California & ChoLon

Although Nick's travel schedule can be rough, the upside of it is that it allows me to travel to see him in places like New York & California where we get to explore the city together (and he gets to wine & dine me :))  His current job has him in Orange County so last weekend I flew out to spend some time with him and we were also able to spend the day with our friends Cole & Josh!  Josh & Cole drove down from LA and we headed to lunch @ Javier's in Corona Del Mar then drove to Newport Beach and enjoyed cocktails and the sunset on the 'Rooftop' bar - which has become one of Nick and my favorites from all our visits to OC.  The night ended at Yardhouse in Irvine.  I know these two are happy together in LA but we miss them so much back in Colorado!  The weekend was topped off by a belated Valentine's dinner at Flemming's - I am one lucky girl!

At Javier's

Enjoying cocktails @ The Rooftop

My twin - I miss you SO MUCH!
 

Josh & Cole claim they've already lost their winter skin living in California.  Good thing this place had snuggies!

Yardhouse

One of the highlights of the trip, Nick's rental car - a Kia SOUL.  He picked me up from the airport and the car has neon lights on the speakers on the inside that flashed to the beat of the music... too funny! 

 
I even got my In & Out Burger fix!

Last night I got to go out with my favorite ladies to dinner @ ChoLon for 5280 week in Denver.  During 5280 week restaurants in Denver feature their best dishes for $52.80 for 2 people - So, $26/person.  It's a fabulous deal that allows you to try things you wouldn't necessarily try.  ChoLon incorporates Asian and French themes - our dinner was mouth-watering good, we enjoyed French Onion Soup Dumplings, Kaya Toast, Pork Chops, Fried Rice, Cauliflower Soup, and Spiced Doughnuts.  Here are some pics from the night...

Lots to look forward to!

It's been a busy few weeks, that's for sure.  Last week I was offered and accepted a new job with one of our sister companies, Peterson's Publishing, as their E-Publishing Product Manager and I couldn't be more thrilled!  With my last day coming up tomorrow my days have been full of turnover, packing up and wrapping up all the loose ends.  I'm stoaked not only to for the exciting new opportunity - but also because the company is based in New Jersey I will be working remotely from home, another really nice change.

Because I now need a home office, Nick and I are in the process of moving him out of the office and moving me in.  This means the sports memorabilia, baseball bats and tribal masks are coming down - and my chic, black and white Chicago theme'd office is going up.

Of course, of all days I decide to start this project on Superbowl Sunday as I dragged him to IKEA to get some new shelving unit where I'm going to store all my books, files, etc.  Since it's been years since I've purchased anything from IKEA, I forgot that assembly IS required.  I swore that I wouldn't bother him during the Superbowl and I could handle the project by myself, but as soon as I opened the box, saw about two thousand nuts, bolts, wood and directions that looked like this:

Nick agreed to help me.  Thank god. 

For the record, I think that's what happens if you eat too many Sweedish Meatballs.

So, the day after the Super Bowl Nick headed to Orange County for a trial and it was really sweet, on Valentines Day I received this really awesome poster from an artist in Chicago to add to my new office decor.  Looking for a frame for it now - I love it!

He's flying me out tomorrow for the long weekend and not only am I excited to spend some time with him and enjoy the 70 degree weather but we'll be able to reunite with Cole & Josh!  I'm really looking forward to the visit and hopefully will have lots of good pictures to share next week :)  

I Love These Ladies

I traveled back to Chicago this weekend for my best friend Lindsey’s wedding shower.  It’s apparent that Lindsey has an enormous amount of love around her from the beautiful shower that was thrown and the many gifts she received.  It is so exciting to be a part of this amazing part of her life – something we’ve both imagined since she started dating Brian back when we were college roommates.  I personally find it pretty comical to think of how far we’ve come since then.  We went from living literally with a beer pong table in the middle of our living room to ‘ooo-hing’ and ‘ahh-ing’ over flatware and serving dishes.  Back then all it took to get us excited was a 30 pack of Old Style – Today, Crate & Barrel boxes.  I am so happy for her and Brian and now that I've seen her new stash...I can't wait to come over for dinner :)

Anyways, unfortunately I was too busy mingling to snap any pictures at the shower, so instead, I’ll throw up a picture of our oh so classy dining room table at Iowa…

 

I've also got shots of Brian's Mom (and my Mom) and Lindsey's Dad (and my Dad) celebrating victories @ the infamous table... and can you say college apartment?  Look at those posters?!?  By the way, we're beirut champions... watch out.  

 

Am I right?  Have we grown up a little bit?  I like to think so.

With the shower being on Friday night I had the rest of the weekend to spend with a few of my other favorite ladies.  We were fortunate to have 4 generations of Lett ladies get together at Kate’s house to celebrate not only the engagement of Jackie & Mario but also Kristy who’s pregnant with Baby #2 or ‘Baby Cadillac’ if you will.  For those of you who don’t know, Kristy’s first, Sophie, who’s 3, is OBSESSED with cars.  She can name every make and model on the road and knows all the car logos out there.  She even drives a Cadillac (think a Barbie car made for 3 year olds, but still!)  Pretty scary what Kristy and Jim have coming when she turns 16!  Anyways, when Kristy and Sophie were talking about names Sophie said she wanted to name the baby ‘Baby Cadillac’…. So, from that moment on that’s what we so lovingly refer to Kristy’s belly as.

While we were all together Jackie asked me to stand by her side on one of the biggest days of her life and be a bridesmaid in her wedding.  I was so deeply touched and the day was brightened even more when Jackie asked Sophie if she knew anyone who would be a good flower girl, because she needed one for her wedding.  Sophie quickly took charge, 3 years old, 3rd time on flower girl duty.... the girl knew the drill.   Sophie all asked us to get in line, picked our order, and made us walk down the 'aisle'.   It was so adorable, she told Jackie she had to go 4th... and we had to remind her Jackie had to go last :)  Anyways, here are some pictures of our wedding practice... and others of the 4 generations of amazing Lett ladies.  

  

The engaged couple Jackie & Mario - welcome to the fam!

Walking down the 'aisle'...

  So, better late than never but Kate just sent over some other pictures from the family's final days in Colorado.  We had a Shaw/Bellamy dinner @ Vita in the Highlands followed by drinks at The Wine Cellar and then Forest Room 5 - the site of Nick & I's first date...

He exists!

After over two years of hearing about this ‘so-called’ best friend of Nick’s – I finally had the chance to meet Jon Paul & his girlfriend Tiffany when they visited Nick & I in Denver.  Take the wit, good humor and sincerity of Nick and multiply it by 10 – and you have Jon Paul.  And here I thought I was Nick’s better half! :)

The 4 of us had a great weekend at the National Western Stock Show, watching the Bronco’s playoff game & enjoying Mexican & sushi dinners.  Here are a few pics from the weekend – I absolutely loved them both and we can’t wait to visit them on their turf down in Knoxville, TN. 

 

 

@ The Yardhouse before the rodeo

 The National Western Stock Show!

Here we are at Armeda's kareoke bar after the stock show.  I was laughing so hard, I was crying.  Nick and Jon Paul got up to sing 'Dead or Alive' by Bon Jovi - and it was almost like they had done it 500 times before, it was perfectly amazing.  Apparently after that Nick caught the bug and wanted to go again (solo this time) and sang 'Jump Around' - which had a considerable LACK of jumping.  He still had the crowd going though, and even got a few 'classy' chicks to join him on stage:)

 

So, while my family was in town we decided that since its been so long we needed to get some recent family pics.  I won a photographer from a silent auction I attended at Cole's salon a few months back and he came out to shoot us @ Wash Park where Nick & I live... below are a sneak peek at a few of them!

Warning: the sun was SO BRIGHT so hopefully that explains why half of us look like we're crying!

My loves - so tired after all the company!