Happy Friday to meeeee!

I mean, it's exactly 2 weeks until my birthday, so I deserve a gift (or 3....or 5?) to myself, right???

Today my closet has finally acquired these 3 beautiful pieces, which I have been waiting to buy with my 3 items for 50% off coupon from The Limited. Behold:

The beauitful hi-low hem dress, the über classy black and tan dress, and yes, a pink blazer. Because I needed it, that's why. I plan on wearing the hi-low hem dress to work (of course) but also out on my birthday :) The black and tan dress is so classic, so I know I will be wearing it forever.

I also decided to stop at Target because I "needed" some more sandals. And apparently I needed some wedges???

Gotta love Steve Madden knock-offs :)

I have a problem. 

(The first step is admitting it, right?)

I can't keep track of the days...

It's just been one of those weeks where every day feels like another day of the week, and I woke up and went to work this morning not at all realizing it was Thursday. For some reason, I've been a bit out of it. Thankfully I had a fabulous day off yesterday (Wednesday, right?) in which I was able to sleep in a bit, make pancakes for me and my man, get some gym time in, get laundry done (finally!), shop for and cook a delicious meal for myself, Nick, and our good friend Andrew, enjoy some wine, and top off the night by making chocolate chip cookies (which were/are phenomenal.... next time you make cookies, use the dark chocolate chips from Nestle).

A little taste of the Northwest - 14 Hands: Hot to Trot.

Dinner: Ziti with tomatoes, artichokes, basil, and olives, broccoli, and french bread.

Now I'm spending my Thursday night off after a long day at work trying to decide whether I want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean or The Proposal, full from a yummy, home-made pizza and kale (and a Blue Moon).... I'm tired enough I may just go to bed early, even though I don't have to work until 5 tomorrow night... oh, how I love life after college: you get to stay in and be lame and no one gives you crap for it.

Happy Birthday, Miss Yentz!!!

In an outfit entirely supplied by her closet.... she even cut my hair before this picture was taken, haha. 

Lookin' good, as per usual.

Close-up!

The infamous night of debauchery and tapas.

After my senior recital last November.

I met this lovely lady when I was a student at Roosevelt. We didn't hang out a whole lot until the end of first semester, and once we spent more time together, we wondered why we never had and quickly realized we were meant to be.

Since then I left to go to Millikin, but we have managed to stay very close and to see each other every once in awhile, either during my visits to Chicago (that I need in order to stay sane), or her visit to Decatur, or through Skype dates off and on.

This girl is super talented (she's seriously good at everything.. not kidding), fiercely beautiful, whip-smart, kind-hearted, and ultra, ultra classy. Essentially, she is my brunette counterpart and the only one of my friends that I can share both clothing and shoes with. It's fate, I tell you! I'm so happy I met her now almost 4 years ago (WHAT?!)... who would've thought we'd become such great friends and that she'd be in my wedding one day? I sure didn't see that coming, but I'm glad things turned out that way :)

So, Jordy, I hope you have the happiest of birthdays, and I wish I could celebrate with you today! I love you so much! :)

It's Monday again already??

Well friends, a lot has happened since my last post on Thursday (still excited about that hahaha)...

For starters, Nick broke himself.

Well, he didn't actually break himself, but he was playing ultimate frisbee on Wednesday and when he jumped up to catch the disc he landed very very wrong on his right foot. He could wiggle his toes without excruciating pain, so we figured it wasn't broken, but boy was it swollen! He's iced it regularly and done some soaking back and forth between a bucket of ice and one with hot water and epsom salt, so since then the swelling has gone down, but now the bruising is what's bad. His foot has a rainbow of colors on it, and even between his toes is bruised! He's sore, but he's doing better, and of course I'm trying to nurse him back to health as best I can even though I have to leave him while I'm at work all day :( I feel terrible because my house is two stories, so after I get him cereal for breakfast and leave for work (like this morning), I come home to a very hungry boy because he doesn't want to deal with hobbling (or in most cases, crawling) down the stairs to get more food, and I don't blame him! Hopefully he'll be back on his feet soon!

Besides that whole unfortunate event, the past few days have been pretty good. I worked, made tips on Saturday (which are already gone due to late-night Jimmy John's after said serving shift and groceries... why must we eat so much?), sang for Jazz Sunday service at church, and had fun on my first floor set at The Limited. This weekend also brought an unexpected reunion. Friday night I received a call from our good friend, Brian Parrish, and his wife, Ashley. Brian is one of Nick's SAE brothers, and I first met him and Ashley during my visits to Millikin the year I was living in Chicago. Brian has been a great friend to Nick, and Ashley and I hit it off right away, and we always have fun when we're together! Anywho, they were going to be in Springfield from Friday to Saturday and wanted us to meet them for lunch on Saturday. We drove up with our other good friend, Andrew (Brian and Ashley are his "Bigs"), and stumbled upon a great all-you-can-eat sushi place for only $12.95!!! We were a little skeptical at first, but it turned out to be AMAZING. The sushi was so good and the pieces were all a pretty good size! We realized halfway through our meal that the $12.95 also included the Chinese buffet, and even though we were about to burst from the sushi, we of course hit up the buffet as well. It was "All-you-can-eat" after all...

Our meal was fantastic, but as all get-togethers with those two, it seemed to fly by way too fast. Brian and Ashley are two wonderful people who make you so happy just being around them. And when we all get together, there is lots of laughter. Not just any kind of laughter, but full, loud, and heartfelt laughter. It just makes you feel good. We said our goodbyes not knowing when we'd all get together, but knowing that it would always be like that whenever we did! The good thing is that I wasn't expecting to see them at all this weekend, but I did, and that's the best. Dontcha love it when life does that to you?

Now it's Monday, and after a rousing game of chess with Andrew (their new obsession.. it's kind of cute), Nick is read for some ice cream. Ta-ta for now!

Congratulations Michelle and Joe!!!

I woke up this morning still kind of hyperventilating from excitement.....

MICHELLE AND JOE ARE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

*moment for composure*

Ok, I'm better now.

But seriously, none of us saw this coming at ALL. She texted me last night telling me to come to SAE last night because she had something to tell me, but then decided she was coming back to our house, so I thought well it has to be something good, but I was not exactly expecting this! I had to go get some sour cream (which is a whole other story in itself.... but basically Nick and I found it was moldy after we had made everything for tacos and after I had already been to the store once after a long day at work. So. Annoying), and as I was walking up the to the house, so were Joe and Michelle. I was bitching about my sour cream adventures, and walked straight into the kitchen with them following. Finally, Michelle says, "So guess what?" and I turn around and she's holding up HER LEFT HAND with a beautiful 3-stone Princess cut ring (Joe did a good job, my friends). I screamed. Like, literally, the loudest, most high-pitched thing you can imagine. That was me. And then I attacked Michelle (and also Joe - not sure how he felt about that hahaha) with hugs and seriously had to keep myself from sobbing like a baby. And of course the rest of the roomies heard me scream and had some sort of an idea of what happened, so they came running down and it was just all happiness and joy and she told us the story and it's just perfect.

Michelle and Joe have been in it for the long haul, and I am so so SO happy that they are finally engaged! I mean, we all knew it was only a matter of time, they are moving in together this summer after all, but we did not expect it now, but I'm so glad it happened now!

So I am sending out yet another congratulations to Michelle and Joe - you guys have been so committed to each other for so long and I am so excited and happy for you that you are taking this next step! You truly love each other and that is a wonderful and (so it seems) rare thing these days.

Let the planning begin!!! :)

The adorable couple.

Summer Essentials.

Some well-fitting shorts for day or night.

Great wedges.

Statement jewelry - a bold ring.... 

.... and a pretty necklace.

I did a little shopping in Champaign today. My reason for going was because I had some clothes to take to Plato's Closet, for which I only got about $13 for and still had to take some back with me, but I also thought I'd check out Forever 21 for some cheap denim shorts and accessories (of course).

My theory after today is that everyone is making shorts smaller and tighter, and that is no good for me. I have a small waist, but I also have hips, and my thighs are not stick straight (I did play soccer for most of my life, after all). My goal was to get some denim cut-offs and maybe another white or black pair because my current pairs of shorts are too big, but I failed miserably. Nothing fit right! I tried F21, AE, Gap, literally everywhere! But no dice. Apparently they know how to make shorts that hit you right at your widest parts or just ones that make your butt look flat. All I wanted was a casual pair of denim cut-offs! What I did find were a few basics at F21 (camis, v-neck tee) to replace my worn out ones at home, and I found a ring similar to the one in the picture, except it was pink instead of black. So cute!

The necklace is from Francesca's, which is full of more cute jewelry and clothing. This specific necklace was only $28! It definitely looks like it's worth more! I love the gold mixed with the mint color - I'll be wearing it a lot with simple tees and tanks this summer!

I drove home a little discouraged, but decided to give the shorts one final try at good 'ole Target back in Decatur. The denim shorts were also micro there, but instead, I found these tailored Mossimo shorts and bought them in black and a dark denim (they also come in khaki, white, purple, and a burgundy color). They were actually the right length and the tailoring makes them fit great! I guess I'll have to give up on relaxed denim cut-offs for now, but I love that I can dress these ones up or down. And I really don't wear relaxed denim shorts that much anyway, so I guess everything worked out for the best! Especially since those little baby wedges were on sale at Target for $8.98. Seriously, I'm not even joking about that. SUCH A STEAL. I can't wait to wear them with my cute shorts and basically everything else this summer :) Now I'm all stocked up on what I need for the summer, and am officially DONE shopping.... at least that's what I tell myself ;)

What are your summer essentials?

Music Monday

So Music Monday has been gone for a bit, but now it's back! For now....

I had the pleasure of singing a duet from the Bach Cantata, "Wer da glaübet und getauft wird", at church yesterday morning. I started learning it on Wednesday, and it was early in the morning, so it definitely could have been better, but it actually went fairly well, all things considered! It was really fun because our director brought in strings from U of I and we had a couple of Millikin professors singing the other solos and adding some sound to the choral parts, and the entire cantata sounded awesome. Give it a listen if you can sometime, but here's the duet that I sang with a fellow U-Choir member, Katie:

I sang the soprano part, and in no way is my voice light and floaty like this (wouldn't that be nice), but my voice does like early music! This is super pretty, and I would love to sing it again sometime and really work it some more!