Weekend of Rest

So thankful for that extra day off this weekend. It made it so we were able to do a lot and still get our rest in.

thankful for some helps from the rents ;)

We had Adam's parents over on Friday night to grill out and just chill in our neighborhood. They helped us plant some shade loving plants in the front and get our community grill ready for the summer season. It was really nice to take advantage of the warmer weather and be outside more.

we hung out on this patio quite a few times this weekend. Loving the lights and our table

Saturday, Adam and I had a chill morning, sleeping in and getting some more flowers that can handle the shade. Adam then went golfing with his dad and I got to have a "dia de Dottie" by doing whatever I wanted. We had been running around crazy the last few weeks/months so it was so nice to just chill for a couple hours. Of course, I "planned" way too many things that I was going to get done while he was gone but I did get to read while being outside, plant those flowers we had bought in the morning and got some groceries for dinner and dessert for a church picnic the next day.

Pretend I took these pictures from the same angle but this was before I cleaned out the flower bed a couple weeks ago and then know after Adam's mom planted some plants and we got some flowers. Not too shabby!

Sunday, after church there was a church picnic that we went to by the lake. It was so nice to meet more people in an informal setting and eat some good food. Then I planted some inpatients in the front to finish it up and we had Adam's cousin's girlfriend over (his cousin was out of town) and her roommate. It was so nice to use the grill once again and get to know Valerie some more.

we found cute statement necklaces that happen to match, almost like grown up friendship necklaces but not as weird.

Monday, we finished it off with some more friend time. Adam went golfing (are we seeing a theme?) with some of his close friends in the area and I hung out with one of the girlfriends of the guys. Jenny and I decided that we want the guys to golf more often. We got a pedicure, went to lunch, and walked around the mall while they had fun sweating in the sun. Here's to hoping we have more weekends like this ;)

One wheel be skidding

Do you ever get that one cart in the whole grocery store that have the wheel that be wiggling? It be skidding all down the aisles as you try to hurry and grab the essentials of mayo, wet wipes and some asparagus. Lately, that has been my ability to form a complete thought when I am with strangers. Call it all the change we've gone through the last three years or my introvertedness coming out, but it's got to stop.

This move has felt challenging to have the restart button hit again for the third time in three years because frankly I'm sick of starting over. I need some stability. I need some good friends that I can see during the week and not have to travel out to the burbs or all over the USA to see. On the other hand,  I already have so many friends and siblings that I wish I got to see more or still lived near, it's hard for me to invest in someone else. It's hard to always have to small talk, as Nacho Libre would say,

Anywho, the other night I was out to coffee with the campus coordinator at our new church (that we love!) and was making a real fool of myself small talking. After all these moves and networking events, you'd think I'd be better at this but the stress of the day was getting to me. She was asking me normal questions but I couldn't even form a complete sentence.

"You grow up in a Christian family?"

(Everyone in my family is a Christian
 been going to church since I was a baby
 Some of my siblings are missionaries or small group leaders
 but I mean my family wasn't perfect
I miss my family
I wish I saw them more
#homesickness
I wonder how much that plane ticket would be if I tried to fly there soon?
Crap, I still haven't answered her)

"Yes… er… yeah… um… you?"

She be like:

Because.this.is.how.every.question.seemed.to.go! I just couldn't figure out what to say. I couldn't figure out a good answer that wasn't telling too much for a first meeting or was way too long! I'm sure she didn't notice this as much as I did, I mean I hope she didn't but seriously hoping I can be a normal person the next time I meet someone! Because all this stuttering and word stumbling has got to stop. I mean

Friend time

We had our first weekend visitors this weekend. Adam's good friend from college, Matt, and his fiancée, Meghann. Meghann's sister had previously lived in Chicago so she was a real pro but Matt had only been here once. So we did a little sight-seeing and a little chilling which made a really fun weekend.

On Saturday, the guys played a 9 hole round of golf. It only took 3 hours to play (3 hours!!!! That's bad for those of you who don't play golf, all the tee times were booked)

Meghann teaching Adam how to swing dance, we also play makeshift croquet with our golf clubs and the tee box boundaries

Lucky for us, the day was pretty nice and we played games between shots since there were so many people trying to play at this course (Busiest 9 hole course in the U.S.). 

Later we got some deep dish pizza (gf thin crust for me) and then walked around downtown to show off some of the sites. We were in Niketown when we saw this sign about some local high schools and found Adam's high school as number 30.

We had to show Matt that Portillos really does have a cake shake aka a piece of cake blended up with some ice cream. It's so good! (or so I remember…)

 We finished the weekend out with a perfect day for a cubs game. The cubbies even pulled out a win ;)

 Hope you had a good weekend!

Happy Birthday!

My dear, sweet friend Jennifer has a birthday today! I wish that I still worked with her everyday and saw her more! She took such good care of me when I lived alone in Indiana. Her and her husband helped trim bushes and even mowed my lawn a couple a times because all I owned was a push motor (aka one where you are the power-ouch!). She was a shoulder to cry on, a person to depend on and a true friend to hang out with. So thankful to have her in my life.

Love you, Jennifer. Hope you have a fantastic day!

We're staying busy this weekend with some friends coming into to town. Hopefully I'll be able to update next week ;)

Happy weekend!

Apartment Projects

We're hard at work over here trying to finish all the little things up around our place. We still have quite a bit left to do but we got some things done over the last few days.

Like a solution for hanging my necklaces. I used to hang them with 3m hooks but got sick of how 

college-ish that looked

So I seriously thought about getting this guy for my wall and my obsession with gold almost won me over. Then I thought about it and didn't think it was worth the $50 in case I didn't like it in a couple years (or even months).

So I went outside and while cleaning the yard, I found this stick and saw the possibility and loved that it was free. So Adam spray painted it gold while I untangled all my necklaces and it was done. Bam.

 Then over the weekend we got supplies to hang all our patio lights up. We're so excited to hang out with friends on our patio on a summer night ;)

Hoping to finish even more this week before we have guest this weekend 

Happy Map Day

This day has been 2 years in the making. Back when I lived in Indiana, Adam found a picture of the old electric line that used to run from Chicago into the western suburbs. It was ripped up in 1957 and is now used as a prairie path for people to exercise on. It has so many of the landmarks and cities that Adam grew up around so he really wanted to blow it up big and put it in our house. The first file he found me was super small so he did some research and called a local museum to find a file that was big enough to blow up to 2' x 4'.



The problem with blowing it up is that, you have to have a frame big enough to house it. Also ideally you don't want it to cost an arm and a leg (which they all do! and we don't have the skills to build one). It took us a year and a half to find one such frame at goodwill for $9.

We got rid of the old picture and let my obsession with gold win this one with a coat of spray paint.

The 2nd problem was to clean up the file (it had been in a brochure so it had some lines from being folded, stapled and had page numbers. This took some time but my media communications degree came in handy.

The third problem was getting it blown up at a reasonable price. Luckily, I knew an awesome vendor from working at Wheaton who was willing to work with us. The day the vendor dropped it off, Adam was so happy.  I mean we were both excited after working to make all the piece fall into place but it was really fun for me to bring it home after he had wanted it for so long.

Now we have it hanging in our living room and it's one of my favorite pieces in our apartment

Can I get a happy medium?

Dear Chicago,

Forgive me. I think I wronged you by hinting that you don't produce warm weather. Well, you sure did prove me wrong. Upper 80's today in my office was maybe a little harsh. I mean, we don't even have the window units yet and there is absolutely no cross breezes in our office. Sweat was dripping off of me as I just sat at my computer. I wasn't even working in that heat and I was sweating. It wasn't pretty. And the water cooler was not cooling our water at.all. Not exactly refreshing.

But I will say that my morning run was nice and the hubby even suggested we go on a post-work bike ride down towards downtown. I admit, you were looking good and if we could come to a happy medium on the heat, you would feel good too.  Hoping we can reach an agreement on that but I'm not going to push seeing as you didn't take too kindly last time…

So I'm backing off for now and hoping for a good weekend

Raising our hands for friendship

Guys, no one told me that at the hint of good weather, everyone comes out of the woodwork. (Notice, I said hint of good weather because I'm still bitter that it said it would maybe be in the 80's today and barely got out of the 50's). Between various things at work (a coworker's last day because he got a new job) and visiting friends (birthdays, Chitown visits, and Milwaukee visits), I have eaten out everyday since last Friday! This is a difficult task for someone who can't have gluten (I'm all in on cucumbers) and is making my wallet a little lighter. Nonetheless our last week has been fun.

We took all kinds of public transportation to get out to a place where Adam's dad could pick us up.  This was us waiting.

On Saturday, Adam, his dad, our friend Joe, and his dad all went golfing at Whistling Straits up in Wisconsin. It's a really nice PGA course that is usually an exorbitant amount of money but they went for a fraction of the price because it was the last weekend of winter pricing. Since the course is past Milwaukee, I caught a ride with them to see some friends. It was a relaxing day of shopping, eating, and catching up while the boys had fun on the course. It was a fun but tiring day.

The last week has been filled with so many boring meetings so I've been practicing my sketching so I can pay attention.

Our friends Jenny and Brogen invited us to the Cubs v White Sox game on Tuesday evening because they got some free tickets. Who can say no to free baseball and friendship? Not us… Also it was BOGO at Chipotle for Educators (I guess designers at an university count because I got me some chipotle and was not mad about it at all!)

never mad about free stuff

sad but we needed the blanket and it was still a little chilly

Whew, last night was someone's birthday happy hour downtown. I wanted to murder my apple map because it kept telling me I was going the opposite direction I actually going but I eventually got there and we had so much fun.  It was really great to see some friends and a new place.

Hopefully this weekend will be a little less crazy but still fun ;)