thoughts on a wednesday night.

i know it's been a looooong time since i blogged (i'm not doing too good this year), but i'm going to try and get a good amount of posts in the next five weeks. i wanted to post some new makeup/haircare/skincare favorites on monday, but after hearing the devastating news about the bombing at the boston marathon, nothing else seemed important... especially sharing my favorites. my best friend summed up a lot of what i was feeling monday night. she said, "the longer i live in this world the less i understand it. i am so sad for the people in boston, and for all the victims and families of the senseless violence we've seen recently. sickening." when things like this happen, i start to lose my faith in humanity. but then i read wise words, like the following quotes, and i know that there are too many good people out there to lose hope in humanity.

i'm sure you've seen these quotes almost everywhere (i have anyway), but i did want to share them in case you didn't see them:

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
- Fred Rogers


"... the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago. 

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."

- Patton Oswalt

i am incredibly grateful for every single one of my blessings. and i do take them for granted sometimes, many times, but i try to remind myself, often, of how lucky i truly am.

in about five weeks my family and i will be embarking on our 10 day italy vacation. after years of talking about it, and spending the better portion of this year planning it, it's finally happening. it still seems surreal. i cannot wait to share the photos with you all when i get back. i'm hoping to squeeze in quite a few posts before that, since a lot is happening in those 5 weeks, but bear with me if i don't quite make that goal.

i'll leave you with one more quote, one of my favorites actually, that helps me in troubling times. if you need it, hopefully it will help you too:

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

xoxo, steph

currently.

isn't chester's niece the sweetest? those cheeks just kill me :)

watching: i'm still loving the following. i'm really curious to see how the rest of the season goes. i have a few predictions regarding some main characters... i wonder if i'm right ;)

i also recently became obsessed with scandal thanks to hulu plus. leave it to shonda rhimes to have me rooting for a mistress to get her married ex-boyfriend back. every. single. episode. i just love fitz and olivia together. everyone does, right? ;)

reading: i've actually been pretty bad about picking up a book lately, but i have been reading some fabulous new-to-me blogs like a brunette duet, his little lady, i love you to the moon, & treasures and travels. be sure to check these ladies out if you haven't yet!

listening to: a lot of the lumineers. i can't believe that i just heard the dead sea only a week or so ago! i love that song so much! i also really like the tracks slow it down and stubborn love.

excited about: well, i recently bit the bullet and bought a clarisonic mia 2!  and so far so good :) my skin feels super smooth, and i'm looking forward to balancing/clearing up my skin before summer.

looking forward to: dinner with friends at the girl and the goat next week, dark lord day at the end of april (i still can't believe chester and i got tickets!!), easter with the family, girls night tomorrow, and game of thrones!!!

hope you all have a great weekend! xoxo

st. patty's weekend

hello hello! i hope everyone had a safe and happy st. patrick's day/weekend! here's how we celebrated:

stout fest 2013 at goose island (clybourn location). chester managed to get our tickets before the event sold out in mere minutes. i'm so glad that he did b/c this event was amazing! i've mentioned that i've been getting into different stouts before (here on the blog), and it was really great to taste these new-to-me flavors on tap. here is what i tried:


my favorites were definitely the bourbon county stouts, specifically the blackberry & the apple brandy. i also really enjoyed london fog and d-day. heck, i loved them all! 

are any of you on untappd? trust me, the last thing i need is to be on another social networking app, but chester got me on this one and it's pretty cool. that's where the screen grabs above came from.

i downloaded the dbl cam app last week and tried it out on saturday. it takes a photo from the rear facing camera first, then immediately after it takes a photo from the front facing camera. it's a cool idea, and some of the shots i've seen by other users are pretty cool.

after stout fest and a much needed nap, we headed out to the beer market in vernon hills for my best friend dana's 30th birthday. it ended up being the perfect bar for her party since it wasn't crowded and the people there weren't totally drunk/obnoxious like in most bars this weekend. i picked up this disposable camera at UO and we had fun trying it out. 





we ripped off the cardboard packaging on the camera so each shot would be a surprise. and most of the text lined up awesomely with the photos :)

hope you all had a great weekend! 

lately.

happy friday everyone! just wanted to share a few photos of what chester and i have been up to lately.

chester is a big fan of craft beer, especially stouts. i was never a beer person, and usually stuck to my rum & cokes when we went out. but over the past month or so, i've been trying some great stouts. i really like the ones with coffee or chocolate flavoring. my favorites are bell's black note (has a hint of licorice) and goose island's bourbon county stout. lucky for me/us, there is a great bar near chester's place in franklin park, hopscotch, that serves both of these :)




last sunday chester and i went a stout tasting, put on by solidarity, called "darkside" in wicker park. we each got to try 8 different stouts... which made for a tipsy sunday afternoon! haha. but it was a lot of fun, and i like that events like this are something we can now do together. we actually have tickets to stout fest 2013 on the 16th! i'm really excited for that one!

last night chester and i joined his dad and a few of his friends at a shooting range. we were lucky enough to get a private room reserved, and it was really nice learning about everything in that kind of environment. i've never shot a gun before, and i was so nervous, but the guys were really great teachers. i picked it up pretty quick, and was quite proud of my target sheets!


so that's what we've been up to lately, drinkin' beer and shootin' guns. hahaha! j/k. hope you all have a great weekend!