Memorial Day & Labor Day Travel

I need a change of scenery. Not a permanent one, but something in the form of a vacation. Or two. So Dave and I decided to plan 2 trips, one mini and one major.

For our Mini-Memorial Day getaway, we decided to fly to Nashville and visit two very good sets of friends/couples. Stephanie & Trey live in Nashville and Nick & Erica live in Clarksville; both Steph and Nick were in our wedding this past Fall and both have been friends with us since high school. We love them, and their spouses, too!

Nick just returned last month from serving our country for over a year in Afghanistan. Luckily he was able to come home on his 2-week leave in November for our wedding, but he had to go right back afterwards...boo. But now he's home for good...yay! (Or at least for now.)

We cannot wait to see his new home he shares with his wife Erica and baby Sarah in TN.

 

And Steph has been one of my best friends since freshman year of high school on the volleyball team. We both got married in 2008 were each other's bridesmaids. 

It will be great to see her again, too.

Now as for our Major Labor Day Getaway... drumroll please...

Dave and I are planning our first trip abroad and will be going to ITALY!

Much, much more on this to come, but I need to book our flight before we begin to plan many more details.

It think these two trips will be just what we need and will give me so much to look forward to this summer. If anyone has any Italy travel trips, please do share!

Happy Easter!!

Which Ork Poster Should I Pick?

I just posted about my love for Chicago neighborhoods here (#5) and I have come to find that much of the art/wall decor in my home revolves in way or another around geography of some sort. (Unless you are talking about my bird room.)

I already have this piece from Dolan Geiman in our bedroom:

And I have two canvases in our main hallway, from Etsy Seller "geministudio", the Chicago Streets Canvas Art (where I live) and then I had him custom make me a matching St. Louis piece (where I am from) that he now sells in his shop.

But know I think I want a more colorful piece to put in our main living area and I came across Ork who makes some very cool City Neighborhood posters. I especially like a few of the Chicago prints.

Right now I am trying to decided between this printed poster in teal:

Or one of these two screen printed pieces in yellow/blue or orange/blue:

(You know I have a new found love of screen-printing.)

I think they would all look nice with a white frame. So which of those three would you choose?

Tea Inspired Bridal Shower Gift for "T"

First, of all I don't think that my coworker Tonya reads my blog, or even knows I have a blog, but T if you are somehow reading this, please stop now or you'll ruin your bridal shower surprise!

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Ok, now that that's settled, I want to show off the cute little "tea themed" gift that I put together for my friend Tonya's bridal shower. Not only does she LOVE tea, we also call her T so I think it's fitting.

First, T registered for this Bamboo Tea Bag Box from Crate and Barrel so I picked that up off her registry:

Then, I added two of these cute little Teapot Teabag Rests from Crate and Barrel:

Next, I ordered this great book on Amazon, called All the Tea in Chicago . It is basically a super-cute Zagat style guide to all the tea spots around town:

And last but not least, I couldn't complete a personalized gift without heading to Etsy to see what I could find. And low and behold, I found this adorable high tea stationary to complete the gift from Etsy seller Three Wheels Design + Paper :

I can't wait to wrap it up for T and give it to her next weekend!

N is for...

N is for Nikki, who I asked to assign me a letter to participate in the ABC Game that's been floating around... and she gave me 'N.' Coincidence? I think not :-)

So, here are my 10 favorite things, that start with an N:

1. NCAA March Madness – For me it’s hands down the most exciting time in college athletics, really any athletics unless the Cards are in the World Series! To top it off, I won my NCAA Basketball Pool at work this year, no matter how the game turns out tonight. Woo-hoo! Check out my perfect West and nearly perfect South & East bracket divisions:

2. November – I love the fall and it’s the month we got married.

3. Nighttime – I’m a total night-owl; I feel like I’m missing so much if I go to bed early!

4. “The Net” – Give me Internet or give me death. Seriously though, I actually think I may be addicted to “the net”.

5. Neighborhoods – Chicago is a huge city made of a ton of neighborhoods. They each have a unique vibe, and I love exploring them. I have lived in only 3 over the 4 years I have been here, so I have a long way to go! According to wikipedia there are around 228 named neighborhoods of Chicago and 77 distinct community areas. Yikes!

6. Notes – Remember passing notes to your friends/boyfriends in grade school & high school? I used to keep a box of them, talk about memories! And now I still love to send handwritten notes to my friends via snail mail, I just don’t get around to doing it nearly enough.

7. Noodles – Mmmmm... I love my strings of carboliciousness!

8. Numbers – I have a weird thing with numbers. 16 & 73 are my favorite and have been since I was a child. I think I was a bit OCD as a child and those numbers were for some reason my obsession.

9. Networking – In person and online. Professionally and Socially. I love connecting with people and introducing people I know in my life with others that they would never know on their own, without that connection. Networking makes the big ol' world seem very small after all.

10. Nicknames – Now this is not to be confused with simply shortening a name, like David to Dave, etc. I love the nicknames you have for people/pets that have become so diluted, you are not even really sure why you call the person or pet that any more, or at least how or when it started. Our dog Louie is called everything from "Larry" to "Lucifer" to "Luda" to "Boo-Bear". Do you have any fun(ny) nicknames for your friends, family or pets that may sound like nonsense to most? 

Thanks, Nikki! If anyone else wants to play, leave me a comment, and I'll assign you a letter!