Girls Trip To Chicago

I spent this past weekend with my friends Alison, Brandi, and Melissa in Chicago and I had a great time!  We stayed with my friend Hanna, we met at Hanover College and were Chi Omega sorority sisters.  Hanna and her husband, Nathan, have a beautiful home and guest beds they willingly offered up.  We drove up on Friday night and after a visit, it was time for bed.

Saturday we started out the day by going to a neighborhood yard sale in another neighborhood.  I think Hanna really just wanted help carrying her purchases home.  The picture below is of Brandi and I carrying back the miniature farmhouse Hanna found.  She also found a side table and the group also brought back a croquet set and chandelier.  I found some Chicago Bears stuff for Daulton.

After a snack break, we headed back out to Andersonville for lunch.  That's Brandi on the left, Hanna in the middle, and me on the right.  We ate at Lady Gregory's and it was so good.  I'm glad I ate a big lunch because next we had to go to Navy Pier.  Brandi and Melissa were running in the Chicago Half Marathon on Sunday and we had to pick up their race packets.

I am the tallest and have the longest legs, you would think I would be able to keep pace with the group.  Turns out my body and mind were on vacation time and I was the slowest walker in the group.  It also didn't help that I was in a new-to-me part of Chicago and was gawking at everything and taking pictures.

Navy Pier was awesome and the weather was perfect.  The Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan were beautiful.  After an Italian dinner, the girls had to load up on carbs, we headed back to the house for a bonfire and girl talk.  It was a relaxing, wonderful day with good friends.

Race morning came and everyone got up, but me.  I was given special dispensation by the group to sleep in.  They said it very sweetly but we all know how unpleasant I am in the morning.  The runners ran their hearts out and I had a leisurely morning with Hanna and Alison.

After the race, Hanna took us to Chinatown for lunch and bubble tea.  Bubble tea is like a smoothie, but with green tea instead of milk.  I got Tapioca balls in mine and I'm going to be honest, its weird.  They are black balls, they look like marbles, at the bottom of your drink but they tasted like gummy bears to me.  I'm glad I tried it but I'm not sure I will get them again.  Add sesame chicken and a taste of what everyone else had and we were stuffed.

After showers for the runners and packing the car, it was time to head back home to Indiana.  I really enjoyed getting away for the weekend with friends.  Something about a new city, that's completely different than what you are used to, is relaxing and stimulating at the same time.  I was excited to try new things but I slowed down to truly experience what was going on around me.

And being away from home for a few days made me miss these guys like crazy.  I mean you can't stay away from these two for long.

All pictures are mine except for the first two which are Alison's.  You can follow me on Instagram, my username is abby_butts.

The VMAs Make Me Feel Old

I grew up watching the VMAs and so did Matt.  So naturally when the VMAs were on tonight, we wanted to watch.  I was not prepared for how old I would feel watching the VMAs.

For my mom and everyone else who doesn't know what the VMAs are, the VMAs are the video music awards on MTV.  MTV is the music television network that doesn't play music.  Instead the broadcast the fascinating train wrecks that are Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant, and the Jersey Shore.

The Comments Heard During the VMAs

Throughout the night, there was a lot of "who is that girl?" and "who is that guy?".

Matt:  Who is that?
Me:  Rhianna.
Matt:  I can't tell who these people are with the crazy costumes and sunglasses on.

Did Miley Cyrus and Pink call each other to make sure they had the same hairdo for the VMAs?  Do people still say hairdos?

Matt:  How do those One Direction kids fit into those skinny jeans?
Me:  I don't know, oil and a shoe horn, I guess?
Me:  Daulton, are you ever going to wear skinny jeans?
Daulton:  (quickly and emphatically) NO!

Daulton then informed us that one of the kids from One Direction smokes.  A little girl in his class told him, so obviously this is true... she has a poster of One Direction so she is an expert.

Who is Frank Ocean?

Lil Wayne forgot to pull his pants up before he went on stage.

Someone is going to trip on that skateboard.

Who is 2 Chains?  (Matt knew who he was, I still have no clue.)

Me:  Daulton, why do they call him 2 Chains?
Daulton:  I have no idea!
(He wears 2 chains around his neck, in case you were wondering.  I fear for the future of creativity.)

Green Day looks old!  I thought Green Day was a 3 man band, who is that 4th guy?

MTV now has to clarify which shows are scripted and which are reality?

Why are Wiz Khalifa's pants so short?  Where is the flood Wiz?  (For the record, I had to google how to spell Khalifa.)

I'm disappointed with the Twilight movie preview.  The fight scene at the end is not true to life, and by true to life I mean true to the book.  (That is a direct quote.  At this point Matt had a pained look on his face.  He doesn't like it when I talk Twilight.)

Taylor's shorts are short, but she doesn't look trashy.

What's with the crowd surfing?  I wouldn't want all those people touching me.

Bottom line is, you know you are old when the 8 year old knows more about the people on MTV than you do.

Lazy Labor Day Weekend

I left work and my mom's 10th chemo treatment (only 2 more to go!) on Friday with every intention that this was going to be a productive 3 day weekend.  I was even plotting different ways I could sweet talk my husband into tackling some home improvement projects (he won't know I was plotting this until he reads this, hi Matt!).  But I came home on Friday, sat down with a stack of magazines, iPad, remote, and the dog and that was it for me.

We did some laundry and grocery shopping.  I cleaned the bathrooms.  And that was it.

It was wonderful and luxuriously lazy.  We took naps, lounged, watched too much TV, and I'm not proud of the amount of food I ate over the last 3 days but I'm not sorry either.  The rain and overcast weather from Hurricane Issac really helped encourage our slothful behavior.

I went into the long weekend with good intentions but these past 3 days turned out better than I ever could have planned.