Irish-Vegan

Greg took his first turn at Vegan cooking last week for our St. Patty's luncheon at work. He made a delicious Vegan Shepherd's Pie & it got RAVE reviews from everyone at the office! My compliments to the chef.

Greg's Irish-Vegan Accomplishment

Recipe c/o ChooseVeg.com

ChIrish Challenge 2011

Chicago River - St. Patty's Parade Day 2011

On the Saturday before each St. Patrick's Day the City of Chicago hosts perhaps the best party in the history of parties. Yesterday was that day for 2011 & it didn't disappoint! We didn't make the river dying (at 10 AM) or the Parade, but we did manage to turn the big day into a scavenger hunt. We had some green beers, stole some shamrocks, ate french fry sandwiches, had a dance party, & even found a little "gold". If you've read any of my facebook statuses or talked to me in the last three years you know already how grateful I feel for the privilege of this life and all of the people in it, and yesterday was another in a series of great days spent with amazing friends & family. Too blessed to be stressed! 

365 Days To Go...

Today is March 10, 2011 and this time next year I imagine I'll be sitting in a sunshiny room with a bunch of women I love, drinking a mimosa, listening to my favorite music getting fancied up for my wedding day. Greg will be somewhere with the men he loves laughing & hugging & getting pats on the back for his big day. Later that day I'll get to marry the most handsome, brilliant, patient & kind person I know in front of the people that he and I both care about the most. When I get all caught up in the business of wedding planning all I have to do is go to that place, just 1 short year away, be there with the people I love & imagine marrying my best friend & suddenly I feel completely relaxed.

I'm so excited to celebrate for the next 365 days & I'm even more excited to know that this time next year I will be surrounded by the kindest, most loving and supportive people that ever lived. I am so lucky to call all of those people family, and even luckier that I'll be able to call one of them Husband.

Crafty Lady

Ever striving to be thrifty, I've been meal planning and grocery-list-making for the last two years or so, and a few months ago I was on the hunt for a weekly meal planner sheet when I stumbled across The Project Girl and TONS of organizational, crafty templates that I immediately downloaded. I'm using them at home, at work & even some in school. Today while browsing for a PIY (Print-It-Yourself) Birthday Card I stumbled across several other blogs and websites with templates, downloads and tutorials. I know it's not very "Renaissance Woman" of me to be so giddy about crafting and organizing, but I just can't help myself.

Here are a few of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Craftily,
Meggo

Stay tuned for a Latchford-Morgan Wedding appearance for this one...

Tuxedo T-Shirt Template

Je T'aime Coffee Sleeve

I wish I had found these less-mushy valentines in time to use them this year

Ready To Shop...Sort Of

It typically takes very little to motivate me to shop, mostly online but sometimes in the store. Typically I just like to browse, and when I do actually shop in person I am notorious for picking up items of interest along the way, carrying them around the store & then thinking better of it & putting them back (read: on the closest shelf). Lately I've been doing a lot of Wedding browsing, but not for what you'd think. You'd think when the celebrated "Wedding Planning" phase comes around that you'd be buying Bridal things left and right, but the things that I'm most excited & anxious to buy are the things for other people. For example, I've already got my mind made up on what seems like 100 things I want to give my bridesmaids. There's an equally long list of gifts I want to give to Greg. The way I "carry around" these things is by printing off ideas & putting them in a file on my desk so I won't forget when its time to buy. I'm always afraid I'm going to forget. I seriously don't know how I'm going to keep this stuff secret for a year, but I can tell you if you're in my wedding party, don't look at any folders on my desk marked "Wedding".

Puppy Love

This week we celebrated Miss Lilah's 2nd birthday! I know we're not "real" parents, but I can totally  relate to how parents feel when they say they can't remember what life was like before their little one. I truly can't remember life before Lilah. She's wild, and crazy, busy, needy, expensive and a total bed hog, but she's just the love of my life. We've been talking about a little puppy sister for the last year or so, but I think we may just take the plunge this summer since I'll be out of school and we have a beautiful new fenced in back yard. Still, it's hard to believe any other lady pup in the world could even compare to our Lilah.

Lovin' Lakeview

Greg & I recently relocated to a new neighborhood a few miles south of our original residence here in Chicago. You probably know that my best friend moved to Chicago last spring and stayed with us for a few months, but when she moved, she relocated to a neighborhood that we both fell completely in love with upon visiting her new digs. We'd been talking about moving for a few months and we both agreed we'd like to live in the same neighborhood as Meghan. So when she called me a few weeks ago to let us know there was an apartment for rent in her neighborhood, we jumped at the chance to visit. After a great deal of conversation and even a little extra apartment hunting, we settled on that very apartment.

It's a 1 bedroom garden unit in a 3 unit building in the heart of Lakeview. We couldn't be happier! We sacrificed a few amenities, but we gained a private front & back entrance as well as a fenced backyard, a beautiful neighborhood, and some very kind neighbors with 3 very cute dogs. We're still moving in so we'll post photos later, but we're super excited about making a life (and starting our married life) here. Miss Lilah is thrilled about her fenced back yard, although she's comparatively less excited about the occasional dusting of late Winter/ early Spring snow we've been getting. The cherry on top is that Meghan is just 2 short blocks away, and another one of our very best friends is just a few blocks from us too. Per usual, life is way better than either one of us could dream of. Stay tuned for photos!