happy birthday adam to me!!!!

In the spirit of celebrating my birthday as many times as humanly possible (no, seriously, it’s been obscene this year), I’m going to tell you all the story of Birthday Adam.

When I was in college, I studied abroad in London the spring of my junior year, and it was truly one of the most incredible, life-changing experiences I’ve ever had. Learning how to travel on a shoestring budget, exploring London’s museums, parks and pubs, interning and getting my first real exposure to the professional world…those four months still seem fairy tale-like to me. One small drawback, though, was how anticlimactic turning 21 in a country where the legal drinking age was 18 seemed. (Hi, first-world problems, right?)

My flatmate Kelly and her friend Katie had perhaps the most ingeniously delightful way to make birthdays seem a bit more special…rather than just celebrating once on the actual day, they turned it into a three-day affair! See, you have your birthday…and then of course there’s your birthday eve, which isn’t much of a stretch to celebrate. But in all their Catholic-college creativity, of course they thought about the fact that in the Bible, Adam comes before Eve. Logically, therefore, a birthday Adam should come before a birthday “Eve,” right?

And so we celebrated Birthday Adams two days before the actual birthday, usually with some kind of small sweet treat (my favorite, above, from a darling bakery called Candy Cakes!) and a glass of cheap, shitty Tesco wine (drunk out of coffee cups or tumblers, of COURSE we didn't have wineglasses!). It was delightful, and I always kind of smile to myself when I think about it. So today is my birthday Adam, and I’ll be celebrating with some kind of treat and a less cheap, less shitty glass of wine.

Here’s to celebrating all month long! 

well hello february!

For the first time in forever, it felt like January flew by...due in large part to the fact that the weather was not terrible and I stayed busy with lots of little domestic things. I still had my annual January temper tantrum, of course, but I'm surprised it's already time to say hello to my secret favorite month, February! 

A little bit of what's coming up in this short-but-sweet month this year: 

--birthday fun at Anthropologie with Jodester like always

--a trip to London with lots of old favorites and new adventures

--the fourth annual Lizzie and Claire birthday extravaganza, this year featuring special guest Erin in from NY!

--a long weekend with Life Coach Laura, who I cannot wait to see

--a home-grown beer dabbler with Kels and a party bus with Lakeville friends

--The Oscars. So excited. 

And of course, lots of pink, candy hearts, and excuses to love up on the entire world a little bit :) 

Cheers, February. Can't wait to see what else is in store! 

all together now!

Sorry (I'm not sorry) for the radio silence over here toward the end of December, but realistically, who could have possibly expected me to be legitimately putting anything out when I was so busy celebrating? The Five Schwegs reunited in absolutely epic holiday style this year! Jonathan has been home since December 11, which seems insanely early to me, and Em rolled back into town last from the 18th to the 30th thanks to her company's awesome holiday shutdown. We spent a crazy amount of time together and it was, in a word, wonderful. 

I picked Em up on the evening of the 18th and we met Jonny and our parents at a local establishment (HA) for overpriced wine and catching up before heading home to an early bedtime. Em and I had Christmas missions to complete on Saturday, which involved but were not limited to braving Macy's during their one-day holiday sale (WOOF), petting the cutest dog ever at a local art store, and smelling every candle in Anthropologie. Mom, Dad, and Jon were on their own holiday expeditions, so we decided to rendezvous in Northeast and try out Tattersall together! 

I've loved taking Em and Dad to breweries over the last year or so. My mom and Jonathan are NOT beer drinkers, however, which cramps my Northeast hipster cool-place style a bit since all my favorite places are beer-only craft breweries. Enter Tattersall, which is a distillery serving over-the-top fantastic craft cocktails in a gorgeous old steel mill turned bar. I missed the parking lot the first time, it was so tucked away, but it was well worth the potholes and Google Maps confusion! 

Look at those beauties! I started with a bourbon drink featuring local sage honey and lemon and vanilla bitters, while the rest of the fam chose cocktails ranging from a classic gin martini (Dad) to a habanero-infused gin rickey (Em) to a classic bootleg (Mom).

Round 2 was just as adventuresome...Em and I both picked the "18th and Central," which featured aquavit, a Swedish liquor we'd never tried. IT WAS SO GOOD. 

I'm pretty sure we had way too much fun. We also sampled the food truck offerings from Bark & Bite, a Southern soul-food concept that impressed all of us. 

We all went our separate ways after we finished our second drinks, and reconvened on Sunday for Jonathan's birthday celebration! My mom, the Hallmark goddess, went all out with his presents this year: 

Those are tiny stuffed Star Wars characters on his gifts. How incredibly appropriate! He opened presents, and we headed to the movies to see "Sisters." Cannot recommend it highly enough--it's exactly the right kind of stupid humor with a heart that I adore. If you have a sister, take her and go see this. If you have a family, period, especially one with a sense of humor, go see this. 

Having laughed til our sides hurt, we classed things up a bit and got all dressed up to head to St. Paul for dinner! The St. Paul Grill is a family favorite, especially Jonny's, and we've been there to celebrate more events than I could list. It was a perfect night to be out and about downtown...the Ordway is running "The Sound of Music," the Wells Fargo Family Skate is set up outside the Landmark Center, and Rice Park is draped in millions of lights. 

Not to mention, we had the best table in the place...the corner table with windows on two sides overlooking the park. The view, paired with the Grill's over-the-top beautiful Christmas decorations, made for a gorgeously festive atmosphere. Their best-in-the-state crab cakes didn't hurt either, though. 

We concluded JonathanFest 2015 with a peppermint Oreo Dairy Queen cake, because his taste is nothing if not seasonally appropriate, and an equally appropriate rendition of "Happy Birthday." You may not be able to hear it in the (ten second) video below over my idiotic laughter, but Jonathan's commentary was basically "Awwww yissss, keep it coming, that's right, worship me, happy birthday to ME, YEAH," while my dad kind of "bow-wow-wow"'d his way through it. No wonder I couldn't control myself. 

At least it's videographic proof that we are nothing if not riotously fun together! Hard to believe this was just the first weekend of Schwegmanigans...legitimately the loveliest way to kick off our holidays! 

What are you doing New Year's Eve?

I’m ringing in the New Year on everyone’s favorite deep deep discount airline!

That’s right, I’m really getting in the “Spirit” of things this year…HA! You know you laughed. We’re headed to Phoenix to kick 2016 off in the best way imaginable…with an Irish win in the Fiesta Bowl.

Then again, “we” is David, his girlfriend Kelli, their friend Andrew, and me. So do the math on that one. Three Buckeyes, and one lone Irish fan…maybe I’m the only one who thinks a Notre Dame victory would be the best way to start this year, after all!

The second I saw that Notre Dame played Ohio State in this year’s bowl matchups, I texted David:

After a week of waiting, trying to work out logistics, and gasping in horror every time I checked flights only to see a $100 hike in price since the last time I checked, I got this text:

And then we started booking things, Andrew and I bought tickets too, and I officially committed to ringing in 2016 with Spirit. We land in Phoenix at 1am on January 1, 2016, and from there on out it’s a whirlwind of football, drinking, and soaking up sunshine. I have fond memories of Phoenix from going out there as a little kid to visit my grandparents, and can’t wait to experience it as a grown-up. We’re throwing a road trip to the Grand Canyon in for good measure, and if Columbus this November is any indication, I’m sure to have a ridiculously good time...although I'll be switching out my temporary Buckeye allegiance for my usual die-hard Irish fandom!

While I’m sad to miss the traditional New Year’s rager in the Twin Cities, I know this will be such a memorable, crazy-fun getaway that it’s more than worth it. What a great way to start off what I know will be a great year…

Go Irish, beat Buckeyes! 

101 in 1001 #59: Plan and throw a surprise party!

Time to play catch-up on life lately…I’ve been way too busy having an insane amount of fun to actually write about how much fun it’s been! Between Labor Day and today, I’ve been gone more than I’ve been in the Twin Cities…two weddings out of state, a trip to Toronto for work, sneaking away to Columbus for a weekend of Buckeye football, and a work-and-play journey to Hartford and Boston!

There’s been plenty of fun back home though too…including a super-special weekend with Eva and her bridal party in late October! As I’ve mentioned, Eva’s getting married next summer, and Claire and I are her bridesmaids. Along with Kyla, her Madison-based maid of honor, we decided to take advantage of a planned bridal shopping weekend to pull off an epic surprise!

Way back over the summer we started talking about potential weekends to go shopping for dresses…both bridesmaids’ dresses and, of course, Eva’s wedding dress! With the insanity of all of our work schedules, plus the complications of college football season (of course), we landed on just one weekend where we were all free. As soon as we did, I sneakily Facebooked Claire and Kyla to propose the idea of a surprise engagement party to cap off the day. They were 100% on board, and we started planning legitimately months in advance!

The morning of our bridal extravaganza started bright and early as Claire and I headed to The Wedding Shoppe to meet Eva, Kyla, and Eva’s mom. I wasn’t really sure what to expect…I’d only been dress-shopping with one other bride, at a super-small boutique, so this was very different for me. The Wedding Shoppe is like the major leagues of dress-shopping experiences. Imagine a dozen brides, all with their entourages, packed into the top floor of an old Grand Avenue mansion that’s been converted to a wedding dress emporium. So much white, so many tears, SO MUCH ESTROGEN.

We had a fabulous time watching beautiful Eva try on equally beautiful dresses, and she ended up finding one she loved! No photos, obviously, but we did the obligatory “She Said Yes!” photo to commemorate the experience.

The bridesmaid portion of the appointment took place in the basement of said Grand Avenue mansion, and it was absolute madness. In just under two hours, we managed to go from looking at deep purple chiffon dresses to a complete 180…beautiful peau de soie in one of the prettiest colors I’ve ever seen. In the meantime, Claire, Kyla and I cycled through about a dozen dresses in various shades of Easter-egg chiffon. Hilarity ensued, and I fell completely in friend-love with Kyla (as if I hadn’t already during our months of Facebook chatting to plan the party!).

Once we settled on a bridesmaid dress color and brand, we peaced out of Bridal Insanityland and headed to a relaxing brunch at W.A. Frost! If you ever go, get the croque madame…you won’t regret it. Almost as good as Paris! After finishing up, we rocketed over to Edina for manicures and pedicures, where Eva thought our day would end with a chill brewery trip and afternoon of girl time. Little did she know that Claire was going to fake a work emergency, and she and I were going to ditch Kyla and Eva to go prepare for the party!

Here, I have to give the hugest of huge shout-outs to my amazing parents. We were tied up all day doing bridal party activities, so my mom and dad killed it in every way helping us get set up and ready. Just my luck, the elevator in my building was broken that weekend, so we were schlepping everything up and down stairs to the party room with such limited time. I get frazzled easily, but with Dick and Jodi at the helm, everything went beautifully!

We planned a purple, black, and silver party to match Eva’s initial wedding colors, which we had of course changed that morning. I’m so glad we did get purple in the wedding somewhere though…it’s Eva’s favorite color and it looked so cool in my building’s party room! I ordered personalized M&Ms with a coupon a few weeks prior to the party, which looked incredibly cute scattered around the room, and Claire and I picked up big purple balloon bouquets for the main table before the party started.

We hung a personalized banner (thanks, Party City!) above the bar and buffet…

And my personal favorite decorations? I’m really proud of this one. I snuck a few of Eva’s engagement pictures off Facebook and framed them to be scattered around the party. I had a ton of small frames left over from previous apartments’ gallery walls, though, so I decided to put them to good use as well! When we sent out invites (via email, ever-so-fancy!), I asked that anyone who sent regrets also send their best wishes for the bride and groom, to be displayed during the party and sent home with her.

I didn’t catch a picture of them, but I typed each message up prettily, added a black-and-white floral border, and we had those running down the table too! You can sort of see it in the picture up above. I loved reading everyone’s sweet words for Eva and her fiancé Josh…it’s always so wonderful to hear people talk about how much they love someone!

Oh…and one last touch, that Claire and I clearly had way too much fun with…the amazing 99-cent Party City bling. At that low, low price, why wear just one? HA!

Now…before we get into the surprise, about that cake.

Drink it in. It’s literally Barney purple. My parents went to pick it up at the delectable Farmington Bakery, and my mom called me as soon as she got a look at it to ask if I had actually asked for a neon purple cake. I was dismayed…like, beyond upset. I had called, over my car’s Bluetooth system, to ask for purple flowers, which clearly was misheard and left me with purple frosting instead. YIKES. My mom saved the day with cake toppers and decorations that (slightly) mitigated the garish error, but I was NOT a happy camper. Still, it became a running joke for the night and of course it still tasted great!

Eva and Kyla showed up for “a chill night in at my apartment” at 7, and the surprise went off without a hitch! We had around 25 family members and friends who showed up, made the maze-like hike up to the roof deck, and celebrated. From my dad’s amazing sliders to Claire’s famous buffalo chicken dip and Kyla’s adorable candy sushi, the food was fantastic…and Eva’s mom actually found wines that were named “Eva” and “Josh!” We slapped a bridal veil tiara thing on Eva’s head and had a blast drinking, playing pool and chatting. It was so great to meet her family and start getting to know some of the men and women who will be at the wedding…not to mention the shower and bachelorette party! We were honestly all so busy having fun that we only have about four pictures with guests in them...and only one of the most clutch bridal party ever! 

The engagement party was the perfect way to kick off Eva’s bridal year. As a test run of sorts for the other events we’ll be planning as her bridal party, it couldn’t have been better. It gave Kyla and Claire and I a chance to figure out logistics and, best of all, to get to know each other. I can’t wait for everything else we have upcoming…it’s sure to be a blast!

To check out the rest of my 101 in 1001 shenanigans, head here…plenty of fun coming up!