Just Call Me Haha: 39 Weeks and Counting

The title of this post was originally supposed to be "38 Weeks and Counting" as a recap of last weekend, when my sister in law was 38 weeks, but given that the week got away from me, I'm updating appropriately.

Last weekend my SIL turned 30. My in-laws came to town for a visit. MIL and I struggled to decide what to do with a 38wk old pregnant woman to celebrate her birthday. Obviously booze is out. Bowling is a strain. Even walking about shopping needed to be kept to a minimum. Therefore, what was left but pampering?

PS- We got her this La Mer Pyramind watch. It's still full price ($100+ on La Mer and Piperlime), but was only $60 on Amazon!

Friday night I went out with a few coworkers to celebrate a birthday and promotion at Unclie Julio's Mexican Restaurant. They're ~~famous~~ infamous for their swirls; a mixed of frozen margarita and frozen sangria. Yum.

Saturday morning we had a family brunch at Tavern on Rush. It's not my favorite brunch spot in the city, but the food is consistently good and you can make reservations in advance on OpenTable, which can be hard to come by with brunch.

After eating, the guys drops us off at Nordstroms for make-up appointments with Smashbox. I use their photofinish primer and concealer but none of their other products. I was very impressed with both SIL and I's makeovers (MIL opted out).

A glimpse of finished job

MIL offered to buy us both an item so we selected the start-up kit, which includes bronzer, lipstick, eyeshadow palette, eyeliner and mascara (for $64; thank you MIL!).

We perused Nordstroms and then headed up to Lakeview neighborhood for salon appointments at Indira Salon, which consisted of nail painting and a blowout. Neither of us were too impressed with the nail portion of the appointment. They literally removed and then painted our nails. No filing, etc. I'm not sure if it was the polish they used or the technique, but we both had chips within 24 hours (and it cost $15! Yipes!)

The blowout wasn't spectacular either. It was both of our first "official" blowouts. SIL's turned out cute, but my hair ended up with a weird wave in it, that resulted in my needing to flat iron it when I got home. In the end, neither of us were convinced it was a salon we'd want to return to, which is unfortunate because it's in a great location for us.

The main event of the day, I suppose, was dinner at Filini, which is an Italian restaurant inside Radisson Blu hotel.

Lobby of Radisson Blu

We'd heard good things about it and were not proven wrong. If you're looking for a modern but off the beaten path Italian spot downtown Chicago, I highly recommend trying them!

Garganelli: proscuitto, raddichio, marscapone, truffle oil and chives

When I booked the reservation, I noted that it was SIL's 30th birthday. After dinner they brought out a delicious pastry made just for us! We also received, get this, ice cream with truffle oil and salt. It was bizarre, but strangely scrumptious.

Sunday morning was yet another feast. We went to Cafe Ba Ba Reeba for a delicious brunch. Ben and I have found a good medium here; we order one omelet and one order of french toast and split. Perfect amount of food.

Ham and Cheese Omelet

Birthday treat!

After brunch, I drove to Eva's Bridal of Oak Lawn to meet my friend, MT, and her entourage (mom and another friend) to look for her wedding dress. It brought back so many memories of our own wedding and was so much fun! We were the a few hours, but we found the dress and MT looks stunning in it. No pictures here though. You'll have to wait until after next December for the big reveal.

Funnily enough, she ended up buying the first dress she tried on; which is the same thing that happened to me.

Superbowl Sunday our plans didn't escalate to much, which was fine with me. On my way home, it picked up some Quad City style pizza from Roots, which, of course, tasted amazing.