Prep in the Midwest

January 25, 2013

A Love Note to Chicago Drivers

Dear Drivers in Chicago (and the surrounding suburbs):

Just because you have a license and/or license plate from a Midwest or northern states does NOT mean you automatically (through telepathy) inherited superhuman driving abilities. You are NOT, not going to slide off the road or into other vehicles if you accelerate quickly in slush/snow/ice.

Also, having a 4-wheel drive vehicle does not mean you have a godlike ability to avoid any an all weather related accidents.

I just wanted to point out these facts, as you are sharing the road with me. I would like to get to my destinations safely. And your plain STUPID behavior is endangering me, even as I am driving as slow and safe as need be to meet my objective: to STAY ALIVE.

In conclusion, cut it the heck out! Drive like a person who understands the gravity of the situation, and be cognizant that your actions also effect those around you; ergo: ME!

XoXo, the Prep

NBC Chicago - Morning Snow Creates Messy Commute

January 23, 2013

Weekend Recap: Sorry for being Tardy to the Party

I know, cheesy title, but one, I am tardy in reporting my Weekend Recap, and two, I now have Kim Zolciak (Real Housewives of Atlanta) "Tardy for the Party" stuck in my head... which is just scary.

And now you can have it stuck in your head too...

You're Welcome! :)

So back to the original purpose of this post: THIS (PAST) WEEKEND!

As you already know, I did manage to get all my grocery shopping accomplished and my cooking started. What you don't know is how INCREDIBLE homemade Chicken Noodle Soup is with homemade chicken broth!!!

BF did end up going to his Bike Swap (thingy), but thankfully only to get parts to rebuild his bike, and not all the bikes he finds on craigslist.

When he got to my place he was hungry, so I de-fatted the broth and made soup(where you've refrigerated the broth over night and skim the fat that floats to the top off, and throw it away).

I took the broth, and started warming it up; chopped up carrots, celery and onion and threw that in. And then I threw in the the noodles and chicken I had cut up the night before. Once the noodles are done, it's all piping hot to serve! I even had these adorable heart shaped noodles that I'd picked up from World Market!

He then was so sweet and put on Mary Poppins! ABC Family/Disney Channel has been doing what they should've been doing all along, and running all the original and awesome Disney movies!

In the last two weeks, I've watched:

Lion King

Cinderella

Aladdin

Mulan

Hercules

And probably a lot more that I'm blanking on right now... but either way, it's awesome! Kids really are missing out these days, because Disney in the 90's was too legit to quit!

After the movie, BF really was set to watch the Hockey season opener, so I caught a nap. We ended up going to see Gangster Squad Saturday night.

It my have been my totties which I confiscated into this appropriate post-prohibition era movie, or just his general hotness, but Ryan Gosling made my night in this movie! Overall, I really enjoyed it!
Sunday, I met up with some amazing Junior League ladies, and mini-leaguers, for lunch in Naperville. We plotted and strategized, before breaking out to rally the local businesses for sponsorship of our Junior League of Kane & DuPage Counties Spring Fling!

We're currently selling event and raffle tickets HERE. You need not be present to win, so PLEASE check out the awesome opportunities!

These are tax deductible and we hope to raise over 75% of our community project budget at this event.
Our organizations produces great events such as:

Done In A Day: We plan and implement short-term, hands-on volunteer projects in response to community needs and requests as they arise. Past projects have included collecting school supplies for children in need as they head back to school, refurbishing a teen center, and sorting food at a food bank.

Story Wizards: A project that encourages a love of reading and promotes literacy for children at risk in the community. Our trained volunteers involve children in read-alouds and literacy activities, providing positive influences that the children need to succeed and become future readers.

Kids In The Kitchen: We support this initiative and are committed to improving the health of today’s youth by empowering them to make choices that lead to healthy lifestyles. We provide informational materials, lessons, and demonstrations related to preparation of healthy meals and snacks that are both tasty and affordable.

Just overall is an awesome group of incredible ladies working to do life changing things in our community!

I'd like to thank the below organizations that have already provided or have committed to provide donations to our event/league:

Anchored Style (Twitter & Facebook)

Chicago Belt Company (Twitter & Facebook)

Chick Fil A (Twitter & Facebook)

Cooper's Hawk (Twitter & Facebook)

Half Acre Brewery (Twitter & Facebook)

Knockaround Sunglasses (Twitter & Facebook)

Salmon Cove (Twitter & Facebook)

Smathers & Branson (Twitter & Facebook)

Solemn Oath Brewery (Twitter & Facebook)

The Southern Gentleman (Twitter & Facebook)

Southern Proper (Twitter & Facebook)

Two Brothers Brewery (Twitter & Facebook)

Vineyard Vines (Twitter & Facebook)

ZICO Coconut Water (Twitter & Facebook)

It's not too late to be apart of this wonderful event/organization! Contact us at fundraising@jlkd.org if you'd like to make a donation!

I wish you all a FABULOUS rest of the week!

XOXO, the Prep

January 18, 2013

Kicking off the weekend

And so it begins...

Tottie is made, and broth is on the burner!

Playing this by ear, I put in the following:

Celery, black pepper corn, rosemary stalk, thyme stalk, baby carrots, and water to cover the chicken bones.

Have any of y'all done this before? How has it turned out?

XOXO, the Prep

January 17, 2013

Weekend Plans!

This coming weekend I'm planning on sticking fairly close to home.

I'm really hoping to get some cleaning and cooking done, and just overall get organized.

I'm by nature an organized person, but that doesn't mean it's like germ-free/sparkling clean.

BF has said he may be coming out to go to a Bike Swap in the area.

He's been all about bikes the last year or so, and this past summer was buying bikes off craigslist to rebuild and resell.

Although he's not stating it, I get the impression he plans to stock up his working material... meaning less space in his tiny apt to hang out with friends :(.

Anywho, what I'm planning to do, other than cleaning, is cook!

Last Sunday, I hung out with BF's mom who is an amazing, seasoned, instinctual cook.

We specifically were talking about how to make a stock and soup.

Which kind of gave me the itch.

So here's my plan:

I'm going to go shopping tomorrow after work for grocery to make,

1.) Aunt Joan's Chicken Salad (below)

2.) Pot Roast

3.) Homemade Chicken noodle Soup

My hope is two fold. One, that they all come out edible, and two that I can ration and freeze this stuff for meals for the next week or so.

Do y'all have any comfort recipes you enjoy making during these cold winter months or just in general? Please share! I love to cook, but am typically just cooking for myself and stick to simple single serve.

AUNT JOAN'S Chicken Salad

Mix Dressing: Set aside and pour on salad 1 hour before serving.

2 pkgs of chicken ramean seasoning

3/4 C oil

1/3 C white vinegar

1/4 C Sugar

Salad:

1 12 oz. Broccoli Slaw

2 apples diced

1 C sunflower seeds

1 pkg dried cranberries

1 bunch green onions chopped

1 bell pepper

1 C slivered almonds

1 Rotisserie Chicken cut-up small pieces

2 pkgs noodles crunched up top right before serving.

XOXO, the Prep

January 16, 2013

To Welly or not to Welly...

If you don't already have a pair and you're any kind of 'Prep', I'm sure you've heard of the famous Hunter Boot.

Whether you're roaming the hills of the country side, marching through the muck on the farm, shopping at your local farmers market, or walking in the snow down Michigan Ave. you're bound to spot a pair keeping some lucky girls feet and calves dry and warm (and in summer, maybe just comfortable and stylish).

Here's where I run into a jam:

There's a killer sale going on, on the Hunter website for their Original Tall boots for $79 (a steal!). And Mom has said she'd go in 50/50 with me for my birthday.

However, being the former cheerleader I am, and that I hate running, my calves are not what you might call 'slim'.

Being the savvy consumer that I am, I know this since last night I went to Nordstroms to be sure of the size before ordering.

The nice gentleman there, Jermaine at the Woodfield store, assisted me and showed me that Hunter, being the smart company they are and knowing not every girl has the same size calves, makes a different boot called the Huntress. This shoe has a slightly larger mouth to it, allowing for plenty of room for my cheerleader calves.

My dilemma is this: Am I really going to wear these often enough to justify spending $135? I can't wear them at work (which is like 36% of my time; the rest being split between weekends 31% and sleeping 33%). And yes, I'm a numbers girl, so I did just calculate my time that I would/could be wearing these boots.

Here's where you come in:

I need you to vote Y/N, if you think I should get them.

Either by leaving a comment below or (preferably) clicking the survey link HERE.

Here's where they really real me in... They have ADORABLE socks to go with the boots!

I mean how cute are these!

On the Hunter site they also have these on sale for 50% off!:

And fun British flag ones:

Anywho, that's my little style decision for the day. I greatly appreciate your input!

XOXO, the Prep

January 15, 2013

1canoe2 Letterpress - Print has arrived!

Guess what arrived yesterday?!?!

My BEAUTIFUL print from 1canoe2 Letterpress!

I'm so excited and can't wait to frame and hang it!

I did end up going with the Georgia print as it is my roots.

You can check out more about 1canoe2 Letterpress below:

website

Twitter

Facebook

Thanks again ladies for the incredible print!

XOXO, the Prep

January 14, 2013

Champagne Toasts & Tons of Laughs

This past weekend my BFF Sarah S. came to visit me!

She got in fairly early on Friday evening, and of course we had to make our way to Giordano's for some Chicago stuffed pizza.

I know there's some debate over not only which city (NYC or Chicago) does pizza best, but even in Chicago they fight over which pizza is supreme. Some people like Giordano's, while others prefer Lou Malnati's... still others prefer other small hole-in-the-walls around the city. I feel like this is a divided city over so many things: hot dogs, pizza, beers, and baseball... thank god hockey's back as they can at least agree on that.

After dinner and a few margaritas, we made our way home for an evening of shenanigans and Pitch Perfect.

This is my current movie obsession. If you haven't seen it... DO!

I asked Little Sis to get this for me for Christmas, and I swear I've watched it like 10x since.

I think I love it so much for 2 reasons... 1.) the music is AMAZING! and 2.) I want to pretend that the main characters are me and BF:

Jesse: "You're one of those acapella girls, I'm one of those acapella boys, and we're gonna have aca-children. It's inevitable."

On Saturday, we made our way to the city.

We had purchased tickets a while back to go see Book of Mormon.

We had gotten tickets to the 2pm show, which actually worked out pretty perfect, not too late and allowed us fun time after the show.

IRONICALLY, Benji from Pitch Perfect was our lead!

He was really good! The whole play was pretty clever, however coming from someone who isn't easily offended, I wouldn't say I got uncomfortable, but I don't know that I'd see it again.

The sets were awesome, and the characters were well developed. I did like the actors voices a lot!

Afterward, we were looking for a fun cocktail bar we could have fancy martini's at. We happened to stumble upon Pops for Champagne. This place was great!

It was all so sleek and shiny, with fashion shows on the tvs, and nothing but champagne on the menu!

These are the 'Start Wearing Purple' and the 'La Vie en Rose' Champagne Cocktails

We did get some lite appetizers to hold us over till we figured out dinner... Turns out there's a huge difference between east coast oysters and west coast oysters. PS West coast is WAY BETTER!