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For the sake of sticking to the topic of "In Love with Chicago", I really need to bring these posts back to my beloved city!

Last weekend a girlfriend and I made a date for after after Christmas shopping on Michigan Ave and it was wildy successful. I have five weddings to attend this year so my main goal was to find quality dresses at good prices, but also boots for winter, work clothes and anything else that can act (I say act because I sure am good at making excuses to buy things) as staples in my closet. To say we spent three hours in Bloomies is a tid embarassing, but it is what it is. 50% off most women's already reduced items, plus using the 10% coupon I get each time I shop at Bloomies for having an out of state license....equals, you know it....alot of stuff. We also stopped off at H&M, where, to my surprise, we saw some left over Versace for H&M. I snagged a dress for sure!

I'm pretty sure the sale is still going, so what are you waiting for?!

Christmas Season: Part Two

With the amount of travel that I do for work, I am graciously rewarded by the Hilton Honors rewards program with copious amounts of hotel points. No, I am not getting paid to say this, I am just that loyal of a customer. When you get so many services for free, how can you not be? I mean so far I have booked a free night in Beverly Hills, two free nights in Park City at a ski resort and one night at Hilton Waterfront Beach hotel in Huntington Beach....and I will probably get a week in Hawaii later this year for free with tons more points to spare. So back to the point. No pun intended.

Me and my mom spent such a fun, girly girl, day in Beverly Hills over "winter break". Snacking on crepes, shopping er window shopping on Rodeo Drive and simply relaxing in over sized fuzzy robes in our hotel room. We met up with my dearest friend from college at Robata Jinya for some ridiculously delicious and authentic Japanese tapas. Robata Jinya is located in the Mid City West area of LA, not too far east of Beverly Hills, and is actually an extention of a Robata Jinya, a restaurant opened 40 years ago in Japan. Now it's expanded to 2 shops in Japan, one in Hong Kong and a ramen shop in LA. The concept is izakaya: Japanese tapas, but unlike so many unsuccesful restauranteurs that attempt to bring the concept to life, Robata Jinya, truly IS a Japanese izakaya. The photo below is of a homemade tofu that solidified before our eyes. Simply magical.

Friends. Travel. Food. Pretty things. My favorites <3

Christmas Season: Part One

I had the most. wonderful. holiday season. Minus the fact that I traveled through almost ten airports and thousands of miles, the change of scenery made for a very diverse Christmas. I may have picked up tons of germs during my travels, but I came away unscathed. Chicago is making me so tough =) I had a week-long meeting in NJ during mid December, so I spent a little time in NYC, then it was off to Wisconsin for gift exchange and dinner with Sean's parents, a little bit of Chicago Nutcracker action, a week in San Diego for the actual holiday, Beverly Hills for a quick get away with the mother and then NYE in NYC.

It's sad to say that I have officially become a tourist when I visit San Diego, but it will always feel like home when I see all of my friends and family and pick up right where we left off.

I did get to try a few new spots...SD Chicken Pie Shop, Analog, The Shores in La Jolla and my favorite new spot: my dear friends' new home that they just purchased.

More to come on my December travels!

Instagram Holidays

Happy holidays from mine to yours! Cheers to a 2012 filled with good fortune!

NYC NYE Take Two

I flew over NYC for a work trip today and got rushed with warm and fuzzy memories of the city. Another benefit of living in Chicago: quick and cheap flights to JFK/EWR/LGA. Two years ago I rung in 2010 in the city and since then, I've been a handful of times....probably four times to visit Sean, once for Mrs. Contreras' bachelorette party and a few other times I vaguely recall....but NYE is just another monster of fun. We didn't do the standard Times Square situation in 2009/10, but we did hang at a party at Sean's buddy's rooftop, watching fireworks go off over the city, while consuming some adult beverages. Good times! And after Christmas sales at pretty much every department store and even boutiques?! I'm drooling thinking of the shoe floor opportunities at Barney's. To top it all off-Mrs. C and the hubby will be there to celebrate as well. Let the countdown begin!

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?

Torta Alla Gianduia

I made my first recipe from the How to Be a Domestic Goddess cookbook by Nigella Lawson for Thanksgiving this year. The Torta Alla Gianduia, which I still don't really know how to pronounce, is an amazing Chocolate Hazelnut Cake recipe. It's a people pleaser!

The only thing the recipe is missing is how to peel hazlenuts. I didn't really think about it when I scooped the hazelnuts out of the bulk bins at Whole Foods, but when I got home the thought of peeling each one individually made me want to scream my head off. This blog post saved my sanity.

Peeling the Skins Bake the hazelnuts for 1/2 hour at 250˚F and then wrap the still hot hazelnuts in a kitchen towel. The hot hazelnuts create steam and loosens the skins. Unwrap the towel so that there is one layer below and above the hazelnuts and apply firm pressure while rolling the hazelnuts back and forth.

You can find the recipe and directions here