An Assortment of Things

.  LSM was intended to be a baking blog. 

But lately it's been a 'let's update everyone on Jess' life' blog.  And I'm sorry.  But there's just been quite a bit going on in my life as of late and of course I want to share it with anyone and everyone.  So stick with me for this post [and surely some more...].  But I promise that at the end of it all, I'll have some recipes for you.  Because in the midst of this hectic time, I have been able to steal some time away in the kitchen.  And thank the good Lord for that!

So my general goal in this post is to update you [yes, more updating!] on some of the things going on at the moment: moving into our new place, starting a new job, engagements, and my own wedding.  So let's get to it.

First, moving into our new place.

Well...we LOVE it.  Or technically, I love it.  Robbie hasn't yet transferred up to Chicago so I've been living in the big city with me, myself, and I, since we moved in about two weeks ago.  And of course, Graham and Tilly are here.  We're living at 500 Lake Shore Drive in the Streeterville area and this uber dog friendly area has been absolutely perfect.  Graham and Tilly meet new friends every day on the numerous walks they get to take and there's never a dull moment in the streets of Chicago.  So I have noticed that they're much more tired than usual.  Which is a good thing!  And did I mention that while I'm at work [which we'll get to in a second] a dog walker comes every afternoon to take them outside.  Spoiled little stinkers...

Now as for the reason I'm even in Chicago: work.  I started in my new job at TTX [still the railroad industry] about a week and a half ago.  And if I could tell you what has happened in those short few days then I would.  But I barely remember the whirlwind that I call my first week.  Despite a rather ordinary first day of orientation, meeting people, and just getting a feel for the building, everything else seems to have been in fast forward.  In a good way though.  I've already been involved in a couple of projects and the whole ease-her-into-the-job thing has seem to come and gone [after the first day].  But I can't complain, it's been exciting, interesting, and fast paced, and I can already tell there's more than enough to learn here.  Can't ask for much more, right?!

But now for the fun stuff.

I'm sure you noticed that I mentioned an engagement occured, so let's not hold out on this any longer because I couldn't be more ecstatic for this monumental life event.  It's been a long time in the making and now I can finally shout out that my forever bestie, Mel...

GOT ENGAGED!

I know I've mentioned her on LSM before because this girl and I have been through it all together: the awkward stages in high school, finding ourselves during the glorious and stressful collegiate years, lending shoulders to cry on when our hearts were broken, sharing in each other's life accomplishments.  And yet through it all, even the constant distance, our friendship has never faltered. 

And now through some divine intervention, Mel and I will be sharing our engagements together.  Which means...wedding planning! 

It's still quite hard to believe, actually, that the two of us will be sharing such an asbolutely special time in our life together.  I mean, c'mon, could the planets have aligned any more perfectly?!  But I guess we only have our dear fiance's to thank for that, now don't we?

And since we're on the subject of Mel and our weddings, let's get to my last point for this post:  MY wedding!

I've put up a couple of updates here and there regarding mine and Robbie's engagement, but let's get real.  The second we found out we were moving to Chicago in the span of two weeks, wedding planning got put on about the 9th back burner.  But now that things have slowed to only high-wind speed, wedding shenanigans is starting to creep it's way forward again. 

So needless to say about zilch, nuttin', nada, has occurred wedding wise in the past few weeks.  Except for one thing...

The all important wedding party.

Yes, them.  The people who have helped shape us into the people we are today, the ones [family or not] who we can always count on to be there, and the ones who will keep us all sane on the wedding day.

Our wedding party has basically been picked out since the week we got engaged, but I had to hold out on everyone because I really wanted to conjure up a special way to ask each of my bridesmaids to be in our wedding.  Cut me slack, this only happens once in a girls life, so I wanted to do it right!

And here's what I came up with.

I found some lovely cards on Etsy, each with the bridesmaids name and a neat little saying asking them to be a part of our special day.  I also found some pretty, yet simple cherry wood hangers with a wire running through the middle that was molded into the name of each bridesmaid.  My thought was that they could all bring their hangers on the wedding day to hang their dresses.  I thought it would make for a good picture, don't you think?! So those two things together were sent to each of the six wonderful woman I will have the honor of standing by my side on our big day.  And thankfully, they all said yes ☺

You'd think the names of my bridesmaids [and Robbie's groomsmen] would be next in order.  But in [my weak] tradition, I'm sending you off to our Knot wedding website where you can you can read about [and see a couple of pics!] of our wedding party.  Maybe I'm bias, but we couldn't have a chosen a group of more genuine, fun-loving, and just plain good people.  They're the ones who will truly make our day special.

WHEW!  So that's it for now.  My fingers hurt from typing.  But believe it or not, I have another announcement I can't wait to share with you all that just happened this week.  So until next time!  .