Prep in the Midwest

June 8, 2011

Spread the Word!

With Summer here (and my first sunburn come and gone), please see this video about sun-safety! And spread the word!

You can learn more at http://dcmf.ca/

June 6, 2011

This past weekend I started out with grand ambitions of being completely ready for my move by the end of the weekend. I did get a healthy amount done, but it just seems so overwhelming and never-ending.

Most of my Kitchen/Living Room Contents

Additional Boxes.... more to come

Saturday I was determined to be productive. I got up early, I walked in the un-godly humidity, and packed. I even ran errands getting baby gifts for a shower and dropping things off at Goodwill. I became complete unproductive after this, when at Trader Joe's I ran into a bottle of Sangria.... of which I promptly went home and made, invited friends and went to the pool. (It was 95 and I had been so good up until that point, I deserved a break). This proceeded to mess up my entire evening, when included a bout of insomnia and multiple hours of Full-House/Family Matters reruns.

Sunday, I went to the mall and proceeded to add more debt to my Sears CC (after I just paid it off too :( ) and bought two new swim suits from Lands' End for my beach trip in July. I felt this was necessary as I haven't gotten any good suits in like 3 years.... But it's oh so flattering!

Lands' End

After shopping, I met BF at his Grandmother's house in Darien, as she was coming home from her hospital recovery. We visited for a little while before heading to an early dinner. Neither of us had had lunch and were starving. I'd been craving sushi for a while, so we drove up to Naperville and grabbed a bite.

We went to Blue Ginger and it was oh so tasty!

Obviously we were early, and beat the crowd, but they had a lovely dining experience and the service was super friendly!

I loved the eclectic feel of the restaurant, and they even had a patio (had it not been so hot, we would've sat out there),

One of our AMAZING rolls! I recommend sticking to the signature rolls as they seemed more 'worth while'.

BF and I ended up spending a relaxing evening at home watching the MTV movie awards. Neither of us had watched it in a while... and with the exception of Reese Witherspoon winning a lifetime achievement award, I was extremely disappointed. The only reason we watch was because I REALLY wanted to see the sneak previews of Harry Potter and Twilight. I'm a huge dork. But it would be like 10x better if they didn't let the fans vote for ALL the awards... like the fact that K.Stew won best actress in a category she was nominated for with the actual Oscar winner (Natalie Portman) is just sad... that and the fact that Twilight won just about every category.... I like me so Jacob, but I am smart enough to understand the movies aren't the best acting...

What did you do for the weekend? Did you get out and enjoy the sun at all?

June 3, 2011

Lilly Pulitzer FURNITURE!

Lilly Pulitzer has been teasing us for MONTHS now with the promise of their NEW Furniture Line!

NOW, it seems to be available (limited) at Neiman Marcus!!

I have never used a vanity, but I strongly feel that I could use this one:

And who can get over that AMAZING wall paper?!?

And of course I need the chair to go with it!

This Day Bed is just so cute and would look FABULOUS anywhere, but most especially in a small apartment...

I've been looking at new sofas (not that I can afford one right now), but this is just TO DIE FOR!

One item not shown that my sister is OBSESSED with is:

I have yet to figure out where this can be bought..... Any hints are greatly appreciated!

Does anyone have any other tips on where this stuff can be found? Do you have any favorites I've left out?

Friday Fashion Find

I've been hearing a lot about Essie nail polish for a while.

So I went out and got two interesting colors. I was a little disappointed that they didn't have any Gold in stock, because who doesn't need more gold nail polish :)

The colors I got were:

- Mademoiselle

- Buy Me A Cameo

The light pink because every lady should always have a gloss of clear or pale pink on their fingers. The Gold because I'm totally going to need more colors for Football season! It's only starting to be Summer, but I'm already thinking about Football.

Do you use Essie? I typically use O.P.I. but I'm branching out.

June 2, 2011

Must haves- community links

When I first moved to Chicago, it was hard to know about all the amazing activities that were going on...

I was lucky enough to have a few friends that showed me the various community emails/national sites I should check out for ideas of what I could do in my free time. For those of you who are new, existing, or just hope to be Chicagoland residents, here are the sites/emails I'm talking about:

Chicago Fashion- Refinery 29

Metromix - Chicago

Groupon - Chicago

Living Social - Chicago

Soupbox - gives great coupons/freebies

Tippr Chicago

YouSwoop - Chicago

Chicago Cubs Schedule

Explore Chicago- especially good on Twitter

City Of Chicago website

Are there any you think I've left out? Where else do you think I should be gathering ideas?

May 31, 2011

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?

May 26, 2011

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/