After being foiled by thunderstorms and our own habitual tardiness we finally made it to a concert at Ravinia- Indigo Girls last Friday- with my mom in tow.

We drank wine out of plastic tiki wine glasses and sand Galileo with our eyes closed.

We played rummy and ate a rotisserie chicken with our fingers.

Despite my shceming, she totally kicked my but at both rummy and backgammon. I guess everybody has to lose sometime.

Last Friday my mom flew in to visit for the weekend. It was so nice to see her, but let me remind you that Josh and I live in a 2 story apartment with no doors or windows. That is, it can be difficult being on your best behavior for three days without a break.

Well Josh was wonderful- a trouper really. He picked my mom up from the airport and entertained her Friday; including taking her to Smoque- a restaurant she saw on a Food Network Show and wanted to try while she was in town. The airport-to-home-to-Smoque-to-home venture totaled three bus rides and three train rides; pretty natural for Joshy, but quite out of the ordinary for my rural/suburban/western mom.

Well, the first three hours of her visit were quite indicative of the weekend as a whole. It was busy, we ran all over town, we did some sightseeing, we ate at some amazing restaurants, we braved the crowds for the Harry Potter exhibit, and Josh was a perfect host the entire time, though I could tell he was plumb worn out by Sunday night.

Monday morning I left for work so the responsibility of getting my mom to the airport fell, once again, on Josh's shoulders, but he never complained.

On my way home from work Monday night I stopped to pick up a small thank you gift for him, nothing special, just a case of cold beer I thought he might like. When he saw it his face broke into a wide smile and he ran to the kitchen. He pulled an ice cold bottle of rum from the freezer and said he'd picked it up for me, thinking I might like a cool drink after such a long weekend.

We said good-bye this morning before I headed into work, and I only cried a little bit.

This weekend was a perfect Chicago weekend, and I hate to sound like an entitled spoiled brat, but it was about time! It was sunny and summery and lent itself perfectly to having a visitor.

It was a whirlwind weekend and I'm exhausted

Today is my last day of Aspen Food and Wine Picture Posts! There are more pictures and I'm sure I'll upload them to my Flickr account any day now.

Sunday night is the pool party at the Sky- a fun party with mixologists whipping up lots of creative cocktails, and a couple of dj's spinning very loud beats. Last year we cut loose a bit more, but this year we had to head back down the mountain (I had an early flight home Monday morning), so we were a little more low-key and a lot more sober.

It was so nice to see Meg again this year!

Funny thing is these pictures look JUST like the pictures from last year...

I miss that blue sky- and these great girls!

It was not the kind of pool party where people were in the pool- but I wish I'd bucked the norm and brought my suit- it wsa a beautiful day and a nice dip would have been heavenly.

Classic Kate- I love they guy next to them, his name is Ilan Hall, and he won Top Chef 2. There were a lot of Top Chef-testaints at this party, but to be perfectly honest, when I only see my girls for a few days a year, I could care less who else is at the party. I didn't even notice him there until I uploaded the pictures onto my computer.

Seriously- doesn't that look wonderful?

I almost titled this post "girls gone wild" but since the youngest of us just turned 29, it seems inappropriate. You'll probably only get a kick out of these posts if you are Jill, Kate, Shelly or myself since they are heavy on pictures and not much else, so carry on, and come back next week if you aren't interested.

Shelly and I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the Saturday morning tasting this year- and we were on a mission. We spent most of our time in the Spanish wines tent sipping cava and giggling like little it was our lucky day (it was).

On our way out we saw Jacques Pépin and Giada De Laurentiis posing for one of the most awkward photo shoots ever. Pretty much they stand around having a private conversation and drinking wine all the while facing forward and pretending like a hundred people aren't taking their pictures. I am so glad I'm not famous. I wouldn't mind being rich though...

My BIL gave me this flaccid silicone penis as a little gift- I think he thought it would be funny... and he was right. This limpy made numerous appearance this weekend, popping up in peoples handbags, delivering the occasional mushroom tattoo, sliding down the shuffleboard table... We were the height of impropriety- and loved every minute of it.

I love this guy dressed as a box of wine- it just sort of reinforced the feeling that we were at some sort of amusement park for grown folks.

Last Friday I woke up bright and early and headed out to the airport for a quick trip to Colorado. My plane landed around 7 in the morning and I spent the day with my parents hanging in their garden. It was heaven.

About midday my favorite girl Jilly picked me up and we began the long drive up to Mak and Katie's place in Basalt.

We picked Mak's sister up along the way and spent the four hour drive catching up on everything that's happened since we made the trip last year; two weddings, one breakup, one new relationship, two new jobs, a new city and a new season of Top Chef for starters.

We pulled in to the drive and joined Mak out on the deck. The afternoon light made the mountains glow green. A soft breeze and a cold beer made for the perfect welcome.

We surprised Katie when she got home from work and headed out to celebrate her birthday.

It was all perfect. Well, except for one teeny, tiny thing...

I lived in Colorado for 29 years, after less than one year in Chicago I came home to unbelievable altitude sickness! I was out of commission for the rest of the night.

I have a bunch of pictures from this weekend- and no worries, I'll get around to posting them, but first, this is one of my favorite pictures.

There was a party hosted by Parton Saturday night and they had a photo booth installation. Who doesn't love a photo booth?

Thanks K for taking us to the fancy pants party!

Photo Credit www.markvans.com/patron.

I've spent several months lamenting the loss I feel, the huge hole in my heart that used to be filled with laughing and lounging with my lovely, lovely friends. I couldn't have been more excited to visit them this weekend. I was, however, wholly unprepared for how much I'd miss my sweet husband. I saw him for only a brief moment this morning when he picked me up from the airport (and then took the bus home so I could get to work. Um, jackpot?) and I swear to god my heart leapt right out of my chest.

I am so happy to be home. There I said it. Home. Because I guess home really is where my heart is, and my heart has always been wherever my Joshy is.

My baby's always dancin'
And it wouldn't be a bad thing
But I don't get no loving
And that's no lie

Now click here to check out my baby's smooth moves...

Well, yesterday I started out expressing my love for Ribfest and it turned into a big old love letter to my husband. Oh, the power of the meaty rib; inspiring love around the world.

I got a lot of flack about not posting any pictures of Joshy, well, frankly, I didn't have any. Josh played shutterbug all day while Byron and I hammed it up.

I do have this one picture of Josh from our Friday night date. We were sipping Greek coffees trying to stay up later than ten. I don't think we made it.

We try to have a date once a week, and it is usually on a Friday night. I always feel like going out on a Friday night instead of just melting into the couch makes for a longer weekend.

Lately we've been picking a neighborhood and exploring. Walking around this time of year is lovely, trees are full, and people are spilling out onto patios all over the city. We take the bus or he train somewhere and walk around un til we feel like grabbing a drink and a snack, then me move on. This way we get to try a few different restaurants and make the night last a little longer.

Last week we went up to Lincoln Square, we stopped at a few different restaurants, had drinks with some real characters (One of the perks of living in a big city) and at the end of the night we ran into this little treasure- a fountain overflowing with bubbles!

Last weekend was Ribfest again here in Chicago. I love the festivals here, but Ribfest is probably my favorite- I love and entire fair devoted to smoked, sauced, crispy, salty, sweet charred meat.

Ribfest is the first thing I've done since moving here that wasn't a brand spanking new experience. The first time I experienced any nostalgia, of any sort, and it felt so nice. I'm a gal who loves her routines, and I suppose I didn't realize how much additional stress I've felt from something as seemingly benign as that.

Last year Josh and I had one of our first dates at Ribfest, I was so excited to meet Josh's best bud Byron (about whom I'd heard so much), get to know his brother a little bit and see what Josh loved about Chicago.

Looking back at those posts right now I can remember, palpably, how exhilarating falling in love with Josh was. How exciting it all was, how easily he took my breath away.

One year later I'm no longer breathless, but still exhilarated.

Just now, I'm not feeling quite so shy.

250+ people in various stages of undress riding bakes through Lincoln Park Saturday night.

I've never seen anything like it. I've never seen so much peen- and dude- y'all know what happens at COD FISH... I've got clearer pictures, but I didn't want to post them.

Turns out I'm a bit of a prude. Who knew?

I have developed a very bad habit of taking very few pictures and then forgetting to post them until the last minute. Here are my favorite pictures from last weekend.

Last weekend my friends Ivory and Jamie were in town and we got to spend a bit of Saturday with them. We had breakfast and did a little shopping. I am so used to not having any friends here that seeing them kind of took my breath away. Before I get any nasty comments let me just say that Josh's friends are wonderful, but they are JOSH"S FRIENDS. I'm going on 10 months of polite conversation with strangers and it's exhausting. I miss my pals. A LOT.

Sunday we had some folks over for a fun (and very bubbly) brunch. I will miss that huge window when we move. Also, you can almost make out the placemats and napkins I made.

The food was good, and the company was fantastic.

"Josh, we're out of Champagne."

"Should I pick up 2 bottles or 3? Best grab 3 to be safe."

The me show, ad nauseum.

Seriously, we are dancing fools. Emphasis on the 'fools' part.

Don't worry, that's not Kitty Byron is about to throw for Murph, it's his new favorite toy (thanks Ed!).

That goofy dog face!

Aw, shucks. Good times.

Josh and I go to bed early- we also get up early. I can't speak for him, only for myself, but after years of working in bars and living a night life, it is a pleasure to be a bona fide morning person now.

Since this rain seems never ending, I'm trying to think of the bright side to all this gloom- my favorite being the sound of the rain on the roof and the skylights in the early morning hours. Oh boy- all this rain sure maks it hard to get out of bed, but it makes keeping those daisy's I mentioned yesterday alive a whole lot easier.