And the Next Chapter Begins....

This past weekend I finally made the big move from Chicago to Hoboken and even though leaving Chicago was definitely very bittersweet for me I feel that all I am going to gain will by far make up for all I had to leave behind. I made some really great friends out there, was able to mature as a person and make myself a pretty darn good life, and got closer to a great uncle!!! Overall it was 3 truly life altering years and though I may have put up a brave face when I moved there it was definitely one of the most intimidating and scary things I had ever done in my life. And I have come out of it feeling like a completely new competent and resourceful woman. Cliche maybe but it's incredible to see where I was versus where I am right now. Quite the transformation!

The last week in Chicago was of course exhausting what with all of the packing and seeing people for the last time, but I managed to do it all and ended up jumping on a plane, in complete zombie form btw, to head to Hoboken and then down to the shore for fourth celebrations!

The whole situation actually ended up working perfectly as I can't get into my new place until mid July so after the movers came and got my stuff I was able to focus on relaxing and rejuvenating myself during the 3-day wkend. Jeff picked me up from the airport friday evening and it was immediately off to LBI for a long weekend of beaching, drinking, and all around good times! We ended up having fabulous weather, add in some amazing cooking, tasty beverages, and an ocean and I'm set! Weirdest thing was actually on saturday there were all of these little jelly like things floating in the ocean.... no one had ever seen them before but we figured out that they clean the water and man they sure did cause the next day when they weren't there the water was all cloudy and murky! crazy little things but you couldn't put your hands in the water cause they would hit up against you!!! eek so creepy! haha

Overall it was a fantastic wkend and it was amazing to be with Jeff and not have to worry about going home at the end of it or when we would next see each other. It's been three years of constantly feeling like you're never getting enough time together and then even before that in college we would have summers apart and trips for school apart. Overall it's one of the more surreal feelings I've ever had to know that we can be togther, count on each other, and basically make awesome plans for the forseeable future! And as if the move itself didn't just feel right but it was like everything went our way the entire time! No traffic, no drama, no nothing and it all got topped off with one of the most spectacular fireworks shows that I have ever experienced. We went to see the Macy's Fireworks on the Hudson river and it was incredible. Shapes, and brilliant colors! At one point there was even hearts sent up there which I'm sure sounds incredibly cheesy but it's pretty hard to not think wow, in some small universe caused this way we have a huge fireworks show giving its support to us. Again very cheesey but I think everyone should have a incredible night like that where you just feel as if the whole world is rooting for you and this great man in your life. It actually made me understand the woman who wants huge weddings with insane decorations and demonstrations! Why shouldn't everyone have a "what feels like the world is celebrating with you" night. Though that will never be me I do know that this is not a night I will ever forget and I can not be MORE excited for this new chapter in my life! I will have new tasks at work, a new city and activities to experience, friends to experience it all with, and most of all a wonderful person to share it all with! Couldn't be more excited so thank you 2011 for thus far being a fantastic year!

Graduations & Celebrations

This past weekend was both my sisters 18th birthday and highschool graduation as well as my cousin's graduation and birthday celebrations. This meant there was a lot of family time, party time, and celebrating! We started off Friday night with a senior dinner at Proctor and a little champagne for Maddie's 18th!

Proctor's ceremonies took place beneath a tent where it was just cold enough out that if you weren't in the sun it was freezing!!! So my friend and I hung around on the outskirts for most of it. This was all good though as we were then able to get lots of pictures of the graduate!

Proctor's classes are fairly small so a large chunk of time was taken up with speeches and things. Matt Nathanson was the guest speaker and he gave a great speech about how not to settle for mediocrity and instead to take the time and learn/hone your craft. Hopefully we are all able to do what we love in our lives.

The graduates! Maddie wore a dress almost every day which was insane and so fun! she looked great in all of them.
PEA's graduation site was outside which was good as it was slightly more chilly and their class was HUGE! Quadruple the size of Proctor's class most of the time spent in this ceremony was just presenting the diplomas. It certainly wasn't as joyful an affair occuring directly after Proctor's but it was great to see Emma graduate! I can't believe they are both going to college next year.

There's a fun pic of Maddie hugging Matt Nathanson... won't lie kinda wanted to get up there and hug him as well! Also got a bunch of great shots of various family members which was nice as I don't have too many recent ones.

Mother and Son

Chloe and me :) so good to see her!

I feel like they have this exact picture somewhere cause I had major deja vu when I first saw this. The standard Nana/Grandpa pose I'm sure.

Some of the family men....
Group Picture! Congratulations Maddie and Emma!!! You two have become beautiful young women who surprise and amaze me every time we get together! Your the best sister and cousin a girl could ask for! Can't wait to see what you do in college!

Momentous World Occasions

It's interesting to think that for two big world events I have been in located in Dubai. And to think I haven't traveled internationlly for close to two years until now! I would like to say it's been amazing being a different country but really I don't think it's been any better or worse than if I were in good ole chicago. Though I did not go out and have a celebratory drink for either occasion whcih is definitely not so fun! Anyway I thought it'd be kind of fun to set down where I was while both events were occuring. And yes the royal wedding is a momentous event! i mean how frequently does a royal prince get married!

I also feel the need to write down somewhere my my own words that Osama is now dead because I feel as if I am having very unique reactions compared to most of the world. Not completely original as I've read/talked to many others who feel similar but def not in line with the overwhelming joy ppl seem to have. It seems odd to me to think that so many people are whole-heartedly celebrating the death of another human being. Yes he was horrible and "responsible" for so many horrible things but overall one man can not be held responsible for the actions of many and just because he is dead does not mean that the attitudes and feelings that he spent the last how ever many years harboring are just going to disappear. In fact I think it will only work to make them that much stronger but that is a whole nother post. I just don't get how thinking can be so shortsighted to assume that this one guys death is such a turning point. I mean ultimately he has just spent the last 10 years in hiding, I have a feeling that maybe he just wanted to be done with it by now. I also understand that a big deal has to be made of it because we have essentially been chasing this ONE man for the last TEN years and I mean you gotta have all that money and wasted lives be useful for something right? Overall, the fight against terror is still going to be needed and hopefully this little success won't make america assume they are invincible again. They say hindsight is 20/20 but that's only if you actually use it as a tool.

In other words I do think Obama's speech was very nicely worded and enjoyed that it was short and to the point. As I am resideing in a predominantly muslim country I also appreciated that he reiterated that our fight is not against the Muslim faith but against the terrorists themselves regardless of race or religion. A good thought to put out there for all of the celebrating college kids who really seem to have no concept of what this death meant other than another chance to go running through the streets drinking!

Now for the fun one! Prince William and Kate! She was so gorgeous in her dress, I think it was the perfect mix of being fun young and sexy while still classy and fitting of the royal aspect. I was lucky enough to be able to watch the procession and wedding itself while having lunch with a group of Egyptian Muslims at an authentic egyptian restaurant. Very certainly an experience in life I never could expect in advance. It was very fun though and the egyptian culture is very loud and welcoming with lots of laughing! now I only need to understand Arabic!

Congrats Will & Kate!

To the Holiday Season...

I'm finding myself very peaceful with the holiday season this year around.... enjoying the lights and colors that cause the city to glitter, the holiday music twinkling around corners, loving our living room design!

It's funny... the walls are painted a light lime/seafoam green color (def more pretty than it sounds) and it gives all the pictures I took a very green light! It actually seems to work in this picture though.

A close up of the tree! A thousand red and gold balls ALL over the tree. I was a bit skeptical about the idea at first but it definitely works very well.

And then me being artsy!! Happy Holidays... I'm off to the east coast this friday and have two glorious weeks planned out spending time with friends and family. Busy at work, some xmas shopping, nyc! And to send me on the way I display my new look....

Short and dark! totally new

Change of Seasons

This part of the year is always a tough time for me.... I am a warm weather lover. Basking in the sun, laying on the beach, even sun streaming through the window is my all time favorite place in the world... close ur eyes everything falls away.

Thusly summer is my favorite season, far and away. So once August ends I feel jumpy/edgy/disgruntled and overall just unsure what to do with myself. I tend to just make decisions without thinking about it because my mind keeps saying you need something new.... make something happen.... take a risk!

I took a risk this past weekend and while it was wonderful and relaxing and awesome it also leaves me feeling like i'm standing on the edge of a cliff and it's jump or stay. Either way is a large mind switch, changing my perception forever. Not a bad thing, i'm happy a decision is feeling forced but scary all the same. It's choosing a piece of me and saying this is the most important.... not easy...

So overall I'm surviving in this world of adulthood that I have seemed to jump feet first into. It takes a lot of energy to be the woman I envision myself as and though I love the challenge the exhaustion part of it is surprising...? Hey maybe i'll learn to like the fall more with these feelings!

I know what I want.... I just have to figure out how to get it.... two steps forward & one step back, it's not failure it's just life.

Summer 2010 Timeline...mainly for myself

July 1st - Moving time! goodbye boystown....hello wp! who doesn't love hipsters!

July 2nd -6th - Wkend with the fam in New Hampshire. Dad's bday on the 4th. sister's softball game, chilling out and relaxing. Very nice to see the family and the lake :)

July 10th - Welcome house party for 1524! Crazy night!

Rest of July - Bumming around Chicago, poolside, boating, beaching, drinking :)

July 30th - Chicago Scene, being towed around on swan floats by a jet ski! stealing said swan floats from crazy biatches who would have fought us.... shitshow!

Aug 5th - Roomie dinner at Lucias. Awesome italian but expensive and not so much worth the money.

Aug 6-8 - LOLLA! Saw Gaga, Chromeo, Temper trap (awesome!), Mumford & Sons, Black Keys

Aug 10 - Roomies surprised me with cake, a bedroom full of balloons, and a card!

Aug 11 - 15 - Cinnci for Kristy's Wedding! Birthday spent cabrooing and partying with the college besties! Saturday was the wedding, reception on a riverboat. amazingly awesome time.

Aug 18 - Bday dinner with the uncle, Tocco, sooooo good

Aug 19th - roomie bday dinner at Cumin. Amazing indian food!

Aug 20 - 22 - Birthday month celebrations in Atlanta with Tiff! Beer fest and sunday fundays poolside

August 28th - Ending birthday month with a joint bday party with the roomie at Pint. drama ensued but nothing too fantastical.

Labor day wkend - New Jersey/Delaware/LBI with Jeff and cronies. Great weekend spent just being and living. Drove lots in the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, enjoyed being out of the city, gorgeous weather!

Now it's time to quiet down and study my little butt of for the FE on Oct 30th. goodbye social life :(

Biking in Packs

I have FINALLY started biking to work again and am loving it...of course! It's been a very busy summer, nonstop activities, always go-go-go, and in the middle of that I moved to a new apt far FAR away from my gym that holds my very awesome Pilates Reformers classes. So ultimately this prodded me to break out the bike one morning when I knew I had class that night and didn't want to have to take the hour long public transportation trip back to my new place. Yes it really does take that long because there is no way to get across the city without transferring and when it's later at night there is no gaurantee that the trains or buses will be running too frequently. So anywho off I went merrily along one morning and before I knew it I was at work! I mean the whole ride prob took me 15 minutes, AND it's a ride I could easily do in say 7 if I actually tried.

The route I take to work is a straight shot down this one street and there are just groups of bikers who use it! I mean at different intervals you'll see 10 bikers or so going on their way! I love this becuase it means that the cars definetly notice you and know that this pack of bikers...is going to be on the road! haha, I love joining a pack every morning and feeling like we are pointing some kind of finger at the solo ppl in cars killing the earth! of course not to those ppl who NEED to drive but seriously it always amazes me how much traffic there is in this city when it's so easy to not drive! but that's sooo not my point.... not quite sure what my point is but YEA BIKING! which reminds me I should really bring the poor guy in for a tune up. He had some rough times in storage for 6 months and than the winter...

In other news work is work... the boss is about to have his first baby any day now which means that i've been handling a lot of our international work and will be sure to have more thrown on me once the little girl actually shows up. I'm semi nervous about this, not because I don't think I can handle it but because I feel that it's goign to make my work schedule very busy and really all I want to do is enjoy the rest of the summer! plus babies babies everywhere right now! I swear ppl need to stop having kids cause i'm not ready to deal with that whole thing yet! haha

Birthday month is almost here! I'm so excited for it! Have some awesome trips planned as well as some fun activities here in Chi-town. I think it'll be a good month :) Now time to do some work!

BonaROO!

A week later I am finally recuperated enough to write a post about what an awesome/amazing/incredible weekend I had at Bonaroo the other weekend. It was truly one of those perfect weekends where you couldn't have hoped for anything more to happen. So many stories and secret jokes and crazy times that will never be written because truthfully...what happens at bonaroo STAYS at bonaroo. So instead of stories and me quoting silly things that I'm sure will never be funny to anyone but us I have thrown in some pictures that grasp a little of what the bonaroo experience is.

The group I went to bonaroo with... 6 guys, 2 girls, 1 RV! Hanging outside of our RV. I have to say after tenting it the first year and then experiencing the RV I will never go back. It makes such a difference to be able to use your own bathroom and even though I only showered once the whole time it was nice to have that option. And yes I really don't mind living the hippy life... I could have gone without a shower the whole time but my hair becomes a major rats nest!

A few of us getting a little crazy. This was the Stevie Wonder show. Def not the best show I saw while there but it was fun. It was also crazy hot at like 11 at night which is why we were all still in our bathing suits. I pretty much lived in that outfit only changing up the suit I was wearing :)
Me and the bestie! I heart this girl with everything I have and we had such an amazing time together this weekend. I am not sure where we are or who took this pic but I like it! I can't wait until the next time I see this chica.

A group of four of us, we spent a large amount of the time together just walking from concert to concert and checking out the sights. I had never met these guys before and was so happy that I was so comfortable with all of them but these two especially. Just worked to make the whole 4 days the ultimate experience.

so that's all I got in terms of bonarroo! Freaking fantastic time. Next trip up is a secret because sometimes I get lurker readers here! but I'm also having a fantastic time hanging out here in chicago, made a new friend who has a fun pool and there might be some boat action this wkend. Who doesn't love the summer!

Happy Summer!

Hello June! You arrived in a flash with lots of changes and excitement lining up. Life has been a fast paced roller coaster these days which is good and fun but rather stressful and requires lots of going with the flow.

Biggest thing?? I'm moving next month... yessiree I have found an apt in a different part of the city that I am so excited to live in but I also feel like I just haven't gotten a real chance to experience the part of the city that I am living in now. So all in all it's semi bittersweet. PLUS I am horrifically sad about having to leave my gym. I have completely fallen in love with it and my pilates class, both instructor and fellow classmates. I'm debating sticking with the gym anyway at least through the summer so that I can continue going to my weekly classes and there are a few around teh city. It will def make gym going a little rougher since it won't be at the end of my block but i seriously love this gym so much that I think it will be worth it! I missed my pilates class the past two weeks and I just had so much fun tonight hanging with the ladies and seeing how much I've improved. And now I have to miss the next two weeks! why oh why can't we have a few more days in the week...that we don't work obviously :)

I've also been dating dating dating and nothing has been sticking. met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun but it definetly gets exhaustign and annoying... I mean its hard enough for me to say no to anythign much less saying sorry not interested in a second date! ah! haha. I'm def enjoying it but I'm also like really? nobody yet? I know i'm picky and usually when I know I know but sometimes I wonder am i TOO picky/judgmental/quick in my decision.

Work is a constant fluctuation of good, bad, yes, no... Socially things are picking up. We had a ladies happy hour a couple weeks ago and it was such an amazing thing to see these woman outside of the office. We work in a mainly male dominated company and though I wouldn't say they shut down their personalities we all have small changes that we perform in order to portray a competent and intelligent woman. But everyone was sooo funny hanging out at the bar and since it was just ladies it was a no-holds barred situation. Once a few were taken in it was the event of the evening to pick out hot guys for me to date! I am the only single one so they all think its freaking fantastic! It was hilarious seeing who they picked out. My fav coworker, she has recently become my cubby partner, had the worst beer goggles ever! loved it. And hey she has a 7 month old so she prob doesn't sleep.

Work, play, moving?!?! I think we've covered it all here... heading off for bonaroo next weekend and I can already tell it is going to be a very busy summer. so exciting! Every month this summer has at least one major trip and I wouldn't be surprised for a few more to be added in. I'm also estatic to be spending some serious time in my wonderful city! I think this will be the first summer that I will 100% be in Chicago and lets just say... i'm ready.

UPDATE: I Just read through some old "recent" posts and I am totally repeating myself! good to see that I'm consistent with my feelings at least!

PINK flowers

My roommates mom brought us flowers when she stopped by this weekend. I guess there home has these growing all along one side and their one of the roomy's favorite. She gave us 3 huge vases of them and their bubblegum pink color and fantastic smell has brightened up our living room! I love how it has layers and layers of petals... it's a whole piece of art within itself. so gorgeous! So I took pictures.... lots and lots of pictures of them. Here are a few of my favorites.

I love how the plate snuck into this one. I didn't even notice it while I was shooting, but it's totally trying to steal the show! This plate is nothing that I would have ever bought by myself, but it's the roommates and now that I've gotten used to it I love it!

Catchup Galore

Sooooooo I have been very very quiet this past month or so.... and not for any single reason but more because so much has been happening that I haven't even wanted to process things as they go. Thus, here are loads of thoughts about the major occurrences in my life currently.

The new roomy has become a great friend in my life. I have found it very interesting to be around her because as similar as we are... there are many many things that are different. And I can obviously respect these differences but I'm also enjoying what I am learning from them. She has a boyfriend who is living in NJ and basically is in the same position that I was in a little over a year ago, except that she is adamant that she wants to stay with this guy. Like she says she could see her life with this guy. So this is great... but it's been very enlightening to see how they make a long distance relationship work. This girl is on the phone NONSTOP! I mean coming home from work she walks in on the phone 6 days out of 7. Her bf calls her every morning to wake her up, then they text/gchat/whatever during the day and then she probably calls him 2 to 3 different times in a night. When I was in a long distance I would maybe talk to my bf once every other day. And this was a huge problem for me.... one that I didn't voice enough but it was a HUGE problem. And now looking at her I can see that when you are in a long distance you need to put in double what you would when you live near each other. Talking 5 times a day is not insane because think, if you lived near each other you would most likely talk in the morning before work, then during work a couple times, then when planning what to do that night, etc. It's a lot more work than I would ever think and I have been in one! kind of enlightening huh?

I've started dating.... pretty seriously actuallly. Which is fun but also enlightening. I can now really understand why girls can be bitches or confusing or what! I mean there is this one guy who is great, very fun and talkative and respectful... He even bought me chocolates tonight but I am not going to see him until maybe saturday and this doesn't make me sad. Which tells me that even though I have fun with him... it's not going to be a permanent thing. tricky business this dating thing!

work has been work.. has been work. every day I go in hoping something will happen and every day I walk out being so incredibly happy to breathe in the fresh air! Things are so much better now that I have a window in my office but I seriously am going nuts being in the office day after day. And the worst... I've seen myself busy and I still find myself bored. It's just not in a I'm bored and the time is moving slow... it's a I'm bored and yet how the eff is it already 5 o'clock because I still have a TON to do! lol. I def need to figure out what the heck I want out of my professional life.... I just am not sure what that is yet.

We are soooo close to warm weather time.... and yet Ms. Mother nature keeps looking for ways to mess with my sense of equilibrium here by keeping it freezing in the morning, nice after work, and then cold again at night! just give me warmth please!

The old boyfriend has been popping up.... It still blows me away that the feelings I have towards that whole situation changes daily. I guess the biggest thing is that at the end of the day I enjoy talking to him and I enjoy the conversations we have. I know it's all about balance, I just have to keep working to get there. Because I am. There are just constant obstacles. Lol.

Lastly I went to Hotlanta the other weekend (April 16th-18th) and had an absolute blast! One of my best girlfriends moved down there right before xmas and I was so excited to have the chance to get down and see her new place and meet all her new friends. This is a girl that I talk to all day every day while we are at work meaning we pretty much know everything about one another so I had heard everything about her atlanta life and it was so nice to finally see/meet/experience her life. I want to put up pics but she hasn't posted them yet so when she finally does I will do a whole atlanta post. Especially since this is already a novel.

and signing off on a monday night.... this week looks to be exceedingly busy but I'm excited for it all!

Time to Meet Dei

Dei... as in the name of my new DSLR!

So remember back when I put up a short little post announcing that I had invested in a new camera???? Well that camera came within a week! and after giddily opening it I put it back in the box and placed it in the living where I could stare at it whenever I wanted...and when I say stare at it I mean, stare at it. And for some reason that staring became a problem because that's all it was, STARING.

"Why haven't I tried that new camera yet?" I would ask myself... And I realized after almost a month had gone by and nothing had changed...that I was nervous! NERVOUS! For what reason? Who knows but there it was. And so as soon as I realized how ridiculous and silly that was... I signed up for a class and here we are.

So today, It was interesting to me to see how many people were in the class, granted it was free but I just hadn't really thought about how many people would own nice cameras. The professor was very knowledgable but still obviously loves photography and sharing it with others. That to me is a very promising characteristic in teachers as it makes me want to know why this topic makes them so happy! and so I learn it! The class itself was very informative in the basic basics of photography which was nice because it was the push for me to actually embark on this new DSLR journey that, but not too much that I felt overwhelmed with how much I don't know! even though it is a lot :) I def want to take another class but I am being thwarted by a number of options because almost half of the class time is spent in a lab and learning how to print, etc. It would be nice to learn but ultimately that is not a part of this that I want to experiment with right now. Plus I feel like most of that is just messing with the pic which is all opinion anyway! So yea, I would really love to find a class, that's not a boot camp... I know its out there!

After the class I walked around my little block and took some pics of the city and little signs of spring! It is amazing looking at my pics here and everything is so much sharper! Plus it's a real camera and I can play around with the settings! Here are some of the better ones.

Check out that cloud definition! Never with a point and shoot.

I will admit I feel almost self-conscious walking around with my camera but I think that is just something that will take time! And these guys didn't seem have much of a problem with it!

Gotta love day drinking... :)

A picture post.... with a few words

So it's April and boy is it thunderstorm season this spring. We have been leaving the windows open nonstop this past week what with the gorgeous weather and the smell of the rain has been fantastic. I feel like the whole new summer and starting and I can NOT wait. So in order to get rid of the ickiness of my last post here is a few of the milestones I have this summer.

To start off there will be lots upon lots of this:

Though of course it won't be this gorgeous tropical beach but there will be plenty of Chicago lakefront! Which I am totally OK with.

Then one of my bests is getting married this summer! It will be the first of my close friends to do this and I am so excited for her.
Then her reception will be on a riverboat so I will be wearing something like this... But much cuter with more anchors is how I picture it! My girlfriend and I will both be dressing like this with matching little sailor hats! We are so excited... going a fantastic Weekend!

I will also hopefully be going to this music festival this year. It will be my second time and I would be absolutely thrilled! The atmosphere's of music festivals just amaze me. Every single person just having a good time! And hopefully this year there will be no rain!!!

And finally lots and i mean LOTS of sitting outside in good ole chicago here enjoying good food, friends, drinks, and merriment! The cubs and sox have opened.... the bikes and runners are out.... it is officially warm weather time here in chicago!

Sometimes you just have no idea....

I hate feeling like I am unadequate at the end of nights even though deep down I know I am fine. AND even though I have had a wonderful night sometimes I come home and feel like bawling. I can deal with it and I can handle it but tonight there was a guy who I was ok giving the vunerability to and right now I almost wish he were here to hold me and yet last night I had a fantastic date and there was no vulnerability feeling in me. I guess it's just woman's feelings but seriously...

I guess to sum up this has been a rough month romantically and even though the toughest news has made me really go for it I just don't always feel like I'm right.

And beyond that where does older become too old.... as a poll. I'm 23 btw.

wishful, hopeful, and vulnerable thoughts out...

Buying new things is Awesome!

I JUST BOUGHT THIS!!!!

It's been something I have been pondering over and thinking about for awhile now and I do believe the time has come. I would love to spend this coming spring and summer taking some courses and learning more about photography in general. I have always loved taking pictures and trying to be creative by seeing different angles. I also can tell that I am fairly good at it, not at all good in the professional, sell my stuff kind of way, but I do think I can take some nice shots. So yes, this will be showing up in 7-10 business days and I can not even express how excited I am! I'm gonna be a picture taking fiend!!! just hope it's not too heavy.... :)

It's Friday ya'll!

Yes it really is Friday and I am sitting here at my desk after coming to work in absolutely gorgeous weather! you hear that? Absolutely freaking beautiful weather before 8am! amazing. Of course it makes me not want to work or really do anything today... thus the blogging. ahhh what a good distraction. Now lets just hope that no one comes and asks me to do anything :)

Seriously though things are good. The weather has picked up and maybe... just maybe...we might be approaching spring?! I really really hope so but if not I have spent all week loving the weather and walking around with my winter coat WIDE open. I even grabbed an ice coffee this morning and it's sitting here by me making my friday just grand!

It is also St. Patty's weekend here in Chicago which means that all sorts of craziness is going to go down. I'm very excited to experience the green river and all the celebrating that is supposed to happen. This will be my first time celebrating St. Patty's day here in Chicago so hopefully it's a good one! and that I don't get absolutely hammered. lol

Work has taken a turn for the better. I know have things to do on a fairly consistent basis and I just got assigned my first "solo" project. I put that into quotes because we rarely do things solo here but the managing etc is all usually one persons responsibility. And now I have one to manage! soooo freaky but also really really cool becuase hell I'm never going to succeed if I don't show 'em what I can do! I also changed desks and now I am basically smack in the middle of things which means I can't fool around on the computer so much anymore but the days def go by much faster with so many people stopping by to chat! It also has much more desk space and gets some natural sunlight!!!!!!!

Oh and while shopping the other day I picked up some sunflowers and we have this great tall yellow vase and they make our livign room so wonderful and cute. Come summer I am going to have flowers all over the place! plus this guy just makes me so happy. haha

well I think that's all. this has taken approximately all morning to complete and I now need to do some sneaking around to research tv's. We need a new one for our living room!

I like to take pics.

I was out this past weekend because it was so amazingly gorgeous out and of course I brought my camera. Thus, here are a few of my favorite shots that I got during the day.

some awesome pigeons who almost look like they can't tell if they are frozen there or is they really want to be there! haha. the weirdest thing is that I saw bird couples all over the place while I was walking around. Pigeons and geese!

the webbed feet on the snow just seemed so quaint to me. It's a perfectly natural occurrence and yet so beautiful.

The snow seemed to me as if it were clawing and trying to hold on to the last passages of winter. I want to believe that this somewhat warm weather is really spring trying to come into effect here. I want warmth and spring so much i'll do whatever I can to believe it! :)

Finally the lone harbor. And yet this harbor will be bursting with activity very soon. It makes me feel awesome that even though it looks desolate now, very soon everything will be what Chicago summer is about! And if trivia tonight is anything to call for it... we are in for one interesting warm season!

Hilton Head

This past weekend I went to check out a new part of this little old USA and was excitedly delighted to see how charming it was. Hilton Head, South Carolina was the destination. My grandparents have started a new tradition of traveling someplace warmer during these blah months of February and March and of course my mother goes along. Well this year I was able to join as well! Thanks Mom for the ticket! The first couple of days were still rather chilly because the sun wasn't able to get completely out but it was still warmer than Chicago and we were able to find plenty of things to occupy ourselves with. Sunday was then absolutely gorgeous too which made my entire weekend :)

the area we were in has these fabulous beaches that are so hard packed that you can bike on them and when the tide is out there is this huge expanse of beach to choose from! So of course I needed to check this out. Here is a pic of my mom as we head out. yes we were both experimenting with taking pictures as we rode. we like to live on the edge :)

After biking down the beach we decided to break off and go inland to explore some of that area. After getting lost and biking MILES out of the way we found the animal and forest preservation where we were able to catch some awesome alligators in their natural habitat.

It blows me away that they are just chilling on peoples lawns. I mean what if you wanted to go hang out there that day! perhaps there is some type of schooing mechinism that only the locals know about. The funniest thing is that even though these alligators are ALL over the place down there the only sign they have around is "Don't Feed the Alligators!" Like really? who needs that reminder? I mean I was excited to see them but no way would I think to offer them some of my sandwhich or something.

On sunday morning I woke up incredibly early for some reason and was able to catch the sunrise over the ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous and I ended up waking up my mom and we both ran outside to get some pictures! I dont' think I'll ever get tired of sunrise/sunset pictures over a body of water. It just perfect!

After realizing that no matter how pretty teh sunrise was, the sand was still freezing cold and my feet were getting very close to frostbite, jk I headed back inside to try to catch some more sleep. Instead I found this guy...

Yep a little lizard had found his way into my room somehow. So then I had to usher him slowly out while my mother sat on my bed like a scaredy cat! haha, I don't find them scary but the thought of getting close to them, so close that they might jump on me, makes me nervous as hell! luckily using two books as path markers I was able to slowly guide him out. he didn't even run very fast! poor thing, I think he was so confused by his predicament he didn't know hwat to do with himself!

All in all it was a great weekend. it was nice to just hang out with my grandparents and mom. It's very rare to get only mom and me time so whenever it happens it's very fun. We both enjoy days spent lazing in the morning, exercising, booking, and then having a few cocktails to end the day and it's always special when you can share that with someone else! specially your mom!!! I even managed to get a little sunburnt on sunday which was fantastic! yes, I am a sun junkie.