The Epic Birthday

This year, my birthday was nothing short of epic amazingness. Let's start with the fact that my birthday landed on a fricken Saturday this year. This never happens. I actually got to enjoy and spend my day however the hell I wanted. Although birthday happenings started with the bestie on Friday night. I've missed her terribly since she was on a medical mission in the Philippines as part of her nursing school program. (Yes she's kind of a big deal and I admire her so much for going through SO much while she was there). I was in awe hearing about all of the people she helped and the stories. Also, the second I walked in the door, I was greeted with a birthday card and a heart-shaped brownie. I was already in heaven and I figured that was more than enough. I was so happy to see her back....and then...she whipped out my birthday gift. One word....BURBERRY. I gasped, I screamed...I may have even peed in my pants a little.

 So let's recap. I got chocolate and a Burberry handbag and clutch. Apparently I won an express ticket to birthday heaven. I was speechless and that never happens. What can I say? This girl loves her labels. She also brought back a couple of souvenirs from the Philippines including two seashell bracelets from this village she visited.We caught up for hours and laughed ourselves to tears as usual.

I went to bed ready to wake up in amazing spirits. I got up bright and early to hit the gym. I like to start my days kicking ass. As a birthday present, my gym let me pick out new boxing wraps and at the end of the workout, the trainer had us all do leg lifts and spell out each letter in "happy birthday Emily" in my honor. I felt so special and the class hated me haha...oooh I can still feel the burn in my abs...

After a great workout, I showered up and met up with my older sis at Starbucks where she greeted me with my signature drink and more gifts. I am loved. Seriously, I must be the luckiest girl in the world to have such amazing people in my life. She got me the biggest, most amazing mug ever. I was born in the year of the dragon and I just loved everything about this gift. My sis also spoiled me with a Snoopy sweater (I'm obsessed with Peanuts) and a lefty-friendly calendar (fricken hilarious). I'm telling you, the important people in my life have my personality and likes nailed.

At this point, I'm happier than Kim Kardashian after she peed on a stick and found out that she locked in Kanye for 18 years. I mean come on, I couldn't ask for more. What's next? Is Justin Timberlake going to pop out of a birthday cake in a tie? He can forget the suit. Okay maybe that's a stretch. After we had some quality sister time and sucked down our lattes, we departed so I could pick up my lovely Josh and head out to Mago for my birthday dinner. This place is my absolute favorite. Mago has THE BEST margaritas and what is a birthday without margaritas? Now I had everything. My family and awesome food.

After we stuffed our faces with amazing food and a couple of margaritas later, I was surrounded by the good people of Mago and was crowned with a sombrero as they sang happy birthday to me. Floored.

It's official, this has been the best birthday ever. The sombrero topped it off. Not going to lie, I rock the hell out of that thing too. My parents were beyond generous with their gifts as well. My favorite was the beautiful, Swarovski charm bracelet...and what? What is this??? A fricken PANDA charm to go with it??? This is all too much guys, really. For those of you who don't know, I'm obsessed with pandas. They're the shit. They're the cutest creatures on this earth. I DID have a red panda on my birthday wish list, but since it would most likely upset Apollo and Luigi....this is the next best thing. ;-)

I really don't know what I'd do without my family and friends. They complete my epic birthday. Josh also surprised me with a weekend getaway that will happen in mid-April which is PERFECT since I will most likely be ripping my hair out with final wedding details by then and will need a nice break. How perfect is he? Pretty perfect.

After indulging in some dessert, we headed home in yet another snowstorm. (I don't believe I ordered snow for my birthday.) When I got home I was finally starting to wind down from this fabulous day and watched other 20-somethings in the Olympics win medals in their sport...and there I was...just stuffing my face some more with a birthday cupcake. Can that be an Olympic sport? It should be.

Cheers all!

Chicago Polar Vortex Survivor

So retailers and other Fortune 500 companies were closed for today as Chicago experienced what is known as a "polar vortex." If we're throwing around vocab such as that...you'd think my place of business would think, "hey maybe our employees would like to stay home as well since they could suffer severe frostbite for standing outside for more than five minutes?" NOPE. I had to put my big girl panties on (layers of them) and make that hour-long commute to work. The forecast was showing temps of -30 degrees with the wind chill and I just about cried. In case you are wondering what one wears during a polar vortex, I found that the following apparel will help prevent hypothermia, frostbite, your internal organs from freezing over etc...

1. My work trousers and underneath...yes, my Under Armour cold gear running tights that are also featured in this photo below. Nothing gets through these bad boys...and as a runner, I kind of need to keep my legs.

 

2. My new Lululemon Scuba Stretch Hoodie. I'm kind of obsessing over it. It blocks those wicked polar vortex winds and was worth every penny. (Although I scored mine on sale! Zing!)

 

3.  Next is my Calvin Klein Wool Asymmetrical-Zip Trench that I was ever-so-lucky to be spoiled with for Christmas thanks to my lovely 'rents.  I wore this as my final layer over my sweater and Scuba Hoodie. This coat is the best since it's fine to wear just by itself during the normal winter days without it being an ugly, bulky coat. Sorry, those puffer jackets do nothing for me. I don't want to look and/or feel like a giant puff cloud. I'd opt to look like I walked off the set of the Matrix, obviously.

 

4. Burberry Rain Boots. While they aren't the warmest of boots, (opted to wear slipper socks to make sure my toes made it through the day) these are my favorite boots EVER EVER.  They also have monster tread on them to make sure my clumsy blondieness doesn't faceplant in a foot of snow/ice. Winter win once again.

 

5. North Face Etip gloves and my knitted glittens (homemade) were worn together to make sure that my fingers didn't break off. Etips are a huge necessity these days (especially for me) since my phone always seems to ring at the most inconvenient times...and hell if I'm going to take off my gloves during a polar vortex! PFFF.

Luckily my car started (I was doubtful since she's parked outside) and it warmed up nicely so I could actually enjoy bopping my head to Beyonce as best as I could in my many layers. Many of my coworkers weren't so lucky. Cars ended up in ditches, didn't start at all and even had difficulties braking! Eek! It's crazy to think that anything slightly above freezing now would be a heatwave in Chicago right about now.

Overall, I'm pretty proud to say that I survived this polar vortex weather, however my bones just weren't cut out for these fricken arctic temps...soooo summer please? K, thanks. In the meantime, be jealous of this angry, penguin sweater that just about sums up my attitude right now.