Getting Ready to Take The Plunge

I just can't wait.

(In this picture, I'm the little head sticking out from behind Bradford's left shoulder.)

CHI-City

Oh, to be a tourist...

Good times to be had in CHI-city! It was oddly nice to have a reason to wear a hat and leggings again. I created a playlist, started walking, and saw Chicago... Magnificent Mile, Tribune Building, Millennium Park, Bean statue, Art Institute lobby, Giordano's, a little shopping, Gibson's steakhouse, and a great view of Navy Pier from my hotel.

One day is not enough time to spend in Chicago, especially when the sun starts fading at 4:30PM. One day, however, is enough time to make a judgment that CHI-town's a pretty fun city!

A really quick review of Gibson's... a crowded, classic Chicago steakhouse with huge portions, loud people, a piano player in the lobby, and a take on Hula Pie that's about four times the size of Duke's version. Oh, and realllyyy good lobster.

Below are a few too many photos...

Posing with Mr. and Mrs. American Gothic on Michigan Ave.

A river runs through it. I would love to take the River boat Architecture tour someday--this was another disadvantage of my visiting the city post-daylight savings time switch. Last boat leaves at 2PM!

The "bean" statue! This looks so odd from far away, but it creates the coolest images of the Chicago city skyline.

This one's my favorite. I look like I'm in a bubble.

Fall colors in Millennium Park

Shopping on Michigan Ave. (aka the Maaaagnificent Miiile!!!) Does anyone else think of Oprah every time they here this??

And....I'm getting married in 12 days!! I'm a weeeeeeeee bit excited.

Greetings from...

...Chicago!

I'm here for a last-minute trip and I've never been here before.

Does anyone have recommendations of what to do or see?? Please share.

Thanks.

"The Reckoning" Book Trailer

My aunt has posted a trailer of her award-winning novel, "The Reckoning" on Youtube. Watch it here, and then buy the book on Amazon or Kindle. The Reckoning is a page-turning, intelligently-written story that brings the obscurity of the Arab world in to a light that any caring or adventurous American can relate to. In my opinion, the best way to develop an interest and basic understanding of hard-to-understand topics is through non-fiction books.

Two Words: Cat Fight

Actually, this is more of a cat beating. A very emotional (and losing) New Mexico Lobo soccer player decided to take out her anger on the entire BYU women's soccer team during yesterday's semifinal match of the MWC tournament. I'm not sure how the refs missed every single instance of Elizabeth Lambert's rough play. BYU, of course, won the game despite sucker punching, slapping, and the hardest hair pull I've ever seen in women's sports.

Witch's Ball

Speaking of amazing women, here are some pictures from the Halloween bridal shower that was thrown for me last night. Yes, we're all in witches hats.

How lucky I am to have so many great female role models in my life. My grandmother, mother, aunts, cousins, future mother-in-law, friends' mothers, and mother's friends -- ALL are amazing women and I am blessed to have them in my life.

Thanks to Sue Paullin, for hosting this fabulous party!
What a fun night.

Terry and Kathleen made a fabulous ribbon bouquet for me.

Aunt Dani, Cheryl, Sue & Diana (aka Lovey Lovey)

Jeffree, Sue, Chris, Barbara, Cathy, Judy

The future and current Mrs. Fishbacks

Cousins: Lindsay, me & Katie

I'm thinking of wearing this hat on the big day. Yay or Nay?

Lovely.

Thanks, Amy, for this picture!

Bryn got married last weekend (see beautiful pictures here), which means I got to see a lot of wonderful friends, some of whom I haven't seen in over a year. I was talking to Rae Rae at the reception about friendship and life (we're very deep thinkers). I said, "friends just aren't the same after college." Her absolute and amazing inability to hide her emotions (a character trait that I LOVE) caused her face to look a little sad, and she replied with a sincere, "I'm still your friend." I looked at her with a half-frown and said, "No, I mean, you just don't make new friends the way you did in college." She looked relieved and said, "Ohhhh."

Thank goodness for the amazing women in my life.

Birthday Boy

This is a bit late, but Brad's birthday was on Oct. 23. We celebrated with mango cheesecake and birthday presents wrapped in a Macy's cardboard shipping box. He thinks it's cool that his birthday is on 10/23, our wedding is on 11/24, and then Christmas is on 12/25. See a pattern?

Must be good luck.

A Bike City

photo via

I heard about this system on NPR a couple weeks ago.  A public bike system.  Several European cities, including Paris, Barcelona, Helsinki and Copenhagen, have taken to the trend of renting public bikes to commuters for a small fee.  What a great way to decrease traffic, increase exercise and experience a city!  This picture of riders using the Vélib' system in Paris makes public biking look glamorous.  (Paris would make the classiest looking bikes in the system, right?)  Montreal and Washington D.C. are some of the first North American cities to try it out.

I would love to have this in LA.  

Or, maybe I would just love to live in Paris.

Here they are...

Steven Wood kind of just fell from the sky. And, really, that's not too far from the truth. After a weekend trip to Utah, my Dad sent me a text telling me he had sat next to a fashion photographer on the plane. Long story short, a week later, Bradford and I found ourselves "fake-conversing" in gorgeous Palos Verdes locations while Steven shot over 2,000 images of us. We managed to find a couple good ones.

Steven actually just posted several in an album on facebook. Click here to see them. Below are more of my favorites. Steven might not be happy about all of these being posted because they're not all edited, but I think they look fabulous.

The future Fishbacks!

42 days to go!