my bachelorette party in pictures

My bachelorette party was yesterday.

Peach Jell-o shots are my new favorite, awesome contribution Mary!

This amazing spread was there to greet us in Chicago.

Em even made my favorite, pineapple pizza!

She decorated with pictures my friends sent her.  It was such a fun display to look at!

And she made sure everyone had a little gift.  Softlips is the best!

And she ordered empanadas as part of our Argentine feast at Tango Sur.

The food was amazing.  Just as good as the food we always ate in Argentina.  Chicken, ravioli and steak – beyond delicious.

Then we hit the bars.

And danced the night away.

What a great group of girls to say goodbye to singlehood with.

And then this morning…

We brunched.  Another fantastic meal.  Notice the Nutella on my pancake.  Heaven.

Thank you Emily for throwing an amazing bachelorette.  Every single thing was perfect and every detail so well thought out.  It was everything I could have hoped for.  I’m so grateful to my sister and all of my friends who took the time to travel to Chicago and celebrate with me.  I loved every minute.

If this weekend was any indication of how much fun we’re going to have at the wedding, I can hardly wait.  It’s going to be a riot.

What are some of your favorite memories with friends?

walking a fine line

I have a confession to make.  You see, Todd and I gave up ice cream for Lent.  This is a huge struggle for me because I love ice cream.  It’s also a huge challenge for me because ice cream seems to be taunting me.  Last weekend in Chicago, the restaurant my sister and I had dinner at had a dessert that included  salted caramel ice cream, I couldn’t wait to try it…until I realized I’d have to wait until Easter.  The next day, we went to a grocery store that was giving away free samples of the most amazing sounding Nice Cream.

Lavender Vanilla AND  Carrot Cake!?  Oh my gosh, they all sounded amazing, but I resisted.

And then at brunch the next morning, a case of Palazzolo’s Gelato – my favorite!

All of those beautiful gelatos and still I resisted.

Then, today at work, my friend Mary brought me a cup of pomegranate frozen yogurt.  With sprinkles.

Frozen yogurt isn’t technically ice cream, right?  Yes.  I ate this.  Every last spoonful.  Todd told me it was okay but that I was walking a fine line – I’m so dangerous!  Thank you, Mary, for the fro yo and for never making me feel guilty when I’m in the mood to push the limits.

As soon as I left work, I headed to the jeweler to pick…(drum roll please!)…Todd’s wedding band!  That’s right, I got his and mine will be ready to pick up on Saturday so we’re almost as good as man and wife.  What a crazy feeling!  Todd tried it on when I got home and we both had a moment of mild freak out because it is weird to see a ring on a finger that has never worn one before.  A good kind of weird though, only 38 days until that ring will become a permanent fixture on Todd’s left hand.

While I was at the mall I did a little browsing for myself and, even though I tried to resist, I ended up at J. Crew.  I can’t help myself, I love their clothes and almost always walk away with something new.  Today was no different, I found a cute little sundress that I can wear on our Mexican honeymoon.

¿Te gusta? (Notice my new bag in the corner, fun!)

After the mall, I rushed over to the Funky Buddha for a Shake your Asana class.  I love this class!  They play music the whole time and Cindy, the instructor, really gets us sweating and does a great job of keeping it interesting and stretching us out.

I dragged my sweaty self home after class and made a quick dinner.  Just a can of soup, bagel crisps and some cheese.  Nothing fancy but I was loving my Chicken Tuscany soup!

After a day of work, running some errands and powering through a Shake your Asana class I am one tired girl.  Thank goodness that the Top Chef: All Stars season finale is on right now.  I love this show!  It’s the perfect way to relax on a Wednesday night.

Did you give anything up for Lent?

Have you had any moments of weakness if you did?

mom’s chicago birthday celebration

Yesterday after my sister and I finished our Fly Yoga class, we met my parents at Greek Islands Restaurant in Greektown for my mom’s birthday lunch.  We started out lunch with a flaming cheese appetizer.

Not a bad way to kick off a celebration!  We had our lunch and then the server brought out a piece of baklava, complete with a birthday candle and two of the waiters sang “Happy Birthday” to her, it was very sweet.

We went to have manicures and pedicures after lunch.  Even my dad had a pedicure, and loved it I might add.  We had them done at Pinky Nail Salon and they did such a great job.  I got not one but two shoulder massages and, as an added bonus, a Sex and the City marathon was playing on E! while we were there.  My toes are a greenish-turquoise and my fingers are lavender, I look just like an Easter egg and love it.  Spring is almost here, I just know it!

After our nails were dry (mostly) we headed to State Street for some shopping.  I found the most adorable dress for our rehearsal dinner at Macy’s.  I can’t wait to debut it in 40 days.  Man, it is getting so close, I can’t wait!

After a long afternoon of shopping we went to Bella Notte, an adorable little Italian restaurant just down the street from my sister’s apartment.  Holy cow, the food was to die for.  Here’s my dinner plate:

I felt like someone should roll me back to Em’s apartment.  We were definitely indulging but, you have to do that every once in a while, right?  My jeans were fitting a little tighter in the morning but I still managed to scarf down part of my mom’s birthday fruit arrangement even before heading out to brunch.

 

We had already eaten all of the chocolate-covered pineapple…

We ate brunch at Crepe Crave in Wicker Park.  Ohmygoodness, the our crepes were so delicious!  My sister and I split a savory crepe with eggs and turkey but I was most excited about the ricotta and raspberry crepe topped with Nutella.  Yum!

I need not describe how great this tasted.  My mom ordered a peanut butter, banana and Nutella crepe that was to die for as well, such a good brunch!  By the way, check out this row of Nutella.

Uh, yeah.  Who wouldn’t be a fan of any place that stocks that much Nutella.

My parents left after brunch and Emily and I did some more shopping in Wicker Park.  It was such a great weekend, I love Chicago and I love spending time with my family.  The only thing missing was Todd but we just had dinner from Qdoba and now he’s sitting next to me and letting me watch the Real Housewives of Orange County.  Not a bad little Sunday night.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

What was your favorite thing you ate this weekend?

Do you feel guilty after a weekend of pigging out?

 

 

fly yoga

I could write three different posts about yesterday, I have so much to report, what a full day we had!  I’ll start out with our Fly Yoga class though, as it deserves a post all its own.

Emily and I got up and went to a Fly Yoga class.  We didn’t know exactly what we were getting to but we were excited to find out.  We got to class and there were blue silk hammocks hanging from the ceiling.  We claimed spots and waited for class to start.  As we were waiting people were stretching with their hammocks, swinging in their hammocks and laying in their hammocks as if they were human butterflies waiting to come out of big, blue cocoons.

Once class started, the instructor, Brent Holten (also the creator of Fly Yoga) did a great job of walking us through how to use the hammock.  We started in the hammock and came into our breath there, it was a real neat experience.  Emily compared the sensation of being suspended to  being underwater.  We did some inversions which were tricky, you really had to trust in the hammock’s ability to support you.  I needed a minute to get the hang of it but Brent was awesome and helped me through it.

We also did some yoga moves  with the hammock.  It really allowed us to go deeper into the poses.  Check out my pigeon!

I had a such a great time trying out Fly Yoga.  It was the first class I’ve ever smiled my whole way through.  It felt so good to be playful and child-like while getting a workout and I loved the Cirque du Soleil feel.  As a bonus, I’m definitely sore this morning.  Brent was awesome and even allowed us to do a mini sister photo shoot at the end of class.  Brent, please open a franchise in West Michigan, please!  I’d love to make this part of my weekly workout routine.

Fly Yoga was only part of the fun yesterday and I can’t wait to post about everything else but brunch and shopping await!

What is the most unique fitness class you’ve ever tried?

Do you think you’d enjoy Fly Yoga?

three things

Three things for this morning.

1) Yesterday morning while I was doing this:

(Todd is getting mighty sneaky with that camera.)

Todd was making me this for breakfast:

Yum!  I love English muffins and topped with peanut butter and banana, it’s the perfect meal to grab and go on the way to work.  I’m so lucky that he’s willing to help me out in the morning.  I tend to either be really calm and done getting ready quite early or running around like a crazy person.  Yesterday was a running around like a crazy person day since I was packing up those last-minute items for my Chicago trip.

Todd snapped these photos for me.  He’s getting used to having to wait a second to eat so I can get a shot of our meal.  Thanks, Todd for a wonderful breakfast!

2) I made it to Chicago safe and sound.  My sister and I had a reservation for dinner at Hot Chocolate.  On the way there one of Em’s heels broke!

What a bummer, they were cute shoes!  Em attempted to break the other heel saying, “I need a new pair of flats anyway.” but the other heel wouldn’t budge.  She just took it like a champ, kept on walking and barely even hobbled the whole way to the restaurant.  I’ve never had a heel break before I doubt I’d be able to pull off one heel so gracefully.

3) I was so looking forward to eat at Hot Chocolate.  I love eating at new restaurants and this place had a dessert menu to die for.  We started the meal out with an order of soft pretzels.  They brought out big nuggets with (very) spicy mustard and cheese fondue.  I loved the size of the nuggets.  Each one was 2-3 bites and perfect for dipping in the cheese.  I’m going to have to try making nuggets that size next time Todd and I attempt homemade pretzels.

Dinner was pretty good but dessert was great.  Em and I were “on vacation” so we each ordered our own dessert, I had the “Thoughts on a Peanut Butter Cup”, Em had a “Dreamsicle” and then we split a vanilla bean hot chocolate.

Peanut butter mousse, housemade peanut butter cups, concord grape reduction, yes please.

Orange sorbet, meringue, vanilla bean milk shake, such a creative combination, yum!

And then there was the hot chocolate…

That was the sweetest thing I have ever put into my body.  Em and I both immediately hit a sugar high and by the time we got home, mine had worn off and I fell asleep immediately.  We had a movie in and I’m not confident I even made it through the title screen.

So far this Chicago weekend if off to a great start.  Time to get ready for our Fly Yoga class, I’m so excited to try it!

What is the sweetest “little thing” that your significant other does for you?

What is the most decadent dessert you’ve ever had?

no coffee at starbucks

We had tonight’s marriage mentoring session at a Starbucks.  Unlike everyone else, I don’t drink coffee.  I’ve tried.  But I just don’t like it.  Thankfully, Starbucks also carries my favorite beverage, tap water!  I couldn’t order just water so the only other option was to grab one of these tasty little morsels…

Yup, I was excited about my Birthday Cake Pop.

Really excited about it.

And it was really good.  Of course, I can never stop at one treat and my tiny cake-sicle didn’t quite fill me up so Todd and I split a slice of Iced Lemon Pound Cake too.  I promise, wedding diet, I’ll get to you soon.

Our mentoring session went well.  The topic of the day was basically family and we’re both lucky to come from really great families.  Lots of love over the generations and strong relationships that we’ve learned from.  Thanks Mom(s) and Dad(s) for making today’s session easy for us to work through!

The Office, Parks and Rec and 30 Rock are over so time to get off the couch.  I’m going to visit my sister in Chicago tomorrow and I need to go pack.  Oh, and I get to go to Hot Chocolate for dinner tomorrow night.  With a name like that, it has to be good!  Check out the dessert menu, it looks fantastic!  I’m already planning out my meal.  I can’t wait for this weekend, in addition to Hot Chocolate we’re planning on Fly Yoga at i.d. gym, meeting up with my parents who are coming down to celebrate my mom’s birthday (happy, happy!), Greek and Moroccan food and a little shopping for good measure.  Should be a really fun weekend, I can’t wait to get there!

Are you a coffee fan?

What would you suggest for a drink to get a non-coffee drinker to start drinking coffee?