birthday celebration.

well hello there, everyone!

we are officially back into the real world after a wonderful and blissful weekend. it was the perfect birthday getaway. 

for those of you that don't know, my husband and i share the same birthday, january 17th. we are exactly three years apart. john turned 25, and i turned 22. some people think that sharing a birthday with your spouse is lame, and say "don't you have to pick whose birthday it is?"and "it's not as special when you have to share." well, to all the haters, we LOVE it. we get to celebrate together as we grow in our age and marriage. it is the best. 

on the day before our birthday, my sister-in-law julie flew in to Chicago. a few months ago, she called us, and said that she wanted to come to Chicago to watch our baby so we could have a special birthday getaway. how sweet is that? we were so excited to see her, and we were also excited to be able to have a birthday getaway while she watched liam for the night. yay!

the day she flew in, we went shopping at a fun shopping area where julie bought me awesome makeup from Mac, went downtown to the art institute, went to an italian restaurant called Quartino, and took her to the famous bean. it was a blast spending time with her, and getting to know her better.

then, january 17th came. our birthday!

we woke up, julie cut my hair, got ready and we were out the door, ready to begin our birthday adventure.

for our birthday adventure, we...

-ate lunch at the signature room, the restaurant located on the 95th floor of the john hancock building. the food and view were absolutely amazing.
-went shopping around on the famous magnificent mile.
-went to potbelly for our favorite dessert- their oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are TO DIE FOR.
-went to the JW Marriott hotel where we stayed in a luxury suite {BOO-YAH!}
-swam in the pool, and soaked in the hot tub.
-watched shark tank, and our favorite HGTV shows on the humongous TV in our hotel room.
-and my favorite thing of all, we opened john's present that i made him.

as i was thinking about what i wanted to give to john for his birthday, i wanted it to be something more sentimental because it was his 25th. i decided to ask friends, family and other special people that have been a part of john's life to write a handwritten letter to him. there were exactly 25 letters for him to open. as he opened each letter, it was so fun hearing the memories and special messages written to him. he loved it!

celebrating our birthday weekend just the two of us was fabulous, and we are so thankful to julie for making it possible for us. but at the end of our getaway, we were excited to get back to our little munchkin. 

happy birthday to us! it was a great one.