Vida

How was your Memorial Day? We had pretty much perfect weather in Chicago.  (Do any of you think in emojis sometimes?  As I wrote that sentence, I thought, 'thumbs up emoji, blowing a kiss emoji...etc.) My parents came to visit and we had quite a packed weekend from Beauty & the Beast to Bike the Drive, hanging out in Wicker Park/Bucktown, Beyonce, and brunch at Flo and Ann Sathers (always a gem).   They headed home Sunday afternoon and we kept right on going with Crap Beer Day (amazing...seriously so fun), park walking with my friend who's a new mom, 8 mile running (I told you we're trying to get going with half-marathon training), and hot dogs.  We can be influenced by ads too.  #merica  Oh and Dry Hop too! It was a busy weekend.  As Mike & I sat at Dry Hop wrapping up the weekend playing checkers (this is something we often do at breweries...on Mike's phone) he said, "No one can say we squander away our time in the big city." ;) ...

Last Wednesday I took off for Missouri in another attempt to escape spring in Chicago.  (Remote working has it's benefits.)  It was wonderful.  It included a baseball game with my dad, bike riding with my mom, working through the normal to do list my mom prepares, and spending as much time outside as possible. can you see the propellor plane?  that's what I flew... But last weekend Chicago weather came through! Everybody seemed to be out and about and it was amazing! Some highlights: Mike & I are kind-of, sort-of, officially starting our half-marathon training for July.   We met up with Karen for a Farmers Market trip and ended up walking around Lakeview and having brunch at Dry Hop. My friend Bryan got married!  Lots of talking and dancing.  (I sort-of lost my voice for the night.) This photo.  The only photo we took together.  We really only took it because the couple we mostly danced with insisted.  We are...

Sorry I disappeared there for a bit.  I've been quite under the weather lately.  And I don't mean literally sick.  I mean the weather we've had around Chicago had me down.  My emotions are not happy when there isn't any sun...especially in May. Okay...enough about that. A few weeks ago, Mike really wanted to get out of town.  We checked our schedules and last weekend was the earliest one we thought would work. We had a few places on our list like hiking at Matthiessen State Park, making our way to Galena for a night, and maybe going up to Spotted Cow Brewery on the way home?  We didn't exactly know when we set out.  (Note:  we did expect the weather to cooperate a bit more...but I guess we should be happy it didn't rain.)  We always tend to travel like this where we each have a few ideas and we see how much we can cram in.  It makes for a busy weekend! Please note:  this is probably not the most efficient route to these...

Wedding season is upon us! I don't have a ton of weddings scheduled for this year.  Just one...whew! However, this The Do's and Don'ts of Wedding Season is hilarious.   I may or may not have broken almost all of the do's and done many of the don'ts... Oh well :) Happy Friday!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone!  Even though this is somewhat of a fake holiday...yes, it's a day in Mexico, but they don't even take the day off work and they take the day off work for everything.  Mother's Day?  They're off.  (They don't celebrate it on a Sunday.) It's a great excuse for us to have some tacos, guac, and margaritas.  Coronas too?  Okay! Inspired by the holiday (not really, it's sort-of a coincidence) I made some fajita tacos!  Man, not only were they super easy.  They are super delicious!   I used Budget Bytes Oven Fajitas recipe and just left out the chicken, which I'm sure you could replace with potatoes or something if you feel it's lacking and want a vegetarian taco like me.  I thought it was wonderful. Don't skip warming up your tortillas!  Chicagoans, I recommend El Milagro tortillas, especially if you're a small household and only want a few tortillas.  In Mexico most people have tortilla warm...

Recently I started working from home...again. And I can honestly say the experience has been much better this time around.  I think there are a lot of reasons I feel this way, but one is definitely that I'm more intentional about getting out of my place and I find myself at a coffee shop for the morning hours once or twice a week. With that in mind, I collected some of the coffee shops I've worked at for a working in coffee shops Chicago guide if you will. Some things I look for to lead to a good working experience for me.   Wifi doesn't even seem necessary to state, but, good wifi, we'll say.   Note on wifi:  usually they post their wifi password by the coffee fixins.  If you take your coffee black, you will often be the awkward person always asking for the wifi password only to be pointed to the sign on the wall directly behind you.  (Raises hand) Space:  I am the type of person where if I notice people are looking for seats I get anxio...

I was lucky enough to score a free Happy Mail this month and I was crazy excited.  Because, if you don't already know, I love cards and letters! This conveniently coincided with National Letter Writing Month!  If you didn't know it was a thing...it is. So I started writing random quotes in the random cards I received and mailed them out! How fun! You still have a few days left to get a letter/card out for National Letter Writing Month.  Don't think too much about it.  Just do it! :) P.S.  They're actually having a sale right now from past Happy Mail and Messy Boxes (scrapbook type materials) here . And these stickers!  Can't stop, won't stop.