House Guests =)

I'm pretty sure October isn't supposed to go by this fast!? Heh But yeah, this month has gone by so quickly - mine and Tim's travel plans definitely made October fly by. This past week, we had my sister-in-law and niece over at the apartment. My brother was out of town for work and Tim was actually out of town for work too for a certain point. It was nice to have company during the week, especially a very cute two-year old! =) When Tim came back, he got to hang out with Mara for a bit at home. I'm pretty sure he loved it.

Also, I carved my first pumpkin this week too. I attempted years ago but never really carved it 'cause I thought I'd cut my fingers off. Hah This time, we had better tools. My brother's friend brought over some pumpkins to carve for Mara... and my sister-in-law and I carved one of them too. It was pretty fun. I think I'll try it out next year, we'll keep our pumpkins "uncarved" this year. =)

Tim and I had a great time this weekend. It was nice to just relax here together.. especially since we've been gone for weeks at a time. It was nice to relax, clean up the apartment, and do errands together. =) We bought a dining set today, that was actually really exciting =)

Here's Mara & Tim.. watching the Michigan game. =) Cute stuff!

In & Out and the Pumpkin Patch

I went to Texas last week for work, it was a really good training - learned a lot. I got back to Chicago on Friday night and I got to hang out with my friends for the night. That was a lot of fun. On Saturday morning, I took the Amtrak back home. I didn't really find out it was Sweetest Day on Saturday until I got in to Chicago on Friday... oops. Whatever. =)

Once I got home, I took an instant nap. I was just so tired from everything! One thing, I love love love our bed... and being away from it for a week, made it that much better! Tim took me to a pumpkin patch after our nap. It was very cute. It was my first time going to a pumpkin patch =) We had a lot of fun just hanging out on Saturday. We bought a bunch of small pumpkins and medium size ones to put by our door. Our place is getting more and more put together and it's festive too. =) heh It turned out to be a very sweet Sweetest Day for us. We also just went shopping for random stuff.. went to a Halloween costume store for a little bit. Didn't buy anything. We're not even sure what we're doing for Halloween. No biggie.

And today.. Tim left for a business trip. He'll be gone til Wednesday. We're both just in and out lately. =P It'll be nice when we head out to Minnesota soon =)

Our first Autumn as a married couple, =)

Me with our bigger pumpkins.
(We weren't in the mood to get gigantic ones)
We got 5 other smaller pumpkins too.

Hmm.. not sure if Tim really needs to buy this....hehehe

Mena's 1st Bday & Texas

This week went by really quickly. Friday night, Tim and I headed to his brother Joseph's place. We got to hang out and play with his kids. Soo cute=) I got to be Gabriel's bedtime story reader for a night. Cute kids are my weakness, seriously. =)

The next day was the 1st birthday party for Mena, another one of Tim's nephews. It was a really nice party... lots of good Arabic food. I was very excited to eat =) My plate was definitely full and I got more. Oy! =) Oh well, it was so good. I ate so much this weekend - ridiculous. Saturday morning, Katie (Tim's sister in law) made some scones and french toast for breakfast. I love love scones. It's one of my favorite pastries. Soooo much good fooood. Tim and I had a great time with everyone. It's been awhile since we have all been together. Too bad Tim's other brother and his dad couldn't make it to the party.

The birthday boy and his cake (or what's left of it!)

This morning.. I flew out to Dallas. Dallas Fort Worth Airport is so ridiculously huge. Anyway, I guess they got a bunch of new tollways here. And I decided to not purchase this pass thing at the rental car company. Bad idea. To even get out of the airport, you pass a toll! (Which I think is crazy) And you can't pay with coins. It automatically puts a hit on your license plate. Soo.. without a pass from the rental car company - each hit would cost me LOTS of money. Anyway, after hanging out at my hotel, I decided to get the stupid pass (which also costs me $8.95/day!). I had to drive back to the airport 'cause I couldn't just get it done over the phone (erRr) and then I waited forrevvverrr at the airport line (biggggggerrr ErrRrRr). Needless to say, I was very hungry and tired by this point.

Before leaving the hotel, I decided to use Yelp.com to find a restaurant. I usually use that site for any new city I'm in .. to see what people like around that area. I found a pizza restaurant called Cavalli Pizza. What popped out at me was this is a pizza place that is certified to make Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN).. which is considered the perfect pizza in Italy. Anyway, my favorite pizza place of all time is in Salt Lake and that was another one of those handful of restaurants in the US to be VPN certified. So, I definitely wanted to try Cavalli. It was really good! I tried their Diavola pizza. I had to pick out the tremendous amount of jalapenos on it though, I'm not really the biggest fan of those. But other than that, it definitely has that great fresh flavor that is pretty different from your Pizza Hut or Domino's. I still love Settebello's pizza more but this is still a great place for pizza. I was pretty excited about finding it... it made my annoyance to the Texas tollways fizzle.

Hanging out with a 2 year old

One of the perks of moving to Illinois after getting married... other than being married to Timmy, of course =), is that I get to hang out more with family. My brothers, sister in law, and niece are close by now. I have cousins in Michigan which is just a long drive away. It's really nice. Being out in Utah... it was a bit harder to see anyone at any given moment.

I love hanging out with my niece Samara. She's 2 and just full of energy and truly cracks me up. She's such a smarty and talks a lot. So entertaining and so cute. That's what's cool about 2 and 3 year old kids. They're always full of surprises. My family from California will be visiting during Thanksgiving. I can't wait to see my nieces and nephew play together. They really make me laugh. It's fun to hang out with them.

Samara =) One of the toughest and cutest 2 year olds I have ever met.

Feels like Fall For Sure

Busy busy busy. Tim and I just got back from the Carolinas late last week. I got back to Illinois on Wednesday night and hung out with my friend Daisy.

Tim and I had a good time in North and South Carolina. His work trip fell at the right time.. we got to attend our friends' wedding in South Carolina. It's always nice to hang out in Greenwood again. The wedding was sweet and we had a lot of fun hanging out with his friends. After hanging out in South Carolina, we drove back to North Carolina for his work. It was my first time in Charlotte. It's a pretty place. The downtown is pretty cool too. Plenty of places to check out. We had sushi a couple of times, good stuff. And on one night, we watched Inglorious Basterds at the EpiCentre Theaters. It's a pretty fancy-looking theater place. Felt like a lounge more so than a theater. Very cool. You can order real food at their restaurant and bring it in to the movie. It's cool. The movie was good too. Tim really liked it. Quentin Tarantino is honestly talented.

After my little trip with Timmy.. I came back to Chicago to hang out with my friend Daisy and then my sister the next day. It was just good timing..she was in Illinois for the week for work. So, when I came back we got to hang out. Thursday night, my sister, Daisy, and I went out for tapas at Cafe Iberico. It's a really great tapas place with yummy sangria. I can't believe how chilly it is now! It definitely feels like fall now!

Tim and I finally had a nice relaxing weekend this weekend. No major plans or trips, it was nice =) We got to clean up and organize our place more. We even had time to look around for furniture =) Now, another week begins! Time to be productive!

My brother, sister-in-law, and niece came over to our apartment before we went to church this morning for coffee and coffee-cake. Samara likes going around our apartment. She went in looking for Tito Tim, so cute. Today is my ma's birthday .. we called her to say happy birthday.Samara greeted her and it probably made her day. She's sooo cute and knows so much. I love hanging out with her. So entertaining.

Autumn Already

Where does the time go? I can't believe September is almost over, that's pretty ridiculous. I'm not even sure where the time went. Moments like these make me think about what has happened and also what I want to do in the future. I want to get healthier overall - physically, mentally, emotionally. I've been thinking more and more about donating my hair to Locks of Love. I want to do something..outside of myself, I guess. I've been wanting to donate my hair for awhile, but I'm the type that when I get tired or bored & need something different, I cut my hair. But this time, I'm determined to grow it out. But I also want to exercise so that when I am ready to cut my hair, I won't feel so pudgy =)

The leaves are changing.. and so am I.

My 26th Birthday

Ok, I am officially 26 years old. Last Friday was my birthday. It started with waiting for Comcast to come to the apartment to get the cable set up (heh) and finished off with a very sweet surprise birthday dinner picnic at Ewing Manor. Tim had my brother and sister-in-law, and Mara of course, come to the Ewing Manor for some ice cream cake. They brought along some KFC too. heh So, we just enjoyed a nice little dinner there. It's a really beautiful area, very lush and green. There's a pretty old-fashion outdoor theater there where Tim and I watched a Shakespeare play earlier in the summer. It was a lovely evening and a very nice surprise for my birthday. And nothing beats a Happy Birthday song and kiss from my super cute niece. =)

Not gonna lie... I feel a lot older now... =P

Labor Day Wknd/Birthday Celebration!

Last weekend, Tim and I went to Chicago to celebrate my birthday a little early with a Chicago Tourists theme to it. We did a bunch of stuff during the long weekend. During our wedding shower, my friends got us a 2 nights accommodation at the Park Hyatt. We wanted to use that during this Labor Day wknd. That is definitely a beautiful hotel. We had a nice suite that overlooked the Water Tower and Michigan Avenue. Great view. We even got champagne and strawberries in our suite waiting for us.

On Friday night, we watched Stud's Turkel's Not Working at The Second City etc. Good show. Saturday, we went on an boat ride architectural tour of Chicago. The weather was perfect for it. The tour was pretty long and we got to see everything. Later that night, we watched The Blue Man Group. That was a great show - my first time seeing them. I was a fan of the black light crepe paper alllll over the place part. Good times. =) They really make fun of current rock stars now and their lack of talent and effort. heh Pretty interesting. They were pretty sneaky about it yet still very obvious. If that makes any sense.

After the Blue Man Group, Tim and I had a late dinner at the The Signature Room. I was afraid of The Signature Room being just a trendy overly-priced touristy restaurant that would lack in taste. But I'm glad to say that our dinner was really good. Tim and I ordered Pork and Salmon. For an appetizer, we got a proscuitto covered mozzarella with this fruity type sauce with it. It was really delicious. We even got to see some fireworks during dinner too. And also, we saw a marriage proposal happen right next to us! heh

Sunday, we did another tour of Chicago. I have a vast amount of Chicago knowledge now. hah Tim and I did a Segway Tour of Chicago. This was my friends' birthday present for me. (I love my friends so much!) The Segway Tour started our at Navy Pier. That was my first time there. Oh my gosh, there are soo many people there. The womens' bathroom line was ridiculous, good thing a worker helped me find a less busy one. The segway tour lasted about 2 hours. It was fun. You get used to the segway in about 5 minutes... and then it just becomes pretty natural after that.


Sunday night, we got to hang out with some of my friends, which is always a great time. We enjoyed some tapas and sangria and then partied afterward. I love hanging out with my Chicago friends. We always have a lot of fun together. They definitely know Chicago and how to enjoy it to the fullest.

New Month, New Apartment!

Hmm.. August seems like a blur now. With my trip to California and Michigan and Tim's trip to Thailand.. we only had a few weeks of really getting our apartment ready for move out. I spent one Saturday and one Sunday of the next week packing stuff and moving it to the new apartment. I had a couple of helpers which was great. And when Tim came back, a friend of his and my brother & sister in law helped a lot too. Things went smoothly and we are officially in our new home. Now we have a chaotic mess, haha. A little at a time right? I have been cleaning up the kitchen - dusting/cleaning the shelves and cupboards before I put anything in them. Our kitchen is looking more and more usable =) Which is pretty exciting. The bathroom is looking nice too! =)

I like our new apartment. I love the feel and style of it. It's been commented to look similar to the the suite we stayed at in Park City during the wedding weekend. Not a bad compliment at all ; ) It'll be nice when everything is all set up the way we want and people can come over.

Today, Tim and I are heading to Chicago for the weekend. We are going to be Chicago Tourists! =) This is going to be my birthday celebration, heh. More days this weekend to hang out versus next weekend for my actual birthday. Oh my, I'm going to be 26...

Packing and Pirates

Earlier this week, Tim and I went to the Pirate Party for Benchmark Logic. It was a lot of fun. There was a DJ for the party and he had a karaoke thing set up. Good times. haha Tim has been to 2 karaoke parties this year. haha I bet he never thought he would do that so often.

We are moving to our new apartment pretty soon. I'm really excited about it. I'm excited to have a little more space. It'll be nice to make it into our own. But for now, we just need to pack and move things. =P GahH, didn't I just do the whole packing and moving thing? =P heh

I watched a lot of the Food Network today.. such an addicting channel, I swear. I'm such a fan of Top Chef right now.. I would love to try some of those dishes.