Weekend Recap - Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend was a (thankfully) long Memorial Day holiday. 

 I actually got sent home early from work on Friday, which worked out nicely. It allowed me to drive into the city (via my new terrific, super-secret, outstanding route that only took me an hour and ten during Friday rush-hour!) to meet up with the girls for dinner! 

We ate at Wilde (after Oscar Wilde).

The food was spectacular! And huge portions. I don't think any of the 5 of us girls that were there finished our meals!

L got the mac'n cheese

Mel got the Bison Burger

And I got the INCREDIBLE Chicken-Pot-Pie!

Overall a pretty outstanding meal, I would wouldn't mind repeating. Plus it was all so reasonable! I think with 2 drinks, our meals, and splitting a desert it might've cost each of us around $22. Not bad when you consider the avg cost of an adult beverage in the city of Chicago...

After dinner we braved the on-coming rain to grab one last cocktail at Tin Lizzies before heading home.

Saturday, we had all made plans to hit up Wrigley for some pre-gaming at our old favorite, the Stretch, before the Baseball game at noon. Sadly we were all so wiped from our weekend, most of us didn't get their till Pitch. BF and I held down the fort throughout the game... maybe enjoying our mason jars a little too much to meet up with everyone afterwards. We had a great seat inside with the windows open as the skies opened and started to poor. But we enjoyed dancing and goofing off with everyone:

Mel, me and L

R, MS, MH, and T

 Overall a great time!

Sunday, well weather wise, wasn't much better. Minus BF venturing out to get a hair cut, we pretty much bumbed around all day, DL-ing movies and relaxing. The weather finally cleared around 6ish and we made our way (per our original plan) to the Belmont/Sheffield Music Festival. 

 We made it juts in time for Hairbangers Ball (an 80's & 90's cover band) and met up with a friend of BF's. We grab a 'light' dinner at Leona's (across the street from all the crazies):

After the festival, BF and I went back with the intention of enjoying the beautiful evening weather on his balcony, but ended up watching landscaping & decorating shows on his futon and falling asleep. One show we like to watch (and make fun of) is Chicago's Best. We also managed to watch an episode outlining what they and their viewers felt were the best Mexican places in the city. We decided to try one out they recommended for breakfast. So Monday morning we ventured to North Clarke in Uptown to Tiztal Cafe. 

 They had specifically mentioned their Oatmeal Milkshake of which I was somewhat skeptical, however it is truly a life-changer!

BF got the Steak Chilaquiles

And I got the Feta/Spinach/Onion omelet.... of which I had zero chance of finishing (I think I only made it through half).

 After Breakfast, we made a quick stop by BF's new shopping obsession (REI), before making our way back his apt. I ended up leaving shortly after to make it to the pool for some much needed sun... sadly, I was overly ambitious on my first day out... and now am a lovely shade of pink.

I finished off my holiday weekend at a chicken fry with the girls. I made my super duper easy squash/onions, and T made her Texas Fried Chicken. It was a great and relaxing end to a very busy weekend.

Tonight.... I hope to run off all the calories that I surely enjoyed.

How was your Memorial Day weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Home Decorating - Inspiration on a Budget

As you may recall I went back home a few weeks ago. What I didn't elaborate on is how many freaking decorating catalogs my mom had accumulated for her 'master plan' for our little family 'Farm' house.The ideas range from how to refurbish some of the REALLY old items in the house, to complete overhauls. I tried to politely explain to her, that she needs to organize and get rid of stuff at home and figure out what she has first before going out and purchasing anything new.This statement was followed directly the next week with my sister going Ape-sh*t on my mom's compilation of 4 decades of 'STUFF'. Needless to say (thankfully), we shouldn't see TLC's 'Hoarders' showing up at our house at least for another few years.... progress was made (meaning stuff was thrown out and parted with... barely).
All of this being said, the whole thing got me thinking about how we as a society are moving away from printed information towards the internet. Where my mom bought about a hundred design magazines to draw inspiration... I go to the below sites:

This is a blog I follow called Design Darling:
http://www.mackenziehoran.com/

HGTV has a great website:
http://www.hgtv.com/decorating/index.html

Martha Stewart - no brainer
http://www.marthastewart.com/home-decorating

House Beautiful
http://www.housebeautiful.com/

Southern Living
http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/decorating/southern-home-decorating-ideas-00417000068649/

Apartment Therapy- a great blog my boyfriend found
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

Tumblr... I always see the cutest party and house decorations and just want to catalog them for when I'm a billionaire!

All of these offer amazing ideas, and are FREE! Where do you go to draw inspiration for your  apartment/home designs?

Two Brother's Brewery - Follow Up

I meant to post these the other day.... I took some pics of our food for dinner at Two Brother's Brewery during our Junior League Brainstorming:

Their mac'n cheese looked TO DIE FOR!

I had the fish tacos and they were by far the best I've had in a REALLY REALLY LONG TIME! AMAZING

Ya'll should really check out this hidden treasure. The building is a little off putting because it basically looks like an industrial plant and is hidden in an industrial park.... but it's AMAZING! Plus, if you're a micro-brewer yourself, they have all the equipment to sell you as well!

Summer Shades 2011

With summer just around the corner, I'm always conscious of protecting my eyes.... not, I'm conscious of NOT GOING BLIND. And in the spirit of the approaching summer weather, and copious outdoor activities, I thought it'd be fun to share some of my latest sun-glass loves:

Typically I'm your 'nothing but preppy' type, out with my aviators, but lately I've been moving towards other styles.

These classic Ray Ban's always seem to make the wear mysterious and exciting! $145

I love these heart shaped, Rhinestone- studded glasses! They just seem to represent everything that's cute about Katy Perry! $26

Over-sized sunglasses always remind me of Jackie O.; style icon, mystery woman extraordinaire! $12.50

What type of glasses do you sport? Do you change them by season or wear them year-round?

Two Brother's Brewery

As I type this I am currently sitting at Two Brother's Brewery enjoying their IPA - Resistance. I'm waiting on my lovely Junior League counterparts for our brainstorming meeting. As I wait, I've been working on what else... WORK... but just felt the urge to let ya'll know how AMAZING this stuff is! Check out their site to learn more!

Weekend Recap - Here comes the sun

This past weekend I was determined to be productive, what with the weather supposed to be so crappy. Especially, with being out of town the previous weekend I was hoping for some much needed down time. Ended up going out for drinks with a co-worker after work on Friday which led to sleeping till 11am on Saturday (something I have done in ages!) I then proceeded to try to motivate myself to be productive, which wasn't helped by the Harry Potter marathon on ABC Family....

As I started to pack for my move in a month (SO STOKED!), the sun started to come out, and I started to get texts from friends in the city enjoying cocktails in the beautiful weather.... and I caved. I wrapped up what I was working on, and made my way into the city. 

It was BF's best friend's birthday, so we made plans to head out on the town. After one lame dive bar, we ended up at Uncle Fattys. I happened to really like this place, as it's more chill, there's always dancing, and typically a live band; not to mention the fabulous fishbowl cocktails!

After much fun was had, we made our way back to chill on the patio in the beautiful spring weather! Overall, great night!

Sunday, I woke BF early for a breakfast at Nookies :) and a walk around Lincoln park, where there was apparently some sort of grilling festival, as we found a giant Weber grill and the Wiener mobile. (Pictures below):

My weak 'attempt' to 'steal' the weinermobile

After walking around a bit we went back to relax. BF's parents came in for the afternoon and wanted to see the new vegetarian documentary "Fork over Knife". After which we went to the Chicago Diner which offers vegetarian and vegan options. It was an overall interesting experience.

I made my way back to the Burbs just in time to miss driving through the crazy weather we got here in the midwest. I would vote this weekend a success for my social calendar, but a quasi-fail for my wallet ;).

What'd you do this weekend? Are you getting revved up for all the summer festivals coming up soon?

Guess Who I Am: Designer Edition - Answers

Per my promise, I've listed the answers below. I threw a couple up-and-comers into the mix, and not many of ya'll knew them. Check'em out! They're pretty neat and I think you'll really like them! How many did you know?

#1 - Brooks Brothers

#2 - Hermes

#3 - Kiel James Patrick

#4 - Lacoste

#5 - Lilly Pulitzer

#6 - Longchamp

#7 - Salmon Cove

#8 - Ralph Lauren Polo

#9 - Southern Proper (SoPro)

#10 - Hilfiger

#11 - Tory Burch

#12 - Vineyard Vines

Guess Who I Am: Preppy Design Edition

I thought it'd be fun to do a quick game of whether ya'll know your preppy designers. I'm going to display logos of a few of my favorite Preppy Designers' below. Follow the survey link to see if you can guess. I'll list the answers this weekend!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

 Submit your Answers here!