Match Celebation

Hello lovelies!  Before I start blabbering, I want to thank all of you who sent such sweet wishes my way Friday.  I cannot begin to explain the joy and relief I feel over Friday's match news.  To be at a great site and be less than two hours away from my husband is a dream come true, and I am so grateful for how this whole process worked out.  But I am even more thankful for the awesome community of people (you included!) who surround me with love and encouragement through the good times and the bad.  I am so blessed and so grateful!

This weekend was absolutely incredible and one of the best weekends I can ever remember.  The good news came early Friday morning, and the weekend only got better from there.  Seriously.  I am still on cloud nine!  Sweet Matt did so much to make me feel like a rockstar this weekend; I couldn't stop eeking and squeaking with excitement.  (All the people who know me in real life can attest to this fact.  I spontaneously "eeek" when I'm giddy and excited.)  Luckily, I had my camera by my side the whole weekend and was able to capture the feel of the weekend in pictures.  I will warn you now, this post is total picture overload.  But if you've been reading my blog for a while, that shouldn't come as a surprise :)  So here are "a few" pictures from our celebratory weekend...

After all the good news emails, texts, and phone calls were sent and made, we enjoyed a lovely little breakfast courtesy of my friend Christie.  Matt and I slumber partied at her and her hubbie's house on Thursday, and her cooking and hostessing skills never fail to make things special.  After breakfast, Christie headed to work, and Matt and I headed to the wander the Lincoln Park Zoo with our friend Matt (ps: thanks Matty B for the zoo pictures!)

The Lincoln Park Zoo is one of my favorite places in the whole city and these two lovelies are my two favorite peeps in the entire zoo.  During our last zoo visit, we watched them for over 30 minutes and Friday was no different.  These two are so sweet with each other.  They are rarely apart and are the cutest little snugglers I have ever seen!

This dude on the other hand...not such a good snuggler :) PS: For any Carrollton peeps that read my blog, does this guy not look identical to the Gorilla keyboard player at Fun Time Pizza?!  Twinsies, I swear.

More monkeys...big or small, we love them all!

A few hours later, after a good clean up, Matt and I headed for a celebration dinner at Frontera Grill.  Matt and I have been wanting to try Frontera since we moved to Chicago, and thanks to my parents Christmas gift to Matt (a Frontera gift card) we were able to go, expense free (thanks Mom and Dad!)  Matt and I both enjoyed Frontera's seasonal blood orange margarita while we waited, and then once we sat down, I gave their Topolo margarita a go, while Matt sipped on a michelada.  So yummy!

:)

So I'll apologize now for the not so great food pics.  I'm still not a fan of flashes in nice restaurants.  I'll break out my camera, but I try to avoid entering full paparazzi mode.  Anyway, for starters Matt and I had the trio of ceviche.  OMG.  This little tray is one of the tastiest things I've had in a loooong time.  For realz.  I will dream about it on a weekly basis.  It was our favorite thing of the night, hands down!

And for dessert...Frontera's homemade chocolate pecan pie with Kaluha whipped cream.  When we asked the waiter what dessert he recommended, he made some comment about "not sure if you like pecan pie..." I interrupted him and said "dude, I'm from Texas, I bleed pecan pie.  Bring it on."  And can I just say that as much as I loved it, I think I like LaHa's pecan pie better (seen in this Dallas post)  Sorry Rick Bayless, Texans know their pecan pie.

After dinner, we walked for a bit, took in the day's events, and enjoyed time with just the two of us.  I am so lucky to have Matt by my side through this crazy journey.

Our pretty city, all lit up, just for me :)  After our walk, we went back to The Palmer House for an overnight stay.  (Matt surprised me when I was in Dallas by booking a room here.  It was the place we stayed when we first traveled to Chicago together in March 2008.)  The cherry on top of a fabulous day!

Saturday morning, we brunched and set out for some celebratory shopping and city-seeing.  And in true Chicago style, it snowed all day :)

Me, the Bean, and my new Burberry boots!  They were my congratulations present, eeek!  I needed a water/slush proof boot that wasn't as clunky as my big winter boots.  I had intended to get a pair of Hunter boots, but after trying them on, I wasn't quite in love, particularly with the fit.  So I opted for these beauties instead.  LOVE!

Coat: Guess (don't mind the misbuttoned buttons lol!)
Jeans: J.Crew skinnies
Scarf: from a market in London
Purse: Mimi Boutique via Bon Bon Rose Girls giveaway
Boots: Burberry

I love this picture!  Three of my favorite things: my man, my city, and a Nordstrom shopping bag for me.  Ha!

Saturday was also great because I got to meet up with a high school drill team friend!  Vy is finishing dental school a few hours outside of Chicago and was in town with her adorable boyfriend for a conference.  She knew I was in Chicago via Facebook, so she sent me a message, we set up a time/place, and met up.  10 years later!  That's why I love Facebook!  Matt and I are already counting down the days till Vy and Alex come back to Chicago to visit.  We had so much fun lunching and laughing with them!

After lunch, we did a bit more walking around (seriously, we don't ever get tired of exploring Chicago!)  We went to one of our favorite spots, the terrace at the art museum.  Its pretty undiscovered, and on a rainy day, we had it all to ourselves.  I loved snapping pics of Matt snapping pics.  He's too cute :)

Last pic of the day and a perfect one to capture the weekend!  Celebrating with Matt was so fun, and I'm so appreciative to have a husband who makes me feel special.  The weekend couldn't have been better and I'm still recovering from all the fun we had :)  Thanks again for all your happy wishes, have a fabulous day!