an epic night on the town

I feel SO lucky and blessed to have an amazing group of women in my life. I had absolutely no trouble choosing bridesmaids for our wedding, since I automatically had three sisters/sis-in-law and then three I consider best friends from different stages of the past, literally from infancy through college. I'm also lucky to have them all within driving distance (minus Ellie who flies back to Slovakia this week, wahh) and am so happy we were able to meet up in Chicago this past weekend for the perfect bachelorette party.

I am not usually a super-crazy-let's dress up like fools for attention and go out dancing till 2 am-type of girl, but she definitely does exist within me to emerge for very special occasions such as this one. I embraced the tiara, sash, and personalized buttons and just went with the flow. The flow of drinks, that is. The night started with pink fizzy punch and pizza and just amped up from there. Ben and I haven't made it downtown since we moved here almost 3 weeks ago (WHAAT!) so it was fun to hop on the L and hit the city for the first time as an official resident and not local tourist (weird!!!)

And we even got some safe-for-internet photos:

Self-timer rockstars.

Christine! Livin it up like we're back in college.

Hostess/sis in law Ashley (and a photobomb). No, I am not actually wearing a Vegas showgirl style headpiece, but that would have been hilarious.

Oh, also, we played a quick round of Quelf. Which should be played at all parties.

 

Sisters! 

 The most delicious pizza ever. Homemade crust and fresh mozzarella yesssss. I think it honestly was extraordinary, despite every single thing I ate all night having the label of "most delicious ever."

 Making friends on the L.  Thanks for putting up with us, random fellow passengers!

 Downtown! So. much. walking. I have the blisters to prove it.

 Aaaand then we went to a drag show. Wonderful decision. Although kind of disturbing to see "men" who were prettier than us.

I never fail to get the hiccups. Luckily they are cured by biting on a slice of lemon or lime! Every single time. Try it!

 We were miraculously still alive the next morning, and dragged the guys out for brunch. Thanks for being such good sports re: the party headbands, guys :)  Ashley lives on the border of Boystown and Wrigleyville so we didn't get many second glances walking around at 2 pm wearing them. Good times, good times.

My favorite part of a good party weekend is laying around the next day and re-hashing the night's events, when all of a sudden it becomes clear how ridiculous and hilarious it all was.




summer is for roadtrips

I realize I've missed the "Memorial Weekend recap" boat by a few days, but I felt like it still deserves a mini-recap. And kind of wanted to take a break from the flower pics. I do love flowers, but I love my friends even more.

So over the weekend I escaped the family and roadtripped up to the Quad Cities to see my college roommate Christine and help her move into her very own apartment. 

Christine is the type of friend with whom you:

-share general life values and traits 

(for us this includes obsessions with coffee, working out, waking up ridiculously early, bread, Moscato d'Asti and good amaretto) 

-can eat Panera every single day and love it

-take 2345 self-obsessed pictures of yourselves until you get the "perfect" shot of both of you

(I will spare you the "reject" shots of the weekend)

-have weathered lots of the tribulations of college and 20-something life

(crazy dating escapades both good and bad, long distance relationships, emotional breakdowns galore, yucky illness, birthdays, nights of too many shots, moving, scary life changes, etc etc)

In short, she is a best friend who will always be there for me, and who knows way too many of my secrets for us to ever break up.

On Friday night we went out with our friend Angie; I don't think the three of us had been in town together since Angie's wedding one and a half years ago.  Thinking about stretches of time like that makes me feel oooold!!!  Even though it's only been a year since graduation, so much has happened in the last 12 months that it sometimes feels like college was a whole different lifetime.  Going out like a college student also makes me feel old. We were pretty much wiped out for the rest of the weekend!  But managed to handle full days of shopping, DQ ice cream, blenders of delicious strawberry daiquiris, nailing a picture gallery onto C's walls, watching one and a half seasons of Weeds, and sappy chick flicks. Perfection.

And because driving through north central Illinois in the summer is NEVER achievable without a glorious thunderstorm, I got that on the way home too.  Just to complete the weekend.  One the likes of which would have the Eastern drivers trembling on the side of the road.

In the spirit of summer, college memories, and just because, I am going to share my amazing daiquiri recipe because you seriously need to try it.  There are only 3 ingredients, and I figure the antioxidants from the berries completely cancels out the negative effects from the alcohol.  Right? Well, repeated studies have shown that you will never get a hangover from this concoction.  I am a scientist, so that's scientific proof. 

Anna's Strawberry Daiquiris

-one bag frozen strawberries

-rum (of unspecified quality/quantity...)

-one tub of raspberry Crystal Light (the essential secret ingredient)

Dump everything in a blender and mix until smooth.

A bit of lime juice and other types of berries work deliciously too.

Happy Summer :)