twenty two

On the morning of my birthday, I sprang up and began to jump on the bed and prance around to Taylor Swifts song 22. Yes, that's embarrassing but, yes, it was awesome! How often can you dance around to a song thats whistles your age?! My dance-a-thon was followed by a well-deserved brunch, good drinks, and dinner with my mothers fall-off-the-bone ribs :) It was a very low-key, happy day! Thank you to everyone for sending birthday wishes my way!! 

P.S. You know you're getting older when you are excited that your birthday presents consist of a blender, some pans, and a spatula ;)

Weekend Trip - Ann Arbor, MI

Last Wednesday I received a facebook invite from my grand friend Emily to attend her housewarming party in Ann Arbor, MI.  I sighed and thought to myself I would love too, but it's too far away and I have responsibilities and yada yada yada. I was about to click decline when Luke reminded me that it was my weekend off from work and we should just go. "We'll make a weekend of it," he said, and that is just what we did! I haven't taken a spontaneous trip in a while and, quiet honestly, it was the best decision I have made in a while. We spent the weekend going out for drinks, eating delicious meals, wandering around farmers markets, and playing with Emily's cute cat Boone! On the way back from MI we stopped at the Indiana Sand Dunes for a quick swim. Luckily, we visited the Dunes before this happened... Yikes!! Finally, we topped the weekend off by seeing Lord Huron and Milo Green at Taste of Randolph. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend off! A big thank you to Luke for being our spontaneous plan maker and to Emily for being an unbelievable host!

Just letting Boone hang out - see what I did there ;)

The beach and Sangria! What more could a girl ask for?!

Friday Jam - Time To Run

As I described to a friend the other day, this Friday Jam makes me want to be twirling with my hands above my head in a sunny field of tall grass. The song is Time To Run by Lord Huron and you can click here to listen to it!

 I was just introduced to Lord Huron and so far I'm in love with their style of music. They're playing at Taste of Randolph on Sunday and I can't wait to see them live and get a good feeling for the band! Since Lord Huron is kicking off my summer concert season, I thought I should let them kick off the Friday Jam summer season as well :) Enjoy!

Odds & Ends

The past few weeks have seen summer colors, amazing hot wings with sun tea, baby fish observations, ball throwing for the pups, and family time.

A Hint of Summer

Per usual, the weather in Chicagoland cannot make up its mind. Last night I was wearing a jacket (which I didn't mind because it was a new, exciting purchase) and today I found myself in a bathing suit. Being the Midwest girl I am, I knew I had to take advantage of the unexpected sunny day and participate in some summer pastimes. Floppy hat - Check! Laying by the pool - Check! Nail painting - Check! Bike rides - Check! And who better to do it with than a wonderful friend :) It was an almost perfect day until I got a city violation for talking on my phone while driving. Sad moment. But in all honesty, I haven't been back home in so long that I had no idea the rules changed! Lesson learned! Even with that speed bump (no pun intended) it was still a lovely summer day.

How have you all spent these warm days?!