Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

On October 23, H competed in his first half-marathon. H's parents came down for the big event, and we were so excited for his big event. H trained for months to prepare for the big event, and it all paid off. Luckily, we live down the street from where the race began, so we packed some chairs, and snacks and headed down bright and early to find the perfect spot to watch H cross the finish line. His goal was to cross the finish line in under 2 hours, and he was successful, he finished in 1:55:59! I can't even express how proud I am of him. After the race, the group enjoyed a beer (sans me) and watched Sugar Ray perform on the main stage!

The Peabody

In October, St. Louis welcomed the opening of a new Peabody Opera House downtown. Over the last year we have watched the transformation of the historic opera house and were able to experience it's second "first" night. My parents, H & I attended the grand opening at the Peabody. It is an amazing venue with so much history. Originally, the Peabody was opened in 1934 and welcomed entertainers from Frank Sinatra to the Rolling Stones. The grand opening show featured Aretha Franklin & Jay Leno, and they did not disappoint. We had a wonderful time and truly enjoyed the "new" opera house. We look forward to enjoying many more performances there.

Next Stop, KC

For our last road trip of September, H & I headed to KC to visit our good friends Aarti & Jeff. For the first time, we were able to attend the KC Fair in the Square, which is a fabulous art & food festival. After hours of walking around, Aarti & I found some cool art pieces! The boys walked around the food & drink booths, and seemed to find some good things as well! We ended the day with a great dinner at an Italian restaurant in KC. We are looking forward to our next trip to visit the happy couple!

It's a Boy

On September 22, H, myself, and both of our parents came to St. Louis for our ultrasound and to find out the sex of our baby, and it's a boy! After an exciting morning, the six of us went to brunch and then off to register for the new addition!

Justin's 30 & Flirty - Part 2

For the second weekend of H's birthday celebration, we headed to Chicago for some more fun. We started the weekend by taking in a game at Wrigley Field with Justin's parents & Evan. We were fortunate to have a beautiful Friday afternoon for the game and to top it off, the Cubbies won in extra innings. To celebrate, we headed to Goose Island for dinner and a few more drinks. Unfortunately, after all the excitement of the day, this pregnant lady was ready for bed! Saturday we had tickets to the NIU game at Soldier's Field, so we kicked off another beautiful day tailgating and then to the game. Unfortunately, NIU lost the game, but we had a great time with family and enjoying a beautiful Fall weekend in Chicago. After resting for a few hours, Ritu, Tim, Priti, H & I headed out for dinner and an evening of sisterly fun. We have been fortunately to have many sister weekends this past year, which is something we didn't do before, but I think we will work on doing these more frequently. Before we headed back to the Lou on Sunday, we enjoyed brunch and some shopping (surprise, surprise)! As always, we had a wonderful weekend in Chi-town, thinking maybe one day we will end up there (probably much later than sooner).

Justin's 30 & Flirty - Part 1

This year H turned the big 3-0! In celebration of this, we planned many activities and celebrations! We kicked off the 2 weekend celebration with dinner at Kries' Steakhouse and cocktails at the Ritz with my parents. Saturday, I had planned a small surprise for H, I invited his best friend Kyle, and wife, Ericka, to St. Louis for a night out on the town, complete with a limo & driver. For a fun twist, I put together a progressive dinner scavenger hunt over a 4 course meal. It was a fun night, with way too much food, a little too many drinks (only for the boys since both Ericka and I are expecting), and lots of laughs.

Baby & Balloons

One weekend, H & I packed up and headed to C-Town for the Balloon Fest. In all the years, H and I have known each other, he had never been to Ballon Fest, so I thought it was time for him to experience a C-town tradition. H and my dad were able to take part in the hot air ballon race on Saturday morning and I was part of the chasing crew (which was pretty exciting)! Their pilot decided to take a detour and take them on a 1.5 hour scenic tour of Centralia, so needless to say, they did not win the race! Along with balloon fest, my parents had their annual prayer at our home and this year we focused on the birth of our first child. This was very important to me, as this is our first pregnancy, and I am a little bit paranoid, so prayers and positive energy have been very important! Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with the family.

The Windy City

Chicago is one of my most favorite cities to visit, other than the amazing shopping, restaurants, sites and activities, some of my favorite people live there, Ritu & Tim, with Priti close by (and Evan too)! This past weekend H & I took Friday off and jetted off to Chicago for a long-summer weekend. We arrived late on Thursday night so we could enjoy the whole weekend! Friday morning, H & I met up with Elisha & Tanner, our friends from Quincy, for a fun day at Lollapalooza. This was our first time attending Lolla, and it did not disappoint. It was a warm day, but felt mild compared to what we have experienced lately! There was plenty of food and entertainment to keep us busy all day. There were plenty of amazing artists performing all day, but the best was Coldplay (the main reason we attended). Their performance was amazing, with a fabulous firework display to end a great day!

Saturday & Sunday was time for sisters and respective H's. It is rare we have a weekend for us to hang out with no special event taking place. Saturday evening we went out to a wonderful dinner at Fred's at Barney's New York followed by Cirque Shanghai and the mangificant Navy Pier fireworks display.

Sunday was the day of our departure, but we maximized the time beginning with brunch at Zed 451, a Brazilian Steakhouse serving brunch, in one word - amazing. To work off the amazing meal, we shopped on Michigan Avenue until we dropped!

All in all it was a fabulous weekend with some wonderful people! I can't wait until the next trip!