Fun fact: my great grandfather Giuseppe was once arrested because the police thought he was Al Capone. I love this big image of Old Scarface at Untitled because while my great grandfather did not peddle illegal booze or run an organized crime ring, I’d like to think he’d appreciate us having prohibition-style cocktails at an underground bar with live jazz. Sorry about the arrest thing though, G.
I ordered my first pair of Warby Parker glasses 3 years ago, love them, Ryan is waiting for his 3rd pair to come in the mail and I was contemplating getting another pair when we came across this on our morning walk: the Warby Parker bus. On a cross-country “class trip“, this bus will be at Halsted and North Ave until mid-October and has the full collection to try on. So instead of waiting for 5 try-on pairs to come in the mail, I boarded the bus, checked out their super cool collection of 1st & 2nd edition books and chose my glasses. And all I left the house wanting this morning was coffee. Warby Parker is about the most convenient (and at $95 a pair, the cheapest) thing ever and this adorable little bus just took it to another (hipster chic) level.
I savored every sunset in our old place downtown and wondered if I would ever get over how striking the pinks, yellows and blues looked against skyscrapers and highways. Walking out on to our new porch tonight and seeing this makes me feel like the view is going to be pretty darn great here as well.
Happy. Friday.
It feels like it may take a decade to unpack but…we’re here. And it feels like home already.
It’s at the point where I’d rather throw out everything I own rather than pack another box. I’m not one to wish away time but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish it were tomorrow night.
This weekend was for wedding dress shopping. On Friday, my friend Kate and I did a test run appointment because I was sort of nervous and on Saturday, my mom came into town to do the whole shebang. We did traditional appointments, we went to a super fun off-the-rack couture gown place, did a spin through shoe stores on Oak St, had bubbly and lunch outside at Gibson’s and, in the end, returned to the place Kate and I went on Friday for the dress. It was a blast.
Someone told me a few weeks ago that finding a wedding dress is like dating- you know when you find The One and the whole process mirrors what it’s like to date.
No. No, it does not.
There was not a single time during my dating life where I felt bad identifying that there was no way in hell that a particular guy was right for me. I didn’t go “Oh but if I wanted to be with someone who has a serious drinking problem, this would be the guy for me!” or “Awww, this guy would go so well if I had a desire to live in a rural area” or “Shoot! My self respect is just going to rule this guy out.” Not once. Not for a minute. But that’s exactly how dress shopping was. Even if I didn’t love a dress or a certain dress wasn’t what I was looking for, I felt guilty for saying so and wanted to express all of the great qualities if the dress. I mean, I was trying on beautiful white dresses and I had to insult the pretty things just because one wasn’t my jam? It felt so wrong!
Instead, there was a lot of “If I were getting married on a Southern plantation, this dress would be perfect!” and “Please show this to your next client with a beach wedding” and “This dress is going to find a perfect home, I know it!”. So the moral of the story is that wedding dress shopping is not at all like dating but it is like being at the animal shelter. Only the right pet will do but you totally want the other puppies to find good homes too.
So either I was really bad at dating (likely) or really good at dress shopping or (most likely) really bad at analogies. But I won’t be naked while marrying the man I do know is right for me and I think that trumps everything.
We put an offer in on a condo this weekend. It’s amazing and exciting and also makes us want to throw up. I always thought that when I went to buy a house, it would be all “Here’s my money” and the owners would go “omg, thank you Nina!” and that would be that. Instead, there’s competition, offer deadlines and waiting on pins and needles to see if this dream home, a place where we can see ourselves putting down long term roots, is really going to become ours.
Ryan and I got home after our millionth walk this evening (sitting still is impossible!) and I had received this picture in a text from my Dad. He and my step-mom literally have their fingers crossed for good news for us and I received similar sentiments from my mom and best friends today. It’s pretty awesome to know that condo or no condo, we have people in our corner rooting for us. It’s actually better than getting the house- we have our home team and that makes us the luckiest people in the world.
However, if we DO get the condo, we can invite everyone to uncross their fingers and come over to our bamf new rooftop deck for celebratory bubbly. Just sayin’.
FINGERS CROSSED!
You know those weekends that are so simply great that Monday comes and you spend a decent part of the day questioning why the weekend is over and why can’t fun weekends like that last forever and why is it Monday already dammit? Yeah. That.
Highlights included the Sheffield Garden Walk with friends we have a blast with and do not see often enough, followed by Pequod’s and a Sunday spent at the beach. Add in a few good runs, errands and even some sleeping in and you pretty much have my best weekend ever. I’m excited about the upcoming week now but man, weekends occupied with music, pizza, beach and love are hard to leave behind.
And c’mon-Pequod’s? I love love love Pequod’s and hate hate hate that their delivery radius is like 2 square blocks. Our friend Allison is gorgeously 9 months pregnant and we sent the leftovers home with her and her cool husband…it was the right thing to do but man- Ry and I sure wished we had cold Pequod’s the following morning.
Yay- it’s Saturday!
The storm last night brought some relief from the heat and it’s a gorgeous day for going to the market, spending some time at the pool/beach and hitting up a street festival or two- all things that are on our agenda. Summer is the best and summer in Chicago…it’s my absolute favorite.
I love Über so much as it is and today, not only can you request a black car but you can request an ICE CREAM TRUCK. Saw it, it’s true. True and amazing.