Bachelorettes Take Chi-town!

Hi friends! We've been busy in Tucson! After getting back from Canada, we found and rented a house, took Fitz on many adventures, and have been working a ton! We move to our new house in two weeks, so we are slowly packing up our apartment. 

This past weekend, I ventured to the Windy City to see all my ladies and celebrate my bachelorette party! Crazy to think there is only one more month until the wedding! 

I flew into see Emily on Thursday night and then we went to sleep to prepare from some girl time Friday morning. We both got our hair and nails done for the weekend, and met up with Emily's boyfriend Mike to check into the Renaissance Hotel. Emily decorated our room so beautifully, and didn't miss a detail! My Michigan friends arrived in the afternoon and we all caught up and made plans to get ready to meet up and head to dinner.   

After dinner, we all headed to Second City to see Panic on Cloud Nine, one of their comedy shows. It was so funny, and perfect for this groups sense of humor. 

After the show, we all crashed back at the hotel to get ready for day two. We started with breakfast in our rooms courtesy of my future mother-in-law! Afterward, we grab our swimsuits and headed to the pool for some sun, snacks and drinks! My mom even sent us Potbellies!

When we were finished lounging, we headed back to get ready for the evening! My amazing MOH, Emily planned an evening of games with my girls, including a video from Cody! 

We rounded our group up and went to Moe's for Mexican cuisine for dinner before bar hopping the night away!

I left feeling so lucky, and honored to have these women as my friends. I have been having friend withdrawals all week. I couldn't have asked for a better bachelorette party nor better company! 

Love ya girls!

LB

Jolly Nichols

Happy Tuesday! Cody and I just got back from our second international trip together. Ok, it's a stretch, but we flew in and out of Detroit so we could drive to Niagara Falls-on-the-Lake in Canada for Cody's college rommates's wedding. 

We flew in a day early to finish up a few last minute chores for our own wedding, as this was our last trip home before our big day. Consequently, we were able to do a little Detroit dining with my brother and his lady. 

Ross was our guide and took us to an amazing slider place called Green Dot Stables. We all have different favorites, from kimchi, to quinoa. 

We drove bright and early Friday morning to get to Niagara in time for a group wine tasting Molly and Jon had arranged for their guests. Cody's friends Bryan and Anna met us there and our group of four got started!

The wine tour took us to four vineyards where we were able to taste 3-4 wines at each stop. The fifth and final stop was the Ravine Vineyard which was the location of the wedding the next day. There were a lot of different types of tasty wines, but what Niagara is most known for is their ice wine. Ice wine is a dessert wine that is very sweet, more like syrup, and is made from extracting water from frozen grapes. Canada obviously is the go to place for frozen grapes. Each vineyard put their own spin on this local favorite! 

After the wine tasting, we added Kate and Garrett, and later Ken Chen, to our pack and headed to an Italian dinner in historic downtown Niagara-on-the-Lake. After filling ourselves with pasta and ice cream from Cows, we headed to our B&B for a group beer and bed. 

Garrett and Kate were staying in one of the other three rooms at Green Oaks Bed & Breakfast. The third room was occupied by a Canadian couple from Toronto that was also in town for a wedding. We learned a lot about Cananadian normals from them!

Saturday morning before the wedding, a few of us went to see the falls! We did the typical tourists stuff, got close the s, took pictures, took a short boat trip close to the base. We weren't able to take the Maid of the Mist as it is now operated on the American side, but we did take a tour on the Hornblower which has all new boats! 

We grab a quick panini on our way back, and then we all got ready for Jon and Molly's wedding! 

The weather did not cooperate much so the ceremony was moved to the dance floor under the tent where we are dinner. The sun came out just as they started to walk down the aisle and the clouds parted beautifully. Everything was just perfect, there was even a rainbow! 

Molly looked beautiful, as always, and they both looked so happy! The rest of the night proceeded with cocktails (well, wine), dancing, food, and lots of photos. 

We had breakfast at our B&B and headed back to Detroit with time for a late lunch with my family before catching our flight home. 

Definitely a wedding for the books.

Congrats on your beautiful marriage Jon and Molly! We are so glad we got to celebrate with you! 

LB

#JollyNichols