Sweet Carolina!

what do you do with five days off in a row from work and rich on summer break? get cheap plane tickets and stay in myrtle beach. duh! :)  you should also visit the rest of south and north carolina because myrtle beach can be a bit of a tourist trap and slightly reminded me of vegas with a dash of the dells.
***side-note: it was the annual bike week and over a million legit harley dudes and dudettes were in town.  i believe this may have brought in collection of individuals who are not usually natural to the area...bikers are entertaining, to say the least! ahah!

despite bike week though, rich and i had a sweet time!  we stayed right on the beach at the seacrest resort.  every morning, we got to run on the beach and watch the sun rise over it.  cameras could not capture the breathtaking beauty.  we drove to charleston and discovered what a gem that city is!  we loved the houses, the huge porches, the city market, the people and their accents, the "gullah" food, the history, the plantations and everything else in between!  definitely worth the drive.  we also drove to calabash, nc because they supposedly have the original and best "calabash" seafood.  we were and still are not completely sure what calabash seafood is, but i think we had some! :)  it tasted like regular seafood to me, always delicious! besides those two trips, we stayed in myrtle beach and pretty much just walked up and down the beach and boardwalk all day and night.  it was perfect and i loved spending so much time with my boy.

myrtle beach, sc

they had delicious drinks!

seriously delish

charleston city market.  their jade, lavender and chamomile lotions smelled like heaven.  these people had talent.  memo to self:  learn a craft!

handsome rich enjoying some food at jestines' kitchen.  this place was awesome.  jestine lived till she was 118, and now one of her friends owns her restaurant.  they serve gullah food (grits, collard greens, catfish, sweet tea, okra, fried chicken, etc).  this restaurant was featured on rachel ray and oprah.  we loved it! maybe we will live long now too?

the southern folks know how to build a porch.

getting my "southern belle" on!

boat dock in calabash, nc.  rich wanted to catch some fish, but the trips were too dang pricey!

obviously we are standing in front of the hardrock cafe pyramid restaurant! ;) we have mad photog skills.

Cubs Game with Teeth People

rich's school got super discounted tickets to a cubs game, so we got some tickets and got loaded up on a big yellow school bus with all of rich's bff's from school and went to wrigley field and listened to some music and ate some delicious food and chatted it up and root root rooted for the cubbies because they won and had a grand time a the ballgame!

Michelle the Superstar

my sister michelle is a freakin' movie star! she has gotten the lead for three plays at her school this year.  she sings like mariah carey and acts like reese witherspoon. we were able to go out and see her perform in little women.  she was fantastic and beautiful! great job baby!

we were also able to help make some maple syrup with dad! rich told me that he wants to have our own maple trees someday, and even though my thirteen year old self would hate me for saying this, i agree!

whenever we make maple syrup, i always feel like a witch stirring a cauldron! :)

Four Lakes Flood

here is a not funny story:  in chicagoland, it rained for three days straight and then it downpoured on the fourth night.  in the morning, our little village of four lakes became a giant lake.  our neighborhood was on the national news.  we had the national guard in our town because the streets had turned into rivers.  there were people being evacuated by boats and tanks from their houses.  the road access into four lakes was cut off, so shari (who was in town for business) and i ended up running over a mile to get to our condo to rescue puma.  puma was safe, but everything else was sheer craziness.  the lake in our backyard was literally about three feet away from flooding our condo.  a lot of our neighbors had their houses completely under water.  no one was hurt/killed, but so much property has been ruined.  my heart goes out to all the people who were affected by the flood.  we will definitely be getting flood insurance! here are some pics from the flood. there are a lot more, but they are on my phone.  i will try and add them later. 

Boards Passed!!!

rich passed his first set of boards today!  great job on all your hardwork, love! i never stop being amazed at how brilliant you are.  i love you forever. xoxo. 

the proof

Little Sister

my sister laura is going through a divorce right now.  i am sad that her marriage ended, but i know it is for the best.  she came to stay with us for a little bit, and it was amazing having her around.  she is such an inspiration to me.  she is so fun and selfless.  i am proud of her for being so strong through all of this.  i love you laurabora. :)

Visit from the KiDs

"it was sure nice of you to take them out! is this their first time shopping?"
--trader joe cashier to rich, referring to my parents :)

my parents came to visit!  it was a blast, and i was depressed to see them drive off.  i'm so grateful they came because i know how busy they are.  we packed a lot of stuff into their visit.  the first day they got here, we took them to see rich's school, my hospital, went car shopping just for fun, cooked chicken tikki masala and watched the news and a movie.  that was supposed to be our lazy chill day, but it ended up being pretty busy.  one of my favorite things is to hear my parents and rich discuss politics. warms my heart.  :)

the next morning, we catched the metra for downtown.  we walked through the city and on lakeshore drive to the field museum.  it was a nice day thankfully because it ended up being over a four mile walk!  i thought it was supposed to be just over two...oops! lol! good thing my parents have energy like toddlers! the field museum was ginormous and awesome.  rich and i had no clue how big it was.  after a few hours of being there, we all collapsed on a bench in the dinosaur exhibit for about an hour. haha! we are wimps! we learned a lot about the  cryolophosaurus though! :) after the musuem, we went to giordanos for some famously delicious chicago deep pizza.  yummy!  then we went home and watched the news again.  yes, we are junkies!

the third day, we took my parents to the signature room.   the view was amazing.  i love that restaurant and my parents.  after dinner, we took them to see the "million dollar quartet" which is a musical inspired by the recording session that brought elvis presley, johnny cash, carl perkins and jerry lee lewis together.  based on how much parents were movin' and groovin' along with the singers, i think it is safe to say they liked it! :) it was a pretty sweet play, and it was highly recommended for when the parents/in-laws visit.  we finished up our weekend with a trip to trader joes' were my parents practically bought every sugary sweet item in store!  ahah, i think my mom is trying to fatten me up.  we got cheesecake, coconut ice cream, moose tracks ice cream, black licorice, macadamia nuts, dark chocolate covered pomegranates, dark chocolate covered gingers, raspberries, blackberries and coconut cookies! we were like little kids in a candy store. the cashier thought we were hilarious (see above quote).  the sweets were tasty though and now, thanks to my parents, we have delicious treats everywhere! it was an awesome weekend, and we had a fabulous time.  thanks for visiting mom and dad! we love you.  XOXO!

there was a blizzard right before they came.  i was worried they wouldn't be able to make it, but it stopped and made everything look all "white christmas" for us. 

rich showin' off his place of learnin' to the in-laws

my mom wanted to see the area where i go on walks when talking to her, so we put on our boots and trudged through snow! troopers!

my two favorite men riding the metra and making my mom and i laugh.  "he is eating all the proceeds!"

I LOVE MY MUMMY

rich was supposed to be studying for boards, but he took a three day breather.  thanks a lot studycakes! the trip would not have been any fun without your face!

dad doing business during a pic! he is efficient! :)

dad, me, an elephant and tyrannosaurus sue (in the background, to the left)

my dad is hilarious! after walking like 8 miles and standing all day, on our way out of the museum, i turn around and see my dad doing this!!! lol! i love him.  boys never stop being boys, right?!

"if the dad-in-law can do it, so can i!" :)

love him forever :)

best and most cute parents ever :)

best kids ever ;)

my mom is so cute.  she was so worried we were gonna get mugged.  her expression says it all i think!  she has a point though...chicago is dangerous!

at the top of the john hancock building in the signature room.  sorry the pic isn't that great.

life can be pretty wonderful :)