the little things

In May, we went to Austin for Ashley & Sean's wedding in Austin, and even though this is a belated post and I'm 99% sure she doesn't even read this blog, I had to share some of the photos that captured what a beautiful job she did on this wedding. (We all know Sean had one job: show up on time).

Planning a wedding is such a roller coaster. It's so joyous, and so exciting, and SO TIME CONSUMING. To be able to really see your vision through to the end is just about impossible. You have an idea of the theme, vibe, color scheme, whatever, and the next thing you know, in-laws, budgets, timing, and stress get in between you and your concept...if you even have a concept to begin with.

But Ashley did. And even though I know those challenges reared their ugly heads, she stuck to her vision, pushed through late nights crafting, and created the most beautiful vintage-chic wedding I've ever seen!

Some details:

A 50s inspired luncheon

Hand-sewed bunting (which reappeared on the pedicabs)

Mason jar vases

Favors

Centerpieces / Tablecloths

Parasols

Handmade cake topper and awesome floral arrangements as the bottom layer

And of course, the dress and the suit

I just loved every second of it. As someone who's obviously planned a wedding, I could see little pieces of Ashley's vision everywhere I looked throughout the weekend. It took her so much work, but all the special touches made it an unmistakable Fric 'n Leitch extravaganza.

summer? is that you?

Chicago finally flipped the switch to summer (who needs spring?!) and I'm loving it like I a fat kid loves cake!

Summer in Chicago means:

• ring game on the deck...don't forget to check in on foursquare
• biking on the lake path
• 3 out of 9 seedlings surviving - praise baby Jesus, we might get a sprig of cilantro by the time this is all said and done!
• lightning bugs
• PRIDE
• Bossypants
• visitors! if Brad had stayed one more minute my diaphragm would've caved from too much laughing
• the Cubs
• Thirsty Thursdays at work (4 p.m. themed happy hour, did I pick it right or what)
• using our masterfully-manipulated-grill from the neighbors
• leaving the windows open
• beach volleyball

Still on the summer to-do list:

• making a friend with a boat
• swimming
• being hot enough to swim
• camping
• leaving work before 7 not that I'm complaining about being gainfully employed
• securing a 30% seedling-to-plant turnover rate

Let's please also have a moment of silence for Austin summers, which involved leaving work every day at 5, at least one happy hour with friends a week, the CoPo, and it being too hot to even think about growing something.

.....

Now, back to awesomeness here.

rosemary lane in the house

The amount of work looming over my head should prevent me from doing any writing right now, but I'm coming off such a lovely weekend with Jackie and Katie and thought there's no time like the present to post about it!

Their trip was relatively last minute, but thanks to a new slew of vacation days gifted to us to use over the summer, I didn't have any problem taking off Friday afternoon to enjoy the phenomenally beautiful day! The girls came in the night before, so they spent the morning getting some coffee and walking through the neighborhood, and then ventured onto public transit to come meet me at work - what city girls!

Deep dish pizza, Giordano's

the bean, Millenium Park

after watching about a hundred teens take

prom pics in front of Buckingham Fountain, we needed our own

great table for drinks at the Signature Lounge

(where Brian and I got engaged)

the view!

with our beach v-ball courts in the distance

After all that on Friday, we finished off the night with sushi and some ring game on the porch. PHEW!

Saturday was less touristy, with a delicious stop at the coffee shop, more local shopping, frozen yogurt, a rainstorm & TV, Thai food, a patio bar, and multiple bunny sightings on our walk home (what in the WORLD are they all doing here???).

sporting some local 312

Unfortunately Jackie left early on Sunday, but Katie and I enjoyed brunch and more walking and shopping before she had to leave. Oh and this gem:

Ginger Twin from our super local brewery, Half Acre

8% discount if you're a ginger.

10% if you have a red beard too.

25% if you have a twin.

50% if you are ginger twins.

Presumably 100% if you're that dude on the bottle.

Another highlight of the weekend was getting to randomly meet up with two friends in town!

Sally in town for work!

KT's high school friend Matt in town visiting his boyfriend.

This boy makes me giggle, always.

The weekend was so fun because it gave me a great reason to check out new places, walk a ton, enjoy the amazing weather, and truly be happy to say that this is where I live!

As our three lives continue to shift and naturally take different courses (most specifically, courses that don't involve us all living together, taking classes together, and constantly knowing every detail each other's lives), it's so great to have a couple of days to just be in each other's company with no particular "activities" driving the interactions. Weirdly, I really loved just sitting around and watching TV because it felt so normal, and sometimes it's hard to get to just do nothing with each other when we get so little time to spend together. Sometimes those little moments of nothing add up to everything, don't you think?

east coast hopping, part II

After beginning my month in the Big Apple, I was able to end it in a fortuitous twist at the opposite end of the coast in beautiful Miami!

April was a rainy month in Chicago - the rainiest April in more than 50 years, to be exact. And it was a cold month. Windy, unpleasant, and it snowed. Meanwhile Brian was in Miami for the whole month going to the beach every day while I withered away, so it's safe to say I was ready for a vacation that included him, sunshine, and relaxation. I wouldn't have gone to visit except (the magic word!) that my lovely friend Ashley had scheduled her bachelorette party for the last weekend in April...in Miami. Boom! That's what we in Texas call a two-fer.

I took a few days of beloved PTO to go down early and see Brian, go to his show, and obviously hit the beach. Happiness ensued.

Are you jealous of my awesome dolphin koozie?

There's not nearly enough boob in this picture

to accurately represent South Beach. But the water's nice!

View of Miami Beach from Brian's condo

After two days , I met up with the girls. One day I'm riding the city bus and drinking Tecate, the next I'm in a limo drinking champagne. The sign of a good weekend!

I have to say, for this bach we did it up right. Bottle service, aforementioned limo, more prosecco than my head cares to remember, pool time, spa time, dance time, and girl time.

Beautiful bride in the middle!

(bottom left)

This spa was increible.

Library books. Hot tubs. Chandeliers.

Crazy club LIV (top) and the outdoor patio/pool at Club 50 in our hotel (bottom)

After seeing two very different side of Miami, my general takeaway was similar to NY (minus the rats). The beach is awesome, of course. And the clubs were fun in that "I only go to these places in Mexico" kind of way. But oh my Lord everything is so expensive. And the cab drivers are rude. And house music proliferates in an unacceptable way. And remember how everything was so expensive? Right okay now double that. But I guess I dug the 1990s Birdcage feel, and if I was allowed to live on a strict diet of empanadas and cortaditos, then maybe we could talk.

east coast hopping, part I

In the spirit of catching up, I wanted to post about my East Coast adventures this past month! Both places I'd never been, both places I'm not really racing to get back to, but both places were great experiences.

It started with New York - can you believe I'd never been?! My longtime high school friend Jason was getting married in Jersey, so I extended the trip through the weekend for a little extra sightseeing and working out of our NY office (always good to get in some face-time with the people you talk to on the phone). First off, the wedding was insanely beautiful. David Tutera could've popped out behind the curtains and I wouldn't have been shocked at all (WE-watchers, you know what I'm talking about). I didn't capture the incredible smorgasbord of food, but I did get a few shots of other things:

Ice sculpture at the beer bar = winning

Ice sculptures at the (1 of 2) sushi bars = double winning

Enchanted forest on our table

This was truly the blowout of the century. Instead of having wedding cake, they had a whole room filled with different desserts (bad time to have given this up for Lent...bad time). Outside the bus was a candy truck filled with all sorts of other awesome things I wouldn't let myself look at. The chuppah at the ceremony was seriously like a secret garden filled with hydrangea, roses, and individually backlit orchid blossoms. Unreal! I'm so glad I got to experience such an incredible shindig!

Outside of that, I got to do a lot of sightseeing and city navigating. Some takeaways:

1) Ah, diversity. If only my gym were on the streets of NY, right?! The ethnic mix was fascinating. I got into a conversation with an 85-year-old Polish immigrant on the subway that involved a "when I was on the boat" portion of the story. Love it.

2) I teared up seeing the Statue of Liberty from approximately 72,000 feet away. It's just, seeing something iconic, it's hard not to think about what that must have represented to so many oppressed people. Cue the music...

3) I was all about the subway system until I saw the rats (dead and alive). I'm not the prissiest person in the world but SICK.
4) And finally, this place is Chicago on crack. Oh my lord, the drivers, the filth, the congestion. I'm not all too interested in going back, unless I get to spend some time in Central Park and see a Broadway show. I definitely see how people can live there and "own it" sort of, but as a visitor, it mostly just made me happy to call Chicago home.

Next up, East Coast Hopping, Part II: Miami!

new deck-or

I've been so bad about blogging lately - especially after I promised a blog storm while Brian was gone! In preparation for his month in Miami doing a play, I made a big ole list of things I was going to do to stay occupied. Paint our room, fix up our office, hang new pictures on the wall, blog more, read more, and start showing my face at the gym. Instead what happened is:

New York

Dallas (x2)

Miami

Many late nights at the office

Working on the weekend

Whoops! As the last weekend approached, I realized I hadn't done one single solitary thing I'd planned to, so I made a last ditch effort to do something with our deck.

A little "before" action

Last fall, we managed to put up some lights but that's about it. Winter was on its way, so there was no point in buying plants. (Actually I tried, but Captain Un-Fun was convinced I'd kill them before the winter could). Fast forward to me panicking about having wasted away the month of April: it's a beautiful day, sunny and 55 degrees. I buy planter boxes, 62 pounds of soil, and a trunkload of Petunias. (For future reference, that is enough soil to plant flowers from here to Zimbabwe). Anywyay, the next morning, I wake up to this:

Wah-wah.

After a minor case of hating my life, I got over it and the flowers managed to live. Which means they just might stand a chance with me. A few weeks later, I put all the planters together and got everything situated. Meanwhile, I overheard our neighbors talking about an extra grill that they have, so I dropped a few casual comments about missing our grill and whatdoyaknow, we've got a new grill on deck.

And, because I got super excited while shopping for garden stuff, I got a few little "kits" to grow herbs, peppers, and tomatoes. I planted those today, so I'll let you know if anything manages to survive my oppressive brown thumb! Although I did see the word transplant on the directions, and Mama don't know crap 'bout no transplantin'.

Maybe if we all will them to live...

my annual guinness

For our book club this month, we chose Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. I read a few of her books in college so I was excited to revisit her again without the distraction of other required class reading. However, I didn't realize this is a book about grief. (It begins with her husband's death and tracks her experiences in the following year.) And I didn't think about the fact that I'd be reading it during my personal, annual "re-grieving period." (March and April are infected by a constant playback of those months in 2008 when my dad became especially sick and then died). Let's just say, it's been a tough read.

As difficult as it was to get through, I thought it was really interesting to see how much of her experience with grief mirrored my own, in relation to losing my dad. Of course hers was by far more awful, but considering your relationship with a parent is completely different from the one you have with your spouse, you'd think the losses would feel worlds apart. But she gives a strikingly honest account of the regret, self-pity, confusion, doubt, and helplessness that marked her grief, my grief, and I suspect, many other people's...all for completely different reasons.

It's now been three years since he passed away. I hardly ever blog about it because no one needs to read my own Didion-esque account, but it's still very much a presence in my mind. Today would have been his 63rd birthday, and as sad as this makes me, it also concludes "that period" for another year. Brian and I have shared a Guinness on April 25th every year in his memory - it's a nice little tradition that I look forward to. (Although this go-around I'll have to stomach an entire one by myself, and when you're alone, I hear it's unacceptable to take this down in Irish Car Bomb form). I'm definitely happy to gain a little forward momentum now that I've finished the book and am closing out the month as well. Onward and upward, right friends?