Christine turns another year older...

...and no, I won't say exactly how old. All the viewing audience really needs to know is that Christine's 40-something birthday very closely resembled my 21st birthday, except she was far more in need of a designated driver.

I, for the record, had just a drink and a half over the course of the evening. Please, keep that in mind.

Before I joined up with the group, they had dinner (and several margaritas) at a restaurant called the Mayan Palace. Around 9:30, I found them at Spin, a gay bar in Boystown. Say what you will about gay bars, but these two things matter most: The music was fantastic and we could dance without being accosted by any nasty individuals. Here is Christine, somewhat obscured by the contents of the smoke machine...

[smoke and mirrors]



From there, we headed to a bar called Wilde's (after Oscar Wilde) which was, by far, the most sophisticated establishment we were at all night. We picked up Christine's friend Mary D and her husband, Art, who was also celebrating his birthday. It was at this moment in the evening that we had enough personal space and presence of mind to take a group photo. You can see the top of my forehead in the back. :-)

[with santa at wilde's]


[group shot]


Our next location wasn't classy, but it was...memorable. Any place with the name Hogs & Honeys would have to be. We had two primary objectives at H&H: Christine wanted to dance on a bar and ride the mechanical bull. Check and check. [As you'll see below, I skipped the bar dancing and joined in the bull riding.] She also got a "bonus" experience of having the very lovely bartender pour a shot directly into her mouth. Gross! But for Christine, high on the adventure scale.

[bar beauties, christine and renee]


[a lot of bull]





[shot in the dark]


[buddy pics]



Thanks goodness we ended the night at Howl at the Moon. Not as "chill" as Wilde's, it was a good capstone to the night. The dueling piano bar had actual seats we could sit in, a thinning crowd and a closing time: 3am. That forced a curfew—thank goodness!—and I made it back to Downers Grove shortly before 4.

[our fellow howlers]


Needless to say, this isn't my typical Saturday night, but for Christine, it was worth schlepping around the city. I got to dance and definitely found our fellow club-hoppers more than entertaining.

Thanksgiving Travels | NYC

I am embarrassed to admit that we were not on the picture-taking ball while in New York, but I can't finish our Thanksgiving recap without a shout out to our NY contingent of friends.

I flew out of DC early Sunday morning to head straight to the Greater New York Dental Meeting. Yes, it was as exciting as it sounds. :-)

The meeting left me fairly free in the evenings, which allowed Heath and I to hang out with people in the evening. We had dinner with Gilbert and Rachel on Monday night at a cute little pizza/wine bar joint in the East Village. And Tuesday we were able to meet up with Marty and his new girlfriend, Isa. We went to this wonderful little Italian place in Park Slope (Brooklyn).

Heath was able to grab coffee with James on Tuesday afternoon which means we were able to see—in 10 days—80% of my bridesmaids and 50% of our groomsmen. Woo hoo!!

It was a great trip, very fun, but it was good to head back to Chicago and return to life as usual for at least another couple weeks before we begin our Christmas travels to Boston!

Thanksgiving Travels | Post-Turkey VA

[and the Thanksgiving posts continue]

We were fortunate to be able to spend a couple more days in Virginia and DC post-Thanksgiving.

Friday, Tiara, Mom and I went to see New Moon (!!) and had lunch together. That night, Aunt Renee hosted a great dinner at her place.

Saturday, Heath and I spent the day with Mackensey, grabbing brunch in the city and then going to see the Fantastik's—a fun muscial—at the Lincoln Theater. For dinner, Heath and I made fish tacos, guacamole, and queso, as well as small pitchers of pina colada and margaritas. As though the evening could get any more fun, Heath, Tiara, Bryan and myself went cosmic bowling.

Here are snapshots of these varied adventures.

[dinner at aunt renee's]







[hanging with mac]







[bowling]

Thanksgiving Travels | Dinner at Dad's

Dad hosted Thanksgiving dinner at his place — perfect size for our party of 10. We shared what we were thankful for, gorged ourselves on Abe (the turkey, named after recently deceased Washington Wizards owner, Abe Pollin), played Quiddler, listened to Lady GaGa and watched football out of the corner of our eyes. It was a fun evening that yielded delicious leftovers.

[mac and demi help prep heath's butternut squash, leek and goat cheese gratin]



[the spread]


[cutting up abe]


[violet's thanksgiving outfit]




[general festivities]

Thanksgiving Travels | 5-Miles of Alexandria

We've always been they type of couple to say that doing some kind of Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving morning would be a great idea. In my mind, that was maybe a 5K or some short distance that helped assuage your guilty conscience about overeating but didn't push things too hard around the holidays.

This year, we decided to actually do one and, while not marathon, 5 miles definitely requires you try a little harder than usual. :-)

Heath, Violet and I ran with Mackensey and her friend Demi, who were also joining us for Thanksgiving dinner later. It was a great race with a lot of kids, dogs and fans cheering us along. The cold morning actually made for ideal running weather and we all had finishing times we were proud of — even Violet.

Thanksgiving Travels | Charlottesville, VA

From Winfield, we headed towards Virginia, actually going just past Charlottesville to Richmond, where we went to Bottom's Up pizza to have dinner with Ben and Mary, who drove up from Virginia Beach. I wasn't in photo mode just yet, so I don't have any pictures to prove we actually saw them — you'll just have to take my word for it.

I do, however, have pictures detailing our stay in C-ville. We were staying with Celeste and John (who were fabulous hosts). Celeste took Monday off to coffee-shop hop with Heath and Myself as we took care of various work-related things pre-holiday. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was our stop at Little John's (a deli near campus) where I was able to order my absolute favorite sandwich from undergrad: The Ranchand. Even with a slightly modified recipe, it was DELICIOUS. See:



We had a much more sophisticated dinner with Celeste and John later that night before heading over to Monday Night Live, the large group meeting for Chi Alpha (the campus ministry that Heath and I were involved with). When the ministry first started my freshman year, there were fewer than 20 of us involved. By the time I left to head to Chicago, there were maybe 50 to 60. Today, they have an average 200 or so people at the MNL meetings and over 300 people involved in a small group — CRAZY! Celeste and I sat in the front row, as usual, and marveled at the many things that had changed. It was a real treat to be able to speak for a few minutes at the meeting and share some thoughts on the Christian life post-college. Chi Alpha was a huge part of my spiritual development, so it was a little like meeting little siblings I didn't know I had.

[at dinner]


[at Chi Alpha, which has very fancy signs now]


We spent most of Tuesday morning with Pete and Amy (they were my campus pastors, Pete married Heath and I), just catching up and having really great conversations about everything from Christian community to healthcare. It was very special to be able to spend that time with them and their son, Ian.

When we left C-ville that night, it was for another VA Beach rendezvous in Richmond, this time with Jess and Adam. They braved some pretty hellish traffic to meet us, but our dinner at Mama Zu's, this hole-in-the-wall Italian place near VCU was well worth it! Our food was stellar and, of course, it was great to be able to split a bottle of wine, catch up and hear all about their new home and their new dog, Samson, a yellow lab.




After our whirlwind of catching up with friends, we headed north to dive into family time with the Pietrangelos.

Thanksgiving Travels | Winfield, WV

[we will be posting our Thanksgiving Travels in short segments, rather than trying to put it all in one, crazy-long post]


The first stop on our incredible journey was Winfield, WV. This is the new hometown to Heath's neighbors from California, Jack and Nancy. Their amazing daughter, Dawn, passed away earlier this year and we were looking forward to spending time with them as they start this next phase of their lives.

Even with flea markets where people can buy semi automatic weapons for $130, there is no denying that West Virginia is a beautiful state. It is also home to several good restaurants, including a surprisingly tasty Thai place.