Chicago + Pumpkin Alfredo Ravioli

This Weekend, I had two extra days of fun!!  It was awesome to have the Thursday and Friday off from work!!  I was also able to check a couple more items off my 30 before 30 list.  It's down to the wire now so I was glad to get those two done.  I have one more I am attempting to complete before the 24th!  Now, back to my long weekend of fun!

On Thursday, Chris and I headed out to Chicago around noon.  When we arrived, we were starving so we grabbed some airport pizza before heading downtown to meet up with my friends Tarra and Evan!  We had so much fun with them while we were there!  That night, Chris and I headed to The Second City for an awesome improv show!  We loved it!!

On Friday, we toured around the Money Museum (for FREE!!) and then met up with Evan and Tarra for brunch. 

 

 

We made our own money!  Such a fun spot!

We made a pit stop at the bean!

After brunch, we found a little gem of a cupcake place - Sugar Bliss!  I was so pumped they had mini cupcakes!

Finally, we made our way out to Wrigley Field.  It was such a fun experience.  The stadium is so old, but in a really great way.  They have ramps leading up to your seats instead of escalators and that area is really consumed by the all things Wrigley.  It was cool to see the ivy walls in person, too!

After the game, we had a delicious dinner at City Winery in the West Loop area of Chicago.  We had great company and amazing food!  Definitely recommend trying it out!

On Saturday, we went on an architecture tour during the peak of the day and even though the sun wasn't really out, I still managed to get burnt on my shoulders.  

We also went up to the Sky Ledge at Willis Tower.  I didn't think I would be scared, but when it was my turn to step out there, I was SO nervous.  It was a really unique experience!

We headed back to NYC that evening, but not without getting some Garrett's popcorn at the airport!  I even managed to accidentally get the Chicago mix - cheddar and caramel.  Yummy!

On Sunday, I made pumpkin alfredo ravioli which completed one of the items on my 30 before 30 list!  Thanks to Kaitlyn at Wifessionals for the recipe - you can find it here.  We had some yogurt for desert while I did some laundry that afternoon. And even managed to make it to the evening service at Calvary which we both enjoyed.

I have a HUGE week (and a half) ahead of me with our National 7-on-7 Tournament and National Lineman Challenge coming up so wish me luck with both of those massive events out in Cleveland!  Here's hoping they both go off without a hitch!

Hope you had an amazing weekend!!

Andrea :)

O's Game + Washington DC

This Weekend, I marked an item off my 30 before 30 list and had a lot of fun in the process!!  We spent the weekend in the Washington DC area with friends!  SO fun!

On Friday, I ended up on the longest bus ride ever when some crazy rain and threats of flooding delayed me arriving to the DC area by about two hours.  Boo for that...but it all worked out well even though we barely made it in time for the happy hour at the British Embassy.

 
We spent the evening socializing with friends over dinner at Capital City Brewing Company and a quick stop for froyo afterward!  YUM!

 
On Saturday, Chris and I drove out to York, Pennsylvania, to visit one of his college roommates, Josh, and his cute little family!  We had a fun time being entertained by Josh's two little ones and even got to have lunch at Chick-fil-A!  Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture...and I was super bummed as I realized it about 10 minutes after we got on the road back.

That night we went to Camden Yards to watch the O's and the Yankees.  Turned out to be a pretty lopsided game, but it was fun to be at the ball park!

 
On Sunday, we slept in a little and then went for brunch at Miss Shirley's in Annapolis - SO GOOD!!  There was a bit of a wait when we arrived so we looked around a little beforehand.  They had the cutest birds all over the place!

After brunch, we ventured out to Georgetown for a little cupcake fun before we left town.  We started out at Baked and Wired.  I tried the Strawberry there as that flavor has become my favorite these days.  I thought it was good, but my cake was a bit dry.  The icing was perfect and just the right amount.  These cupcakes were huge, too!  I did try a bite of my friend's chocolate one and it was much more moist.  Overall, I enjoyed it!

Next we ventured to the crazy popular Georgetown Cupcakes.  We stood in line for about 30 minutes which isn't terrible, but definitely more than I would prefer to wait!  I decided to try two different types here because I wanted to compare the strawberry, but I also wanted to try something different - carrot cake!  Both were tasty!  These were much smaller than the ones at Baked and Wired, but more than made up for the size with the mound of icing on top.  The cake of both was super moist and very good, but I had to scrape off nearly all the icing because it was just too much!  I loved the cute little fondant toppers on them, too.

After I got my cupcake fix, we ventured down to the river and hung out there for a bit.  Then we headed back into DC to grab dinner before we left for NYC on the bus.  The ride back was equally as dreadful, but I'm glad we went on the adventure!  It was a lot of fun!!
 

With our lovely hostess and fun tour guides - Noli and Rachel!

  

How was your weekend?

Andrea :)

FaceTime + Shake Shack

This weekend, I took full advantage of the ability to simply relax.  It will be my last "free" weekend for a little over a month!  Lots of work and fun travel planned for the rest of the summer!!

On Friday, I worked a little later than normal prepping for our upcoming National 7-on-7 Tournament and National Lineman Challenge.  I am excited about both events, but will be glad when the planning is done!  When I got home, I was able to facetime with my awesome little niece!  SO fun!

On Saturday, I went for a four mile run before heading to Queen Jane Day Spa to redeem a gift certificate from Christopher for an hour long massage.  It was VERY relaxing!!  After the massage, I walked a couple blocks over to Madison Square Park for some Shake Shack!  The line was out of control though.  I waited for 45 minutes just to place my order!  Crazy!  Fortunately, I was prepared with some reading material...

Later that night, I actually finished my book - Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto.  It was such a good one!  I got it a couple months ago in a book swap, but didn't have the chance then to start reading it.  Thanks again to Ashlee at A Step in the Right Direction for sending it over!  I will recap it eventually!

On Sunday, I met up with a couple of friends for lunch after church.  It was great to catch up with them for a couple hours!  Afterward, I did some laundry and watched the Miss USA competition.

How was your weekend?

Andrea :)

Belmont Stakes + The Great Gatsby

This weekend was both busy and relaxing if that's even possible.

On Friday, I just relaxed.  That's it.

On Saturday, I ran a women only 10k in Central Park in the morning.  I'll share more about that in my recap later this week, but it was fun.  I wasn't as fast as I had hoped, but I was pretty consistent.

Chris met me at the end of the race and we headed out to Long Island for the Belmont Stakes!  Chris grew up about a mile from Belmont Park, but had never been to the Stakes before.  We had a blast!!

Fun Day at the Belmont Stakes.  We won three times on our first race of the day!!

We had fun catching up with Reba and Peter at the track :)

We were standing very close to the finish line.  The top picture is the starting gate with all the horses ready to run.  The bottom is Palace Malice with a good lead on the final stretch!

Chris picked #12 - Palace Malice!!  He won almost $40!  YAY!!

On Sunday, we completed another chapter in The Five Love Languages.  It has been great going through the book together.  We are both enjoying learning more about one another.



We also went to see The Great Gatsby before Chris drove back up to Albany.  I didn't really like it.  I mean, it was a very impressive film...well done for sure...but I just wasn't a fan of the story.  I had never read the book, and it was just a bit too dark for me.  I wanted a happier feel good story.  Oh, well.  At least we used movie vouchers so we didn't spend any money on it!

On Sunday night, I watched the Tony's.  Oddly enough, I had never watched them before.  I hadn't seen any of the shows nominated except Lucky Guy (check out my recap here).  I was glad Courtney B. Vance won for featured actor, but I was really hoping Tom Hanks would win as well.  Otherwise, Neil Patrick Harris was a phenomenal host.  He is great!  Also, I saw lots of interesting shows to put on my to see list.  Not sure I'll make it to them all, but my friend Mary and I are set to see Cinderella next week so I'm excited to mark at least one off the list then!

Hope you all had a great weekend!  What did you do?

Andrea :)

This Weekend, I...

This Weekend, I had an enjoyable few days.

On Friday, I ran a few errands after work.  Then went out to grab a hearty dinner and randomly got seated by two Kentuckians.  How did we discover we were fellow former Bluegrass State citizens?  Oh, because I was wearing my Home T. shirt that posted about here.  So fun to meet some people from my old stomping grounds!  Seriously, one of them even went to my college.  And it's a very small college in Kentucky.  Such a small world!!

On Saturday, I was up bright and early for the UAE Healthy Kidney 10k.  I'll post about that race later this week!  It was challenging, but a great way to start the day!

Approaching the start of the race...

On Saturday night, I tried my first crock pot roast beef and carrots meal.  It turned out ok, but not great.  Gotta work on perfecting how long it needs to cook because it was pretty dry.  Chris was a trooper and ate it anyway :)  I am trying to branch out, but I know I'll get there eventually.  Chris and I also played the board game Name 5 for awhile that night.  It is a lot of fun, even if he did win more than I did.  Just one more time than me though.

On Sunday, I went to church, found a dress - on sale!! - for a wedding Chris and I are going to next weekend, went for a quick run, made turkey bacon pizza - another new meal! - for me and Chris before he headed back to Albany, watched the Survivor finale, and packed for my upcoming work trip!  Busy, but great day :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!  I'll be spending the majority of it out of town!

Andrea :)

Kentucky Fun: Brinley is One + McKinley Graduates

This weekend, I went home to Kentucky and did lots and lots of celebrating!

On Thursday night, I flew to Kentucky for a weekend filled of fun!

I stayed up WAY too late with my brother and sister-in-law just chatting while they did some last minute party prepping.

Friday, I slept in a little and then went for a run with Jordan.  We ran just over 3 miles through his development and a neighboring one with a nature trail.  It was humid and exhausting, but fun!

Then Chris arrived and we all headed over to Chick-fil-A for lunch.  YUM!!

After lunch, Chris and I babysat for a little bit while Jordan and Jen ran some errands.  We were worn out, but we had a lot of fun!

Friday night we played games with family before we headed over to my best friend's house for the night.  She was so sweet to make little welcome treats for us!

On Saturday, we had a fun-filled day of celebrating Brinley!  I'll post more about the party and all my sister-in-law's awesome decorations later this week, but here's a sneak peek of the cute little birthday girl in action!

Saturday night, we spent some time grilling out and playing games with Ashley and Paul.  Such a fun night!

Sunday morning, we headed off to church at Southland. We made a pit stop at Krispy Kreme first though!

We really enjoyed the service.  They even spoke about Central Park and NYC during the opening as an illustration.  No matter where I go, New York seems to follow me!

We went out for a great lunch as a family before Chris left to head back to New York and the rest of us headed over to Rupp Arena for McKinley's graduation.

Super proud of him and all of his accomplishments so far!!

I am still in Kentucky today, but head back to New York tonight.  It has been a wonderful little vacation for me, but a very busy one!!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend!!

Andrea :)