Don't Hate Me

I'll be back to my regular blogging OH, SO SOON.  I am under massive deadlines at work and have also managed to throw out my back a bit the last few days.  Fun!  The deadlines will be over after next week and then I'll be back with a bunch of posts I've been working on, including:

- Several Weekend Date posts for Humboldt Park, Superdawg, and a quick (pet friendly) trip to Milwaukee
- Marriage Monday posts about...SEX!!  Gasp!
- Wedding Wednesday posts for creative guestbooks
- Friday dances with gorgeous weddings

and so much more, including List for 2012 updates, and my May reading list!

But all of these things require time and energy, neither of which I currently have.  Soon, though, I'll be back to my old tricks.  In the mean time, don't hate me.  : )

See you guys SOOO soon!  In the mean time, enjoy this new Beach House song which I'm OBSESSED with!



P.S.  Did you see that the lovely Sara had her beautiful baby??  A big congrats to the new mom!

Mother's Day

I had to write a post here that shows how much I love mothers since I'm bashing some of them on my other blog.  Don't hate me.  Instead, focus on the pretty brunch I threw for my mother.

(More pictures and all the details after the jump!)

I Saw Him Dancing There by the Record Machine

This week has gone by soooo slowly.  Glacially slow.  And I am tired.  I can't believe I still have to work today.  Plus, I have so much work to do this weekend!  It just never ends, does it?  On the plus side, the weather is finally warming up, so we are getting the garden all ready and though it is slow going, it's getting done.  Bit by bit.  : )

This week, I'm giving you an adorable retro engagement session.  This couple is so badass, and effortlessly so.  Lisa and Ollie's beautiful photographs are by Bekki Draper.  Ready to feel very unhip?

Weekend Date: The Logan Theater

Date Category: Saturday Date

Neighborhood: Logan Square (Northwest side)
Expect to Spend: Around $14 for two movie tickets alone; $20-25 with snacks; If you hit the lounge beforehand, expect to spend around $35-50 for drinks, movie tickets, and theater snacks for two

The Logan Theater has been around for decades.  Formerly a family owned and operated theater showing mid- and last-run movies for three bucks a pop, the Logan was one of the last cheap theaters in Chicago.  I have a special place in my heart for theaters like the Logan because, as a child, my father and I used to spend Sundays at the Village Theater in Old Town.  We would watch double features for $5 and then he would take me back to my mom's place.

The old Village Theater...$2.50 a ticket!!!

These theaters barely exist anymore, though, and Logan was one of the last.  When A.P. and I first discovered the theater, we fell in love.  For one thing, the tickets were, again, $3 a piece! For another, it's right up the street from us, in Logan Square.  Plus, even with a bunch of snacks, our total tab for the night would be just above $20!  What a cheap date night, huh?

Decision Making Tools

It's been decided. From now on, I am making all important decisions this way:

How should I deal with my boss who blew off an important meeting??  Impale evil things!  Of course!

How should I respond to A.P. when he complains I'm not paying attention to The Voice??  Whinny and rear?  Sounds good to me.

What should I do when my mother makes me angry??  Nuzzle a newborn.  Der.

Seriously, peeps, go to the site and spin the wheel and answer the question you've always wondered...What would a unicorn do?

(Photo via here)

Marriage Mondays: Making New Friends

As I've gotten older, it's become harder and harder to make friends.  Finding people you get along with well enough to want to spend time with them gets more and more difficult when your time becomes more limited.  It seems like I am in fewer and fewer social situations where I can meet new people who would want to develop friendships.  Plus, if you're anything like A.P. and me, you don't necessarily want all your friends to come from the workplace since you need a break from those people.

Lately, though, A.P. and I have wished we had more friends in common or even couples to hang out with.  I have a lot of friends of my own, but A.P. only has a few.  Some of those few have moved away and he rarely hangs out with the ones still living locally.  And my friends that he really likes and would spend time with live out of state.  Which means that we basically have zero friends in common and zero couples to hang out with.

When you are in a relationship, you sometimes bring the dwindling number of friends on yourself.  To a certain extent, I know some of the friends we've lost over the years were our own faults.  We outgrew them, they moved away and we didn't stay in touch, etc.  But lately, we've been craving finding great people to hang out with that we both get along with.

When we went to Clandestino a few weeks ago, we met a great couple who were a lot like us.  This past weekend, we had a lovely dinner with them.  It was so refreshing to find people we both get along with.  I kept joking to A.P. that this was our second date with them and that we had to be on our best behavior.  No freak flag flying!  : )  Seriously, though, that event seemed like such a rarity.  Meeting this couple was great, but such a fluke!  We were so happy to meet and make new friends, but how in the world do you replicate that?

Have you had trouble making friends as you get older?  If you're in a couple, have you had trouble making couple friends?  How do you make and keep good friends as you get older?

(Photo by deflam via Flickr)


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Wedding Wednesday: Etsy Finally Joins the Dark Side

Aka the wedding side.  Yes, for those of you brides (or grooms...who knows, maybe I have male lurkers?) who haven't heard yet, one of favorite sites, etsy, has finally launched a wedding division of their site.  Look at it in all its beauty!

Here, you can shop for wedding related things or even...gasp!...register for gifts!  Oh how I wish this had existed when I was getting married!  It's so rad.  Check it out here!

All of the Books

So, I readily admit that I have not been keeping up with my reading goal as much as I would have liked.  But just having the goal has made a difference in my life.  I've probably already read more this year than I did in total last year.

That being said, I still am not as spot on with the goal as I'd like.  For instance, I totally didn't read anything in February.  Actually I started The Hunger Games (see below), but really only ready 20 pages or so, which doesn't really count.  And in April, I only read one book, but once you see what it is, you'll see it was book enough for a month.  : )  Here's what I've read since our last update!