We Finally Have a Chair!

 The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got a special delivery—our new Parlour Tangerine Chair from CB2! It's been on my furniture wish list since the first time I set eyes on it in CB2 about a year ago. Tim wasn't sold on it, and at the time it was a little bit out of our budget, so we kept looking. And I kept coming back to it. Now it's in our living room and I sit in it and drink my coffee every morning.

Thanksgiving for Two

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours didn't go exactly like I was hoping it would (, but it all turned out fine in the end.

Thanksgiving morning, we went and watch the beginning of the McDonald's Thanksgiving Day Parade here in Chicago. It was really neat to go down and be a part of it, even though we got too cold and ended up not staying for the whole thing. Lesson learned for next year though - wear warmer socks and make a pit stop at Starbucks before hand! It was interesting to watch them get the turkey and other inflatables under the El tracks. Garfield had a little trouble...

After the we left the parade, we went home and Tim napped while I did all the cooking. My very first turkey turned out perfectly golden brown and delish! I used Bobby Flay's Apple-Sage Glazed Grilled Whole Turkey recipe. Except I roasted it in the oven rather than grilling it, and by suggestion of a few of the reviews I did not use 3 cups of apple cider vinegar (general consensus was that it was a type-o and should have been 3/4 cups). We also enjoyed sides of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and stuffing and chocolate peanut butter pie for dessert. Needless to say with a 11.5 lb turkey and two people, there are tons of leftovers!

Table for two

After we lazed around for the remainder of the afternoon, we went and saw Harry Potter! That pretty much made my day.

NICE Assignment: Give Thanks

This week's NICE Assignment, is a pretty obvious one with it being Thanksgiving and all, but I think especially in today's culture it's so easy to take things/people for granted and never express our gratitude.

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for many many things. 2010 has been an amazing year. But I want to give a special shot out to some special people in my life...

• Tim - Thanks for just being you, I cherish every day that we have together. I'm so blessed to have been able to marry my best friend, the one who makes me laugh, wipes my tears and tells me everything will be alright. Today and always, I'm thankful for the love we share.
• My parents - Two of the most understanding, wise and open hearted people I will ever know. I'm thankful for the childhood you gave me, the lessons you taught me and the continued love and support you show Tim and I.
• My sibs - All three of you, I'm so lucky to have been blessed with not only sisters and a brother but "3 best friends that anyone could have" I'm thankful for the time we spend together and I admire the strength and perseverance you all have in embracing the obstacles in your life. 
• My in-laws - I'm thankful for the man you raised, your welcoming me into your family as a daughter and your continued love and support you show us.
• MKL - I'm so thankful I went to lunch with you that one day in Taggart. Honestly not sure how I would have made through college without you. You're an amazing woman, friend, advisor and designer. Please move to Chicago so we can be together forever and always :) 
• Andi Jo, Raelin and baby -  I'm thankful for laughs, smiles and joys you bring everyone in our family. I love you all so much! Thanks for being there so Nanner doesn't beg me and Uncle Timmy to have a baby. I promise I'll give a little cousin to pick on someday.

Top 25

Welp, I can cross another thing off my 25 Before Twenty-Five list! I officially listened to every song in my iTunes that had a zero play count. I deleted from my "play count zero" list after I had listened to them, so I don't know the exact number, but it was over 600!!

Why so many? Well about 2 years ago + or - a few months, I had to complete reboot my laptop, like a save everything to an external hard drive and then load it all back on kind of reboot. And when I did that my iTunes reset all plays back to zero.

iTunes keeps track of your top 25 plays, so I thought it'd be neat to share what mine were these past two years. I don't really listen to a whole lot of music (I'm more of a TV girl) so my play counts are actually really low. Let me tell you, #1 and #2 have me boggled...I don't remember listening them except for maybe like once or twice.

Let the top 25 count down begin!

25. Womanizer (Britney Spears) 30

24. Can't Fight This Feeling (Finn, Glee Soundtrack) 30

23. How Lucky We Are (Meiko) 32

22. Body Language (Jesse McCartney) 32

21. Magic (Colbie Caillat) 33

20. When I Look At You (Miley Cyrus) 34

19. Blah Blah Blah (Ke$ha) 35

18. The Call (Regina Spektor) 36

17. Replay (Lyaz) 37

16. If I Were a Boy (Beyonce) 37

15. Obsessed (Mariah Carey) 38

14. Cosmic Love (Florence and the Machine) 38

13. Party in the U.S.A. (Miley Cyrus) 40

12. Ego (Beyonce) 40

11. Can I Have This Dance (Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens, HSM) 42

10. Circus (Britney Spears) 45

09. Young Forever (Jay-X feat. Mr. Hudson) 46

08. Johnny & June (Heidi Newfield) 49

07. Jump Then Fall (Taylor Swift) 50

06. Down (Jay Sean feat. Lil' Wayne) 51

05. Good Morning (Chamillionare) 52

04. I'd Rather Be With You (Joshua Radin) 53

03. Today (Joshua Radin) 56

02. Butterfly (Mariah Carey) 57

01. Honey (Mariah Carey) 58

Like I said, I'm so confused how #1 and #2 happened...the rest don't surprise me one bit! I remember being hooked on each one of these songs for various reasons during the past 2 years.

Pinterest

Like a week ago, I put myself on the waiting list for Pinterest. The other day I got my invite, signed up and started pinning! I love it so far. It's a fun way to bookmark some of your favorite images and to collect inspiration. It's beats saving everything to your computer, that's for sure.

Right now I have 9 Boards set up.

• Typography and Design - I'll use this one to log examples of great design/typography/illustration and other design inspiration
• Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. - self explanitory
• Pretty Things - images of pretty things will be pinned here
• Places and Spaces - I'll use this board to keep pics of places and interiors that I like 
• For Our Apartment - Things I'm currently loving/wanting/needing for our home (that chair? yeah we're getting that! more on that later.)
• Pin It Forward - The cool thing about Pinterest you can see waht everyone else is pinning and you can follow people, repin or like their posts or leave a comment. My Pin It Forward will be all repins
• Merry Christmas - self explanitory
• Style - Clothes, bags and accessories that I love, want to buy, will buy, or will can only dream of buying
• If I Could Do It Again - It's no secret, I love weddings. If I could have mine all over this is what would be inspiring me.

When you become a member, you get 5 invites to give out. I've only given one out, that means I have 4 left to give. If you want one let me know, I'd be happy to share.

New Shoes!

I'm so in love with these new shoes! I just had to share.

IACOVONE from Aldo

I bought them to wear to Tim's cousin's wedding. They're going to look super cute with my dress and some black tights!  They're originally $120 but I got them for about $50. I love a good deal!

On a different note...November 13th is World Kindness Day. This week's NICE Assignment is take part in celebrating this little known day! She even has made up some cute little cards you can hand out or leave some where for an unsuspecting person. Or if you're feeling creative, or don't have a printer you can make your own! After Saturday, I'll be sharing what I did to celebrate!

November Love List

We're 9 days into November already, and I haven't shared my November Love List. I've been trying to come up with something new for these monthly posts. I started out just posting one liners of things coming up that month. But from now on, there are no rules. Love Lists will be a combination of events/milestones/material objects/blogs etc. that I'm currently loving.

• I already know what I'm getting my nieces for Christmas! I'm that lame auntie who buys books instead of toys. For niece #1 Scribbles: A Really Giant Drawing and Coloring Book and niece #2 is going to get Alphabeasties and Other Amazing Types. 
• I really really really want the Clara Chair from Crate & Barrel - hubby says it's too much moola
• Thanksgiving really isn't that big of deal to me, but I am looking forward to Christmas this year. Which is a little strange for me, as I'm not usually a Christmas person
• I'm loving this extended warmer weather. I didn't even wear a coat today!
• After 2 months I'm finally going to get to see my little cuties

Brittany+Kyle

My mom is hosting a couples shower for my cousin Kyle and his bride to be Brittany. I got to design the invitation! Since designing wedding and other occasional invitations is like me dream job...I was super excited to get to do this. I was going to set up a fancy photo shoot and take pictures of the final product, but I'm too lazy. So you get screen shots instead.

Front of the invite. I LOVE this blue and green together!

The inside. The typeface I used was Gill Sans (if you were wondering)

My mom also came up with the idea to include a recipe card, so that each person invited could share a family recipe. If you're ever planning a bridal/couples shower, this is a fantastic idea! Who wouldn't
want a bunch of good ol' family recipes? I know I wish I had more of them!

Front. Since they're a young couple, I wanted to keep the wording playful

The back has a blank for the giver to fill in whose kitchen it's from

And of course they'll have lot's of thank you's to write. So why not have one that matches?

Hope you enjoyed seeing these. Remember if you or anyone you know needs an invitation (or anything else really) designed...I'm your girl ;)

NICE Assignment x2

No, I haven't been slacking off on completing NICE Assignments, I just haven't blogged about it :) The last two have been pretty simple, and there hasn't been much to say.

1. Vote for Operation NICE in the Amway Positivity Project - I've voted lot's of times, you should too. Both the Positivity Project and Operation NICE are great causes!!

2. Get to the Polls - Duh I did this, I think it's important for everyone to vote. It's your right responsibility as an American.

Short and sweet tonight, since I have tons of stuff to do to get ready for the girl's weekend I'm hosting this weekend!!

Hoo Are You?

Two posts in one night, lucky you! Mama Bear, shared this link party on her blog tonight. I couldn't help but join in the fun! Read below for my answers and the join the party by clicking the owl button at the bottom of this post. I just hope I remember to keep participating.

What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you? This is a tough question...I have no idea. I've been lucky when it comes to physical pain I guess.

What would you name your next child or if you don't have any your first child? No children yet, but hopefully we'll have a girl first because it's the only name was can agree on. We'd name her Stella Rosalie (After our great grandmas)

If you could add one feature to your car, what would you choose? I barely ever drive (I live in Chicago, and only drive when I travel to see family) but one of those rear view cameras would be super sweet! I hate parallel parking.

If you named your house (or car or computer) what would you name it? Our car's name is Granny, the iPod is Betsy and our spider plant is Marvin

What is your dream occupation? I'd love to work at a small design boutique that designs mostly wedding and other occasional invitations. But, it'd also be cool to be a wedding planner...I love weddings!

Architecture Tour & The Former Sears Tower

My in-laws were in town over the weekend. We took an architecture boat tour of the city, which was educational and cool. Now that we've been in Chicago for a little over a year and are now living downtown, sometimes I take the beautiful architecture and the breath taking skylines for granted. Hubby was in charge of the camera during the tour, so we have like 65 pics of buildings now, I'm only going to share a few though.

We also went to the Sky Deck of the Willis Tower (the former Sears Tower). Which means, I get to cross #04 off my 25 Before Twenty-Five list! We went at night, and my camera sucks at taking night photos, so I only have a couple of crappy pics to share, but it's still proof that I've completed #04.