Baby Baptism Bonanza!

This cough of mine is getting on my nerves.  I'm still sick and it's been approximately two weeks.  To make matters worse, my mom ended up getting the same thing this past weekend.  She's feeling a lot better than before, but there's definitely something going around.  Bad cough, wheezing, and slight fever.  The weather has been very humid and in the 90s.  I believe the humidity is what is making this thing stick around.  Luckily this week the temperature finally dropped a bit will not reach 90 degrees. I think that will make this easier to deal with.  Take your vitamin C kids!  These flu symptoms last a while!
Last week on Sunday was my friend's baptism for her baby.  He's barely 4 months old but he's growing so quickly.  She is currently in the process of relocating to Michigan and we're going to miss her dearly.  So much is happening to my friends around me.  I'm cherishing these moments together because who knows when we will all be together again.
I was pretty sick that weekend.  I had my company work party that Friday and I made the mistake of going out later for a birthday party.  I went home and took a power nap which made me feel a little better.  With the suggestion of my mom (who wasn't sick yet) I took an Allegra and started sucking on some Halls cough drops.  She figured I was congested and maybe I needed to clear out my nasal passage.  It sort of did the trick.  I went out to Parliament and then Shay to end the evening.  I had a good time.

Birthday party at Parliament.  This dress is over 10 years old!  I can't believe I went out feeling sick.  I probably won't do that again anytime soon...

The next day I decided to take it easy.  I met up with some friends at Montrose Beach and felt I needed to "pretend" I wasn't sick so I could get over this thing quicker.  It's hard being sick in the summer!  The weather that day in particular was barely 80 degrees so I wore jeans and a T-shirt.  I watched my friends play volleyball and went home afterwards.  I went to bed in good time since I knew we had to be up early for the baptism.  Everyone started to send out group textes on who was driving.  It looks like a plan!
Well of course things didn't work out the way we wanted to.  Our designated driver woke up late.  Not to mention it was getting dark.  Storms were coming in but we didn't have time to worry about that.  We had to get ready!!  Everyone was running behind but it was still ok for the time being.  That is until the storm came in.  That changed our course completely.
My friend had already picked up our other friend.  But she forgot her card for the baptism!  She ran back to her apartment and that's when the monsoon hit.  Thunder, lightening, and strong wind gusts came out of no where.  My friend ended up waiting out the storm before she returned to the car with the card.  My friend in the car called me to let me know what was happening.  We were 20 minutes behind schedule and we ended up being 20 minutes late.
We felt terrible.  Driving to Indiana is not easy.  There's construction going on and eventually it goes down to one lane for a while.  We were backed up in traffic.  Once we exited we were right there at the University of Notre Dame, but the campus is big and it took us a minute to find the right building.  We all walked in together while the baptism was taking place.  We felt terrible and we could tell our friend seemed upset.  So much for that.
Our other friends arrived SUPER LATE so that didn't make matters better.  They ended up leaving later and got the bumper to bumper traffic in downtown Chicago.  We did our best to take as many pictures as we could and after the ceremony we happily posed along.  It was an overwhelming experience and by now it has passed.  On to the luncheon!

We made it!

He's adorable!!!

Lunch was held at the Morris building on campus.  We made our way over to help out with the decorations.  Eventually our other friends arrived.  We loosened up a bit and caught up with everyone.  So many people drove out for this baptism.  The baby is well loved.  Everything was beautiful.  I'm so proud of them.
I wore a dress I won off ebay.  I wanted a longer dress but sleeveless since I knew it was going to be hot that day.  People liked it.  I always have a hard time finding dresses for occasions like this because I feel I'm not dressed up enough.  I wish I had some dressy wedges but I don't.  I wore my black fancy Gucci heels that make me look 10 feet tall.  I figured since the dress was midi length I needed high heels to pull it together.

Dress is BCBG with accordion pleats.  I loved how it flowed!

I have to accompany my mom to a wedding in 2 weeks.  It's being held at their house in Evanston.  I've been on ebay constantly looking for something to wear to that.  Since it's at their house I figured I didn't have to dress up as much.  Last night I won a dress so hopefully it will arrive soon in time for this wedding.  All I could do is wait until I receive it to see if it will work out.  I won it at a steal so I'm not worried about it so much if it doesn't work out.  I could still wear it for my vacation.  We'll see.  Until next time!   

Overdue Debt PAID OFF!!

I finally did it!!  I paid off a huge debt that's been a thorn to my side today!!  I'm so relieved this day has finally arrived for me.  Once I noticed my low balance I knew I had to finish it off.  It became so customary for me to pay it every month I almost forgot it was going to end eventually.  I cannot express how important it was for me to do this on my own.  It was my responsibility after all, but I think sometimes people get the wrong idea on how to handle their debt.  It's time to own up to your mistakes and handle them head on.  If not, you'll never understand how you got there in the first place.

Back to December events!  The infamous holiday party arrived the following Friday.  Everyone at work were pretty excited.  I wore a sweater dress I won off ebay months ago.  I knew I could put it to use one day.  It's hard to dress for these things because it IS a work event after all, but it would be nice to wear something cute other than business casual.  Over the years I have worn a sweater and pencil skirt combo, as well as day dresses.  Since the holidays bring all types of social events to my calendar, I HATE shopping for myself because of the abundance amount of people in the stores.  That's why I'm an avid online shopper.  It's more practical to me because of the range of options available, not to mention, I can go by my price range.  Have to watch that budget!
This year our holiday party was being held at the Four Seasons hotel.  We usually have a trolley service take us to our events, and I love it!  Trolleys are so much fun!  Once we got there we made our way to our sectioned off area.  I enjoyed the buffet selections they prepared for us.  Sorry, but some places have to step up their game.  The menu included an Asian cuisine complete with pot stickers and eggrolls, to the usual mini sliders (they include mini hot dogs, too!), as well as healthier options such as sautéed jumbo shrimp and veggies.  Me and my co-worker friends sipped Prosecco and danced the night away to our very own dj.  We usually have a live band but this dj played a good range of music everyone enjoyed, plus he took requests!!  lol.  We had our reserved area until 9pm and as usual, wanted to take the party elsewhere.  We ended up at The Blue Frog for some karaoke.  We sang some songs and called it a night.  Luckily I went home afterwards because I noticed it was barely 11pm.  Still pretty early in my book considering it was a Friday night, but I was beat!   

LOVE ME A TROLLEY RIDE!

 

I love her navy lace shirtdress!

A bright red sweater for the holidays is always a hit!

They donned their Christmas sweaters to the party!