All You Need Is Love

What I thought would be a Valentine's Day bust, turned out to be one of the best ever. I stayed home from work since I was sick to my stomach (although being the workaholic that I am I still worked from home and looked like a hot mess). A little later, I found out that Josh was super sick with an even bigger stomach bug, throwing up etc. I was crushed! I needed to see my Valentine stat even if it meant subjecting myself to future quality time with my head hanging over a puke bowl myself.

He went home early from work so I grabbed the nearest can of chicken noodle soup and crackers for him and headed over there (two sickies are better than one). I got to his place and he was as pale as any vampire in Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. I gave him his soup, crackers and Valentine's Day card with a voucher for his favorite pumpkin spice cookies that I make since he wouldn't have been able to eat them in his current condition. :(

Then he said to look behind me....and there was a bouquet of beautiful roses! I was shocked. This kid had a high fever, so sick, lost 10lbs on the stomach bug diet and he STILL managed to get me flowers. Not only that, but he also bought me my favorite, chocolate-covered strawberries. Can we get an "AWWWWWE?!" I was speechless and my heart felt all warm and fuzzy. It wasn't necessarily about the pretty flowers and the chocolate, it was the fact that despite him feeling like he got hit by a Metra train, he still wanted to put a smile on my face. Now THAT is love. Forget it Kay Jewelers, every kiss does not begin with K, they begin with a whole lot of love, not a bunch of shiny rocks.

And of course....I ate all of the chocolate-covered strawberries that night, but with grace...just kidding I stuffed my face like any woman who is about to embark on shark week would.

This weekend overall has been pretty low-key. What happens on low-key weekends? Law and Order SVU marathons and working on some projects for my clients. I'm quite shocked that I was able to be productive at all during this Netflix marathon, I should get an award. I also heard that MORE snow is expected tomorrow morning just-in-time for my morning commute. Can I just skip Monday?

What has everyone else been up to this weekend? Any suggestions on what to do while I'm trapped in my four-wheeled prison again? I raise my middle finger at you once again Old Man Winter!!

Welcome to Chiberia

I come to you with a public announcement. I'm done with winter. Even though my body has gotten used to layers, sweaters and allowing myself to have many glasses of empty calories...I'm done! Bring on the bikini weather! I'm done meeting up with clients and nearly killing myself by walking on ice in heels. (Sorry, even the cutest of snow boots don't go with an awesome power suit). Go suck a big one, Chiberia! It's been so ridiculously cold, we're even making up words now! I've been on a primarily raw food/low carb diet and yesterday with all of this stress, I said eff it. The following photo is me saying, "eff it."

I can also call this my eff it/congratulatory glass of wine to myself since I gained another client with my firm. I'm loving it there and pretty much have the best boss ever. We both love to hate Beyonce, have a thing for labels and have a sarcastic wit that packs enough punch to throw you into next Monday. Oh and go ahead, make an AP style error. I dare you. Obviously a match.

But seriously, back to this ridiculously cold weather that doesn't allow me to have the luxury of staying at home like some people. We're not polar bears and as much as I love sweater dresses with comfy knit tights, my spring dresses are begging to come out of the closet. I mean seriously, I feel like they've waited longer than Ricky Martin has.

This shit is not normal!!!

One good thing that has come out of this ridiculous weather though is that it's forced me to stay in and get a lot of wedding planning done. The invites are almost ready to ship out and yes, I'm freaking out a bit (in a good way). I also have two bridal showers to be all giddy and excited about as well that are coming up in March. However, I'm not looking forward to wearing white dresses considering how I know I'll most likely get something on them throughout the day. It's pretty much a given. This is also why I tend to stick with white wine. My sister has been great with helping me plan the wedding though. Between work, going to meetings, going to the gym and having date night time, things can get really stressful. Just three more months, and this wedding binder and setup will be long gone! Eek! Anyone have some extra Xanax just laying around? Maybe I should call Justin Bieber before we FedEx him back to Canada.

Taking On 2014

2013 brought on a lot of many strange happenings and that's not even counting the many celebrity breakdown and the birth of the twerk nation we're living in right now. This year is going to be the best - not only because I get married this year - but because it just has to be. However, so many things are wrong right now including the fact that it's -10 degrees right now in Chicagoland....and I had to leave my warm bed to chisel the ice off of my car and not suffer from a bout of hypothermia all at once. I'm one of those that like to curse the fact that I have to suffer through this each year knowing full well that it's eventually going to happen since I, duh, live in the Midwest. I don't even know why meteorologists need to say the exact temperature once we're in the negative degrees zone. There's cold (slightly above freezing), fucking cold (below freezing), and really fucking cold (anywhere less than 0 degrees).

Coldness and winter storm weather aside, there are many things on the horizon that I look forward to including:

1. My wedding and honeymoon in Rihanna's homeland (can I get a hell yes?)
2. Maintaining my fitness routine and trying out some new health tips and tricks
3. Ditching carbs (I can pretend like this is going to happen)
4. Being less judgmental (lol I know that was funny too)
5. Saving more money and not succumb to every Nordstrom sale (okay seriously stop laughing)

The new year also started off with a bang, considering my boss got fired - I mean...quit or else be fired...for telling the president of the company to go fuck himself. If there was a list of things not to say within the workplace...I'd imagine that would be on the list....sober or shitfaced status aside (thank you Christmas holiday party). Considering we're only a few days into the new year, I don't have any doubt that 2014 will bring a year full of crazy news and events...hopefully more good than bad. It started off with a kiss from my hubby-to-be so I think the odds are in my favor. (Please ignore the Bears jammy pants and dragon T-shirt...)

 

 Next month is also my birthday...which means one year closer to 30...I'll try not to have a panic attack at the thought. I'll also try to ignore all of the pregnancy notifications on my Facebook feed as I'm now officially at the age where it's pretty much acceptable to have kids... unless all of the other areas in your life are messed up and unstable. However, that doesn't seem to be stopping anyone these days. Anyway you look at it though, I'll take each day going forward with my head high and great ambition....while holding a glass of wine of course.

Christmas Time Is Here!

My favorite time of year is finally here! I can't believe it's already December, and what's even more insane is that it was 60 degrees out today while my sister and I did some Christmas shopping downtown! It of course won't last long but we made the best of it. I'm definitely ahead of the game this year in regards to my Christmas shopping and I'm quite proud of myself. I just have a couple of people left to buy presents for and I am FINISHED. I took full advantage of Black Friday deals (online) and Cyber Monday and saved so much on presents that I couldn't help but to snag some things for myself to wear for the holidays.

I am going sequin/glitter crazy from head to toe for the holidays. I was in search for a great sequin top and for a decent price. My first stop was at Bloomingdale's and BAM I found a great sequin, sweater with statement batwing sleeves.

The next stop on my glitzy, holiday frenzy were shoes! I found the most amazing glitter, rose gold ballet flats at Ann Taylor for a fraction of the price.

While my mom and I were shopping we agreed that this fur-lined knit vest from my fav boutique would be the second half of my Christmas present. It is SO warm and cozy.

The first half of my present was my EXTREME phone upgrade to the Samsung Galaxy S3. The quality of the camera to the way all of the apps run on it is just absolutely amazing! The screen is huge too and it's so light! (You can tell the comparison between photos. The previous photo is from my phone that's yesterday's news and the photos before that were taken from my new phone.) My phone was the absolute best deal that was cashed in on since the 32GB version of my phone costs an obscene amount at full-price and Best Buy had them for only around $120. I am sooooo very thankful that Best Buy saved the day since T-Mobile lied through their teeth about their Black Friday deals. My phone was not the only thing that came in the mail this week either. My cousin (a master knitter) knitted me some glittens in my wedding colors and I LOVE them. She also threw in a bar of homemade, lavender soap that she personally made.

My one and only got me my birthday present early too while I was out and about shopping with my sister. I found the best sweater dress in hues of purple and grey at one of the clothing boutiques downtown and he got it for me :). I have such a great man!

After receiving so much, I couldn't wait to get home, finish decorating and wrap all of my presents I got for my wonderful friends and family.

There are so many things I love about the Christmas season and one of them include the seasonal Christmas blend at Starbucks. It is SO delicious and I need to stock up on enough to last me even for after the holidays!

Other winter essentials are UGG boots and cozy sweater dresses. The Chicago winter season has finally hit with its frigid temperatures but we have yet to see snow. I'll allow it on Christmas but once it's over with...it can be on its way out asap. My commute to work is long enough without battling a snow storm. Unfortunately, my company isn't one of those who have "winter hours" and give their workers options to work at home although it would be easy for me to do so. *Sigh.