It was perfect. I would say it was basically perfect, because basically is one of my favorite words. But it was actually just perfect. Perfect perfect. I’ve watched Sarah and Matt fall in love over the last four years, and celebrating it with them meant the world to me. I can’t get over how wonderful and honored I felt to be up there with Sarah, as her Maid of Honor, signing the Marriage License, holding her bouquet, adjusting her train, and seeing Matt look at her throughout their vows. I’m teary!

The last year and a half of wedding parties and planning has been so fun. I’m sad it’s over!

I’ll be back with more pictures and stories soon. I’m all tuckered out!

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

I think I write about Pip too much. And I want to take it down a notch.

Here’s why.

I love Pip. You love Pip. Who doesn’t love Pip?

I love that you love her, I love that everyone loves her. The good vibes do her much goodness and also it validates my theory that she is an extraordinarily special little human. But I just don’t get to spend enough time with her, and lately I’ve noticed some problems with our routine (mine and Pip’s). The main problem, is that blogging about her takes away from our visits. Like, I find myself taking pictures of her with the purpose of posting them on the blog, and that just doesn’t feel right to me. Of course I’m also excited about having them for myself to remember all of our sweet moments together, but somewhere along the way our visits became so very scheduled and lost their intimacy. I hate myself for letting that happen. That’s a little dramatic. I don’t hate myself, but I want to fix it right now.

Also, I have felt very frustrated at times when writing about her, because I’m wishing and searching for progress to post about, when really there is just nothing new to report. I want to write a nice little snippit about what latest thing she is up to at each visit, and how awesome she is doing, and I end up sometimes having to get *creative in other ways to make up for the lack of progress to write about. Most of our visits consist of us playing on the floor with her, letting her climb on us, reading to her and watching movies together on the iPad. It’s the same room and almost always the same thing. It gets tiring to write so frequently and see the same cycle over and over again.

I’m feeling sad about this, but it’s the right thing to do. I’m really looking forward to having a part of our relationship saved for just Mama and Pip. I think our visits will become more special, and the less frequent posts will hopefully become more thoughtfully written and more special too. I’m sure you’ve probably noticed that Pip hasn’t been around these parts much lately, and I’ve wanted to let you know why. Please understand.

Please?

*by “creative” I don’t mean making stories up. everything i write about pip is true. i mean more along the lines of going into great detail to describe small things that happened during the visit.

Brunch with Joe and Jen. Jen is leaving for Russia for 3 weeks for work. We usually have brunch every week. I don’t know what I’ll do.

Piper Jane likes squeezing her feet in this crevice instead of putting them in their appropriate foot slots.

Sarah’s bachelorette party was a huge success. I had so much fun with her and I cried when it was over. Next time I see her it will be at the rehearsal!

More Pippy feet. They’re special feet, what else can I say?

My cute little robot looking grill. It is all we can fit in our small apartment. We carried him up to the roof and enjoyed delicious grilled veggies, burgers, veggie burgers and veggie dogs for a rooftop fourthy BBQ.

Veggie burger glory.

I can’t believe it is already go back to work day!

I also brought my little point and shoot, the one I filmed our little video with, and I’ll upload those pictures later. Also the photobooth pics from when we went dancing. Photobooths seem to have a special fairy dust that they sprinkly on pictures to make people look cuter than normal cameras can. I love the way photobooth pictures make people look, like Soap Opera stars or something.

We stayed at the Sheraton (I’ll be talking about that in a different post pretty soon!) which was the most perfect location. Right on the water and basically walkable to anything. Even for little Melanie who has basically lost all of her muscle strength over the last year. So we spent the first whole day wandering around. We did a little shopping, we walked down on the water, we had some dinner and we went to Navy Pier.

I heard to skip Navy Pier on a count of it being touristy, but I am such a nerd for fairs and carnivals. And phewww that Mel is too. We had a great time! We went ferris wheeling…

Carouseling

And we rode the big swings like in the video. Then we watched the fire works. Then we went dancing. I’ll post that another day because Mel was responsible for those pictures.

We wandered to Taste of Chicago, which is a summer food fair held in Grant Park. We also went through Millenium Park and saw a Polo game that was on bikes instead of horses, and we went to the Bean. The Bean was amazing.

I really think the Bean is amazing. It’s like a gigantic fun-house mirror.

Then we refreshed ourselves and went to the Willis tower, which is supposed to be called the Sears tower, but it’s not anymore. Melanie went along with all of my pressuring, and against all of her gut feelings, and sat in the little glass box. I even made her look down. That’s what they call a bad influence. And also that’s what they call fun.

I did it without a single worry because I’m crazy like that. I bet I would have done it even if there weren’t walls because I’m crazy like that. But mostly because I’m not that scared of heights. It’s cool if you are though, I don’t think it’s a bad fear to be scared of.

Just in case you didn’t know, we brought our feet with us. Yep, our feet came to the top of the tallest building in the western hemi.

(I always have to pretend I’m a Barbie in a box when I’m in these kinds of glass box situations that seem to happen so often. Just because I’m afraid my 6 year old Barbie obsessed-self will come kick my ___ if I don’t. And if I’m being totally honest I should say that I was actually obsessed with Barbies between the ages of 4-19.)

Tourist tip. Find anyone with a Giant camera around their neck to take your picture. It will probably be in focus, and it will probably not be stolen!

Welp, I’d say that’s all but it’s not. I have more to post next week.

Fact: After I moved the car this morning, I went back to bed until 10 am. I am absolutely no longer a morning person. I do not even feel satisfied with my 10 am wake up. I want more. I want it to be a 10 PM wake up. But instead I have to haul my A around quick as poss’ to get ready for work. Who does that?

I think I need a cleaning lady. Is that weird for someone who lives in a small apartment? I work a lot and when I’m not working I’m in Westchester and when I’m not in Westchester I’m headless chickening (aka running around) all over NYC getting stuff done that needs to get done. I seriously can only do like one dish a night, or one sweep, but certainly not both a dish and a sweep. I’m not talking a whole room type one sweep, I’m talking one swift sweep of the broom that doesn’t conclude in any kind uniting with a dustpan. When I got back from Chicago I was like “Jake, why didn’t you clean up any of my messes while I was gone? The apartment looks terrible!”. And he was like “That’s not funny. Please put away your ____ and your ___ and also your ____”.

I’m not a filthy cretin, I just cannot keep up. I’m hiring a cleaning lady immediately. I hope she wants to work for free. And I hope she sings while she cleans because I think I’d really enjoy that.

Chicago was awesome and so worth all the things that had to be put off in order for it to happen. Melanie and I cause a damn ruckus.

And even though nobody said “prove it” I want to prove it.

Melanie and Reagan in Chicago from reagan on Vimeo.

Also, I’m on Instagram! I just started and I’m obsessed. My username is Reagangb and you should follow me. I posted this picture today with the clever caption “Holler if you’re desperate for a bang trim. Holler!”

I plan on posting constantly. I can’t wait.

Before I got an iPad, I totally thought it was the most frivilous thing ever. No one needs an iPad, they are just toys. But I’m whistling a different tune because my Pip loves it so much. She has been watching Yo Gabba Gabba episodes on it lately and when she sees me pull it out of my bag, she lights up with excitement. I’m so glad we splurged on this thing. I had no idea she would love it so much.

(also, her pillow pet is the best! she loves laying on it while she is having relaxing time)

When I was holding Pip on the rocking chair, she was playing with a toy and dropped it. It rolled all the way under her crib. I thought she would forget about it, but she definitely didn’t. She got down off my lap and scooted under for 10 minutes trying to get it. I love her independence and self reliance. Plus, if you didn’t know the story about her dropping her toy, you’d think she is working on a car. That’s actually why I took this picture. She looks like a little auto-repair lady. A cute one.

When she finally came out with her toy in hand, she was looking pretty pleased with herself!

First stop was to kiss the lion’s bum. That means you are a member of the town.

then we went to this ooold cathedral. we ran up the stairs to burn off lunch and count the steps. I think it was 97 steps.

Then we pretended to be gargoyles. Well, just me.

Then we looked at the pretty view.

Then we walked over to a castle so we could pretend to be princesses.

this right here was the best part of Girona. Stef showed us this staircase on the exterior part of the castle. It is cut off in the picture, but the staircase just drops off completely! Apparently there used to be a king who was all protective of his daughter (Rapunzel style) and made this staircase so that no one could get up and she couldn’t get down. Jake boosted me and stef up and then hopped up himself because people were a lot shorter back then. If Jake lived in princess times he would have made short work of that King’s plan.

If you get sick of me pretending to be a princess then you should just come back when a new post is up.

(I’m not kidding) Oh I do declare I’m so distressed up here with no prince to save me.

Oh wait. Who goes there? A handsome, sexy-hot prince.
(Can I interrupt this stupid story to talk about what a good sport Jake is in all degrees? He went along with all of this with very few eye rolling.)

Stefanie was documenting this whole thing and this photo below nearly had her rolling on the ground with laughter. She said I look like the wicked witch of the east when the house dropped on her and her legs were just sticking out (obv’ before they shrivled up all weirdly and coiled back under the house).

I’m saved! Now let’s go make out.

Then we were off to some more views and castle walls.

Then we were off to some pretty narrow cobble-cute streets. Cobble-cute is everywhere in Europe.

Then we (I) got some gelato and went to the Eiffel Bridge in the middle of town (made by the Eiffel tower guy). Saw some cute old nuns. Got a tea. Walked to the train. Said our goodbyes and went back to Barcelona.

We packed up that night and headed to the airport at about 5 am the next morning. We didn’t want to leave but we did anyway because we missed Piper so much.

And that is our European vacation.

They flew in Jake’s dad’s plane. This is some kind of lake or water or something. Not sure where, but it’s pretty!

Manly fishing.

Cute manly fishing. (jake is so cute and proud here. It makes me want to take the subway right past my work to his so I can hug him.)

And quads.

I think it was good for them. Jake is back to his life of working hard and dealing with my crap. I am so crazy and silly and annoying and spoiled and hyper (plus double all of those things and add my new talent of whistling loud and tons of crying and throwing things because I’m on my period and that makes me an insane person). He deserves a vacation like this every weekend.

I only have one Europe vacation day left to post about. And it’s of our amazing trip to Girona, I’ll do it tonight because it’s awesome there and then we’re all done with vacation posts.

Well that’s a lie because I’m going on a girls trip this weekend with Melanie to Chicago and I’m sure I’ll post about it next week. Did I mention she completed her final round of Chemotherapy? She is done with chemo and hopefully done with cancer forever. I can’t wait to see her this weekend and celebrate her body’s hard work. The end.

On Father’s day, I basically sat back and watched. I didn’t really hold Piper Jane except for when she’d curiously leave Jake for a few minutes and flit over to me…check me out, poke my toes, then remember how funny dad is and rush back over to him. He was making her laugh so hard while she was sitting on his shoulders. It’s silly because the harder he makes her laugh, the harder she pulls his hair. He doesn’t mind though, it’s one of those things where you weigh the pros and cons and the pros blow the cons right out of that water. So his hair gets pulled? So what? It means Piper Jane laughs and laughs and laughs.

It has to be said, that if someone was acting like they were going to eat my feet, I’d probably freak out and be really scared. I use my feet constantly, but Piper Jane definitely only thinks it’s the funniest thing on Earth.

The whole visit was adorable and it never hurts to see Pippy in her PJs. We were there until 9pm. That might sound like it’s past her bedtime, but one of the perks of being the Mayor of Blythedale is that you don’t have a bedtime and you make up your own rules.

These photos are from our visit on Saturday. We got there in the afternoon and stayed for a long time. Jake missed her after he had been away in Utah the weekend before, and I miss her always now that I only get to see her three times a week (since I now work Fridays). Pip’s nurse asked if we wanted to give her a bath, and I’m never one to turn down bathtime with my Pip. She usually really enjoys the tub and it’s pretty funny. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but the second you take off Pippy’s diaper, her hands go straight for her bum. She explores her bum the entire bath time. I don’t blame her, it must be such a mistery to her, it’s always covered except for bathtime. I love in these piptures you can tell her hands are behind her back. They didn’t come up for air a single time while she was in the tub.

The best part of bathtime, is when I pull pip out of the tub, she is all slippery and cold, and I get to wrap her up in a fresh towel and hug her lights out. They are practically my favorite hugs.

And then I get to see Pip look like ET for a few minutes while I prep her trach ties and and get ready for all of her post bath care. There are a lot of different things that have to be done and I remember when I used to need help with all of it! Now I can do it by myself in a matter of minutes. I don’t even know when that happened, it’s obviously been a few years, but I still like to feel satisfied after doing all the trach care/post bath myself.

I wish I had some Reese’s Pieces. And I wish I had ET to watch right now. I haven’t seen it since I was a kid! (and to be honest most of the movie used to scare the hell out of me)

There you have it. Most of this post was pics of a Pip in her jammie-jams. That makes for a pretty good post if you ask me!

One of my MOH duties was to host a Bridal Shower. I have been really excited about this one for a long time. I have been planning this in my head for probably a year, and actual planning it probably since Christmas. We did the party on my fabulous friend Holly’s rooftop. It was risky being outside, but I didn’t even let the thought of rain enter my mind, and then rain it didn’t. Hooray.

If there was a theme, I’d say it was girly-girl. I had the thought of little girls dreaming of their wedding day, and this being their idea of bridal shower decor. Pink gingham, pink lemonade, cupcakes, bubble gum, white lace gloves, wild flowers and polaroids (i still need to scan those in!).

Sarah came looking gorgeous as always. Sarah is the kind of friend you can easily feel jealous of all the time. So you just try your hardest not to, because at least you can reach things that are high up and she can’t. So, there’s that.

We didn’t do much in the games department, but we did tell our favorite stories of Sarah, listen to her wedding plans, give her marriage advice AND have an impromtu bubble blowing contest. We tried to take a picture of us all blowing big ones at the same time, but that is basically imposs’.

Sar’ opened presents and got some adorable stuff. No pictures of what I got her. Because I don’t want Jake to blush while he reads this at work. (Don’t worry, it was tastful and quite beautiful if I do say so myself.)

A bottle of Bubbly for the limo ride.

I’ve never seen these hangers before, but they are so cool!

It was a great afternoon on a beautiful rooftop with a slight breeze and perfect shade (thanks to Jake for setting up the tent!). There is nothing like spending time with girlfriends, nibbling on goodies, chatting and sipping cold drinks. It was a complete honor to throw this party for Sarah, and I’m so proud to have such an amazing bestie-pants.

I have to point out that this was accidentally planned on Father’s day. I didn’t realize until it was really too late to turn back. I’m so amazed at what a good sport Jake was. He did so much of the work, and didn’t say a word until we were done cleaning up. (I could see he was about to come apart and said….I quote “ok, now it’s time to see my little girl”).

He did most of the lifting and assembling and took all of the beautiful pictures. Jake made the day better.

On that note, I leave you with the most darling parting shot of all time. The Bubble Blowing Bride.

The end. (until the Bachlie party.)

If you want to know where I got anything for the party, check my HomeGoods giveaway and review page. Many of the party items were purchased there. Otherwise, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to write back!