Ren Fest 2011!

I have a thing for traditions. In that I really like them. There's something awesome about having something planned from year to year that you look forward to. I welcome all proposed traditions!

The most recent tradition I have participated in is going to the 2011 Renaissance Festival with Courtney. This is the third year in a row for me and my second year with Courtney. As we were walking back to the car this year, we decided that this was a tradition that should continue next year and beyond.

We don't go to participate. We go to see people in costume, eat awesome food, and browse odd and interesting stores. Courtney came home with a mug made out of a tree trunk! Where else could you find such a treasure?

We also make it a point to take our photo in every "face-in-hole" opportunity. Check out some of these doosies:

The King

The Queen

The Ren Fest knows what's hot.

Just precious.

So awkwardly alone...

Will and Andrew

See how much fun you can have at the Renaissance Festival?? We drank hot mead and ate yummy foods. I bought a mug and some honey sticks. I guess it is destined to rain every year that we go, but that's alright, we still manage to have a pretty good time.

We've always just been to the Kansas City Ren Fest, but I should really look into what happens here in Chicago. It could get even more interesting and weird here - which would be awesome!

Have a great week!

H&W

Ghosts and Gangsters on the Chicago River

Months ago, I purchased a YouSwoop (similar to Groupon) special that was half-price kayak tours on the Chicago River. I thought it would be such a cool way to experience the city! I've done a couple of architectural tours on boats, but this was entirely new! And I've never kayaked before, so I didn't quite know what I was getting myself into.... Here's a peak inside of our trip down the river.

See that annoyed look on Andrew's face in this first picture? It's probably because tandem kayaking is hard! And frustrating! Imagine trying to figure out something where left is right and you're trying to do it the same time (and in tandem!) with someone else. Good thing he keeps his cool because I just had to stop paddling and just sit there a few times because I was getting frustrated :)

He looks happy...

I wanted to take more pictures, but I was a little nervous to take my phone out too often for photos.... This is a bridge. Obviously.

 The theme of our tour was Ghosts and Gangsters of Chicago's history. We learned a lot about the types of people who lived in Chicago first (talk about a rough crowd!) and some of the tragedies that have happened and are said to haunt the city still.... Creepy, right?

Such a cool view to be down on the water looking up at these awesome buildings!

The Merchandise Mart. It used to be one of the biggest buildings in the world. It even has its own zip code!

Okay, we seem to have figured out how to kayak together, he seems happy now.

I'm probably thinking, "Wow, it's really awkward to turn around in this kayak. I hope it doesn't capsize!"

I got a little wet on the tour, but Andrew had it way worse than me. Plus, he wore a gray shirt.... Which makes it a lot more obvious.

If you kayak or have always wanted to, I highly recommend doing this. Neither of us had ever kayaked before, and despite being frustrated at working together at first, we got the hang of it quickly and had a good time. It was a very interesting way to see the city!

In other HUGE news, I won an iPad 2! Crazy, right??? My gym was holding a summer incentive program for people referring people to the gym. Lindsay just moved in with us and on the last day of the summer special, we went down to FFC (that's my gym!) and signed her up. We both got our names in the bag and they drew mine for one of the grand prizes. Lindsay was sure they rigged it (maybe because I asked the membership guy to rig it....), but when we asked him later, he assured us that someone else drew the actual name. So anyway, that was pretty awesome and I'm SO excited to play with it. If anyone does facetime, you should call me on my email - hannah.smith14@gmail.com!

That's it for now! Later gators!

Love,
H&W

Lollapalooza Madness

Hello long lost followers! I'm still kicking. I'm alive. I just haven't made time to blog the last few weeks. And now I have to backtrack more than a month to tell you what's new! And my mind is swirling with new stuff that I want to blog about now... So hopefully I'll stay on top of the ball from now on!


So let's go back to when the weather was a little warmer (it's getting chilly already here in Chicago!) and Lollapalooza was the main event. In case you aren't familiar with Lollapalooza, it's a three-day music fest. Tons of shows going on (usually 3-4 going on at any given time) at various stages in Grant Park. It's a pretty big deal. If you think back to one of my older posts about my Summer To Do's, you might recall me mentioning this. Courtney came back into town for the festival, so I was pretty excited for fun, music-filled weekend. Unfortunately, now that she has a big-girl job, Courtney couldn't get into town until late Friday night. Lollapalooza is three days - all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And it's not terribly cheap. So here I am, by myself, but determined to get my money's worth. So Friday morning, I head down to Grant Park to listen to some shows by myself. It was not as lonely as I thought it would be (how lonely can you really get when surrounded by hundreds of people?) and I really enjoyed just hanging out listening to some jams. For those of you music buffs who will appreciate this, here's who I went to see each day.


Friday:
Smith Westerns
The kills
cults
The mountain goats
Black cards
Tinie tempah
Bright eyes
Ok go
Ratatat

Saturday:
An horse
Friendly fires
Mayor Hawthorne and the county
Local Natives
Eminem

Sunday:
The Joy Formidable
Noah and the Whale
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
Lissie  


You'll notice that we didn't go to as many shows on Sunday. That's because a HUGE storm cloud starting moving in and Courtney and I looked at each other and said "yep, I think it's time to go." We did had XBox 360 ponchos (thanks Will) and we didn't make it quite home before the skies opened. But thanks to our ponchos, we didn't get too wet :)


It was a fun weekend and I would love to make it an annual event to do with Courtney. If anyone wants to join next year - let me know! We have a couch for you to sleep on!


Here are some photos from the weekend.

Eminem - Probably one of my favorite shows. So fun and exciting to be in such a huge crowd. The only problem was.....

.... it was SUPER muddy. Gross, right???

One of the larger stages. I think this is Local Natives. Great show.

Also, Courtney and I made Butterbeer!! And I drank it in my Harry Potter mug, of course. Want to try the recipe yourself? Find it here

Courtney and me at dinner before she headed back to KS. Notice we are sitting on the floor, but at a table... Very authentic Thai apparently if you get to sit at a recessed table like this. Pretty fun!

Will and Courtney

There you have it - a look into Lollapalooza. Look forward to posts about our new kitty, Ducky, Walter's ouchie, kayaking on the Chicago River and more! Have a great week!


Love,
H&W

Things are happening!

Things are most certainly happening in my world. As I was walking to work this morning and reflecting on my sleepiness, I thought to myself "I wonder when I'll feel caught up." I don't think I'll be back in an actual normal routine until after the New Year.... A ton of things are in queue for the coming months and then we have the holidays. Which is sort of an awesome problem to have. I can't really complain about getting to see my friends and family multiple times over the next few months. Bring it on!

There are a ton of things that I could touch on in this blog, but I'm going to focus on recapping Christian's visit to the Windy City.

Christian hadn't been to Chicago since our family visited way back in the late '90s. It was due time. I wanted to make sure he got a good mix of tourist-y type stuff as well as a real Chicago experience. He and his friend, Adam, got in early Friday morning. We all went for a run on the Lake Shore path and then stopped at the Belmont Dog Beach to let Walter play in the water. Walter was pretty timid at first and afraid to get in all of the way. After a lot of coaxing, he got comfortable and soon he was swimming far out to get the ball. We took him back to the beach a couple of days later and he is officially a water dog - the farther we throw the ball out, the better. After we got cleaned up, we headed down to Millennium Park to see the Bean. The Bean is interesting because it does not sound as cool as it actually is. It's one of those things that you can appreciate much more when you see it in person. Of course, we had to take our photos in the Bean.

Christian in front of the Bean. You can see the skyline in the reflection - pretty cool.

Underneath the Bean

After seeing the Bean, we found a shady spot and made camp for a few hours. We brought an array of delicious beers and snacks - smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers. It was quite fancy and a great way to just enjoy the scenery.

That night, Andrew found out about an "all you can eat and drink from 6-11 p.m. for $20" deal up in our neighborhood, so we took advantage. It was awesome because we definitely got our money's worth AND we were home and asleep before midnight!

Ah siblings :)

Adam and Christian

Adam photobombing. Andrew being ridiculous.

I had to take them to Wicker Park for brunch at the Southern. As always, it does not disappoint. We wandered around Wicker Park after brunch (we needed to walk off that huge meal!) and we stopped at a little place called iCream. It's a pretty cool little ice cream/fro-yo/sorbet shop where you choose the flavors, add-ins, colors, and more. They use a rapid freezing process, so they are literally making exactly what you want right in front of you. Very interesting concept.

Here he is making our icream!

While I was at work, Christian hung out at the Board of Trade and did some exploring of the city alone. We met for lunch each day, went shopping after work, and also went to North Avenue Beach to watch some sand volleyball one night. We ate at some pretty tasty places while he was here - a couple of sushi places, Ann Sathers for breakfast, Giordanos and Pizano's pizza, just to name a few. He definitely got the "taste of Chicago."

Our feet in the water at North Avenue Beach.

Eating a churro after "the best sandwich he's ever eaten" at Rick Bayless' Xoco

All in all, it was a great trip and I really enjoyed having him visit. I'm still trying to convince him to move here. Maybe eventually he'll realize that I always know what's best :)

I wanted to talk about my first Lollapalooza on this post, but it looks like this one is probably long enough already! Since I've missed a few weeks of posting, perhaps I'll write up another post for later this week. Two posts in one week?! Bananas!! Stay tuned!

Love, H&W

And...... I'm back!

I'm embarrassed that I've gone two weeks without posting! Life gets crazy sometimes! And mine just keeps piling higher and higher with stuff!

Here's a quick rundown of the past few weeks:

I was in Kansas City for a night, just in time for the Harry Potter midnight release of the final movie. Courtney, Andrew and I stayed up and watched it, along with a million, obnoxious teenagers. The girl next to us sobbed for the last third of the movie. It was awkward. Movie was great though; well worth the late night!

The next day we went home to my parents house to celebrate the big 125th anniversary for Rozel, Kansas. It was a pretty fun time - we played in a softball tournament, saw lots of old friends and spent some nice family time together. The weather was less than ideal - temps in the 110 degree range and so terribly dry. The grass was cracking under your feet as you walked. Poor western Kansas crops!!

Batter up! We only won one game... but it was still fun (once you got passed the fact that we were all sweaty, dirty messes)!

The anvil shoot! 

Once the anvil landed. It flew up higher than the grain elevators!

Courtney preparing to wow us with her bowling skillz.

And the final scores.... HS 75, AP 71, CM 108 and CS 108.

Courtney, Andrew and Krista all tasted Rocky Mountain Oysters (aka fried bull testicles) for the first time. I think everyone liked them or at the very least, they tasted better than they expected them to.

The plan was for my parents to come back to Chicago with me and spend a few days, so we packed up and headed to Manhattan where we were catching our flight out. Courtney, Andrew, Christian and I hit up the K-State Union for some shuffleboard and bowling. My bowling skills were less than impressive.... I didn't get last (ahem, Andrew....), but we were both 30-40 points below Courtney and Christian. I need to work on my skills and then challenge them to a rematch!

Once we were back in Chicago, my parents and I had several fun days together trying new foods and doing touristy things. We ate at some tasty places that I had been wanting to try - Home Bistro, Tengo Sur and New Tokyo. We also had some tasty ice cream at a candy shop near my apartment. I deviated from my typical selection and ordered birthday cake ice cream in a chocolate-dipped waffle cone (I never order ice cream in a cone - I like eating it out of a cup). It was SO good! And perfect since it was my mom's birthday. Speaking of my mom's birthday, her big gift was an iPad 2. Color me jealous.... I was hoping they would forget it when they left, but unfortunately she remembered to pack it. Dad says that if he can get 85 bushels per acre on his milo, he'll go halfsies with me on mine. Pray for rain people! The likelihood of that happening is not in my favor, but I hope he reads this and sees how sad I am without their iPad (and their company!) and decides to just give me one :) Just kidding, Pops. I'll break down and buy my own one of these days.... And then we'll facetime.

My ice cream treat. And Audrey trying to sneak a bite of it!

The view from our Seadog tour. Love that skyline!

Blueberry bread pudding from Home Bistro. Delicious!

Mussels and truffle fries..... Mmmmmm....

My brother, his friend and Andrew are all coming to town this weekend... And Lindsay is moving in! It is going to be busy again! And next week I have an agency retreat to Michigan and three days of Lollapalooza (and Courtney in town!!), so it might be tough to squeeze in another post... I promise to get more consistent soon!

In case you are worried about my little furball in this hot, muggy weather, he is doing just fine.

Have a great weekend everyone - stay cool!

 love, H&W

For fun - Courtney and Christian playing shuffleboard. Nice v-neck shirt, Chris!

Okay, I Admit It -- I'm a Copier

When my mom was in town a few weeks ago, I was showing her various new clothes and things that I had purchased since seeing her last. With every item I pulled out of my closet, she commented "Oh, that's a Courtney influence" or "Ah, you get that style from me" or "Krista influenced you on that one." With a comment on every item, I started getting kind of perturbed -- I mean, I do have my own style, Mom.... But it did get me thinking - I am a pro at copying.

Not just fashion, but crafts, home decorating and more. I scour blogs to find things that I like so I can try to copy them. I have a really hard time envisioning things - paint color, how things will look in a room, clothes paired together - but if I have the opportunity to see it somewhere, you can bet that I will be an ace at copying it. I love looking through Pottery Barn magazines, not to shop, but to copy. (as if I could afford that anyway!)

I've also been on a bit of a craft kick... I do not know where this came from, but I spend a decent amount of time wandering around Michael's and I have a trip planned to JoAnn's Fabrics today. Ah, another crazy Friday night is in store for me tonight!

I've tried to take photos of some of the stuff I've done. Maybe even some of you will start copying me!

Okay, I didn't really copy this from anywhere, but isn't it so cute!? I found the mustache sign at a street fair and we just had this shelf around the house, just waiting to be used. When I was home, I was scrounging around my mom's basement and stole these homemade topiaries from her (although, she did copy this idea from Darcey, so it all comes full circle!)

New stand in my room - I actually bought this for my bathroom, but it was about 1/4" too big... So into my room it went! I added some baskets from Target to keep all of my random stuff that always seems to clutter my dresser.

Courtney had the idea of putting a shelf above her windows in her room. I loved the idea and NEVER would have thought of it myself. So I put three shelves above my closet. I decorated it with stuff I found in my mom's basement and little things I found in my grandma's house when I was home. I love that I didn't pay anything to decorate this and have pieces on it that mean a little bit more to me than just something I found in a store. Also, I got these three picture frames from IKEA and lined them up between my closet doors. I don't have a lot of wall space in my room (I have a lot of windows), so this was a nice way to add new decorating elements.

While meandering around Michael's, I found these feather balls. I love feathers and I love the look of having decorative balls out in a bowl. These are in a bowl and scattered on a tray on our coffee table. Adds a fun, colorful element to the room.

I moved these two pictures from where I had originally put them because they were always covered up by my open door. Please disregard the clutter on my dresser... Remember - that's what my new baskets are there to hide!

Felt flower/bow hairpieces have been my new crafting obsession.... I've seen this type of thing at street fairs selling for $30-40 and it seems so easy! Some were harder than others and they did take more time than I anticipated, but I'm pretty excited about how they turned out. 

A little, pink rosette pin. So cute and dainty, I'm actually wearing this as we speak!

Poppy headband. I singed the edges of the flowers with a lighter. It gives it a shiny edge and looks less "handmade" I think.

A few bows I made. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to make these... I need to try a few different ways and determine what I like the best. Originally, I didn't really care for the bottom one, but then I put it in my hair and.....

... I loved it! Also important to note, my extra curly hair is copied from Courtney (and I love my hairdress/friend, Christie, for encouraging me to do it!)

The flash makes this one kind of hard to see, but it is a big flower. I'm not sure if this will be fore hair or a pin yet... we'll see.

And another flower headband. 

Okay, sorry for the millions of pictures, but I'm excited for the recent stuff I've made! If you want any of the tutorials I copied for the felt stuff, let me know and I'll try to dig it up.

Have a great weekend everyone!
H&W