Thanksgiving love

This is an exciting moment... I'm blogging from the iPad for the first time! It's a little awkward, but convenient when I'm away from home. We're at Joe's parent's house, enjoying some relaxing post-thanksgiving family time. We had a nice meal yesterday, after I finished a full shift at work. Today was pretty lazy, with a quick visit to Old Navy in the afternoon. Officially a successful holiday! And in no particular order, here's some stuff I'm thankful for: My wonderful husband, who makes me happy every single day. I could write a book on how lucky I am, but I'll just leave it as saying he is the best. Ever. My job, even if it's a job where I have to work on holidays like thanksgiving. I feel like this is the first time I've had a job that really fits me, and I'm eager to see where this new career takes me! My family, near and (mostly) far. I am thankful to keep in touch with my family even when we're all spread out. Love you guys! My good friends around Chicago and across the country. Our comfortable home. And so many more things! I feel like such a lucky girl, and enjoy taking the time each year to stop and reflect on how much I'm thankful for. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'm thankful you stopped by my blog!

Wedding in Mexico

After putting off blogging for another week or so, I've determined that I need to break the Mexico pictures up into multiple posts. You see, when you go on an amazing vacation with friends you haven't seen in forever, and celebrate a wedding, and enjoy a few extra days to celebrate your anniversary... you end up with far to many pictures! And I can't resist sharing most of them, so that just means multiple Mexico posts coming up!  Get ready for some beach envy, because this was an awesome vacation. 

I'll focus on the wedding for this post, since that was the main reason we ended up in Cabo. Chris has been one of my good friends for TEN years now, and I think he found the perfect match in his lovely new bride, Elena. They seem so happy together, and it was great celebrating with so many of their friends and family. And Chris's friends happen to be some of my best friends, too. It was fantastic getting back together with my college crew, who are seriously some of the best friends I've ever had. We can all pick right back up with each other, too, even if it's been years since we last saw each other. Love you guys!

Pre-wedding rehearsal dinner, poolside, of course.

My favorite roommates/best friends from college (part 1)

My other favorite roommates/best friends from college.

Karaoke with the girls. Summer Lovin' at its best!

With the groom before the wedding.

Amazing weather, beautiful setting!

The groom's childhood friend is a musician,
and did a wonderful job preforming all weekend.

So romantic!

My handsome date... and maybe our Christmas card picture??

The newlyweds with their parents

A Beautiful Chicago Wedding!

A few weeks ago we got to celebrate the eagerly awaited wedding of two of our closest friends in Chicago, Christie and Nasser. It was a beautiful fall wedding at A New Leaf in Old Town, and I couldn't have imaged a more perfect wedding for these two! The setting was a bit urban, with modern touches and perfect floral arrangements (the space is owned by a floral shop!). The bride and groom were obviously so happy to be committing to a lifetime together, and their family and friends were all eager to celebrate this occasion. The food was amazing, and drinks went down easy, and the dancing wasn't too awkward ;)  Overall, it was the perfect wedding for these two, and we were so happy to be a part of the celebration!

I love this picture! It might even be frame worthy...

They did the toasts up above the crowd, so everyone could see them. So cute!

Cupcakes! Adorable and delicious. 

It was a great crowd... so many of our closest friends in Chicago were together for the occasion! We had a great time, especially seeing how happy Nas and Christie were with each other. What a fun, stylish, romantic wedding!

(Bonus points for being the only wedding we've gone to that's a easy cab ride away from home!)

Recent Happenings

Holy cow, it's been over a month since I last posted! I knew it had been at least a few weeks, but didn't realize quite how long until I got on blogger tonight to post an update. I guess that shows you how busy October was for us! Let's see, how about a quick summary about what we've been doing?

We successfully completed our healthy eating challenge, with a few corners being cut. It was worth it, too, because I scored in the highest category of healthy stats, which means a higher discount at work! WooHoo!

Vegan pizza with romesco sauce. I didn't even miss the cheese!

My friend Diane and I were excited to finish the Pumpkins in the Park 5k

Our good friends Christie and Nasser got married here in Chicago, at a beautiful location in Old Town. The ceremony was touching, the food amazing, and the party worth talking about! It was a fantastic night, and I'm so happy for the bride and groom as they start their married life together.

We babysat for almost a week straight. Well, mostly I babysat, and Joe worked. He was a huge help when he was around, though, and the two kids think he's basically a walking superhero/rockstar/legend. Our reward?  Blowing the money on a lovely new toy :)

Then we really rewarded ourselves, with an amazing week long vacation in Mexico! We got to catch up with old friends, and help two of them celebrate their wedding. It was relaxing, fun, peaceful, booze-soaked, and everything else you could want from a beach vacation. Perfect.

Since I took a billion pictures at both weddings, I'll post separately for those two occasions!

Notre Dame Football Adventure!

This weekend we got to go to South Bend, IN for a Notre Dame football game, courtesy of my generous uncle in California. He had entered a lotto for tickets, and ended up getting tickets that he couldn't actually use. A few weeks ago my aunt called to see if we were interested in a set of tickets, and you know we couldn't pass up that opportunity! We had a blast exploring the campus, and experiencing the rich traditions of this historic university.

The campus was full of students and visitors, eating, drinking, and seeing the sights.

The main administrative building was beautiful!
It was full of intricate murals, and had this amazing dome about four floors up.

The basilica was amazing!

After exploring campus, we went to Legends, a bar right across from the stadium.

The band was great at getting the crowd excited... and the crowd was huge! 

They were playing Air Force, so there was a fly over before the game! Too cool!

Go Irish!
(We got shirts before so we would blend in!)

Fun tradition-- they lift the students up and down whenever the Irish score.
They do it as many times as they have points, so people joke about starting
with their heaviest friends first, in case it's a high scoring game.

Touchdown Jesus!

Speaking of high scoring... it was a great day to be a Notre Dame fan!

Thanks again Ron and Anne for the tickets!!! We had a blast!

Parks in the City

Last night I was supposed to go to the gym, but my hips have been sore since I did yoga & ran a few miles earlier in the week. I decided to wait one more day before going back to the gym, and took a long walk around my neighborhood instead. What a great decision that was! The weather has been beautiful in Chicago this week, warming up to the mid-70's each day. This meant lots of people were out and about, especially as I did a lap around a big park a few blocks south of our condo.

Here's the thing about parks in a city. Land is at a premium in most city neighborhoods, so back yards tend to be small, or all out absent. Many people live in multi-unit buildings, and the yard consists of some sidewalk and a small patch of slightly dead grass. It's a sacrifice we're willing to make, to be in such a vibrant and bustling city. And when you settle in to city living, you quickly learn that the parks are a giant shared backyard.

Walking around the park last night, I felt so happy to call Chicago home. I especially love my neighborhood, Lincoln Square, and am so grateful that Joe and I chose this neighborhood for our first home owning experience.

The park was bustling last night, full of people working out, practicing with sports teams, and walking approximately one million dogs. The tennis court was full, and the playground was swarming with kids. I saw baseball, football, and soccer practice, as well as a full game of ultimate frisbee. Little kids were practicing their bike riding, and runners were avoiding them by running on a side trail. Walking through this busy park made me pretty happy to call it my backyard!

And in case anyone was wondering, I did manage to get to the gym for tonight's workout!

Healthy Eating Challenge

Two times a year, my coworkers are all invited to take part in a 28 day healthy eating challenge, commonly referred to as "The Challenge". The last one was right as I started working there, so I heard other people talking about it, but didn't participate myself. Joe and I both think of ourselves as pretty healthy eaters most of the time, but we're always up for a challenge in terms of making our diet healthier. So this year we're both on board, and as of Friday we started The Challenge for ourselves. 

Everyone has different plans for exactly how they're going to do the Challenge, ranging from eliminating cheese or sugar to all out strict vegan diets. We decided to make our challenge focus on a few of our usual vices, and to eat a mostly vegan diet for the next 28 days. Here's the specifics of our challenge:

- no coffee (drinking tea for now, hoping to cut out caffeine completely by the end)

- no drinking during the week, limited drinking on the weekends

- vegan diet, with the occasional exception of eggs

- limiting oil and salt

- reducing sugar intake

Last night, I was looking at vegetarian cookbooks and references I usually use, and I had a hard time finding many recipes that didn't include some kind of dairy product. One of the things I'm really trying to limit is cheese, because I really really really love cheese, and know how unhealthy it can be. I'm sure I'll be eating cheese again once the challenge is over, but I think it's good to try to cut back. I ended up getting online, and finding tons of great sounding options on vegan blogs. Last night we made these fantastic delicata squash with quinoa and cranberry stuffing, inspired by a recipe from the Vegan Yum Yum cookbook. This was one of the more delicious dishes I've made recently, vegan or not!

We've also made lentil chili from the Whole Foods Market website, and have a bunch of recipes from online picked out for this week. I think Vegan Dad will be one of my favorite sources of inspiration, starting with his Indian Style Potatoes and Greens. I'll keep you guys posted on recipes I really enjoy!

Lentil Chili. Not pretty, but tasty and filling!

So far missing coffee is probably the biggest challenge! I have a feeling it'll get easier as this process goes on, and maybe by the end I'll stop drinking it quite so much. Expect a progress report in a week or two :)