Work Perks
Last week was full of work-related perks and I’m not complaining!
I worked an annual conference we have on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning and since I had to be on the clock at 6am, my company put me up in the hotel where we held the conference for on Wednesday night. It just so happened to be in the Four Seasons and the room I was given just so happened to be an executive corner suite so it was quite swanky. We were allowed to have our significant others stay with us and so Scott made the trip downtown, where we were surprised with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries as a pre-wedding gift from some coworkers. I may or may not have cried. Sweet indeed!
Not bad for a Wednesday night!
Then on Friday we had a group outing to the Arlington Racetrack where we had lunch and watched horse races all afternoon. I only bet on one race and no, I did not win. It was fun though, despite the horrid service we had at the restaurant for lunch and the nightmare of an Uber ride we had through Friday rush hour traffic back to the city. But it was better than being in the office, that’s for sure! Well, maybe not…I would’ve sooner been tethered to my cubicle than sitting in traffic but we can’t win ’em all. And it was a beautiful afternoon, so we had that going for us. Plus – free lunch!
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to enjoy these perks to the fullest of my ability because I’ve been fighting a cold (or multiple colds) for over a week. However I still enjoyed myself as much as I possibly could and I learned the hard way that champagne doesn’t cure a head cold – but the tequila I had at the racetrack helped!
I’m still not feeling great and I wish I could keep up the tequila diet at the office but I somehow think that my employer would frown upon that. And goddess knows I don’t want to lose these perks!
More Bridal Business
But this time it wasn’t mine!
Scott’s little sister Stephanie got married over the weekend (yes, his poor parents are dealing with helping to plan two weddings in about a six week span). Steph and her now husband got engaged about six months after Scott and I and are apparently ready to hop on the baby train because they wanted to get hitched asap. They had their ceremony in a small town about three hours away from Chicago, which was in-between her family and his. Scott and I arrived on Friday for the rehearsal (Scott had a reading so he had to practice) and then their big day was Saturday. I was not a bridesmaid or anything and that was honestly fine by me because I spent Saturday relaxing in a way that I know I won’t the morning of my own wedding. I went to the gym at the hotel, did some laundry, took a walk and watched a movie in bed. It was great! I guess I could probably do all of that on my own wedding day but I’d have to forego sleep in order to do it and we all know that’s not going to happen.
Their ceremony was short and sweet and then we danced (and drank…oh, did we drink) the rest of the night away. I met some of Scott’s family whom I had never met before and that was really fun, especially since most of them will be traveling up for our wedding too. Everyone had a blast if anything at all went wrong, no one could tell. Hopefully the same will be said for mine and Scott’s big day, which will be here before we know it!
Showering the Bride
Holy hell, I’m getting married soon! To help me celebrate, my wonderful and amazing little sister threw me a Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party in our hometown this past weekend. And it was a success!
My sister did ALL of this!
By success, I mean no one went to jail and I didn’t have to ride the Megabus with a MegaHangover the next day. Nothing got too crazy which is good considering how my mom, a couple of aunts and my cousins were all among the guests! I only have a handful of friends who still live in the area and they made it out too, which was great. There were also a few family friends and a few of my sister’s friends (whom I’ve known forever too) so we had a pretty good mix of people. As you can see, my sister really went all out decorating her new house and everything was so tasteful and tasty too! She made meatballs and queso (with veggie options for me!), vegetable pizza, food for the meat-eaters, fruit, veggies and tons of amazing desserts. Which included these cupcake cake pop things that were simply divine! There was also a mimosa bar with three different flavors, each one more delicious than the last. I was seriously impressed with her ability to throw a party. She’s a pretty great hostess and I’m counting on her to throw every birthday and anniversary party for both Scott and myself until the day we die. Ok, sis? Thanks.
For some reason I can’t put this right-side up. But it looks even more racict when I do.
The Bachelorette Party was fun too and we did a wine and paint night at a local studio, which is something I’ve never done before. This is evidenced by my painting, which you can see here. I am not artistically inclined (at ALL) but I thought I did pretty good with this painting, considering I was drinking and whatnot. Until my mom told me that my fleur de lis looked like a Ku Klux Klan hat and now that’s all I can see any time I look at it.
Thanks, Mom.
But really, thanks to Mom and Sissy and everyone else who came out to help me celebrate. I’m lucky enough that Scott’s family is throwing me a Bridal Shower in the suburbs up here next month and my Chicago friends will be coming together the week after that for a Bachelorette Party that some of my cousins probably wouldn’t approve of. But it’ll be fun!
Then I get to marry my best friend! Bring on the rest of 2016, I’m ready!
Standing with Standing Rock
The U.S. Government isn’t exactly known for being honest and loyal regarding promises made to Native Americans and times haven’t exactly changed. I know there are a lot of opinions to the whole oil pipeline situation going on in North and South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois but I stand with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe – I think it’s a bad idea. For so many reasons.
Not sure what I’m talking about or want to know more? Read this.
That’s All She Wrote
For the past six years or so, I’ve been a freelance contributor to a magazine in Indiana. It’s similar to the Chicago Red Eye in that it’s a free publication and it was mostly available in bars around the South Bend area. The demographic was basically college kids and anyone else around drinking age and I tried to gear my writings towards those crowds. I wrote everything from opinion and How-To articles to Onion-esque news stories to beer & liquor reviews to commentaries on fashion, popular culture and men and dating. I even had a video blog going at one point and filmed and edited my own short videos (which thankfully didn’t last long because it was a giant pain in the ass). I wrote about everything from vajazzled lady bits to celebrity babies to how to purposefully ruin a first date and I enjoyed (most) of everything I wrote. I will admit that over the last year or so I was feeling like I was just phoning it in with my content but the only negative feedback I ever received was the summer my editor told me I couldn’t talk so much shit about people who didn’t believe in gay marriage (I knew he was going to push back but I had to try…he just didn’t want to deal with farmers with pitchforks outside his office and I can’t say I blame him). Also, I’m a little older now than when I first started these pieces and the whole college scene seems pretty far behind me. I may or may not have had to google things about what the kids are doing these days too but I made it work.
Ah, memories. I wrote like half of the above.
Unfortunately, the magazine couldn’t make it work any longer. The publication came out monthly and was even online for a while, though it’s been a very long time since the website was updated. And now, the last issue was technically published in July 2016. It’s no shock that journalism is a dying art and the magazine subsisted off of ad sponsorship and revenue during its run but revenue is down and the ads have dried up. C’est la vie. It’s not like I was making thousands of dollars a month off of this but it was a nice bit of supplemental income and I’ve especially appreciated it this year as I’ve been saving for The Wedding. So I will miss that and also miss flexing my writing muscles a bit but I’m looking at this as another opportunity. Now I can try to find something to write about that’s a little more relevant to my daily life!
Or maybe I’ll just blog more. Or take the time to enter some story contests or something like that. Ideally I’ll find another paid gig, even if it just pays in peanuts, because hey I like peanuts! I also accept forms of payment by way of chocolate, wine and cheese. So if you’re in the market for some funny news articles or a piece about how to deal with the roommate from hell, just hit me up. And bring snacks.
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