Chris and Leslye's Wedding Weekend!

This past weekend Ben and I went to Atlanta to see two of my friends get married- Chris and Leslye.  They are both so fun, energetic, wonderful people and I was so happy they invited us to be a part of their special day.  Thursday night, Leslye's best friend Lindsay hosted a fabulous bachelorette evening in midtown Atlanta.

I missed the memo that we were supposed to wear pink or coral.  Don't all the ladies look beautiful?

Friday night was the wedding.  Leslye and Chris got married at the Solarium in Decatur and it was absolutely beautiful.  The wedding was outside and our friend Jason married Chris and Leslye.  Chris had on a really cool cream summer suit and Leslye had on one of the most beautiful wedding dresses I have ever seen!

After the service we went inside and spent the evening dancing, eating, and having a fabulous time.  This wedding was so much fun and I really, really enjoyed seeing all of my Atlanta friends again.

First dance... Leslye, your dress is FABULOUS!!!

Cutting the beautiful cake.

Hanging with Simone.

Group photo of the Atlanta crew.

Fabulous ladies

Isn't Ben the cutest?

Thank you Leslye and Chris for having us, we had a wonderful time and your wedding was so much fun!

Blind Sided

The movie, The Blind Side, always struck a cord with me.  I left the movie theater wanting to immediately watch the movie again.  The movie moved me to my core and the message I took away that day has stuck in my head ever since.

A few months ago, my mom let me borrow a book, In a Heartbeat, it was the story of Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy.  I added the book to my ever growing stack of must reads and I finally got around to it last week.  I have not been able to put this book down.

Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"No one has ever become poor by giving." - Anne Frank

"Character is something that you cannot buy, and it's something that cannot be taken from you.  You can only lose it.  It's the most important thing you own." - Sean Tuohy

"God gives you money because he wants to see how you handle it." -Leigh Anne Tuohy

Please read this book.  It is great!

CHICAGO!!! - Part 2

It has taken awhile but I am finishing my post on Chi-town.  With Chicago sports being replayed on PTI it reminded me that I need to finish my Chicago post.  Ha!  Anywho, Ben and I continued to have a fantastic time in the windy city on Wednesday.  I went shopping on the Magnificent Mile and Wednesday night we went to a Cubs game.

Tulips along the Magnificent Mile.

Ben at the bean.

Moi at the bean in Millennium Park.

Cubs Game!!!

Started off beautiful.

Nice and sunny.

Then the skies opened up...

I thought this was cool. 

 It stopped raining, and the field crew is removing the tarp.

"Sweeping" the water off the field

Rolling the tarp back up.

Beautiful field again. :)

On Thursday, I went to a spa and spent the afternoon relaxing.  Thursday evening, Ben and I flew back to DC and returned to reality.  I loved Chicago and can't wait to go back.  :)

CHICAGO!!! - Part 1

Last week, Ben and I went to Chicago - he had a business trip and I tagged along because 1) I've never been to Chicago and 2) it was our 2nd wedding anniversary!

Let me continue this blog by stating.... OMG I love Chicago!  The city was fabulous!  We had fantastic weather (low 80s) and I got to see all the sights (while Ben had to work, ha!).  Our hotel is called the Palmer House Hilton and it was right in the middle of everything.  I feel so fortunate that we got to stay at such a beautiful hotel (Ben's conference was in the hotel) in a wonderful, beautiful city. 

We flew to Chicago on Monday night and after we checked into our hotel we went out to celebrate our anniversary at this cool restaurant down the street from our hotel.  On the way to the restaurant I quickly learned why Chicago is called the windy city... we almost got blown away walking 2 blocks to grab a drink.

On Tuesday morning, I slept in (ha!) and then went to Millenium Park and The Art Institute of Chicago.

The city has beautiful tulips everywhere.

I went to meet Ben for lunch at noon and then went back to the museum because I came across two whole rooms of my favorite... Impressionist!  Monet is my absolute favorite and they had 14 of his pieces on display.

This is my favorite Monet (I've actually seen it on display in 2 other museums)

In the late afternoon I made a trip over to the Sears Tower, now known as Willis Tower (look it up).  I rode the elevator 103 floors and I was on top of the world!  Willis Tower is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.  I could see 4 states from my view point.  :)

The tall building in the background with the two white pieces is the John Hancock Building.

Thought this was cool.

On Tuesday night we went to Navy Pier and had a good ole time.  Below is the photographic evidence.

I like this picture.  I think it's cool that the city is in the background.

Chicago is awesome.

I will blog about the rest of our trip later.  I didn't realize until I started this post that I took a ton of pictures and I am having trouble deciding which ones to put up.  I loved Chicago and I will be back.  :)



Jim and Anuja got married!!!

We went to Cleveland this past weekend for Jim and Anuja's wedding.
Enjoy the pictures!

Rehearsal: Jim and his grandmother

Anuja and her parents

Ben rehearsing the passage he was going to read

Party room after the rehearsal dinner

Jim and Anuja's seats at the reception

Family table at the reception, so beautiful!!!

Cookie table, a Pittsburgh tradition!

Our table of fabulousness

Ben and Jim

Ben, Jim, Anuja, and me

 Jim and I doing the cupid shuffle

Ben, me, Bridgette, and Adam



Weekend round-up

This past weekend has been incredibly busy.  On Saturday morning I got up early and drove to some random building to take the VCLA test.  For those of you that are not teachers in Virginia, it is a test on reading and writing comprehension that is required for all those that want a Virginia teaching license.  Since Ben keeps telling me that yes, I do want a Virginia teaching license, then I need to go and take the test.  So I did and hopefully I passed. :)

While I was taking my test, Ben went to play tennis with his friend Andy.  After my test, I went to the gym and Ben put up some much needed shelving in the garage.  Once I got home we went across town to Lowe's and bought a grill (yay!).  We then decided to throw an impromptu grill party (?) and invited over a few people to have hot dogs and BBQ chicken. 

Post food: All smiling faces :)

Sunday morning I woke up early again (not on purpose this time) and Ben and I decided to spend the day shopping for a variety of things: wedding gifts, items for our house, and anniversary gifts for each other.  Next week is our 2 year anniversary!  We left the house at 11am and returned at 5pm.  For those of you that know Ben, you know he is not a "shopper".  We had fun and accomplished almost everything on our to-do list.  Now we are back at home and I can hear Ben downstairs hammering away and installing more shelves for me.  Thanks Sally Anne and Al for all the shelving!