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Ari's 20 Favorite Songs to Play on Repeat Before, During or After a Breakup

It's 10:30 at night and I should be sleeping, but instead I feel like creating a random playlist. See, I've been washing and twisting my hair for the past 3 hours.  During that time, I went through 3 different playlists on Spotify. For 3 hours straight, I've been belting out some of my favorite jams from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. I mean, JAMS. Anywho, that trip down memory lane reminded me of some songs I used to help me deal with heartbreak from elementary school all the way until my late 20s. So tonight, I reminisce over all the boys who broke my heart throughout the years. This one is for you. 1) Mya- If You Died I Wouldn't Cry Cause You Never Loved Me Anyway 2) Ginuwine - Lonely Daze 3) Vikter Dupkaix - Another Great Love Gone By 4) Jill Scott - Slowly Surely 5) Dru Hill - All Alone 6) P!nk - Stop Falling 7) Boyz II Men - Water Runs Dry 8) Donell Jones - Gotta Get Her (Outta My Head) 9) Rhianna - Damn 10) Alexander Oneal - A Broken Heart Can Mend ...
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Priorities Change When You're #Adulting

Hey everyone! I wanted to check in for a quick second to let you know what I've been up to. I know the wedding posts have been non-existent for a while. I can explain! While yes, the wedding is still on, something else has been taking up my time and attention--buying a house! I'm pleased to announce that I just purchased my first home yesterday. Yay! It's been a long process and it's far from over. Now that I've purchased the house, we will need to start the renovations. The renovations may take a couple of months and we won't be moving into the new house until they are done. I'll be visiting the house this weekend to take some "before pics." I plan to document the whole renovation process. More to come. Anywho, after the renovations are done and we're moved into our new home, the wedding planning will resume. Needless to say, we made the adult decision to push back the wedding to Spring of 2019. That way, we'll have more time to plan...
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You mean to tell me I have to look at more than 4 wedding venues?

My quest to find the perfect venue. Now that I have an estimated wedding budget, I have moved on to the next critical step in wedding planning--finding a venue. I had no idea that living in such a big city would make finding and selecting a venue so difficult. There are so many factors to consider. Do I want to get married in downtown Chicago in one of those beautiful historical buildings by the lake? If so, how will my guests deal with the fast pace of the 3rd largest city in the U.S.? Will they be willing to sit in traffic and push through a group of rude tourists? And how will those inflated "downtown" prices affect my budget? Do I want to get married in one of the suburbs, where parking is plentiful and the prices might be more reasonable? If so, do I chose a suburb closer to O'Hare Airport (Northwest suburbs) or Midway Airport (southside of Chicago)? Do I have it in a hotel (so that it's convenient for the travelers), at a golf course (f...
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Staying Organized During the Research Stage

Greetings, everyone! This week I want to talk about a few ways I've been staying organized during these early stages of planning my wedding. Right now, I'm still in the research stage, so I'm finding ways to store and compare information from a wide range of sources. Today I'll focus on 3 tools: the budget/wedding fund, spreadsheets, and Google Drive. The Budget and the Wedding Fund The first (and arguably most important) step in planning a wedding is agreeing on a budget. I came up with a number based on my research and what I felt my fiance and I could comfortably afford. Once we agreed on the budget, we discussed how much money each of us would be willing to contribute towards this budget. For us, it was imperative that we determine an amount that we could comfortably afford without taking out any loans or borrowing money from anyone. As of right now, we will be financing the wedding ourselves. We then figured out how much we could contribute "up front....
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Obsessing Over Wedding Music, Part 1

Those that know me will understand why it's fitting for my first real wedding blog post to be about music. The O'Jays said it best-- I love music . I may not have always known what my wedding colors would be, or what type of venue I wanted my reception to be at, or hell, even who my groom would be. But I always knew that the music at my wedding would be ON POINT. Some jazz and neo-soul to start the night off with a mellow, romantic vibe. Throw in some 80s and 90s slow jams and bangers. Some 2000s hip-hop and R&B. Some acid jazz. Other stuff that doesn't fit into a genre that I can identify. And now to pay homage to my new city, some house music and other classic Chi-Town tracks. It will be a mash of well-known, some slightly familiar, and some "I don't know what this is, but I LIKE!" So with all that pressure, it's no wonder that I had trouble falling asleep on Friday night. I had a lot on my mind. I kept thinking about music. So inst...
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Hi! Oh yeah, I'm engaged!

Hello everyone! I can't believe it's been 3 years since I've written on here. So much has changed! I won't get into all of those details now but I do want to talk about one important change...I'm engaged! Yup. Since September 1st. I'll share the details of my proposal in another post. I figure it's the perfect time to resurrect my blog so I can document this wonderful journey of planning my wedding. I'll try to stick to one topic per post so I don't overwhelm myself. I'll discuss tips, tricks, lessons learned, and share my experience planning a wedding in Chicago. So I guess I'll leave this one as is. Just popping in to say hello, share the good news, and let you know to stay tuned! 
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School's Out...Time to Play!

After a loooooooooong 11 months, I have finally finished my first year of graduate school. Thank God!! I've been looking forward to the summer for the past...3 months! No more feeling guilty to go out on the weekends because I know that I should be studying. No more 1 drink limits. No more spending all Sunday glued to my couch writing a paper (at the last minute). Sure, I know I'll have to return to that life in September. But for now? I'm free!!!! Chicago is the perfect place to be in the summer (minus the extreme heat and humidity). There are events going on throughout the city at all times. I went to the Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. Next week is the Taste of Chicago. I just moved right off of Lake Shore Drive, so I'm looking forward to spending plenty of time by the lake and at the beach. My summer officially starts riiiiight.....NOW. Stay tuned for my summer adventures...!
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