My Weekend in Indy

April 16, 2013 By 18 Comments

Hi everyone!  Thanks for letting me reflect a bit.  I’m still reeling, as I’m sure we all are, but here’s a post for some normalcy.

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Time for my weekend recap!

My friend Emily had a bridal shower and bachelorette party in Indianapolis, and I was so excited to attend.  Emily is one of my dearest friends, and we have had some excellent adventures together back in college, so of course I wanted to support her this weekend.  Also, it was an excuse to see all my other Butler friends!

To start the weekend, I drove to Indy to stay with my bff Molly.  I love staying with her because 1. I love her, 2. I love her fiancee, Steve, and 3. I am obsessed with her pup!  He is the sweetest.

Molly, Steve, and I had dinner at Cooper’s Hawk, then played some old school Super Nintendo.  Great night!

Saturday morning, after a quite snuggle with Stuart, I got a quick run in then got ready to meet my other bestie Alicia for lunch.

Super old school pic of Molly, Alicia, and I

We head to Cafe Patachou to eat and catch up before the shower.  And talk about her ADORABLE baby, Annalise.

So cute inside -- we ate at that counter

Seriously! How cute?!

The shower was great! My friends Maggie and Kim hosted in Maggie’s beautiful house, and we had a blast laughing, eating, and watching Em open presents.

I then headed back to Molly’s to see the puppy she was sitting for.  Oh. My. Gosh.  So so so cute.  I think I died about 13 times from cuteness overload.

How cute?!?!

Puppy!!

Stuart and the puppy playing

After gushing over the puppy, getting some Chipotle for dinner, and getting ready, we headed back to Maggie’s for the bachelorette party.

Beautiful Kappas at the bachelorette party

After catching up with some more wonderful friends, we headed to Broad Ripple (our favorite stomping grounds while in college) to keep the party going.  After dancing, hanging out, and tons more laughing, we called it a night.

Sunday morning, Molly, Steve, and I headed to the A2Z Cafe for some much needed reinforcements before I headed home.  It was a long drive Sunday, but totally worth it.

Seriously, my friends are the absolute best and any opportunity to hang out with them is a blessing.  I miss them all already (the weekend went wayyy too fast), but luckily I get to see a handful of them next weekend for my shower, and all of them for Emily’s wedding in a few weeks.

Until then, I will just reminisce about this weekend and how I’m so blessed to have this amazing group of ladies in my life.

I hope you had a great weekend as well!  See you tomorrow!

Filed Under: Faves, Friends, Traveling

Cancun Recap #2: The Food

March 5, 2013 By 16 Comments

It’s that time — recapping the part of our vacation I think about while eating my soup for lunch or a Kashi brownie for dessert: The Food!

Sun Palace, like many (most? all?) resorts in Cancun is an all-inclusive, which means we can order anything we want from room service at any time, anything at dinner (including 3-4 courses), and anything from the breakfast and lunch buffets and poolside bars without seeing a bill.  As a self-proclaimed foodie, there is nothing better!

The hotel had several restaurants, so we were able to try a variety of foods.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking :)

The Italian Restaurant 

Loaded clam

Caprese salad <-- FAVE

Beef tenderloin and potatoes

After dinner cappuccino

James's after dinner espresso

DELICIOUS neapolitan ice cream wrapped in sponge cake

The Steakhouse

New York strip, mixed veggies, and a baked potato

Vanilla ice cream (BEST EVER), vanilla cake, and cheesecake

Dinner in the Suite (not room service, but a special dinner)

Dining room table set up for dinner

Salad with pears

Pumpkin and parmesan soup

Duck breast

Cherry cheesecake

The Mexican Restaurant

Strawberry Marg to start, of course

Cheese dip

Tortilla soup

Tequila shrimp (so good!)

Making our bananas flambe

Final product

I didn’t get any pictures at the Japanese restaurant, which was a terrible idea because that was my favorite restaurant.  We had sushi, spring rolls, curry, and fried ice cream.  So so good!

Dinner is honestly one of my favorite parts of vacation, but breakfast is pretty great too.  I didn’t get too many pictures but my breakfasts usually consisted of pancakes or waffles, and a few different beverages:

Waffles

water, mimosa, and chocolate milk with each breakfast

That’s it for the Cancun recaps.  The sun/beach/balcony was the main portion of the trip, with the meals in a close second.

Overall, this trip was amazing!  I loved hanging out with my parents and James, playing cards, enjoying the weather, relaxing, chatting, laughing, and eating as much food as possible.  I miss it already and can’t wait to go back!

 

Filed Under: Faves, Food, Traveling

Cancun Recap # 1: The Hotel

March 4, 2013 By 14 Comments

Hi all!

I’m happy to report, I survived my first day back to work!  It was touch and go, but I made it :)

So for recap number one, I want to highlight the beautiful hotel we stayed at:  The Sun Palace.

We have stayed at the Sun Palace a few times in the past, so we were excited to go back, and we stayed in a great suite:

In the foyer -- our room to the left, into the living/dining room straight ahead, and the door to my parents' room in the back

Part of my parents' room (I didn't take a pic of ours because it got a little messy)

The best part though were the views from our balcony.  We spent some time down at the pools (because they had bars including a swim up), but we mainly hung out on the balcony because it is perfect!

Pool number 1 and beach

Pool 2 and the other part of the beach (note the swim up bar)

My dad requested the specific room we got because of the amazing balcony — look at this thing:

Where James and I laid out everyday

This was James’s and my side with two chairs to lay out and a hot tub (behind).

Facing the ocean/sun

My parents’ side was on the other end with two more chairs and another hot tub.

One of two hot tubs on the balcony

And from the balcony we could hear the ocean and have amazing views.

Awesome view of the Cancun strip

We also had a smaller balcony off the living room:

Living room balcony

We also had free alcohol in the room, so we were able to still partake while out in the sun:

Pineapple juice and coconut rum -- BEST vacation drink

I also did a lot of reading along with relaxing:

Great beach read

Another good one

Finally, a great thing about the hotel (besides the spa, which I didn’t get a pic of) is the gym:

Good sized gym

I made it down to the gym every morning, which you will see was a must when I show you all the FOOD tomorrow :)

I highly recommend the Sun Palace, and any Palace in Mexico.  They are beautiful, fun, have great service, and are dream vacations.  Especially, the food…..

Filed Under: Faves, Traveling

Back From Cancun

March 3, 2013 By 19 Comments

Hi Everyone!

Things are back to normal as I promised because I’m back!  I was in Cancun for a week with James and my parents, so I wasn’t on the computer much at all — just enough to publish some posts I wrote before we left.

I plan on doing a couple Cancun recaps to highlight some of the great food and great times, but for now, I wanted to talk about the coming home part.

First, the not so great part — the weather.

Let me tell you, leaving Mexico is never pleasant, but coming back to freezing temps and snow?  Even worse!

Saturday morning, I woke up to and enjoyed this until we left:

View from our balcony

Then, Saturday night, we came home to this:

Love Wisconsin in March

The snow was actually so deep at the end of the driveway that we had to park in the street last night, and James had to shovel this morning to get the car up the driveway.

Here’s an after-shoveling picture — quite a few snow drifts in our yard.

After shoveling

But, there is always one thing to look forward to when we get home — this guy:

Excited to be home!

And waiting for his treats

This sweet pea loved being at daycare, but was also so happy to be home to snuggle with mom and dad!

Now that we are home, everything will be back to normal again — work, groceries, heading to the gym, Milo cuddles, etc. I’ll get to the recaps tomorrow and later in the week, but in the meantime, have a wonderful start to your week!

Filed Under: Milo, Traveling

Monday Morning Sunshine

October 15, 2012 By 27 Comments

Good morning everyone!

This weekend definitely called for some unplugging.  Saturday, James and I headed to my sister’s to hang out with her, her husband, and my parents.  We had a great dinner, played Apples to Apples, and enjoyed plenty of treats (my mom made cookies and cheesecake and my sister made cookies).

Yesterday, we had some friends over for the Packers game, so it was nice to just relax with good company all weekend.

This morning, I want to talk about sunshine — specifically, the Sunshine Award!

Sam at Better with Sprinkles nominated for me for this (thanks Sam!), and the rules are:  mention the person who nominated you, answer the questions below, and nominate 7 others.

Now for the questions:

1. Who is your favorite philosopher?

I’m stealing this from Kat (I told her I would), but I’m not into philosophy at all, but I am into my faith, so I’m definitely saying Jesus for this one.

2. What is your favorite number?

Number 9.  No idea why, but it has been since the 5th grade.

3. What is your favorite animal?

In the real world, definitely dogs!  Specifically, this one:

My in general, fun answer:  Penguins!

(Source)

4. Facebook and Twitter?

I have both, but I probably spend more time on Facebook.  Except Busy Phillips replied to one of my tweets once, so that makes me love Twitter!

5. What is your favorite time of day?

Getting home from work, changing into my sweatpants, and snuggling on the couch with Milo while watching some TV with James.  Absolute perfection!

6.  What is your favorite vacation?

I love all my vacations, but my favorite one was when my family went to Hawaii in 2011.  We’ve been to Hawaii quite a bit before that (and back since then), but that specific trip was my favorite — which is weird because it was the shortest Hawaii vacation I have been on, but I had such a blast with my parents and sister.

7. What is your favorite physical activity?

Running!  I love to run and hopefully my knees let me keep doing it!

8. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?

This is boring, but water.  I don’t drink water for my health, but because I love it!

9. What is your favorite flower?

I’m not a girly girl — I don’t have one.  I think flowers are pretty, but there isn’t one that stands out to me.

10. What is your passion?

My main passion is writing.  I love all forms of writing, so it’s my main passion in life.  That, and helping animals — still trying to figure out a way to do this more often.  Maybe I should adopt more shelter dogs :)

(Source)

That’s it for me.  And I’m nominating six instead of seven.  They are:

Min @ Savor the Rainbow

Corrie @ Corrie Anne

Brittany @ Itty Bits of Balance

Alysha @ She’s on the Run

Jorie @ Midwest Maven

Natalie @ Free Range Human

Enjoy your Monday!

Filed Under: Blogging, Milo, Traveling

Recap of an Amazing Weekend in Dallas

June 25, 2012 By 10 Comments

Holy MIA, Batman!  I have been gone from the blogging world for a long time!  The hotel I stayed at didn’t have free Wi-Fi (at least, I don’t think it did), and I was running around with my friends all weekend, so I didn’t really have time.

But now I’m back and ready to recap Dallas!

A bit of a Dallas view from my room

This was such a great weekend for so many reasons — I got a mini vacay, I got to hang out with some of my favorite people, and I got to witness the marriage of one of the greatest couples I know.

Congrats to these two! (I stole this from Brittany)

Let’s start at the beginning.  I arrived in Dallas around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, which gave me plenty of time to get to the hotel, relax, and get ready for Jeff and Brittany’s rehearsal dinner, right?  Wrong!  The van I was taking to the hotel refused to take just me, so he circled the airport for 35 minutes until he picked up more people, then we got stuck in traffic.  I didn’t make it to the hotel until 6:55 (dinner was at 7 p.m.), but luckily my friends hadn’t left yet, so I was able to go with them and we arrived only about 10 minutes after 7 p.m.

With Katie and Nicole on our way to the dinner

The rehearsal dinner was so good!  They rented out Sammie’s BBQ, and I was definitely ready for some Texas barbeque.  I had barbeque chicken, coleslaw, salad, and apple pie.  So delish!

The groom and I

Nicole and I

After dinner, we enjoyed a little square dancing at the restaurant (I just watched), then it was off to a local bar to meet up with friends who weren’t at the dinner.

Dancing at the dinner

All smiles (Katie and Adam)

Erica and Sarah -- the first two people I met in law school and still two of my best friends

After about 45 minutes to an hour at the bar, we decided to go back to the hotel because (1) the bar was ridiculously hot and (2) we all wanted to catch up with each other, so we figured we could do that from the hotel.  After spending several hours catching up with everyone, I headed to bed.

Saturday morning, Erica, Nicole, Katie, Ellie, Adam, and I met up at the hotel restaurant for some brunch.  After that, we all headed out to the pool.

The cabana we took over and laying the sun (I took this from Ellie)

Partial view of the pool from my room

There were 15 of us (11 former law students and 4 significant others) staying at the hotel, and we all spent time at the pool together.  Aside from the wedding (which I’ll get to), this was my favorite part of the weekend.  I loved seeing everyone and hanging out by the pool with each other.  It was great.

After some quick frozen yogurt, it was time to get ready and head to the wedding.

The ceremony was at a gorgeous church right downtown.  Of course, I teared up the whole time because I absolutely love Jeff and Brittany.  They are an amazing couple and I was so so happy to be a part of their day.

Walking down the aisle

The Mr. & Mrs.

After the ceremony, we headed straight to the reception, which was at the Belo Mansion across the street from the church.  It too was gorgeous!

(Source)

After a cocktail hour, which featured some of Jeff and Brittany’s signature drinks made from Zodiac vodka (which is the only vodka I like, by the way), we headed into the ballroom for the reception.

My Beautiful Friends

My table minus Alejandro plus Tony, the most photogenic photobomber of all time -- second guy from the right (in the tux)

There Alejandro! (He told me to make this my screensaver)

First dance

Adam and Ed

Everything was so perfect.  The food and cake were wonderful, and I had a great time discussing wedding ideas with my friend Sarah and dancing like crazy with everyone.  Nicole took some great candid dance shots, so hopefully I can post some of those soon.

My favorite dance floor moments were definitely “Call Me Maybe” (requested by Nicole), fist-pumping like we were from the Jersey Shore, and a dance-off between Katie and Tony to “Baby Got Back” — an absolute highlight that MUST be repeated at my wedding next year.

After the reception, we all (bride and groom included) headed out to another local bar, Saint Ann.

Packed cab ride to the bar -- Hi Laura!

Katie and I shared a buffalo chicken flatbread, which was amazing, and we all had fun just hanging out together.

Such a cool bar

(Source)

Katie and Nicole (and photobomber Steve)

Erica and I

Sunday morning was bittersweet.  We had one last event — brunch at Frankie’s, a great Mexican restaurant — and it was a blast recapping the night and laughing with some of my best friends.

The bitter part?  We had to leave :(  I shared a cab with Tony and Kayla (who are celebrating their one year anniversary next week! [their wedding was also fabulous]), and headed to the airport.

Unfortunately my flight was delayed, so I got home much later than I anticipated, but it was so incredibly worth it!  I had an amazing time, everything was perfect!

Congrats to Jeff and Brittany for including me in so many aspects of your special day and thanks to all my friends for being you :)  I can’t say enough good things about my time this past weekend!

Now it’s time for some Bachelorette and coming back to reality.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!!

Filed Under: Friends, Traveling, Wedding