Spring Squeeze

If my phone was a lemon, consider these pics lemonade... 

spring squeezed out of my phone photo gallery.

Chicago's iconic blooms,

a spring afternoon at Greektown's Artopolis Bakery and Cafe (with the most delicious lemon tart!),

walking little mister along Lakeshore Path (can't wait till there's a stroller and his little face involved!),

the sweetest Mother's Day gift from husband,

and a summery gelato place in Ukrainian Village, Black Dog Gelato.

After our first visit to Black Dog Gelato, we went back just a couple nights later only to find they had already sold out of all their flavors that night-- it's that good.

Spring squeeze!

Summer

Summer has come to the city!

Sunday afternoon at Foster Avenue Beach, May 2013

27 Weeks

I'm 29 weeks now, so 27 weeks was a few weeks back, and when I look at these pictures the bump is looking kind of small compared to how far it's come in a few weeks!

But I passed an urban pregnancy milestone the other day when someone on the "L" asked me if I was pregnant and then offered me their seat, so this bump is not to be underestimated.

Speaking of urban pregnancy, have you seen this book, Urban Babies Wear Black?

Hilarious.

A tongue-in-cheek board book all in good fun about the activities of urban babies like visiting museums and going to cafes.

The series also has books about eco-friendly babies, foodie babies, artsy babies, country babies, and more, all of which look equally funny so check them out!
(Uncle Ty, you need to go click on all these and read a few pages.  You will die.)
This could be such a fun little book for little mister's nursery shelf.

Inch by Inch

Inch by inch, we're claiming Montrose for spring.

Dreaming of bringing our little mister with us here late this summer!

Book Club with Shauna Niequist

You know how I feel about the new book by Shauna Niequist, Bread & Wine.

I reviewed it here, and have mentioned her books on this blog on and off for years.

Love that she's a Chicago author too,

which made it possible for my book club to meet her last month, woo woo!

We got into her book release party for Bread and Wine, and just had a fabulous night meeting her, getting our books signed, and feeling the bar of our book club raised several notches.

A lot of our girls couldn't make it that night, but here's our representation.

I couldn't help but wish some of my friends across the country who share a love of Shauna's books could've been there too (ahem, Ilene, Laura Beth, and Allie to name a few!  I was thinking of you!)

I think what was most meaningful to me about the night was getting to tell Shauna face-to-face that her writing is the reason I started asking friends if they would want to start a book club together.

Now a year later, book club is one of my very favorite parts of life right now.

So yeah, I tried to play it cool (which was a fail by the way), but she really has impacted me so significantly.

Now if our book club could only meet all the authors of the books we read...

(Un) Inauguration Day

Two Sundays ago we spent our first day of the season out at Montrose...

blanket spread by the lake, naps (or attempts at such), and relaxed conversation.

I would call it Inauguration Day (like here and here), but I don't because it just wasn't sunny or blue or summery or warm.

To keep with the political metaphor, it was more like election day where the big event has kind of happened but it's not official yet because the ceremony hasn't taken place.

The Montrose Inauguration Day ceremony is the most glorious taste of Chicago summer...

 It's a day when a full bright sun says it's hello to water and skyline, creating simultaneous and  impossibly blue shimmers, rivaled only by the shimmering feeling of your bare skin feeling warm for the first time in... God knows how long.

It's shorts and sunglasses and the unending melody of that ice cream truck that rolls back and forth all afternoon long.

So you'll see from these pictures why I'm calling this afternoon out at Montrose (Un) Inauguration Day, 

 but we spent a few peaceful hours with a hint of warmth and a hint of what's to come, and it felt oh so good.

There's a new bird sanctuary out at Montrose Harbor that's been developing over the past year or two, and this year the walking trails are much more beautiful.

It's kind of my new favorite spot!