got marriage (aversion) on the mind

Upon learning that Carly and I were going to be living together again, my mother said "do you think that will hinder you from getting married?"

I'm going to let you take a moment to ponder that....

I eased my mom's concern by saying Carly and I are both very independent and will still do things separately. Although we did just book flights to Hawaii together so that delays marriage another couple months. Is this a good time to announce my 5-year plan that does not include getting married?

when life gives you lemons, pack your bags and take a trip with your BFF

I took a trip to Chicago this weekend to visit my Brother and Sister-In-Law. With all the craziness going on this year it was good to just relax, eat, site-see, and sleep with a view of the Chicago Sky Line. Rodney and Kylee are moving in a couple of months so I'm glad I went to see them once more before they leave. We saw everything there is to see about the city and ate at 11 restaurants in 3 days... So.., the indicators that I had a good weekend are a camera full of pictures, and a way too tight pair of jeans. Let's ignore the jeans and focus on the pictures.

• Major highlight, hanging with my little love muffin, Carly. This is on a Water Taxi we took to get home one afternoon. Does your city have water taxis? ..because they are magical.
• When Rodney and Kylee were engaged they were known to photo bomb EVERY picture they were in. We thought they grew out of it. Really ruined this picture of us four at The Bean in Millenium Park. They are too funny.
• On Monday Carly and I had a "competition" to see who could spend $100 in Nordstrom before the other person. I left empty handed and Carly hit the jackpot. Definitely a first for me.
• Everyone must visit Bijan Bistro downtown- preferrably after midnight when the crowd is reallly having a good time. I am normally not that much of a night owl (or a night carnivore- we ordered the Ribeye) but #YOLO and #VRA (vacation rules apply). Going out late on vacation is a must-do because we ended up laughing the entire time, mostly because Carly would say funny things like this.
• And of course, the beautiful Chicago Skyline, accompanied by unseasonably warm temperatures made this the perfect weekend getaway!

thursday

i practice yoga, remember? it's like the best part of my lifestyle. also the best part of my day. three days a week i attend the class of a man named Micah who is sexy and smart and really in tune with my soul. He has a couple of catch phrases. Here's one:

"you are always one breath away from hand stand and one breath away from child's pose."

been thinking about that lately as life keeps dishing out some surprises and blessings and interesting outcomes. I am never one breath away from having my legs kicked out from underneath me and then getting invited to Hawaii.

Nicknames

Kyria and I have a reputation of giving people nicknames and them sticking. Here's some examples:

• Lauren Wright (Formerly Quesenberry): LQ, Larq, Lark, Larkin, Larkinberry, Qball
• Kyria Dial: Kiks, Kiki, Kikikins, Kinz, McKenzie, Mac, Mom, Ma, Mama
• Sir Henri Wentworth: SpecialSauce, Foxface, Furrball, Dumbass,
• Nikka Dial: Squeaks, Squeakers
• Carly Williams: Wee Wee, Carkeyz (not original but it stuck), babygirl, lover nugget, Crewmie, Mom, Mama, Ma, Mami, Willaims
• Melissa Layland: Crouton, smellorac, Elyse-Dials-Executive-Assistant and of course melorac (she gave that one to herself actually) (who does that?)
• Bailey High: Bails, Schmails, Schmelly, Smelly, Elyse-wannabe
• Jessica Maloney: yomaloney, yomo, yono, maloney, malone
• Luke Dial: Skeletor, LJ, Luigi, Sweegi, Sweegimous, Sweegimousity, Jimmer, Mr. Fredette
• Rod Dial: P Diddy, P Daddy, Daddy-Oh, Dr. Love, Did, Ditto.
• Everyone: nugget, nuggetville USA, meowmix
  
  But I think the best one so far, is that of a new friend of the family. His name is Richard Davies. Most of his friends call him Rick. My mom calls him Davies. Neither Kyria or I could remember or liked the name Rick so we have two nicknames for him;
  
  Rickross
  &
  Santorum.
  
  Both are used interchangably and will never go away. Welcome to the crew Santorum.