St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day has come and gone again...and like always it was a ton of fun! Shawn's brother Patrick came to visit us for a few days and stayed for "his" day :) There is a street near us that I have noticed has quite a few Irish Pubs, so we decided to make the rounds and hit up a few. We weren't able to go out over the weekend (which is when the most people were out in the city) but we thoroughly enjoyed the actual St. Patty's Day. Murphy's Pub was our favorite stop...there was karoke after all! Shawn and I sang out signature song, "Summer Nights" from Grease. Niko (my step-brother) also met us out and he and Shawn brought down the house with "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. It was awesome! Niko and I both got t-shirts for singing and Niko got a sweet hat that he gave me!

Me and My Man!

Brothers. Notice Patrick isn't wearing green! I still think he deserves more pinches for this...I don't care what his name is! If you see him, pinch him hard!

We loved Party #3. Murphy's Pub rocked! This is my awesome hat. I am going to keep it forever :)

Some of the highlights of the night:

#1 Two old ladies (and by old I mean in their 50's) hitting on Patrick at Party #2.

#2 Crazy girls trying to pick up Niko at Party #4.

#3 Balloon guy outside Party #1 making the spiderman balloons.

#4 Karoke at Party #3.

#5 Awesome green sequin hat from Party #3.

We are looking forward to next year already!

Indy Wedding Plans

While Mimi was visiting, we spent a couple of days in Indianapolis to do some wedding planning things. Seeing as Mimi is an awesome wedding coordinator, she helped me a TON while she was home get some things arranged for the wedding. Of course, we met up with Theresa and Megan during the day to do some bridesmaid dress hunting. Mimi and Theresa had chosen their dresses...and Megan has it down to 2 and should be deciding this week. I will be back in Indiana early the week after next to take Sara and Haley to choose their dresses...things are coming along!

Also...I got my veil last week :) So freaking excited!!

We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis while Mimi was in town, seeing as she works for Hyatt we got to stay for free (sweet!). It was handy to be staying there since that is where we are having my reception. We met with the woman at Hyatt who is arranging everything then we got to go to the restaurant on the roof (which is a revolving restaurant...so cool!) to do the tasting for my wedding. We basically got to try a bunch of really awesome food in order to choose what will be served at my wedding. We chose the appetizer, the salad and narrowed down the entree choices to 3. All the food is absolutely delicious!! I couldn't believe how good. Things I wasn't sure about at all were wonderful! The food is going to be spectacular and I'm so so so excited for my wedding!! Mimi and I did a bunch of other planning type things, and all I have to say is Thank Goodness she does this for a living because I would never have thought to ask any of the questions she asked! She figured out how we should layout the ballroom so easily and we planned out the rough schedule for the wedding day. It was great! Plus, the hotel has an indoor pool and hot tub, so we went down that evening so soak in the hot tub (well Mimi and Mom did, I didn't have my bathing suit, so I just soaked my feet.) Awesome!! I can't believe the room rate that Hyatt is giving our guest for the wedding...the rooms are so nice! The beds are super comfortable. I'm just getting more and more excited for the wedding everyday! Plus it was really great to have Mimi home...now if we could just convince her to move back to the midwest at least! I know hoping for Chicago is useless, but I can still dream!

Here is Mimi and I standing at the window of our hotel room at the Hyatt looking out at the State House across the street, which is where I'm having the ceremony for my wedding. Picture turned out pretty good, even though Mimi looks like she has no hair! Haha!

The fam visits Chicago

Last week was Eric's Spring Break from school and so Mimi decided to make a trip up from Texas for a visit. Mom, Mimi and Eric came to Chicago for a couple of days and we had a blast! The first night they were here we went to our favorite restaurant growing up, Barnaby's, for pizza with all our cousins and their families. It was a huge, rowdy group...but that is how we like it! The next day turned out be be fairly decent weather, so we met Dad for breakfast and then the 6 of us went to the Brookfield Zoo. Eric had never been and Mimi and Dad hadn't been for a long time. We really enjoyed our day out together!

It was surprisingly hard to stay up on this walrus! Mimi just gave up and stood behind it, but Eric fell off several times trying to get up there! He even cut his finger I think...oh, what we go through to get a good picture of siblings!

Eric wanted to get in the kangaroo pouch, so we all got in for the picture.

We had fun taking pictures with this huge fish...I wish I could post them all, but this is my favorite!

The lioness posing for us too...it's like all the big cats were posing! They all look so elegant though!

Gotta love cute penguins! One of these two is a male and the other is a female and the male was like guarding her whenever another male would walk by. It was funny.

I love this picture of the polar bear! He looks so cute...almost cuddly in a I could crush you with my toe kinda way!
Now, you may be wondering why there is a picture of a squirrel from our trip to the zoo. Obviously, the squirrel has not become an animal typically displayed at the zoo, but this squirrel was putting on quite a show for us! He was coming right up to us...like really close! At one point we started walking away and he ran after us and almost got up on my shoe! After that whole thing we felt bad that we didn't have any food for him, but oh well! At leat we got up close and personal with at least one animal on our super cool trip to the zoo!

Mimi's Visit!

Mimi arrived in Indy last night safe and sound. Mom picked her up at the airport and they're coming to visit me tomorrow!! I can't wait! Gotta get to sleep now though so I can work another night tonight...although I'm so excited to see my family that the shift tonight is gonna seem like forever!!!

A Great Night!

When Shawn and I got the settlement money from the accident we decided to pay off some debt, put a large chunck in savings for the wedding and then splurge on a few frivolous things for ourselves. One of these things was great seats to a Blackhawks game. We went to the game last night against the Anaheim Ducks and our seats were 6th row just to the left of the goal. It was awesome! All the sounds were amplified...we could hear every little hit on the glass. I jumped everytime a puck hit the glass! Plus when the players bashed against the glass it was amazing! We were hoping a fight would break out right in front of us, but there weren't any big fights! Also, although we were sitting right by one of the goals, every single goal in the game (for both teams) were scored at the OTHER goal! Boo! We got some really great pictures during the game, and we won a box of Lemonheads. Can't beat that! Oh yeah...and we had a great time together :)

Shawn standing by the ice before the game.

Johnson & Kane warming up before the game.

This picture is from our seats! Awesome!

Byfuglien and one of the players from the Ducks.

Crashing into the glass right in front of us!

Action on the ice!

Goodbye My Computer

So...I am saying goodbye to my computer today. My laptop has been a great companion since I started nursing school and now it is time to say goodbye. Although it still works, the internet is being a problem child and it has started shutting down randomly. So yesterday I paid a visit to BestBuy and got some computer advice from Ian and decided that I needed to get a new computer. I wasn't sure if I should get another laptop or a desktop, but I finally decided on a new laptop. I loved my Toshiba, so I decided not to stray. I got a new Toshiba and I love it! I am having a time getting used to Vista, but so far I am figuring it out!

On a side note, Shawn and I are going to another Blackhawks game tomorrow night. This game we have really awesome seats! SO excited!!! Also, Mimi is coming to visit next week! She'll be here in Chicago on Sunday, along with Mom and Eric. I'm so excited!! Also...Shawn and I decided we are going to go to Ireland for our honeymoon. Also super excited about that! I am so excited for our wedding :) I met with a couple of florists earlier this week and I feel really good about it! I was thinking about maybe trying to do the flowers myself, but I think that I am not going to mess with that. Both florists I met with had some really good ideas, so I'm just waiting for quotes now and then I can make a decision. I love getting things decided for the wedding...one less thing to stress about. We finally set the design for the save-the-dates today, so those should be ready soon to be sent out. Shawn and I went to Target to do our registry this week and I did one for Crate and Barrel last week (I didn't figure Shawn would care about that one much!).

My friend Shannon's bachelorette party is coming up in March and that should be fun! I miss my Shannie so much! She was such a good roomie and I miss my sleeping-friend Benji! I don't have anyone (or any dog) to sleep with me now during the day :( The bachelorette party will be really fun. Also, my friend Mark from Ball State just got engaged! I am so happy for him! He really sounds like he has found a path that will truly make him happy and I know he's been struggling recently with his life's path. Yay to marriages everywhere! On a sadder note, my friends Sarah and Ian from IU had announced that they were pregnant but discovered recently that Sarah lost the baby. They are devastated and so any prayers for them I know they would appreciate.