40 giving thanks

Happy Thanksgiving - a little late.  :)  I hope you had a beautiful holiday filled with food, friends and family! I spent the holiday with my friend Amanda's family in Naperville.  We did a little departure of the traditional meal with cornish game hens.  They were delicious!

I did try my hand, once again, at making my grandma's parker house rolls.  Oh me and yeast breads just struggle so...   I read somewhere that dough rises best in 80-85 degree temps.  Well who has a kitchen that warm?  Seriously? So at the advice of my mother, I used a heating pad under the bowl and pans to help keep the warmth and it worked beautifully!  I might be on to something here!

 

This is Amanda's mom.  Isn't she cute?

Pier and Pittmans

Spent the day at Navy Pier with the Pittman's for Bella's chess tournament.  Was a beautiful day in Chicago.  And even better that Bella took first in her age group in the tourney!  Gotta love a girl who does cheerleanding and chess!  Now that's balance!

sloane really wanted to get in the game with these kids

I can hardly believe she's 11 months already!  I didn't get any good photos - now that she's on the move...

46

Hit the chocolate bar at the Pen again with some girlfriends.  Love, love, love it!  Was sad that they did not have the crepe station this time, but what we did have was lovely.  My friend spotted a bottle of Creme Yvette at the bar and asked if I'd ever had it.  I had not so gave it a try.  The bartender said it is mostly a mixer - very fragrant - but I would totally sip it by itself.  Mmmm.  And then we talked the sommelier into giving us a flight of port and tawny - delightful!

forty what?

Had the best time celebrating my friend Kathryn's birthday last weekend in Scottsdale.  She's got a great group of girlfriends that made the drive up from Tucson while Kendra and I flew in from Chicago.  I got there a little early on Friday so we had a chance to catch up on all of life's happenings.  Funny that neither one of us could remember how long it had been since we've seen each other, but no matter ... we just picked right up where we left off.  The girls started rolling in early evening and the fun began!  Who has the bundt cake? 

Oh and we stayed at the Hotel Valley Ho and loved it!  The mid-century mod vibe was great and the staff super attentive.  I could hang out by that pool every single day! 

10 on 10 { nov 2012 }

Ahhhh finally the tenth lands on a weekend!  So happy to be able to photograph something other than work!  Sadly, the day was filled with repair men, errands and furniture moving to prepare for painters tomorrow.  I am so happy to finally be getting a fresh coat of paint, but I have waaaaay too much furniture to move around!  Maybe it's time to donate some stuff!!  A huge thanks to my awesome friends, the Robinson's, for lending me some muscle!  I could not have done it without you!  Hoping the painters can finish in a day so I can get everything put back together!  Happy Saturday peeps! 

tea ... always tea

phoebe hiding under the furniture

the awesome Robinson's

all of my belongings piled in the middle of my living room

I saved one tiny spot in front of the TV so I had somewhere to sit

spotted on my neighbor's door - cute

just some ivy - don't you jut love ivy?

Two trips to Lowe's and one to Home Depot to fix the flush handle on my toilet - ridiculous! Do not buy a tank that has the handle on a 45 degree angle.  Just don't!

hate that it is completely dark by 5 pm  * frown *

Lucy looking at me like ... what the heck are you doing to our home?  Huh?

all photos processed with VSCO LR4 presets

pumpkin fest

Attended the Highwood Pumpkin Fest in Highwood, IL last weekend with the Levens.  And let me just say there were a LOT of pumpkins!  Somewhere between 28,000 and 30,000, I hear.  Apparently they were trying to win HGTV's Pumpkin Wars and break several records.  They were competing against New Hampshire and I believe Highwood won!  The show is set to air on Halloween.  The amount of pumpkins was overwhelming.  AND they lit them one at at time - each had one or two tea lites inside.  Insane! 

 

 

 

86 leven family shoot

Met up a Bear Park at the Glenn for a quick photoshoot with my bestie Robin and her cute little family.  Could they look more alike?  Seriously? Mini-me!! 

93 happy birthday b

Spent Saturday night in Bucktown baby!  Delicious dinner at Hot Chocolate - the burnt honey chocolate soufflé is out of this world!!  Then over to Danny's to celebrate Barbara's 30th Birthday.  Gonna be a great year for this lady for sure!!  Ahhh... I remember thirty. 

Sloan and YaYa

Two of my favorites from yesterday's Sloane shoot! She is so funny - very cooperative with a camera in her face.  But now she's really going for it, grabbing for the strap or the lens.  And when I took my iPhone out she went crazy grabbing for it.  I had to capture that - too funny!  Oh and I did the whole shoot with my 40mm pancake lens - LOVE!!!!!  It's kind of nice to not have to zoom!  :)

And you know I had to grab a selfie!  She loves her YaYa! 

Sloane 9 months

Oh that little Sloane is gonna be a heartbreaker!  Those blue eyes and she's got eyelashes for days!!  In keeping with the OZ spirit, Holly found one of Bella's old dresses that looks a little Dorothy-esque!  Plus, her daddy likes her in a blue dress.  

I'm sad that I missed last month, but luckily she hasn't changed all that much, physically.  She does seem longer and is getting more hair and is making a whole lot of noise!   So here is beautiful little girl at 9 months old!