Old Man Winter

He's a pretty stubborn man with a thick skull. He just doesn't get it that he's worn out his welcome with me here in Chicago. A couple of weeks ago, we had a few days of amazing weather - 50's & 60's with the sun shining down. Everyone was out running along the lake, restaurants began bringing their patio furniture out of storage. I had been warned by the locals, so I was sure it was a tease and we would likely have another cold snap. But I think everyone was secretly hoping the spring temps would last a while longer...now we're back in the 30's for the next week at least. This is not ok. My whole life, spring has been my favorite season! For the first time in 27 years {I can't believe I will be 27...}, there is a chance I might be wearing a coat on my birthday! WHAT?! This is absurd. Luckily, the week after, I'm headed to TX to see my family and I can't wait to bust out the sandals and sundresses!

So...for my birthday, I would like to bid farewell to Old Man Winter - you can come back in December.

Bulls Game!

Saturday night we went to the Bulls game. We invited my friend, Chris, who is a childhood friend of mine. We met in the 3rd grade and after high school, we went our separate ways to different colleges and now, we're both in Chicago! It really is a small world when you think about it. I was so glad Chris came because the Bulls were doing a special 20 year reunion celebration at halftime to honor the 1991 Championship team. It took me back to elementary when Chris and the other boys in my grade were obsessed with the Bulls, the Magic and just the NBA in general.

Chris & me! I love this guy. Even though we haven't really kept up over the years, he's just a genuinely good guy and I'm so glad to know him. And he's the best dance partner! Our 3rd grade teacher loved to have little dances in our classroom and we were always partners for the Mexican Hat Dance! :)

We had amazing seats. We were in the lower level on 3rd row right behind the Bulls bench. I just can't believe how big these guys are in person! I'll be honest, I don't really keep up with the NBA so I didn't really know any of the players until last night. I had a great time and it was really cool seeing players like THE Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen honored at the half. The crowd was deafening and when I looked over at the boys, they looked like little kids they were so excited!!! They all had their cameras out taking pictures of everything.

Chris, JP and Matt so excited that they just saw some NBA greats!

So cool to see these guys come back and thank the fans!


I learned that Rose is pretty darn good. The crowd was constantly chanting MVP and who knows, maybe they'll be honoring him in 20 years!

And...my mom saw us on TV! She just ate that up! She kept calling and telling us to wave or saying that she saw Matt jump up and cheer. Pretty cool!

Matt was easy to spot in his bright green! What a fun night! Love this man more every day. :)

St. Patrick's Celebrations in Chi-town

As with most cities, Chicago celebrates St. Patrick's Day the weekend before the holiday {well unless the 17th is on the weekend}! There's a parade and they manage to turn the river into a ridiculously unnatural shade of green! Saturday was brutally windy so we didn't venture down to the parade, but we made it down to the river for some fun pictures! I posted these on facebook too, so I'm sorry for being redundant. :)

On the Michigan Ave bridge - the wind was so cold! I mean seriously, how do they get the water THAT green?!? Unbelievable.


After Matt taking a few pictures of me by myself {awkward...} we finally asked someone to take our picture!

There were so many people out and about all day long. I don't like beer, so fighting crowds to have a green beer at a bar was a little low on my to-do list. We did a little shopping instead and had a great day! :)

Doormen can be your best friends!

Our apartment building isn't perfect...sometimes the dryers don't really dry your clothes, the treadmills have seen better days, the elevators can be slow and on occasion my shower gets a little less than warm, but I LOVE our doormen! It's amazing to me that so many people walk by and don't even smile or say hi to them. Matt and I made a point to get to know each one and they are some of the sweetest people we've met in Chicago.

Danny works the weekday morning shift. He's about 86 and he's become my "Chicago grandpa"! He can barely hear, so he usually keeps chats brief and says the same greetings a lot, but he gives me hugs/kisses on the cheek and gives Matt a fist bump. :) cute.

Then, there's Tim and Bryant. They work the evening shifts during the week/weekend and they're pretty fun. Tim loves the Bulls/Bears and he's usually got his little TV going cheering on one of his teams. Bryant can be quiet, but he's hilarious when you get him going. He always remembers when I have a package and catches me when I walk in from work.

And, most recently, Bryant came in and saved the day! Last weekend, our car battery died. Today, Bryant offered to jump it for us! YES!!! Seriously, that is a great doorman! He went above and beyond to really help us out!

Allison's visit!

Last week, my dear friend Allison was in town on a business trip. Allison and I met in college because our boyfriends - now husbands - were pledge brothers and best buds. We've shared a lot of memories from fraternity date parties to our weddings! They now live in Dallas, and we don't get to see them as often as we'd like...so when she told me she was coming to Chicago, I was pumped!!! We were able to meet up for dinner twice and it was so refreshing and wonderful seeing her!

Dinner at this delicious restaurant, De Cero. :)

Hopefully we can make a trip to Dallas soon!

Dead as a Doornail

So a few weeks ago, I went through the apartment and cleaned out some closets. I had a nice little stack of things to take to Goodwill that I placed right by our front door. The goal was to take everything to Goodwill/Salvation Army that weekend...but we procrastinated. I'm sure you could have guessed that, right? Fast forward 3+ weeks later, after weaving through our cluttered entry every day and each weekend me mentioning to Matt that we really should take that to Goodwill ... we FINALLY took it down to the car. {I should also mention that the only reason we took it to the car was because a sweet friend of mine from Dallas was coming to Chicago on business and I wanted her to see our place gleaming and spotless. Honest truth.} Well, we loaded everything into the trunk, I put the key in the ignition and...nothing. Poor little car battery just pooped out. We had every intention of going down to start the car every week/other week during the winter, but sadly "out of sight - out of mind". Then, when I hit the lock button, the horn let out this pitiful whimper of the final breath of life of the battery. Sad day. And, it's not like we can jump it. I have NO idea who is parked next to us in the parking garage or how to contact them to ask for a jump. So, this weekend's trek will be to the auto parts store, wherever that is, and bringing a battery back to give new life to our poor little car. I say we'll do it this weekend, but with our track record of procrastination, we'll see. :)

A little place called Aspen!

Wow! I can't believe it's Thursday...I feel like I'm just now getting myself back in order from our trip. Last weekend, we went to Aspen with some of Matt's coworkers. We really had a blast and it was so nice to get away! I love Colorado - the mountains have always taken my breath away and I just love being there in winter or summer.

Friday, Matt and I went skiing with a couple of snowboarders in the group. We quickly realized that our ski skills were WAY below the skill level of the crowd we were trying to keep up with. As soon as we got off the lift, they were gone! At the next lift, we waved our white flag and told them to go on without us. Oh my gosh, we would've ended up on the back of the ski patrol's snowmobile if we had skied with them. We survived the slopes and actually had a great time just hanging out having lunch and coffee trying to boost our bruised egos. I guess I should have known when people's luggage at baggage claim was their own ski/snowboard equipment. From now on, we're only skiing with other amateurs from TX/OK who only go skiing every few years. :)

Saturday was my favorite day! A group of us went snowmobiling!!! Oh wow. I was terrified at first, especially when I heard I was going to be driving my own. I thought I would be riding with Matt with a death grip around his waist. They gave us a quick lesson on how to drive it and off we went. I literally caught myself with a huge grin laughing hysterically several times! And, I swear I caught air one time. :) The scenery was gorgeous too! Now for a few pictures from the trip...


Dustin was sporting this awesome pink snow suit that our guides swore that Cindy Crawford wore back in the day. I'm not sure I buy that story, but Dustin sure made it look good!


Christy - she's dating another Matt at Vista and they live in San Fran. :( Since our boys work so much, it would be nice to be in the same city so we could entertain ourselves! Not a lot of the guys are dating/married so I was relieved that Christy and I hit it off so well when we met in Austin. She's a doll!


We didn't drive off the mountain! Success!!!


Part of the crew ready for some more snowmobiling after a nice hot cocoa break at the top of the mountain!

And...ending the excursion with a little snowball fight!


At dinner our last night in Aspen. Please note, Matt's eyes are not always this red/tired looking. Yikes! I think he was tired from the snowmobiling and all the fun we were having! And...our next trip needs to be someplace warm and on the beach b/c clearly, we need some sun. Wow.