Graduation!

I did it! After a billion years of school and excruciatingly painful boards, I am finally an RN!
I changed my major roughly 8 times, but I finally completed a useful program.
M & I ventured back to Michigan this past weekend so I could walk across the stage and get that paper.
Let me clear something up quickly. Each of the graduates only got 6 tickets. For me that meant Mom, Dad, Step-Mom, Husband, Grammy, and Grampy. I couldn't even invite my brother, so for all of my aunts, uncles, cousins, step-family, in-laws, and friends, I really am sorry, but it was out of my control.
Go on and trust me when I say I saved you, though. It was boring and sweaty, plus M took some pictures so you can see it all.
Sigh... those gowns are not flattering.

Look, there's me making a derpy face and waving to my family like I didn't expect to see them.
Here you can also see the girls that sat on either side of me. The one in front of me is about 8 months pregnant and extremely uncomfortable as it is, not to mention we sat on metal chairs for close to 2 hours in a very hot gymnasium. I helped fan her.
The girl behind me just woke up. It was 7 pm. She thought it was a good idea to do shots starting at 9 am.
She learned nothing during her years in college.

Another derpy face, and the girl behind me seems to have fallen asleep again.

I'm DONE! I passed the NCLEX and can begin work at any time.
It just takes one little call from the HR department at a hospital. So, you know, call me!

With Love From Paris

My Mom is the best... except for the whole not taking me to Paris with her thing ;-)

She recovered nicely by sending M and me some delicious and some not so edible souvenirs. 

Besides the postcard we received, my absolute favorite gift was the Mini Macarons.

To be more specific, the chocolat "Un parfum de gourmandise" macaron.

I'm certain Mother Bear is trying to fatten us up with the next couple gifts.

I had never heard of Kinder bueno candy bars until just this week when my favorite blogger, Rose, shared her homemade ice cream recipe. 

And then I got this in my "with love" package. I'm certain these won't last long enough to make any special desserts. They look perfect as is.

The next thing I pulled out was 70% cacao "chocolat noir". Does my Mom know me or what?

I was tempted to hide these from M, but I'll be nice.

Now for some French cuisine inspiration, she gifted us Paris kitchen decor.
Fingers crossed that I suddenly become Julia Child.

At last, a fab new Zara shirt! We're twinsies as she bought one for herself too.

Thanks for thinking of your favorite daughter, Mom. I love everything, and didn't expect to be spoiled from YOUR vacation. XO

Go Cubbies!

M & I are still alive!
My boards have been scheduled for later this month, and I have been studying like I've never studied before.
It's extremely stressful to have something so huge weighing on me 24/7, but M & I managed to get out of the house yesterday for a little fun in the sun.
Because he didn't give me birthday ideas, I came up with one that nearly gave me a panic attack after the purchase.
Two of the best tickets Wrigley Field has to offer.
Immediately after I clicked "purchase" I realized if the game gets rained-out, M will be left with no present from me at all, but there has been a lot of local chatter about moving the Cubs out of Wrigley and tearing it down, so I knew we had to get tickets this season if we wanted to be certain to watch them in one of the oldest stadiums in baseball history.

As it turns out, we had the best weather we've had since 2012. It was a perfectly warm and sunny day... unless you were in the shade.

We took a shuttle to Wrigleyville early in hopes of beating traffic and getting into a bar or restaurant before the game.
We ended up at Sluggers, which I highly recommend visiting if you're in that part of town.
It's a huge bar with delicious (not so nutritious) food and great service, even on game day. There was barely any standing room by the time we left, and we still had great waitstaff.

After fueling up, we walked to the field, both of us beyond excited.

I wanted to take pictures of everything to share with you, but I knew I would never be able to capture the magnitude and coolness of the history we were getting to see.
The stadium is remarkably small compared to those of other MLB teams. If you've ever been to a Mud Hens game, it was pretty much that size.

The high seats behind M are the bleachers that the local businesses installed on their rooftops, they're not technically a part of the stadium. It's like this surrounding the entire outfield!
There are large pillars every few aisles in the stadium, leaving some customers with completely obstructed views; however, that doesn't stop die-hard Cubs fans from purchasing those tickets at regular price.

The game began and the coolest concession people began roaming the aisles, making up songs, enticing us to buy "edible hand-warmers" (hot dogs) and Old Style beer.
These people, along with Carter, the guard over our section, were one of my favorite experiences of the day. You could tell that some of them had been there since they were old enough to work, and they truly love every second of Cubs baseball.

The game was fun, but when the sun went behind us and the 10th inning rolled around, M and I were freezing, and tired from a long, hard day of alcohol consuming ;-)

We stuck it out to watch our home team lose, but we both agreed that the best part of the day was being somewhere that so many baseball legends have played.

By the way, I believe Wrigley is the last field to not go to a jumbo-tron. They still have a person poking his head out of the holes in the scoreboard, and putting up numbers on the board when each team scores. It's pretty cool.

M had a smile from ear to ear all day... Mission accomplished.

Museums

A couple weekends ago the in-laws came for a visit to celebrate a couple birthdays with us.

We spent a day downtown making our way through Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.

On a side note, I checked the camera battery before we left, and somehow by the time we made it into the aquarium, it was nearly dead, so I only got a couple shots. 

To get into 3 exhibits (which is just about enough when you go on a packed weekend) it's only $8. It's probably one of the least expensive things to do in Chicago. It's free on Mondays and Tuesdays from Jan-March, but I'm not sure if that's for everyone or only Illinois residents.

Next time we will be buying our tickets ahead of time. We waited in line outside (freezing) for about 45 minutes as all the people who were on their game made their way into the warmth.

Matt and I will be heading back sometime to check out the other exhibits.

The Field Museum was really interesting, a little more expensive, but packed with a whole day's worth of exhibits. We really tried to do too much with too little time.

With a little one (and the other men) we got downtown late and had to battle the crowds to get in.

By the time we all had tickets, it was after noon, and the museums close at 5. 

Also, if you plan to spend a day around the museum area, be aware of the food options. Besides a hotdog stand, there's nothing within walking distance. 

There's a McDonalds in the basement of the Field Museum, and a cafe on the main floor.

It's a little hard to plan and coordinate for 7 people, but I think we managed the best we could.

That night we celebrated birthdays with presents, a delicious chocolate-peanut butter cake, and ice cream. 

It was nice to have family with us, even if it was only for a couple days.

Chicagoland

Let me start off by saying that M and I have moved to Chicago's suburbs (just in case you didn't get the memo).

I created this blog so I can tell everyone at home, all at once, what we're up to. Obviously, some of you may get phone calls before the blog posts appear (that's you, Moms & Dads), but for the most part, we've been finding ourselves telling stories over and over again.

Here's a way for you to get the whole story and some pictures.

A lot of people didn't understand why we decided to leave our families, friends, and lives behind. I'll explain it all.

We LOVE our families and our friends, but the truth is, we weren't loving our lives. We were living in a tiny apartment in a town that never felt like home.

M was working every waking hour, weekends included. Besides snuggling together at night while he slept, we didn't really see each other, and we certainly didn't have the married life we had hoped for. 

M and I had many conversations about packing up and leaving everything behind to start somewhere fresh. The things that other people take for granted, we were excited to experience: weekends together and a job that didn't require all of M's time and energy. 

He applied for a job outside of Chicago that he really wanted. It was the creme de la creme of jobs in his field, and as it turns out, he was a perfect fit. 

M left for Chicagoland in September, and the rest is history. 

I was left in Michigan to finish 3+ months of school. 

Every 2 weeks, we saw each other for about 3 days. I don't think I need to tell you how hard it was.

Fast forward to March, and I've been here (permanently) for almost 3 weeks. 

Every time we go downtown, I'm instantly reminded that our short separation was so worth it.

We sucked it up for a few months so that we can spend the rest of our lives in a place that we love.

We're still only 4 1/2 hours from our friends and families in MI/OH, and M even has some family (that I absolutely adore) 20 minutes away. 

So if you want to check up on us to make sure we're alive and doing well, you can come to this little blog. You can also call us and not see all the pretty pictures. Or you could just come for a visit and be in the pictures...

xo Heather

We've Moved

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