sweet home, chicago

last week brought me back home for a few days, and boy were they busy ones! i packed in as much "seeing people" as i possibly could, and here's a bit of a recap of the little taste of home that this quick trip brought!

• wednesday afternoon, my plane landed and i got to see snow on the ground!
• quickly headed to my parents, let myself in, tiptoed into the living room (not that it was a surprise, but still), and was greeted with squeals and hugs from my mom and dad. dad's first comment was "i'm having trouble getting to your blog...can you help me with that" :)
• daniel was home, too, and jonathan got home shortly afterwards, having just finished his last final (congrats, jonny!) - we all headed out to dinner, and enjoyed a scrumptious meal.
• brandon joined us for dessert, and after some light shopping in downtown evanston, mom and i headed over to see his NEW CONDO!!! it really is gorgeous. proud of you, brandon!

• thrusday, i headed in to work for the day, and then had a delicious dinner out with my work team.
• i left and got to my old high school just in time for my brother, daniel's, concert choir performance. they sounded amazing - great job, daniel!
• mark's dad, norman was there, too. and i got to see my choral conductor, mrs. brown, from my own concert choir days! as in, the teacher from the class where mark and i met almost thirteen years ago. i haven't seen her in over 10 years!
• afterwards, the family enjoyed a relaxing night at home - brandon's girlfriend, shruti, was also at the concert and hung out later with us.

• friday brought another busy day at work, which i got to break up with a wonderful lunch with my dear friend, lindsay. i really do miss her.
• after work, i stopped by my friend precious' home, for a quick visit with her, and to meet her beautiful twins! jakob and jaimie are beautiful, and i'm so happy for this wonderful family.
• after picking up some wine, i met melissa for dinner at a local favorite (seriously, they make good everything), and even ran into our friends mandy and don, who were having dinner there, too!
• we got to spend the rest of the evening enjoying melissa's beautifully decorated pine scented home and some catch-up bff time. and i finally got to see her spain photos:)

• and saturday morning, i woke up for an early flight home. snow was falling, beautifully covering the ground, and it felt like christmas to me. ahhh.

i can't wait to head back next week. it'll be fun for mark and i to be there together this time, and we're looking forward to a wonderfully busy week. save some snow for him, okay?