oh hey there!

my mom recently sent me this photo of my grandparents (my dad's parents) standing behind their bar at my dad's childhood home. i love this photo so much! it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of this post, but i wanted to share it here. it's awesome to see that they took their beer as seriously as we do :)

so, that was quite the blogging break, huh? i wanted to stop by and let you all know that i am still alive and well :) blogging has definitely taken a backseat these past several weeks, between moving/settling in to the new place, decorating, and a new workout schedule... so i apologize for that. to be honest, i have found time to post here and there the past couple weeks, but then laziness takes over. yikes...

i'm so happy to be settled into our condo. we are finishing up decorating the main rooms, and it's really coming together nicely. i never really felt comfortable inviting people over to my old apartment b/c it was always a disaster, and i have been longing to have people over to a place that i truly love. we haven't had a proper housewarming yet, but i'm sure it will happen very soon.

this is the first time that i have moved in with a significant other, actually chester's first time as well, and it's been wonderful. we still have/make time to do our own things, but it's so nice to see him on a daily basis, and not have to "plan" when to hang out. i'm happy to report that the transition went/is going smoothly :)

i thought it might be easier to format the rest of this post like my other currently posts, so here's what i've been up to currently:

reading: a half priced books recently opened up near my work, and it has been the best thing ever! the store is huge, and they have a great selection of new releases out. i picked up "reconstructing amelia", and i really like it so far. i also need to start "the fault in our stars" soon too!

watching: i got totally immersed in true detective this winter. damn! that show is so good! i was really impressed with the season overall, and i did really like the ending. i think i'm going to rewatch it again with chester. i also finished season 2 of house of cards. holy crap that show is amazing! the second season definitely had me covering my mouth in disbelief of what just happened. it. is. so. good. game of thrones comes back soon! thank goodness, b/c i'm running out of good shows to watch. scandal is back, which is good news, and in the meantime i've been catching up on damages via netflix.

loving: the grand budapest hotel!!! chester and i went to see it last night and i loved every minute of it. it was more suspenseful and a tad darker than pervious wes anderson movies (in my opinion), but it's easily one of my new favorites. if you'e a fan of his films, please check it out!

looking forward to: stout fest 2014 at goose island this saturday. last year's stout fest was our first year, and we had a lot of fun. this year my sister and her bf are joining us, so it'll be a good time.
aaaand we secured tickets to dark lord day at 3 floyds in april! i cannot wait to go back this year. hopefully the weather warms up a bit by then. this winter has been just awful!

thinking about: so i'm quickly approaching my 30th, yes MY 30th, birthday in the middle of may. i'm not as freaked out as i thought i'd be, haha. usually i am all about doing something big for my birthday, and oddly enough, this is the first year where i haven't put much thought into it. i just want to hang out at a chill bar with good friends. something low key for sure. so we'll see what i come up with.

hope you all have a great weekend!

orange county trip

this past weekend chester and i escaped the snow and frigid temps & visited our good friends in orange county. it was a perfect getaway, and i miss that weather so much right about now! oh, btw, chester and i got the condo we wanted! we signed a year lease the night before our flight, so that was a big weight lifted off of our shoulders. now i'm spending my free time packing, even though it feels like i'm not really making a dent :/ 

so anyway, tonight i needed a break from packing, and wanted to share some photos from the weekend:

we were excited to visit our favorite restaurant in costa mesa, and we also stopped by our favorite brewery, the bruery. it was a great trip! we already can't wait to go back.

hope you all have a good weekend! i'm crossing my fingers that the snowy forecast won't be as bad as they say. wish us chicago/suburb dwellers luck! haha.

a look at what i do for a living.

i totally meant to post this video with my currently post yesterday, and it slipped my mind when i published. i've noticed that i don't really talk about my job too much on this blog. for those of you who don't know, i'm a digital media designer at culture22. the video department (ben, brian, kevin & myself), recently finished up our 2014 reel, and i think it looks pretty damn awesome. check it out!

Culture22 - 2014 Experience Reel from Culture22 on Vimeo.

currently

hey everyone! i'm sorry that i haven't been around at all this month. my blogging goal for 2014 is off to a rough start. but i have been pretty busy recently. chester and i are moving in together in mid-february (yay!) and we have been looking for places to rent all month. i think we have a place secured, but we will know for sure later on today. fingers crossed! i can't wait to be in a new place! i've been in my current apartment for 3 years now, so i'm ready for a change. i have started collecting boxes, and began the purging & packing process, but i really need to kick it up a notch.

anyway, just wanted to fill you guys in on the craziness. on to the currently post:

reading: in my last currently post, i talked about how much i loved the husband's secret by liane moriarty. after i finished it, i decided to check out another book by moriarty and downloaded the last anniversary. i loved it as well! i really like moriarty's characters, and how attached you feel to them over the course of a book. i would definitely recommend both of these books!

watching: so i'm really into true detective on hbo. it's only 3 episodes in, but this kind of show is right up my alley. i absolutely love it. my coworker just sent me these episode recaps, and there is already a ton of info that i failed to notice from watching each episode when it airs. i'm still watching girls, although i'm still not totally in love with it. and i'm really excited that the following is back! i have yet to watch last night's episode though. i'm still loving the mindy project, and almost screamed with excitement at the end of the last episode… if you watch, you know what i'm talking about! eek! i recently started watching damages on netflix, and i'm hooked. i'm a few episodes in to the 2nd season, and i'm happy that there are 5 seasons of that show. 

listening to: Did YHTN put out their best of 2013 mix (part 1 & part 2) recently, so i've been enjoying that a lot. i always look forward to kaelah's things i love thursday post each week, and last week she included this AMAZING playlist from the thought catalog: the 18 best 90s pop songs you forgot existed. holy crap you guys! this list is amazing! i loved ALL of these songs back in the day! if you want to take a listen on spotify, i created this playlist. 

excited about: visiting our friends in orange county this weekend! chester found amazingly low fares out there for this weekend, so we quickly snatched those up last november. we fly on on thursday and fly back monday evening. the timing couldn't be more perfect, since we are in the second wave of the polar vortex or whatever here in the chicagoland area. seriously, i'm used to the midwest winters being shitty, but we have been lucky the past few winters and this one is really testing my patience. it will be nice to have a long weekend with really decent weather. oh, and i'm excited about moving in with chester of course :)

loving: believe it or not, i'm really into cooking a lot of my work lunches and snacks lately. i know this is pretty normal for a lot of you that are eating clean, but it's a little new for me. even though i try to stay healthy, i usually always went out to buy my lunches. i love to roast veggies, they taste so good that way! my favorites are roasted brussels sprouts, green beans, zucchini and edamame. i want to try roasted cauliflower soon too.

thanks for sticking around guys! i probably won't post much, if at all, until we move in to our new place. after that's all done, i will get into a better blogging schedule. in the meantime, keep up with me on instagram :)

happy new year! and a look back...

hey everyone! sorry it's been quite a bit since i posted here. i got pretty wrapped up with christmas shopping and prepping for the holidays, and work was pretty busy, too. now that things are slowing down, i hope to get some more posts up soon.

i hope you all had a great holiday season! i was able to hang out in rockford with my family for several days over christmas, and spent some time with chester's family as well. new years eve was a quiet one for him and i, as we decided to stay in and relax. the weather around the chicago land area was a big factor, and we are still getting a ton of snow!

2013 was a great year, and i wanted to post a photo recap of my favorite memories from it. if 2014 is anything like this year (i feel like it's going to be even better!), i cannot wait!

as always, thanks for stopping by! hopefully your transition back into a normal schedule goes smoothly tomorrow. all i'm hoping for is to be able to drive out of my parking lot... this snow is insane!

until next time! xoxo