Road Trip Recap: Urbana, IL

Road Trip Recap: Chicago, Day 1

Road Trip Recap: Chicago, Day 2

So last we left off, we were staring at a ton of this:

At this point, you must be asking yourself why we'd be making a stop in Urbana, IL on our road trip. Easy answer? Our best friends live there (though not for long, because they're moving to Boston!) and it would have been terrible to be in the midwest without stopping by! Here we all are, looking still pretty similar to what we looked like when we first met in college (um, 9 years ago): You'll recognize the blond as my maid of honor (she and her boyfriend were in St. Louis for vacation and drove out for the weekend!) and middle two as both being in our wedding. It's a little insane that we've known each other for 9 years now, and it kind of sucks that we don't all live closer together because we have such a good time when we do get together. I'd post pictures, but most of them involve beer and stupidity. Instead, here's a preview of September 2010.... Eric & Liz are getting married and over the weekend asked Cat and I to be in her bridal party! Here's Liz and her bridesmaids: Not sure who took this, but I really wish it wasn't blurry:

Approximately 30 seconds later we stood back to back, linked arms, and attempted more cute pictures. Instead, we both fell on the pea gravel below us, which wasn't really a big deal till the next morning when Liz realized her knees were completely cut up and I realized that the screen on my camera was cracked. Yes, folks, it was that kind of weekend.

Here is my husband checking to see if the sundial in the yard was accurate:


It wasn't:

And of course, we capped off the night by pulling all of the knobs off the stove and putting them (and the toilet paper roll holder) in a bowl of water, which was promptly put in the freezer:Sunday was much more tame. After thawing out the oven knobs, we all went out for breakfast and then the boys spent the rest of the day doing this:
The girls took a trip to watch Liz try on wedding gowns.... I am DYING to post pictures, but can't cause her husband is probably reading this. Just know that it was awesome and I can't wait to see what she finally ends up picking! The bridesmaids did some trying on, as well. We'll be wearing cranberry knee-length dresses, so we just tried on everything knee-length in the store to get a feel for what looks good on each of us. Liz decided that as long as we're all in the same color and fabric type, we can each pick our own styles. I'm really excited to see how everything comes together!

After the dress shop, we returned to find the boys in the exact same position on the porch, except with more empty beer bottles. The girls joined in, and we sat on the porch for a long time. We ate dinner out there, cleaned up, and returned to just sitting around. We talked and sat and drank beer till it got dark, and it reminded me so much of when we used to do that in college. It was great.

The next morning we got up early to head to St. Louis.... we had a great time there (and took LOTS of pictures!), so stay tuned!