My birthday!

On Thursday I left South Beach and headed to the midwest for a wedding and to see my friends and celebrate. Despite my flight being delayed 2.5 hours, my friends waited for me to have dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Carnivale. We went out to celebrate my 27th birthday, but there was much more to celebrate. Marin is now Dr. Marin Arnolds and Renee is soon to be Mrs. Renee! So it turned out to be a great time to celebrate a birthday, graduation and engagement...Jordan was just along for the ride! ;)








Dinner was great! Marin gave me a much needed new makeup bag and some great eye shadow and Jordan gave me a fabulous hair dryer and a cookie cake from my most favorite bakery, Kirschbaum's in Western Springs. After a dinner Marin, Jordan and I headed to the newest hotspot downtown, Roof. It was South Beach recreated in downtown Chicago. Very cool.





















On Friday morning I headed to see my Great Aunt Dorothy who has been battling stage 4 colon cancer since April of last year. I knew that this visit would probably be my last. It was bittersweet. I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to spend quality time with Do on each and every visit I make to Chicago. Since my grandparents on my mom's side passed away when I was young, Do has been like a grandma to me. I grew up with her taking me to church each Sunday, having her at all of my birthday parties, sleeping over at her house, etc. She is an amazing woman. In the past two weeks Do has gotten progressively sicker. Her kidneys and liver have started to shut down and she's gotten very weak. However, her mind is still in tack. I sat down next to her and laid my head on her shoulder while I held her hand. I noticed that her fingernails look as opaque and strong as mine - I must have gotten them from her side of the family. I talked to her about that and some memories of times we've spent together. She pinched me and told me "that's for nothing." I did it back to her and said the same thing, "that's for nothing." She looked at me and smiled and said "you just wait til I do something." I am sure that God is preparing her an amazing place in Heaven and I know she'll fit right in up there!


Friday afternoon I made the trip down to Lizton, Indiana for Nate & Rachel's rehearsal dinner. I met up with Grant there and we celebrated the wonderful love that is evident in Nate & Rachel's relationship. It was a joy to see them so blissfully happy! I'll post more about the wonderful wedding weekend and Grant's experience at Nate's bachelor party that week (which included sky diving!).