Day 2 of M&D Weekend
Showing them the "Real" Chicago

Most visitors plan to go to a city when they are guarunteed great weather-- so you can enjoy the city in its prime. Mom and Dad thought they would get pretty good weather at the end of April, but as we all know, Spring is unpredictable. Friday was terrible --Cold, windy and RAINY. Ugh. But we embraced it. We walked over to a former San Francisco favorite, Specialitys, which now has restaurants in Chicago. I actually think that may have been the highlight of their weekend! :)

After Specialtys we headed South to The Museum of Science and Industry. One of my new favorite museums-- this place is awesome!

This building dates back to 1893 for the Chicago's world fair. The only building that was preserved. So amazing!

One of the only captured enemy U-Boats. So cool

New Baby Chicks! Their is a chick hatchery that has eggs that hatch ALL the time! So cool

Trains, Planes and Automobiles. Biggest Train set I have ever seen!

How Tornados work... which hits home now with the recent events.

Electricity.

After the Museum we headed to fill Dad's biggest priority for this trip -- a true Chicago Hot Dog.

Mom adopted my down coat for the weekend.

Delicious!

After a very busy day we headed home to snuggle up and watch U-571-- you kind of have to after you saw the real U-Boat that day!

Day 1 of M&D Weekend in Chicago.
We love visitors!

Mom & Dad decided to come to town for my Birthday & for Easter weekend. We had so much fun with them! They stayed here in our apt with us so it was like  a long weekend sleepover-- and they wore us out!!

They arrived Thursday night and we didn't waste any time showing them around. We got ready and went to Trump Tower to eat at Sixteen.

There was a 180 view of Chicago in this restaurant. It was amazing!

The most delicious chocolate mousse dessert.

Not the best picture of us, but it will do!

Birthday Cake. 
Best thing about Birthdays. Well, that and all the LOVE you get. 

I took pictures of some of my favorite things about my birthday. I had such a great day!!

Lobby of the Wrigley building-- one of my favorite buildings for architecture in Chicago. I got to meet a client here-- she works for Wrigley, of course!

First tulips in bloom in Chicago. These are going to be even more gorgeous when they open up!! I love the THOUSANDS of tulips in Chicago every spring. It's my favorite.

There's a big glare on this window, but it's the SPA that Ryan sent me to. Massage, Manicure & Pedicure-- I was spoiled!!

This is what you get when you try to make your own birthday cake-- total failure! Haha, but it was fun to TRY.

Flowers sent to my house!! My dear friend Eliza sent me the most GORGEOUS tulips! These babies lasted for a whole week and were amazing when they opened up. Between these and the Roses Ryan got me I was in flower heaven.

Friends + Cake = Delicious. We had a few friends come over to enjoy cake with us.

I also got showered with love via phone calls, texts and of course Facebook. Facebook is such a boost on your birthday! It's so fun to hear from friends from different parts of my life.

Birthday Week
You get extra presents if you go to Costco during your birthday week.

I've been excited to read Bossypants ever since I learned about it. I think Tina Fey is so funny and I love her style and especially her writing.

Also, Ryan was planning on buying me flowers Wednesday, but offered to buy them early. I fell in love with the gorgeous color of these roses. I had to have them.

  

They are adding color and fragrance to our house, I am LOVING it!!

Ugh, Gas Prices. 
Makes you think twice about driving the car in the city.

Gas in Chicago is out of control. I heard on the news the other day it is the 2nd highest in the nation-- falling short only to San Francisco. It's painful to see how high the prices are climbing. And with our car-- the Nissan Xterra & it's super charger needing premium gas, we are really feeling the pain!!

The other day I drove up north about an hour to go see a client for work. I decided to gas up while I was out there-- knowing it would be significantly cheaper. Well, as I drove back into the city that day, I realized it was at least 50 cents cheaper per gallon!!

Abbott Park, IL. I paid 4.25/gallon. Which was CHEAP.

Downtown Chicago (in the rain) see the small sign on the ground? Would have paid 4.79 for premium gas here.

When will we see the prices drop instead of rise? I'm scared for the reality that we'll be paying over $5/gallon soon. Yikes. Needless to say we are taking the bus more these days and walking!!

Easter Sugar Cookies
What says Easter better than sugar cookies??

Ducks, Eggs, Bunnie, Buterflies, Flowers.

A few months ago I had THE BEST sugar cookie I have ever had. Seriously. So good. Ryan had brought them home from a Ward Missionary meeting-- Sister Beck, one of our senior missionaries had made them for the group. I saw Sister Beck that weekend for a Young Women's event, and another friend and I gushed over her cookies. She was so flattered that she offered to teach us how to make them. Score!!

See, the thing is, Sister Beck was a caterer for 20 years. She is a phenomenal cook, and as this was her livelihood, she doesn't share her recipes. I was informed last night that I was the first person she's given away this recipe to. I feel so lucky.

I only hope that I can remember all of her tips and tricks so I can replicate these amazing cookies. Check them out.

Wish I could spend all day outside. 

Warm sun on my back and face.
Cool brisk breeze.
Listening to the birds and seagulls fly by.
Noticing the trees start to get their cute green buds.
Waiting for the tulips to pop out of their green shells and bloom.
Watching the school kids chase after butterflies.
Secretly wishing I were a school kid chasing after butterflies.

Sigh. What a glorious spring. day.

Spring has Sprung.
Well, at least SIGNS of spring have sprung.

It's been a long winter and yesterday we finally got a taste of spring/summer. It was a glorious 83 degrees in Chicago and I have to say, we made the most of it.

I started by taking my Young Women's class outdoors (I teach the 12-18 year olds in my church congregation). Although the wind proved to be a little difficult, you couldn't beat the amazing weather.

After church Ryan and I took a book and a magazine across the street to our little park. We like to think of it as our "backyard" that we don't have to mow or garden -- ahh city life. Ryan noticed while we were there that some of the trees had started to bud! This was very exciting news as most trees look like this:

However, a few trees now look like this:

That evening we were invited over to dinner by a couple in our ward. We decided to walk the 1.5 miles to their home. As we were walking I noticed the FIRST tulips of the Chicago Spring season!! I CAN NOT WAIT for the hundreds thousands of tulips to bloom in the city! I am getting so excited waiting for them to come out. It's one of my favorite things about Chicago.

We also got some VERY exciting news over the weekend-- my parents have decided to come to Chicago for Easter/my Birthday weekend!! I am hopeful that our trees will be in bloom with cherry blossoms and that these gorgeous tulips will be filling the streets with their vibrant color. That would be a perfect birthday gift from Chicago to me.

Lucky in Love.
I love weddings. 


One of my roommates from college got married this weekend and I was lucky enough to join them for their big day. I love weddings and especially when I know both people when they were dating and fell in love. It was so great to be their for their sealing and also for their beautiful reception. It was also great to have a mom who lives in Virginia and was willing to be my date all weekend!! It made it extra special to spend a couple of days with one of my favorite people. Somehow I didn't take TOO many photos from this weekend (it must've been the jet-lag) but I captured a few. Congratulations to Brooke & Troy!!!

Brooke hand made each of these delicious cake bites.

The reception was in Baltimore so mom and I took the grand tour of Baltimore. The good and the bad. We first headed over to this AMAZING crab house --- seriously so good.

Isn't this the cutest neighborhood ever? I love the cherry blossoms.

Seafood cajun pasta. AMAZING.

On our way to the reception site we decided to take a side road to avoid interstate traffic. It was a colorful experience to say the least and luckily we didn't have any problems...but its always good to think twice before taking a detour in a city you don't know too well....

 We finished our weekend by driving through the Mall on the way to the airport. The Cherry Blossoms were ALMOST in full bloom -- a few of them were especially gorgeous so I took a few photos from the car.

Isn't it amazing how something so tiny can represent such a big concept-- rebirth each spring.

I LOVE these blossoms.

Austin. 
My first trip to Texas. 

I went to Austin this week for work and had a fantastic time. I love the city and the "hill country" of Texas. I didn't take too many photos (Lots of working on this trip!) but here are a few of downtown in case you haven't been... 

I lucked out and had AMAZING weather, so I tried to spend as much time as possible outside! It was also funny to see leaves on trees and some blossoms-- Chicago is far from that stage in terms of spring!!

 

I feel like I've made it in life. 
This weekend I accomplished one of my goals: Re-creating Grandma Pixton's cinnamon rolls. And they were really great. 


It's kind of late, I just got into Austin, Texas for a business trip this week so I won't go into too much detail, but I had to brag. I followed all of Grandma Pixton's 42 rules of thumb that I learned a few weeks ago in Utah, and I actually did it-- I made really great rolls! My husband said "WOW" and even said they tasted like Grandma's. I couldn't ask for a better response. See my progress below: 

The dough MORE than doubled in size!

Adding the filling. Yum.

 

Do you LOVE my gorgeous Ranunculas? I do.

Just after I rolled the dough and cute the rolls.

An hour later after they had time to RISE.

After baked in the oven with the frosting. Sigh. They are so good.

The full pan of rolls.

Delicious.

 Thank you, Grandma Pixton for teaching me how to make your fluffy yummy rolls! I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like this was a great start!

I need Surgery. 
April Fools!

Seriously, that has been my life story for the last few weeks months. Let me back up and start at the beginning. 

October 2010- 
Out of no where I get this intense burning sensation from my lower back, through my leg to my foot. I stretch, take anti-inflammatory meds, massage it, heating pad, nothing works. It stays for 2 weeks straight.
I mention it to my mom, who thinks it might be my periformus muscle. She advises me to take a break from running to let it heal. 

November 2010-
Pain is still there. Not as intense, but whenever I try to run, the pain returns. 
I see my uncle, who is a chiropractor while I am in CA for Thanksgiving. He diagnosis it as a herniated disc. Yikes. But I don't really know what that means... so I don't see a doctor yet, but I decide to stop all cardio exercise. 

January 2011-
Try to start exercising; core muscles and 10-20 minutes on the bike. At first, the bike doesn't bother it, but eventually it does. I try walking up 3 flights of stairs...the pain is back. Finally I go to the doctor (because I had a sinus infection, I also asked about my leg). He refers me to an orthopedic surgeon.

February 2011-
Orthopedic surgeon tells me I have a herniated disc and will need surgery if I want to get rid of the pain as soon as possible to get back to my active lifestyle. Seriously?! Herniated disc? I'm 25 how does this happen? I was totally freaked out.

March 2011- 
MRI- I had to get an MRI! Those things are a LOT smaller in person than in movies. Seriously. I got a little claustrophobic but just closed my eyes and tried to take a nap.

 Othorpedic Surgeon- Oh man let's not get into my doctor's visit, but I'll just tell you that I DO NOT need surgery. Instead of a herniated disc, I have 3 bulging discs; one of which is pressing on my siatic nerve, which is causing the pain down my leg.

So what does this all mean? Well, 
#1: No Surgery
#2: Physical Therapy
#3: Chiropractor- I need one in Chicago
#4: Pain meds while I work through this
#5: I probably need to pay better attention to my posture while I sit all day and work from home. 
#6: I'm totally going to start exercising again and losing the extra lbs I gained from being depressed about not exercising.