Well hello there!

Yikes!  I haven't written since May 7th.   Sorry about that!

I guess I hadn't had much to write about so I just figured why bother.  And honestly, I didn't really mind it.  I basically forgot I had a blog.  Maybe that's an indication?  We'll see.

So here's a little update I have for you:

JOB:
Still none.  I'm still job searching daily and applying to things that I am qualified for and am interested in.  But it isn't a lot.  I'm still waiting to hear from this head hunter about a job he contacted me about in April, so we'll see.  I really hope something comes up soon because I am honestly bored with not working and really tired of not having any money.

FOOT:
The foot is good.  I got the all clear from my doctor last Thursday so I won't be seeing her again unless I want her to remove the toenail completely because it's bothering me.  The nail is slowly growing in and she says that I won't really get the whole thing back, so we'll see.  I'm really more worried about what it looks like than I thought I would be.  At least I can fully function.

GYM:
I started back to the gym last week.  I waited a week longer than I wanted to because I was afraid I was going to do something to my toe.  But it's honestly been great.  I haven't been running or jumping yet, but soon.  I'm not really in a rush, especially since I'm not playing volleyball right now.

DATING:
Nothing much was happening on this front for a long time.  Guy #2 basically pulled excuse after excuse, so that was that.  Last week I went out with a new guy from Match.  He is very nice.  We went out again last night - so we'll see.  He's fun to hang out with, but I'm not sure I really feel attracted to him.

I snagged an outfit photo before my date last night

OTHERS:
This month has seemed really busy.  One of my old teammates got married two weeks ago and a bunch of my teammates were in town to celebrate.  We had a great weekend reconnecting and just having a blast.  I snagged a couple photos from the pretty crazy week.

 Me and Tera take a selfie

 Sprangers, Tera, Amanda, Me and Brooke

Then there were shots and fishbowl drinks - and things got crazy!

 Amanda and I heading off to the wedding

 Wedding attire - Sprangers, Amanda, Tera, Me, T, Brooke

 A little Sunday Funday in the cab ride home with Amanda and Brooke

 Finally, I took a leap of faith and entered a pinup contest with the MOTOBLOT event.  Shockingly, I made it to the top 20!!!!  That means I have to be onsite for the event on the 14th of June for audience voting.  EEEK!  I'll be spending the next couple of weeks practicing my pinup poses, picking out what I'm going to wear and figuring out my hairstyles!

Cookie Party Recap

Sorry I am overdue with this post.  It's been a busy couple of days since the party.  Samson and I had a rough Sunday and I stayed home on Monday to keep an eye on him.

Anyways, the party was great.  A good mix of people and most came and stayed for a pretty decent amount of time.  I'm glad so many of my family could come out and a few friends who happen to be in town at the perfect time!

I tried to snag a few photos of the layout before everyone arrived - and an outfit shot, because I know at least one of you would ask...

In my cleaning frenzy that morning, I had to move all the wrapped presents from the floor of my dining room to under the tree (really where they belong).  I definitely think gifts under the tree completes the whole "Christmas tree" feeling.  Only downside - less of my cute tree skirt was showing! :)

I borrowed the drink bucket from my parents again which works out perfectly to stick cold bottles of wine and beer in.  That way people don't have to grab stuff from the kitchen.  It's not showing in this picture, but you can see it in the background of the photo of Samson.

The buffet that I DIY from the Ikea shelves, is the perfect place to layout the drink section.

This year I made a few more appetizers than I did last year.  Surprisingly, I still had a lot of cookies leftover after the party.  My family will be happy I still have some for next week.

Finally, this is officially becoming Samson's spot during parties.  He provides him the escape from people's feet, but also gives him prime location to scout innocent party goers who are willing to give him treats.

As soon as I put the cookies out he started camping out there.  My guardian.

As for what I wore, it was kind of spur of the moment.  I like this shirt because it's festive without being obnoxious.  That being said, there were quite a few Christmas sweaters at my party.  I may have to think about that for next year.

After spending countless hours watching youtube tutorials on vintage hairstyles and all the makeup application tutorials, I feel pretty confident that I can get a very vintage look without too much work.  It's definitely becoming my go to look for parties.

 The shirt I got last year from Express; skirt is old from Macys.

Finally, a closer look at the hair and makeup thanks to a goofy Instagram selfie.

Pride Parade 2013

Oh man.  I didn't think I could love living in the city as much as I did, but this last week has been crazy.  I love it there (even with the 4am yelling and car honking).

Last Monday, the Hawks won to Stanley Cup and my neighborhood was hopping ALL NIGHT.  And I do mean all night.

Then, this past Sunday was the Pride Parade.  Last year they changed the route and now it comes right down the street in front of my house.  I invited a few people over to come and have brunch and watch from my sun room.  Melissa and Justin and their kids came and Sprangers, Kate and Erin.

I grabbed a few photos and the video below.  Kayla hands down enjoyed the parade the most.

Everyone had a good seat...

 and we were all happy (for most of the time)

 Best part of the afternoon (and almost FOUR hour parade).... Kayla saying "They aren't wearing shirts!"

Chicago Restaurant Week

Last night, I had reservations at a place in Bucktown with Brooke to try to take advantage of restaurant week.  When I wasn't feeling well in the morning, I considered cancelling the reservation and just staying in.  I decided against it after I had some more sleep.

I'm glad that I didn't cancel.  We tried the restaurant The Bristol restaurant.  After reviewing the almost 300 restaurants participating in Restaurant Week, it was super overwhelming to decide on just one.

I think we made a good decision.  I selected it mainly because of the menu they were offering.  When I saw they had Chocolate Beer cake for dessert, I knew I would get Brooke into it too.

We showed up early and they were able to seat us right away.  Our server recommended a bourbon based cocktail that wasn't on the menu - which was DELICIOUS.

We ordered the restaurant week special menu and got the fried bones appetizer as well.  We chose the beverage pairing as well, which was really nice.

The atmosphere was really low key and cozy.  It also had a very farmhouse feel to it.  I love places like that.

I will definitely be going there again.

*On a side note, I am going out of town for work until Saturday, so I most likely won't be posting the rest of the week.

Birthday Celebration Weekend

I have SO much to talk about this weekend, and it's going to come in multiple posts so bear with me.

Amanda and Brooke themed the weekend on ticking off things from my 101 list.  I'm going to break out the major events into a few different posts but it was awesome!

Brooke and Amanda picked me up at the house late Thursday night and we headed down to a hotel in River North where we would be staying for the weekend.  We didn't make it to the hotel until around 2am, so we went to bed pretty much immediately.

On Friday, we rolled out of bed and got ready pretty late.  We had lunch at Hub 51 and they told me that we were going to check some things off my list - take an architecture boat tour (not something on my list, but something I've been trying to do) and go to the Aquarium (something on my list).

We made it to the boat for the 2pm trip and lasted 10 minutes once we left the dock before it started to pour.

Boat tour - before the storm

We made the best of the trip even though it was raining.  By the time we got back to shore it was already 4pm and the aquarium was closing in an hour, so we nixed that plan and decided to get our makeup done at Nordstrom instead (something else on the list we were supposed to do on Saturday).

Friday night outfit (more on the makeup on a separate post)

Then, we went back to the hotel to finish getting ready (a much easier process when your makeup is already done) and headed off to dinner at Arami.  Our friend, Ryan, is an investor at the restaurant, and we had an awesome time.  The food was incredible and we really enjoyed just sitting there drinking and eating whatever they brought to the table.  It was a long dinner (about 4 hours), but we had a great time.

at dinner (me, Amanda, Brooke and Ryan)

We called it an early night because we had to be up early on Saturday.  Brooke actually turned down "one last drink".  It was the first time ever and Amanda and I were in shock.

Saturday morning, we got up, grabbed breakfast at Einsteins and then headed out west.  Once we hit Aurora, they blindfolded me and I spent the rest of the drive looking like a terrorist hostage in the backseat.  Finally, we got out of the car, they snapped a picture of me blindfolded and told me we were going skydiving!!

The skydiving deserves its own separate post, but it was AMAZING!  I'm still jazzed up about it two days later.  I can totally see this becoming an addictive hobby for me.

After we were done skydiving, we stopped in Dekalb to have lunch with our old coach, Ray.  It was great to catch up and we ended up leaving Dekalb much later than expected.  We got back downtown around 6 and had to rush to get ready and get out to dinner.

Saturday night outfit

Melissa, Justin and Brendan met us out for dinner at Uncle Julio's (music plays on the site FYI).  Dinner was okay.  Service was SUPER slow and we were pretty tired.  After dinner, we said good night to Melissa and Justin and went out to find some excitement.  We had a few bumps in the road, but finally found a dive bar near our hotel that we had  a great time at (and a few shots).  Eventually, we made it back to the hotel room at 4:30ish am and crashed.

Sunday morning, we got up (I woke them up pretty early).  I picked up my apartment keys and showed Amanda my new place (full post with photos to follow).  Then, we spent the afternoon up in Evanston showing my parents the skydiving videos and having an early dinner.

I'm so tired today, but it was so totally worth it.  Thanks Amanda and Brooke for the amazing weekend.  I don't think I could ever top this birthday.

Summertime in Chicago

Summertime in Chicago is the time I've been waiting for the most.  There are so many fun things to do in the city when it's warm.

Yesterday was my first night of doubles beach league.  I gotta say... riding my (dad's) bike along the lakefront to the sand courts down in North Avenue beach was about as summer-in-Chicago as you can get.

It makes me excited to be home... and excited about all the fun stuff I will get to do.

The volleyball itself was rocky, but it will get better.  Transitioning from indoor to sand is difficult.  Good thing I will be playing two nights a week pretty soon.  (This better help with my exercise/get in shape plan!)

The only shot of the courts I managed to grab last night.  I was dog-tired.

Apartment Hunting

This week, my mom and I went to look at an apartment* in Chicago.  It was the start of what I foresee being an endless cycle of apartment visits.

I forgot how much I hate apartment hunting.  It's painful with a large dog.

It's a delicate balance between what I want and what is going to be a good fit for me and Samson.

It also hasn't helped that coming from owning a 4 bedroom house, I have accumulated stuff... lots of stuff!  BIG stuff.

I'm praying that I will be able to find something that will fit what I need to have (and get rid of the rest) and a place that Samson will also be comfortable in.  Clearly, the two of us cannot live in a 500 sf studio.  That's just not realistic.

I'm thankful that my salary allows me to expand my options, but I do want to be conscious of my spending so I can continue to save money.

This is going to get interesting.


*The apartment was nice...  Fairly large but had NO closet space.  Also, it was a 5th floor walk-up.  Probably not the easiest for Samson and I.  

A few of my favorite things

Favorite City...

Favorite springtime smell...

Favorite skirt...

*sweater - JCrew, skirt - Anne Cramer, shoes - Payless, belt, Target

#4 Best Thing about living in Chicago

What seems like ages ago (okay, at least 7 years), we - Amanda, Brooke and I - discovered our favorite restaurant in Chicago....

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!

website

Anytime we had a special occasion to celebrate or a reason to head out to Chicago, we went there.  It is a Spanish tapas place with sangria on tap.  ON TAP!

Even when we would all have our "reunion" weekends in Chicago, we would make our way there at one point or another.  We have tons of jokes that come from nights at Ba-ba-reeba.  I've taken my siblings there.  I plan to take my DC friends there when we they visit.  I just love it.

While I lived in DC, I could never find a tapas place that I liked better (from the perspective of food AND drinks). 

Being back in Chicago means that I can to to Ba-ba-reeba whenever I want.  Like tonight!

Brooke and I are having a little birthday dinner tonight at our historical haunt.  Can't wait!

#3 Best Thing about living in Chicago

Since I have moved to Chicago (a little over a month ago), I have had to fill up my gas tank twice.

TWICE.

When I was in Maryland, I had to fill up at least once a week, usually every 5-6 days.

With gas prices at $4.50 a gallon, my wallet is thankful for this change!!!

Da Bulls

Last night Brooke invited me to the Bulls game with her.  She has one an incentive for work and received two tickets to the Legends Lounge for last night's game.

Taking aside the coolness of the lounge and the VIP treatment, it was awesome getting to spend time with Brooke... on a weeknight....like it was a totally normal thing.  And no one had to take time off work for it to happen.

I think I'm really going to like being in Chicago (as if I needed the additional reasoning)!

Here's a semi-crappy photo I caught last night before the game was over.

#2

The best things about living in Chicago...

#2 - Portillo's ANYTIME I want it!

So maybe it's not worthy of the #2 slot, but it's definitely one of the best things!

The best things....

I am thinking I want to start a list.  A list of the best things about being back in Chicago.

Ready....  (Hopefully this will be an ongoing thing)

#1

Being back with my family....

and friends....