Simply It

Tonight my mom came over to help me clean up my act (literally) and we ordered Vietnamese from Simply It. 

 
I can't say enough great things about this place.
 

If you live in Chicago -- 

you should definitely give it a try!
  

Hallo-week

Doesn't seem possible that Halloween hasn't actually arrived yet... I can't wait to see all the trick-or-treaters tomorrow :)
  
In the meantime, I'll be recovering slowly from a super fun week of celebrations:

Hallo-week!

    

Confession

 
Up until 11:45am yesterday, 
I had absolutely no clue who Common was. 

That is, until we met him in person --
and now I am a fan :) 

Location: 
The elevator at Leo Burnett

We were heading up to a pitch presentation, while
Common was heading to an endorsement meeting... 
FML 

My co-worker recognized him immediately. 

She is the one smiling while I on the other hand,
was the clueless idiot behind the iPhone
questioning why I was shouting
"SAY CHEESE!"
in a 4x4 upward moving metal box,
taking a pic of Gauri and a good looking stranger ;)

    
Hahahaha
  

BOO!

The other night my buddy Pat organized an outing to hands-down 

the most spook-tacular haunted house in town. 

I don't do scary, 

but holy hell, 

this was worth the trip!

If you live in Chicago, 

DO IT TO IT

      

Call Me Betty

  

The moment Fall rolls into town 

I admittedly become a comfort-food-aholic...

Sweet potato gnocchi, butternut squash ravioli, 

pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream,

you get the gist.

So when I asked my mom for her famous pulled pork recipe, she not only dished over the handwritten note-card from her rolodex of secret awesomeness -- she also gave me her crock-pot... 
TO KEEP! 

Baaaaah :)

  

Ya see, this is one of those kitchen contraptions that I would never buy on my own but have always been highly intrigued by. 
More of a registry thing, if ya know what I mean...

But now that I have one,
(and an actual recipe to boot!)
I felt it was a must to buy an apron for my new-found repertoire of domestic doo-dads :)

And now I kinda want to be Betty Crocker for Halloween

Or maybe just the Pillsbury Dough Boy...

Likely the latter of the two ;)

   

CONGRATULATIONS KATHERINE & BRIAN!

Allow me to brag for a moment about "KP" because
holy wow, talk about a stunning bride :)

I could go on about the dress (because it was AWESOME)

but the woman inside was what made it a masterpiece. 

Katherine has not only worked her tail off to become a fire fighter, but is now completing her paramedic degree. All while turning 30, getting married, and buying a beautiful home with Brian.
Could you be more inspiring?!?
Seriously, badass!

I'm so proud of you, KP -- and the reasons above 
are just a glimpse as to you why.

Thank you for such a fun night!
While Sven & I hitched a ride home from your parents (post dance party), I was reminded once again how incredibly lucky and thankful I am for all of our "Glenview girls".

CHEERS & WE LOVE YOU!

   

Mother Daughter Book Group

 

In honor of this months book

Mrs. Kearney went with a French themed dinner 

and rocked our tastebuds with her incredible 

Beef Bourguignon recipe... 
Goodnight sweet Prince! 

So now I not only want to have her dining room,

but I not so secretly want to have her Beef Bourguignon 

for dinner every single night for the rest of my life!

THANKS FOR BEING THE HOSTESS 

WITH THE MOSTEST, MRS. K :)

     

"Where Good Ideas Come From"

  

"The Story of Stuff" Project

Reason 2,537,914 Why I Love Chicago

  

   

Full of Awesome

Thank you, Lilly & Jess for sharing :)
I loved this post

 

Waking Up Full of Awesome

  

There was a time when you were five years old,

and you woke up full of awesome.

  

You knew you were awesome.

You loved yourself.

  

You thought you were beautiful,

even with missing teeth and messy hair and mismatched socks inside your grubby sneakers.

  

You loved your body, and the things it could do.

You thought you were strong.

You knew you were smart.

   

Do you still have it?

The awesome.

  

Did someone take it from you?

Did you let them?

Did you hand it over, because someone told you weren’t beautiful enough, thin enough, smart enough, good enough?

Why the hell would you listen to them?

Did you consider they might be full of shit?

  

Wouldn’t that be nuts, to tell my little girl below that in another five or ten years she might hate herself because she doesn’t look like a starving and Photoshopped fashion model?

Or even more bizarre, that she should be sexy over smart, beautiful over bold?

Are you freaking kidding me?  
Look at her. She is full of awesome.

You were, once. 
Maybe you still are. 
Maybe you are in the process of getting it back.

   

All I know is that if you aren’t waking up feeling like this about yourself, you are really missing out.

Cornucopia

Next step:

Learn how to cook a turkey...

    Details, details ;)

Back!

Have I mentioned that I actually love being 30?!

Welp, likely not as there hasn't been a minute to blog over these last several weeks. So much to share :)

First and foremost,
CONGRATULATIONS 

TO THE NEW MR. & MRS. 

KENNY & KATE SHIRLEY!!

Loads of pix below from their incredible wedding. 

Second most, 

Ireland is even more beautiful than the movies and pictures convey. If/when life brings you the opportunity to visit, 
GO!! 

Lastly, 

the final and best of my bday celebrations is now behind, 

completing the most fun five week birthday bender 

I could have ever wished for...

THANK YOU 

THANK YOU 

THANK YOU

to my friends and family!

And with that, 

Zippidy Do Da is officially back in session :)

  

Northwestern/Michigan Game

  

Thanks so much to everyone who came to cheer on the Wildcats & Wolverines and to ring-in my big 3-0 tailgate style. If it wasn't ever apparent, I had an awesome time :) 

Michigan NU Tailgate

IRELAND

Kinda hard to put 10 days of awesomeness into one post. So I'm gonna need to noodle this one for a while... In the meantime, here's the PG-13 album in hopes it can brighten your day with even just a glimpse of how insanely gorgeous Ireland is :) 
  
{Kate & Lesley -- I promise there will be many more posts about the trip!}

IRELAND

CONGRATULATIONS KATE & KENNY!!

Oh me oh my oh me... I think it's difficult to write about Ireland in one post, and the same goes for Kate & Kenny's absolutely beyond spectacular wedding :)
  
I may or may not have been the party guest to say aloud, 
"This is the happiest day of my life!" 
To which everyone replied, 
"Well that would make three of you." 
Hahahahahaha
  
For real though, it was such an honor to be a part of this celebration on behalf of both the bride and the groom. Kate & Kenny are genuinely two of the most incredibly intelligent, kind, caring, and beautiful friends that I have the fortune to know. And to think about how they found each other in a city the size of Manhattan, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it!
  
There was so much love in the room it was impossible not to smile throughout the entire evening :)
  
Kate & Kenny, you are radiant! I adore you both and cannot thank you, and your families, enough for the overly generous weekend of events.
  
When can we do it all over again?!?!
    
Cheers and please don't forget that you ALWAYS have a place to stay in Chicago :)
     
All my love and bestest, 
~Your unofficial photographer     

PS: Not to fear! Knowing it would not be cool to publish all ~200 pix from my real paparazzi album, I've scaled it back a bit for the blog ;) XOXO

Kate and Kennys BRILLIANT Wedding

  

Lost Crates - September

Without question, 
the funniest scavenger hunt I've ever been sent on. 
Still catching myself laughing about Nick's 
(slightly illegible) clues ;)

If you haven't checked out Lost Crates yet, 

do it to it!

Thank you for all the laughs, Lost Crates!

 

Delay of Game

Just landed back from Ireland 
{insert deep sigh here}
and can hardly keep my eyes open to type.
Pix and funnies from the whole last month 
(how is it October??)
to follow super soon!