This long weekend was so wonderful! On Friday night we stayed in and watched an episode of Star Wars (Luke is trying to catch me up on them- I had never seen any of them and apparently that is not acceptable).  

On Saturday we took it easy again, did some errands, rested my hip and painted a bamboo sideboard we bought when we first moved here.  We initially had our TV on it but Luke has since hung it up so that it makes more space and I LOVE it! I decided to go bold because, why not?!  The thing cost like $40 and if the color was a total miss, I could repaint it!  

Here's how it turned out:

We woke up Sunday (my birthday) and Luke had decorated the house with "happy birthday" streamers, signs, and tulle my mom secretly sent him. It was the sweetest!  He then made me pancakes.  I may have talked him through every step but he really did everything himself and they were amazing!  I was very impressed. I am lucky to have such a kind, loving husband :)

Here are my decorations! :)  

After pancakes I decided I wanted to go out to the "country" (suburbs) for something different, because I love a road trip adventure, and I needed to breathe some fresh air!  We looked up where to go/ what to do and decided on a vineyard about an hour outside of the city.  We drove the hour to it, pulled up, and it wasn't even a vineyard! Yes, it was a very pretty building, but there were no grapes growing there, no pretty views, no fresh air!  We decided to drive around a bit more to see what we could find.  I pulled up the map and a riverboat casino showed up.  Luke and I looked at each other and shrugged, why not?  So we adventured our way to a riverboat casino in the middle of nowhere.  When we walked in we brought down the median age... but it was still well over 60 years old.  Still, we decided to go with it for a while- it was an adventure after all!  We got some cash, went to the craps table, and tried our luck.  An hour later we were up a good amount of money and pretty pleased with our decision!  After I rolled, we cashed out and called it a day but it was such a fabulous, ridiculous adventure and I am so happy we did it.

This is us after we cashed in our winnings.  Very happy..... :)

After our casino adventure, we headed home where we were so lucky to visit with one of Luke's good friends from high school who was in town.  They talked nerd, I tried to keep up and surprised myself at how much I have learned in the 3 years I've been with this guy.  Uh oh....

After our visit we got all fancy and went to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant that happens to be 25 yards from our house.  We had a fabulous meal, amazing wine, and topped it all off with tiramisu and espresso.  It was a perfect dinner (and I didn't take a single picture!!!)

On Monday we met our friends from DC (originally Luke's friends from Wake Forest.)  We went to our first Cubs game and it was so much fun! I finally got some sun on my translucent self and just got to hang out and soak up the pretty weather.  It was such a perfect end to an amazing birthday weekend.

Updating a Fireplace Screen

When we bought our new house, the old owners left us this fireplace Screen.  It really bothered be because it didn't match anything else in our home.  And also the leaves were a bit weird...

I decided instead of replacing it and spending probably $100, I should try painting it black to match all of our other fireplace accessories.  Luke bought a can of High Heat Rust-Oleum in black and I painted away. It worked wonderfully and only cost $15.

Interesting note: you can't buy spray paint in Chicago.  Apparently it's been banned since 1995....

Here is the before and after.  What a difference paint makes!

Happy painting!

House Updates: Hanging a Mantel

This weekend we (Luke) finished hanging our mantel!  Ah I am so excited to have it up! And, it actually comes with a nice story...

While living in my house in Richmond, we were installing extra storage and shelving everywhere because the house didn't have any!  For the kitchen, we put up really pretty white shelves and wanted to hang a big butcher-block-type bar under them that could be used as extra counter space in regular life and a bar when entertaining.   The search began for this "butcher-block-type" piece of wood that didn't cost the same as my mortgage!  We soon found out that wasn't very easy to do....we looked at lumber stores, thrift stores, restoration places...nothing had anything big enough and within our price range.  When we had all but given up, we found a salvage yard run by a man who would go into old Richmond homes after they were gutted to be remodeled and bring all the gorgeous old fixtures, wood, moulding, etc. back to his store.  We ended up finding the top wooden piece from a mantel from an old Richmond mansion buried under a whole lot of other "scrap" wood.  We bought it for $75, brought it home, and Luke started sanding away the years of wear and tear (and paint). Fast forward a couple months, Luke moved to Chicago and I was left with this block of wood.  Needless to say it was never hung in Richmond and somehow made it's way to Chicago with us.

We planned to just pay someone to come in and hang it for us, but that project was pretty low on our list. I had gotten over my blank fireplace and put the project out of my mind until last weekend, when we invited our neighbors in for some tea while everyone was out cleaning our yard.  Our architect neighbor saw the wood, raved over how beautiful it is and asked what we were planning to do with it.  We told him the story and he volunteered to help us cut it with some very fancy tools (Luke was most excited about the sawzall). We are very lucky to have such wonderful and knowledgable neighbors.  So Luke and Matthew set everything up in the basement, cut the wood down, and then Matthew talked Luke through how to actually hang it.  Below is how they did it! Huge, huge, huge, thank you to Matthew for helping us.

Here is the before!  A bit boring, and how in the world would I decorate for Christmas??

The block of wood preparing to be cut to fit between the brick.  You can see the nail holes where it was attached to a fireplace before.  

They set the wood up for easier access.  

Luke, measuring twice, cutting once! hehe

We found the wrought iron brackets at a plant nursery. They were supposed to be for window boxes or planers but we drilled a couple extra holes in them and they work perfectly.  

Luke bought all kinds of new toys, including a drill bit that could drill through the brick.  It was pretty cool to learn about actually.  

Blurry, but a man proud of his awesome work!  I am so excited by how well it turned out!

Side view of the brackets and pretty wood.  

All decorated!  Omgosh I am so excited!  Now we have a piece a Richmond here in Chicago.  :)

City Living: Planting a container herb garden

It's finally warm! Ish....

Every year I love planting fresh herbs in my garden.  This year is a little different because 1) I  had to wait a bit longer to plant (in case we got another freeze- what?!) and 2) I don't have a yard! When I had a yard, I had rosemary, sage, and lavender in the ground and then I would plant basil, mint, parsley, and oregano during the spring and summer.   Ahh, it was so wonderful!  I was bummed at the thought of not being able to have the same fresh herbs this summer!

Well, guess what?! I have learned I don't really have to plant less than I typically would, I just have to plant in different containers.  A couple weekends ago we got "window boxes" to hang off our back deck so it takes up less space.  I have decided rosemary and basil are my two favorites (and most used) so I potted them in medium sized pots and then planted the rest in the hanging boxes.  We also added some hot peppers to the mix because I am now married to a Texan.

Here are some pictures of the finished product.  I am so excited about it!  Now I just have to remember to water them......

P.S. Check out the gorgeous lilac tree in the background.

Big, hearty Tuscan Rosemary plant.  The pot is from Home Depot- only $14

 This will be the basil.  I plant seeds instead of already grown plants because you get so much more that way. I highly suggest it. 

 Luke's hot peppers: serrano, jalapeño, and poblano. 

Here is our back deck!  

Updates and Housewarming Burger Bar

It's been a while since a blog post- super sorry!  A lot has happened in the last couple weeks.  Here's the quick version:

• I had my last day at my old job.  It was very bittersweet but I am very excited about new adventures!
• Luke got a big deal approved at work so he's been super busy
• I went to the ER May 2nd at 3am with excruciating hip pain.  Long story short- I have had X-Rays, CT Scans, MRIs, and blood work done and have finally gotten the pain under control.  Still waiting on what is actually wrong but they do know I'm not dying, so that's good news. 
• I started my new job yesterday and it was wonderful.  I am so excited about this new journey and can't wait to update you all more about it! 
• We finally bought Luke a dresser and we are both SO EXCITED about it.  Heres a picture:

• The most exciting part of the week was hosting our Chicago friends in our home!  We had planned to all go see a Cubs game and then come to our house for burgers afterwards.  Since we were at the ER until noon Sunday, Luke and I ended up not going to the game so we could finish getting everything together.  Here are pictures from the Burger Bar.  

Pound cake in my new bundt pan and tulips Luke bought me :)

The bar set up (and my crutch and me)

 "The Virginian" Burger: pimento cheese, bacon, and tomato

"The Chicagoan" Burger: Sautéed mushrooms, brie, and garlic aioli 

"The Texan" Burger: guacamole, jalapeños, salsa, and Monterey Jack cheese 

Yes, my platter has a burger charm.  

I also made potato salad and fruit salad

All our friends! In our home! Finally!

Also, notice the walls aren't a harassing red anymore!