#5- Complete!

Larry and I went and saw Joffrey Ballet perform "Human Landscapes" back in October. Am I that behind?! Yes, yes, I am. It was three ballets, Forgotten Land, Pretty Ballet, and The Green Table. We were so excited because Rahm Emanuel was a surprise guest and opened the show talking about Joffrey's involvement in dance education within the Chicago public school system. I felt very lucky to see him speak, even if it was just for a few minutes and not political.

Back to the ballet. The first piece was just okay. Pretty Ballet was just that, but as a former dancer and someone who sells and fits people for pointe shoes, I love to be able to see the line of the leg extending all the way through the foot. They had on SUPER long tulle skirts which completely kept me from seeing their feet. May sound crazy, but it drove me nuts! Either way, Victoria Jaiani danced it absolutely beautifully! The Green Table was incredible! It was such an interesting piece, and the dancers were all fabulous. To learn about the dance, click here.

My life pretty much revolves around ballet right now, but it was fun to go, relax, and watch (even though I was staring at their feet and trying to determine what shoe brand they were wearing!). Larry was a trooper, and unless it's a story ballet, I think I may have a hard time dragging him with me again!

An old friend...

My old best friend Beth, from my gymnastics days came to Chicago for the weekend with her parents, husband, and kids. We spent so much time together from age 10-15, but hadn't seen each other since her wedding over 8 years ago. She lives in Ohio, so we really need to get together much more often. It was so great seeing her, and finally meeting her girls. They were so cute!

 Beth and I after dinner

Beth and I and her parents, just like the old days :)

Lauren visits Chicago

I have been so lucky to become friends with Larry's best friend from high school's, little sister. Did ya catch that?! She came up to visit a couple of weekends ago and we had so much fun. A night at the local bar, lots of catching up, shopping downtown, a wild night out, a massive hangover, and an attempt at shopping again (see: massive hangover). We had a great time, and I can hardly wait until our girls vaca! We just need to pick a location and time!

 The last stop of the night, Tavern on Rush

 The Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Hancock building

 Low key first night at Fat Cat

The Martha Stewart tree at the old Marshall Fields

A night on Lake Michigan

Back in August, when the weather was nice, we were lucky enough to hang out on a sailboat of Larry's good friend. It was really calm one night, so he took us for a quick sail out on the lake. It was a view of the city that we never get to see, and it was beautiful!

Crazy Cat

Anybody who knows my cat, knows she is crazy. Seriously. Luckily for me, she is starting to mellow with age (she's 8), and I am beyond thankful for it. She still has moments of crazy, but I managed to find all these moments of cute on my cell phone. Yes, I'm a crazy cat lady. Don't judge.

 Zoe basking in the winter sun.

 She cracks me up when she covers up her face

Ignore my face, but seriously, she takes naps with me like this. She's so cute.

Larry's poor lip

Larry had bit his lip really bad about a year ago when he was eating, and it then grew a strange growth. After months of bugging him, when he went in for his cleaning, he asked his dentist about it. He sent him to an oral surgeon, and we went the day before he had to go to work, thinking it would be super easy, cut it out, a stitch or none, and he'd be good to go. Not so much. It was 30 minutes of cutting away at his lip, 8 stitches, and a major swollen lip for over a week. He got some much needed days off (not really, considering he just had 18 days of vacation), but it was nice to have him home. Here are some pictures of Larry's sad lip.

 Waiting to take the L home from the surgeon

Zoe knew Larry was not feeling great.

Vacation

Larry and I had full plans to go to Europe for vacation this year. Hotels were booked using my HHonors points (all fancy Waldorf Astoria's and Hilton's, I might add!), and AA changed that plan. Pilots were calling in sick, flights were getting cancelled left and right, and we just couldn't take the chance of getting stuck there. Change of plans. We decided to head to Puerto Rico for 5 nights, take our nephews to Disneyworld, and then go to Key West for a few days. Larry lived in Puerto Rico when he first got hired by American Eagle, and he doesn't love it down there, but it was fun to see where he lived (thank goodness I wasn't married to him then, it was a slum!), and staying at fancy hotels gave him a different perspective of the island. There were so many fun, adventurous, interesting things to do and we really enjoyed it.

 On the balcony of our upgraded suite at the El San Juan. It was beautiful!

 The forts at El Morro. I seriously could have spent all day here. The architecture and scenery were beautiful!

 Old San Juan

 Lookout rooms at the fort

 We moved to the El Conquistador, were upgraded again, and came back from dinner to chocolate and a chilled bottle of champagne! Happy, maybe?!

 Exploring in El Yunque, the rainforest

 Our boat tour to Bioluminescent Bay. It was incredible! Look it up if you don't know what it is.

 Giant iguanas on the resorts private island, Palomino Island

 Enjoying the morning at Palomino Island

It really was as peaceful as it looks, minus the wasps.

 Hanging out at one of the pools

Dinner on our 4th anniversary

Disneyworld

Larry and I did the bravest thing any non-parents could do...We took two kids to Disneyworld, all on our own! We had been telling our nephews for about a year that if they were really good, we would take them to Disneyworld. Of course they were perfect all year, so off we went! They live in Tampa, so we told them we were going to visit someone. They seriously had no clue where we were until we got into the park. It was SO fun, but SSOOOOOO exhausting! We spent one whole day at Magic Kingdom and the boys were total troopers. No meltdowns and they were up until about 11pm. They are 4 and 6, and it was the perfect age for them to go to the park for their first trip. They loved staying in a hotel (Auntie Amy's HHonors Diamond status helped that a bit with an upgrade!), and the character breakfast at the hotel was so fun! Here are just a few of the pictures. Larry and I may not have our own kids, but that in no way means we don't love kids and don't love to spoil other people's :)!

 We had arrived at the hotel, and they still had no clue where we were

 He was so excited for the merry go round

 The boys in front of their favorite roller coaster

 The balloons and fireworks were the highlight of the trip

 We did a good job of tiring them out

 Character breakfast the next morning at the hotel

 The Mickey waffles were a hit!

 They went a little crazy in the water. The soaking wet walk back to the hotel was the only mini meltdown of the trip

Pure joy in this picture!

Key West

Yeah, so about that. The plan was to head to Key West for a couple of nights after our Disneyworld trip. Scratch that. We were so exhausted after one night at Disney, we cancelled and spent the day at Larry's parents sleeping! Ha! And this is why we don't have children.

St. Louis

Larry had been wanting to go to St. Louis for awhile, and since I am down there for business a few times a year, we took advantage of it and made a little trip out of it. I got a great deal at the Hilton at the Ballpark, and there just happened to be a game the day we checked in, so we went to the rooftop bar for lunch and had a great view. After lunch, we ventured down to the arch, which was just two blocks from the hotel. Larry had to go up in the arch by himself as I was pretty certain I would have a panic attack in the little cart that you take up to the top. He seemed to enjoy it and was up there a looooooong time talking to one of the park rangers.

We also stopped by the Cahokia Mounds, which are very close to a few of my work accounts. It's an old Native American settlement and is very interesting. We will more than likely be back there as we didn't spend as much time as there as we would have liked to. 

One of my cheerleader friends from college lives there, and we went to her and her husbands house for dinner. We had a really great time with them and spent many hours laughing and rolling our eyes at our husbands :)! So thankful that I have a college friend so close (yes, 5 hours seems close!). We will hopefully be seeing much more of them on all of my work trips in that area!

 At the Cahokia Mounds Site

 View of the ballpark from the rooftop bar

St. Louis Arch

#13: Complete!

I am realizing that I am terrible at documenting the moments when I complete things on my list. I really am going to try harder to take pictures with the few (or half) of the items I have left on my list. In July, my best friend from childhood got married and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. This was the perfect opportunity to cross mani/pedi off my list since we were going to do this as a wedding party. Her mother in law was so nice and paid for all of us, and I loved every minute of it. Too bad I have zero talent in keeping my nails from getting chipped in no less than 2 days. I actually went and had another mani/pedi the next month before a work trip! I was reminded at that time why I don't get them often since she rubbed every bit of skin off my feet and I ended up with awful blisters the next time I put shoes on!

Back to the wedding...It was a wonderful time! It could not have been a more beautiful Seattle day! Susie and I have been friends for 26 years and have been through so many life experiences together, including her fight against cancer when we were pre-teens/teenagers (she kicked its ass!!!). I was so grateful that she was able to make it to Maui for my wedding four years ago, and I wouldn't have missed her wedding for anything!

Book Review #30, WAHOOO!!!!!

I hadn't read this since high school, and I'm not sure I actually read it then. This was another book that went on my shelf to save. I truly feel that every teenager needs to read this. It was so heartbreaking to see how just one bad decision ruined her entire life. One night hanging out with the wrong people and your life can take a turn that you never would have expected. So unfortunate, but it teaches a great lesson without sugar coating anything.

I finished my 30 books! While it took me awhile to post about all of them, I did finish them in about 4 months! I've still been plugging away and reading about a book a week, although I'll spare you all (of 2 of you who might read this) from "reviewing" any more books.

Knowledge is power! Read away!

Book Review #29

I've always been intrigued by nanny's in Hollywood, so I had to pick this one up. While it wasn't quite as divulging as I had hoped, it still was pretty entertaining/sad/pathetic. So glad I decided college was a better idea than becoming a nanny to the rich and famous. One of a few good choices I've made in these 30 years.

Book Review #28

This was part of a series that VC Andrews wrote, that were somewhat short stories. For her, anyway. I'm a sucker for a super trashy novel by her. I'm still trying to figure out how she's been dead for like 2 decades and yet still releasing new books. Super confusing.