the weekender

So this weekend I bravely committed to a three day weekend away from the baby with Darrell.  Our friends were getting married in Chicago on Saturday, my birthday was on Friday, and we got a room at the Westin on Hotwire for $90.  So basically, the universe was saying YES, GO.  I was terrified to leave her, but we needed a weekend to ourselves pretty badly, so off we went.  

Our hotel was right along the river, and we had possibly the most gorgeous weather that Chicago has seen all year long.  What did we do in the city? 

Lots of this...

and this....

and this.  

Give me a break, okay?  It was my birthday.  Plus, the baby was in great hands.  

This is Claire & my grandma, her great grandmother who she obviously adores.  Between her and my parents Claire probably had the best weekend of her life so far.  

After a day of eating and drinking in the city, we headed to potentially the most Pinteresting wedding of all time, where our friends Karlien & Bryan tied the knot.   It was also on a farm, where our dinner was grown, and let me just say - best wedding food EVER.  

Wedding selfie.  

And sorry Alex, that's what you get for leaving that on our phone!  

Needless to say, we were exhausted by Monday, but thrilled to be reunited with Claire.  Oh, and last week I said I had an announcement (and I do!) but first I have to say - it was HILARIOUS how many of you thought I might be pregnant again.  First of all, no.  Second of all, who celebrates being pregnant by drinking wine??

The announcement is that Darrell got a fancy new job, which is what we were celebrating, and he started yesterday.  It's a really fantastic opportunity for him, and we are hoping that he just loves it.  Congrats, babe!  

awkward & awesome tuesday

Awkward 

On our drive home to Claire after being away all weekend, we not only got stopped by a train when we were 5 minutes out, but then Darrell got pulled over for speeding in literally the last mile of our drive.  My tears didn't sway the officer, Darrell got a ticket, but it may have been deserved.  We were driving pretty fast!  

While at our friends' wedding this weekend, I had to pump since I was away from the baby during her normal feeding times.  I thought we had parked in the most discreet location possible (far out by some dumpsters) but of course those dumpsters were where the wedding staff was taking all the trash intermittently.  There was an awkward nod to the employee whose facial expression could only be described as shocked & confused.  She was pretty young and I'm guessing she had absolutely no clue what I could be doing.  

I bought a dog clipper set to trim our dogs between appointments, since our regular groomer is ALWAYS overbooked.  It turned out to be quite the misguided idea.  I have no skills in that area & since Gatsby went first, he got the brunt of it.  He looks TERRIBLE and his regular grooming appointment is still and month and a half away.  Thankfully, I decided better than to tackle doing Fitz, so he still has his dignity. 

Awesome

This super cheesy mom & baby selfie is probably my favorite moment of the entire weekend, so it had to be documented.  Three days apart may have been just a bit too long, I was a little bit hysterical when we were reunited.  

My parents, for watching Claire all weekend, and the constant photo updates they sent us.  It made our day to get a video of her coo-ing away.  

Baby shopping in Chicago!  We don't have Zara or H&M kids yet in St Louis, so it was fun to pick up a few things in person that I''d had pinned for a while.  

Upgraded hotel rooms.  I pulled the "it's my birthday" card all day Friday and it actually worked!  

friday link love

Guess what today is??? It's my 26th birthday!  Now 26, not a very exciting age.  Just that much closer to 30 I suppose - although admittedly, I'm pretty excited about getting to 30. I mean, I have a husband, a baby, and a few dogs.  At this point, I'm thinking that I've already kind of let my twenties down a bit.  I usually go to bed around 9 pm, for crying out loud.  Shame on this twenty-something. 

But not today!  Today, I'm gonna act my age, because we have left the baby with my parents for TWO WHOLE DAYS.  We're off to Chicago for shopping, wine drinking, dinner-dating, and a wedding.  I'm gonna wear dresses that aren't functional for nursing and carry a teeny tiny purse.  I'm also probably going to do some dancing to very cheesy wedding band songs, and I sure do hope they play "SHOUT!" (Come on, you know you love it.  Weddings are the best.)  

But even if it's not, why don't you just party like it's your birthday this weekend, okay?  Because summer's almost over, and we all need to make the most of it.  Pep talk, finished.  

Here are this week's favorite links!  

Do you ever wonder what people who are constantly late are thinking?  

Anthony Bourdain's travel tips.  

In case you're having a low key weekend in, here is a list of the best romantic comedies.  

Sonnet James has the last few of their summer dresses on sale - fall pre-orders open Monday!

How your name affects your success.  

The state of our house has been really stressing me out lately, so we're going to attempt a cleaning schedule.  Wish us luck!  

Got any recommendations for a great breakfast in Chicago?  We're already going here for dinner.  

Attempting to make this my motto right now.  

get me dressed/saturday night bbq

Saturday evening our friends decided to throw an impromptu bbq, which was awesome because Darrell & I had no sitter planned, and it's always easier for us to bring Claire with us to a friend's private home.  Not so easy?  Getting dressed for the night.  I think I spent 30 minutes tearing my closet apart, because so far summer has been really mild & I've been able to stay more covered up; Saturday it was over 100 degrees!  After convincing my husband I'd totally lost it, I managed to pull together this incredibly basic but comfy outfit, which is actually a dress I deemed too bare on top combined with a simple black tee.  On a side note, why do all the clothes you used to think were downright conservative suddenly seem too short, too tight, too revealing once you become a mom?  

Since this style post isn't too instructive, I thought I'd better tell you about the cocktail I'm drinking.  It's a super refreshing low calorie sipper that's perfect for this late summer heat wave.  

Strawberry Basil Prosecco

1 bottle prosecco

15-ish strawberries

10 basil leaves

In a blender or food processor, combine the strawberries and basil until pureed.  Mix together the puree & prosecco, and add to the top several "smacked" basil leaves (clap the leaves between your hands to release the flavor!)  When pouring for guests, serve over ice.  

cardigans for autumn

Summer seems to have finally shown up in St. Louis, right around the time when we're all totally over the heat and ready to be shopping for fall clothes.  Personally, I cannot wait until my daily outfit can be some approximation of this: 

As much as I'd like to say I was super excited about the latest in avant-garde fashion for fall, I am just SO ABSOLUTELY NOT.  I want cozy, boring, cute, easy to wear.  Sundresses are all well and good, but lately my options are limited to all things mom-friendly (read: nursing friendly), which has basically resulted in my wearing a Sonnet James dress every.  single.  day.  And I love those dresses (LOVE!) but I think their constant rotation has become somewhat of an assault to my husband's eyeballs.  

So in the interest of optimism and maybe some wishful thinking that the universe will listen and lower the temps to highs in the 70s, here is a little round-up of my favorite cardigans for this fall.  

clockwise from top left: 

1.  nakoma open cardigan, white plum boutique

2.  mint cardigan, modcloth

3.  red mixed-stripe cardigan, modcloth

4.  woven geo pattern cardigan, nordstrom

5.  mallory open cardigan, white plum boutique

6.  draped colorblock cardigan, macys

7.  biya open embroidered cardigan, free people

Now, does anyone want to buy #7 for me?  Because I'm pretty sure if I owned that beauty I'd start wearing it tomorrow, 100% humidity and all.