Kelleys in Chi-town

Last weekend, we, along with Matt's parents and grandmother, flew up to Chicago to celebrate the marriage of Matt's cousin Christopher, and Viktoria, his beautiful bride. They got married in a private ceremony in Florence, Italy, on October 3 (11 days before our wedding!), then went on to Poland for a reception with Viktoria's father's family (she is Ukrainian, but her father lives in Poland now). So, finally, on January 20, they had a reception in the states--she got a lot of use out of her gorgeous wedding gown!

Matt and I went up on Friday, for the sole purpose of seeing "Wicked" on stage. We'd listened to the soundtrack for months, and I'd read the book, but none of that could replace seeing it live!

Dressed for the theatre!

Me and my best friend from 2nd-4th grade, Gina Renzaglia. She moved to North Carolina in 1990 (one of the most traumatic events of my childhood) and now is in Chicago for grad school. We got together for lunch, and she showed Matt and I the sights, including "The Bean," a giant mirrored bean in Millenium Park--seen behind us.

Saturday night was the reception, held on the 70th floor of a building near Navy Pier, from which we could see the whole city, all lit up. It was a fairly intimate (around 30 guests) dinner party, featuring a fabulous filet mignon! Afterwards, the younger crowd (including the bride and groom) went out to a champagne bar, where we enjoyed bottle after bottle and some great seasoned oysters. Matt and I got to bed around 3am, though we hear the party kept going at a dance club til 5am!


Matt at the reception, with cousin Brian and his wife Roxanne in the background.

The happy couple!