36 / 37 weeks

 

These last few weeks have flown by! I'm now seeing the Midwife every week in anticipation of this little dude's impending arrival. Overall, I'm still feeling good - though he has definitely dropped his little head into my pelvis thus making walking much more uncomfortable. I've got the waddle-walk down.

Two weekends ago I had a family baby shower which was so fun! It was great to see both sides of our family - Hubby's and mine together. It meant so much to me that Hubby's sister and our adorable niece Stella flew in from Denver, people traveled from Michigan for the day, and one of my oldest friends traveled from St. Louis.



This past week my co-workers threw a baby shower for me which was fun - we got even more stuff: adorable clothes, swaddles, and an itty bitty bathtub to name a few items. It's still so overwhelming to me how generous people are when there's a baby on the way. This little dude has more clothes than I do. Now, if I can just get all the clothes washed and put away, we'll be set.

I've scheduled my last prenatal massage for this week, and am looking forward to some pampering for my tired muscles!

xoxo,

PJ

Funk

My life has been a bit crazy these past few weeks. The hospital I work at moved across town and I've been adjusting to a new commute downtown among other things {like figuring out where in the world I'm going once I'm in the new 20-plus story building}. To top it off, I had a really traumatic past few weeks dealing with oral surgery go awry. I finally feel like I'm crawling out of this funk and am starting to get my routine down. Finally!



These are some photos of the hospital closing celebration that included champagne flavored cupcakes and a fly-over above the old hospital. It was hard to say goodbye to the old building and neighborhood. I almost feel like I grew up there: I interned during grad school, started working weekends when I graduated, and now I'm a full time employee.

Cheers to the old hospital, cheers to the future.

xoxo,

PJ

lululemon warehouse sale 2012

This weekend, lululemon hosted the 2012 warehouse sale in Chicago {well, technically it was at a convention center in Rosemont, IL}. As the first one of its kind in the US - I was prepared for long lines, little variety, and mobs of people fighting for the coveted product. I'm happy to report that I was proved wrong. On Sunday, a new co-worker friend and I ventured out via the blue line to be dropped off just a few blocks from the convention center. There was no line {I repeat ... no line} to enter the warehouse. I checked my coat {mandatory}, and took only my wristlet complete with my iPhone, identification, lip balm, and debit card.

All of the items were organized by size, which proved to be very effective.  The longest line that I stood in was for the fitting room - which was basically a room with 30 women all disrobing to try on their ginormous piles of clothes. It was hilarious. Though I had a pile of 10 things, I narrowed it down to my two favorite items: the Scuba Hoodie, and a pair of the Groove Pants. I could have easily purchased more items, but stuck to my budget {if you've ever been to one of these sales you know how incredibly hard this is!}. Here are the items that I purchased as well as a few photos of the warehouse.

{Groove Pant // Regularly $98, Warehouse Price $39}

{Fur Scuba Hoodie w/ removable fur // Regularly $148, Warehouse Price $39}

{organized racks of lululemon gear}

{posted prices on the way to the fitting rooms}

{my bag of goodies}

Overall, I had a blast - it was a great experience and I'm so glad that I went to check it out. Do you go to warehouse or sample sales? Did any of you go to the lululemon warehouse sale this weekend? What was your experience?

xoxo,

PJ

Grant Park 5K Turkey Trot

Saturday morning my friend B and I ran the first Grant Park 5K Turkey Trot. We kicked butt, both of us setting new personal records for the distance. We ran, we finished, and then we brunched at Ann Sather's. A perfect end to our morning.


xoxo,

PJ

CBN Tribute Party: Darkroom Demons

One of my favorite parts of the CBN Tribute Party was seeing Mr. Tyler Curtis snapping photos. Here are some of the photos that he took. Be sure to check out Darkroom Demons and the event photos in their entirety at the Chicago Blogger Network Tumblr . Tyler was the perfect mixture of hilarity and honesty: I appreciated his advice about keeping the chin level and standing up straight. Again, a huge thank you to Tyler of Darkroom Demons, Tribute, and Chicago Blogger Network!

 



xoxo,

PJ

Instagram Photos

Here are a few more photos from Chi Marathon weekend that I discovered on my phone:

1) Me and Dad at Nike's Own Chicago display

2) Dad's name on the Nike board {they listed all of the registered runners!}

3) Dad representing #8 for his 8th marathon

4) Me sitting in the new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle {eek!}

5) Just look at that face! I'm in love.

xoxo,

PJ

A tourist in the City

This past weekend, my husband's parents came to visit for the weekend. Chicago Public Library has a 'Museum Pass' program that allows you to check out a museum pass {that admits up to 4 people} for FREE admission to the local museums. We opted for the Planetarium, and spent half of a day perusing the Adler Planetarium: watching shows in 3-D and learning about the stars {something that has always fascinated me}. We walked from the museum campus along the lakefront through Grant Park and Millenium Park, then hopped a bus to take us to the Hancock building for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Being a tourist in the City was fun for the day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - we couldn't have asked for better weather for mid-October.

Sunday, we went to one of our favorite neighborhoods {Andersonville} to explore the Swedish Museum, antique and local art shops, and have brunch at Ann Sather. Hello, sugar rush. Those cinnamon rolls are delicious! Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the weekend.

Chicago Marathon 2011

So, last Sunday my dad finished his 8th marathon! We always watch the northern turn in Wrigleyville because it's literally just around the corner from the apartment. This year, we headed south to Pilsen to watch at a different location.Since Hubby was not able to run this year {and because he bought a seat}, I was able to run a little bit with my dad. I've been miserable for the last two weeks with a terrible cold, and was not able to run as long as I planned. It was so exciting to be out there to run with my dad and cheer on thousands of runners. It's such an incredible way to see this City come to life. Although it was terribly warm {for the runners}, it was a beautiful day to be a spectator. A blue, cloudless sky and some sunshine in October? No complaints here.

Can I just say how proud I am that he's my dad?! Seriously.  He's incredible.

xoxo,

PJ

PS: Hubby took most of these photos ... Just wanted to give him the cred.

PPS: I'm wearing my new favorite running shirt that I saw a few weeks back at the Nike event. I snagged it at the Marathon Expo.