Weekend Recap - 4th of July

Things have been absolutely insane lately, so I apologize for not giving any updates.

This past week, I am sorry to report that BF's grandma Anna passed.

BF, Grandma Anne, myself, and Nana in March for lunch

This past week has been filled with helping BF's family through this difficult time. We had the wake on Thursday, and a beautiful service on Friday Morning. To make matters complicated, BF's cousin was getting married on Friday afternoon (other side of the family). We managed to make the reception which was a god-send because it gave everyone something happy to take their minds off a tragic loss. BF's brother was in town and ended up bring a date. We got along splendidly and she cracked me up all night:

She thought our salads looked like monkeys! HAHAHA

The Salad in question... you decide.

After all this crazy business, I was very excited for the weekend, but most ESPECIALLY because my good friend S.S. was coming to visit! S.S. and I worked together at my old company (she still resides there with her wonderful hubby who is on the local police force). I HAVE to get back to visit soon so we can enjoy a night at J.J. Winery with our favorite waiter BRADLEY ;) (S.S. - We're planning this and our NY visit with K.D. ASAP!)

S.S. got to my new apt around lunch and we proceeded to grill out and have some adult beverages. After catching up over lunch, we decided we DESPERATELY needed pedicures and managed to find a half-way decent place within 2 miles. After getting said pedi's, we met up with BF at his parents house and grab him and his friend to make our way to Rib Fest in Naperville. 

SS and I snuck away for a bit and enjoyed some of the good ole' carny rides:

The rocking ship..

The tilt-a-whirl!

We even sampled the fare at the Fest:

Awesome Trophy in front of the stand... Dad calls it his 'Father of the Year' award.

This year we were excited to learn that STYX was playing. Last year, BF and I went and watch Charlie Daniels. The only issue with this year was it was so ungodly hot! I swear it got in the high 90's if not 100 and there seemed to be no-end in sight! But the sun finally went down around 8:30 and we got to enjoy some stellar 80's theatrical rock.

SS and I made our way back home to recoup. We got up early on Sunday and had chocolate chip pancakes compliments of moi before heading in to the city. We were meeting up with BF again for Taste of Chicago. SS hadn't gotten to go to the Taste in YEARS, and was craving a dipped Cheesecake on a stick (and I was craving my corn on the cob!)

We first got some Billy Goat and took this pick for SS's hubby because he's a die-hard White Sox fan and believes that this restaurant is only for Cubbies...

This place has AMAZING eggplant parm sandwiches!

She got her Cheesecake!

We tried our hand at cranberry farming with the Ocean Spray Folks... turns out our feet got gross.

Bf was pretty good at it though!

And I FINALLY got my corn on the cob from Dominick's stand! They were the ones to first introduce me to putting parm on it! (making a butter dipped vegetable that much more unhealthy)

 After the Taste, we started to make our way back to BF's apt. We literally stumbled upon this little stream hidden in the gardens of Millennium park. It was amazing because it allowed us to soak our toseys on a very hot day... which who knew was exactly what the doctor ordered!

Our little hidden stream.

 After getting back on the Train SS wanted to stop by some of the adorable dogie boutiques in Lincoln Park, such as Barker & Meowsky: a Paw Firm, to pick up some treats for her babies at home! We then grabbed a bite at Renaldi's just down the street from BF's apartment.

After such a long day we made our way back to the burbs for some R&R (Rest and Riesling) and some cheesy movies (Beastly) which were only made better by tipsy commentary.

 SS sadly had to make her way home early Monday morning, but I was happy that her hubby was off and she'd get to spend some time with him. It was a much needed girls weekend made better by a great friend!

Monday, I was exhausted from all the traveling, and just wanted to lay by the pool....

Remember when I said I had gotten my burn out of the way for the season... apparently the sun didn't think so, and I ended up toasted. But I enjoyed relaxing with with friend M and our Margaritas! 

All in all, it was a pretty good weekend. These holiday weekends are never long enough though and I always end up more tired them when I started, but I'm hoping to catch up on some rest this week; We'll see.

How was your holiday weekend? Did you catch any fireworks?

PS: BF has been jonesing to write a guest blog entry about his view of preppy life in Chicago and things he's interested in. What would y'all think of that? Would you be interested in BF's entry? Let me know! Thanks!