Thursday, June 17, 2010

A GREAT Graduation Weekend

My Fiancé is an official graduate of the University of Chicago Law School! I would say he’s an official lawyer…but there is one little obstacle called that BAR that needs to be passed first! Steve’s family came to visit last weekend to watch him graduate, and we had a good time showing them around the city.

Steve’s parents, brother, sister and grandmother arrived rather late last Thursday. Traffic was horrendous that day for one reason or another, and they didn’t get in until about 7:00. We rode the red line down to their hotel at Balbo and Michigan. Thanks to Priceline, they stayed in a really nice hotel called the Blackstone. We chatted a bit and went home to catch some sleep.

On Friday, I had to work a full day, but Steve showed his family around Millennium Park, and a little bit more of the South Loop. It was CRAZY that day because the Blackhawks had won the Stanley Cup the night before, and they were having a parade downtown. The city estimates there were some two million people downtown. That’s insane! Friday night we had dinner at Volare, an Italian restaurant that gets good reviews on Yelp. I might have agreed with their review, but the night we were there it was 90 degrees and their air conditioner broke. WE were the ones being roasted the entire meal. We finished the night with a trip up to the Willis Tower to view the city at night.

Saturday was the graduation in Hyde Park, where the school is. It was foggy that morning, and sure enough, during the first ceremony that was all-school and outside, we got POURED on. I was so soaked. Directly after the main ceremony, there was a Hooding ceremony (indoors at Rockefeller Chapel, thank goodness), for all of the law students. I was so proud of Steven and all of the work that he had put in. He looked great walking down the aisle and getting his hood put on by his law school professors. Truly a moment to remember! We went to the Law School reception after the Hooding ceremony and took pictures with friends and ate some yummy appetizers. Then, we took a quick ride back up to downtown and tooled around the Shedd Aquarium for a few hours. I grew up with the Monterey Bay aquarium, but this one was pretty impressive too. For dinner we ate at Gino’s East pizza, so they could get a taste of real deep dish. Steve and I returned to the apartment and celebrated a bit with some Champagne before totally crashing into bed after the big day.

Sunday, everyone came over to check out our apartment. We then headed over to Ann Sather to have some brunch and tasty Cinnamon Rolls. The family was leaving that day, so we road with them out of town a bit for one last stop to an old school that Steve’s great grandma when to in 1908. It still stands tall and proud over in the Albany Park neighborhood. I took a picture of all the relatives in front of it, and then they dropped us off at the blue line before heading back to Minnesota, where Steve’s sister lives, and the halfway-ish point between Chicago and their home in Malta, MT.

It was a great weekend and I was so thankful that Steve’s family could come and share it with him. The next big adventure in our lives is the passing of the Bar exam, which Steve has thrown himself into studying. At about the same time Steve graduated, my brother was graduating on the other side of the country from COCC with his AA. He’s thinking of going to a 4 year college next year, so I will be sure to catch his graduation from that!

I’m off to California for my cousin Monica’s wedding next weekend. So this weekend is all about relaxation, hopefully in the sun!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Loved the 3 Day Weekend

Even though this week is only four days long, it seems like it’s taking forever. I’m not sure if it’s the summer weather, Steve’s bar study, my poor eating habits and struggling gym motivation, or our trip to California at the end of the month, but something is making me super antsy.

Memorial Day weekend was fun. I love three day weekends. I wish that every work week was only four days long. It seems so balanced that way. On Friday after work I went to the gym and then headed home for a semi quiet night in with the Fiancé. Saturday morning we had plans to play tennis with our friend from Law School Ben, and his med student girlfriend, Annalisa. The weather was great—a little windy, but super sunny and 78ish. Both Steve and I came back with sunburns. I had cleverly covered my shoulders with sunscreen, but the back of my calves got the brunt of it. We grabbed a slurpee and went home to rest before heading to our friends’ house to watch the fireworks at Navy Pier from their rooftop. Navy Pier will shoot fireworks off every Wednesday and Saturday, and thanks to our friends’ new apartment, we have a killer place to watch it from!

Sunday was more tennis (and even more sunscreen), followed by lunch with our good friend Katelynn in Lakeview at Wilde. We had some great artichoke dip and mac and cheese. We finished Sunday off with dinner at a delicious thin crust Pizza joint with Ben, Annalisa, Julian and Julia and snagged some Berry Chill on the walk back home.

I wish I could say Monday was uneventful…but it wasn’t. I headed out to the suburbs to do some shopping, which was pretty successful. I was heading home and not quite sure of the turn I needed, so when I was stopped at a light and saw that I needed to make a right turn to get on the street that I wanted, I did it. Unfortunately, I (honestly, I promise) did not see the small sign that said “no turn on red.” It being Memorial Day, there was of course a cop that saw the whole thing and pulled me over. As I saw his flashing lights I KNEW that I had missed the sign. Luckily the guy was nice, and although I could have got a $200 ticket for the moving violation, he just gave me a $50 ticket for having a license that was out of state even though I had lived in Chicago for 2 years. I guess it COULD have been worse, but still sucked.

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning house and doing laundry. Beach Volleyball at Cision has started up on Wednesdays, throwing a bit of a wrench into my workout schedule (as VB and the semi-mandatory boozing at Durkins afterward is NOT that great of a workout), but I’ll figure something out. I might give swimming a rest for a while until my allergies calm down. I usually don’t have them that bad, but I notice that for about 2 days after I swim, my allergies are about 5 times worse. I think it’s because the chlorine from the pool gets in my nose and makes my nasal passages raw and more susceptible to pollen and such. I’m determined to stay motivated this summer and get some good exercise in to at least balance the crap I’m sure I’ll eat.

Steve's grad ceremony is on June 12, sadly the same day as my brother's is from COCC. I feel bad for not heading back home, but Jared's probably transferring to a 4 year college to get a BA so I should be able to catch is next one. Steve's family comes to visit on the 11th, and I am looking forward to visiting with them. Then, life resumes as normal until June 25th when we take off for my cousin’s wedding in Monterey. Here’s hoping the weather is AT LEAST nice on the weekends so I can have some fun in the sun.