taking it downtown to chinatown!

on a saturday a couple of weeks ago, stef and kyle planned an outing to chinatown for some dim sum. the only time i'd been there was running through it during the marathon and since it was probably around mile 20, i was pretty delirious at that point! and i wasn't stopping for dim sum! so i was super excited for this particular outing!


waiting on our water taxi


arriving to the china town stop


at the main entrance. me, stefanie, kyle, nicole, sara, and amy


at triple crown waiting for a table to get our feast on at triple crown


some girls had done the cart dim sum thing and some hadn't. kyle hadn't and here she is showing off her adventurous tasting side!


this is just some of the food we ordered. it was all super delicious!


all of us enjoying our food. we ate so much and were so stuffed - and yet - it only cost us each 10 bucks including tip! how does that work?!


me and kyle in the pagoda waiting for our water taxi


nicole, kyle, stef, me, amy and sara. amy and sara were visiting from out of town and met while working for h&m. stef went to high school with sara.


all of us on the water taxi with the incredible chicago skyline view!

u to the 2

on july 5th, u2 played their make up concert from the summer before when they'd had to postpone their tour.


stef, me and kyle all enjoyed the sounds u2 from the floor at soldier field.


while dancing and finding our spot on the floor we ran in to cory and josh. such a fun night!

birthday party!

it's no secret... i have a load of friends with kiddos. and i love their kiddos. i truly love baby showers and kiddos and babysitting and 1st and 2nd birthday parties! in june, we celebrated ricky's 2nd birthday! there were loads of kids there and family and it was a lovely celebration.


happy birthday ricky!!


ricky with his parents: heather and rick


come on mom, i want more cake! i don't wanna get cleaned up!

babysitting the pipes!

back in june i got to babysit the pipes while patrick was out of town and devs needed to get some work done. we had loads of fun!


yummmm! that camera tastes good!


wait?! is that ME?! she was fascinated by looking at her picture on the camera screen.


hiiiiiii!


smiles!!

we did some reading, some crawling, some dancing, and some more playing!

a harper gets hitched!

breaking news: a harper has gotten married!! my older cousin, adam, is the first of the seven cousins in the harper clan to get married. over the 4th of july weekend, the harpers gathered in salem, mass which is just north of boston.


uncle chuck (who lives in chicago), me, and dad


the lot of us at a lovely dinner!


sister and brother


the baby of cousins (she liked to point that part out!) & moi (the 2nd oldest cousin). i will point out that caitlin is the only cousin without blue eyes. and she's the shortest! we teased each other all weekend like good cousins do!


the meet and greet.


the siblings: my dad, chuck (older brother), ellen (younger sister)


caitlin and me... closer than just cousins!


cousins: some of us see each other like almost never...
my brother (andrew), caitlin (ellen's kid), me, and matt & emily (they belong to chuck and kathy) and not pictured: ben (caitlin's brother who missed his flight and thus the whole weekend)


my fam: me, dad, mom and brother


the happy couple.


it was drizzly... but not terrible. chuck, caitlin, ellen and jim (ellen's husband)


the cute little flower girl. she even had a stuffed kitty in a bride's outfit.


we took a trolley between the church and the museum which was pretty cute.


instead of reception gifts, they made a donation in honor of their grandmothers. turns out they were both named marjorie! and her wedding band was her grandmother marjorie's and her engagement ring was our grandmother marjorie's. how sweet is that?!


outside the museum: uncle chuck, aunt kathy (his stepmom), adam and stephanie


inside the peabody essex museum which was beautiful!


the musicians played some beautiful classical music.


the cat was lovely - but they didn't actually cut it. this wasn't a traditional reception, but it was lovely!


me and my older cousin, adam.


an oldie but a goodie: adam, me and our nana on the beach in maine - probably summer of 1981!

big news.

i have a new job!!!! after passing the initial resume review, the preliminary hr phone interview, the phone interview with the vp and potential boss, and then last week the in person interview with the vp and potential new boss... i have SIGNED ON THE DOTTED LINE!!!! well, ok... it wasn't technically dotted, but i have a new job and it's finally official!

i will be the skyline territory manager for ss&c technologies. check them out: http://www.ssctech.com/. it is a software company and i will be selling their real estate related software called skyline. i have loads to learn and basically my first couple of weeks will be a crash course in all things related to this superb technology!

i am so proud and excited to FINALLY be back in the game and working for what seems like a wonderful company and opportunity. stay tuned to hear about my first day/week - i start on this coming tuesday!!

old times...

this is my grandma on the left and her older sister on the right. i love the parasols and the big bow! and i love how big sister took the good parasol and gave my grandma the broken one! i just thought this was such a cute picture i had to share!