January 29, 2013

Weekend Recap: Early Birthday Celebration!

This past weekend may have gotten a little cray cray...

Friday after getting out of work a bit early and testing some offers at the store on Addison, Dan managed to replicate an exact copy of Jim's Pad Thai! My BF, the chef :)

Saturday, we grabbed coffee at the Lincoln hotel's lobby coffee shop, around the corner from BF's apt. BF was so excited because he's been watching Dangerous Grounds, where this dude travels around the world trying to find the most exotic coffee beans. Elaine's Coffee Call serves some of the brews, so we grabbed a standard drip and an Americana with hazelnut to keep us warm on our way to the Green City Market at the Nature center in Lincoln Park.
The sad part is, I really wanted to go to grab some of the Cookies & Carnitas stew they advertised on Facebook. This place is too legit to quit! During the summer, I'm addicted to their porchetta, which they typically serve as a sandwich, and I had them convert to a salad for me.
BF and I also treated ourselves to some amazing canned veggies. Typically, I'm addicted to the salsa from Tomato Mountain, but this time I got canned beats (WHICH ARE INCREDIBLE!) from Bushel & Peck's. BF got the canned brussel sprouts, which I wasn't a huge fan of, but he seemed to really dig.

After the awesome trip to the market, I drove up Lincoln to Half Acre Brewery to pick up their donation to the JLKD Spring Fling. And while I was there... I may or may not have gotten a few growlers to enjoy of my own.

RANDOM NOTE: When I came back, I found not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR VW Beetles in a single block all of a different color! Did I miss some random Beetle convention?

Saturday evening we went out with our good friends DJ & Jenn for dinner and drinks. We ended up at Piece, because let's face it, I've been craving it ever since I first tried it.
This is the best pizza and I'm OBSESSED with their IPA, Camel Toe.... yes, Camel Toe. They name all their beers super awkward names. But it's Hilarious! :) There pizzas, as you can see, are GIANT! (ok, ok, I admit, I forgot to take the picture of our pizza(s), so this was our neighbor's pizza.)
After at least 1, maybe 2 periods of the Blackhawk's game...I'll be honest, I really wasn't paying attention.

We ended up walking around the corner to Violet Hour. I'd been talking with their manager this past week to see about a donation for Junior League's Spring Fling. After waiting in line to get in, I finally got to put a face with a name and she was wonderful to us! She gave us each a sparkling tottie to start our evening (which went fabulous with the warm fire we were sat next to).
This was so nice after waiting in the cold.
Their stellar cocktail menu is renowned!
My hot Tottie (Laird's Apple Brandy, Lemon, Spice Trader Syrup, Peychaud's Bitters)
DJ & Jenn enjoying their drinks and the warm fire!
Sunday I treated myself to an early birthday present, of a massage and hair treatment/trim at my local Mario Tricoci... A-Mazing... I now want a massage every week! Every DAY even... incredible. It was much needed, and I'll say it...  deserved :)

Just an overall great weekend with great friends! I am so blessed!

As you can see, mucho pictures... I might have pissed everyone off. But I realized this past year, that without blogging, I wasn't forcing myself to take pictures.... so needless to say it made my Christmas card especially difficult to create this year.

You may have noticed a common theme throughout this email... Junior League donations. I'm on the fundraising committee this year, and I just want to express my thanks and appreciate to the local businesses that have helped us out with our efforts this year. I can't wait to see what our league can do in our community in the coming year!

To learn more about the people/businesses in this post, check out the below links:

Elaine's Coffee Call (Facebook
BF: Twitter
 
And as always you can check out my other sites here:
Till next time...
XOXO, the Prep

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