Weekly Wrap Up: April 30th – May 6th

Hi everybody!

Did anyone else have a really good week this week? The previous one was a little rough, not gonna lie, so I was really happy to have this week be on the upswing.

I started out with a taste test at Dos Toros, a new competitor in fast-casual Mexican food. I loved it the first time I went, so I was stoked to be back again with Chicagogrammers this time. Something to know about Dos Toros is that they make everything from scratch. Like literally everything. The staff gets there at 7 am every day (even though they don’t open ’til 11) to make it all. This guac was AMAZING, one of the best I’ve ever had. I would honestly pick this up for a party or something because it tasted so fresh and yummy!

The burrito was the real winner though. With cheese baked onto the tortilla before you add all the toppings, this avocado and Mexican rice filled goodness is the perfect dinner choice if you’re really hungry. I couldn’t even finish the other half so I saved it for the next day. Yesterday was the opening day for their second location in Chicago, with $1 entrees (guac included). If you guys went, let me know what you got. I’ll definitely be going back soon!

Since going to Beatnik last week, Katie, my cousin Kylie, and I wanted to try their sister brand: Celeste! This River North relative is a bit smaller than Beatnik, but to tell you the truth we liked Celeste better. They weren’t shy of chandeliers, as expected, and the vibe was very relaxing and easy with standing marble tables and comfy couches surrounded by jungles of plants. The staff and the people who just happened to be there were all super nice too. Just a couple helpful hints: this part of the bar is on the 4th floor (not the 2nd like we thought 😂) and it’s standing room only. When you see an open table or couch, sprint to claim it. We got a table but didn’t realize at first that the couches were free reign – we thought people had reserved them! Oh well, next time!

Celeste had a sweet happy hour deal of $8 ’til 8pm so we tried a couple different options. Katie got the Silent Treatment (not pictured) which has matcha, gin, absinthe, dry curaçao, orgeat, and a smoked lime which had a nice little bite. I tried the Faithful Mistress with gin, malbec, lavender, peach, lemon and topped with a foamy layer of egg white and a mint leaf. I loooooved this one you guys. Like, it was probably one of the best drinks I’ve ever had. All the ingredients were up my alley so it was pretty hard for me not to enjoy it, but hey I know what I like! Katie even ended up getting one of her own after and ranted and raved about it!

The last one I got was Pinky Ring, a vodka & pomegranate rosé combo with lime, orange bitters, vanilla and ginger. As I said before, I liked both drinks. This one was very refreshing and perfect for the hot day. It was similar to a vodka cranberry but better! I would order both of these again and next time try their bites (we didn’t realize ’til the end of the night that they had them, oops). If you need a little garden escape during the summer, come here!

Something quick I want to mention here, the “cardigan”, shawl, duster, kimono, what have you that I’m wearing is actually a dress!! You might remember seeing the dress on Insta in my Nashville pictures, and no your eyes are not deceiving you, it is that dress! Quick story – when I was contemplating on buying this dress, I noticed that you could wear it multiple ways. Opened up as a shawl, as it’s meant to be worth (all buttoned up dress with the sash), and even tying the sash up and making it off the shoulder! You could even take the sash off and wear it as a headband or as another belt with other outfits! So that sold me on this piece, I’ll be doing another post about it later with all the different ways to wear it so stay tuned.

Earrings: Lilly Pulitzer, Top: Brandy Melville, Dress (as a shawl): Nordstrom, Necklace: Altar’d State, Bralette: Nordstrom, Shorts: Joe’s Jeans, Shoes: Target, Nails: OPI Can You Spare Me a French Quarter?

Next, I took a quick trip to a Chicago icon with the fam: Superdawg! This old school drive in has been around since 1948 and almost every single piece of the spot is original from when they first opened (they make sure to do the upkeep every so often so it stays that way). They have great hot dogs (peep the Tarzan and Jane mascots on top, which also represent Flaurie and Maurie, the founding husband and wife of the establishment), milkshakes, fries, you name it – all the diner classics! What’s so cool is that you could walk up there in the hut to order or there’s a machine at each parking space where you signal the food to be brought to your car. So cool, right? If you want to try a piece of history in the name of good food, this one is a hidden gem!

We’re down to the last couple spots here and I think you’re going to recognize this one. It’s Barrio! After coming here for Restaurant Week a few months ago, I had been meaning to come back for their brunch. Spoiler: it did not disappoint! My friend Nikki was in from out of town and we love brunch so I knew this would be a great excuse to try it out. Thankfully it was nice out so instead of sitting inside (though it’s very pretty!) we opted to sit on the corner patio.

Confession: I have never had bottomless mimosas before. I know I know, how could I right? Nikki and I and the rest of the group all went in on their $25 mimosa deal and our waiter hooked us up big time. Usually, you just get a couple juices but he was nice enough to get us the whole rainbow of them. They are, in order, pineapple, guava, blood orange, peach, and orange juice. I tried all but the pineapple and they were great!

Ok, but be honest, you wanted to hear about the champagne. We got our champagne in wine glasses, not flutes, so they definitely don’t skimp on it! Between the five of us we had two rounds and it was plenty, as bottomless goes until 3 plus another shout out to our waiter for continually topping us off – you the real MVP.

Nikki looking sassy and fun, as usual!

 

The menu was really hard to decide on – everything sounded so good! I ended up getting the chilaquiles with the pork belly carnitas, though the carnitas are extra you should get them. So filling and savory, perfect to balance all the champagne. The chips had a nice crunch, the cheese was melty and blended nicely with the meat and the eggs gave a nice gooey texture to the whole dish. In short, I was one happy girl.

Ok, one last shout out to our waiter again (last one I swear) because he got us these “cinnamon toast crunch” shots with Rumchata and cinnamon – perfect sweetness to cut the savory meal I just had. This is my favorite kind of shot so again, very happy here. I will 100% come back here for brunch again because we couldn’t have asked for better service and the meal matched it. Who’s coming with??

Earrings: Kendra Scott, Necklace: Altar’d State, Jacket: Top Shop, Top: Brandy Melville

Hi Kyles!

 

To walk off our brunch, we headed to the classic “Bean” aka Cloud Gate for a few pics. Then we went to the Purple Pig, another spot I had been meaning to try. It was very crowded so we sat at the bar. I got a great Chianti Classico, which was perfect. Kylie and I split a truffle salami board to pair with it first. Unfortunately, I didn’t taste any truffle at all so I would say to skip this one. However, when we tried the Pecorino cheese board, it made up for it! I want to try more wine bars like this – such a fun atmosphere and who doesn’t love a great charcuterie board to go with a glass of wine? Such a great way to spend the day!

Truffle Board

Pecorino Board

That’s it for now – I’m so happy that warm weather is officially back in Chicago. How would you spend a day out? I need ideas!

Heading home and taking the scenic route!

Local Spots I Checked Out: Dos Toros, Celeste, Superdawg, Barrio, Purple Pig

Events I’m Looking Forward To: Holt’s Spring Cocktail Menu Blogger Event, Apogee with Jordin, Mother’s Day, Ravinia Restaurant Opening

See you in the next post!

 

Weekly Wrap Up: March 19th – March 25th

Hi everyone!

The warm weather must be coming soon because this week was a little busier than most in a while. This is also my first full week at my new job and I couldn’t love it more. I love getting to use my creativity to help and also loving that I have weekends again (yay!). To start out strong, I caught up with Katie over happy hour at The Hampton Social. I haven’t tried any happy hours since moving back so I’m excited that this is my first one. With glasses of rosé and pizzas both half off from 3-6 during the week – we knew we had to try it! The rosé was a little on the dryer side so it was ok for me, there’s a whole menu to choose from though so I can grab a different one next time. I usually love the rosé I have there (and tend to pick bubbly ones) so I’ll just have to stick to what I like. Something to note too is that they also have $8 craft cocktails included as well so I could try that next – I had a really good gin-based cocktail there once so hopefully it’s available. Let’s get to what you really want to know though: the pizza. All options actually sounded really good and each had a unique twist which I appreciated. We opted for the Spicy BBQ Chicken and the Mushroom pizzas. For the BBQ, I had never seen a pizza like this before with toppings like bacon, goat & mozzarella cheese, and sun-dried tomato pesto for a kick. It was super flavorful and I loved the bacon for a nice crunch. As for the Mushroom, we had to get it because…wait for it…it has truffle in it. Are we surprised? No. Did it actually taste like it had truffle in it? Actually, yes! It wasn’t overwhelming (in a good way so it was real) and the rest of the pizza, mushrooms and all tasted really great. Would definitely order both again but the Spicy BBQ one had a slight edge over the Mushroom with it’s uniqueness.

After that awesome meal, I walked over to goGLOW – a somewhat new woman-owned startup tanning space in the area – to meet my cousin and test it out with Alex and Christine. They greeted me with some fun treats to start: cookies by Sugar Fan Club, a meat & cheese plate by Boars Head, and wine from Crazy Beautiful Wines – yum! Everything tasted good and looked so cute too. I will most definitely be picking up that sauvignon blanc because it was probably one of the best I’ve ever had. These wines are not crazy expensive plus they are a full liter so you get more bang for your buck too!

After taking in the libations and striking up some conversations, my cousin and I went in to get our tan on! I love that they ask you questions before you start to get a feel of what you’re looking for. It is air brush only (so real people!) and the formula itself is all natural – no parabens or sulfates so it won’t harm your skin at all. It also turns you brown and not orange, which I was happy about for it being my first spray tan (minus the gradual stuff). You have to keep it on for 24 hrs before washing it off so know that before booking your appointment. Not a ton came off in the shower and I saw hardly, if any, stains on my sheets the next day so I am super impressed with the results. I also really love that they are smaller scale (only 3 locations – the others are in Minnesota, where they started) and are woman-owned & take pride in that. The service was great and the ladies really knew a lot about the products too – I would definitely book this again. One last tip: book with a friend because it knocks $10 off the price! Look for a giveaway on Instagram soon to test it out yourself!

Look how dark I got! This was pre-shower.

Next up, I got to do my first photo shoot with work at Easy Street with Barritt’s Ginger Beer which was super fun – stay tuned for more pics in the future from that! I got some ginger beer to take home that I’m going to try with some cocktail recipes for an upcoming post too so look out for that as well. For now – here’s a few pics I shot at home for a little preview! Side note: I’m not a big pepperoni fan but this pizza was CRAZY good. I was shocked!

Coming toward the end of the week, I got to help on a fashion show at Macy’s which was super fun. The closest experience I had to fashion shows prior to this was my high school’s so you could say this was a bit of a step up. I got to help dress real models from an agency here in Chicago and assist in quick changes throughout the show – it went so fast! The ladies were all super sweet too – you never know if they’ll be high maintence or not because they do so many shows but happy to report that not all are the same. Afterwards, there was a cute balloon wall courtesy of Luft Balloon (local here) – once you see one of their installations you’ll recognize them everywhere since they do so many other events around the city. There was also a DIY tassel earrings station and flower lollipops from Flowers for Dreams – I loved that Macy’s went out of their way to pick local businesses to support for the event too.

Sweater: Nordstrom, Vest: Old, Jeans: Frame, Shoes: Target, Earrings: Old

For those who saw it, I made a few purchases around the mall afterwards at Lilly Pulitzer and Altar’d State. If you missed it you can catch up on my highlights! I loved the little decorations both stores had – even down to the dressing rooms! I’ll post outfit looks with everything soon so you can see it all!

Last but not least, I got to wish one of my best pals, Maddie, a happy birthday and a farewell from Chicago (tear) at Cafe-Ba-Ba-Reeba – a tapas/small plates style restaurant. I had heard great things about this restaurant and it did not disappoint. The sangria was perfect – we tried their monthly one which was Pear – sounds weird but I liked it better than the peach one. As for the plates – we got almost everything, from stuffed mushrooms, to cheese boards, to scallops, to bacon wrapped dates (don’t skip these). We even opted for some paella too and took some home. Maddie, if you’re reading this, please don’t leave – but also wishing you well on your next adventure!

Local Spots I Checked Out: The Hampton Social, goGLOW, Oakbrook Mall, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba

Events I’m Looking Forward To: (didn’t go to Drake Fest), DIY Spring Soiree with Windy City Bloggers Collective, Happy Hour at Petit Margeaux, Windy City Bloggers Lakeview Member Event, Easter with the Fam!

See you in the next post!

Throwback Thursday: Fun in the Sun – Florida Recap

Hi everyone! As promised, here’s the recap of the lovely Marco Island, Florida. For a little background – I’ve been coming here with my family for more than a decade now and we love it for it’s usual 80 degree weather, great restaurants, and that you can relax a bit since it’s quieter and smaller than most destinations around the state.

View from the room

Nothing like having drinks poolside! We love going to Stilts at the Marriott Vacation Club since it’s right by the pool – you can either eat/drink in the restaurant or have it delivered where you’re sitting. They also have a great happy hour too with bites like seared scallops, tuna tartare, mozzarella sticks, and more!

Top: Lilly Pulitzer, Jeans: Impeccable Pig, Sunnies: Ray-Ban, Necklace: Packed Party

 

When we’ve been coming, the Marriott Vacation Club always had two pools. However, they are currently expanding and are adding a third pool, as well as an Italian restaurant (music to my ears), a couple hot tubs, and more towers so that it’s easier to reserve a spot since it’s always such an ordeal to book with the former limited space. They also have a gym and a kid’s “clubhouse” with games for the littles! One of the big perks of staying here versus the JW is that this location has activities all day every day such as Beer Bocce or BINGO during the day and Wine & Cheese Happy Hour at night so there’s always something to do!

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer, Shoes: Target

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer, Earrings: SIC Couture, Necklace: Packed Party, Shoes: Target

BINGO and Mimosas

Wine & Cheese spread

In terms of where to go outside the hotel, we love going to DaVinci’s (near the fountain below) – a really nice Italian spot and not too far from where we stayed. If you want to check out the other Marriott (JW), their beach bar, Quinn’s is the perfect detour when walking on the beach. Great drinks and you can watch the sun set. Joey’s is a great pizza spot, especially for all you Chicago snowbirds out there! Nene’s Kitchen is a great breakfast diner that we love and the owners also hail from Chicago too. Our favorite place hands down though is Tokyo Inn, a Hibachi style Japanese steakhouse. This is where my love of seafood started. Snook Inn is another classic as it’s right on the docks and they have fresh fish daily. If you need something more casual, The Sand Bar is a cheap dive bar that has arcade games and TVs all around too.

Another fun thing to do in Marco is to rent a boat for the day and see all the little islands around since you’re close to the Keys. With this in mind, we like stopping at a couple other places that we can only get to with the boat like Stan’s in Goodland. Stan’s is crazy fun with all the servers dressed in crazy costumes and a quirky gift shop nearby. One last one we frequent is Capri Fish House in Naples (pictured below) – a cute little bar with its own mini beach with colorful chairs and a great patio. Get the fried lobster bites – trust me!

Fried Lobster with butter – yum!

Hoping to be back here sooner rather than later – I noticed a few new spots opened up that I want to try. Plus, I’m hoping to explore more of Naples soon since it has a little more of a “downtown” feel.

Have you ever been to Marco? What’s your favorite spot?

See you in the next post!

 

Weekly Wrap Up: March 5th – March 11th

Hi everyone!

You know what today is – another update for ya this week! This time I have quite a few events to recap – yay!!

First up, a luau-inspired cocktails for a cause event with Alex and Revae of Mahalo Vibes. We got to learn all kinds of tips and tricks like how to shake your cocktail properly (give it a whack on the side to tighten it and then again to loosen it), the difference between serrano peppers and jalapeños (serrano is spicier!), and that gin is actually…wait for it..juniper infused vodka. Yep! I was quite shocked too. Turns out the cheaper the gin, the more juniper there is (aka the “Christmas tree” flavor that most people hate) – so not all are created equal. Besides the fact that we got to learn a few yummy tiki drink recipes (shaken not stirred of course since there’s citrus in it – helps bring out the flavors), I was really happy to know that the proceeds were going to support cancer victims. I have a family history with it so if I can help in a small way here, I’m doing it. We also got to make flower crowns with Fleur – a local spot in Logan Square (that same place I visited a while back). The florist was so sweet and very knowledgable about all the flowers she brought – I could tell she loves what she does. Sadly I ran out of time on mine so there’s not much “flowers” on mine but hey I think it still looks ok! Aloha Bangtel, the space we were in, was a perfect fit for the theme. Neon palm trees, a pink shark, and even a pink flamingo inside a blue bathtub too – plenty of photo opportunities here!

Top: Fabr’ik, Jeans: J Brand

Next up, the opening of Punch Bowl Social in West Loop! I’m so excited about this because I’ve been to the one in Indianapolis and it was so much fun. Schamburg’s location was always so far for me so I’m glad it’s finally coming to the city. The first floor is a bit of a retro laundromat theme with a wall of colored machines and tables covered in old ads. The bar near the “Loads of Fun” (get it??) sign is pretty gorgeous too.

Jacket: Gap, Shirt: Nordstrom, Pants: Frame, Shoes: Target, Bag: Michael Kors, Choker: Nordstrom

To start off, we got some chips and French onion dip as it lined the tables – that dip was heaven. We tried the punch bowls first, because well it’s not called Punch Bowl Social for nothing! The Watermelon Polo, It’s A Mer-Man’s World, and Lord Stanley’s Cup (Blackhawks fans will love this 😉) were the contenders and it was clear who the winner was. Since Mer-Man and Stanley were bourbon and white rum focused and more bitter, the Watermelon soured with watermelon and strawberry and it wasn’t too sweet.

These freshly made daiquiris were one of my favorites of the night – super smooth & made with similar ingredients to the Watermelon Bowl instead. Plus these glasses are adorable, Claire and I approve!

These Mason Jar Mules were hard to mess up – I love me a mule so couldn’t go wrong here.

Tried a little quinoa salad before we got our final drink and it was pretty good – I wouldn’t normally go out of my way for something like this but it wasn’t bad.

This final drink was my favorite of them all: High Fashion – fitting right?? Usually I’m not a fan of Aperol (sorry Italy!) but you can’t even taste it in this! The grapefruit and lemon give it a nice zip.

On to the food – we took a few treats from the dessert bar and some cheese from the cheese boards, both were quite yummy! The marshmallow brownie was like a bite-size s’more – super gooey and chocolatey while the salted caramel cupcake was good as well. As for the cheese – well you can’t go wrong with one of those!!

The last two items were the Cubano Sandwich and the A la Bama Chicken Sandwich. I have never actually had a Cubano sandwich before and now I know why everyone loves them – this was so crispy yet juicy and just what we needed. As for the chicken sandwich, I love these and though it was crispy, it was a little dry. Both of these were served on platters so they might be a little different plated with the sides they come with when you order them for real.

We walked around a little and found the bowling alley as well as billards, bags, and a stage for bands and DJs to play on. You can’t be bored here!

Finally, last but not least, my cousin is officially moving here! Congrats lady!! You’ll be seeing her at a bunch of events with me soon.

Local Spots I Checked Out: Aloha Bangtel, Punch Bowl Social

Events I’m Looking Forward To: Drake Fest, St. Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl, Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, Good & Sassy Tanning Event with GoGlow,

See you in the next post!

Weekly Wrap Up: Feb 12th-Feb 18th

Hi everyone!

This update is going to be super short since I kept my week pretty low key this week – I guess you could say cabin fever is real? Anyway, the main event that I went to this week was a pretty fun one: a happy hour at MM.La Fleur! Coming from NYC and built from one of Zac Posen’s former designers, MM.La Fleur is a company made for the working woman. All pieces are made for fit and quality as a way to give you basics that will keep your wardrobe modern and chic plus they’ll last forever.

With prosecco and a charcuterie board, this is how a party should be. I didn’t end up purchasing anything but I know a couple girls ended up with a dress or two. You can book a try on sesh (champagne and slippers included!) at their new River North location or order a “bento box” to try it on at home and send back what you don’t want. The difference between them and Trunk Club (local favorite) is that MM is not a subscription service, plus they make all their pieces instead of selling other brands you know and love. Think of it as an elevated shopping experience for when you need to update a few of your favorite items.

Christine of Momma Has You and Alex of Sassy Confetti

The lovely hosts for the evening: Christine of The Chicago Good Life & Alex of Sassy Confetti

Everybody cheesin’ plus Claire of Bumble and Bustle!

Also, can we talk about this space? So Instagrammable. It’s a pretty big showroom with the cute little green couch in the corner and the marble bar in the middle so I would definitely consider hosting another event here. Everyone was given a chance to try items on and mingle as they pleased, which was great to branch out and meet as many people as I could (and talk to my friends who I already know). Thank you so much to Alex and Christine of Sassy Confetti and The Chicago Good Life, the hosts of this lovely evening, as well as all my friends new and old that I met there!

Local Spots I Checked Out: MM.La Fleur

Events I’m Looking Forward To: Cousin Visit, Drake Fest, Birthday Celebrations, St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Neighborhood Egg Hunt

That’s all for now, hope you learned a thing or two.

See you in the next post!

ShopBuzzed Round 2

Hi everyone! I am so excited that I got to hang out with these lovely ladies again!! Kristi and Chloe have hosted another Shop Buzzed event  – this time with Rockit Bar, Deep Eddy Vodka, Meraki Room, as well as many others. First, I have to introduce these lovely ladies again: Chloe (of Chloe’s Cravings) on the left and Kristi of Windy City Kristi. Both ladies run blogs as well as have full time businesses! Chloe has a t-shirt line while Kristi owns a boutique – can you say boss ladies??

Once the event kicked off, we scoped out the drinks. We couldn’t pass up some free Deep Eddy so we first tried the grapefruit vodka concoction. Next we got the sweet tea with fresh lemonade – that was the winner for the rest of the night. It ended up running out toward the end it was so good! You could also get $5 wine specials from the regular bar which was pretty sweet as well – plus they had a charcuterie board waiting to be tasted too!

Just next to the bar area was a braid bar thanks to Meraki Room loaded with girls waiting to get their hair done for the night. My friend and I stepped right up and I LOVED MINE. My hair is very thick so braid usually don’t work for me but this was so intricate. It was all different ones leading into a half up knot – so cute! We also got a $20 off coupon to use the next time we come in; definitely saving mine for my birthday coming up in the next couple months.

We shopped around a little bit, as there was different local vendor tables set up with clothes, shoes, jewelry, bath and candles – plus much more. It was so cool to see them all come together and collaborate for this event. They even raffled off some of the merchandise and a certificate to Rockit Bar. Guess who won it??

You got it! It was a total surprise and I didn’t know until days later but I can’t wait to go back again and use it!! As always I had a great time at this event and am patiently waiting for the next. See you all next post!