Here Come the Hawks

 If you need to know anything about me as a person, you have to know that I am a hockey fan. I come from what you would call a "hockey family". My dad was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the 1960's, when the Canadians were the team to beat. You would think that my dad was a die-hard Montreal Canadians fan growing up, but you would be very wrong. My dad, and his 2 brothers, LOVED the Blackhawks. They experienced many a fight in grade school over it, but their loyalty to the Hawks never wavered. It's no surprise that my brother grew up playing hockey, and I spent a few years taking figure skating lessons. Looking back, I wish I would've chosen to play hockey instead! Watching my brother play and watching Blackhawks games was a big part of my childhood. I've been to many different cities to watch my bro compete in tournaments, including Boston, Pittsburg, and Toronto. Of course, no trip to Toronto was complete without a stop at the Hockey Hall of Fame. I've been there more times than I've been to Disneyworld!

My brother, Angelo, after winning State. He was pretty excited, can you tell?

Naturally, my favorite team has always been the Chicago Blackhawks. My brother and I both have winter birthdays so hockey-themed parties were a must. What did I do for my 21st? I invited a group of my friends to a Hawks game at the United Center, of course.

My friend Doug & I at the United Center on my 21st birthday.

My 1st birthday, wearing chocolate cake & a Blackhawks bib.

So you can imagine how excited my family is that the Chicago Blackhawks are going to the Stanley Cup Finals! The cup hasn't come to Chicago since 1961, unless you count the times that Chris Chelios brought it after winning with the Red Wings (Don't even get me started...)

This Saturday is the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers, and you know I'll be wearing my red,black, and white proudly!

LET'S GO HAWKS!!

Cait & I

(photo courtesy of Cait)

This Summer.

This summer, I want to...

Bake lots of these-

Learn how to make these-

link

Go here-

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With these people-

Have this attitude-

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Dress like this-

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Wear this color-

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Listen to their albums on repeat-

Watch all her movies-

ride lots of these-

(not sure where I found this)

...I can't wait!

What about summer are you excited for?

Magnolias in Bloom

Dress- Urban Outfitters '09

Boots- Steve Madden

The magnolia tree in front of my house is stunning this time of year. It usually blooms later in April, but the weather has been slightly warmer than usual, for the most part. I love how the color of the blooms just pop against the dark green hedges. This past Saturday, I had a bachelorette party to attend (my first ever!). My friends Brian and Kristin will be getting married this weekend, and I can't wait for the wedding! My boyfriend, Michael, will be standing up in the wedding. It's going to be held at a garden, and from what I hear it's a gorgeous, magical place...I can't wait. Back to this past weekend, I decided that the warm sunny weather called for a dress. This dress made its first appearance at another wedding, Mike's best friend Kevin's wedding in August, and I've been dying to wear it casually with these boots ever since. I wanted to keep it simple so I went without any jewelry. I'm really glad that it was still mild at night, otherwise I would have been freezing! I did bring a sweater though, my mother taught me well.

I love all the pretty details in this dress, it really doesn't need jewelry! It's hard to tell from the top picture, but it has alot of hand-drawn looking tree branches and splashes of pink and white leaves. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the back, it has a lot more of the little details.