Found a Dress!

I made a bridal appointment last week even though I was dead set on making my wedding dress. My mom and Tom's mom, Shelley, were both in town and I thought it would be a fun thing for us to do. My plan was to get some ideas for my dress. I wanted to try on a few style so that I knew what looked good on me.

We arrived at the store with no intention of buying anything. I had a few pictures of the styles I liked with me. I showed my bridal consultant and she pulled a few dresses. I ended up buying the first dress I tried on! I really owe it all to the talented consultant. She knew exactly what I wanted before I did. When I tried the dress on for the second time, there were tears all around. It was one of those picture perfect moments.

My mom pitched in for the dress and Shelley purchased the veils. I am so grateful to both of them. Now, I just have to wait 9 more months to wear it!

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Memorial Day Weekend

Silly Coloradans

As most of you know, we usually spend Memorial Day Weekend soaking up the sun in the Utah desert. This year we needed to find a new place to enjoy the long weekend. After some research, we decided on the Indian Dunes. They are only about an hour away from Chicago and there's sand. It seemed like a good alternative. The initial forecast looked okay for camping so Tom hauled all of our gear out of the basement and up three flights of stairs. Then, it started to rain. Silly Coloradans... we forgot that we are in the Mid-West. It rained, and rained, and rained, and ... well you get the point - no camping for us.

On Memorial Day itself the rain stopped and out popped the sun! We stood and stared in amazement at the big fiery thing in the sky. Then decided it would be a lovely day to take Chloe to the dog park on the lake shore. As we headed that direction we began to encounter traffic. As the traffic slowed to a crawl we were getting passed by numerous pedestrians in bathing suits. Bathing suits in the city? Hmmm. That doesn't make sense. Is there a pool nearby? Then, we began to get passed by people with bathing suits, lawn chairs, beach balls, etc. And that's when it hit us... ALL of these people were heading to the lake.

Instead of admit defeat we kept going east at a turtle's pace. Arriving at the harbor only to sit in a long line of traffic and watch some of the dumbest driving/parking fiascoes I've ever witnessed. Everyone and their mother, brother, sister, father, and dog was there. It was so bad that I literally hopped out of the car with Chloe, took her to the dog park for a while, and walked back only to find Tom had moved a couple hundred feet. Silly Coloradans... you live in a big city now. When everyone wants to go to the lake, you need to go the other direction.

For dinner we had a picnic on our roof. This was seriously the best part of our entire weekend. We were able to fully relax, tucked away from the crazy world below.

Our view of the city skyline was quite patriotic with the flag in front and the red, white, and blue lights in the distance.

Thank you to all of the brave Americans that

have sacrificed their lives for our freedom.

Back from Colorado

We traveled to Colorado last weekend for a friends wedding. This was our first trip home together, meaning we had to board our dogs for the first time. Luckily, after many hours of searching the web, I found a place that takes crazy dogs like our little Calvin.

We dropped the dogs off Wednesday morning. Both of us were nervous, perhaps it was like taking your child to kindergarden for the first time. Only, your child is the crazy, unsocialized one that bites people! The trainer handled Calvin extremely well. She let him know who was boss and he seemed okay with it. We were both expecting a call from her saying she couldn't handle him... but the call never came. They were even able to groom him.... and this is why I'm writing about it. He looks hilarious!

Calvin doing his patented "Prairie Dog" pose

The "Happy Dog"

And, of course, "Zoolander"

Tom's Birthday

On Saturday we had some friends over to celebrate Tom's birthday. I made some of his favorites... lasagna, deviled eggs, and a variation of this recipe for Oreo Cupcakes. The Oreo in the bottom was the best part! Yummy. We ate, drank, and watched the Cubs kick the Rockies butts. (Bummer!)

As I had mentioned on here before, we purchased a grill for our deck earlier this month. Tom is usually VERY hard to buy gifts for. However, with the new BBQ he needed some accessories. Presents done.

Of course we had to try them out on Sunday night, which was his actual birthday. We made burgers stuffed with cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes, basil, Trader Joe's Red Pepper and Artichoke Tapenade. They were delicious! (Have I mentioned how much I love living right by a Trader Joe's?) We spent the rest of the night relaxing and watching the Rockies beat the Cubs. (Go Rockies!)

It was a great weekend. I am so grateful to share my life with such a wonderful man :)

Spring Flowers!

This is our deck... empty and sad until a few weeks ago. The previous owners left us a couple of potted bushes. Very nice of them! One is a lilac which is looking very lush and green now. I'm still not sure what the other one is. It looks like a mini tree of some sort and is just starting to sport some tiny little buds.

I scored a bistro set on craigslist for $50 and we bought a few early spring flowers for our patio pot. It's amazing how much a little color will brighten up an outdoor space. I am still searching for the perfect window boxes to line the railings with, which will be filled with flowers and herbs.

Spring Patio

Lilac buds!

Ranunculus, Dianthus, & Pansies

(Chloe wanted her picture taken too!)

We also purchased a BBQ for the space and are looking forward to many meals outside this spring and summer. It's going to be our awesome little city oasis!

Shamrock Shuffle

Yesterday Tom and I ran our first 8K. Our plans to train for the race never really materialized so we just went for it. Much to our surprise we both finished without any major complications. However, the post race care has included a lot of ibuprofen, ice, and aloe vera. (Yep, we are getting old.)

We ran the race together and finished in just over an hour; 1:00:32 and 1:00:33 to be exact. With over 40,000 participants, Chicago's Shamrock Shuffle is the largest 8K in the world. The course weaves through downtown and starts, and ends, in a park along the lakeshore. The weather was amazing. We had 80 degree temps and sun shine. It felt like summer!