The Weekender

The weekend went way too fast as usual! I didn't have any big plans but got a lot done around the house and did feel pretty rested to start the work week. It sure felt like Fall this weekend, it's nice, but I'm not looking forward to the pending Winter. Here's a few pictures of my weekend, what did you guys do?

The chill is in the air, but it was sunny and gorgeous most of the weekend!

I fried an egg for the first time ever! I don't know what has taken me so long. Made a delicious sandwich with turkey bacon, cheddar and sourdough.

It's always a good weekend when Target is involved. Spotted this cute blouse at Target and couldn't get over what a good deal it was. $22.99 and to me it looks more like a Banana or Ann Taylor style shirt. I don't feel like orange works with my skin tone, but I was scoping this out for my Mom or sister who can pull that color off. You can see the shirt on Target's website here.

Do you guys like Kiwis? I love them and end up eating them more on the weekend than during the week when I can take the time to peel them. Did you know that ounce for ounce, kiwifruit contains more vitamin C than an orange?! It’s also a good source for two of the most important fat-soluble antioxidants: vitamin E and vitamin A.

I did our Fall planters this weekend too! I'll have to post about them this week.

Here's hoping for a quick and painless work week!

The Weekender

I love my Summer Fridays at work, but I'm thinking we need to add Summer Monday's as well... Anyone agree?! I had a really fun weekend with my Dad. He drove back from AZ to Michigan this weekend and stopped in Chicago for a few nights. Seems like it would be a lot easier for him to just fly home for the Summer, but he insists on doing a road trip. I admit, I do enjoy getting to be a pit stop on the trip!

After a weird cold and rainy spell Thursday & Friday, Saturday turned out to be a sunny and gorgeous day. Perfect for a walk on the Lakeshore path. The view never gets old.

Enjoyed our tea outside on my new patio furniture!

And hit the first roofdeck of the season. One of my old standbys, The Terrace at The Conrad.

Hope everyone had a good weekend too. And the countdown to this weekend starts...NOW. Here's hoping for a fast work week...

The Weekender

Happy Tuesday! This 2 and a half day work week is doing wonders for my mood. I'm way more chipper than usual today :)  Half day tomorrow and then I'm on the road to Michigan! Can't wait for a relaxing weekend away from the city and work. My sister was here this past weekend and we had so much fun together! It started off Thursday with the Mat Kearney concert at House of Blues. It was pretty cool, we had floor tickets and we were only one row back from the stage. Before the concert we had apps and drinks at Rockit -- one of my favorite places. Their food is so delicious.

Blurry pics, but you get the idea. I've mentioned Mat Kearney on here before, I love his music. If you need some new stuff to listen to, check him out. His whole new album is awesome, here are a few of my favs and one from his last album:

Hey Mama, from the "Young Love" album
Undeniable, from the "Nothing Left to Lose" album
Young Dumb and In Love, from the "Young Love" album

Speaking of music, do you guys use Spotify? I am obsessed. I was never a huge Pandora lover and what I like about Spotify is you pick the music. If you want to play "We found Love" by Rihanna, that's exactly what it plays. I always found that so annoying on Pandora, it never plays the exact song you want! It is set-up just like iTunes and I haven't found a song they don't have yet. You can add entire albums to your music or just make up your own playlists.

And it's free! You do have to listen to some ads, but it's still pretty great. Just don't sync to Facebook or it will randomly post whatever songs you are listening to on FB. Nobody needs to announce on FB that I've found the Stevie Wonder album and can't stop listening to some of the songs... Here's what it looks like on my computer:

Back to food, a favorite topic! Tried a couple of great new places this past weekend, I'm going to be blogging about them soon. Mexican and Italian, what other kind of food does one need?!

Happy Friday!

Oh, Friday, I'm so happy you're here. I'm headed back to Michigan after work today for a wine tasting weekend in Traverse City with my Mom and sister. So excited! I haven't been in awhile and I definitely want to stock up on some Michigan made vino, cherries and good food! And of course we'll be stopping at The Most Beautiful Place in America, Sleeping Bear Dunes :)

From a 2006 trip up North...I forgot how long it's been since I was up there!

Mama D and Al @ Sleeping Bear Dunes

I'll be back with lots of wine reviews and pictures for you next week. And if you're in Chi this weekend, don't forget to stop by for the launch of the new Nike Chicago shoes!

The Weekender

Did everyone have a good long weekend? I feel refreshed after 3 days off! And only a 4 day work week, whoo hoo!

I had two very special visitors this weekend, my best friend (and cousin) and her little baby, Eden. It was so much fun to spend time with the two of them. I snapped a few pictures of Baby Eden on my phone. If you need another dose of cuteness, my cousin is a super talented photographer and just had Eden up on her blog, check it out here.

Eden and I hanging out while her Mama shopped in Gap...

I love her to pieces, cute isn't even the word. She's beyond adorable, isn't she?? Also, happiest baby in the world. I don't know how my cousin does it! Eden literally only cries when she is hungry. Too bad they live in Grand Rapids and I'm in Chicago, I wish I could see them more! Anyway, it was a great weekend with them and I only wish we had gotten some pics of me and my cousin!

Over the weekend I cooked up a delicious breakfast with Michigan blueberries! I'll post about it later this week.

Went out for dinner Sunday with a friend to our favorite spot, Rocks and had one of their delish Bloodies! Yum. We sat outside, gotta get all the alfresco dining in before it's too cold.

And I got in one last Caprese before Fall officially sets in...

What about you? Anything fun from over the weekend?

Weekender

I went to bed last night after hearing our weather and expected another gloomy or even rainy day, so I was very pleasantly surprised to wake up to some sun and even blue sky this morning! It made for a nice end to the weekend --it also made me feel pretty peppy, so I got some things done around the house and was pretty productive, by Sunday standards.

*Can I just tell you this? As I sit here typing this out my glasses are barely able to be seen out of, so streaky and almost foggy. These are new glasses and I usually just wear them at night after I take my contacts out. Apparently they have some special, anti-refrac? lens or coating. Well, they are THE hardest glasses to clean. It is beyond frustrating. I just got out my special lens cloth and was cleaning them, but even the special cloth wouldn't clean them, what the heck?? Then I wet them and dried with the cloth again, no dice. And then I proceeded to repeat that process about 5 times...still foggy and streaky. I am extremely annoyed. What kinda of lenses are these?? This is ridiculous! Grrrr.

Alright, sorry, really needed to vent about that.

On to the good stuff. I went for a run by the lake this afternoon, as I got over there it was starting to cloud over, but it still felt awesome to be running outdoors for the first time in ages! And I always loving running with the water and skyline in my view, you just can't beat that.

Lake Michigan was pretty choppy today! A few shots at the beach...

Belmont Harbor

The weekender

Another weekend has come and gone, and here we are at Monday again. I'm going to try to hold on to the weekend as long as I can :) Here's a few pictures...

Mmm, bloody mary...

Made artichoke and spinach dip, recipe to follow!

It was so nice to see the sun and blue sky on Sunday! I snapped a few pictures of my church. I have to say, I feel pretty lucky to have this church pretty much right at the end of my street. It literally takes me about three minutes to walk there, I love it! And honestly, it's inspiring to attend mass and pray in such a beautiful cathedral.