Golden Weekend

We took an "us" weekend. 
A college friend was celebrating his golden birthday on Saturday night and we decided to make the trip to Chicago to join in on the fun!

It was mid afternoon by the time we checked into our hotel. We took a cab to a quirky neighborhood bar. We sipped thick dark beers and ate fried cheese curds. We talked and we laughed. 
We laughed a lot. 
We met up with a group of our friends for a pre-party feast. We ate at my favorite restaurant to visit in the city and enjoyed small plates Italian, wine, and more laughter.
We went to a bar and bought $30 wristbands that I swore would be a waste because there was no way I could drink $30 worth of alcohol in 3 hours. I was wrong... I was so wrong. 

We were the first to have to bail on the party. It may have only been 12:30, but in Michigan it was 1:30 and we had to be lame and call it a night. 

We drunkenly ate the BEST chicken shawarma I have ever had. Ever. 
We slept in.  We. Slept. In. 
We left earlier than expected. Running away from what my husband called, "ice death". We pouted the whole way home, frantically trying to find the MSU basketball game on the radio. 
We were reunited with our sweet angel baby toddler who I missed incomprehensible amounts. 
It was a good weekend.
Sometimes it's good to know you can still just be a couple. Be husband and wife. Just that and nothing else. 

Friday Tids + Bits

It has arrived! My sister's bachelorette weekend in Chicago!  We leave in about an hour and I am so excited! This week has been crazy.  Between trying to have a garage sale, getting things set to go for the weekend,  and being away from John all week -  I am ready to get the party started. 
A few tids + bits from the week?

I staged all of my dorm stuff perfectly... I mean can you believe that no one bought any of it?! 

Maybe it was because out of the 20 some "customers" we had, maybe ONE was under the age of 65

Apparently Jack didn't appreciate me selling his stuff. 

After a hard day of selling, Jack took his mullet out to eat. 

Seriously. This thing is REAL LIFE. 

I will not be upset if I come home from Seattle and it has disappeared!

Oh and some other news... 

We are in BIG trouble with this one... he just wants to run!  Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!  I know I will.  Pray for my survival! Remember last time I went to Chicago?!  If it involves even 1 fewer Irish Car Bomb I will consider it a successful trip!

The Day I Woke Up From a Nap & Thought I Was a Hipster..

You know that moment when you log onto facebook or your phone lights up and you are notified with a notification that that ONE friend (you all know what friend I am talking about! We all have one..) has tagged you in 3418370498527458713894 pictures?? That moment when your stomach drops and you feel scared/nervous/excited all at the same time for what is plastered all over the internet?! Yeah, that happened last night while the hubs and I were watching Footloose (judge if you must but John was happier than a 14 year old girl). I assessed the damage, and it wasn't THAT bad. Basically it just means that it's time to share the weekend with my internet world. 

When we arrived on Friday we immediately headed to an MSU bar to watch the basketball game. I'm a big lame-o and wanted to make sure I had maximum drinking abilities in the morning so I only had 2 drinks - husband on the other hand went a little cray..

my pretty lady frands

Mad EGG addiction.

St. Patrick's Day morning we woke up and began our drinking at the early hour of 9am. I am an awful picture taker when out so pictures did not begin until WELL into the drinking. I'm going to preface this by saying that I didn't really bother with the whole "cute" aspect of this holiday this year. As in I didn't do my hair.. I'm over it.

the first of way too many of these.

husby love

cute and functional accessories..

Then pictures like these started happening and apparently it was time to eat some Subway and take a nap..

You might think that based off of those last few pictures that perhaps it was time to retire? Oh no, false! We napped for a few hours then rallied and headed to the bar again at MIDNIGHT. At this point I have no idea who I am. Perhaps this is why I decided to dress like a hipster (when for real I just needed to change my dirty smelly clothes and my contacts dried out and died in my eyes.. it was an accident I swear!)

Taxicab confusion - "wait, I'm a hipster? How do hipsters act?!"

I'm not angst-y enough to be a hipster! I enjoy Irish step dancing too much!

Then John got his way and we all went to a karaoke bar where he preceded to sing songs like "Mack the Knife " (his go-to) and "Remix to Ignition"

priceless.

Then this happened..

Our address in college and mad love for Brit

Pure brilliance.

We shut this bar down with an encore drunken MSU fight song. All-in-all the weekend was fantastic and full of wonderful memories (many of which I will actually remember!) I am happy to say that I can still kick it like a college kid even after becoming a wife and mother. 

Now that we have this out of the way we can go back to mom group fails and cute pictures of my baby. Happiness and joy for all, because partying is WAY more exhausting than parenting.

**all pictures of the MSU bar & post nap are courtesy of my shutterbug lover Morgan

I'm Alive & My iPhone is Too!

Yes, we are home (finally) and alive. We had an absolute BLAST and could not have had a better time visiting with friends and turning Chicago into our own personal East Lansing. John and I even made it into (and out of) the city without having a total meltdown GPS fight (Go Team Marriage!) 

I do not yet have pictures and full weekend recaps ready, but at some point this week the Chicago run down will take place. For now what needs to be known is that I drank WAY too many Irish car bombs and definitely took silly face pictures in my cute green outfit.

Bubba seemed to have a wonderful time at Grandma & Papa's and I was sent many picture updates throughout the weekend that made me want to cry into my green beer because they were so cute.

After not passing out going to sleep until 4:30am on Sunday (which is actually 5:30am to John & I) I woke up at 7:30am and freaked out about NEEDING to see my child and poked John until he (grumpily) complied and we got on the road at 9am. I was CONVINCED that Jack didn't know who I was/was scared of my Johnny Cash rasp voice (seriously, I sound like a smoker of 10 packs a day). He also looked 8 years older and I felt as though I had missed his whole life (All very dramatic). 

Today was deemed a pajama day. Despite the gorgeous July-like weather outside, I spent the day snuggling and getting in some extra love with Da Bubbs. 

I also made puff pancakes for Brunch

I used whole wheat flour and almond milk instead of reg. flour & reg. milk. I also added a dash of Vanilla Extract and topped it homemade vanilla peach preserves. YUM.

Bubba is now a lighting fast speedy ninja baby that can army crawl everywhere! I wasn't exactly fully functioning today so when snuggles and play time weren't happening I made the questionable decision to set up his pack'n'play in the living room and load it up with toys. I cannot even begin to discuss the SQUEALS of delight that this scenario created. It's fine, he likes this better than playing with me, I GUESS I can try to not be offended...

Jack also took a GIANT afternoon nap. This is new and AMAZING. He was also sleeping on his stomach (VERY new).. I just don't even know this little boy anymore! Looks like I cannot go on any "Bubba Free" vacations for a while, I miss too much!

I hope everyone's weekends were as wonderful as ours was :)

St. Patrick's Day Post

As you read this I am well on my way to Chicago

I've probably already cried 100 million tears after leaving this sweet dirty face for the first time for more than 12 hours..

I've also probably gotten at least 10 lectures already about not getting drunk and crying because I miss my baby/obsessively talking about my baby/showing pictures of my baby to anyone and everyone who will listen. These things are frowned upon by my husband.

I think that I have mentioned before that I am very Irish.. pretty much purebred 100% Irish to be exact. Therefore, St. Patty's Day has always been celebrated extra special in my life. When I was younger a leprechaun would leave green milk on our front porch. Yes, this is real. This same leprechaun will leave green milk for Jack and any and all siblings he may have in the future. My siblings and I would also receive gifts. Not like Christmas or Birthday gifts, but fun little presents that continued into adulthood..  I am told by other people that this is not a normal St. Patrick's Day tradition. My dad would walk around talking with an Irish accent all day and it all made for pretty wonderful childhood memories.

Then I went to college. I don't know if it is because MSU is a school that highly celebrates the abuse of alcohol, or if it is because our school worships the color green, but St. Patrick's Day is pretty much on the books as the BEST college holiday that there is in the town called East Lansing. The heavens always seem to shine down with the most unseasonably warm weather and whether it is a Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday.. anyone and everyone will begin their day bright and early with a shot or a beer or both. No worries if you have class. you either skip it or go drunk. Priorities. 

I fully participated in these shenanigans throughout college - and usually treated it like a three day celebration with frat parties and whatnot on St. Patty's eve. 

Basically you put on something green and get all pretty 

2009

2010

*Butterflies indicated pretty friends who I am too lazy to ask permission to put on the internet..

Then drink until you make embarrassing faces in pictures.

Well senior year ended up a little different than I had planned. Pretty much my roommates and I were all about senior year, it's the end of the best time of our lives, and we will go out with a bang and make everything the greatest ever and most fun ever even if it means going out every night and we all talk like Johnny Cash. Well this is all great. Until someone ends up pregnant (Yes, that's me!)

So for St. Patrick's Day everyone is all freaking out with happiness and joy, with their cute St. Patrick's Day outfits and their 8:30am shots and beers and I am pregnant, riddled with migraine's, and miserably sober. The weather was perfect, everyone everywhere was drunk and jolly. I had the worst headache of my life and just wanted to sleep the day away. Unfortunately the frat house kitty corner from my bedroom window felt it was necessary to blare rap music from concert quality speakers for the entirety of the day. I pretty much cried the whole day and hated my life. The only plus was that I actually went to class and earned some extra credit for being one of five people in class... such a nerd. 

I feel as though this Chicago trip is making up for the senior year St. Patty's that I never had. I will be blaring that "Young and Wild and Free" rap song that I hear on the radio all the time and sing even though it no longer applies to my life in any way, shape, or form. I have already mourned the fact that I won't see Bubba in his cute St. Patrick's Day outfit and that I won't be with him at his first parade. I think that a Guiness or 5 will most likely ease my pain. 

I am so excited to be reunited with friends and have a fun weekend with my husband. I am grateful to have parents that support our need to still act "young" and wild, and free (okay maybe they don't support those last two). Mostly I just hope to make it back alive and cannot wait to share lots and lots of stories! Pray for the safety of my iPhone, please!

In case you don't know what song I am talking about.. and I had to search an edited version because I had NO IDEA there were so many bad words/weed references..