Updates..............

Most of my birthday day was spent organizing paperwork to get approved for a mortgage loan. LOTS and lots of paperwork involved (and I'm truly not as organized as I should be!). I did get a pedicure later in the afternoon, and it was wonderful!! I should have written down the color I picked because I love it.  It's the perfect mix of wine and berry with a hint of shimmer.  A great fall color.  We have a black tie wedding this Saturday, and I think this color will look great peeking out from my shoes!

B came home from work, I opened my presents (jewelry and Tory Burch heels that are amazing!!), we went to see our friends ultrasound pictures, and then went downtown to dinner at Wildfire.  I must get steak on my birthday, and we had a gift certificate that needed to be used asap, so it worked out well for us to go there.  The dinner was great and it allowed us time to talk about the houses we saw, the paperwork we needed to complete, and our offer we wanted to put in.  We were easily preapproved for a mortgage, and we've got enough for a down payment, so it's really just gathering all the crazy paperwork that is going to be the hard work.  It's good for me though- forces me to continually purge unnecessary paperwork and file old paperwork that is necessary. 

Tuesday night at 10 p.m. we actually put an offer in on a house!  I can't believe it.  It's a wonderful house in a great school district (I don't want to jinx anything so I'm not posting pics yet).  We didn't hear ANYTHING yesterday, so needless to say we're both a little frustrated.  The seller has to get back to us by noon today, so we'll see what she counter offers with (or if she counter offers).  Apparently another family went yesterday for a showing, so we think she's holding out as long as she can in case they also put in an offer.  Once we hear anything, I'll let you guys know!  And, if we get it, I'm going to need some major decorating help (so much fun!!), so we'll definitely have lots of blog posts about that :)  Wish us luck today!! 

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

I adore my mom, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be her daughter. She's one of the kindest, open hearted people I know. She's also an amazing baker (mmmmm....monster cookies and homemade bread) and so devoted to anything she is involved in. She was a teacher for over 30 years and parents and kids alike thought she was amazing. I only hope that I can teach my future children how to be compassionate and kind like she is. I have to work so hard at that, and it comes so naturally to her.

The pics above are some of my favorite of my mom from my wedding. The first is her with B's mom, the second is right after her toast to us, and the third is her putting on the bracelet she had made for me for my wedding. My mom looked awesome that day, and she still talks about how much fun she had. I hope someday we can live closer to her, but for now, we'll just talk every day and get up north as much as we can!

Happy Birthday S!!

Today is the other bestie's birthday!! She turns 30 today! She and her husband came in to celebrate B's birthday with us this weekend, so we also got to celebrate her birthday as well. Even though she lives in the Chicago suburbs, we definitely don't see each other enough.

S and I have been best of friends since we met on the Bay View beach. I was three, she was two, and we've never looked back! Our cottages were kitty corner from each other, so we road our bikes to club, the beach, the rec, and anywhere else we could get to! Her parents were always the ones to host all the young teenagers on their porch for euchre nights (always with our Slurpee beverage of choice!). We lived together for two years when we moved to Chicago right after college, shared a bathroom, and a closet, and are STILL best friends! I know she will always tell me the truth and loves me wholeheartedly (faults and all!). Happy Birthday, S! I'm so glad we're friends!

**The two pics above are from S's wedding this past summer. She and I were both married up north 3 weeks apart! It was a crazy busy time, but SO much fun.**

Birthday Celebration!!

B's birthday party on Sat night was a success! 7 of us went to dinner at a BYOB Lebanese restaurant at 7 p.m. I brought a bottle of champagne, some red and some white wine. The hummus at this restaurant is amazing!! After dinner we went to a bar in our neighborhood where we met up with 25 other friends. Blair loved having everyone there, and I loved seeing a few people we hadn't seen in awhile. Overall, the night was a great success and he was a happy 30 year old!!

This is of one of my best friends from college, her brother, and her husband. They were in town for the weekend (from MI) and were able to make it to the party. SO fun to catch up!

I ordered an ice cream cake for B. He'd never had one before, and it was all he wanted. All our friends were so excited because they hadn't had one in years either. Way to go DQ!!

S (bestie #2) and her husband at dinner.

B and I at dinner.

I decorated champagne glasses for everyone who went to dinner. On B's I wrote my birthday wish to him. They were a hit!

I got B a Garmin 305 for his marathon training. I also got him a book about marathoning that Some like it Hot posted about. She's been using it in her training, and I think B will be able to utilize it as well. He was thrilled with his gifts and can't wait to come back from TX and use the Garmin this weekend!! He thought about taking it down there but this is a crazy week for work, and he didn't think he'd have any time to run.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Big Weekend!

B comes home from Dallas this afternoon (yea!), and we have a big weekend ahead of us!! We're celebrating his birthday with a ton of friends, my best friend and her husband are coming to stay the night with us on Sat to attend dinner and the party, I have an amazing breakfast planned for Sunday morning, and Duke has a rematch with Wake on Sunday afternoon.

He leaves again Monday (his real birthday) for Dallas (again), so Sat night will be the only shindig for him. I'm sad I won't be able to make his actual birthday memorable, but I'm glad we can celebrate this weekend! I can't post yet about his gifts or any of the other plans, but I'll do a picture post on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!! Let's hope the snow tomorrow doesn't keep anyone from venturing out!! Lucky for B, Chicagoans are used to all this winter weather. I'm just not sure what I'm going to do for foot apparel as my outfit included adorable black heels that don't tolerate the snow well!!!