WILW

Valentine's Day Special
Here are some items I would LOVE to have...or get ;)

I love white flowers

I love Starbucks gift cards because they make my guilty pleasure even better!
*Update: I got home from work and found a $25 gift card from my Valentine waiting for me at home. I don't even think he had read this. What a good boyfriend!

I love night gowns and this little pretty would be such a sweet addition in my closet.

I love wine and this is probably one of my favorite reds.

I love dessert, but I have a special place in my heart for cupcakes. Especially Chicago's bakery Sweet Mandy B's cupcakes. My mouth is watering just typing the words out!

I love bags, and I'm in need of a good, leather, cross body bag. I think this would be a perfect bag for my trip to Spain.

Living

Can I show you my mom's new living room? It's my current obsession. She worked with a designer to create this masterpiece and I am just in awe of it.







My favorite thing about the room is the various amount of textures. The dining room walls are grass cloth, with wicker chairs, silk drapes, with bamboo shades. The amount of detail that went into this room is crazy and the only thing I regret is not taking up close shots!

Just had to share, because I'm in luuurrvvveee with it!

Weekend Whirl

What a weekend! We packed in every waking minute, which was a blast- problem now is that I need push pins to keep my eyes open . The price we pay, I guess!



The girls (and Max) got in Friday night and 6 of us headed out for an Italian dinner at Frasca. We had a great time eating and drinking and just catching up. I had missed my college girls so much and can't believe it's been 5 years since we all first met in Burge Hall.


I pulled out my camera at dinner and the waiter said to me, "huh, so you're the mom of the group". Everyone got a good kick outta that - mainly because he was dead on.

Saturday we spent the day downtown starting with lunch at Hub 51 and a mini photo op at Millennium Park.

We did a wine tasting at 4 and then Joel and I had to bid farewell to pick up my parents at the airport.

Super Bowl Sunday was a blast. My parents hosted a great party and I spent the whole day prepping for it with my mom.



We baked lots of goodies and then my parent's Mexican restaurant catered a taco bar for the main event.

The weekend was so nice because I felt like I got to see so many people that I love. Kind of fills up my love tank - is that SO cheesy, or what??????



Yea, yea, I know it is...but it's Valentine's Day week so don't give me too much grief!

Fashion Friday

Happy (almost) Friday!!

It was a great week around here. Work was really easy on me and seemed to just coast by - which, ya gotta love.

Friday night, two of my college besties (Lauren & Jessica) are coming in from Iowa, and we plan to spend every waking minute catching up and laughing together. We have dinner reservations tonight at an Italian restaurant by my house and then we're going to stay in with a few bottles of wine and play board games. Saturday, we'll venture downtown and explore the sites.
Unfortunately, I have to leave them tomorrow around 6pm because I'll be making the trek home to spend some time with my parents and help them host a superbowl party.

It should shape up to be another busy, but really fun weekend.

And here's what I've been sporting this week to work:


Have a wonderful weekend lovies!

WILW

Link up here with "This kind of Love"

I am loving the Blizzard of 2011! Holy cow was it a storm!

I am loving that I got to work from home today!

I am loving that Joel was home too, because working from home can be really quiet.

I am loving my new boots

I am loving that I got to Skype with Hannie last night for the first time since she left for Spain! It was so nice to see her pretty face and Spain makes her look even more beautiful - which is what I think happens when you're truly happy.

...and I am loving that she's happy.

I am loving that we opened our best bottle of wine (finally) at home, on a Tuesday, in our pajamas. Joel was given this wine as a gift for Christmas '09, and finally decided to open the baby last night. He had been waiting for a perfect night, and I loved his choice.

I am loving that this is what we did while we were all holed up inside. We drank great wine. We caught up with Saray and we played a really fun board game all while 4 inches of snow was being dumped on us every hour. Pretty much my ideal night.
I wish blizzards came by a little more often!

I am loving that this has been a very easy week and would really love another day home from work....but if it doesn't happen, that's okay too.


Hope you are loving your week.
xo

SNOPOCOLYPS 2011

Ohhhh weeee!!!!!I love the drama of a good weather emergency! Especially one that allows me to work from home tomorrow and bunker down!

In case you haven't heard, here in Chicago, we are supposed to have over 20 inches of snow, wind gusts up to 60mph, and dangerously high waves off of Lake Michigan. Possible life-threatening, record-breaking storm.

[I do have to say that I like all of the hype around scary things like this, only because I'm blessed enough to be safe and warm at my house. For everyone who isn't, I worry and hope that they can find a warm shelter for the storm. We have a lot of homeless people in this city and their safety greatly concerns me, so I am praying that they'll be okay too.]

I'm not feeling 100% - actually electively took the afternoon off (only to find out that my office was let out at 3pm! Ugh...bad move...) - so I'm watching the storm, with a cup of tea and lots candles going. I hope to make a good casserole tonight, enjoy a glass of wine, and play a fun board game, which is like my absolute ideal way to spend a snow day!



I'm such a dork, and if Joel would have allowed me, I probably would have been stocking up for this storm days ago just like the rest of the weather crazies out there. I get that from my Dad, who just so happens to be enjoying this storm from the beaches of Mexico! I texted my mom though, that I'm almost a little sad he isn't here to get into all of this craziness because he would love it.

Almost as much as I am right now!

Rio-lly wrong

Monday mornings are about as bad as this outfit....

silver lining

I love the idea of wearing silver/gray for Valentine's Day. Wearing red or pink is a little too cliche for my taste so silver seems like the perfect color for the celebrations. I know a lot of people are against the idea of Valentine's Day - and I'm not a huge proponent either - but I love holiday's and excuses to celebrate, and I like the idea of having a day that you get to celebrate solely with the one you love.