Hello blog friends, so sorry I’m a few days behind, but I’m here now and ready to update you on what you’ve missed.

December 17th was my birthday - if you’ve been following along this far, I’m sure you figured that one out.

Let me start off by saying that it was a truly wonderful day from start to finish. I woke up to an adorable birthday message from my sweetie and from that moment on, he did his best to make my day special.

I slept in, but we spent the evening (after a considerable drive) in the Windy City. Chicago is and always has been one of my favorite cities. I’m grateful to Ethan for driving me to and from and putting me up in a pretty snazzy hotel for the evening.

Not only was The Virgin Hotel Chicago gorgeous and fun, but the view out the window of our 24th-floor room couldn’t have been more beautiful.

But the best part of the night was dinner at my favorite restaurant in the whole world - Nando’s! Rumor has it that Ethan had plans to take me to somewhere even more swanky, but I just can’t get enough of that Peri-Peri goodness! All sauced up, I was in sheer heaven.

After we had eaten our fill, we had a few drinks at a local pub, then went back to the room for cake.

We finished out the night watching my favorite show together in bed. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about the evening for anything. A perfect birthday in a gorgeous city with my favorite guy.