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...

Winter dress in Chicago

So I feel like someone needs to create a Chicago Dress Survival guide for people who move to Chicago. Walking to a train and taking the train creates obsticals at different times of the year. For example, in the summer you need to find the fine line between completing hair and makeup and looking like a drowned rat for the day. The answer to this - find cute ways to wear your hair in a pony tail and put your makeup on at the office, oh and get a fan for your desk - it will SAVE you!

The winter provides a different set of challenges - how do I stay warm enough but not be sweating by the time you get to the office. I strongly recommend a long puffer jacket from North Face - at least 600 down fill - they're expensive but they are completely worth every penny! Fo the days when the wind chill is lower than 20, I prefer to wear Cuddl Duds under my work pants - I recommend the "climate control" they really keep the wind from feeling like you legs are going to fall off. Hats and gloves are always important and necessary - don't think you can go without. When you wear your hair straight - a hat is best but when you curl or put a lot of effort into your hair, I recommend a head band - don't worry I'm bringing them back. Now onto footwear. There is a lot of opinions on this... and let me start off by saying I'm one of the biggest Ugg fans out there (there are 5 pairs sitting in my entry way). Uggs are great when its warm and you need keep your feet warm. Now in Chicago people don't always shovel their drives and the weather tends to change constantly - so you need something with great slip resistent soles (sorry Uggs) and waterproof (sorry Uggs). Hunter boots have been extremely possible, however those of us with thicker calves have a much harder time fitting into the tall boots. I went to Famous Footwear and am trying out shorter ones - I'll let you know how it goes.

Best of luck with the cold winter days ahead... more tips to come :-)