The apartment FURNISHED!

While Matt's in San Fransisco for 2 weeks, I decided I better distract myself! So, what better time for Mama to come to Chicago & spent the week with me?! She's amazing. She's been helping me decorate & hang things around the apartment. Matt & I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to hanging things on the walls. Mostly, b/c I hate asking him to do it! I try to be a nice wife! So...wait until he's gone, then decorate the whole place! Hope he likes it! We tackled little bits at a time & broke it up with some sight seeing & shopping!

The bedroom. Yes, I realize the pillows are off-center! But you get the idea!


Another view of the bedroom.


View of the living room from the kitchen!


The tv. I'm ready for a new media stand but this one will do for now...


The view of the kitchen from the living room.


Another view of the living room. We brought our kitchen table but Mom came up with the idea to use our table as a console table for extra decor! I'm loving it so far! That's also why there are random chairs placed around the room! haha!


The breakfast bar & the kitchen! I put these fabulous bar stools together all by myself! Thank you very much! Thanks Mom & Dad, I LOVE THEM! They fit just perfectly here!


My baker's rack! My Christmas present from Matt the 1st Christmas we were married!


My little tribute to The South! Thanks Tori, Love!



And...the entry way!

I haven't taken a picture of the bathroom yet. Mom was in the shower when I was taking pictures, so I'm sure she is glad I wasn't in there trying to take pictures!

Thank you for everything, Mama! I couldn't have done it without you! I love our new bar stools & the way everything looks! You're so great at decorating! I guess that might be the one thing I didn't get from you. I had a blast with you this week & I can't wait for your next trip to Chicago! You're the most selfless & gracious woman I know! I love you.

Transformers 3!

So apparently, they're filming scenes from Transformers 3 in Chicago! Matt & I overheard a guy talking about it before we left for Oklahoma. We don't have cable right now so we had NO idea this was going on! So, fast forward a few days & Mom & I are walking north on Michigan Ave when I look left & see that Wacker is closed. I look a little closer & I see cars turned over like there was a massive wreck! We were walking past part of the set! I took some pictures as I was walking. They had a pretty good patrol crew telling people not to stop in the crosswalks & to keep walking while taking pictures.



THEN! while we were floating down the Chicago River on our architecture tour, I see the back of Shia LaBeouf! It HAD to be him b/c he was all dingy & dirty (b/c of all of the explosions, duh) and I heard a group of girls screaming when he waved! Needless to say, I was star struck! Lame I know but hey, is there a movie filming down the street from you?! Pretty darn cool!
I also need to watch Ferris Buehler's Day Off & The Dark Knight again so I can watch for the scenes filmed just around the block from me! :)

Arlington Heights with Lauren & Luke!

Since Mom was in town, we decided we just had to go out & spend the day with Lauren & Luke! Luke will be a year old at the end of August & Mama still hadn't met him! So we headed off for the train. We had to catch the El to take us to Union Station to catch the OTHER train that goes out to the suburbs. The other train leaves every hour so if you miss it, you have to wait another hour. The train ride is about 45 minutes so we were going to be set back another 2 hours! Well, we waited & waited & waited. Finally, at 11:28 I just said FORGET IT! We're not going to make the 11:30 train so we'll drive! So we ventured back to the parking garage (which was like 10 ft away!) to grab the car & head out! We made it about the same time our 11:30 train would have arrived at the train station! Boo ya! I'm just so hesitant to drive around here b/c the drivers are much more aggressive & I'm not familiar with the area yet. We survived though.

We went to lunch with Lauren & Luke and then went to Ikea! I was an Ikea virgin so this was a whole new world to me! We bought some amazing bar stools for the apartment! I hope Matt doesn't mind! :) Mama wanted to get us a housewarming gift (ok this is like my 6th place for her to give me a housewarming gift! I need to settle somewhere! ha) It was a good thing we brought the car but it was a hoot trying to get 3 boxes into the back of my little Honda!

Side note: We can't find "Ranch Style Beans" anywhere in Illinois & Lauren cooks with them a lot. So while I was in OK, I went to Wal-mart & bought 20 CANS of beans for her! The check out lady thought I was crazy!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of little man Luke!

Back to OK!

We went back to Oklahoma last weekend for an amazing wedding! Danny & Matt are pledge brothers & Matt was asked to be an usher. Of course we were honored so we made the trek back to OK to be a part of their big day! Kelsi has become a good friend of mine too so this was a fun wedding for the both of us. It's always great when I don't have to bribe Matt to go with me to a wedding! Ladies, you know what I'm talking about..."I don't even know them, she's your sorority sister, why do I have to go?!" So we'd been looking forward to this one for a while! We decided to drive back since we had a few things to take back for storage & well, it's just nice to have your own car when you have places to be!

We made it back to OK late Wednesday night & spent Thursday with his family in Stroud! It's always wonderful & relaxing visiting with them! Friday morning, Matt went golfing with the boys so I went to see my friend Marcie! Marcie & I worked together at the bank & we'd become good friends. Well, she was pregnant & when I left, she only had a couple of weeks to go! I had been watching Adelyn kick and move in her belly & I had gotten pretty attached! So of course, I had to hold that sweet baby that had kicked my hand so many times! :) (Marcie was a champ & let me invade her belly space all the time! I was just so curious what it felt like!) Adelyn is absolutely perfect! I got to spend a couple of hours over there while the boys finished playing golf & it was wonderful just catching up with Marcie & seeing her sweet baby girl!


Marcie even dressed her in the outfit I had bought for her! A cute little white onesie with a tutu sewed onto it! We were getting swaddeling tips from her friend.


All nice & tight like a baby burrito!


Big Sister Abby the dog!




Adelyn's room! Her mom made the crib bedding, curtains & chair. It turned out SO great! Sewing really is a lost art. I need to re-teach myself!

So then it was off to the rehearsal & wedding! I didn't take any pictures at the rehearsal. :( I was too busy catching up with great friends! These boys all have amazing wives/fiances/girlfriends so they've all become my good friends too! Matt & I feel so blessed that our friends have awesome spouses! It's no fun to hang out with someone's friend if you don't like their significant other! :) Hope nobody feels that way about us! ha!

I was also able to squeeze in a pedi with Joanna! They let us stay with them while we were in town. They're so gracious to let us invade their space for the weekend! We barely got to see them for all the wedding festivities.

The wedding was a blast! Well, until one of the bridesmaids knocked an ENTIRE glass of wine ALL over my new pretty pink dress! I think the dress will be ok. Daddy took it to the cleaners & he hasn't given me any bad news yet so I guess I'll see when I get home! I was so mad but what can you do?! I know she didn't mean to but it was literally ALL over me. And I HATE the feeling of wet clothes sticking to my skin. Luckily, it was towards the end of the night or else I would have had a terrible time which would have been a shame. I'm just glad we didn't get pulled over b/c the officer wouldn't have believed me that I had barely had anything to drink! haha I smelled of white zin!
Here are a few pics from the reception!

More visitors!

I know...I'm behind on posting yet again! I'm trying to get caught up. After James & Jo left we had some other friends in town. Mike & Kathryn! Kathryn is a dear friend of mine & she was in my wedding. She's one of those amazing people that you can go a year without seeing & then just pick right up where you left off! I adore them so of course we had to get together while they were in town!

We went to a place called Sushi Samba & then to a comedy club called The Second City. Now, for those of you who know me, you know I'm NOT a sushi or really even a seafood person, but I wanted to go with the flow so I agreed to eat at this place. I knew surely they would have chicken in some form. :) Well, they did have a wide variety menu but we decided to let the chef have free reign. (I know people, this is CRAZY for me! I don't venture out much on things I'll eat!) We told him what we would NOT eat (Kathryn said NO RAW FISH! Whew!) so they brought out like an 8 course meal of little bits of this and that. It. Was. Awesome. I had to look past the little tentacles but I managed to eat an OCTOPUS! This is huge for me. I won't even try veggies that look/smell funny! That & the calamari were my 2 favs & they even brought out a beef dish!




Ok...our server saw me struggling with the chopsticks so he gave me the KIDDIE just beginner sticks! haha! And, this octopus looks like a spider on my face! eeek!



So after that, we went to The Second City. It's a comedy club where a lot of "comedy greats" get their start. People like Tina Fey (LOVE HER!), Chris Farley, Dan Aykroyd & Tim Meadows to name a few. It was hilarious!!! We had great seats! Just close enough to feel like you were practically on stage but safe from being pulled up on stage!


Then, the next day we went to Giordano's for pizza with Mike & Kathryn as well as my other dear friend, Lauren & her husband, Jason & their little boy, Luke! Lauren was my Matron of Honor & they just moved from Washington (state) to a suburb just outside of Chicago! I'm so so happy we're close now b/c it was so hard knowing she had a baby & I couldn't be close by! So...I went to pick them up at the train station. Well, lets just say I did not even think that a baby equals extra "baggage"! Whoops! Poor Jason was a trooper though! He carted Luke & that stroller up & down the "El" Stairs & finally we made it to the pizza place. I felt so bad! On the way back, we tried to use more of the handicap accessible entrances & such. We still had a great time! I didn't get any pictures of all of us though. So sad about that!

Community Laundry

One of the "sacrifices" I decided to make was to give up having a washer/dryer in our apt. I was being a pretty big brat about this in the beginning, but I had a change of heart. Besides, its part of the urban experience & it builds character, right?! After seeing the apt's that had them, I realized they took up valuable storage space and they were the tiniest washers/dryers on the planet! Usable space is key, people!

So far, my experience with the community laundry has been pretty good. The other day, I was able to do 5 loads of laundry in an hour & a half! boo yah! And the best part, laundry is FREE right now! Normally you have to pay about $1.50 but you have to load the money on a card. Well...the card machine is broken so free laundry for the whole building! Whoo-hoo! I have also come to realize that not all the washers/dryers work so I'm trying to take note so when it does start costing me $$$ I won't waste $1.50 on a dryer that won't try my clothes! :)

Grocery Shopping in Chicago...part 2

So we've used our cute little cart to get groceries, but I tell you what, no matter how you slice it, grocery shopping is a lot of work! I think we've been to the grocery store almost every day since we've been here. I think it will be better when we finally get all the staple items stocked in our fridge & pantry. We donated what we could in OKC & threw away the rest so we're starting from square one. Even still, you have to really think about what you're doing b/c whatever you buy, you've got to figure out how to carry it home. Our strategy so far is to never get a buggy, we always get a basket b/c once the basket is full, you pretty much know, that's all you'll be able to carry home!

I'm also working on getting a few re-usable totes b/c the plastic bags are really mounting up & we've only been here a week! I try to be good about recycling or finding ways to re-use the plastic bags but I have a million already.

We've also learned that they have a delivery service but we haven't priced it yet. One guy in our building told us about peapod.com & supposedly, you give them your list, the day you want it & for $20 they'll bring it right to your door! Interesting! Might be worth it every once in a while! :)