My weekend in a nutshell: 

Friday night and Saturday day was all about friends. On Friday, I met my friend Irene in the city for goodbye drinks ( she's moving to Boston with her fiance for grad school). On Saturday, I spent the later part of the morning and nearly the entire afternoon at Zella in Lincoln Park to celebrate my friend Molly's birthday.

Zella has a ginormous beer garden, so it was the perfect place to convene on a sunny Saturday afternoon. They have a brunch deal that gives you bottomless mimosas, beer and bloody marys along with an item the menu for $25. I partook in this deal, although I didn't end up drinking very much alcohol since I needed to be sober for my drive home. It was a great time, though! I also got a sunburn. That was the only part of my day that was not cool. 

Before I left the house for Irene's drinks, I relished the Friday night pizza tradition with my parents. It included fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden, fresh basil and eggplant. It was a first-class pizza.. 

Skipping to this afternoon, I made protein pancakes after a long bike ride with my mom. I used this protein powder: 

Again, they turned out very good. I used bananas this time, but I didn't end up eating them because they were so mushy. I can't eat mushy bananas at all. Yuck. We have a bunch of them, but we're going to freeze them and later use them for smoothies. 

I also used a little bit of maple syrup. I followed the recipe exactly today. 

Jon came over tonight to pick up Libby (so sad!), so my dad cooked another great meal. I am so spoiled by living at home. He made polenta (rolled into a cylinder-shape and then cut into small slices) topped with manchego cheese. There were other grilled veggies mixed in there. 

There was also salmon. I didn't take pictures of the tuna steak or grilled romaine lettuce with baby bok choy with terragon, cherry and almond dressing, but it was all fantastic. 

LIbby spent her last night at our house sleeping on my bed. Just in case you were wondering, she is a huge Aussie fan. 

Today, we took all of the pups to Woofstock (not to be confused with Woodstock). It was a free dog festival in downtown Long Grove that was all sorts of fun. My mom works at the vet that sponsored the event, so she went early to help set up. My dad and I took the four dogs there for a little while just to see what it was all about. 

Downtown Long Grove is full of old buildings and antique shops, so it's always a fun place to go. When my family first moved here, I went to Long Grove Confectionery all the time for their giant chocolate covered strawberries. 

We got there before most of the people and dogs got there, but we knew it would be a good turnout. The weather was amazing!

We got free doggie treats from Page's Healthy Paws. 

We still saw all sorts of dogs. One of my favorites was this gigantic shepherd dog. He was huge and so sweet!

They had a folk band scheduled to sing, but we left before that all went down. We also left before the pup parade!

Before we left, Libby rolled around in the grass to let us know that she was having fun. 

Good times! My mom said that it was a great turnout. The weather could not have been nicer (unlike the poor East Coast). I bet the pups can't wait for next year!