Chicago Trip 2013

I'm originally from Chicago and most of my extended family still lives in the windy city. I've been back a lot of times over the years to visit. Cory and I actually went on our first plane trip together after 5 months of dating to visit my family back in the Midwest.Visiting Chicago is not only special due to the fact I get to see my family, but it is so much fun. Chicago is full of tons of attractions, amazingly delicious restaurants, and lots of cool places to shop. The culture, atmosphere, and buzz of the city just fills you with something grand.  This trip was special because I have not been back during the winter months, and especially during Christmas-time.

The trip was spontaneous and I'm so glad we decided to go. Here is a little photo-dump of our trip.

We stayed with my Aunt and Unlce in a little suburb just 30 minutes outside of downtown. They wined and dined us to our hearts content.

Day One & Two Restaurants: 
York Tavern
Bergoff Restaurant 
Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak, & Stone Crab

 We checked out an outside fair called the Christkindlemarket Chicago . It is a traditional German American open market that serves up some homemade food and desserts; it had tons of little booths selling ornamants and ornate hand-made christmas decor. There was this one booth that was selling hand-made wooden nativity scenes that also doubled as a music box. Of course I had to get one.

We walked so much around downtown from afternoon to late at night. Seeing the snow and iced-spotted river was such a neat site. I was a little worried I'd be a little baby in the cold but it was so wonderfully perfect with all the wintery scenes I didn't even think twice about the chill. Chicago in the wintertime is so magical. 

Day Three Restaurant:

Mon Ami Gabi

One night on our walk to dinner we stopped in at a furniture shop called Room & Board and perused around. Let's just say we fell in love with more than one piece of furniture. Lucky for us there is a store on the west coast! 

We visited more cousins, dressed up, and made some goofy faces. 

We went to a conservatory that housed some beautiful Ferns and trees I have never seen before. Of course we had to go to Macy's to see the traditional huge Christmas tree; we walked down State St. and Michigan Ave. to marvel in all the Christmas decor.

  

It was such a full visit- for our hearts, our bellies, and our souls. Nothing beats travelling with your love to visit family.

Excited for more trips this coming year. And until next time Chicago!

xo leah

{Belated} Friends-Giving 2013

This last weekend was filled with friends, laughter, good food, and lots of Holiday Spirit. On Friday night I hosted a little {belated} Friends-Giving. I saw others having an evening with their friends to celebrate all the blessings of the year and I thought it was such a wonderful idea! My friends all couldn't get together till this weekend so it was a combined Thanksgiving/Christmas party.

We started the evening with some simple appetizers of cheese, salami, crackers and spread. I had each woman bring a bottle of wine. We did a little "wine tasting" before dinner. I'm not a huge wine drinker, specifically I only like sweet dessert wines, but it was so fun trying out some new bottles. A favorite of the night was a Cranberry Wine. Yes. Sweet. What can I say? 

After a couple hours of chatting and laughing we had a lasagna dinner followed by some home-made desserts. 

This type of gathering I hope to have every year. Connecting with my friends is so important. They are the other sisters that God has blessed me with. Their friendships are so dear and important to me. This type of get together is perfect for reconnecting with old friends that you don't get to see often while at the same time bringing them together with new friends. 

One of my friends Pam is a photographer and snapped a few photos of the night. 

This gathering made my heart so full of joy and love. I have friends that are amazing, talented, kind, and beautiful (inside and out). And I am so incredibly blessed by them all.

Everyone left with a little Christmas ornament.

Parties and Friends,

xo leah

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's one of the most wonderful times of the year. My favorite is summer-time, but the Christmas time is definitely a close second. One special aspect of this time of year is the decor. It's the one time a year that tackiness is ok. At least in my book!

Growing up my mom had a zillion  nick-nacks that were all supposed to be out for Christmas time. We had boxes upon boxes stacked in the garage that my sister and I would all take down and into the living room. We would lay everything out and then figure out where everything should go. It wasn't science, there was never enough room for everything. Once the whole house was decorated it didn't look too bad though. More like you were stepping into Mrs. Claus's sister's house. As tacky as some of it was, it was magical and did make me happy.

Cory and I have a few Christmas decorations and I can see us gradually acquiring more and more as the year goes on. So far this is what we have up around the house:

I do have some nicknacks but I'm determined to leave them on one single shelf! 

One tradition Cory and I started are to make little Christmas gnomes (seen on the left). They are easy and turn out to be cute little Christmas decorations. 

 

Right now my living room looks like a Christmas store. Decorations are everywhere, but I love it! It feels a little magical having everything up; everywhere you turn your reminded of the season it is. 

Hang those stockings up!

xo leah

Tree Hunting 2013

Every year since I was 7 or 8, my family went to Wheeler's Tree Farm to find, cut down, and haul back home our Christmas tree. Some years we'd walk there with the wheel-borrow (yes it was that close) and other years we'd hop in the bed of my dad's truck with the dogs. 

Every year was fun and magical. The hunt to find the perfect tree; whether we wanted the fattest or the tallest. Last year was particularly special because it was Cory and my first newlywed Christmas. This year was more fun because of Gretta & Lucy.  Once kids come around it will be magical. 

The day we decided to go, of course it was pouring down rain. We headed over to my parents home and then got all bundled to go out. The rain didn't seem to let up so we just decided to go for it. Once we got there the rain suddenly stopped! It was perfect timing. The dogs did get wet and muddy but it was so fun seeing them run around like wild banchee dogs. We found our tree after a fairly short search and then headed home. 

Hunting for a tree at Wheeler's was a family tradition of mine and I'm so happy that Cory wants to keep it going now that we have a family. 

Christmas Trees & love 

xo leah

Family Photos - Into the woods PDX

A few weekends ago Cory and I had our photos taken by Caroline of Coeur de La Photography. It was a collaborated photo-session styled by our sister-in-law Lauren.  It was a blast taking photos with Caroline. She makes you feel extremely comfortable and makes you forget that there is even a camera right in front of you. 


 Get ready for some photo-overload…and some cuteness overload:

I am in love with these photos. We definitely had fun taking them, especially with the pups. I never thought I liked photos of couples with their dogs but after that session and seeing these photos, I don't know what I was thinking. They are our little fur-babies, of course we have to include them! 

I think my sister-in-law styled the session just perfectly for this time of year. Not too over the top Christmas-sy, just a touch of winter. And Caroline captured our little family just perfectly. I think family photos are going to be a must on a regular basis. 


Fun & Family photos, 

xo leah