:: ju-ju-junio ::

first of all, i cannot believe the month of june is coming to a close. CRAZY. i hate how quickly the summer is flying by and i'm trying to enjoy every minute of the good weather:) since i've been tardy to the bloggin' party, i'm going to do a mashup of the month.

:: snippets from june ::

- eric is a travelin' man:
eric has been out of town from sunday night through friday night EVERY week this month. grrr. he's teaching trainings for KPMG and loves it, but it puts him everywhere but here during the week. i miss having him around, but have kept myself busy with work, friends and travel. the only positive thing about him being gone is i get to drive the car to work vs. taking the bus. i show up less sweaty, which is great. here's a rare sighting of him at our kitchen table.


- fat fridays at work:
i work with people who appreciate fattening foods as much as I do. a blessing and a curse, i'll tell ya:) each friday we have "fat friday" where we take turns buying/making breakfast treats for the team. we recently had a donut bonanza on national donut day. it was borderline ridiculous. i was in a food coma all day.



- kc trip - bonny's baby shower:
a trip to kc was just what i needed - i definitely miss my lady friends! i flew back on friday and shopped around the plaza, had a lazy, sangria-filled lunch with sal, runge and kara and spent the evening over at the crabbs with bangkok bill {sally's dad was back from bangkok, where he now lives}. saturday runge, sal & i hosted a baby shower for bons who is *finally* back from germany! we laughed and caught up with all the girls - such fun! a few faves from the trip: fruit loop vodka, cake batter dip, celebrating baby greenlee and seeing my fab friends.
 

- adios, flip flop:
a fun work friend {ryan aka flip flop, as he only wears flip flops...even in the dead of winter} is moving out to the LA office and a proper send-off was needed. he brings a lot of life to the agency & we'll definitely miss him.



- yorktown visit:
i got to go home for FOUR DAYS and hang with the whole fam. jess/justin and boys, thom and mom/dad! plus, eric was able to fly in from dallas to meet us. it was so much fun just waking up to george's smiling face {happiest baby ever}, lounging around in my pjs, playing in the backyard, cooking out, having water balloon fights, getting around the town in NO time {it takes forever to get anywhere in Chi}. my parents have been married for 40 years - they are such an amazing example for everyone, especially eric & i. they laugh and love everyday. i.love.that. i'm missing the fam already, but will see them in fargo the first week of august! yay!

:: the month of may ::

Hallo fine folks!

I have been very lazy with my posting, so wanted to give you a quick overview of the month of May.

Highlights of May:
- Kentucky Derby/Cinco de Mayo:
Eric & I went to a charity party at a local bar to celebrate the Derby in style. We LOVE dressing up in some fun & fancy clothes. Eric looks for any excuse to wear seersucker, so it turned out to be the perfect afternoon. We drank Dark & Stormy's (rum + ginger beer) all afternoon with friends! Yum.

- Sweatpants Party:
My friend Katie had an atypical birthday party - sweatpants were required, we ordered pizza and gossiped. Oh, and drank our fair share of vino:) Such fun to be underdressed at a party - refreshing change of pace. And, I made a strawberry shortcake cake. Turned out delish:)

- Mother's Day:
No real highlights except I have the best mom, sister and grandmothers anyone could ask for. And, my BFFs are fab moms, too. All good inspiration for someday.

- NYC wedding weekend:
EJ & I headed to NYC for a wedding for his childhood best friend, Chris. I felt like gossip girl all weekend and was constantly on the hunt for celebs.

• Thursday was the joint bachelor/bachelorette party - we went out in the lower east side until too late. We partied at Essex and Beauty and noshed late night at The Meatball Shop. We slept like babies:)  
• Friday my friend Lauren and I ate at the Donut Plant and shopped LOTS in SoHo, like so much that I had total buyers remorse when I returned to Chicago. Oops. We had a welcome happy hour in Brooklyn, then went out to a big group dinner at Flatbush Farms {also in Brooklyn}. Eric's friends were a blast and we closed the night at the weirdest bar with a DJ who played only MoTown music.  
• Saturday Eric & I went to brunch {he was wearing his suit & looked totally dapper}, then I shopped more in NoLita/NoHo with Katie. Again, continued the tread of shopping/spending too much. The wedding was in the afternoon in Central Park. It was gorgeous and so "them"! After the ceremony, we stopped by a fun bar for a drink before the reception in the East Village.  
• Sunday was the first and only day Eric & I had to ourselves. We definitely took full advantage of scouring the city and seeing the sites. We went down to the World Trade Center memorial, ate lunch on the water, walked all the way up to Greenwich Village, then over to the Brooklyn Bridge. Walked across the bridge and back, then over to Chelsea Market and to High Line Park {SO COOL!!}. We wrapped up the day back on the lower east side at Gruppos pizza. Then, proceeded to walk 45 blocks up to the hotel to get our bags/head to the airport. Our fab trip got a little tarnished when our flight got canceled and we had to stay the night out by La Guardia... but we had too many great memories to let that get us down:) 

- Eric's siblings visit:
Whit, Bryce and Bryce's girlfriend Stacey visited over Memorial Day and we had a ton of fun. Shopped Michigan Ave, did a pub crawl through Lakeview - starting with dinner in Boys Town, a drink at minibar, infused whiskey at Blokes and Birds and buckets of beers on the patio at Justin's. Saturday we had brunch and shopped on Southport, then went to a BBQ with some of our Chicago friends. Sunday we went to the beach and relaxed. So fun hanging with fam:)

- Wilson's housewarming par-tay:
One of my favorite friends in the city, Erin, and her husband Eric had a party at the new-ish condo. It was the perfect summer day in Chicago - sunny & 70s. We ate, drank, laughed, sat on the patio, listened to music... and even dabbled in some Four Loko/Disarono on the rocks for more laughs. We're lucky to have such fab friends:)

- Sporty spice - softball:
I fancy myself quite the amateur athlete... always signing up to play sports with my work team. And while my skills are often lacking, my spirit makes up for it. My family will laugh at this, but I am actually *kind of* good at softball. Who knew? I love hitting, but not as keen on fielding. Oh, if only I could turn back the clock to middle school... this may have been the sport I was supposed to be great at. Oh well:)

- Corporate Challenge 5K aka the first time I've run in 1.5 years:
Remember when I ran the Chicago Marathon? Yeah, I don't really either. I've been on an exercise hiatus, until the corporate challenge run in May. I signed up for a 5k {which was actually a little longer than 5K - 3.5 miles} and set out to jog the thing. I finished and felt pretty good. Only had to walk a few times. Yay! Go, me. Let's see if I can stay on the bandwagon.


:: Derby Party ::


:: Excitement After Scoring a Run ::




:: Corporate Challenge - Team TRIS3CT ::


:: A glimpse of NYC ::


:: Johnson siblings visit ::



:: Strawberry shortcake cake ::