A heart so full.

I love this time of year.

I love the feeling I get when the crisp, autumn air brushes against my cheek.  I love the delicious smells in our house after a day spent in the kitchen.  I love sipping hot tea and cozying up to a good book.  I love weekend adventures with my hubby. I love time spent with my precious family and friends.  I love daily heart-moments with my loving Father. 

I am SO blessed and SO thankful for the incredible gifts I have been given in my life.

My sweet FIL is STILL not home from the hospital.  We are so encouraged that He will be home with us by Thanksgiving, but of course, God may have other plans.  We are praying he makes it back home SOON.  We miss him and want nothing more than to celebrate our day of Thanks and Giving with him.  I’ll keep you posted.  Even in the midst of crazy, up and down times, God is GOOD and He is faithful.  I am so thankful for that. 

This week, Hubby and I are embarking on our first-ever, Thanksgiving feast adventure!  We went to Barnes and Noble after church yesterday and did LOTS of research on turkey techniques, gluten-free recipes (for my BIL) and spent precious hours over coffee planning the big day.  It was so much fun!  Since this is our first Thanksgiving meal that we’re tackling all by ourselves, and because we want to make it EXTRA special for my hubby’s sweet mom and family, we want to be extra prepared.  I think we are!  After we were finished, we headed home to get ready for bible study.  After some thoughtful decision making, Hubs said he wanted a night with “just us”, so we decided to play hookie and had an evening of cooking, movies and “just us” time.  It was heaven!  On Saturday we had our holiday photo shoot with Tucker and my BLUE SHOES!  I actually ended up wearing a different pair of blue heels, a pair that I found that I love even more – so excited for you to see them.  We had a BLAST taking our pictures.  It was a GORGEOUS day and Tucker was SO cute and playful.  Who wouldn’t love a full of hour of puppy and hubby cuddling for the camera?!  I will share some of the pictures as soon as I receive them!  We spent Saturday evening at this WONDERFUL, super cute BYOB Italian restaurant with a couple who live up the street from us that we have been having SO much fun getting to know.  I felt like I was back in Italy with good food, good wine and GREAT company.

My heart is SO full today with sweet reminders of all the things I am thankful for.  I’m spending this week with my hubby’s sweet family and will be back next week with a full recap!  Can’t wait to share how everything turns out and I am especially praying that I will be able so share that my FIL is HOME. 

Have an AMAZING and BLESSED Thanksgiving week!

Blessings/XOXO

A-MAZING!

Ahhhhhh, what an A-MAZING weekend!  It felt SO good to be back in Chi-town, and it felt even better to be back with my amazing lovies!  Our weekend consisted of everything girly you can possibly imagine.  It was such a sweet reminder of the blessings God has given me in the friendships I had in Chicago, and the biggest blessing ever that I am still connected with them.  I wouldn’t trade where I am now for ANYTHING (has something to do with that phenomenal hunk of a husband I have), but it is still so fun to revisit places of the past and cherish the memories, new and old.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let the photos do MOST of the talking!

I used to give Michelle (Miche) a manicure every Thursday night while we watched Grey’s – it was our little tradition.  Even the tiniest details such as being able to give her a french manicure like old times was so fun and precious.  Misssssed this girl!

In a cab w/Somer & Miche on the way to the House of Blues for an A-MAZING Gospel Brunch!

We had our own suite RIGHT above all of the action.  It was so much fun!  They do this every Sunday and Miche has always wanted to go – it was too perfect that we were able to do it together.  The food was DELISH and the gospel music was INCREDIBLE.  Loveee the Chicago House of Blues.

Somer is on the left and Miche is on the right – two friends of mine from two different stages of my life – college and post college.  Too funny, they met at my wedding!  And now Somer lives in Chicago and these two are precious friends.  So happy I was the link that connected them!

The whole gang!  Such incredible ladies.

Taking advantage of the CTA while hitting up Michigan Ave for some MAJOR shopping!

Wow. It was a weekend I will never forget.  God really used my mini-vacay to open my eyes and remind me how truly blessed I am with the friends, family and husband I have been given.  These ladies are so precious to me and while it was sad to leave them last night, I was SO ecstatic to make it home to my sweet Hubby.  I am reminded that it truly is about being in the present, no matter where I am, and relishing in the joys and sweet blessings God has given me.  He is SO good.  :o)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Can you believe it’s already Wednesday?!  We are optomistic that my sweet Father-In-Love will be coming home from the hospital THIS week!  PTL!  I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Wednesdsay.

Blessings/XOXO

All over the place.

Happy Tuesday, B-Loves!  AHH, we had a FABULOUS weekend and I have ZERO pictures to show for it because my camera all of the sudden stopped working!  I think I have it fixed now, which is a very good thing, BUT, not going to lie - I was looking at the situation as an indicator that maybe it’s time to invest in a delicious Canon Rebel!  We’ll see what happens.  :o)

Our weekend was spent wining and dining with new and fabulous friends!  We spent Friday night at the most A-MAZING sushi restaurant I have ever been to with a few of sweet Hubby’s co-workers.  Seriously, I wanted to bathe in the sauce that came on the special roll we ordered.  DIVINE.  Oh, and they had shumai with wasabi infused wonton paper.  Seriously?!  HEAVEN.  Saturday was spent shopping with my precious and amazing mommykins (I was SO good and only bought this awesome, cropped maroon leather jacket that we both agreed was a MUST-HAVE…I didn’t even buy any shoes!  Well I did, but not at Nordstrom and not on that day, so that doesn’t count, right?) and Saturday night sweet Hubs and I were invited over to our friends’ house for appetizers, mojitos and games with another new couple we have never hung out with.  So fun!  AH, I just loveee meeting new people.  Sunday after church I spent the day with two new, precious girlfriends from church.  We made lunch together, played games and spent the day chatting about all sorts of girly stuff until when my sweet hubby picked me up and we went to our couples’ bible study.  While I spent the day with my girlfriends, Hubby and Tucker had a man-date.  They went to a bird sanctuary and then to PetSmart together.  How cute is that?!  It’s pretty rare for us to have a weekend at home these days.  It was FABULOUS!

AND NOW…oh my goodness, I feel like everything is starting to tumble quickly into one thing after another.  BUT, it’s all exciting stuff.  This Thursday I leave for Chicago! I’m going for a nice, LONG weekend and am visiting my old stomping grounds and my precious lovie, Michelle.  I am THRILLED to spend the weekend loving on her and just having precious and much needed GIRL time.  AND, so excited to see everyone from there that I haven’t seen in so long.  I am thrilled!

Picture of us when I lived in Chi!  Ah, we were inseparable.  MISSSSS THIS GIRL!

A week from this Saturday, we are getting professional pictures taken with Tucker for our Christmas cards!  It’s pretty crazy how excited I am for this.  We really haven’t had professional pictures taken since our wedding and especially not with Tucker!  There is a park right next to our neighborhood that has old ruins situated throughout (it’s incredibly random) and it is the PERFECT site for a fun-filled afternoon of picture snapping.  Oh, and I’m super excited to wear my new, bright blue shoes. 

 

We rotate our holidays every year with which family we are spending it with, and this Thanksgiving we are with Hubby’s family.  Because of everything going on with his sweet father (prayers are still really appreciated!) we decided to go ahead and take over and host everyone at our house – we are ordering his mom to not lift a SINGLE finger.  EEEK!  So excited and honestly, SO nervous!  I have never before, in my whole life, made a Thanksgiving Turkey!  Thanksgiving is two weeks from Thursday and it is time for me to get cracking and start planning the menu.  I’m excited to tackle my family’s traditional recipes and am just praying I will come out on the end with no fires or burnt food, haha.  If you have any holiday recipes you think are to-die-for, please pass them on to me!

This post is incredibly random and all over the place, please excuse me.  It goes well with how my mind is right now – running rapidly wild!  Since I’m leaving for Chicago I will be taking a mini-vacay from blogging and will be back next week.  I can’t wait to show you a picture of my boys cooking me dinner the other night in celebration of a promotion I got at work!  YAY!  All that and pics from Chicago to come!!  If not from my feeble camera, then from Miche’s camera. 

Have an amazing week and weekend!

Blessings/XOXO

Shoes & Champagne

My bff Christian has invited me over this weekend to sip champagne and collaborate on design ideas.  He told me he HAS to have me on his design team.  I told him, in response, that he is a very smart man.  I said, “Mr. Louboutin, I may be an amateur shoe designer but I am an ELITE shoe shopper.  I will gladly work for you and am happy to be compensated in your stilettos.”

…sigh….

What a fairy tale dream.

I read an article last night titled…

“Tipsy-Turvy”

(from my W Magazine)

According to an old French saying, champagne is best sipped from a beautiful lady’s slipper.  Christian Louboutin seems to take that notion seriously.  In October 2008 he celebrated his Fashion Group International award by drinking champagne from one of his own designs and then passing it along to his friend and fellow honoree Philippe Starck.  Inspired by that moment, the haute cobbler collaborated with champagne maker Piper-Heidsieck to create Le Rituel, a limited-edition box set featuring a bottle of bubbly and a crystal flute in the shape of a stiletto with Louboutin’s signature red sole.  The $500 novelty launches at select Neiman Marcus stores this month.

Talk about a drink with a kick.

Shoes & Champagne?  Yes, please.

 

And speaking of shoes…

You will find me this weekend at the fabulous King of Prussia mall (Oh yes, we live next to the largest shopping mall in America based on retail size. Mall of America is actually considered the largest mall in America based on SQUARE FOOTAGE because it has a roller coaster inside.  Honestly, I am happy to take more shopping opportunities over a roller coaster.  LOVE IT.) drooling over gorgeous eye candy and selectively purchasing a few (maybe a little more than a few) precious items at the FABULOUS Nordstrom.  Ladies, the following will ALL be available ON SALE: 7 For All Mankind, Hudson Jeans, Juicy Couture, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, True Religion – IT’S ALLLLL ON SALE! And don’t even get my started on the shoes!

Now THAT is a fairy tale dream come true.

And to top it off, we have SUCH a fun night planned for Saturday.  Can’t wait to share!

Have an AMAZING weekend!

Blessings/XOXO

Fever…

Disco Fever.

Hahahaha!  Loveee him.

Doing the Natty-Boh wink for Baltimore’s signature brewsky!

Lovies!

SO. MUCH. FUN.  We had a BLAST in Baltimore!!  Hubby and I had the time of our lives disco-dancing around the city.  We went EVERYWHERE, from one friend’s party to the next and then out downtown.  God blessed me with a husband who loves to dance just as much as I do.  It was soooo much fun busting out spontaneous groove-moves all night long!  Every time I looked at hubby and his ‘fro I couldn’t stop laughing.  He is one major disco-hottie.  I could not have asked for a more amazing weekend with my handsome Love and amazing lovies!

How was your weekend?!  I can’t wait to see pictures!

Happy Monday!

Blessings/XOXO