then stay for hours using the free WiFi. 

so anyway! jillian and i hit up The Whole recently for some tacos and wine. jillian had a gluten free cupcake for dessert, and i found this amazingly delicious vegan chocolate mousse tart. 

heaven!

pops! for champagne

my friend rosie got a new jobby job recently. 

to celebrate, we went to Pops for Champagne and split a bottle of bubbly while munching on mussels in a buttery wine sauce and garlic herb frites. 

{this will be the happy hour that every other happy hour will never live up to. }

after we were done pretending to be french, rosie and i met up with tia and suzie and suzie's man-friend at Wells on Wells to drink some wells. 

after all that friday night fun, i went home to eat peanut m&ms on the couch and watch old episodes of Lost with my hubs. 

it was maybe my most favorite friday in a long time. 

saturday night :: part two

because no saturday night is complete without insane amounts of frozen dessert, my girlfriends and i made a beeline to forever yogurt when we were done with dinner on saturday night.  

here is the concoction i came up with:

peanut butter yogurt

cake batter yogurt

red velvet yogurt

chocolate/vanilla twist yogurt

nilla wafers

coco pebbles

peanuts

hot fudge

somehow i forgot the mini m&ms! tragic!

if you haven't been to forever yogurt in bucktown yet...

RUN, DON'T WALK!

pictures:

1. my yogurt next to caroline's. i wouldn't let her eat until i snapped a pic...i'm a terrible person to go out with. 

2. jillian put a chocolate covered strawberry on her yogurt. i guess i didn't make it that far down the toppings bar b/c i didn't even know they had those. 

saturday night

i met up with a couple girlfriends for dinner and drinks at blue line on saturday night. 

{i had four bellini martinis which means it was a GOOD night.} 

Question: is it embarrassing that whenever i'm asked what my "hobbies" are, the only thing i can think to say is, I REALLY LIKE TO EAT FOOD?

pictures:

1. the lovely jillian. 

2. blurry martinis. 

jillian and me.

jillian came over last weekend and found a princess print snuggie with her name on it under the tree. 

it may be too soon to tell, but i think it's her favorite christmas present this year. 

fashion and function, people!

wedding portraits :: part two

more wedding portraits. 

all taken by the fabulous NYC photographer, Jennifer Davis. 

1. the notorious bff, jillian
2. groomsman, elio & lady friend
3. my little brother, sam
4. john & lady friend
5. jim's cousin, katie
6. fellow gameloft alumna, kelley
7. girl hug. (maaaaaayyyeee swaying to 10,000 maniacs, these are the days.)
8. mr. & mrs. vaandrager
9. jim & co. (jamie, sam, elio, matt, mike)
10. me smiling so hard it hurts

wedding portraits

i'm in the processes of buying lots and lots of fun vintage frames so i can fulfill my life long dream of creating a giant photo collage on a wall of our apartment. 

(if i could, i would live in a house with walls covered in books, photos and busy-patterned wallpaper and all my guests would be wrapped in cozy afghans upon entering and offered a cup of hot chocolate. also, my house would always smell like christmas.)

anyway! here are some of my favorite pictures, all taken by our amazingly talented photographer, Jennifer Davis. these will all be hanging up as part of my photo collage. probably next to lots of polaroids of me eating Forever Yogurt. 

p.s. i'm at "the big whole foods" (as i like to call it) and their WiFi is free, but slooooow. so i have more wedding portraits to share, but i've had too much prosecco and i might be drunk and i'm full of pumpkin gelato and the newborn baby at the table next to me (who i am pretty sure just emerged from his mama five minutes ago) is screaming bloody murder and i don't have the patience to wait for more pics to upload and i must leave. bye bye!

wedding photos:

1. jim's uncle bob (i dig his style. i think our wedding photographer did too -- we have lots of pics.)

2. my dad laughing with jim's dad

3. jamie (my brother) & matt

sorority girl

you know how it's easy for people to remember stuff from the past and get all gooey and nostalgic and omg-best-time-ever! and sort of forget about all that bad stuff that made the good stuff not really as good as we remember it?

well, i just wanted to point out that i totally get that people do that -- i know i do anyway -- before you start rolling your eyes at this post.

every time we go back to purdue, we (my friends and i) have to stop off at the sigma kappa house to see what's changed since we were actives, and it's always my most favorite part of the trip.

i loved, loved, loved my sorority and living in the house for three years and having a second family and sleeping in a cold air dorm (even though there was a ghost in the closet) and shopping in 100 different closets when i couldn't find something to wear and our elderly but also sexually active house mom and philanthropies and philanthropy t-shirts and crush dance and crush dance t-shirts and spontaneouses and butter-ups and serenades and fireside chats and "pin attire" and, and, and!

and believe me, there were things i hated about the house (like sometimes finding snow on my bed in cold air) and there were times when i just wanted to yank some bitchy girl's pony tail (when you live with that many chicks, you can't like all of them). but overall the good totally outweighed the bad.

and you know what's the best part about having been in a sorority? the fact that i get to go back and visit the house with the friends that i lived with in the house who are still my best friends now.

one heart, one way.





mini polaroids:

1. me sitting on top of the sigma kappa sign in our side yard
2. the front of the sigma kappa house at purdue (so pretty!)
3. the foyer
4. greek letters on the front porch

boilering up {in a calm, relaxed fashion}

there used to be a time when game days at purdue meant waking up at 6:00 a.m. to binge drink at the bars.

{yes, they were open that early.}

now that i'm old and crotchety, i much prefer the make-your-own omelet setup and decorative gnomes at the vaandrager's tailgate.

i went back to purdue last weekend with a couple of g-fries to boiler up in our old, sober, we-really-just-want-to-sit-down-and-play-with-that-baby sort of way.

it was wonderful.

mini polaroids:

1. jillian mixing omelet ingredients

2. me with a purdue gnome

3. jillian with baby ben. {his head felt like a peach!}

4. me napping in a poncho



friends

1. jillian with her little cotton ball of a dog, lucy

2. jillian and rosie

these pics were taken on a random wednesday afternoon when the three of us decided that BYOB thai was in most definitely in order.

castaways

the 2nd annual senior skip day at castaways kicked off yesterday at 11:30 AM.

friends ditched work entirely or broke free of corporate chains early to come sip yummy umbrella drinks on top of a fake boat on north avenue beach.

it was a little chilly.

but some clouds and rain could not keep us from our goal:

finish one of everything on the cocktail menu.

i heart friends!

degenerate.

i had my bachelorette party last weekend at the beautiful abbey resort on lake geneva in wisconsin.

and if you couldn't tell from this picture, IT WAS AWESOME.

this girl's weekend came at a perfect time for me. i was feeling overwhelmed and stressy and overall just sorry for myself on friday. but then! my besties came and picked me up and whisked me away for wine and hot tub parties, and yummy food, and wine, and kevin bacon style dance moves, and wine, and jumping on the bed, and wine, and presents. also? wine.

my friends are the best.

Happy Burt-day, Julie!

my friend julie, master of thermodynamics and bootleg videotapes, celebrates her 30th birthday today!

because a 30th birthday cannot properly be celebrated on a monday, a big group of hot ladies took to the chicago streets to um...pretend we're all 21...on saturday night.

we started the night at Epic for yummy food.

nomz!

bottle service at vertigo sky lounge followed.

and then maybe, just maybe, we danced in the basement of the Hangge Uppe until 5:00 AM.

Happy BURT-DAY, Julie!