Last Hurrah!

Jeff and I are moving to our new home on Friday, so we decided to have the last party on our rooftop deck this weekend. It was a beautiful day, so we grilled out and made summer cocktails. We prepared some Chinese cold noodles, which is always a big hit at parties, marinated flank steak, grilled vegetables, burgers and hot dogs.

More than 20 of our friends joined us -- Steve and Heidi brought the cute Violet (their 2-year-old girl); John and Marie brought Jack (their 8-months-old); Jen and Andy came with marinated shrimp and cheese cakes; John and Jenn made "the skinny girl's margarita"; Andy and Jessica brought a couple bottles of white wines; Bret and Katie came directly from the Cubs game; Suzanna brought the champagne and the delicious Mandy B's cupcakes; Prow got us a juicy watermelon; Kelly and Todd shared their delicious prosciutto wrapped melons.

Jeff also surprised me with a cake from Dinkel's, which is everyone's favorite Chicago bakery. Everyone had such a great time, and the last party was a success. I got a little emotional throughout the party....We have lived in this place for 6-7 years, so it's hard to know that it was actually our last party here. We will definitely miss our private rooftop deck!

Megan's Engagement Party

We are all so excited for our friend, Megan, who recently got engaged. Her sister, Alexis, threw a celebration party at the party deck of a high-rise in downtown Chicago near the lake. Quite a few of Jeff's (and Megan's) high school friends also attended, so everyone had a great time reminiscing and telling interesting stories from the old times. Surprisingly, I also bumped into an old colleague of mine from Edelman Public Relations (my first job in the U.S.), who is Megan's friend from college. What a small world!

Weekend in Michigan

Our friends, Bret and Katie, invited us to their lake house in Michigan this weekend. This is our third time to their vacation home, and we are excited to get out of the city for a few days. We drove up Friday evening. Our other friends, Jenn and John, also got there around the same time. Since the boys were playing golf early Saturday morning, we hit the hay a little early on Friday after a few drinks.

While the guys were out golfing, Jenn, Katie and I had some girls time. We hung out with Katie's son, Bo, had light breakfast, lounged on the couch and chatted. We then met up with our husbands in South Haven, a nearby town, for lunch. After lunch, we girls walked around town and shopped while the guys went back to the house and Bo. We stopped in a few cute shops and antique stores, but it was nice to just stroll under the sun. Before dinner, we relaxed on the deck for a few hours then went to a pizza joint at another nearby town, St. Joe's.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning, so we went to the beach then grilled out afterwards. Scraps and Re-Run were following each other around pretty much the whole time, and they had a especially wonderful time at the beach. Scraps got a number of rounds of swimming and were exhausted on our way back to Chicago!

Headsucker's Ball

It's that time of the year again -- crawfish boil at McGee's! It's one of our favorite events, since we never really get to enjoy crawfish in Chicago. Every year, McGee's ships about 2000 pounds of fresh crawfish from Louisiana and cooks them with good seasoning, sausages, potatoes, onions and corn. There are also side dishes like jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice. Jeff spent part of his childhood in Louisiana, so he loves any kind of southern cuisine.

We usually go with my friend Leyla, who grew up in New Orleans, to this event. This year's crawfish boil is last Saturday, May 16th. Without exception, we always have a good time!

London Fun (May 8 - 11)

Scraps' Weekend Get-away

Since we're doing some floor work in our condo this weekend, we had to stay at a hotel for a couple nights. We chose La Quinta in downtown, as there's no weight-limits for pets, and it's a new hotel that just opened a few months ago and is reasonably-priced.

This is Scraps' first downtown trip, and we hung out in Grant Park, walked around on Michigan Avenue, and took pictures like we were tourists!