Bridesmaid Love

My weekend was very fun and eventful and productive.  How was yours?  I always used to take Amtrak from Milwaukee (or Sturtevant) to Chicago but for the last year or so I have gotten more into taking the Metra from Kenosha.  For those of you not familiar, the Metra is Chicago's suburban rail system.  It has 11 different lines stretching out from Chicago in every direction.  Well, not east because that would be into the lake. 
One of the lines, the Union Pacific North, goes all the way up to Kenosha in southern Wisconsin.  The primary differences between Amtrak and the Metra are price; Amtrak costs $23 each way whereas Metra costs about $8 and the number and location of stops.  Amtrak only makes three stops (I believe) between Milwaukee and Chicago whereas the Metra stops every tenish minutes.  Another nice thing about the Metra besides the cost is that I can get off much closer to where my friends live in Lakeview/Lincoln Park rather than taking the Amtrak all the way to Union Station.  Anyways, long story short, I took the Metra from Kenosha to the Ravenswood stop and Morgan picked me up.  We had sushi with Lisa and gave her her birthday gifts.  I got her this cool slate cheese board you can write on: 

Lisa really loves cheese and I love buying gifts from Uncommon Goods

Saturday I spent the day with Lisa bridesmaid dress shopping.  We had a fantastic time!  There were a lot of dresses I liked but I ended up buying the same one I talked about here in a dove grey color.    

I love trying on dresses!

What's cool is it has these panels, two in front and two in back, that can be tied in multiple different ways to create different looks.  Here I have them tied over both shoulders in big floppy bows.  I also like them all over one shoulder.  I am considering doing a sparkly belt.  Not this one but something similar.  Saturday night we went to Ripasso for Lisa's birthday dinner.  It was lovely.  Sunday I met up with my favorite cousin to go Derby hat shopping.                

So versatile

Isn't she the cutest?  I completely adore her.  She's more like a sister to me than a cousin.  I found my hat too.

Dim selfie but you get the idea?

It's more of a coral color IRL to match my coral J. Crew wedges.  Yes, eagle-eyed and sharp-witted readers, that is my derby dress worn over my clothes to get the effect.  I tried on the full ensemble when I got home and liked it very much.  Also, our Derby tix came in the mail.  Yay!  Only 24 more days!  What do you think?  Do you like the dress?  How should I tie the sashes?  A list of possible variations can be found here.  Do you like my hat?  I do, I like that (Derby) hat!