Five Forgotten Photos on my Phone Friday

This picture I drew in 2nd grade of "Someone I listen to" lol

A photo of these two from a few years ago hanging out. 

This photo of my cat after she was at the hospital a year ago :/ She's better now!

This annual text message between my sister and I about our favorite time of year

This snap of my mom and I having coffee on a beautiful day in May two years ago and chatting about life

New Years Eve 2015 and a Year in Review

This year we celebrated totally different.....
We normally stay in and do the following things: have a fancy dinner cooked by moi, watch a movie from Redbox or On Demand, take a nap before the ball drops, watch the parties on TV the hour before, drink sparkling cider, and pull poppers and shout Happy New Year when the ball drops into the next year. Ok, only I do that last part, but sometimes I coerce Tommy into pulling a popper too :D

 {End of the Night}

We at least do some variation of this every year. Sounds like the typical twentysomething NYE right?

Heh, well this year, I decided we would actually interact with other people on New Year's Eve and go out to celebrate! I'm so glad we did! It was super nice to change it up.

Do you like my shirt and Jill's dress? We went to the mall together and found them to wear for this very occasion. Jill introduced me to a new store: Dry Goods 😄🙌😻

Some friends in LRC were going out to The Loaded Buffalo to drink and see two bands to ring in the new year- The Suburban Cowboys and The Modern Day Romeos- both of which were so so good!
I got us the base price tickets, and just paid cash at the bar for drinks. It was a fun place. Even though I have driven by that place for basically my entire life, I have never been inside. I knew it was a country bar, and though it has changed names a few times since it's been around, I'm pretty sure the basic skeleton of "local country bar" has remained the same.

I feel like it doesn't look that big from the road, but it's pretty spacious. They have a bar, a pool table (I think), some tables, and a huge TV right when you walk in. That's also where they set up the appetizer bar for people who paid a higher ticket price. The second part of the building has a large wooden floor that has bar level seating around it, and a stage for the band. At the back end of the room is also another bar, and more tables along the wall.

We parked it right outside of the wooden dance floor near some stools for the night. Right smack dab in between the two bars- surprised? Duh.

Then we hung out, chatted a bit, danced to music, and drank! I also saw an old friend from elementary school, and a new friend that I made last year! Small world :)

Thanks for the pictures everyone!

Though we broke the mold by actually going out for NYE, I haven't gone off the deep end and completely abandoned tradition...so here is the quick run down of the year:

1. Tommy turned 27 on January 8th...and we celebrated with our families and friends multiple times :)
2. Kyle and Kelsey got engaged and we celebrated with them! Kelsey also asked to be a bridesmaid!!! I'm so excited for them!
3. Emily and Joe got married on a beautiful snow covered day in January, and it was amazing
4. I donated 12 inches to Children with Hairloss, which is the most I've ever donated! I chose this organization over Locks of Love and Pantene Pro-V Healthy Lengths because CWH doesn't charge for wigs, and provides wigs for children and young adults with all kids of hairloss, not just cancer.
5. I studied a ton, and passed my Reading Specialist test! Woot Woot! Now I'm certified to be a Reading Specialist K-12 :D
6. I tried a bunch of new recipes, and took a bunch of photos of my cat, lol. Stay tuned for a 2015 Flipagram of Kittypants. You've been warned.
7. We visited Megan, Jeff, and Danny in central Illinois with Emily and Joe
8. I FOUND OUT WHO A IS FINALLY. Ugh, I just had to say that.
9. We went out with Kelsers for her bday at Casa Bonita and Mickey Finns
10. Stephanie met us at Eataly and we had good food, good conversation, and good wine together 
11. Dad turned 60, and we had a bday/Easter party for him and my grandpa (who turned 90 this year!)
12. I hosted Alyssa's wedding shower at my house with her Maid of Honor. 
13. My sister Katy surprise visited me for OUR BIRTHDAY! We have the same birthday six years apart. We haven't been able to celebrate together for years since I was at college, she moved to LA, etc. It was super nice to have everyone over and celebrate our day together (Me:27, Her:33)
14. I met Karena and Katrina in Chicago which was omg. 
15. I went on the 7th grade Springfield trip as a chaperone and had a blast!
16. Katy, Dad, and I flew to Las Vegas and visited Grandpa Lacio one final time before he passed later in the year in July. It was a blessing to be able to have that time with him, and with family. 
17. Ben Folds (!!!) came to Chicago to play with the CYSO and Tommy and I went. It was pretty great.
18. We celebrated Alyssa and Kevin's wedding over the summer in Minnesota :) It was a fun trip and a really great night
19. Tommy and I went to dinner for our 4 year wedding anniversary!
20. Our friends put together a fabulous camping trip that Tommy and I went to in southern Illinois. It was super awesome- bugs and all
21. We went to Meghan's wedding :D and Laura's wedding in the same month a week apart. It was super fun to celebrate with them.
22. Kelsey, Taylor Swift, and I sang together as loud as we could at Soldier Field for freeeeee! Thanks KissFM!
23. Tommy and I traveled to Captiva Island, Florida for a week and it was heaven. #takemeback
24. I bought a new car! A Toyota Camry, and passed on the green diesel to Chrissy :)
25. Mike Brunette, our fearless LRC founder, organized two races- both of which we volunteered at, and one of which I ran! {The Twilight Shuffle 5k, and the Run of the Dead Elimination Run 4.25 mile loop}
26. The BMW Championship came to town again and we wrote the 8 miles to the course on our bikes everyday at 6 am. It was amazing.  I'm still having withdrawls.
27. Katy, Dad, and I flew to Maui together to celebrate Grandpa Lacio's life. We spread his ashes in the ocean, met amazing and beautiful family members, and spent some quality time together reminiscing. Blog post to follow....one day. Too soon.
28. I signed up for, trained for, and ran (HALF) of the Chicago Marathon. I stopped because of a tendonitis flare up. Now that I've been to the doctor and have learned that I just might not be able to do certain things without out being largely in pain, I'm not sure that I'll attempt another marathon. Wow, that feels better to say out loud here, but I immediately feel weird about it. 
29. The Hot Chocolate 5k came back to Chicago and we ran it for the 5th year in a row. 
30. I saw the final Hunger Games, and the next Star Wars
31. Ran the Santa 5K in AH with Lisa dressed as Santa!
32. I went to multiple ugly sweater events in my very own Grumpy Cat sweater creation. I would like to wear it everyday actually.
33. My mom and dad hosted Christmas on the 26th this year, which meant that Tommy and I had more time with his side of the family on the 25th. We also went over early to mom and dad's to watch Star Wars on Laser Disc help cook and clean for dinner. I also was in charge of dessert- I made a pumpkin pie (in a graham cracker crust, oops!) and two kinds of cookies FROM SCRATCH!
34. We celebrated NYE at The Loaded Buffalo with LRC friends- See above.
35. Oh! And we ran so, so, so many miles this year. The most miles in one sitting that I've ever run! It was harrrrrrd and semi painful on my tendonitis, but I learned a lot about myself as a runner. 

What a year world.

Hello 2016! Welcome to my life!

Five Forgotten Photos on my Phone

This bear that used to be in my room as a kid that I WAS NOT allowed to touch or play with. Lol

This one time I saw my grandpa post a new status at the same time I was online and it was in all caps. 😄 

When I got bored in a class for my Masters. I draw little circles everywhere. 

A photo of a page from a book of postcards in Barnes and Noble that is pretty hilarious. 

This car that drives around Libertyville and is the same car as my parents' car. Sometimes the guy that drives it wears Hawaiian shirts and hats like my dad does. It's like the older version of himself come back from the future to taunt me for some reason. I've never gotten a look at his face, and I see him about once a year! Lol

Maybe one day I'll post five forgotten snapchat videos from the drunken Taylor Swift concert...because I have them, and they are awful! Again, sorry snapchat friends! 😜

Five Forgotten Photos on my Phone- Christmas Edition!

There's more than five, but whatever!

Our mini front window tree that we had to move because KittyPants McMewey hit off all the ornaments and chewed on the ribbon...

Tommy's parent's tree last year

Another Christmas tree. 

Dad and grandma playing chopsticks on the piano at grandma's house

My ugly Christmas sweater from last year selfie. 

Gift exchange with Kelsey :D

Kelsey making snow angels in my yard on a night when we played in the snow outside with Emily! 

Sister shenans at Bill's Pub, waiting for a double decker pick up with the fam. 

So much snow leaving work last year!

Five Forgotten Photos on my Phone

No idea where I took this- but on a night run I think. 

Dinner at one of those movie theaters that serve dinner in Aurora last year.

Old school photo of my iPhone 4- the good 'ole days when I played a ton of games, didn't watch any tv on my phone, and only had 61 unread emails.

Little girl in a big ass truck. Taken outside on Park Street on the day of Kristen's wedding shower.

Text message convo between my SIL and I from 2013.

Good grief I have a lot of photos on my phone. A new weekly blogpost seg option perhaps? 

Stay tuned. 

#52 & #37 of 101 in 1001- Camping with Friends and Wine Tasting

This is part of my list of 101 things in 1001 days...Camping with friends and go on a wine tasting!

In June Tommy and I had a fun trip with friends! By now, you may have seen it on my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat (I'm big into social media you guys) We all loaded into cars and took the loooong drive to southern IL to go camping! We went with the campy ringleaders (Emily and Joe) and some of their friends that we have met a few times through the years.

Of course, as we were loading the truck and the mini camper, it was pouring rain! After getting everything together, Tommy and I rode to the campsite in Joe's huge truck (huge) with their friend Kyle and their doggie May. When we got there, it was super dark, and we had to unload things by the light of the truck. Luckily, Emily's parents were there before us and set up tents for everyone to share. We were able to hang out around the fire, and then went to bed :)

For breakfasts on the trip, we had fire roasted pancakes, bagels and cream cheese, and like, scads of clementines. We also had snacks to munch on all day, and so.many.coolers.

                                         

                         

On the trip, there was tons of room for activities. We went on multiple hikes, my favorite one being the day we got lost of course. We drove a ways to this beautiful place full of what Illinois basically calls mountains. They were tall cliff like rocks that were flat on top (for the most part) so you could climb them and take amazing insta-worthy profile pics, which is basically what we did. We are Millennials after all- if you don't have a picture of it on Facebook, it didn't happen so....

                                           

Some of them were easy to get to with a trail leading up to it. Others were not as easy and required some spidey like skillz. Most of those types of rocks I opted out of climbing, but I got some good pictures!

                                         

                                                            There's a person in there...

After the legit rock climbing adventure, we decided to eat our packed lunch, which was super fun and felt like middle school, and go for a walk on one of the designated trails in the park. I made Tommy and I wear sunscreen (obvi) and tried out my new Coola sunscreen! I have to say, it is totally my new favorite brand. It's super light, has great coverage, and since I bought the unscented spray, I didn't get a headache from the smell. That's pretty good for me guys! 

Okay, back to the walk. We found this trail not too far from our car, and thought we would take the 3 mile route. It looked like nice and flattened, and we even saw some people on their way out as we started. Then it began to get muddy... had more and more trees...and got confusing because there were other trails that jutted out from the main one we were on and not always maps to tell you about the other route. 

As we got deeper and deeper into the forest, we saw a ton of cool stuff! There were huge flat rocks, and slopes with a beautiful winding river below. We took some time to explore, and kept walking further down the path.

The next five pictures are actually a different day of hiking, but they give you the idea of what we saw on the trail....also, keep reading, but I was a bit too scared to be whipping out my phone to take pictures....

                             

                           

                                                                     I climbed it to the top!

                                   

We actually started to pick up the pace a little bit at this point because we didn't have a ton of light left in the day, and it felt darker under the cover of the trees. Also, we hadn't seen people in a while, and the trail started to become harder to follow. At one point, we crossed the river on slippery rocks, stepped over some huge fallen tree trunks, annoyed some bees that stung poor May puppy, and walked past a large snake that was partly covered in leaves but too close for comfort on the trail. It was then that I basically freaked the fuck out and we all decided to turn back on the trail. 

We walked pretty fast- like more than a stroll, but less than a jog. Powerwalk? Sure. We powerwalked the entire way back, including the arm swing (mostly on my part though...lol)

And we made it back to the parking lot before it started to get dark, but MAN was I tired! Like, I've run three half marathons, but I can do a two mile POWERWALK hike in the woods. lol

All in all it was a fun hike. I made sure to get a sweaty AF picture after we got back to the car because memories. Here it is, don't we look adorable?

                 

Most of the camping trip was hanging out, playing cards and bags, drinking, and lounging in the youtubed hammock near the fire. Everyone else decided to go kayaking, and Tommy and I hung back and laid in the hammock and read/took naps. It was so nice!

                          

A whole other day we decided to go wine tasting at Blue Sky Winery near the camping grounds! There are a bunch of wineries down there I guess, who knew? We tried a few different kinds of wine, sat on the patio outside, snacked, and enjoyed the beautiful day. We also went on a short self guided illegal walking tour of the vineyard, and even tried some grapes (which I don't recommend- they were too hard and tasted gross, lol) I took a bottle home with me to save for a special occasion in the future

                             

The trip was basically everything a camping trip should be: little to no showering, campfire smores, bonding, and hiking with friends. Oh, and spiders. And sore backs from too many nights of sleeping on the hard ground. And being so, so, hot because it's summer in IL. 

                                                       

                     Pictured: me sporting the "not showered" look, which I rocked most of the trip, lol. 

YAY! Can't wait for next year!