Birth-o-Ween 2010!

I'M OFFICIALLY 21!!

I could really end this post there because this has been the moment EVERYONE in my personal and social life has been waiting for. But I won't deprive you of the pictures from this life-changing event.

Joe came up on Wednesday, my mom came up on Thursday, and then my dad and sister came up on Friday and Saturday. We took it easy on friday to prepare for the upcoming shenanigans. On Saturday, we started the night by going to a yummy Italian restaurant in my area called Carmine's.

From there, we went home and got our costumes on.
At midnight, when I officially turned 21, we met some of my friends out at a bar to begin the night. Mom and dad made it til 3 am that night and then we all went home because we had another day planned of fun!

      

        On Sunday morning we headed to our good old Packer bar, The Spot. I had my first trip to the amazing bloody mary bar as a 21 year old. They gave me a special desert, gave me free packer bombs, and sang me happy birthday. And it all ended with a Packer win!!! (Note the sweet 21/Halloween sash that my mother made).
















We came home to open presents and I got tons of good stuff! The fam planned 21 presents all falling under a "bow" theme because I love all things with bows!

Sunday night was the best of all when we did a family pub crawl to the bars in my neighborhood. EVERYONE there was dressed up and they went ALL OUT! There was free champagne, costume contests, free drinks, etc just the way a 21st birthday should be!

             On Monday, the family left and I took Joe to my favorite restaurant of all time, The Melting Pot. It was a great weekend, and it will be an even better year now that I can order ANYTHING I want on the menu from a water with lemon to a Singapore Sling.

The Patch!

Last weekend my girlfriends and I drove out to the 'burbs to go to the pumpkin patch. We wanted to have some fall fun and find our perfect pumpkins to carve. This Patch did not disappoint. You don't even understand...there were carnival rides, a game room, a hay ride, a haunted house, food stands EVERYWHERE, a costume shop, a fall goods store, AND pumpkins everywhere you looked! We each got a pumpkin, and we bought some caramel apples and apple cider to enjoy later that night.

I'm the same size as last year...bummer.

Happy cows come from.....WISCONSIN!

The whole gang on the hayride!

I won a Halloween ring playing Bozo Buckets. (Note the deer mounted on the wall)

The Pumpkin Express

We went back to my apartment afterwards and made some apple cider martinis. We carved our pumpkins; I did a Green Bay Packer helmet, of course, and we watched The Scream Team on Disney Channel. It was a delightful fall day and now we can look forward to next weekend---which is my 21st BIRTHDAY!!!

 

Rocktober 2010

October Rocks.

Seriously, what better month is there than October?

It's warm, never hot and chilly, never cold. The leaves crunch under your Uggs (no judging here people...they are comfortable) as you walk down the sidewalk. It smells like football. Every restaurant/cafe has something that is pumpkin flavored. It's the bomb dot com.

When I think October I think of the word "blustery" because it was used in an autumn themed Winnie-The-Pooh book I used to read in Kindergarten or something. I also think of this sweater I had in 1st grade. It was a red, zip-up cardigan with multi-colored stitching woven in patterns across the chest (remember mom? Scan me a picture if you have one). It also had a quarter-sized stuffed heart used as a pulley for the zipper. I'm sure my family would say this is a "made up emily memory", but I seriously remember wearing that sweater to play in the leaves the day I got it even though it was probably cold enough to wear a real jacket.

And did I mention my Birth-o-Ween? Thank you to my dear friend from high school, Megan Ogar, who coined that phrase on my 18th Birthday and painted it on my favorite picture frame that she hand made for me. (Always give credit where credit is due) :)

Also, I'd like to make it known that in October we do not use the F-word. We say, "Pumpkin" in place of that word. For example, "It's pumpkin cold out here!" or "You've gotta be pumpkin kidding me!"
Feel free to join in on this festive change of vocabulary.

To commemorate this amazing month and the importance it has in my life, I'd like to share with my people the Halloween costumes created throughout the years. Get in the spirit people...it's on!

                              1989- New Born Pumpkin                                   1990- Cheerleader

                                                                          1991- Cow

                                          1993- Witch               ??-Rabbit Jumping Out of a Hat

                                     4th Grade- Present                           Kindergarten- Pocahontas

                                                              18th B-day- Little Bo Peep

                                20th B-day- Cake                                       Last Year- Lady Gaga

Greta Hanson: Turn off the Christmas music, turn on Hocus Pocus, and go to the pumpkin patch for Pete's sake. On November 1st, you are welcome to resume your early obsession with the winter holidays.

The Rest of the Summer

 This summer flew by. This was probably because I got a job and went to school full time throughout the season, so I believe I didn't go to the beach once here in Chicago. I did get away to Florida again where Poseidon is getting even bigger if you can believe it. He also got a swollen eye (shown below) which we aren't really sure how that one happened. I had some friends come stay with me at the beginning of August for the big Lollapalooza concert in the city, which was a good time.

For Labor Day weekend, I went down to Florida again, and Joe's parents met me there as well. We all went to Sea World and just hung out, and it was really nice to get to spend time with them. My fave at Sea World was The Believe Show with Shamu. Although it did get a little awkward thinking back on "the incident" that happened with a trainer a while back (for those who are unaware...google it), the show pulled through and all the whales seemed happy and nice.

XOXO

My Very Own Life-Sized Barbie's Vintage Dreamhouse (Apartment)

I know the fam has been waiting for me to post pics of my new apartment. It's a really cute 1-bedroom, close to downtown, and only a 5 minute bus ride to school! The neighborhood is awesome and it's in a mid-rise building which is good because it has a card-access door, laundry room, sun deck, and work out room.

My theme for my apartment (since it's my very very own!) was to make it look as girly as possible because it's my last year as a student and therefore my last chance for it to be semi-normal to be obessed with Disney Princesses, display my tiaras, and decorate like a 6-year old girl before I get a real job and start my adult life. I chose all pastel colors, got vintage and antique furniture that we painted white, and a bunch of sparkly things to add along the way.

My Room:

The Hallway and Kitchen:

The Living Room:

The Bathroom and Hall Closet (notice a Norwegian Nisse from Grandma):

Next time the apartment is clean, I'll take some pictures in the daylight to get a better vision of what the colors look like!!

XOXO

The Shortest Summer Ever

Summer is almost over (which means football is right around the corner, thank goodness!) so here's what I' did at the beginning of the summer and over my summer break from school...

Over Memorial Day weekend I went to Pittsburgh to visit some of the girls that I met while I was on my trip to Europe. It was a short visit but we did some fun stuff like went to see Sex and the City 2 and went to Kennywood, a local amusement park. It was good to see everyone since it had been over 6 months since we had said our goodbyes at the airport after our trip!

Next came Kala Holte's wedding!! Meghan and I were requested to be the wedding singers, and of course we said yes! It all went well, the parents saw a ton of old friends, and everyone there seemed to have a great time.

Then summer break crept right up which led to me going home for a week to shop for my new apartment!!! (Post on that will come shortly!) So, mom and I went all over the place to antique malls, thrift stores, and even to a tiny neighborhood in a corn field lined village where a guy keeps furniture stacked in his garage (never again.) Either way it all worked out for the best and with only a small dent to our wallets thanks to our mad shopping skills!

I then got to go to Florida for almost 2 whole weeks to see Joe's new house, which was awesome!

Joe's Humble Abode in Jax

Poseidon is getting mighty big and strong. I had the bruises to prove it, but he's adorable as well.

While I was there we went to the beach, found me a great Mexican restaurant, went shopping at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets, and went to Busch Gardens!! Thanks to Meghan's awesome job, she got us free tickets to the water park - Adventure island - and while we were there we figured wehad better check them both out!

Us at Busch Gardens and the sunset on the beach one morning

I go to school year round, so I only get 3 weeks for summer break. It was back to Chicago the second week of July to pull my apartment together and start my 3rd to last quarter of college!! More to come....

XOXO

April & May

You kids get a double whammy today! Once I catch up I'll be able to do some Greta/Becca type of special posts that aren't just about what I did on certain occasions!

Not much happened in April other than a few events for the magazine internship, which ended a the end of the month. My roomie Lindsay's 20th birthday happened. I got her a life size cut out of Kristen Stewart (the awkward Twilight girl) because she's obsessed and since we both went our separate ways in June (amicably), I figured she needed a new roommate to keep her company!

Then came May which brought my seester's (who you all know, love, and are most likely related to) 25th BIRTHDAY!!! Gosh she's old! We went to her favorite place Sasha's Wine Bar near her apartment in STL with the fam and some family friends on Friday and then on Saturday...the madness began!

Her friends along with my parents threw her an awesome scavenger hunt/pub crawl which was totally fun. I'll share some pics along with the item on the list that they go with.

Anything to represent Aaron Rodgers

Reenact a scene from Titanic

Find a Bleu Cheese Stuffed Olive (this one was harder than it may seem)

There were also many life sized pictures of my lovely sister. This was a crowd favorite.

XOXO