remember...

Such a wonderful reminder from a lady I am lucky enough to know. Thanks for sharing all things lovely, Jordan!

Visit her blog here.

congratulations caroline!

We are so proud of our little sistah for graduating from college just a few weeks ago. In celebration, we caked and opened presents at the Hein house before heading to Lombard to play a little Whirlyball - a jai alai, bumper car, basketball, lacrosse hybrid. It was super fun with just the right amount of competition.

What an accomplishment, Caroline!

on to the next one...

mr. and mrs. defrancisco

This past weekend, we had the honor and joy of celebrating the marriage of two incredible people. Andy's best friend since childhood, Jeremy, took the lovely and beautiful Tabitha to be his wife on Saturday, May 19th in Chicago.

On Friday, we had a quick rehearsal (by "we" I mean Andy had legitimate duties as the best man and I shamelessly paparazzi'd for a solid hour) on the rooftop of J & T's condo then headed to Southport Lanes for a pre-wedding bowl-o-rama, some Chicago beer and tasty snacks.

Though hot and humid, everyone (especially the bride) looked absolutely stunning. It was so great to meet more of Andy's "Den" friends and get to know their lovely wives.

Cheers to you, Jeremy and Tabitha - enjoy Hawaii!

on to the next one...

kandejandro concerte series - edward sharpe and the magnetic zeros

I'm not sure my excitement for 2012's Kandejandro and Friends Concert Series could have been contained much longer. The sweet sounds of Edward Sharpe (ATMZ), Ben Harper, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw will be gracing my little ears in the coming months.

To kick things off, we headed up to Westwood for a little dinner, draaaaank, and roof top pre-ESATMZ hang. Things got a little weird, per usual.

This being my third trip on the Edward Sharpe weird train, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would they just crank another hour long set-list from their one and only album? Perhaps more importantly, would Alex be rocking his same white, long underwear getup?

In line to pick up our tickets at will call, a very short, very hipster, and very excited little lady came up to greet the Jack White lookalike and his babe who were standing behind us. Her vintage sundress, crocheted purple hat and Indian-style boots were definitely working for me - how can I learn to pull something like that off? She looked ridiculously familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on why...

Fast forward ten minutes as we found our seats and anxiously awaited the start of the concert. Edward Sharpe and his Musical Circus  Magnetic Zeros came frolicking onto the stage but one key member of the band (Jade, the female lead) was missing. Soon after, a very short, very hipster, sundressed, purple hatted, Indian-booted Jade bounced onto the stage, apologizing for being late. It took a few minutes but Andy and I exchanged telling looks and we knew we'd just blown the chance at meeting one of the stars of a favorite band of ours. A day late and a dollar short.

But, the concert didn't disappoint. More than half of their not set set-list was indescribable goodness from their up and coming album. I mean, if the below link doesn't get you all hot and musically bothered, there is most definitely something wrong with you.

Unfortunately, I can't take credit for the video above and I'd be lying if I said our seats were THAT good but it does give a pretty perfect glimpse into the rest of our evening.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros hold a special place in our hearts. We used two of their songs (Home and Om Nashi Me) at our wedding. It was so fun to hear them live again and relive some of those super special moments from August 20th.

on to the next one...

angels in the outfield

Twins + Pujols + Angels + Hein + Troynutzer = Wednesday night baseball game at Angels Stadium.

We had a blast eating and drinking our way through the very quick (no-hitter, I don't want to talk about it) game. Thanks to Blair and Murphy for the double date night!

on to the next one...