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!

Chicago Restaurant Week – 1st Take

Hi all!

I was able to participate in Chicago Restaurant Week for the first time ever this year to check out different places around the city. For those who don’t know, Restaurant Week is a time in Chicago when different places have set menus you can try for a set price. Depending on where you go, you’ll find multiple choices of items for around 3-4 courses. Brunch and lunch menus are $22 while dinner is either $33 or $44. The first one I went to (plus had been meaning to check out anyway) was Barrio. Barrio is an upscale take on Mexican food with little twists thrown in. The head chef of the restaurant, Katsuji Tanabe, is a Top Chef alum and grew up in Mexico so he wanted to pay homage to his homeland with this beautiful chandelier clad restaurant (like the beams outside on the patio which are supposed to represent sun rays). Without further ado, let’s get into the food.

First up, the burrata. Now, I love burrata and have it often so I may be a little bias with this one, however, it offered an interesting take on your typical bread and cheese. This version also included mint and a very refreshing salsa verde sauce with it to add a little Mexican flair to an otherwise very Italian dish. There was also Michigan honey to sweeten it up plus the bread was made with polenta and had a nice crunch to it. This next one was my favorite of the courses and if you know me well, you’ll know why. Two words: truffle taco. Yeah that’s right – this taco had white truffle garlic crema in it and it was delish. Mushrooms were the “meat” of this taco, along with gruyere and cotija cheese and some crispy onions too. I would 100% order these again for the taste – plus look how cute they are in the pink shells (the corn ones are made in house)! To finish it out, I had the cocoa taco – see a theme here? 😉 This was pretty hard to mess up since it had chocolate ice cream, and brownies in it. The unique element of this dish was that it had coconut crema and coconut toffee on it (I’m not a big coconut person but I didn’t mind this at all) plus some guajillo caramel. The other option was a churro with different sauces which I almost went with but La Bodega Imports (the little churro shop next door) is owned by Barrio so I just ended up going there after.The food was great, however the service was slightly lackluster because of it being Restaurant Week. The manager was going from table to table asking how everyone’s meals were and ended up giving us a round of free drinks to compensate which was really sweet so we appreciated that very much. I got the Pantera Rosa which had cucumber-infused Effen vodka, watermelon, and lime. If you like tonics and vodka cranberries you’ll like this – sweet but fresh with the cucumber and lime. The manager told us that this drink is a very popular one. So though there was the whole service thing, I’d definitely still come here again because the food was great and they made sure to fix their mistakes right away which shows that they care. Besides dinner, I hear their brunch is pretty amazing too so definitely going back for that soon.

This next one you’ve definitely heard me mention before (remember that Chicagogrammers event I went to?): Yard House. I was shocked to see that they had a Restaurant Week menu since they are a chain so even though I wasn’t planning on it, I figured why not give it a try! Some differences I noticed from Barrio were that the portions were a bit larger (not that Barrio’s was small, this was a lot of food for one person) plus they gave you one drink (beer/wine) included which I thought was a nice touch. Most places during this week don’t have a drink to go with it. Since Yard House is more of a beer haus, you can try all kinds of beer before settling on the one you want. I tried two different ones: the one on the left is the House Honey Blonde and the one on the right is the Metropolitan Krankshaft Kölsch – both light beers. The honey one was light and crisp while the metro had a slight tickle to the tongue and tasted slightly more “beer like”. I opted for the Honey one since they mentioned it’s a crowd favorite plus I figured with all the food I was about to consumer, the lighter the better.

Before the Restaurant Week menu, I decided to take a leap of faith and try the Cauliflower Bites. I haven’t had cauliflower in decades because my childhood self was scarred from the texture and the lack of flavor from just regular steamed cauliflower – not to mention it’s in the broccoli family which I am still not a fan of (sorry mom)! So, Since these little snacks have been trending so much in the foodie world lately, I thought maybe I could give them another shot since they were fried this time and drizzled in buffalo sauce. I was actually very surprised that I liked these – I probably would’ve added just a little bit more buffalo sauce to drown out the cauliflower flavor a little more but otherwise these and the spicy tahini sauce with them were pretty good!Back to what you came for – so as you can see from the menu, there was quite a few options to choose from. The lunch version was on the back as well so I could have went that route but I thought better to try dinner since it came with the dessert. This was a tough decision but I ultimately went all out with the spinach dip and thought the dip was so cheesy and gooey, however the real winner was the chips. Freshly baked crispy pita doused in Parmesan cheese. I want to find a way to make these because they were perfect with the dip! Not too oily but not too dry either and the cheese added a little flavor while also mixing with the cheese already in the dip – perfect with a beer too.I decided to stay in the Parmesan theme and go with the Parmesan-crusted pork loin dressed in a bourbon sage-cheery shallot sauce along with sweet potato mashed potatoes and some broccolini.The sauce and the sweet potatoes went perfectly together since both had that woodsy sweetness with the syrup like sweetness of the sauce and the sweet potatoes tasted like pumpkin pie – yum! I am not really a sweet potato person but this was very good. The Parmesan added a nice crunch to the meat and thought the broccoli I was my least favorite part I did appreciate that they were salted and had some flavor to them instead of just the fresh-off-the-grill just oiled taste.The final course was my favorite one though because everything worked so well here. The chocolate soufflé tasted like a lava cake without the dramatic pour out of chocolate coming out: warm and moist yet you could still taste that chocolate ganache throughout it. The vanilla ice cream on top gave the dish a nice hot and cold pairing with it melting together with the cake. The mint leaf was a nice touch but didn’t offer much flavor so I think that was more intended for garnish instead. The size on this was great since it gave you the perfect amount without being too much. Overall, the portions for these were huge which was a nice change since I heard some of my friends saying that a lot of restaurants tend to skimp on the size of each dish during this week (whereas I had to take a lot of this home with me). I will most definitely be coming back here since the service was great as well – this showed me that you shouldn’t discount the chains during Restaurant Week!

I was originally supposed to go to Split-Rail for their Restaurant Week menu but sadly I never made it. I’ll be sure to go at some point though!

See you in the next post!

Weekly Wrap Ups: Jan 29th – Feb 4th

Hi everyone!

New week (and month!) to start us out this morning – how we feeling? As last night’s Super Bowl party washes over me, I’ll be moving a little slowly today.With that being said though, I’m ready to “tackle” this next one (get it? 😉).

First off, can we talk about this major deal I found through the oh so kind Emily Gemma? I’ll be doing a separate post on this but this jacket is SUCH a steal compared to it’s expensive doppleganger. Stay tuned!

Next up, we got ourselves a pizza roundup coming folks! According to one of my Insta-polls, some of you guys were hoping to grab a couple of the recipes I’ve been making this week so don’t worry it’s coming soon! Here’s a sneak peek of one of the options: Breakfast Pizza!!

You guys saw it on Insta-Stories – I got a new bracelet, courtesy of Trending Above. Thank you so much to my new friend, Alyssa, for one of her creations, as well as the champagne gummy bears. Yum! Look for a cocktail recipe with those coming soon. As for the bracelet, it’s called the Staci and it’s super cute – goes with everything. I got the one in Rose Gold but it also comes in other metals as well. It’s currently sold out for the moment but I’ll let you know when it’s back in stock. See how I styled it below!

This little highlight is sure to please: my first restaurant week experience! I ended up going to Barrio with a couple new foodie friends and needless to say it was delicious! Full review to come on that because I plan on rounding up both my restaurant week experiences after I go to Split-Rail on Thursday.

Of course I couldn’t pass up going to Barrio’s sister store, Bodega, for a churro! The churros used inside Barrio are the actual Bodega ones – cool right? Even cooler is the churro flavor of the month: red velvet! Perfect for Valentine’s day! This churro was just sweet enough without being too over the top. When I go next, I’m getting their hot cocoa (with a churro of course) or their “churd” aka chocolate ice cream with churros.

The next morning I ended up at another new spot closer to home – IT! Crepes. It’s a cute little cafe with coffee options and crepes as well as panini and other lunch options too. I got the Turkey Avocado Club and oy it was heavenly. The bread had the perfect crunch to it and all the ingredients played together so well. Plus, look how cute it was displayed with the newspaper?? Needless to say, I’ll be back again soon for another one of those.

And…just in case you needed another sneak peek (of course you do!), I’m also taking on the ultimate French toast on the blog as well! Fruit, ice cream, what more could you want?!

Speaking of food, I made some loaded nachos for the Super Bowl yesterday and they ended up being a hit! Not sure if I’ll do a post on it, but if you guys want it let me know. It was complete with cheese, beans, chicken, guac, sour cream, and chips of course!

Also wanted to give a quick shout out to my blogger buddy, Jordin, who’s birthday is today: happy birthday girl!! Give her a shout and tell her I sent you.

Local Spots I Checked Out: Barrio, Bodega Imports, IT! Crepes

Events I’m Looking Forward To: Chicagogrammers Happy Hour, Restaurant Week at Split Rail, MMLaFleur Meetup with Sassy Confetti and The Chicago Good Life

See you in the next post!

Weekly Wrap Up: ? – December 7th

Hi friends! Welcome to the first of its kind here on the blog – little weekly updates on what I’m up to! I decided this would be a good way to give you all a quick little cheat sheet on all the events that I find my way to each week as well as favorite pieces right now, where I want to head next, maybe some song choices. Since this is the first one we are all going to go in this blind together and we’ll see how they pan out. This is going to be a HUGE event update so this will probably be the longest of all these future posts but I figured why not get all the previous ones out of the way so we can start fresh, eh? So here’s what you missed on..GLEE…I mean, A Walk in the Pink Park!!

The first up is my Dallas trip! It was AMAZING!! Everyone was so friendly there and the sights were too cute. Post to come!

The Rustic

Stirr Dallas

Next up is Shop Buzzed at Otto Mezzo! I went with a friend and the food was great there – sadly Otto Mezzo is closed now but it was great to see Kristi and Chloe again!! Not sure what I’m talking about? Here’s my most recent post on Shop Buzzed.

My pal Leslie and I at Shop Buzzed

Right before my birthday I was able to attend a Cookies and Rosé event at By The Park Cookie Bakery where I met my new friends Alex of Sassy Confetti and Christine of The Chicago Good Life AND got to meet some influencers that I love on Instagram: Everything Erica and Erin of 312 Food!! Both were super sweet and gave great advice on Instagram and blogging. The cookie place is unfortunately closed as well so I’m hoping there will be another one of it’s kind opening soon! All the flavors were so unique and named after Chicago things like Lincoln Park.

Alex (far right), Christine and I at the Cookies and Rosé event

Erin (left), me and Erica at the event

After celebrating my 23rd (!!!) birthday the next night, I also made it a point to visit the Stranger Things Pop Up Bar in Logan Square before it left at the end of the month with my friend Maddie of Chicago Eat This. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. The decor was perfect – complete with Will’s fort in the woods to the AV Club room to the famous lit-up alphabet wall that the Demogorgon pops out of. I tried the “Eleven’s Eggos” maple bourbon slushie topped off with an actual mini eggo waffle and it was a little strong but still good!

My gal Maddie and I at the Stranger Things Pop Up

I got to go to my first Chicagogrammers happy hour soon after at Joy District in River North, where I met Christine again as well as The Tipsy Housewife and got to meet my friend Maggie of Maggie O’Prep there as well as a few others. I had only been to Joy District once before at night but loved seeing all the possibilities this time around. There was such amazing food and drinks there: tuna cones, crab cakes, milk and cookie shots with rumchata, and even a s’mores bar! We had cute little spiked apple cider drinks with an apple cider donut on top as well as a champagne toast to top it off!

Maggie and I on the rooftop at Joy District

Speaking of meeting up with friends again, one of the ladies I met at the BFK Blogger Meetups (see previous post here), Ceta of Clark & Stone hosted a Veronica Beard Fashion Show with the designers themselves, the Veronicas! They talked about the collection as well as their “slash” movement of how people can be more than one thing in life like a dancer/accountant or mother/businesswoman. There was champagne flowing, snacks all around like crab cakes, sushi, etc. plus the runway with the collection was to die for with gorgeous prints and cute jackets. I hung out with Emma and Hannah of Sass and the City and got to meet some of my favorite bloggers Ali of Those White Walls  and Ashley of Sed Bona.

The Veronicas and I before the show

Crab cakes – yum!

Hannah (far right), Emma and I at the event

Ashley (far right), Ali and the hostess with the mostest, Ceta and I enjoying the rest of the night

Since I had so much fun during the previous Chicagogrammers happy hour, I ended up going on the next Chicagogrammers happy hour at Yard House. Let me tell you, the food there was a DREAM! Tuna nachos with avocado, crispy cheese curds, chicken & pancakes, and an onion ring tower as well as some yummy red sangria and got to see my professor/blogger friend Ashley Hasty of Hasty Book List and I met some new friends here as well. Jordin of West Loop Soul, Alex of Gilded Gal, Amanda of Windy City Cosmo, Megan of The Domestic Diva MD and Jo of The Savvy Gourmand. I was lucky enough to win one of the photo contests for a gift card there so I will be back with updates!

Cheese curds, an onion ring tower and ahi tuna nachos

Sangria and chicken & pancakes

The last few on the list were the Nando’s opening with Chance the Rapper (see post here), as well as a tour of Marina City Towers on the river (fun fact: a Steve McQueen movie was filmed here and the car drives off one of the floors). The views were INCREDIBLE – I was able to take shots from different units and the roof! Then I went to the Landmark West Loop Apartment Opening to see Hallie of Among Other Things and got to munch on some yummy appetizers from The Publican and saw some cute clothes from T&J Designs, an online boutique and Shop Sanem’s of Oak Park. The apartments were gorgeous – all of them had views of the Sears Tower and they were furnished like an Urban Outfitters. I couldn’t afford it but if I could I definitely would live there! To finish, Katie Boron and I went to the House of Vans sponsored Sauced Market pop up that featured all alternative shops like vintage clothing and jewelry. It was set up in a skate park and had food trucks as well as free Goose Island beer and Boxed Water.  Over the holidays, I made the trip out to Marco Island, Florida (recap to come!) and managed to tackle both Christkindlmarkts – the original in the Loop with Emma & Hannah and the new one in Wrigley with Katie!

Marina City views with the John Hancock behind me – pretty cool huh?

Free beer at the Sauce Market

Cheese samples?! You know I’m there!

…And the ice rink next door!

The Bean (Cloud Gate)

Mulled wine (glüwein) at the Christkindlmarkt inside Ballpark Village at Wrigley

Smore trdelniks (chimney cakes)

Wisconsin Raclette hot cheese sandwich with prosciutto (forgot to snap a pic of the final product – oops!

Whew! Ok the long part is over, now a few highlights you’ll see on each post.

Local Spots I Checked Out: Pequod’s Pizza, Alice & Wonder, Sweet Mandy B’s, Dos Toros, S’mores Thursday’s at Saint Lou’s Assembly with Jordin (not pictured) & Maggie, Ramen Takeya with Jordin & Kendra of Chicago Food Hunter, Big Star Tacos, fab’rik, Same Day Cafe with Katie, Fleur, Aloha Poké, Scratch Goods, Little Goat & The Dessert Dealer with Jordin

Pequod’s Pizza – known for caramelized crust deep dish

Cookie Dough Sandwich

Frosé at Saint Lou’s Assembly

Pork shoulder and elotes hushpuppies

S’mores kit (only $8!) with all the usual suspects, dulce de leche and a Reese’s cup

Horchata at Same Day Café

Avocado Toast with Biscuits

Fleur – a cute little flower shop nearby

Marinated Ahi Tuna Poké at Aloha – best I’ve ever had!!

Scratch Goods – a cute local wellness/skincare store with jade rollers, mask bars and even yoga classes!

Little Goat Diner – one of my new favorite restaurants!

Look how cute the menus are!

This Little Piggy Went to China (eggs, sausage and biscuits with a yummy sauce)

Mas Tacos – complete with guac, cheese, in house chips, beans, sour cream and more! Get this to share because it’s huge!!

One of The Dessert Dealer’s Tacolatos inside Parlor Pizza

B-A-N-A-N-A-S: banana chocolate gelato, peanut butter sauce, peanut butter cups and sliced bananas with whipped cream in a chocolate cone taco!

Had to snap a pic at the Pizza Wings – if you snap one, tag Parlor with the hashtag #parlorpizzagivesback to donate a dollar to hungry families!

Events I’m Looking Forward To: Holiday Trolley, Museum of Science and Industry Christmas Trees Around the World, Zoo Lights

Also some items I’m loving, but this is already getting long so we’ll postpone that to the next one!

See you in the next post!

Air Society HQ with Nike Event

Hi everybody! This event I’m about to describe is probably one of the COOLEST parties I have ever been too thus far. I was so happy to be one of the lucky few to be able to attend – Nike Air Society is a movement that Nike is starting to promote women’s empowerment! Who run the world? Girls. This was a first of many events that they will be hosting this summer so I was psyched to attend it first to see what the buzz was about. A big thank you to Hallie of Among Other Things blog for getting me into this event – she was so sweet and I’m also a big fan of hers! Love you girl! Alright let’s jump in: first, the location.

This location was AMAZING. Someone actually lives here! We had to keep the whereabouts a secret because of that so all I can really say is that it’s on the west side of town and the view from the rooftop was stunning. My friend Maddie and I came in, got our wristband, and rode up the elevator to the top floor. We started at the rooftop because it was the perfect time to take pictures out there before getting crowded – and what did we find but some rosé! It was delicious (and in a can – very trendy right now) thanks to Rosé Babe and was the perfect way to start off the night. We then made our way around and found some of the new product that Nike was launching: the air max shoes! They were all so cute and you could even try them on and get them if you wanted to!! I though the displays were so pretty with the gold accents as well as how they paired the new line with local Chicago shops’ apparel & accessories too (not pictured, sadly). I thought it added a relatable vibe, plus I love supporting small businesses.

Next up, hair and nails! We went down the stairs to find a nail & henna bar that many lovely ladies were participating in. Did I mention the adorable balloon displays?? Photo stop for sure! These displays came from yet another Chicago brand called Luft Balloons who specialize in these for events, restaurants and more all around the area. We decided to explore a little more for committing to a location so on to the next activity!

Here’s Hallie!!! See I told you we’d be back!

Ok so the next parts we found were the inspiration letter and the DIY gym bag stations. I loved the letter activity – I thought it really drove home the message of why this event was even held in the first place. Guests had to take a postcard and write a letter to a woman in their life that inspires them, after they finished they could drop it in the box (see below) and Nike would mail them out the next day. Maddie and I naturally chose our moms because we both felt that they have done so much for us already and continue to lift us up as we grow. It also didn’t hurt that the food spread was right next to us, getting our creative juices flowing so we knew just what to say! Meats, cheeses, fruits, grilled veggies, chips & guac, you name it it was at this table. Yum!! After we refueled and also grabbed another rosé, we found the gym bags and added a few patches – they ran out quick so hoping to add more of my own later on!

We knew we needed to look fab for the fashion show so Maddie and I raced over to the braid bar and luckily came just in the nick of time. I got a half up bun with a little french braid in the middle and the rest of my hair was curled – I loved it and got lots of compliments!! I loved Maddie’s hair too – she got space buns with braids leading up to them plus it fit her style perfectly. Thanks to Blowout Junkie for making us look great!

After the fashion show, I got to meet Shai of Drunk on Shoes blog and talked to Hallie for a little bit as well. I also loved meeting different Chicago women who also had their own businesses or blogs or both – such as Lindzi who owns the new marshmallow cafe in Chicago, XO Marshmallow as well as the clothing store, The Trendy Sparrow, too! Cheers to more events like this one and 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!