Chicago

One of our best friends who lives in Chicago is turning 30 next month. His girlfriend threw him a surprise party and H and I decided to take off work last Friday to be there for the big surprise. Boy was he surprised, not only did not expect a surprise party 2 weeks before his actual birthday, but to see us all the way from Michigan blew his mind. I held the honor of being the only friend that was at both his 17th birthday and his 30th. The distraction of being in a new city and not having any of our normal stresses around (work stress, dying father in law, infertility) was awesome!

While I was there I tried a few new things.

• Bloody Marys.

Joe's Bar on Weed Street is where I experience this little gem. I was very tipsy from a day of drinking at other bars so I kept telling everyone I was with and everyone around me "This is the BEST Bloody Mary I've ever had!" Then they about pissed themselves when they found out I'd never actually had one before. Their Hand Crafted Bloody Mary is served with a beef stick, pickle, lemon, lime, olive, celery, and a cheese skewer. "It's practically a meal!" Because it was 10pm at night they didn't have the beef stick or cheese skewer in there but it was still fabulous! Can't wait to go back for the weekend before St. Pats day when they dye the river green.

• Lou Malnatis Chicago Style Pizza

I really liked this pizza and hope to go back. The crust was the best part. I haven't liked other types of deep dish crust when I've tried them before at the Original Pizzeria Uno or Pizzapapalis in Detroit. I haven't tried Giordanos yet and Guido said he likes Giordanos better. Good thing we don't eat pizza in Chicago that often or we'd truly be a house divided.

• Riding in a Prius

Our friend the birthday lives in the West Loop in Chicago. Because he's going to be a permanent city dweller he bought a Prius. Whenever he tried to park it in our driveway when he was in town, we'd give him such shit for driving around in a "pregnant roller skate". Our friend was our shuttle driver and we all crammed into the prius and it wasn't bad at all. A zippy little car and he gets an ungodly amount of miles to the gallon.

H and I are going back to Chicago in a couple more weeks and can't wait!

Feather Wreaths

I love crafting but never have the time or make the time. It's a wonderful stress reliever and helps me clear my head and get to my happy place.

Last winter I really wanted a feather wreath but gagged at the thought of spending $50 for one from Pottery Barn. So I went to Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Tree and bought some crap to make a winter feather wreath. I didn't really have a clue of what I was doing but gave it the ole Girl Scout try. Plus, you can never go wrong with a hot glue gun.

It took me like 10 minutes and I was very proud of my feather wreath. I hung it in my dining room for all my friends to see and posted pics on facebook. They all made fun of me! Oh well.

My sister thought it was ridiculous and stupid but she's a hater and a quitter of Girl Scouts (in the 4th grade).

My Mom thought it was awesome but she likes all my crafts no matter how much I think they suck.

So without further adieu...

So that's the story of my feather wreath. I plan to make more for other holidays but haven't gotten around to it yet. 

In other random musings things on the menu for us for the next week are:

• Chicken Enchiladas
• Corned Beef & Cabbage with potatoes and carrots
• Salmon Filets with Saffron Rice.
• Turkey Sloppy Joes
• Turkey Meatballs & Spagehtti
• Vegetable Lasgne & Garlic Bread

And so it begins...

I've been contemplating starting a blog for over a year now. I wanted a place to sort out the thoughts and emotions I've been dealing with on our infertility journey also a place to keep track of life's musings. Most people start blogs to detail pregnancies or keep extended family up to date on what's going on with their little ones. I don't know what life holds in store for me or if I'll ever have a little one so I will start this blog anyway. My husband is extremely supportive and I couldn't ask for a better partner in life. However, he is a man and doesn't always understand  all the emotions and mood swings that fertility drugs cause for me, so this can be my outlet.
Infertility is like driving cross country to your dream destination. There are peaks and valleys, traffic jams, catastrophes, twists & turns. Just like an actual road trip there are also few asshole drivers on the road with you. And on every road trip there comes a time where you have to pull over to rest because you just can't take it anymore. There are those times where someone in your life that didn't plan at all for the their trip takes the easy path and slaps down the credit card for a direct flight and totally beats you to your dream destination while you're still truckin' along on the bumpy road. It doesn't mean they didn't deserve to get to the dream destination just sucks total ass that you did everything you should've and are still not where you wanted to be.

All disappointment and the 2 years of negative pregnancy tests have tested my ability to be an optimistic person, and clouded my ability to view the silver lining. So this will be my place to talk about the challenges and victories in our journey and remind myself that god has a plan and it will all work out the way god intended.