11-11-11 CHICAGO SURPRISE BIRTHDAY...THANK YOU TO MY SPONTANEOUS HUSBAND :-)

 These pictures are in reverse order....but I am in the Virgin Islands and I have dial up speed so we will just talk backwards. 


My Spontaneous and Crazy Awesome Husband surprised me with a ROAD TRIP to CHICAGO for my infamous 11-11-11 birthday! This birthday has been my fun fact about myself since grade school "My birthday will be 11-11-11 in year 2011" and I remember thinking that is so long from now....I will be 26!!! Yes, I am now officially closer to 30 than 20 and loving it! I just love where we are at in life and I am speechless when I try to describe how the Lord and I's relationship has been growing, and how Seth and I's marriage is every good adjective you could think of...Our prayer is that we glorify Him through our thoughts, words, actions, and plans! 


Seth took me on a birthday retreat of shopping, Chicago style pizza, and Chicago culture! I was excited to hit up the Lululmon yoga store and Urban Outfitters!

 This pizza joint was covered with writing from their customers...it was their decor. 

 We went to our first comedy club in Chicago; it was a fun experience, however conservative values and Christians were the but of many of their jokes....very eye opening.

 This building was so unique because it has bits of rock from all over the world embedded into its walls...from the pyramids, Independence Hall, Colosseum, many more and as you see above!

 Chicago boat tour was awesome, it really gave you a perspective of the beautiful skyline. Grupons has a really big building here and the first skyscraper designed by a women is here.

 We were going to go get Chicago style popcorn cheese and caramel put together, but the line was around the corner...so we went back later!

 I was craving a good Shirley temple...we ate at a McCormick's and Schmits which was the first restaurant we ate at in San Francisco and LOVED it!

 Seth took me to the Chicago Art Museum....OH MY GOSH it was incredible! Monet is my favorite artist for many reasons, and I had only ever seen one of his original paintings in my life and Chicago had a whole entire collection! It was amazing! I love Monet because if you get up close to his canvas it looks like a bunch of blobs and some would call a mess....but if you step back and take in the entire canvas you see a beautiful masterpiece! And this is how I visualize our lives....we think that our lives are a mess full of undefined blobs plopped here and there, however God has the full perspective and he works all these blobs into a beautiful Masterpiece....because he works all things for his good and we are his craftsmanship created in Christ Jesus to do his good works. Remember, when life looks messy it is a beautiful Masterpiece to you Father....you are his Masterpiece and just glorify your mess with everything you have to Him!

 I love Lilies and Lily Pads...he makes them so beautiful!

 Self Portrait of VanGogh

 This was some sort of digital artwork in Millenium Park...it was just a person's face and sometimes they said something...very captivating!

 Our reflection in the infamous "BEAN" if you have never heard of it before you will now see it on all Chicago movies now :-) It was designed to show the skyline of Chicago in a new perspective....it really is IMPRESSIVE! Seth was really wrapped up in how awesome it was, next to the Arch (Missouri all the way remember :-) this was the coolest icon for a city that Seth has ever seen!

 This was the underneath arch of the bean

 BEST PIZZA IN CHICAGO...what we were told and we would have to Agree :-) The pizza literally Oozed cheese...I told Seth that I bet that all the waitress had to be certified in the Heimlich maneuver because I about choked on all the cheese my  first three bites....you really had to chew!

 11-11-11 Birthday....My baby made it a day to remember! We road tripped up to Chicago got to our hotel and looked at each other at about 8:30 and said what are we going to do? YES WE DID! We ended up at the BLUE MAN GROUP within an hour! It was a great great show....unforgettable!

Seth took me out to a nice dinner for my birthday...haha Hot Dogs :-) They hit the spot!