Morning Drives

I woke up really, really early last Thursday. It was 5:20 a.m., I was up an hour before my alarm went off, and I could not get back to sleep. I was tired, too, but my body just refused. My mind was very busy that day, and has been ever since.

It's that back-to-school sort of giddy excitement, but about other things in my life.

So after another 20 minutes or so, I knew I wasn't going back to sleep. I decided to drive.

I had created a brand new Halloween cd, so I listened to that while I drove. (This is not surprising. I have been listening to the Monster Mash since April.)

This is going to make me sound like a creep, but once I was in the car, I decided to drive to the neighborhood Tom and I want to move to this spring. It's not too far, the roads to get there are rarely busy, and I like to think if I go there enough, the neighborhood with just invite us to live there. So there's my reasoning.

I drove around the sleepy neighborhood, imagining what we needed to get there, and planning out my life for the next seven months or so. I have some very big plans, and only recently have I decided that they might actually be possible.

I drove again on Monday morning. That was helpful because the car was running on empty and I pass a gas station on the way.

I can't drive every morning because it costs gas and we are working hard to pinch every penny right now, but it has changed my view on mornings. I am a morning person, and I usually get up early and start doing mindless things, but those drives are a sort of meditation. And on days when I don't drive, I wanted to continue that feeling. I have been using every single morning lately to focus on my goals, and get into a mindset that will make me the most productive and creative for that day. 

And for the past month, I have been trying to do one thing every day that gets me closer to my goals. The morning is a fantastic time to do that.

It doesn't have to be a drive. It can be a morning workout, a journal entry, or a cup of coffee outside. Yesterday I lit candles in my room and made the bed, and if felt therapeutic.

Do you use your mornings to kickstart your day? Or do you prefer to sleep until the last possible moment?

Happy Wednesday!

Sandy and Ross's Wedding Weekend!

My friend Sandy got married last weekend and it was honestly so much more beautiful and surreal than I ever could have imagined.

We got to Chicago Thursday for the rehearsal dinner, which was fun. We ate a lot of pizza and hung out in Sandy's room at the hotel playing drinking games with the bridal party and groomsmen (because why not?!) Tom and I left at 10 and immediately passed out at my mom's place on the comfiest air mattress I have ever experienced.

Friday I got up at the crack of dawn and left with my mom to go to Sandy's hotel room (my mom did some of the hair!) We stopped at Starbucks first to get some coffee, and I couldn't leave without one of these:

I felt elated on Friday. I played the Pandora wedding station while my mom did Sandy's hair and I had way, way too much caffeine. I was seriously giddy and excited and way more awake than I should have been.

After Sandy's hair, my mom and I had some time to ourselves while Sandy had her makeup done at the salon with the other bridesmaids and my mom did my hair. I talked about how crazy it was that I was with Sandy before her first date with Ross five years ago, and how I still couldn't believe that was her wedding day! After I was done, I headed down the road to the salon to get makeup done. My makeup artist, Gwen, was awesome. But there was another lady there, caked in bright blue eye shadow, who some of the other bridesmaids had the ...pleasure?...of working with.

Her name was Jersey, she was probably just shy of 70, and as she mentioned over and over again, SHE LOVES COLOR!!!

Yikes. So those girls had to remove some of the hot pink lipstick, but it all worked out fine.

The hour before the wedding started felt like an eternity. I was terrified so I can only imagine how Sandy felt. I was convinced I would fall or have to pee really bad mid-ceremony or something. But everyone walked down the aisle, no one fell, and it was beautiful!

It was so strange to watch someone I'm so close to get married. I think it makes it stranger that I'm engaged. So I was watching them and trying to wrap my head around the magnitude of their promise to each other, and occasionally I would think, "Hey! I'm going to do this next year in front of a bunch of people too! Is that exciting or terrifying? Both? Let's go with both."

I kept trying to remind myself that it was all real and Sandy and Ross are MARRIED now, but it was still so surreal! I have no idea why, but it felt like a dream.

So after the ceremony came the reception, and I was very wary of the reception, because that meant I'd have to give a speech.

Sandy asked me if I'd like to give a speech a few months back, and I pretty much started on it immediately. (I am usually the ultimate procrastinator, so this was very out of character for me.)

I created six different versions of this minute-and-a-half long speech throughout the summer, printed out two versions of it, folded one up and hid it in my dress, gave the other copy to Tom, and then I was ready.

I also tried to drink a lot of champagne. Not enough to slur my words, but enough to take the edge off. Turns out I don't really like champagne, so I had a lot of water, and that didn't help. I was completely sober when I had to give that speech, AND I had to go after Ross's brother's amazing speech. So. That was a scary moment. But I did it and I lived to tell the tale! And people said they liked it!

Me trying to down champagne prior to the ceremony... Love Sandy's sister's face here haha

Liza and the beautiful bride

 It was an exhausting, beautiful day. But there was a second wedding! The next day was the Indian ceremony.

We had henna done, and mine is still on my hand currently. I love it.

So we started the day with henna and bagels, and then my mom did my hair. I slept with my fake eyelashes on the night before, so at least part of my makeup was done. I wore a red and gold sari.

The ceremony was so cool. It was about four hours, and there was tons of color steps and even GAMES involved. I got to see Sandy and Ross dump giant bowls of rice on each other and fish out a gold ring from a pot filled with water. It was amazing.

I loved that I got to be a part of that. It was brand new to me (and Sandy, actually. She had never been to an Indian wedding herself) and it was neat to see that wedding the day after the Catholic ceremony.

And now they are off to medical school! Whew, those crazy kids. I miss them already.

Happy Monday!

EXCITING NEWS!!

A serious storm is brewing outside right now. One of those amazing summer storms that leaves the road steamy and the air cool in its wake. I've always loved a good storm.

Anyway, this weekend was an incredible whirlwind, and I can't wait to share it with you! It was my friend Sandy's wedding, and she seriously looked like a goddess. I don't have many pictures yet, but what I do have I will share this week.

I did something pretty exciting today. Today, I finally had the guts to share the link to my completed novel, available for purchase!

It's a fiction novel. I've talked about it before here.

The publishing house set to publish it closed its doors before publishing my book back in April, and that shook me. I was ecstatic to be published, then terrified, then brave enough to embrace it, then crushed when it fell apart. I knew I would have to try again, but I nearly felt relief when that opportunity fell through.

Because that meant I didn't have to put myself out there.

Well, I decided to try again. This time without a publishing house, and a simple cover I designed myself. And this time around, I am actually excited to share it!

It is immediately available via Kindle, or if you have an iPad or iPhone, you can download the Kindle app for free and get it that way.

Click here to get the book!

But this week it will be available for the Nook and even in print. I will update that on here later on this week.

Anyway, I do hope you'll read it, and I hope you enjoy it. There are two more following this one in the series.

Here's to trying and trying again, and finally getting this book out there two and a half years after I first sat down to write it!

Have a wonderful Monday, friends!

Bachelorette Weekend

My friend Sandy gets married in less than two weeks!! Ahhh!

I am SO excited. This is my first time really being in a wedding. The last time I was in one I was 14 so I didn't do a whole lot. It is an entirely different experience actually helping to plan things.

The other bridesmaids and I started planning for this weekend (which was actually a week ago...I'm a bit behind) about a month out. A million email threads later, we had a plan.

We decided to stay in Naperville, IL, at the Hotel Arista in this really fancy suite on the top floor. The views were amazing! There were a few other bachelorette parties there that weekend, and there was also a wedding going on at the hotel.

I got to Naperville early to have lunch with a couple friends, drop some things off at the hotel, and meet Sandy and some of the other girls at a nail salon. We didn't clue Sandy in to a single thing we were doing!

I always get yelled at when I get my nails done. The nail ladies scold me for having such frail, peeling nails. Trust me, I don't like it either, but it was a genetic gift from my mom (who frequently keeps them secured under acrylics,) so those beauties are mine to keep.

Anyway, after nails we went to an Irish pub for dinner! This was actually very appropriate, considering Sandy is marrying an Irish guy. And she's Indian. They are going to make really super cute, gorgeous babies someday.

For the rest of the evening, we played games at the hotel and had food and opened gifts and then took a shuttle out to Downtown Naperville to visit some bars and play a scavenger hunt. Sandy and I were paired together, which was hilarious because neither of us is very gutsy when it comes to that kind of thing. We definitely lost. But that's okay, because it was just as much fun watching what the other girls came up with!

I think my favorite was the group of middle-aged people at the hotel who were eager to help, and a couple of the men did the "get a picture of a random guy proposing to you" picture. 

It rained, but that was okay. It actually looked really cool from the hotel room. I think the bride-to-be had a wonderful time, and it was so much fun spoiling her for a night!

Now for the photos:

Tom helped decorate the cupcakes the night before :)

Strawberry cupcakes with lime frosting

View from the hotel!

Nighttime view

Take a picture with another bachelorette party. Check! Too bad their bride was sick and had to go home. 

The group! Those are bouquets of dum dums for people to buy for a buck per lollipop. People thought we were giving them away for free. One girl even asked me if we were selling them for a good cause. They say "Suck for a Buck" on them! What cause would that even be for?! I told her they were for the bride's honeymoon fund and she was clearly not interested.

And of course, the party favors. I'm still upset I forgot to take one before we left.

On that note...Happy Monday!

House Hunting

Via

Tom and I have been talking about the kind of house we want for two years now. We get into these spurts and watch a lot of HGTV and stalk our favorite neighborhoods online.

But up until now, it's been this arbitrary thing of "someday." WELL! We have a timeline, friends!

Our goal is and has been to move out of Tom's parents' basement before we're married. When I moved in with his family in May of 2013, I was nowhere ready mentally for home ownership, not to mention the obvious lack of funds we had available right out of college. I've loved living in our basement home, and his parents are truly amazing people for letting us live here while we save up.

But once we hit the year mark of living in the basement, we started to get antsy. So we started doing more work on what it takes to get a house.

Aaaaand we don't know what the hell we're doing. It's all so confusing! Pre-qualification, qualification, finding a realtor, the whole bidding process, home inspection, price range?! Thank you, Chase Bank home buying webinar, for reminding us that we are essentially clueless.

Luckily we are obsessive researchers (two INTJ's in a relationship makes for a lot of that) and we are preparing.

The past couple years haven't been a lot of "What color kitchen do you want?" and "open concept?" (It took me awhile to figure out exactly what 'open concept' actually was. I assumed it was just a thing they said on House Hunters.)

It's been more about the practical stuff. We need a basement because we live in Central Illinois (AKA tornadoes.) We need a fenced-in or fence-able yard. Ideally, we would like a two-stall garage. That's it. Those are our must-haves.

What makes it harder is we have one single neighborhood we want. Just one! Places are always up for sale in there, but still. Come March when we start looking (only seven months away!!) there will hopefully be a lot of options. We're really excited to have a place of our own!

So that's what we're up to right now. A lot of house talk.

See my house pinterest board here.

Happy Thursday!

Wedding planning weekend!

Whew, this summer is insane! But that's okay, I like it that way. I have taken yet another week and a half, two week break from blogging, but I'm not closing up shop. I feel like a lot of the blogs I read have been posting "This may be my last post..." posts, but I really do enjoy having a place to chronicle things in my life.

That being said, here are some two week old photos for you!

A couple weekends ago, my mom and grandma (actually my dad's mom...yes, they still talk even though my parents are divorced, and my mom does her hair!) came out to visit so they could see my wedding dress, help me choose some accessories, see our venue, etc.

We'd been planning the weekend for a couple months so I was thrilled when it finally arrived. I remember feeling like work just dragged on that day, especially once they arrived in town in the mid-afternoon!

On Friday evening we went to the dress shop to pick up my dress and hopefully choose a veil. What actually happened is my mom and grandma, (both wearing something bedazzled,) convinced me to add some bling to my dress. I am not a blingy sort of individual, but it did look good. (It's so hard not to share photos of that dress!) So we ended up choosing a belt, but I am still on the market for a veil.

If you know of any good places to find one, let me know!

After that, we ate dinner and headed back to their hotel for the evening.

The next morning, we got breakfast and met Tom and his mom back at their house. We looked through baby pictures for awhile (Tom was a REALLY cute baby, blonde curls and dimples and all that) and then headed out to take a tour of our wedding/reception venue and the hotel next door where we will be blocking rooms.

I liked that when we took the reception venue tour, there was a wedding set up for later in the day. We didn't get to see that last time we were out there, so that was helpful. Although that particular setup was smothered in pink. Like, baby pink. And glitter. I often wonder with weddings like that if the guy had any say in it, or if that is the exact vision the bride had since she was five. OR maybe they both like pink a lot! But still, I wonder about these things.

Then we got lunch, and my mom and grandma headed home to Chicagoland, and Tom and I took naps and went to a concert riverfront with some friends.

I love that dress shop.

Taking home the dress!

Dinner on the riverfront. (Sorry for the grainy photos. I've been out a digital camera since I dropped mine in the snow in January.)

Happy Monday!

Pumpkin Palooza

You know how Aug. 1 rolls around and suddenly almost every blogger is all "FALL FASHION! PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE! RIDING BOOTS!"

Well. I am sort of one of them, but probably worse. 

Last year, I spent the last week of May and most of June watching Halloweentown. (Proof here.) I was obsessed, probably because I had an inkling we'd be getting engaged in the fall. And I was right!

This year, I have held off. Typically by now I am going crazy pinning fall fashion and Halloween decor, but I can't get into it as much this year. After the insane, ice age of a winter that had my car sliding all over and me praying for my life every commute, I am actually grateful for the summer weather.

Normally, I can handle summer for about two weeks. This year, however, I am enjoying every sweltering minute (and those non-icy roads!) I do not want to just rush through summer like I usually do.

That being said, there is still a tiny part of me that can't wait for fall flavors. Yesterday, I indulged that. I went for the pumpkin.

I made pumpkin scones, recipe here. Wow, those are good. I added a pumpkin spice glaze. These are so amazing warmed up. 

And the thing I am REALLY excited about is this Pumpkin Spice Breakfast Shake. (Recipe here.) Whooaaa that is delicious. And it's slightly more acceptable for July because it's cold! 

Here is the photo from the recipe. I keep drinking it too fast to take a picture:

Via

Yeah. Delicious.

Speaking of pumpkins....

Check out how our pumpkins are coming along! This is just one of four areas. It's the fastest-growing of the bunch so far. I can't wait until the tiny pumpkins start forming!

Today is going to be a high of 66 degrees. Which is very strange, but I LOVE it. It goes well with all this pumpkin. It'll be 90 again in a couple days, but until then, I am going to enjoy this gorgeous weather. Sorry I wrote about pumpkins two days before Fourth of July.

Happy Wednesday!