This week I'm...



Loving: That this week is over, it's been a rough one!

Disliking: That I barely blogged this week, I will get my act together next week.

Craving: It's almost reuben egg roll time!

Hoping: We can get everything done we need to this weekend.
Reading: The latest Blue Bloods novel, Lost in Time.

Watching: Vampire Diaries of course!
Listening to: The wind howling right now.
Looking forward to: Oktoberfest next weekend!

Hearing buzz about: Who knew that Oktoberfest actually started as a horse race?

Wordless Wednesday: All by myself



Lake Geneva Weekend Recap

We had such a nice getaway in Lake Geneva this weekend. I hardly took any pictures though. On Friday, which was Michael's birthday, we got up and got ready to go. I also had to give Michael his birthday gifts. I got him an authentic, customized Bears jersey which I gave him the previous weekend for game day. I had a couple other gifts for him though that I actually waited for his birthday to give him. I got him an iPhone dock that he had been wanting for his bedside table. I also got him a small helicopter that can be flown with his iPhone. He loved them both!

We hadn't packed a thing so we packed our bags and we left around 10 am. We dropped off Porkchop at Michael's parents house for the weekend and we were on the road. We made pretty good time and rolled into town at lunch time. We headed to one of our favorite places, Popeye's. No, not that Popeye's. We had a yummy lunch and then walked around to a few of the stores. 

After some shopping, we headed to the hotel to check in. We were staying at the Grand Geneva Resort of course, I wouldn't stay anywhere else! We went to our room and got settled and relaxed. Michael had to do a few things for work and I passed out and took a little nap. For dinner that night we headed back into town and went for some Japanese food at Tempura House. It was very good. After dinner we headed back to the resort and headed to the lobby for some dueling pianos and drinks. We had a good time and headed back to the room late and crashed.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at the resort before heading into town to do some more shopping. I was so happy it wasn't raining. We thought it was going to rain all day Friday and Saturday and it didn't rain once. We headed to Main Street and I hit some of my favorite Lake Geneva boutiques, Cornerstone Shoppe and Notice along with some others. I got a few cute things. I got a decorative Halloween plate at Cornerstone and I got a new purse at Notice. I didn't take pictures of them yet, hopefully this week. 

After shopping we headed back to the resort to do the corn maze they set up this year. We wanted to take advantage of the good weather and I was glad we did. We had a lot of fun. They didn't give us a map but they had 10 markers throughout the maze and they gave you questionnaires before you went in that would tell you which way to turn at each of the markers. We picked a tv/movies questionnaire and knew every answer except one so we did the maze pretty quickly. We got a little turned around in the second half but it was fun, plus it was a nice little hike to burn off some of the calories we had eaten! The picture below is from Grand Geneva's website of an aerial view of the maze, it was pretty big! The other pictures are of us in the maze.

After the maze we grabbed some lunch and headed to our room. We were pretty tired from running around all day so we both passed out for a couple of hours. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then showered and got ready for dinner. 

We went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner, Geneva Chophouse. The food is phenomenal. It's always our favorite meal when we are in Lake Geneva. We had $150 in gift certificates so we went full tilt! I had a salad and Michael had shrimp cocktail for an appetizer. For dinner, I had a veal chop and Michael had a filet with king crab legs. We also got a trio of sides with a baked potato, mashed potatoes and then green beans with pancetta. Everything was delicious! We were in major food comas when we left! We headed to the lobby bar to listen to the piano and we played some cards for a while too. 

Today we were up and out early so we could beat the traffic home. We stopped for breakfast on the way home and headed straight to Michael's parents house to pick up Porkchop. They said he was a good boy and he was so happy to see us. After picking up Porkchop we headed home to unpack and relax. Michael wanted to play with his new helicopter so he played with that while I caught up on some of my blogs.

Michael made some buffalo chicken dip and we headed over to Rich and Tif's to watch some football. I got a lot of Makayla time in. She slept most of the time and was so cute!

We had such a good weekend, it was so nice to celebrate Michael's birthday in Lake Geneva. We lucked out with no rain and we just loved being able to relax and take it easy. I hope all of you had a great weekend and have a good week ahead!

Our week in pictures: 9/18 - 9/24

Sunday, September 18: The Fall and Halloween decorations are officially out!

Monday, September 19: We have been waiting for the Chik-fil-a to open in Schaumburg for so long and it finally opened last week. It was worth the wait, it's delicious!

Tuesday, September 20: A sneak peak of our Fall decorations.

Wednesday, September 21: Porkchop being lazy

Thursday, September 22: My weekly manicure, OPI's Lincoln Park after Dark this week.

Friday, September 23: Birthday boy Michael opening his gifts!

Saturday, September 24: Corn maze time at the Grand Geneva

Happy Birthday Husby!

Happy birthday to my Michael! Today, my husby celebrates another birthday and I celebrate another year of having him in my life. A little blog post cannot express how much he means to me or how happy he makes me.

The past five+ years that we've shared together have been the best years of my life. If I had to choose only one thing to bring with me to a deserted island, I'd only choose you! You can always make me laugh no matter how bad of a day I've had. It's honestly hard for me to remember what my life was like before you were in it.

I hope that I can make you feel as special today on your birthday (and every day) as you have made me feel since the day we met. Happy birthday, my best friend and partner in life! ♥ I am so excited to celebrate your birthday in Lake Geneva this weekend!

This week I'm...

Loving: That today is my Friday!

Disliking: That the weather report for our getaway weekend is cold and rainy, oh well, that just means more shopping!

Craving: A chopped salad from the Geneva Chophouse.

Hoping: I can catch up on my sleep this weekend.
Reading: Our potential menu for Oktoberfest.

Watching: So looking forward to Vampire Diaries and Grey's Anatomy tonight!
Listening to: Our jackhole neighbor starting his motorcycle at 4 am, i was not happy!
Looking forward to: Celebrating  my Husby's birthday in Lake Geneva this weekend!

Hearing buzz about: iPhone 5 announcement on October 4? I hope so!

Wordless Wednesday: A sneak peek

Menu Planning Monday

Monday: Baked Rotini with Italian sausage

Tuesday: Lake Perch

Wednesday: Cheddar Cracker Chicken

Thursday: Pizza night
Friday: Lake Geneva!

Weekend Recap

What a fun and busy weekend, prepare yourselves for a lot of pictures! On Friday I worked from home which I usually do, but I needed to this week because we were having some furniture delivered. We had our new dining room that we purchased last weekend delivered as well as a storage ottoman I ordered. Everything looks great, except we are still waiting on 2 of our chairs for the dining room set. One of them got broken in transit and they come in pairs so we're having 2 new ones delivered some time this week.

I also ordered a new ottoman for our living room. It's a leather storage ottoman that I picked up at Overstock.com. It has tons of storage for blankets, pillows, etc. It looks great!

After we were done with work for the day, we headed over to Michael's parents to celebrate his Dad's birthday. Rich and Tif came over with Jacob and Makayla, we ordered some Chinese food and sushi. Everything was really yummy. After dinner Michael's dad opened his gifts and Michael and I got some Makayla time in, she looked so cute! We also sang happy birthday and had some brownies.

On Saturday we were up pretty early and went to get some breakfast and then ran to the store to get a few things. Afterwards we came home to prep some food for the annual Pierogi Fest at Michael's parents. I was making sauerkraut for the festivities and Michael was making his famous apple pie. We were in the kitchen most of the day until it was time to shower and get ready to head over to the party. 

We packed everything up and headed over to Michael's parent's house. We were the first ones there so we just relaxed for a while before everyone else arrived. Once everyone there, the pierogi making began! It's a lot of work so everyone has to help, otherwise they don't get to eat! Even Jacob helped!

Once all of the pierogi were rolled, filled and pinched, it was time to cook. It takes a while so Michael's parents handled the cooking and the rest of us went outside to enjoy the beautiful day. It was so nice out. Jacob was having a ball running around in the backyard and on his swing.

Finally, it was time to eat. We were all excited to see what Jacob would think of the pierogi since he had never had it before. Well unfortunately he didn't like them very much and spit them right out! We couldn't believe it. Maybe he'll like them when he's older.

Tif came with Makayla later on so Tif could have some pierogis and everyone could get a look at their new arrival. She looked so cute and was quiet as a mouse.

Finally after dinner, we sang happy birthday to Michael's dad, his cousin Tim who's birthday is tomorrow and Michael who's birthday is this Friday. Everyone dug into cake, brownies and Michael's apple pie. It was  a nice ending to a very fun day.

Today we got up and had some breakfast and then I finally started to drag all of my Halloween decorations out. I feel so behind, but it's not even officially Fall yet, so I don't feel too bad! I didn't get much done since the Bears came on at noon. There's a lot of stuff to put out!

We headed over to Rich and Tif's to watch the game. We also got to play with Jacob and hold baby Makayla. Obviously the game didn't turn out so well, so that was kind of depressing but hopefully we show up next week for Green Bay. After the game we headed home and we've just been relaxing all afternoon. I worked on my decorations some more. Hopefully I will have them done so I can share some pictures of everything sometime this week. I'm looking forward to having a 4-day week this week. We are headed up to Lake Geneva next weekend and we can't wait! We really need to get away plus we are celebrating Michael's birthday as well. Anyways, I hope all of you had a fun filled weekend and have a speedy work week ahead!