End of Year Reflections

 Found here.

As we say goodbye to 2010, I realize I have learned to much and have so much to be thankful for!

Travel is so much fun!

A spa visit to Kohler. Cabo and Captiva Island for fun in the sun. Vegas for work. NYC for a long weekend. Good times!

Marriage is hard work, but so worth it.
We celebrated our one-year anniversary back in June. My hubs is my best friend and I can't imagine anyone else who I could ever share these feelings, moments and times with. It doesn't mean that I don't wish he would put the dishes in the dishwasher, push his chair in when he gets up from the table or be a little neater when he pees, but I guess those things are minor. (Men!)

Sports sometimes control your life, but deep down you love it. 

The Hawks won the Stanley Cup. The Bears won the NFC Championship. The hubs only took me to one game but I appreciated the alone time for all of the others. Purdue football sucked, but we still had a blast in both in Evanston and in West Lafayette. We saw Notre Dame play at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Very few Sox game this year, oh well. And I really, really could care less about the NBA.

Friends make the world go round. 

A few of my dear friends welcomed little ones into the world. A few other friends moved away (Sniff, sniff, but a a new place to visit in 2011, perhaps?), some got married, some engaged and a few divorced. And through everything, I realize how lucky I am to have them all in my life. They are honest, sincere, comforting, funny, true friends. You make me laugh so hard. You let me cry. You simply rock! That includes all of you blogger friends too. It's been so nice getting to know you!

Your family is your foundation.

While they can drive me bonkers, I don't know what I would do without them. I have the greatest mom in the world. She lets me be me - whether she agrees with me or not - and is always there to listen or provide support. You don't know how blessed you are until you see a mother who is so unlike yours in every way. The rest of the fam is okay too. (Hehe!)

Enjoy the small things.
A new master bathroom. A love for Moscato. Meeting an awesome chef. Witnessing a random act of kindness. Sunshine. Snow on tree branches. Concerts. Great novels. New lipstick. A hazelnut latte.

Wishing you all the best in 2011.

Be safe.

Happy New Year!

Skinny Girl Resolution

Each year, I say I'm going to get back on the workout wagon and get my butt in gear. Each year, I fail.

Until now.

Behold my skinny girl inspiration. (Yes, I took a picture of a picture!) I have NO IDEA how old I am here (my guess is b/t 10 and 12?), but I found this photo at my mom's while visiting over Christmas. It's hilarious!

I don't even know the worst part of it. My AWFUL sky blue shorts? My terrible hair? My hot pink bathing suit with hearts on it? (My dad's sweet mustache and Adidas shorts?)

Um, maybe it's that I freaking look anorexic! Seriously, I was one skinny kid. What the hell happened?

Oh, right. I think it was this!

Guess I started on the bottle pretty young. And PBR no less. (At least I think that's the label.) Always classy, Mel. Always classy.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas Eve, it snowed overnight at my mom's place. The hubs and I headed there that evening for midnight mass and woke up Christmas morning to a peaceful, beautiful view. Picture perfect - even if you have no photography skills like me.

It was quiet and undisturbed, with the exception of the deer tracks I saw in the yard. A really nice break from the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

 

 

 

Amazing how simplicity can put everything into perspective. Sometimes you just need to take a step back from the madness and appreciate what is good and beautiful in your life. And in that moment, you find happiness.

Very Merry Christmas Card

A HUGE thank you to Kelly over at Keg Design for creating our Christmas cards this year. She and I 'met' when we started blogging about our weddings in 2009.

I contacted Kelly back in November about creating a custom card because I wanted something that was reflective of us and the great city of Chicago - and didn't include our actual photos.

Nothing against photo cards, but it's much more fun if you're looking at someone's adorable children or pets rather than the two of us.

The cards turned out great. They're fun and one-of-a-kind. My favorite elements are the skyline, the tree in the upper right corner and well, the fact that the hubs is wearing a Bears sweater - circa 1985. (Da Coach!)

Thanks again to Kelly and be sure to check out her blog.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

$10 Bottle of Awesomeness

I picked this up at World Market for our girls night this past weekend. I thought we could use a little sparkling wine to celebrate.

This Moscato d'Asti was so delicious. A hint of sweet but not overpowering with peach and orange notes. The only disappointment was that we only had one bottle!

A second trip to pick up additional supplies of this beverage for Christmas and NYE may need to happen tonight.

Best part? It's only $9.99. (I got it for $8.99 as a World Market member.)

Proof that great wine doesn't have to be expensive.

Hater(s)

 

Cute Etsy card found here.

Thanks to the usual suspects who read this blog for your kind words last Friday. Holy crap!At least some of you realize that I was just venting.

Some 'anonymous' readers (although I think it was one person based on the responses I received) thought I needed to grow up and realize that life is hard. They also told me to go out and have anonymous s3% after I got drunk.

Seriously?!

This is why I moderate what gets published. I know many of the other girls whose blogs I read have encountered this type of hatred before too. I'm all for a difference of opinion if it presents a healthy dialogue, but I'm the one who needs to grow up?

I don't always agree with what other people post on their blogs, but it's your blog and you can write about whatever the heck you want. The more blogs I read, the more I enjoy those where people actually give a glimpse into what they're really like as a person. It makes you more real and often times, more interesting. If I don't like what you have to say, I won't comment or I won't read it. But I'm not going to berate you for expressing yourself.

A childhood friend of mine got reamed on her Facebook page last night by posting 'Packers lose!' Some guy called her rude and commented that when the Bears lose, she doesn't find him posting that as his status even though he's really happy about it. Her response? This is my page and I'll post what I whatever I'd like. Amen, sister.

And just to clarify, it's not like I left work and planted myself in a bar until I couldn't stand up anymore. I'm not really like that, believe me. Granted, I'm not going to say that we didn't celebrate the season with girls night at a friend's house that included a hilarious game called Partini, a few too many bottles of wine and a fabulous buffalo chicken dip. I'm still laughing about how funny the entire night was!

It's Christmas week and I hope you find it filled with joy, laughter, love and your families - regardless of whether they're normal or dysfunctional. Cheers!

Driven to Drink

MIL strikes again. The hubs called her last night to tell her that we are going to come on Christmas Eve because we are spending Christmas Day with my family.

Of course she got mad.

She yelled at him and tried to give him a guilt trip about how his uncle is coming over Christmas Day and who knows how many Christmases he has left. (Manipulative, much?!)

The hubs reminded her we were there for Thanksgiving. She then told him that last year he spent both Christmas and Thanksgiving with his other family. (Yes, that's what she calls my family.) He reminded her SHE WASN’T SPEAKING TO HIM LAST YEAR!

Then she told him she doesn’t care about Thanksgiving, she would rather have him there for Christmas.

Um...

When we had Thanksgiving at our place 2 years ago, she complained to him that Thanksgiving was their holiday. In other words, she was upset we hosted.

Hubs is now mad and says he's going nowhere and he's staying home alone for Christmas. Awesome.

And yes, I suggested she join us at my family's, but you would have thought I had 6 heads.

Merry Freaking Christmas. No one can relate to this. I don't see how it's even possible.

Also? My dad is stalking me on Facebook. He keeps typing the same message "Hi Mel, Love Dad". He did it 4 times since yesterday. And I don't think he realizes that he's typing the same message as a comment on my photo album of my bathroom remodel rather than my wall.

This would be quite comical if I wasn't already so irritated.

Dear Dad: I love you. I'm not fortunate enough to be retired (and obviously bored) so I cannot check Facebook every 5 minutes and respond to each of your messages. I'M WORKING!

Speaking of work, it's so busy and I just don't have enough time to get everything done.

Right now I could cry at my desk. Or start laughing hysterically. I'm not really sure which.

Now that I've typed this all out, I realize how ridiculous this all sounds and I'm smiling instead of wanting to bawl my eyes out.

I will overcome.

I will cope.

I will do that by going out tonight.

I will get bombed.

And then? I very well may cry.

Happy Friday!

P.S. - I know I shouldn't complain about family members on here, but seriously, I couldn't take it today!

Bathroom Remodel: The Big Reveal

It's finished! Well, there are a few fixes that need to be made, but it's close enough. Worthy of sharing anyway!

Before: Big, ugly, white useless tub

 

After: Large, lovely, walk-in shower

Sorry for the reflection of the light fixture!

And the back of the shower has an awesome bench!

 

I really do not take good photos!

Before: Ugly white laminate cabinets, Hollywood lights, puke green paint and dark green granite.

I hated it all!

After: Espresso vanity, framed mirrors and neutral granite countertop.

 After: More modern lighting fixtures and a calming blue/gray on the walls.

The lighting fixtures are too high. Need to be moved down a couple of inches, but that's minor!

I still can't believe we've gone from this:

To this:

We have a final walk-through with our contractor tomorrow. Now I need to decide on rugs, towels, accessories and wall decor. I can't believe we lived with that ugly green 1980s bathroom for 3 years. And I can't believe I actually showed you all how awful it was! YUCK!

Week 14

At the start of the NFL season, I nicely asked the hubs if I could go to the Pats game on 12/12. I also asked hubs if his brother would be willing to sell his second ticket to my friend M. (Hubs and BIL have season tickets. 2 each.)

Yesterday morning, when I brought it up, the hubs told me he "forgot" (it's called not listening, ladies) that I had asked him months ago. Both he and his brother were taking a friend. And frankly, I was okay with that.

It was 20 degrees yesterday - before the wind chill!

 

Conditions were blizzard-like. It had been snowing non-stop since around midnight.

Wind gusts were anywhere from 20-45mph.

We sucked! Patriots 36, Bears 7. (ARRGH!!!!!)

I was content watching that freaking clown show from the warmth of my own couch. Under a blanket. In my sweatpants. With my slippers on.

I hate the Patriots. I hate Tom Brady. And any of you foolish girls who think he's hot?

Well, just remember that Brady has Bieber Fever!

All photos found here - with the exception of the one above.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree (Or Rocking Out the Christmas Tunes)

You can't stay in a bah humbug mood when you're rocking out to Christmas tunes on your iPod while cranking out work.

Two I can never seem to get enough of - no matter the season!

Happy weekend, everyone!

Christmas Cheer or Christmas Depression?

I've been feeling a little blah these days. I think I'm just stressing about about too many things and it's bringing me down.

The cost of this bathroom project and how it's coinciding with the holidays is starting to take a toll on me. Spend, spend, spend when I really need to save, save, save.

So maybe the timing wasn't perfect considering we're also buying Christmas gifts. But is there ever really a perfect time for such a big project? I know how much I'll love it when it's complete. And it was definitely needed. I just don't like how many debits I'm seeing in my account compared to credits. Sigh...

Then I start thinking about where in the world we are going to spend Christmas. My answer is with my family! We spent Thanksgiving with the hubs' mom and it broke my heart to learn that my mom ate her Thanksgiving dinner all alone.

It's a really difficult situation for us. Neither the hubs nor I come from large families. His dad passed away about 6 years ago. My parents our divorced. Both of our moms are lonely. One of our mothers is more kind and loving than the other. (I don't mean to complain, it's just the truth.) We live in the city and both families are about an hour and half away from us - in complete opposite directions.

Most people say that once you're married, you spend certain holidays with one family and certain holidays with the other. So, I think it's my family's turn to have Christmas. But MIL won't see things that way. She'll get mad. And the hubs feels guilty right now too since she just put the dog down at Thanksgiving.

You know this is all just going to get worse if we have children someday, right? What then?

Ideally, everyone should come to our place. Then we can have our family all in one central location. But we tried that once. It didn't work out so well. I repeat, we live in the city. There's nowhere for my two nephews to jump around.

Thankfully my dad is pretty understanding and we celebrate with him the weekend prior to Christmas. But as for the actual Christmas weekend, I just don't know what to do. And how do the hubs and I get over these feelings of guilt?

How do the rest of you handle family and holidays?

First Snow!

What a wonderful weekend!

I spent some time with some friends who not-so-recently-anymore moved to Charlotte, NC. We hit up the Better than Ezra show at House of Blues on Friday night. Good times as always!

On Saturday, the city looked like this...and I couldn't have been happier!

Found here

We put up the tree on Saturday as well. The decorations are coming along slowly but surely and I should have everything completed by the end of the week. I just love the ambiance that the lit tree provides. I could keep it up all year!

My nephew's 10th birthday party was yesterday so I was able to spend some quality time with the family at my sister's place. My sis is a single gal (not yet 30, owns her own home) who has the kitchen of a 22-year old bachelor. (FYI - my brother is the nephew's parent.) I was in charge of making the salad and it was BYOB - bring  your own BOWL! That's right, my sister didn't even have a serving bowl for me to prepare the dish in. She's been the easiest person on my Christmas gift list, I'll tell you that much.

We also picked up some additional paint for the bathroom remodel to add some extra visual interest with another color. I'm off to buy the hardware - towel rings, toilet paper holder, vanity pull handles - after work. While we picked out something entirely different on Saturday, I've changed my mind. Sigh... I think we're ready for the final countdown. I expect everything to be finished by next week. At least I hope so!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Eco-Chic Mama

I've been struggling trying to come up with a great gift for my mom. I think she and I are both at a certain stage right now where anything we want/need isn't really something you can (should?) ask for as a Christmas gift.

For example...She wants a new coffee table and side tables. I want a new laptop. She wants a new car. I want a new dining room set. And perhaps we both want (need?) a million dollars.

I think I found an idea for the perfect gift for her today though. Behold the eco-chic gift bag.

 Found here.

My mama is very into all things environmental and recyclable these days so I thought this was perfect. I can pull together a reusable lunch tote (like those from Built), a filtered water bottle, organic green tea, those reusable produce saver bags for the fridge, some natural, organic lotion for the cold winter days ahead (Or already here. It's snowing today. Yay!) and whatever else I can think of that's usable, reusable, recyclable, fair-trade and green.

I'm totally patting myself on the back right now.

Now if only I can come up with something for the monster mother-in-law.

Any other great mom gift ideas out there?