Halloween 2013

Fourth of July

Hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend!

We kept it pretty mellow with a bike ride downtown to Little Market  for lunch on the fourth and then watched fireworks go off from all over the city on our rooftop. I was surprised to see so many retail shops open so we did sneak into Barney's and Intermix to check out some summer sale action after lunch. 

As for our lunch-the Little Market Brasserie is a cute restaurant located in and on the sidewalk of The Talbott Hotel. Ryan Poli, the Chef/Partner, formerly of The French Laundry and Le Francais (and currently of Tavernita), puts together a pretty standard, but quite delicious lunch menu. I would say the burger and the lobster roll are probably the best things on the menu, and of course, that's what we stuffed our faces with. A perfect brunch/lunch/dinner spot if Gold Coast perusing is on the agenda. 

Any time is a good time for Lobster

Always a tourist

XOXO, IN LOVE WITH CHICAGO

Halloween 2012

To take a little break from all these travel posts:

Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they run, see how they run.....

Our friends had some creative costumes this year!

Happy Halloween from Chicago!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like

So I admit-it's a little bit of a Charlie Brown Christmas, but give me a break. We JUST moved. Gotta start somewhere right? I spent all of Saturday in my yoga pants with the heat pumped up and a cup of coffee glued to my hand. A perfect recipe for DIY time.

I don't highly suggest the sweater pillow case project though. There was an obnoxious amount of fuzzy red stuff all over the apartment....and who wants to clean after you've used up all of your energy on making things look so pretty?

Give Thanks

I have more positive things in my life than I could ever ask for and am SO SO thankful for it all-supportive family and friends, who are spread all across the country/world, the silliest and most fun boyfriend who understand all my idiosyncrasies, an amazing job and coworkers/clients (and of course the free hotel points and airline miles), great food to fill my belly, my good health, sparkly things in my closet, and a lovely city to call my home (for now, don't get crazy now San Diegoans).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloweenie

Halloween was a success this year and I can attribute that to my girlfriends, and even guy friends, putting our craftiness to work! My girlfriends and I went to Joann's the weekend before Halloween and voila! Mario, Luigi and Toad came to life. I sewed my vest, attached my white head to a hat, stuffed it with batting, sewed on the red dots and I was ready to go. Although on Monday one of my clients told me that his 7 year old son dressed up as Mario....so either I'm getting too old for this or I am still as young as ever =)

pickles and ornaments

The Christmas Markets are a tradition that originated in Germany, but have spread to other parts of the world. In Germany, attendees top 2 million, and date back to the 15th century.

I had the pleasure of attending Chicago's very own Christmas Market, located on Daley Plaza on Washington between Clark and Dearborn, which runs from November 24th to Christmas Eve. Potato Pancakes with sour cream and applesauce, fried donuts, and who can forget the meat...sausage!! I loved the exhibits of darling hand made gifts ranging from customized beer steins to wooden gifts for children; although who are we kidding, what child asks for building blocks when Santa might bring a PS3 instead?


My favorite part of the market was looking at the ornaments, not only because they were housed inside warm bungalows on a wet 10 degrees day, but for the stories each ornament represents to each and every family. Like the ninja ornament. Or how about the good ol' story about the pickle? The parents hide a pickle, the child who finds it receives an extra gift from St. Nick. Um, can't say I've ever played that game. What's your family's holiday tradition?