Old Town Art Festival

Last weekend our little area of Chicago threw an Art Festival that required a huge section of Wells Street to be blocked off. It was TONS of fun, even though Bart and I got poured on. There were literally over one hundred tents that sold everything from handmade jewelry, to blown glass to potstickers and Pina Coladas that were poured into hollowed out pineapples. The only down side was that Bart and I had no money to spend on a nice piece of artwork to bring back to NY with us next fall.

We did, however, have money for food and drinks. Okay, so maybe if we hadn't spent so much money on food and drinks we COULD have bought some art, but it smelled good, okay?!

One of the best things we had were, in Bart's case, an ice cold beer, and in mine, delicious homemade lemonade. We also had the world's best homemade guacamole and homemade tortilla chips from the Adobo tent.

It was so much fun to wander up and down the street and in and out of tents to look at everything people were selling. You wouldn't believe how many people commented on Bart's sweatshirt--at least 4 people selling at the Festival were from Massachusetts! I thought more people would think Bart was from Chatham, IL or something.

I also ate Celtic corn on the cob. It was soooooo good! It's sweet corn that is left in the husk and grilled until it's piping hot and cooked through. Then the husk is pulled back, all the way to the bottom of the cob and the corn silk is pulled out and thrown away. The people selling it dipped THE WHOLE THING in a huge cauldron (I am not kidding, folks, a cauldron) of melted butter and sprinkled it with Celtic seasoning. I'm not sure what the seasoning was made up of, but there was definitely salt and I'm pretty sure dried lemon zest in it. Delicious. There isn't a picture of me eating it for obvious reasons. I was picking corn out of my teeth all night and scalded the roof of my mouth, but oh well.

<----This was what we ended our night with. It took a lot of coaxing on my part for Bart to let me buy one and eat it since it is probably the most unhealthy thing a person could ingest. This, my friends, is a DEEP FRIED SNICKERS BAR. I'll just give you a moment to let that sink in.

So the way they make this amazing bit of deliciousness is that they dip an unwrapped Snickers into Funnel Cake batter and then throw it into a deep fryer. I'm not sure which freaked Bart out more--the fact that it was candy basically covered in more candy, or that it was deep fried within an inch of its life.

Anyway, the batter is made sooooo wonderfully crunchy in the deep fryer and when you cut into it with your fork, Snickers literally ooze out onto the plate. I probably should have waited at least a minute for it to cool, but I didn't and burned the roof of my mouth for the second time that day. Enter second homemade lemonade. I wanted another Snickers, but Bart was, probably rightly, terrified that I would die that night in my sleep of a heart attack if I did, so we left it at the one and went home.

What a glorious day :)

Homeward Bound!

Tonight Bart and I are flying back to NY to see family, go to my friend Maria's wedding, and have my first wedding dress fitting. I am really excited to be going back, especially for Maria's wedding. I can't wait to see how she planned everything. It must be so exciting for her to finally have arrived at her wedding weekend! Sometimes I think that our day will never come--it seems too good to be true, you know? And it seems like I'll never be finished with the planning, but that's another story.

Maria called this morning to tell me what time I need to be at her house to begin the wedding day preparations and she sounded so completely happy and super excited. I'm so glad that she doesn't have to stress and constantly worry about her wedding like I do.

Hopefully when I get back on Monday I'll be able to post pictures of the blushing bride and groom!

It's Been A While...

I've been so busy lately that I've hardly had time to read the blogs on my list, let alone write my own! The job is going well--minus the HORRIBLE man I had to deal with on Monday. Let's just say that I have never seen a grown human being behave the way this guy did, nor have I ever been spoken to (and I use the term "spoken" lightly, people) in such a way before in my life.

Anyway, in wedding news, we are no closer to a florist than we were the last time I wrote. I'm starting to worry that I'll be walking down the aisle empty handed. On the bright side, I mailed my engagement ring out to Kneucraft in Plattsburgh, NY and it actually arrived unscathed and un-stolen!!! Now I just have to wait for Sean to work his magic and design my wedding band. I can't wait! Let's hope it costs a fraction of what Kay Jeweler said it would...

In other news, I was able to catch up on my blog reading tonight and I just saw that My Sweet Savannah is having ANOTHER give away! It is a gift card for a beautiful necklace from one of her favorite jewelry designers. I'd love the necklace--I have even already planned that I'd have my name and Bart's engraved on it with a short love quote on the back. If only I were lucky enough to win!

To Church Or Not To Church?

So Bart and I have been going back and forth for a while over whether or not to get married in the church we put our deposit on (we'd get a full refund no matter what if we choose not to use them). I have always wanted to get married outside, in the grass, under a tree. Bart and his mom really want us to get married in a church--any church. "We can't just take God out of this!" she says.

But wouldn't it be more beautiful to be married in the outdoors that HE created? That HE worked for six days to bring to life? With HIS sunshine shining down on our marriage? Instead of in a (beautiful) building that a man created? I think so.

I Love Bargain Books!

A couple months ago, I discovered the "bargain book" section on the Barnes & Noble website. Since I had just quit my (horrible) job and had nothing to do, I decided to give these "slightly damaged" books a try. I bought 4 books--and the big news? The "damage" ended up being slightly creased book jackets, the creases were on the edge of the spine. And most of the bargain books are HARDCOVER and you can buy 90% of them for under $6! The only downside to the bargain book selection is that only the "damaged books" make it in and it is a first come, first served type of deal since there are a limited number of the books. You do have a really great chance of grabbing best sellers, though, since the book store apparently orders more of them more often.

Anyway, my big news is that I made another purchase today! Here is the rundown:

I bought 7 books and 1 movie. The full book/movie price WOULD have been$183.73.

Shipping SHOULD have been $10.92.

And I used a 15% off coupon (that applied to the most expensive item--the movie, which was $8).

Grand Total Spent: $44.85!!!

The biggest saving, other than the bargain books themselves, was that I got FREE SHIPPING! Don't ask me why--maybe it was just another promotion. Basically, I got my whole $200 purchase for 76% off. How freakin' fantastic is that???

Today begins another weekend of wedding preparations. Bart and I are going to go back to the jeweler's and return the wedding band I bought and meet with a ring designer to being the work on my custom made band. After all that, we are going to go to Macy's and finish our wedding registry. I don't know why, but this just isn't fun for me. Bart loves it though, which is great.

We've also decided that we want to start looking for our own apartment. I'd really like to stay in this same area if possible, but looking for apartments in the city is so much harder than at home. I just love the street we live on and I really, REALLY hope that we'll find something we like--and can afford--soon. It will be our special thing after we're married. We've never lived alone without a roommate before.

Anyway, there isn't much else to add. Things have been boring, but busy what with school for Bart and work for me. It will be nice to get to spend the day together, just the two of us, though.

I Wish I Had More To Worry About Than The Wedding, But...

I'm feeling so overwhelmed with all of this wedding planning! It seems that the harder I try to get things in order, the faster our wedding date approaches.

Today Bart and I sat down after breakfast and decided that we are going to break our entire To-Do List down into two-week chunks. Every smaller list has to be completed in two weeks or less. I really hope his little idea works, because I'm really beginning to worry about getting stuff done in time.

Anyway, in other wedding news, I hate the wedding band I bought. I think that I just got wrapped up in the idea of buying one and checking it off of the list (and I'm sure I got distracted by the glittery diamonds, too). The jeweler said that I can return it, no problem, and that they will be happy to custom make a wedding band for me, which was what I had planned to do in the first place. It stinks because they'll have to keep my engagement ring for 1-2 weeks, again, which means that I'll have ended up without it for a total of one month when all of this is said and done. My advice to girls checking out engagement rings? PICK THE SIMPLE STYLES!!! It's so much easier to find wedding bands when your engagement ring is a) simple and b) not an awkward shape. But don't get me wrong, I have the most beautiful engagement ring in the world :)

Today, Bart and I are (finally) heading to Michael's to check out centerpiece stuff so that I can make a decision and have everything ordered and shipped home. It will be nice to check some more things off of my list, but I honestly feel like when I check one thing off, three new things that I need to do pop up! I don't know if I'll ever feel like I'm moving forward on this! One great thing is that my friend, Maria, insists that after her honeymoon is over, she take on some of my planning. That will be a HUGE help, especially since she lives in Albany and I know that I can count on her to do what I need her to do.

As for now, I'm going to finalize everything at David's Bridal and then send out a mass email to my bridesmaids to go buy their dresses. And then maybe I'll call a florist. And then shower. Before rushing to Michael's so we get there before closing time. Do you see why life is so stressful???