One year ago.

Today marks one year of having the best fiancé in the world. 

It was my fall break at law school, and we were taking advantage of the week off to get away to Chicago. While we had talked about getting engaged quite a while before taking this vacation, I didn't expect anything to happen because I knew Andrew doesn't love flying. There's no way, I thought, that he'd want to worry about the plane and the proposal over the same trip. 

We spent our first day wandering Chicago and eating pizza; the next day, after a rainy afternoon at the Chicago History Museum and a Chelsea Champions League game at Fado, we came back to our hotel to get ready for dinner at The Publican. The plan, as far as I knew it, was to have dinner there and then head out to Gilt Bar for fun drinks afterwards. It was awful outside: rainy, blustery, and cold. Since The Publican was a ways from our hotel, we took the bus over; while I didn't know what was going to happen, looking back on it now, I can't imagine how nervous Andrew must have been, as he had the ring in his pocket the whole time! 

After an incredible meal (including duck hearts, maybe the most memorable and delicious dish I've ever had), Andrew had the restaurant call a cab. Apparently, he told the driver of his plan and real destination, but when we got inside the taxi, I just assumed we were going to the bar; not knowing exactly where it was helped keep the surprise up until the very end. 

The cab let us out near the Michigan Avenue Bridge, a place with one of the best views of the city along the river. The rain had calmed down, it was only sprinkling, and we were the only people out on the bridge. At that point, I realized we probably weren't walking to the bar, and started to get really excited. As we walked onto the bridge, I knew what was going to happen. There, with no one out at all but us, Andrew asked me to marry him (and he did get down on one knee, even though it had been raining!). It was perfect, romantic, and made me the happiest I've ever been. We walked to the Wrigley building to step in from the rain, and the wonderful phone calls home began; I learned that everyone already knew, and had kept the secret from me. I'm still impressed that I never found out! 

So much has happened since that rainy night; we're in a new city, Andrew's in his Ph.D. program, I've graduated and passed the bar. I can't think of anyone else I would want to experience this with, and I'm so lucky to be Andrew's fiancée. 

Love you, duzhe, Driy, and I can't wait to marry you! 

Happy weekend, friends! 

I love Style Me Pretty.

I just had to take a second and post about Style Me Pretty's new book! I visit this website daily to daydream and swoon over gorgeous wedding gowns, flowers, and parties. It was something I did even before getting engaged (yes, I'll admit it), because I've always, always loved weddings. Andrew has, thankfully, accepted this about me and allows me all the wedding shows and bridal magazines I could want.

Per SMP's website, the book is available for pre-orders; I can't wait to check it out! Happy planning (and wishing, hoping, dreaming...)!

PS: Cup of Jo's most recent post about veils: lovely!

Chicago Day Trip.

Happy Labor Day weekend! It's hard to believe that the unofficial end of summer is already here. We decided to take a short trip to Chicago yesterday - it's so close to Milwaukee! In order to spend as much time in Chicago as possible, we drove to Kenosha to make the 6:50 a.m. train and took that right into downtown. Metra's weekend pass is really reasonable, only $7.00 (and it only costs $2.50 per day to park in Kenosha); this is something we're definitely going to be taking advantage of!

The weather forecast was originally pretty bleak (I had been checking all week), but it turned out to be quite lovely; it sprinkled a bit when we first arrived, but otherwise it was just cloudy and breezy, so we were able to walk around without any trouble.

We went to breakfast at Xoco, one of Rick Bayless' restaurants. We've been to Frontera before, and absolutely loved it, so we were excited (and hungry, as we had been up since 4:30!) for Xoco. It was really good, but we both think it would have been better for lunch. The coffee drinks, though, were amazing. Andrew had a chocolate espresso, and I had a wonderful chocolate cafe con leche: thick, just the right amount of chocolate, and so smooth.

We walked around the city all day, visiting our favorite spots and discovering new ones. We've been to Chicago four times now since we've started dating, and it's the city where we got engaged last October. It's really a special place to us, and we're so excited about how close by it is.  

One of the reasons we love Chicago so much is the fact that there are so many incredible restaurants. On our last trip, we visited Cafe Spiaggia, Q, The Publican, and The Purple Pig, and all were amazing. We knew we only had one day for this trip, so there were certainly fewer meals to plan, but we still made sure we ate well. For lunch, we decided to try Bar Toma, Tony Mantuano's new restaurant. We had guanciale-wrapped sweetbreads with sage and shared the Calabrese pizza, topped with sausage, Calabrian chilies, and mozzarella. The crust on the pizza was the best I've ever had. You could taste the smokiness of the wood from the oven, and it was perfectly soft and crispy at the same time. Amazing. 

We also walked around the Fulton Market District, west of downtown and set in between the highways and the Chicago River. It smells like chocolate, but I'm not sure why. From the outside, it doesn't look like the posh and luxurious neighborhood that's home to some of the country's best restaurants, but famous names like The Publican, Next, Aviary, Blackbird, Avec, and others have found their place and are thriving in the warehouses and brick alleyways of Fulton. During our afternoon walk, we stopped in to Publican Quality Meats, which sells all sorts of local products, from smoked beef heart to artisanal honey (from MN!). Andrew was definitely in his happy place. 

We returned to Fulton for dinner, to a restaurant called g.e.b. The menu had smaller plates to share, which we really like because then we are able to order several dishes and and try more than one. We had calamari with green hummus, oxtail lasagna, a saffron risotto with clams, blueberry cake, and gianduja-filled beignets. Realizing we had some time before our train was to depart, we decided to try RM Champagne Salon, a new champagne lounge we had read about (and which happened to be next door to g.e.b.!). I can't wait to go back! I had a champagne cocktail and Andrew ordered a whiskey with cherry notes; it was the perfect way to end the night. 

We took the train back to Kenosha, and made it back to Shorewood by midnight. We're quite tired today, but already planning the next visit to one of our favorite cities!