Hurrah for Vodka Gimlets! Hurrah for being a twentysomething Urbanite! Bottoms Up Darlings!

We are back in Chicago at last. Minneapolis was lovely, we took care of a lot of wedding details, and visited with all our friends and family there. We had tea with my grandparents that was especially enjoyable and dinner with our old friends Clark, Elise and Mike which was an absolute riot. I haven't had such a fun night out in a long while, I just laughed non-stop. We also saw Brent (E's eldest brother) and Alison's new house, which is gorgeous. Hardy congratulations to them on a very exciting purchase.

In the wedding department we chose a cake and a band and reserved some hotel rooms for our guests and did some research on rehearsal dinner spots. I think that when you utter the word "wedding" the price for whatever it is you are looking for basically quadruples on the spot. Of course we want the rehearsal to be fun and enjoyable, and I think a little practice quite helpful in making sure the big day runs smoothly. My thinking is that in our case the rehearsal should be pretty casual because we are hosting another spectacular bash the very next day (you know, our wedding!). I was thinking a pig roast, lots of beer and wine, little towers of cup cakes everywhere and maybe some touch football on the lawn if people are feeling up to it. We could just have it in a park or my mom's backyard, just like my graduation party. If it rains or gets cold, we can move the party inside and it will be a fraction of the cost and a lot more low key. But all that can wait for a bit now that we have the main pieces in place.

Last night Chris (Eric's Chris) cooked us steak with hollandaise, potatoes and sauteed veggies and key lime gimlets to wash it all down with. I think they might be my new favorite drink. We all waddled over to Cleo's Bar for more drinks and his roomie Helen joined us. It was a very kitschy place with leopard print tables green overhead lights and a gigantic bouncer who really took his job quite seriously. All in all its been a very decadent couple of weeks. Lots of food and drinks and friends and party planning. I feel like its time to get down to business, but not until Monday I suppose. Thats when I'll need to begin channeling Mary Poppins full force. Until then, I'll enjoy my self-centered hedonistic twenty-something moment. There may not be another chance for a long while.