hunter says i need to learn how to listen

Inappropriate? Sorry for partying... Actually I hurt my hand in a desperate attempt to keep myself awake Friday night. After an exhausting week, Hunter and I got in bet at 10 p.m. on Friday and I was so sad I was too tired to do anything that I put a movie on my phone and tried to watch it. In the meantime I put my hand under my head to keep it up and fell asleep like that, for HOURS. When I woke up, I literally thought my hand was broken. It definitely posed a challenge for the productive weekend I wanted! But I still got most stuff done, minus parallel parking on the left side of the street... Wahh wahh. 

freaky friday!

Each Friday I'm going to share three self-admitted weird things about myself. Here we go!


1. I have a huge paranoia of running into my boss in the bathroom. I avoid it at all costs.


2. I wear my underwear inside out (on accident!) at least twice a week.


3. When I was little I would only check out library books that had glossy pages and that had that specific "library book" smell. Yes, I sniffed them. I can only imagine how many rough-paged, plain-smelling stories I missed out on. 

memorial day weekend

What a weekend! The Hosty/Ryan/Sweeney clan all made it up to Michigan for the long weekend and it was unanimously a top 5 all-time favorite Michigan weekend. And the best part about it was that we didn't do anything special, no huge plans, we just all kicked back and enjoyed spending time together. My stomach still hurts from laughing. I think we've all grown to realize how lucky we are to have each other and we all really appreciate the relationships we have with each other. 

I'm really mad I didn't take any pictures of one of my favorite parts of the weekend: Playing with our family friend's two kids. Erin has a 2-year old boy Michael and a 4-year-old girl Natalie. I can't even put into words how precious they are. I'm so excited to reconnect with Erin and her husband and cannot wait to see them more this summer.

Some of my other favorite weekend highlights include:

This awesome campaign photo of my dad. Just chilling on the mantle.

Crazy bird's nest outside the Little House

Batting cages! 

Safety first

Late-night eats thanks to Cath. 

Lucy Sweeney



What a great way to kick off the summer!

a spring in my step

Spring weather is finally here and boy do I feel chipper! I try to get out and walk around the neighborhood every few days, exploring a new street each time. The weather is sunny and perfect for walks after work. I love seeing people out and about and being a little further away from hipsterville has totally calmed me down when walking about. In our old neighborhood, I had to watch every which way to make sure a snotty little biker wasn't going to run me over. And yes, that has come close multiple times. Last year I did a good job memorizing the City of Chicago bike laws and I would recite the law to each biker I saw acting like an arrogant ass. Literally I did. You can ask the guy who called me a c*nt. :)

Any-ho, my new neighborhood is full of happy, wholesome people who bike ride for fun! They even smile at me. 

This weekend I did a lot of walking around, shopping, running errands and just enjoying the nice sunny days. One of my highlights was Sunday morning. Hunter and I woke up bright and early, very refreshed and ready to make the most out of our day. Which really meant we were ready to drink freshly brewed coffee and eat freshly baked donuts! While Hunter put his face on, I went out and got us donuts from my favorite donut shop around: Glazed and Infused! Notice Hunter's classy coffee mug on the right. We have a dozen if anyone wants one... 

The donut on the top right is called "bar mix" and it's freaking amazing. It's a chocolate donut with carmel glaze and topped with M&Ms, pretzels and potato chips. Hunter did a double take when he saw it and stared at me when I took a bite. I'm not sure if he was intrigued or disgusted, probably both. 

book cheat?

Can you read multiple books at once? I wish I could because there are so many books I want to read, but I just can't break the idea that the book I'm reading will suddenly start to become terrible if I start reading two books at once! 

Also, if I'm reading a horrible book, I won't stop. I'll finish it so I can OWN that sucky book!

Both ideas are a total waste of time, but I really don't think I'll ever change. 

On that note, I'm trying to get through my current book so I can start reading this AWESOME book a coworker told me about: Building Stories. 

I want this book so so so bad! It's even more than a book, it's multiple books, newspapers, flipbooks. And the cool this is that you can read any of the books in any oder. It took 10 years to make and takes place in Chicago and Oak Park. If you go to Barnes & Noble, you'll probably see it in the window. Thanks in advance for buying it for me - I hope it's not too heavy when you're wrapping it!

in a rut

Have you ever found yourself in a rut? Nothing's particularly wrong, but you just can't find your happy? I think the combination of the never-ending crap weather and taking on new clients at work has me down in the dumps. And I really don't embrace change very well. It takes me a while to feel settled again. I've had zero energy during the week and no desire to find some. My only happy pastime is eating mini chocolate-chip morsels and toying around on Pinterest. I need a swift kick in the ass. And some sunshine. In all honesty, I think I just need to be around natural light again. We don't really get any in our current apartment. Here's hoping I get my happy back on moving day: April 26! 

In the meantime, I'm going to TRY to boost my endorphins at the gym. TRY.

Or... maybe I just need one of these nights!

Well it finally happened! We found an apartment! After many restless days and nights on Craigslist, seven awkward showings and a few hours of pouting, we found a place that's right for us! 

This is exactly how I felt after we signed the lease: