Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

This year's Christmas celebrations were filled with family, travels, fun and laughter.  Being our first Christmas together we got to learn each other's families traditions.  Christmas is my favorite time of year and its great to add more people to celebrate it with!

Friday night we ventured out to the suburbs to enjoy pizza and pasta with the McKay family.  It was great to make Tamara laugh and to be a human jungle gym to some of my favorite little munchkins!  Bart brought new beers to try out with his new "man-friend" Rob. 

Saturday morning we packed up, enjoyed some coffee and hit the road to Milwaukee.  We arrived, checked into our hotel and headed to the Sitarski residence.  Bart's mom, Marzena, had the place all decorated and the food all prepped.  I got to help set the dinner table which (as dumb as it sounds) is really sentimental to me because I always set my mom's table at Thanksgiving - isn't funny how the littlest things make us feel like family?  We took a quick tour through a speciality car lot with Bart's dad before celebrating the festivities.  The rest of the Sitarski/Scott/Murphy clan joined us for a wonderful celebration.

At dinner I learned some Polish traditions - first, its a tradition to eat seafood at Christmas - if you know me you know what seafood does to me, Marzena broke the tradition and had some non-seafood options for yours truly (THANK GOODNESS)!  We also did a "toast" with a wafer called "Oplatek" where you give Christmas wishes and break off a piece of each other's wafer.  The Sitarskis also always set an extra place setting just in case someone doesn't have a place to go and a mystery guest appears.  My family is constantly inviting people along for holidays so I really love and appreciated this tradition.  The other thing I learned about this family is their ability to SPOIL each other at Christmas.  Anna played "elf" and passed out all the presents and it was a crazy free for all - tissue paper flying, people yelling in excitement, lots of kissing and thank yous - it was a wonderful experience!  I cannot that the family enough for making me feel so included.

 Bart and his parents.

 Ciocia and Wojek (aunt and uncle)

 Laura and Andrew had a dance party

Sunday we went to breakfast with Bart's parents and then hit the road towards Iowa.  Mom and Joe were eagerly awaiting our arrival.  Mom and Joe had a couple of engagement surprises for us - including an adult sized blanket mom made - I've been asking her for one for awhile and have used it every night - sorry Bart and Tabby but I've claimed it!  After a couple engagement cheers, we headed to see the family at Kyle and Kelly's house, so glad we got to see them prior to their Texas Christmas.

We met up with Crissy and Jeff at Courtside where my sweet MOH was one cave-in down.  I love love love my Crissy after a couple of drinks :-)  Something about being with that girl makes me feel like I'm 10 years old again!  A "quick" stop at the Durango Depot and we headed home.  Next time I MUST be better about taking pictures - I can't find my camera... can you tell???

Now for Bart to learn a couple Christmas traditions...  Since 1990, we've had this tradition where the first person to wake up on Christmas Eve morning can shower and then wakes up everyone else to go to Perkins for breakfast.  Over the years I think I've been awake first maybe NEVER and honestly I've give up trying.  Mom, Bart and I went to Perkins and had our traditional breakfast.  When Joe got home from work we opened presents at Mom's.  Unlike the Sitarski residence, the O'Meara residence has a very strategic way to open presents, we go youngest to oldest (guess who made that rule) and open one present at a time so we can each see what each other got!  Bart could not believe the amount of presents and how giving my parents are on this crazy holiday.  Mom ALWAYS goes way over board and spoils the crap out of us!  I was lucky and got TWO little blue boxes this year as well as many many other perfect presents.  The best part about Christmas is being together and spending time with family, but there is NOTHING better than the look on someone's face when they open their presents that you took so much time to find (or click "add to cart").



 Me and my fiance

 Mom and Joe

We headed into Grandma and Grandpa Neumann's house for another celebration!  We ate prime rib and played a few games of "Right, Left, Center" and "Shit on your neighbor".  We then went on our traditional tour of the Dubuque lights including the festival of lights.  A quick skype with Josh, Alice, and Charlie (God my Boogie is the CUTEST little nephew) and Ty, Lauren, Kyle, and Kelly made our holidays complete!

Another round of presents left our trunk quite full!  Christmas morning we woke up to a gift from Santa and then hit the road back to Chicago.  We cleaned up all the decorations, put everything away, did laundry and then headed to Chinatown for a anti-Christmas dinner.  There is nothing better to me than being home for Christmas, like every year, its so hard for me to leave and I think I spent the rest of the day being crabby that I had to go back to Chicago.  Bart and I talk a lot about Christmas in the future and I keep saying "well you can come with me or we will spend it separate" which I know isn't fair (and typical bratty Monica), we will find our balance in the future but I'm so happy it worked out this way this year and we got to see everything and everyone, experiencing each other's traditions and enjoying the holidays.

A big thank you to everyone and I can't wait to see you all again soon!!!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Saturday afternoon we stepped out as our first time as an engaged couple to an Ugly Sweater Party!  We had been planning our outfits for weeks and were so excited to finally show them off! 

Yep ladies - this is my fiance :-)

Not that I look much better...

Crystal and John - they're always so adorable and crafty - each made their tops!!  I <3 these="these" two="two">

We won the award for "Best Couple" :-)

This is Comer and Bob - I think they could have given us a run for our money in the "best couple" department!

This is where the ironic part comes in!  If you read my previous blog: Holy Shit! I said Yes!, you will have read about a couple on their 3rd date that was sitting in the booth next to us when we got engaged...  we walk into the bar InnJoy for the party and guess who is there????  ERIN AND MATT!!  This is so crazy!  We apologized over and over for how we could have ruined their dating life but they quickly informed us they were happy for us and loved being apart of our story.  They had even been sharing our story all day with their families and friends - its such a small world!!!

Sweet Crystal!

At some point Bart changed hats and Crystal wanted to snuggle with us :-)

It was such a great night with great friends!  Happy Holidays everyone!

HOLY SHIT! I SAID YES!

OMG!!!!  I'm ENGAGED!!!

Friday night was a pretty big night for Bart and I.  It started out with Happy Hour after work - we met up with a group of work friends and had so much fun laughing and enjoying drinks after a long week!

Jenn came back for a Happy Hour as well!  It was sooooo good to see her!  Jenn and I sat next to each other at work for about a year and became close friends instantly!  Jenn made me laugh every single day and we always dressed to impress each other - god I miss those days!!!

 

After we left Happy Hour around 9pm we headed to the city.  We were both starving, Bart wanted to stop at High Dive, one of our new favorite bars in the new hood.  In true Monica bratty fashion, I did not want to go to another bar and made this known!  My sweet Bart would normal give in to my consistent whining and go home but not tonight - tonight he said we were staying out for one more.  Little did I know, he's been carrying around a beautiful diamond ring for about 2 days and it was burning a hole in his pocket!

 

We sit down at a booth and I decide the couple at the booth next to us needs to be our friends - I started asking them how long they've been dating and took their picture and consistently bugged them for about a half hour.  (this part of the story will become extremely ironic the next night when we run into them at another bar... FATE). 

 

Bart notices High Dive has a photo booth.  My friends/family know that I'm consistently snapping photos and LOVE documenting life through photos - I love a good photo booth.  We instantly map out our plan... 1st picture is smile, 2nd picture is goofy, 3rd picture kissing picture (I know, gross!), 4th picture is sweet.  I sit on Bart's lap in the photo booth and have our photo shoot.  We check out the pics and they're pretty great.  However, Bart wants to take it again.  This made no sense to me at the time but apparently the ring was in his pocket and when I sat on his lap, there was no way for him to get it out.

 

The second photo shoot, I stick to the same plan.  As I'm cheesing for the camera, Bart has his pointer finger in front of me with the ring on it - did I notice?  NOPE!  I mean this is a serious photo shoot that will document a fun night.  Right before the 4th picture, Bart says "WILL YOU MARRY ME?"  I look at him and go "really?  are you serious?  are you sure?"  I didn't see the ring and I did not realize this was the big moment!  After about 30 seconds I notice the ring and he asks again.. YES!  OMG!  Here is the pic that documented my pure confusion of what was going on...



 

 

We go back to the table and tell our new friends what just happened.  The sweet girl, Erin, snapped these pics!  (PS.  I'm never wearing that pink Gap Boyfriend shirt again - it photographs terribly!)

 

 Thank god that I painted my nails a couple days earlier!!

 

 

 

Our waitress and everyone at the bar quickly notices what is going on and the shots start coming from random strangers.  2 things I learned about getting engaged in a bar... #1 EAT SOMETHING... I must remember this for the wedding day and #2 DON'T DRINK EVERY SHOT THAT PEOPLE BUY FOR YOU.  I spent the entire night and next day hugging the porcelain God... apparently engagements are hard on my liver!!

 

I'm so happy and I was sooooooooo surprised!  We had been talking about it and Bart was great at asking ring questions (thank god because it is AMAZING!!!  I couldn't have picked it out better myself - and I am one picky girl when it comes to jewelry!) but I had no clue it was coming so quickly!  We are hoping to get the venue I want (OK maybe I'm hoping) for November 2nd, 2013.  Cross your fingers... don't worry I will blog ALL ABOUT IT!!!

Turkey Tour 2012

For our first holiday season together, Bart and I decided to take the tri-state tour and visit both families.  We started off at 2:00 on Wednesday, heading to Dubuque.  Wednesday night was spent at Mom's house with just the 7 of us enjoying some drinks and Mom's tortilla soup.  I worked really hard to pester my brother as much as possible just to remind him of how endeering I am... and probably why he moved 9 hours away :-). 

Thursday, we prepared for the thanksgiving celebration.  Everyone in the family was able to make it - it was soooo great to see everyone!  We gathered for a family photo since it was a rare occasion where everyone got together - Charlie wanted to make sure everyone had a big smile on our faces by providing some pre-game entertainment...

THE WHOLE FAMILY!!!

My bestest friend in the whole wide world, Crissy, came to visit and brought her adorable 6.5 month baby, Elly!  I am obsessed with sweet baby Elly - so good to see my good friend!

Bart was also a fan of baby Elly - it was the first baby I haven't seen him go running to the other side of the room at the sound of a cry!

Me and my main squeeze

The beautiful Schnier family - Baby Avery is also a new addition to the family.

Friday we spent freezing our kabooses off posing for family pictures, relaxing, a couple heated games of Shooters, dinner at Marios, and a stop (or two) at the Durango Depot!  Bart got to see all the Dubuque and Durango has to offer in the classiest of ways :-).

Saturday we hopped in the car for the second leg of our tour and headed to Milwaukee, WI.  The land of cheese brought many more fun memories!

After dinner we were all so stuffed that the cousins decided to go for a walk, we walked all around Port Washington and ended up at a bar... my kind of people!  After two shots we all busted out dancing when "Gangam Style" came over the juke box... PRICELESS!!!

Bart's aunt and uncle hosted thanksgiving - here they are preparing the feast!

Us with Bart's parents - great looking group if I do say so myself...

The whole clan

Andrew and Laura

Anna and Eric

My better half...

So... let me explain... This may look like Bart and his first cousin are about to make out... but what really happened was we were having our 3rd round of dinner at about midnight when Andrew found the wishbone and bet Bart shots that he could get the bigger end.  Someone recommended they attempt to break it with their teeth instead of their hands.  Of course they decided this would be a better idea... until they realized how close they would actually have to get to eachother... I'm not sure what the laws are up in Wisconsin...

Andrew won!

We made it back to Chicago safe and sound and still liking eachother so I would say this was a successful Turkey Tour!  9 bottles of wine... check... 9 hours of driving... check.... 10 lbs gained... I don't want to know!!

Boogie's 3rd Birthday

My sweet nephew Charlie turned 3 this month!  Mom, Joe and I took a trip to Springfield, MO to celebrate!

We got Charlie a playset - Josh and Joe spent many hours working putting this together... I'm seeing a business in your future!

We went to Chuck E Cheese for Charlie's birthday party.  I'm not sure who had more fun... Charlie, Me, or Joe?!?!?

YEP!  I kick BUTT in skee ball!

 

It is always great to be there for Charlie's birthdays and watch my sweet nephew grow up!  I'm so proud of him and love being an auntie!  Until next year Springfield...

Wau Wau Wuapaca

Did you know that "wau" means "water"?  Just ask my friend Rick... he will tell you all about it! 

We had the opportunity to spend a weekend on the lake in Waupaca, Wisconsin with some good friends!  It was a great opportunity for the boys to fish, me to learn to shoot guns, pumpkin carving, and one 35 degree dip in the lake by two un-named gentlemen.

Beautiful lake house that Chris's grandpa designed!

The happy couple

The Skallerups

The boys went fishing... I love how Bart is bundled up and Chris is in his shorts and t-shirt :-)

... while the children (and Monica) napped!!

Bart taught me how to shoot a gun.  The story behind this is: one time Bart handed me a loaded gun and I put my finger on the trigger (thinking I was super cool showing off my cute Charlie's Angel gun pose) and as he was lunging towards me I realized I probably should NOT shoot his TV... after that he was determined to teach me how to shoot.  After an intense gun safety course in my living room (with an unloaded gun) he decided it was time to try it out.  Believe it or not I did hit the target... once I figure out there was a dot at the end of the gun you're supposed to line up through the scope thing... ok maybe I need another lesson...

Pumpkins were carved!!

Notice who is better with children... Chelsea or Monica....

We had such a great weekend with the Skallerups and look forward to many more weekends of card games... don't think I won't making you all play until I finally win one!!!  Thanks for all the laughs!

New Chapter - Live from Ukrainian Village

Hello friends!  Welcome to the new and improved "Iowa girl in the city" blog!  So much has changed and it only makes sense for my blog to change along with it, I mean it is ALMOST 2013... right?  (I promise to change background and pictures and such once I figure out how!)  I want to continue to document life's wonderful moments and am committed to using this forum!

Let's start with my change in location.  I still love living in the great city of Chicago and have recently moved to a new and improved neighborhood, Ukrainian Village.  I absolutely love the new digs, my awesome sister-in-law helped me to decorate the apartment, and it took my parents about two whole days to completely unpack, hang, and organize everything.  I'm not sure what I would do without these great people in my life!

Since this phote was taken - I have added the photo wall below:

This is the kitchen

To toast to the new apartment, I hosted a fall themed Open House where many friends were able to stop by and cheers the new digs.  WIth many ideas from Pinterest, this fall party turned out pretty crafty.  THANKS to everyone who made it!!!  I did not do a great job of taking pictures with my guests, I'll remember that for next time!

Looking forward to sharing all the fun memories I have in this new apartment... stay tuned...