Vacation!!!

The last week of May brought some much needed relaxation time for Andy and I. We headed out Tuesday after work to drive half way to Richmond. We went for a great dinner at Edo's Squid (a family style Italian place in downtown Richmond). It was delicious and the perfect starting point for our vacation!! The next morning we got up early (thanks to me) to head out for our final destination of Ocracoke Island, NC (Outerbanks). It was a long drive, but so worth it!! Before we could actually get to Ocracoke, we had to load up on a ferry boat as that is the only way to access the island. The island was a tiny little thing that you could pretty much just walk all around. I've been to a lot of beaches before, but I have to say this was one of the most beautiful. All of the beach was undeveloped and just very natural. The sand dunes were amazing and the beach was just so clean and great for walking. Ocracoke itself had a lot of great little restaurants, which we sampled quite a few of!! We had 1 really great beach day, but then some cooler weather set in. We decided to head home 1 day early due to the weather. Well, we didn't technically head home, but drove to Williamsburg, to spend the night there. We did some shopping at the outlet mall, had a great dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then headed to see Pat (Andy's friend from college) who happened to be tending bar that night. It was great to catch up with him as he and Avery had just gotten engaged and he had just got his hair cut into a mullet (some sort of show of support to the Blackhawks). To end our vacation we stopped at my favorite mall in Richmond to do a bit more shopping and then finally headed back home to reality. Luckily it was only Saturday when we got back and we still had Sunday & Monday off to relax!! All in all a great trip!!

Weekend in Chicago

I've been slacking, so I will have to catch up with everyone!! The 3rd weekend of May, I headed to Chicago for a girls weekend. We packed a ton into 1 weekend, but it was a blast. It started Friday afternoon when Meg's picked me up at the airport. We then jumped over to the other airport in Chicago to scoop up Molly. Then it was off to the city to do a little shopping, lunch, manicures and just some general walking around. We then headed back to Meg's apt to get ready for the evenings festivities. Since everyone was in town for Lawley's wedding; we decided to have a little baby shower for Molly and Adam. We started off the night by going to Top Chef Master, Grahm Elliot's restaurant. It was so neat going to a celebrity chef restaurant, and he was even there at the hostess stand when we walked in!! We had a great dinner with Meg's, Molly, Adam, Bayer, Amy and Emily (Molly's cousin). Andrea, Lawley and Mary were obviously busy with pre-wedding festivities!! Then after dinner we headed over to Navy Pier to go on the Panichi's boat for the actual baby shower where Katie also joined us. We had some dessert and got to catch up. It was so nice seeing Meg's parent's as it had been so long since I had seen them!! Molly got some super cute outfits and really enjoyed the shower After a great night, we headed back to Meg's apt (me, Katie, Meg's and Molly & Adam). Saturday morning we set out on a long walk to downtown Chicago to do some shopping at Watertower place. We didn't have a ton of time, so we had to hurry back to we could head to the 'burbs to check into our hotel and get ready for Lawley's wedding. Side note: there was significant traffic so we had to take these back roads. It got a little stressful, but finally we made it to the hotel with 45 minutes to shower and get ready. We made it right on time to Lawley's wedding!! The wedding was great; she looked gorgeous!! It was so much fun just catching up with everyone and spending quite a bit of time on the dance floor having fun with the girls!! It has been way to long since we have all had some quality time together. We all committed to do a long weekend getaway next summer; probably somewhere on the beach...I can't wait!!!!!!!!!
All in all, it was a great weekend! I had so much fun hanging out with the girls and just spending some quality time together. I can't wait until the next time we are all together!! Also, I can't wait to meet Molly's little one soon!!!