My Latest Obsessions

I started Rob Lowe's book = LOVE HIM! 

Happy Friday! PFC and I are off to Milwaukee for his 20th reunion at Marquette. I'm excited to sneak away for a bit (especially since we've hit the halfway point of summer break!) and hang w/ some of PFC's peeps. If we have time we might sneak check out the Posters of Paris exhibit at the Milwaukee Museum of Art. And we are currently contemplating the following restaurants for brunch on Sunday before we depart = Trocadero, Cafe Benelux, Lake Park Bistro or Honey Pie. Any recommendations on which one?! I ABSOLUTELY love brunch.

This past Monday I had dinner w/ one of my longest standing friends. It was SO nice to catch up. We had dinner at my favorite place in Lincoln Park = Athenian Room. LOVE it there. I get the same thing every time and I'm usually seated at the same table.

This upcoming Monday our little GMC turns 2!!! So exciting. The girls are not happy that we aren't having a big party like we did last year. This year we are keeping it small and singing Happy Birthday to our favorite guy with some Elmo cupcakes. We laugh at Georgie - as his favorite things = Elmo, painting his toes, playing dress up w/ C + M, wearing jewelry (can you tell he lives in a household of girls!?).

Some of my latest faves:

• Some summer salads that I want to try! And aren't these great wooden salad bowls? Love the hot pink color. 
• Adorable nautical cake pops! Love these. 
• LOVE this article from blogger Bethany Meyer of 4 godssake boys about snapshots of summer (w/ kids). Hilarious and heartfelt and SO true! She definitely needs to do a follow up article for the end of summer/start of the school year (always a crazed time). 
• Lovely summer picnic kits - which I'll never make because I don't know how to sew (on my list of goals for 20XX!!). But cute nonetheless. 
• Cute Ikat Orange & Grey bag. Great price too. 
• TOMS fall 2012 collection - some really cute ones! 
• One can always use more tea towels. Love this little Tweet Tea Towel. 
• Adorable reversible clutches. I would probably buy the gold and chevron one. Too cute. 
• Great gift idea = Summer 5 Pack of Jenni's Ice Cream. YUMMY! This would make a great hostess gift after you have left a weekend stay somewhere. 
• Love this colorful scarf. 
• So, I finished the last book in the 50 Shades of Grey series and now I'm on to Rob Lowe's book, Stories I Only Tell My Friends. I told PFC that in the next couple of weeks I really want to watch The Outsiders again. What an amazing cast = Rob Lowe, Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane. And speaking of books I discovered a new website that shows all the books reviews in one fell swoop. 
• How fun do these pop up dinner parties look?! Check out this rooftop dinner party. Love it! 
• LOVE these boots for fall = Frye Paige Tall Riding Boots. Who doesn't love any boot by Frye?! 

Have an AWESOME weekend! 

My Latest Obsessions

GMC - almost 2!

Happy Friday! It is a GORGEOUS day here in Chicago. A slight reprieve from our HOT and HUMID temps as of late. Honestly we have tried to stay indoors all week to beat the heat. It has been nice to get outside today and enjoy the blue skies again.

Everyone has seen the adorable Harvard Baseball team do their stuff to Carly Rae's Call Me Maybe song. Love it. Well, we decided to do a little spoof of it ourselves (combo of Jimmy Fallon's take on it, the SMU Women's Rowing team, and the Harvard boys). We unanimously volunteered PFC to lip synch the song. He nailed it! Watching this video makes me laugh. We had a blast putting it together for the show at the tennis club. So fun!

This weekend we are CHILLING. I'm excited to just relax and hang at the pool. No plans either evening. Such a great feeling. Weekends as such are far and few between so we are looking forward to it. And then next weekend we have PFC's 20 year Marquette reunion in Milwaukee. FUN!

And on the 30th of July our sweet little Georgie turns 2. I cannot believe it. I LOVE this age. He is such a little doll. And I LOVE watching him interact with C + M. It is the cutest. They adore him and he adores them. It is really sweet to watch. He is so funny and totally knows that he is the entertainer during dinner - his facial expressions alone make us laugh so hard!

Some of my latest faves:

• I've used Pinhole Press a few times for various books. I just finished making GMC's Book of Names and Faces that we'll give to him on his bday. We have found that he enjoys pointing out family members in pictures so we thought this would be fun for him. It has been a fun project. My girl crush Joanna Goddard made one for her little guy Toby. 
• I'm swooning over these lovely Kilim Cubes. I want one. I forwarded to my Mom and she said that they already have one. Of course they do! 
• These Sweet Corn Salad Wraps look FAB. I may have to try them for dinner Saturday PM. Ummm, and doesn't this Crack Pie look AWESOME?! YUMMY. Must make SOON. 
• Blogger Bethany Meyer of My Four Boys / The Honeymoon is over, wrote this great article entitled, The Evolution of a Parent. Oh, so true. She made me think back to having GMC and while he is indeed my first baby he is truly my 3rd. I will say that I was SUPER relaxed (much more so than I would have been if he was indeed my 1st and only little guy at the time). I laugh when I look back at that time in our lives. We literally moved back from our rental house the day I had George back to a house that was still in construction zone. I thank those nursing hormones for keeping me calm and collected. Powerful stuff. 
• Great article about why it is hard to make friends over 30. Very interesting and very true. Fortunately, I have been blessed in this next phase of my life (married with kids in the burbs) to have found a really great group of gals to hang w/. However, there is just something to be said about friends with history (from high school or college) that are hard to beat. The ones you can totally let down and be your complete self w/. When I initially read the article I didn't realize it was written by my girl crush's husband Alex.
• Lots of POLKA dots for FALL.
• Pretty summer garden party. Love it! LOVE the adorable Dusty Rose placecards from Rifle Paper Co.
• Cute print and I LOVE the quote.
• Wallpaper - Dwell style. So great.
• I love all of Jo Malone's perfumes. They now have home scents/diffusers. They would make great hostess gifts.
• Totally digging these screen printed leather bags. What a great etsy find!
• I've been getting back into tennis and having a great time playing (just need my sister to move here to the burbs and we can be doubles partners again!!!). I honestly get a lot of my tennis gear at Marshall's but how cute are all these tennis outfits?!
• And lastly, an easy apple tart (and so beautiful at that).

My Latest Obsessions

D2 + PFC at our dear friends wedding - Spring Lake Winery in NY

Hanging w/ dear friends at a wedding - FUN TIMES! 

Happy Friday! Wowser. What a long week. I'm TIRED. We had an AWESOME time last weekend up in NY for a dear friend's wedding. It was great to see some old college friends and also have some adult time with PFC. The kiddos themselves had their own weekend away with Grandpa and Grandma and their cousins at the Lake. Win win on both sides!

Oh, and this week we had book club for 50 Shades of Grey. I had a BLAST putting together fun and creative decorations for our themed evening. And unbeknownst to the group we hired a special "friend" to make an appearance. It was definitely a memorable (and hilarious) evening filled with lots of LAUGHS! See below for some of the fun details.

Some yummy vanilla cupcakes - if you have read the book you'll get the gist...

Some fun "Grey" themed drinks. 

And some parting favors - chapstick w/ Christian's fave line = "Stop biting your lip."

Some of my latest faves:

• I had an absolute BLAST putting together the details for our 50 Shades of Grey book club. Some of the items that I used were as follows: grey/white striped paper straws, red vines (so yummy), slate grey dot labels (used for nametags - as of course we all had to go as Mrs. So and So), grey chevron favor bags, grey polka dot washi tape (for decorating the signage).
• Moroccan Poufs - they came up in conversation the other day. Adore them. 
• Bridesmaid dresses are tough (as you end up NEVER wearing them again). I LOVED the dresses the gals wore at the wedding this weekend. You are able to wear these dresses many different ways. They looked gorgeous. 
• A few weekends ago we went up to the Lake. However, on the way there we hit the annual J.L. Powell outlet sale. PFC bought some great items. My fave = these 1000 mile boots (for $30). What a steal! Love them! 
• A little bit sexy + a little bit cowboy = this cute one piece swimsuit. 
• My best purchase all summer for GMC = slip on shoe. LOVE IT. He wears them everyday. They stay on much better than crocs and can get wet as well. LOVE them. 
• A plant hammock. How cute! 
• Some pretty wood bangles. Simple. 
• Two top knots for your hair. 
• My sisters/mom and I are planning a fun fall girls getaway for along wknd. I've been looking around for inspiration. Some escapes GOOP-style. 
• Gorgeous calligraphy.
• Enjoyed checking out this Desert Skyline Inspiration Board on Pinterest. LOVE. And how fun is this colorful wedding. Looks like such a fun celebration. 
• I don't do trends. I'm more of a classics gal. But I do like adding accessories to give outfits a little bit of a punch. For instance, I'm totally digging my Vanessa Mooney Pink Gold necklace - hits on the neon trend that is all the rage. Speaking of accessories. TOTALLY LOVING my new braidband from Green Eyed Maven (see below). They are made from vintage scarves and each one is one of a kind! LOVE them! Like them on Facebook to see their collection. 

Sporting a Braidband by Green Eyed Maven