Let's Catch up...

Going way back, there were some amazingly warm days in March.

So my friend, Melissa, and I hi-jacked an extra kid and headed to the beach for the day. It was heavenly. Can you believe these pictures were taken in March? I was in a bikini, in northern Indiana, during the month of March. It was pretty incredible.



Instead of questioning the weather by cautiously wearing a t-shirt or a pair of sandals and taking a walk around the neighborhood, we went all out. We put those bathing suits on, lathered on the sunscreen, packed up the beach toys, and rose to the occasion.

Never mind that the Indiana beaches are bookended by smoke spewing industrial plants, we were in paradise. The boys seemed to agree. They ran across the sand, built piles of sand castles, and found a warm pool of water to romp around in.

 Nice try Max, maybe someday...

Pretty much Mason. The day summed up in a photo. A big exhale with an "ahhhhhh" thrown in.

I'm glad we seized the day when we did, the weather has not returned since.

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Then there was St. Patricks Day. We went downtown.

Caught up with some old friends.

And watched them dye the river green. Now that's green!

It was fun, and I was really excited to see the river dyed, but I doubt you will ever catch me downtown Chicago on St. Patricks Day ever again. There were people everywhere! At 11am some of those people were already throwing up and passing out with all the "fun" of the day.

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We've been doing a lot of dinners at home. 

We've been learning to share the couch, computer, and bathroom with each other a bit better.

 And we have enjoyed evening cook-outs at friends houses,

where we overindulge, and completely hog the food. (nudge, nudge. cool it Jake, you are making us look bad)

Ben is much more restrained. Just enjoying the essence of a cucumber through the mesh casing.

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Then there was Easter. The Murrill's hosted a lovely brunch and everyone pitched in to create a well rounded and surprisingly color coordinated (there was no memo on using red and white dishes with silver spoons, it just happened) holiday feast.

The dishes and serve wear wasn't the only surprise coordination.

After feasting, we enjoyed the rest of the rest of the day visiting,

("Hey Max, does that stroller make a comfortable seat? Want to put that ball to good use and shoot a few hoops?" "Why yes, Jake, I am quite comfortable in this seat. However, I don't want to play basketball just yet. I need to rest and reflect after that filling meal, and I still have an egg hunt to dominate in a few moments time.")

playing,

and hunting down those easter eggs...

OH, and someone turned FOUR...

How many adults with lighters or matches does it take to light four birthday candles? Apparently more than three. We ran out of resources before we could answer the riddle or light the candles. Sorry Mason. No birthday wish for you this year. 

Not to be overlooked was the sneaky frosting thief at the party...

He was just shoveling it in. Taking full advantage of the lighter/ candle/ wind debacle that distracted the adults.

But don't worry. A seasoned big brother of two stepped into the rescue. You can see the hand and mouth moving in slow motion, "nnnoooooo, MMaaaxxxx."

"You silly bear, wait until the cake is cut."

"Foiled again, until the next birthday. I will come back with a better plan. Oh, you bet I will."

There was just something about this stroller.

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Apart from ALL of that, there has been a lot of working going on. Like, 40 hours a week. What? Like the rest of the world? Yeah, just like that. Also, the bathroom wars of Kelsey and Jake are just warming up, there just isn't enough good lighting, mirror space, or time to go around in our little space. I'll keep you posted on any new developments. 

Well that just felt really great to share. I'll be back sooner next time, I promise. (fingers crossed). 

Thanks for reading. 

What I've Been Up To

I'll skip the part where we went apartment searching, crunched numbers, had an awful (!) interview, did some blame gaming...and repeat. Long story short, it looks like we are staying in our apartment and I am starting a new job as a Patient Registrar (a good interview snuck in there too) at the hospital across the street.

Besides all that messy life getting in the way, we have been pretty busy having fun. We made a last minute weekend trip up to Michigan, to visit Jake's Mom and Sister. It was so chill, I didn't take one picture, except of Jake sleeping...which I won't post. Awkward!

After a relaxing couple of days (or 1 1/2 days) in MI, we went back home so I could make it to a baby shower.

You all know I can't resist a good wrapped present picture. The girl at the Starbucks drive-thru was quite taken with the package, and gasped in disbelief when I answered her question; yes, I did indeed do the bow myself.

Also, you must be warned. There is a baby monster on the loose. Don't be too frightened, it is easily distracted and confused by a camera flash.

Our little baby friend, Ben, learned to crawl! It started off with slow and very grand exaggerated movements, much like a mini Godzilla. He has since become more efficient in his movements, and is becoming less terrifying to his villagers of Lamaze stuffed animals.

On another note, how awesome is this weather?! I've been going on walks, walks, walks, and even squeezed in a trip to the beach. That's right. It's March, in the midwest, and was in a bathing suit yesterday. More on that later, though. Have any of you been up to anything fun (or not so fun) lately? Any fun plans to enjoy this amazing March weather?

Birthday Outfit & Hair

I am so glad I wore a wool sweater, cotton skirt, sweater tights, and boots for my birthday celebration night downtown. The weather was awful.

The sweater was great because it kept my core warm. The sweater tights, knee high socks, and boots were great to keep my legs warm.

The cotton skirt worked because it wasn't ruined when rained/ hail/ sleeted on, and dried quite quickly.

Vintage sweater (from jake's grandmother). Gap tank tops. H&M skirt. Target tights and socks. Frye boots (love them so much. I can walk in them ALL day). Vintage pearl neackless (from my grandmother).

For my hair, I just did a french braid. Kind of. Instead of three strands, I just worked with two. It came out like this...

I did this on both sides. The molded my pony into a bun.

 Voila and. Easy peasy.

28 and lucky

This last weekend, Jake and I celebrated my birthday.

I must back up. For Christmas some good friends gave us a voucher for a free night stay... at the Peninsula! So when I had my birthday off and it fell on a Saturday, we decided to make a night of it and use the voucher. Lucky, right? Or maybe we just have super awesome friends.

Anyway here is my birthday...

 After checking in the front desk worker walked us to our room. As in, she rode the elevator with us unlocked the door for us and offered to show us around the room. We declined her kind offer. Once in the room (just the two of us, thank you very much) there was a little birthday surprise waiting for me!

It was good and I was super hungry.

We had dinner and a show to get to so we couldn't dilly dally too long. We went to The Chicago Diner for dinner. Jake totally won the Choosing the Best Entree Award. He was very proud of himself. He accepted the award graciously with an excited "finally! this never happens" and cocky smile.

 Jake smugly drinking his water while enjoying his superior choice: Quinoa, blackened tofu, smashed sweet potatoes, black beans, cooked kale and spinach, avacado, and a special sauce.

The gracious looser enjoying her polenta and grilled vegetables (which were quite delicious, mind you).

I love to be on time. It is super important to me. So, when the tickets stated "open seating. show begins at 8. doors open one hour prior. no late seating" I figured we would show up to the theater at seven, beating all the other show-goers to the seats in the house. That is exactly what happened, except we could have arrived at 7:45 to achieve the same results. Lesson learned. But you never know, so I would do it all over exactly the same way. Although there was no bad seat, seeing how the theater sat about sixty people total. But we were in the front row and had the delightful opportunity of sitting next to a middle aged woman and her elderly mother, both of whom seemed to be somewhat of theater snobs. They said great things like, "I don't care for musicals much. Give me a good drama any day." "oh yes, I agree." And "what a terrible choice of career, to be an actor. They have to work other jobs just to be able to live." 

I joked with Jake that they should really stop going to shows as to not support the "terrible life choices" of these actors. Such enablers I tell you. 

  

We saw Assisted Living at The Second Stage. It was a very tiny theater. We really enjoyed the show and, like always, I was blown away by the actors commitment to the roles. The two main characters had real chemistry. Which had me worried during the kitchen floor full-on make out scene. When would it stop? He took his shirt off, and I'm pretty sure her pants got unbuttoned. Very saucy.

Back at the Peninsula we decided to check out the Chocolate Bar that the front desk woman mentioned on the awkward walk to our room, earlier in the day. It was pretty awesome.

I spy gold on my plate. GOLD!

I want to go back.

There was hot chocolate so thick that you could not even sip it. You had to tip the cup toward your mouth and just wait, patiently, until the "liquid" wanders down the side of the mug and into your mouth.

Jake has some mad blind, over the shoulder, photo taking abilities.

If you ever go yourself, we will be the mature ones taking the "I'm so gluttonous and full" photos close to the buffet. Feel free to stop by our table to say a quick hello.

After checking out the next morning, we returned to our vegan ways with breakfast at The Protein Bar. Jake eats lunch there everyday. He loves it so much.

I almost got the "One El of an Oatmeal" (get it? "El") but settled on the Quinoa "Almond Berry Bowl".
We also got a couple of fresh juices.

We then dream shopped around Room&Board, Design Within Reach (amazing!), and Jonathan Adler, before meeting up with Danielle and Adam at a Brazilian Steakhouse for a combined Birthday Celebration. 

You might say, "A brazilian steakhouse?! But what did you eat?" Oh, they have the most amazing salad bar/buffets at those places. That is all there is so say. Amazing. And half the price of getting the buffet and the meat. Half.

I'm twenty-eight and lucky. Except for the weather. In our twenty-four hours downtown it rained, hailed, poured, sleeted, rained, the wind blew, and the temperature stayed nice and cold (freezing). That is why there are no photos of us walking outside, not that you would have been able to see our faces if we had. We were bundled up.