Sunday, July 28, 2013

Double years.

Tuesday (July 23rd) was our two year wedding anniversary. We are so proud to have doubled the time we are married, haha. To celebrate we decided to go to Chicago for the weekend using points from our awesome credit card.

After living in there for four years, there are only two things that I have always wanted to do in Chicago and haven't done. One is to go out on a yacht, but that isn't going to happen until I make some rich friends. 


The second is (was) to go kayaking on the Chicago River. I realize this sounds weird to people (well I only realize now because after telling a lot of people they thought it was strange), but I always saw the people in their kayaks when I walked over the river and it looked so cool. So I finally did it (and took Aaron along)! 



I was nervous because I have never been in a kayak and am afraid of drowning, but it was easy and a ton of fun. It was awesome to see the buildings (especially the Trump Tower) from the river view. We didn't get any pictures because we didn't have a bag to keep our phones dry. 

 

We also got to go to some of our favorite places, see some old friends, and even hit up the beach. And OF COURSE have a person asking for money on the street get aggressive when you don't give them any. Classic Chicago. 


We stayed at this brand new hotel and it was kinda a little bit weird and high-tech/vintage (at the same time..), but a great location and a heavenly bed (I want to buy one).

Hotel lobby chair 
Piece Pizza

 

Sunday, July 21, 2013

We moved! (again)



We recently moved to an adorable one bedroom house about a mile east of our previous apartment. No, we didn't buy it, but we are very happy to have a yard and a basement all to ourselves! And so many windows!

Aaron's parents came to help us move and unfortunately we haven't cleaned up/unpacked much since they left... but we did do a lot of fun things with them, including the Art Fair on the Square, La Fete De Marquette, and a tour of the new Ale Asylum Brewery, which we have wanted to do since it opened (one of the owners did our tour, which was way cooler than the employees who normally give them at other breweries we've been to).



Enjoying the New Orleans music! 
Free chocolate covered bananas = best neighborhood festival yet.
Ale Asylum
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Monday, July 8, 2013

NYC Fourth of July

Empire state building in the holiday spirit.

My favorite way to travel is to go places where I know someone. It makes the whole trip infinitely easier when you have an insider making sure you see the cool things and helping you out. This means visiting New York City is ten times more fun when your twin sister lives there. I'm sure I would try to have fun if I went on my own, but I would spend half of the trip trying not to be lost.

Aaron and I were really excited to see Ruth and Sean's new apartment, since they recently moved to Manhattan from Astoria and we estimated that their whole apartment was the size of our living room. The place is super charming and adorable though, and I will now refer to it as the doll house apartment.

Unfortunately the weather was horrendously hot, so most of the outdoor activities we had planned were cancelled because nobody wanted to be outside. We did do some things outside and were rewarded with great views, sweat soaked clothing, and mild heat stroke. But yeah. Luckily Aaron and Sean enjoy going to movies, so Ruth and I were able to go shopping and eat a fancy tapas lunch at Casa Mono by ourselves (must go back!). We also got our nails done which I will require on every trip because it is so much cheaper there. Plus you get the cute ladies fawning over the "twinies" (which is how Spanish speaking people say twins in English).

Instead of watching the fireworks on July 4th, we visited the infamous Shake Shack and were serenaded by some young people singing about waiting in line. We also saw a police officer pick up his police dogs poop, so the wait was totally worth it. Also deep fried portabella stuffed with cheese on a bun. Thats all you need to know.

We went to the Met on Friday, (which was our first NYC museum experience.. good air conditioning there!) and walked around Central Park trying not to faint and looking for proposals. We also stopped at Magnolia Bakery to get banana pudding. It was sooo goooddd I need to make it at home, but the 3 cups of heavy cream involved will probably stop me. 

Friday evening unfortunately ended with an ant massacre in the doll house. The day started with one little ant on my phone and ended with hundreds prancing around between the patio and the kitchen. The ant killing was followed by lots of wine, pizza delivery, and Mulan.

On Saturday we got to go to ABC Kitchen for brunch/lunch, but this time we took Aaron and Sean along. The only disappointing thing about the meal was that Ruth and I couldn't finish our mushroom pizza. We felt really sad about it. Then we walked around the furniture store and wished we could afford to buy things. Again we tried to do outdoor activities by going downtown to the Brooklyn Bridge. We almost died before getting into a cab and heading to an air conditioned bar. Dinner at the Spotted Pig was super cute and delicious. We ended the night by getting to the Lincoln Center for the last song of Midsummer Night Swing, where we danced and then took lots of pictures in front of the fountain and quickly got home to cool off again.

I would say more but I'm getting tired and now there are tons of pictures for you to enjoy!

Ruth will only drink coffee out of a mason jar.

Dinner.
Really big sardines at Casa Mono
The patio
Red, white, and blue.
In line for Shake Shack



Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center lawn
This shade is not working

Sweaty backs looking at turtles.  

 

Inside the Met.

Met rooftop
I just pretended to propose. He said yes!
Killing ants with flip flops.
Banana pudding!
Aaron's amazing french toast at ABC Kitchen.


Wilfie and Nell... the name of the bar, not them.
Midsummer Night Swing

the end.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

To be continued


Aaron and I have been in NYC for the past few days visiting family and gorging on delicious food and drinks. I have lots of pictures to share but just wanted to let you all know what we've been up to! We are currently waiting to board our flight home. Hope everyone enjoyed their Fourth of July weekend.