Chicago

Oh, Chicago. Every time I see you, you bewitch me with your stellar architecture, energy, music that makes me dance in your cute shops and all of my friends whom you now own. I think, we could live here! Then I remember bone chilling winters and something called "lake effects".



One of my favorite classmates from my interior design program was getting married at the Garfield Park Conservatory. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony, with the most adorable couple and accents of hot pink everywhere.



And I do mean everywhere. My friend Meg is so creative, especially with those little details. When my date for the evening commented on how the watermelon martinis matched the decor, I knew that it was intended (and deliciously so).

They met while walking dogs and volunteering for an animal shelter, so in lieu of often cheesy favors that most people tend to trash (sorry, but they do--or they have them collecting dust in their house and feel guilty), they donated the money they would have spent to that local shelter. We got to leave after filling a take home bag of candies in shades of pink and red.



The best part of my long weekend was catching up with amazing friends. They're the kind whom I don't get to talk to or see very often, but when you do meet up again, it's like picking up a running conversation. That conversation where you tend to skip the mundane but jump right to what is important.

Or at least what is important to us. I don't think that everyone in college would match up their Tuesday and Thursday class schedules with their roommate so that they could drive to class, visit our favorite employee at the Burger King drive through (and try to get her on Oprah for being the kindest person ever), watch repeats of Wings on TV and fall asleep for a four hour nap before going to our second shared class of the day with a man so brilliant, he translated Kafka's "The Trial" from the original manuscript, but still wore overalls and sat on top of his desk. All this and a month of blueberry pancakes with whipped cream.



Cheers!