Yes, that's right kids, I am in fact alive and well! I know. You feared the worst. But no more worrying for you, here I am!
I turned 25 on Friday.
I don't know yet how I feel about this.
At first I was struggling with it, because OMG I am 25 and I feel like I haven't done anything with my life! But then, on the other hand, OMG I'm only 25, I have so much time left! Sooo you know. It is what it is. Like my Mom always says, you either get older or you die. Might as well get older! Oh Mom. So full of wisdom.
Anyways - back to my birthday. I celebrated in style...starting Thursday night. After work I went to dinner at Olive Garden with 5 other girls from work, and then we went to the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn!!! Ahhh it was so good.
Perk of the night? Getting serenaded to by a FULL THEATER of mostly strangers at midnight to ring in my birthday :) Thanks for that mortifying moment, friends! Haha JK, it was great and I loved it :)
BUT WAIT. It gets better. How could it get better, you ask? Well let me tell you. Husband planned a wonderful secret weekend getaway for my birthday. He told me absolutely nothing and I was full on surprised! It was great.
We spent Friday and Saturday in downtown Chicago, and even spent the night in one of the fancy hotels just off of Michigan Ave. I didn't beleive him...I thought for sure he was messing around with me, but then he handed the keys to the valet guy and I was like omg this is real life!! Weeee!!!!!
Friday we went to Shedd Aquarium - my most favorite place on earth. It was so cool, there was hardly anybody there so we didn't have to wait for anything! I got to see the Jellies again (favorite), listen to a penguin talk, and watch a training session with a beluga whale. Sa-weeeeeet! Friday night we went to Gino's East for birthday dinner...and let me tell you, Mr. Gino did not disappoint. YUM. So delicious!
Side note: in reading this, so far I do not sound like a 25 year old at all. Twilight and aquariums? Send me back to middle school, please!
Saturday we spent the day walking in the city, ate a delightful breakfast at Eggsperience, and did some window shopping and chocolate tasting (gotta love free samples at the Hershey store and Godiva!) Saturday night there was a parade to celebrate the lighting of the city, so we partook in the craziness of that. We were totally in awe of the amount of people who were there, and who began staking out seats early in the day. We thought they were nuts...but no...they were the smart ones, because once it got closer to parade time, there was NO ROOM on the Magnificent Mile. We ended up getting a pretty good spot - 3 rows in from the gate - so we could see everything, but man oh man, we were packed in there like sardines. I was getting claustrophobic beforehand with all the people so close to me and touching me. Respect my personal bubble, you crazy fools!!
After that we got dinner at Portillo's and then walked to Navy Pier, where we watched some holiday fireworks set to Christmas Rock n' Roll music. It was pretty cool :) We got rained on a bit and it was pretty cold, but it was so fun it didn't matter! After the fireworks we headed back home.
It was a great little trip. What made it even better was the fact that Husband even came up with the idea and was willing to do it, and surprise me! I have said a few times that I thought it'd be fun to stay downtown for a weekend and actually stay in the city, and he always kind of shrugged it off. Which makes sense, because if you know Husband, you know he's not a huge people person, and he's not a fan of 'city folk', big crowds, shopping, spending money, or pretty much doing anything without a plan or destination. Not to mention he thought it was silly to pay for a hotel when we only live about 40 miles away...Couple that with the fact that the weekend was pretty centered around Christmas (Husband thinks we shouldn't start Christmas festivities, decorating or anything until at least after December 1st)....I feel pretty special and loved that he would sacrifice a whole weekend of his time to spend time doing things that I love. I am so lucky to have him! Love you boy!! And THANK YOU!
And if that wasn't enough...husband let me get a Vera Bradley purse that I've been drooling over for a few months. It was even on sale big time, doesn't get much better than that! I ordered it on my birthday and it arrived today. Check it out:
Adorbs, right?! Love it!! He said I could since I used my Coach one for over a year...that was our deal. I had to use it for at least a year before I could get another one. He didn't beleive I would make it, but I was determined to prove a point (and it is a totally cute Coach purse, so that made it even easier!) And I used it for a year and 4 months. Win.
All in all it was a great weekend and I am so thankful to everyone who made it so great! I am realizing that I do have friends here... I think it was my own fault for not embracing it before. Part of me felt guilty for opening my arms to new people and letting them in, because I still love my friends back home and I don't want them to feel left out. But I realized that it's okay to have friends in both places. Having friends here makes my days bearable. Having my friends back home makes me feel loved and so grateful that they even still remember me after I moved away. No one could ever take the place of my 'old' friends, but it's okay for some new ones to come in, too. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird (I know that is true) but it makes sense in my head.
In other news...Thanksgiving is upon us and I am so excited to head home and spend some quality time with a lot of people I love so very much and miss so very much! And of course spend some time thinking about all the many blessings in my life and thanking God for each and every one. I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday centered around being thankful, and not getting anything in return. Too many people try to skip over it or lump it in with Christmas because of the Black Friday craziness, but I really think we need to slow down and just appreciate all that we have and how blessed we are to be here. That's my two cents for the day anyways.
Alright, well that is all for tonight. I wish you all safe travels if you are headed somewhere for Thanksgiving, and I hope you get to spend time with family and friends and tell them how grateful you are for them :)
Goodnight! :)
At first I was struggling with it, because OMG I am 25 and I feel like I haven't done anything with my life! But then, on the other hand, OMG I'm only 25, I have so much time left! Sooo you know. It is what it is. Like my Mom always says, you either get older or you die. Might as well get older! Oh Mom. So full of wisdom.
Anyways - back to my birthday. I celebrated in style...starting Thursday night. After work I went to dinner at Olive Garden with 5 other girls from work, and then we went to the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn!!! Ahhh it was so good.
Perk of the night? Getting serenaded to by a FULL THEATER of mostly strangers at midnight to ring in my birthday :) Thanks for that mortifying moment, friends! Haha JK, it was great and I loved it :)
BUT WAIT. It gets better. How could it get better, you ask? Well let me tell you. Husband planned a wonderful secret weekend getaway for my birthday. He told me absolutely nothing and I was full on surprised! It was great.
We spent Friday and Saturday in downtown Chicago, and even spent the night in one of the fancy hotels just off of Michigan Ave. I didn't beleive him...I thought for sure he was messing around with me, but then he handed the keys to the valet guy and I was like omg this is real life!! Weeee!!!!!
Friday we went to Shedd Aquarium - my most favorite place on earth. It was so cool, there was hardly anybody there so we didn't have to wait for anything! I got to see the Jellies again (favorite), listen to a penguin talk, and watch a training session with a beluga whale. Sa-weeeeeet! Friday night we went to Gino's East for birthday dinner...and let me tell you, Mr. Gino did not disappoint. YUM. So delicious!
Side note: in reading this, so far I do not sound like a 25 year old at all. Twilight and aquariums? Send me back to middle school, please!
Saturday we spent the day walking in the city, ate a delightful breakfast at Eggsperience, and did some window shopping and chocolate tasting (gotta love free samples at the Hershey store and Godiva!) Saturday night there was a parade to celebrate the lighting of the city, so we partook in the craziness of that. We were totally in awe of the amount of people who were there, and who began staking out seats early in the day. We thought they were nuts...but no...they were the smart ones, because once it got closer to parade time, there was NO ROOM on the Magnificent Mile. We ended up getting a pretty good spot - 3 rows in from the gate - so we could see everything, but man oh man, we were packed in there like sardines. I was getting claustrophobic beforehand with all the people so close to me and touching me. Respect my personal bubble, you crazy fools!!
After that we got dinner at Portillo's and then walked to Navy Pier, where we watched some holiday fireworks set to Christmas Rock n' Roll music. It was pretty cool :) We got rained on a bit and it was pretty cold, but it was so fun it didn't matter! After the fireworks we headed back home.
It was a great little trip. What made it even better was the fact that Husband even came up with the idea and was willing to do it, and surprise me! I have said a few times that I thought it'd be fun to stay downtown for a weekend and actually stay in the city, and he always kind of shrugged it off. Which makes sense, because if you know Husband, you know he's not a huge people person, and he's not a fan of 'city folk', big crowds, shopping, spending money, or pretty much doing anything without a plan or destination. Not to mention he thought it was silly to pay for a hotel when we only live about 40 miles away...Couple that with the fact that the weekend was pretty centered around Christmas (Husband thinks we shouldn't start Christmas festivities, decorating or anything until at least after December 1st)....I feel pretty special and loved that he would sacrifice a whole weekend of his time to spend time doing things that I love. I am so lucky to have him! Love you boy!! And THANK YOU!
And if that wasn't enough...husband let me get a Vera Bradley purse that I've been drooling over for a few months. It was even on sale big time, doesn't get much better than that! I ordered it on my birthday and it arrived today. Check it out:
All in all it was a great weekend and I am so thankful to everyone who made it so great! I am realizing that I do have friends here... I think it was my own fault for not embracing it before. Part of me felt guilty for opening my arms to new people and letting them in, because I still love my friends back home and I don't want them to feel left out. But I realized that it's okay to have friends in both places. Having friends here makes my days bearable. Having my friends back home makes me feel loved and so grateful that they even still remember me after I moved away. No one could ever take the place of my 'old' friends, but it's okay for some new ones to come in, too. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird (I know that is true) but it makes sense in my head.
In other news...Thanksgiving is upon us and I am so excited to head home and spend some quality time with a lot of people I love so very much and miss so very much! And of course spend some time thinking about all the many blessings in my life and thanking God for each and every one. I love Thanksgiving because it's a holiday centered around being thankful, and not getting anything in return. Too many people try to skip over it or lump it in with Christmas because of the Black Friday craziness, but I really think we need to slow down and just appreciate all that we have and how blessed we are to be here. That's my two cents for the day anyways.
Alright, well that is all for tonight. I wish you all safe travels if you are headed somewhere for Thanksgiving, and I hope you get to spend time with family and friends and tell them how grateful you are for them :)
Goodnight! :)
Great post~~loved it!! So happy for the woderful birthday weekend you had! Very sweet of Josh to do that~~always knew we loved him!:)
ReplyDeleteAnd yes,it is ok--better than ok--for you to have friends there-they will help it feel more like home-----and just plain make it more fun!
I too am looking forward to & love Thanksgiving~~we are SO blessed how can we not be thankful & praise God from Whom all those blessings flow? And one of my great blessings is you :) love you,mom