Summer in October

Here are some (very random) photos of things I want to remember from the summer!  A few months late, obviously. 

 

Dad and I went on a beautiful walk on the lakefront in April.



 

 

We curved around and under Lake Shore Drive to end up on the Riverwalk.

 

 

My favorite building - the Trump Tower!

 

My precious, beautiful, and incredible baby sister graduated from high school!  Trust me, the tears were flowing.

 

I don't remember what shoes I was wearing, but my sisters and I are all exactly the same height.  :)

My precious, beautiful, and incredible Nana.  Who accepted CHRIST as SAVIOR a few months after this picture was taken!

 

 

Mom, Emma, and I spent a summer afternoon downtown.  We walked around Millennium Park, had a picnic, shopped, and went to an open dress rehearsal for a concert.

 

I walked down the Gold Coast neighborhood one day after work, and stopped inside Joan Cusack's (the actress) little shop!  Loved her in School of Rock (hehe). 

 

The shop is called Judy Maxwell Home, and it's the most quirky and entertaining store, containing things like Emergency Clown Noses.  I mentioned these pictures were random.

 

 

We enjoyed a beautiful walk with Jeremy's sister when she was downtown for a night.  This is one of my favorite views in the whole city!

 

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile" -William Bryant

Fall is my favorite time of year!  It's almost here, and I can't wait. 

I'm sitting on the couch right now with the windows open, and a cool breeze is floating in.  So refreshing.  I made a cup of fall-ish tea and am periodically checking to see where Jeremy is on one of his long runs...

When he gets back, we're going to the last summer concert of the year in Millennium Park.

Picture from grantparkmusicfestival.com

A few things I am looking forward to for fall...

A new candle...

Making chili in the crockpot...

Picture from allrecipes

Having apple cider in the fridge...

Picture from Yahoo images

Fires in our fireplace...

Terrible quality picture... Lulu is actually in the foreground :)

And of course, taking walks admiring the beautiful foliage.

Shakespeare Garden

I love formal English gardens, so when I read that there is one 10 minutes from us, we had to go see it!  It's on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston.

Everything in the garden is either mentioned in one of Shakespeare's plays or was popular in Elizabethan England.

 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

And summer's lease hath all too short a date...

William Shakespeare



Olympics

I love the Olympics!  We watched them a ton this time, and I'm a little sad they're over.  Especially since I'd been looking forward to them since the 2010 Winter Olympics.  :)

We had my family over to watch the Opening Ceremony (a tradition), and I decorated the mantel a little.  The paper chain was supposed to mimic the Olympic rings. :)

My mom brought some yummy shortbread cookies, and I bought some cupcakes (mainly because I wanted to be able to use the Keep Calm and Have a Cupcake picture).  I made the little Union Jack flags. :) 

We also did a fun little quiz on Olympic history and symbolism.  It was very interesting. :)  For "prizes" I had some of my family's favorite British cookies/candies.

Now for a few of my favorite Olympic moments...

I followed the torch a little bit leading up to the Olympics, and loved this picture of the torch at Stonehenge at sunrise.


Seeing Michael Phelps swim his last Olympic race...

and Misty May/Kerri Walsh win their last Olympic match.

It was fun seeing the royals at a lot of the events (and getting really into it)!

I really liked watching the Today Show most mornings during the Olympics.  A favorite was when Jenna Bush took the women's gymnastics team on a little tour of London.  They are so cute!!

As much as I love the Olympics, it will be nice to sleep again, and have time to watch other things!  Last night when Jeremy asked me to pass him the TV remote, he said, "Can you pass me the Olympics?"  Haha... I think that means it's time for them to be over!
 

A few more walks...

In April, I took many peaceful long walks, including this one during/after some rain.



One day after work, I walked down to the Mag Mile.  Since I loved all the tulips that were out this spring, I took pictures of all the tulips along the way. :)

Since he knew I loved them, my sweetie brought home some tulips for me. :)