Birthdays are my favorite and I kicked off my birthday this year, my golden birthday, with a surprise present from Andrew. We don't usually do presents but he found an artist that would paint a creative picture of our cats, Merrill and Timmy, and our turtle, Ferd. The final product was a beautiful, wild picture of my animals.
On Thursday night we headed to Chicago to visit my Aunt. We stayed with her in her beautiful house in Highland Park on Thursday night and celebrated my birthday morning with blow outs and fruit cake.
After cake we headed into Chicago to spend a day in the city. We took my aunt's convertible and drove along the North Shore in Chicago's most beautiful neighborhoods.
We ate a late lunch at one of my favorite Chicago restaurants, Fig and Olive, on Oak Street. The atmosphere is very LA and we had seats in a super comfortable table by the floor to ceiling windows.
After lunch we headed to the Trump Tower to get on an architectural boat tour of the city. The weather was perfect and it was a great way to see the city! I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Chicago.
After the boat tour we headed to Wicker Park for happy hour with my favorite Chicago Accenture friends. We had a really fun night hanging out, drinking pink champagne, and celebrating my birthday. I could not have asked for a better way to celebrate my birthday!
We spent Friday night with our friends, Emily and Scott, in their lovely apartment in the Gold Coast. The weather wasn't fantastic so, after a long run around the lake, we hung out in their apartment. We met up for happy hour with a very good friend from Ohio, Beth, which was so so nice.
Unfortunately, I did a really bad job at taking pictures of all the great people we were with all weekend. Our hosts were truly fantastic - we drank lots of Prosecco and got our very own piano concert by our friend Will before dinner.
Before heading back to Philly on Sunday morning, we took a walk to visit the Bean in Millennium Park. The trip to Chicago reminded me of what a great Chicago city is and how much I love my Chicago friends! I really could have not asked for a better trip with my favorite people!
The past two weekends have been spent with family and friends, enjoying the final weeks of summer. Last weekend we were in Kutztown, celebrating Mirky's birthday! We took advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday with an early morning long run and our first golf outing in years. I am definitely hoping to get back into golf, it really is a great sport.
On Saturday night, Kurty cooked up a storm and we celebrated Mirk's birthday over home made food and bocce in the backyard. The gardens are gorgeous at this time of year and it was a really lovely night with the family.
We were up way too early Sunday morning to head back to Philly. I signed up for a Cystic Fibrosis ride with the Vynamic team and it was finally the big day! I didn't exactly do the training I had anticipated on doing, but it ended up being a really fun day!
Last weekend we had a jam packed schedule, starting with a wedding at Curtis Arboretum for Andrew's co worker on Friday night. I got my hair cut and was feeling fabulous before the wedding, which is always nice! It was a beautiful night and I spent it on the dance floor with Andrew.
On Saturday night we were lucky enough to win tickets to an Eagles' game with Vynamic. This year Vynamic has a suite for recruiting purposes, but team members have full access to some games as well! We even got to go in the tunnel and watch the players come in from warm up and head out to the game. It was VERY cool.
It was a busy weekend so we are taking it easy this week in preparation for my Chicago birthday weekend! Already can't wait!!
When I joined Accenture in July 2010, I had just moved to Philadelphia and was immediately traveling to Dallas, TX every Monday-Thursday. I was never home and not at all rooted in Philadelphia, so I chose a project in Philadelphia, in an area of business I knew nothing about. Luckily, I had two great managers, Emily and Laura, who would teach me everything I needed to know and become great friends. Laura and I got married the same summer and when Emily got married in Maui last October, we spent a week together exploring Maui with our husbands.
This weekend I headed to Nashville to celebrate another big life milestone - Laura is pregnant with a baby boy!! The trip to Nashville was perfect timing, as I just wrapped up my Long Island project and I had some time on the bench. I took Friday off, went for a long run along the Nashville Rock & Roll half marathon route, and met up with an Exec from Vynamic for breakfast in 12 South while Emily and Laura wrapped up work. We got "famous" coffee and an awesome burrito at Frothy Monkey, which I highly recommend.
We spent Friday getting ready for the baby shower and exploring Nashville a bit. It was a busy day and all the planning made me realize how exciting having a baby will be...but I need a few years of freedom until I'm ready! We met up for dinner in East Nashville in a new restaurant, The Little Octopus, which was awesome.
After a delicious dinner, we stopped at a small bar in East Nashville, The Crying Wolf, to visit a friend that was dj'ing. The bar definitely smelled like hamburgers but it was interesting to see how Nashville'ians party. After a drink, we were whisked off to Broadway Street in downtown Nashville for some Honky Tonk.
I am not a huge fan of country music but a night out in Nashville is definitely a fun time. We stopped in a few bars and ultimately ended at Robert's Western World, which was recommended to me by my Vynamic Exec. I, Emma Haughton, danced to country music. It was wild.
It was a late night and we were up early Saturday morning to help prepare for the baby shower. If I said I felt awesome, I would be lying, but the baby shower was so lovely, I couldn't help but be anything but excited for Laura and Dan!
On Sunday morning we met for brunch at Pinewood Social before I headed to the airport. The brunch was really terrific and it was a great way to say goodbye to the girls. Until next time, Nashville...
