Park City Waldorf Astoria

So a funny thing happened to me the night before we left for our trip to Park City, Utah. I decided to check out the details on my three night Hampton Inn reservation, as the cut off time for cancellation is generally 6pm the night before you check-in. And then I thought, why don't I just go ahead and see if the Waldorf Astoria is available? So what do you think happened??? It WAS available and after two hours on the phone with an agent from the Hilton Diamond membership line, who pulled some MAJ strings, (my friends made fun of me all weekend for throwing around "...but I'm a diamond member" line) I was able to transfer my reservation. At NO cost. Again, this is an unpaid advertisement for the Hilton Honors program, that just makes my travel life oh, so exciting! I surprised the couple that Sean and me were staying with and told them as we arrived at the airport and they were eeeeeecstatic.

Just a little backstory on The Waldorf-The original 5 star wonder is located in NYC and was actually the very first hotel to offer room service. Who would've thought....a world without room service?! The brand started out as two hotels in NYC, one built in 1893 and one in 1897, and after much family feuding by the cousins who built the structures decided to join them as one to become the largest hotel in the world, at the time. Fastforward to 2012 and we are at 25 total locations from the Grand Wailea in Maui to the Waldorf Astoria Maldives. The Waldorf-Astoria in Chicago (see below) also just opened this month, replacing the former luxury Elysian hotel.


As for the Waldorf-Astoria, Park City-Can I say favorite new hotel? Not only was the property on the base of the mountain with transportation directly to the Canyons Resort via the "Waldorf Gondola", after a full day of snowboarding and of course, hot tubbing outside to mend our little baby muscles, we were welcomed with a basket of smore-making goodness.

Be Mine

This Valentine's day was me and my Sean's 4th or 5th (eeek should probably remember that), celebration together and really to me, the best way to celebrate, especially on a week day, is to celebrate in the own comfort of your home.

He came home with a pretty bouquet of orchids and a little snack from Terry's Toffee, the local Chicago Toffee Shop that has been providing the treats for the Academy Awards since 2005. And for good reason-this shop is my go to for gifts for out of town friends as #1 There are free samples galore when you walk in the store and #2 Terry the owner plays with flavors such as chai spices, French lavender, Madagascar vanilla, Australian ginger and crushed wasabi peas. And it's right down the street from us!

For dinner I thought that I made a restaurant quality dinner with a pizza baked from scratch with mozarella, asiago, goat's cheese and proscuitto and chocolate covered strawberries. Yum! How was your Valentine's day?

Instagram Weekend

Had another fantastic weekend in the city....It was one of those situations where a friend texts you last minute to tell you that they have to come to the city for work. So even though it's usually a quick dinner or coffee break from work, it's still so great to see a familiar face and at least show them a peek of the city. So on Friday we went to Revolution Brewery.....aaaand of course I got the bacon popcorn! I just love how unpretentious some spots in the city are and I am always so happy with the inexpensive, but good eats, and the vibe of the restauarant.

Saturday I fell in love with Molletes at my new favorite neighborhood spot Gaudi Cafe. I literally drive by it every day and keep telling myself that I need to try it. So I did. And I am SO happy that I did. With only 80 reviews on Yelp, you'd think a place this good would have more. Mexican Fusion, with a touch of American....you can order anything from a Mollete to French toast for brunch or a Burger and Tapas for dinner.

Ended the weekend with Superbowl Sunday with the girls. $30 All-you-can-eat and drink should be ILLEGAL. Especially on a Sunday.

Lulu

I consider myself a pretty fit lady, with experiences running a half marathon and doing tons of all types of yoga, but I never really could bite the bullet of spending the money on Lululemon clothing for my workouts. Probably because they never go on sale and anyone who knows me, knows I NEVER buy anything for full price!

The Lululemon Warehouse Sale was this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I didn't think anything of it until a few friends of mine went on Saturday and got some amazing deals....I'm talking up to 80% off! Let's just say I set my alarm for Sunday and made sure I didn't have a lick of an adult beverage on Saturday night. I bought three pairs of crops for the price of one at full price, a scuba hoodie, a water bottle, and a few other accessories. Score!! And what they say about your backside looking like a 10? True that.

TOTAL RETAIL PRICE: $465+
TOTAL WAREHOUSE PRICE: $164




Some things that I've rejuvenated my workouts with...

1. a new gym membership at the West Loop Athletic Club
2. anticipation to run the Shamrock Shuffle with a few girlfriends
3. a renewed my love for running via some motivation from some great friends of mine

BONUS POINT: Buying new workout gear was just the cherry on top =)

Sprouts & Terrariums

Sprout Home is one of my favorite hobby stores in the city. For Christmas, I bought Sean a terrarium building class, well not really bought, because the class was free but read on.

Sprout Home, located in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago and Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, is a full service garden center and also offers a wide selection of home products, garden design and installation, floral design and delivery. Bottom line-if you're into plants, this is your Disneyland, for sure.

One of their specialties is Terrariums, which is essentially a mini ecosystem that contains a variety of plants, and for Sprout Home, mini living works of art. Sprout Home holds free terrarium building classes (amongst other types of classes), where your only costs incurred are the materials that you purchase at the store. The instructors are the owners and landscape designers and are just filled with so much information about how to make the best terrarium-they asked questions like "what kind of sunlight does your house get?", "how frequently do you want to water your plants?", "what kind of look are you aiming for". Just great people. As for the gift of the class I'm kind of over buying watches and sporting event tickets, so I thought it would be fun activity for Sean and me to do together. I mean I thought it would be fun for Sean to have this as his Christmas gift =)

Wu Hoo

all photos via www.target.com

The blogosphere has been buzzing like crazy about Jason Wu's Target collaboration, anticipated to hit stores and the web on February 5th. The photos are from target.com and also features little Milu the cat, Jason Wu's muse for the collab project. So freaking cute!

I'm in love with the flirty girly-ness of Wu's designs and am excited to buy some goods from the lower cost collab collection, ranging from $19.99 to $49.99, at midnight...in hopes that the target.com website doesn't crash this time around =)

I wonder if Michelle Obama will receive a huge box from Target?

Birthday Boy

I love celebrating birthdays, especially mine. Hey, I'm an only child, what can I say? Unfortunately Sean doesn't share my spoiled ways and didn't want any part in a huge birthday celebration this year. This could have also been a result of my failed attempts to get us a reservation at the highly coveted Schwa (yeah attempts, I called literally every other day for a month), but who needs a nine course BYOB meal at an exclusive restaurant that everybody has a hard time getting reservations to.......

Over. Rated. Anyway.

Instead, my darling Sean requested that we hang out at home and cook ourselves an uber delicious steak dinner from Fox & Obel, one of our favorite little local gourmet grocery stores. Fox & Obel is just the most warm, inviting and cozy spot....which sounds weird when describing a grocery store....but I am just in love with this place. Here's what they have to say about themselves:
"Our inspiration is drawn from old-world markets of Paris, Milan or Lisbon to the stores of New York and San Francisco.
We carry the best of everything. Just-caught fish, well-hung meat, mighty coffee, sinful cakes, fine artisan foods of every kind, the freshest of fruit and vegetables.
When you walk into Fox & Obel Market, you step into something special and no matter where in the culinary landscape your interests lie, the ingredients you need are here. If you live for food, your life is not complete until Fox & Obel becomes part of it."
And talk about good timing, Groupon offered a $50 for $100 coupon a few days before the actual day. So I used the extra monies for a half dozen cupcakes from Sprinkles. Back to dinner-we bought the 21 Day Dry Aged Prime Bone-In Rib Eye Steak, totaling $73 (thank you Groupon), and cooked up the recipe from David Chang's Momofuku cookbook. Can I say amaaaaaaaze?! Two cast iron skillets, one stick of butter, a few cloves of garlic, a few springs of thyme and some elbow grease is all you need for a gourmet meal. Who's Schwa?

All I have to say is that if you like to eat, you better like to cook, and if you like to cook, you better buy the best stuff!









Happy Birthday Sean!