The Past Weekend's Events

This weekend was pretty eventful starting off Thursday and a surprise yesterday...

Thursday we went down to Chicago to see The Tosh Tour Twenty Twelve. It was probably the funniest shows I have ever been to and would highly recommend anyone who likes Daniel Tosh to see him live. Prior to the show we had dinner at Elephant & Castle, a pub style restaurant where we have been before and is close to the Chicago Theater. Afterwards we had some time to kill so we ventured over to a cute little cafe called Toni Patisserie & Cafe near Millennium Park. So cute. Imported French and Belgium ingredients and everything made in house. I partook in a brownie and a giant mug of hot tea, Ed had his go to, a double shot of espresso. I wanted to try everything there, I will definitely have to go back sometime.

Giant Mug

Tiny Espesso

I think I'm going to skip Friday...I got home from work, had dinner and then passed out around 6:30. I'm not embarrassed to say that I slept all through the night until 5 am, then back to bed for another 2 hours after taking care of the dog. Obviously I needed some sleep!

Saturday night Ed and I went out for a nice date night. We headed over to Pinstripes for some appetizers and drinks. Delicious! We had a bottle of wine, spinach artichoke dip, sirloin sliders and some sort of grilled shrimp. We did leave full and a little tipsy, but it was well worth it! 

Sunday was Family day...not picture worthy I guess. It was Ed's brother's 21st birthday party shared with his Dad's birthday as well. Good food and conversation, then off to my Family's house for dinner. Yum. We also went to target for some much needed items including, of course a new toy for Charlie. I think he liked it.

Now... I got home last night to a Husband that had gotten home early. He told me he traded in his car. That story may have to be told another time. So then he says "well I got you something". Why? To soften the blow of you being slightly idiotic? What was it you ask? 2 of the Tiffany Bracelets I had asked for for our anniversary (which is May 14th). He was going to wait for our actual anniversary to give them to me...of course...but he does have an issue with keeping secrets or surprises, so even if he hadn't done something stupid, he probably would have given them to me sooner anyway. He's so thoughtful. I love him so much and wouldn't trade him for the world.

Card Making

I've been dabbling in card making and also dabbling in the idea of making a business out of it. Problem is, I only like doing it when I'm making them for other people. I can't seem to just make some and have them sit as "inventory". I'm trying.

So I'm currently making some Thank You cards for a friend of mine, Kelly, the owner of Empty Canvas Art and Design. Here is my palette.

Now, of course I bought way too many choices, but I just couldn't find the "one" paper I liked so I plan on making a few mock ups. Hopefully she'll love them when they're finished.

Here are a few other cards I have made in the past...

Bridal Shower

Nephew's 3rd Birthday

So, I'm trying to build my inventory. These are all a start, either made for my family or for friends to give to people.

Some Book Reviews...

I started reading "Fifty Shades of Gray". 

Apparently everyone is talking about it (as it shows in the image) so I said , hey why not. I'm actually listening to the audio version, not actually reading it (which is annoying, the narrator sounds like a valley girl). I'm not that far yet, but from the starts of it my initial thought is, "are all love stories this cheesey?" Besides the fact that apparently this is a re-imagined story of Bella and Edward from the Twilight series...with more adult themes.

I have read quite a few "trashy" romance novels and its the same thing, why are they so cheesey? Is this really how girls think and this is definitely not how real men talk, at least I haven't met any and I know, this is probably the point, for women to delve into the fantasy of the "perfect man". Listening to this has somewhat inspired me to write a real life love story...but maybe another day. It kind of makes me laugh, but I hear this book trilogy is pretty good and steamy, so I will continue the story. I'll have a follow up when I finish book one.

Of course, like the rest of the country I recently re-read the Hunger Games Trilogy. 

I also saw the first movie. I love, love, loved the books and have re-read the first book right before the movie, the movie disappointed me, a lot. I wanted more. I felt like it was the book on fast forward. Don't get me wrong, I understand that movies would be 7 hours long if they put in every detail of the movie, but I felt that if I hadn't read the book, I would have been UBER confused. They barely even introduced some of the characters... With that said, it was an overall good movie and I would definitely recommend the books and the movie to everyone over the age of 13.

"The Night Circus" is a book I highly recommend to people who like fantasy, magic, whimsy and twists and turns. Oh and maybe if you like being confused until the end. I loved this book! It fits into the popular fantasy/magic/creature/circus theme that everyone is into right now but its different and very unique. I actually wish they would make a movie, I think it would be interesting to see how they would interpret some things. 

The book is about a dual that needs to happen between 2 "magicians". In the background of the story is the Night Circus and its followers and workers. It's a circus that is only open at night and disappears and reappears without notice. The story is kind of confusing with a lot of characters and a lot of different points of views but in the end it ties it all together for a very rewarding read.

Finally, my brother told me I need to read this book... "Food Rules". 

I guess this will make me only want to eat real food...and by real I mean food where you know what most of the ingredients are on the nutrition information. He told me I needed to read this after I asked him why he wasn't putting Cool Whip on his dessert the other night. "Have you read the ingredients on Cool Whip? Thats not real food". This is when he gave me the book to read. With my recent Weight Watchers and healthy eating venture I say, why not. So I plan on reading this soon...scary.