(i like alliteration, can you tell yet?)
well hello. i hope you are doing well and you had a great weekend. i sure did enjoy a nice 3 1/2 day weekend of leisure myself. while i didn’t have columbus day off for a holiday, i did use 1 1/2 vacation days on friday afternoon and monday, since i have some to spare before the end of the year. let’s face it, soon it’s going to be brutally cold, and lately it’s been p.e.r.f.e.c.t. outside, so i took advantage.
warning: there are a lots of pics in this post. i had two very cute subjects!
i can’t for the life of me tell you what i did for the free friday afternoon i had, but i do know that friday night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at one of our new favorite places, las tablas.
saturday i gave myself quite the glitzy, unique manicure (using clear nail polish and glitter for the ring finger).
{glitter nail polish never has enough glitter. this? this is glitter}
then we took a quick drive on lake shore drive to the dog beach (montrose beach) where we enjoyed the ridiculous temps.
later that afternoon we met up at a bar to watch the illinois and mizzou games, and followed up our late lunch there with an early dinner in little italy to support our friend anna, who ran the chicago marathon and raised money (over $2k – wow!) for the american brain tumor association in memory of my father-in-law (she finished, which is so amazing. it blows my mind how people can run a marathon. such dedication! i can’t even bring myself to run a mile…)
sunday i tried to make a dent in my next book club book, the historian. 4 days in i have only made to about page 100, and there’s over 600 pages. book club is in less than 2 weeks, so the math does not add up to me finishing it. i will give it the ol’ college try though.
thanksgiving, our deadline for finishing the table we want to build, is fast approaching so we headed to the rebuilding exchange, to shop their wood supply. they had quite a bit old growth and reclaimed wood, and we’ll be back when we’re ready to buy.
of course i spent some time in the kitchen, and i made the easiest pumpkin muffins/cupcakes ever with brown sugar cream cheese frosting (i was going to include the recipe now, but this post is quite long, so stayed tuned in the next day or so).
{i devoured it. shame.}
our friends brooke and john welcomed their son jack thomas on thursday night. monday we went over for a visit and oh. my. goodness. is he so precious, so tiny and so, so perfect.
i love him. *sigh*.
i wish this perfect weather we’re having and the weekend could never end, but such is life. i will take what i can get.
have a great week.
{justine}
Loving this post! And so insanely jealous of your scenery, we live in extremely flat, blowing dirt ALL the time!
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I came over after you posted a comment on my fish scale wall art and had to check you out! I am your newest follower and would love the follow back.
Totally digging your blog, well done!
thanks so much allison! i am a new follower of yours as well, love the projects i’ve seen so far. {and for the most part, illinois isn’t that exciting (lots of flatness too) but chicago is definitely something special.}
Isn’t Las Tablas awesome? I’ve been going since “back in the day” when it used to be located across the street. That chimichurri is some good stuff!
it’s sooo good! i’ve been there twice already. the chimichurri is ridiculous. maybe i’ll see you there sometime?!
Hey Justine…It’s Amber. I was just looking at your post and noticed some familiar faces in one of your pictures. How do you know the Davis family? I used to have Jack Davis in my preschool class. I haven’t seen them since they moved to the suburbs.
hey! my sister-in-law is good friends with ellen davis’ sister. jack is the cutest! what a small world.
yeah!! i got a shout out on the blog
great photo and a fun memory – thanks for your support and joining us at dinner. always a treat to see you guys. xoxo anna
you are welcome
i wish we would have made it to see you run. but we will next time 
can’t believe you did it – i’m in awe of you.