On Three Day Weekends, We Travel {Philadelphia Edition}

My husband and I both have good friends who live near Philadelphia. We visited them in 2013 over Christmas break, so we thought it was time to head that way again, especially since we live closer now.

Our flight was only an hour long! How amazing is that?!

We hung out with Michelle, my best friend from college, and her husband Matt on Friday night and Saturday. Then, we headed to Dan's best friend since 5th grade, Lydia's place with her fiancée Cait. We had a lot of fun with them both, but we somehow managed to only take pictures on Saturday. Oops.

I had a sinus infection (and what I think is an ear infection as well) while we were gone, and that was no fun. I also lost my voice completely for the first time ever, and it's still not back. I hate that so much. I managed to have fun anyway, but sleeping in my own bed was fabulous. And then some more on my couch. Sleep is definitely what I needed.

Anyway, onto the pictures of our weekend!

First stop: Liberty Bell and all of its cracked gloriousness! 

We did lots of Ben Franklin things... and it was so cool because it was his birthday! More on that later...

See? Told ya it was his birthday! We celebrated at the National Constitution Center! 

And then we posed as presidents... not very well.

The trip was quick, but we had fun... and we're definitely happy to be home with our three little furballs! 

• How did you spend your three day weekend if you had one?
• Have you been to Philadelphia? 
• What's your go-to quick destination?

Chicago in a Nutshell

One of my favorite things about my husband being in the military is that he gets a lot of three day weekends. Now that we're located near so many places, it's easy to just hop in the car and head somewhere for those weekends!

And for Columbus Day Weekend, we went to Chicago. It was especially nice because we were able to stay at a friend's apartment, which saved us money AND allowed us to catch up with her!

We rode on a lot of public transportation...

We went to the top of the Willis Tower, which we both still call the Sears Tower...

We ate the best pizza on Earth...

We saw a piece of the moon...

We also saw some really cool sailboats...

And got a great panoramic shot of downtown Chicago past Lake Michigan...

We played around at Millennium Park...

And had dinner in China Town...

We rode the ferris wheel at the Navy Pier...

And my handsome husband got his pre-college dog back! Yep, the real reason we went to Chicago... but more on that coming in a separate post soon! ;-)

We went to the best candy store EVER in Indiana... and bought way too much sugar.

And ended the weekend with this sweet gummi bear keychain!

• Do you normally "get away" for three day weekends?
• What's your favorite driving destination?

Life Lately

I haven't made any personal posts lately, so I thought I'd do that this morning.

Instead of another recipe (but just wait -- more are coming!) or book review, I decided to share what's been going on lately. This is not an all-inclusive list, but it's just some things I felt like sharing with my wonderful readers. 
1. I had a three day weekend, and it was much needed. We had parent/teacher conferences at school on Wednesday night and Thursday morning last week, so we all got Friday off. Sleeping in was wonderful, and I feel slightly recharged (but I think Thanksgiving break in about a month will really do the trick). 
2. My sports teams are doing really well this year, which is a nice change. My baseball team, the Kansas City Royals, barely missed the playoffs, but they had their BEST SEASON in several years. It was so much fun to cheer them on. My favorite college team, the University of Missouri Tigers, are 7-1 this football season, which is only their second in the SEC. They are holding their own and doing EXTREMELY well. My absolute favorite team of all time, though? The Kansas City Chiefs. And they are 8-0 for the first time in TEN years. This is pure excitement on my end. It's so much more fun being a fan to a winning team... but win or lose, I've always been faithful to my Missouri sports. 
3. I got to see one of my best friends ever this weekend! Lizzie came out to Colorado to see her husband for a quick weekend while he's at training, and we were able to see each other twice, which was so wonderful. It's really hard having a long distance best friendship... we talk every single night, sometimes for hours, and it was great to see her in person and have Jack Quinn's together one more time. 

4. Reality is setting in that Cadet Lovemuffin graduates from the Air Force Academy in just 212 days. He has been working his butt off for over four years now for this, and I can't believe that the end is finally approaching (but it could still be quicker, and I'd be okay with that). I will only be his fiancée for 214 more days; after that, I will be his wife, and I could not be ANY HAPPIER about that. This has been a really long road, but I am so ready for this part of our journey to conclude. He was supposed to find out his Air Force AFSC (job) a couple weeks ago, but that has been delayed due to the government shutdown (yes, I know it's over; no, he still doesn't know when he'll find out). Keep him in your thoughts as he waits to find out because this is a HUGE deal!