40 years of wedded Bliss

Posted on August 29, 2012 by carlieblissirwin

My amazing parents have been married for 40 years. Four zero. That’s a long time.

We celebrated their love in style last Saturday night on a yacht cruise on Lake Michigan and in the Chicago River. And if you have anything to celebrate, at all, for any reason, ever, I would highly recommend this method. We rented the SunSea yacht for 3 hours, capped off by the fireworks display at Navy Pier and it was one of the best nights ever.

Congrats Mom and Dad! I love you guys!

P.S. After this party, and Kelly’s bachelorette party, I’ve had a very yacht-y month! Awesome.

Cray-mazing weekend

Posted on August 13, 2012 by carlieblissirwin

Yes, I’m still trying to make cray-mazing happen. All the cool kids are saying it, and I suggest you get on board.

But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about my epic weekend, made possible by my awesome husband and our 5th anniversary (whoa), beautiful weather, my friend Kelly’s bachelorette party, and one gorgeous yacht.

Well done, weekend. You really outdid yourself this time.

In case you’re curious, Will and I celebrated our anniversary with drinks at RM Champagne Salon and dinner at Piccolo Sogno. Both places were great and had amazing patios.

The yacht (oh the yacht...) belongs to a friend of Kelly’s sister, and has refueled my quest to find a BFF who owns a boat. The search continues. Apply within.

And that about wraps up my super fun weekend of celebrating with people I love. Doesn’t get much better. This life of mine is kind of ridiculous in the best way possible.

Party planning

Posted on June 6, 2012 by carlieblissirwin

Yes, I am the spawn of the lovely people in both of these photos.

The first photo was taken on their wedding day in August 1972, and the second was taken last weekend.

My sister and I are planning an epic 40th anniversary party for our parents and we used these pictures to make the invitations. The party will involve a yacht, an open bar and lots of good friends and family. You can bet there will be a blog post about it, so stay tuned for that!

We figured 40 years of marriage was definitely cause for some major celebration. And I just wanted to thank my parents for being such amazing role models and for giving me something that I hope to remember for the rest of my life – the chance to party on a YACHT!! Wooooohooooo! 🙂

Happy Birthday, American Girl!

Posted on December 22, 2011 by carlieblissirwin

Apparently, it’s the 25th anniversary of American Girl. These girls don’t look a day over eight!

I’m proud to say that I grew up in the Golden era of American Girl. Back then, there were only three dolls to choose from: Kirsten, Samantha and Molly (in ascending order of historical era).

Receiving the catalog in the mail was a monthly highlight, no mega store/restaurant complexes existed, and the educational historical background of each “girl” was the convenient angle we used to convince our moms to buy these ridiculously expensive, glorified Cabbage Patch Kids. Their hair accessories alone probably cost the equivalent of several Pogo Balls and a Skip-it.

When I was finally allowed to get an American Girl doll for my birthday (after a speech about how important it was to take good care of her), I naturally chose Samantha. She had the best hair and the best clothes. I couldn’t understand why anyone would choose either of the other two. Kirsten had weird braids. And Molly had glasses and braids. Ew.

A few years later, once Felicity (from the Revolutionary War) and Addy (a slave) came out, I asked for an Addy doll for my birthday because like most 12-year-olds, I was a big advocate of diversity. But being a sucker for large hair bows, I always loved Samantha more.

I still have both Samantha and Addy. They are currently sitting on a shelf in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. Getting very, very dusty.

Maybe someday I’ll be able to power-wash them and pass them down to my own kids who will probably think they are gross and lame and won’t know what to do with toys that don’t have touchscreens.

Someday…

(Images from here, here and here.)

All you need is love. And awesome friends and family.

Posted on August 11, 2010 by carlieblissirwin

Three years ago today, I married the guy who I have been referring to on this blog as “Will.” (Because that’s his name and that’s what I call him. I’m not much of a nickname person.)

I think we can both say that it was the best day of our lives so far.

Yes, we were thrilled to be in love and marrying each other (right, Will??), but one of the best things about that day was that we had pretty much ALL of our family and friends in one place, celebrating that love.

They arrived.