Highlights of 2013

Okay, I know, it's been just under a year since my last post. I totally suck at this thing but I am resolving to try and be better, I swear! I'm making my reentry into this poor, sad blog with a highlights reel of the last year. We'll start with Christmas...yes, Christmas 2012.

I celebrated Christmas like it was my last one ever by participating in as many activities as I could.

American Theater Company presents It's a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play

Music Box presents the 29th Annual Christmas Show: White Christmas

White Christmas (my favorite Christmas movie of all time and this may be the best Christmas event I've ever gone to).

Caroling at the Bean (Millennium Park).

A night at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.

Late night eats at Elsa's on the Park. This tree was made out of thousands of paper clips suspended with fish line!

Visiting the Fonz in downtown Milwaukee.

In April, Chicago was flooded for a few days.

I threw my best friend a bridesmaids tea in April, a few weeks before her wedding.

And then, at the end of April, I officiated their wedding - one of the most exhilarating and anxiety-inducing moments of my life.

At the beginning of the summer I checked out the new Logan Square restaurant, Parsons Chicken & Fish, and Adam Rapoport, editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit was there signing his new grilling book.

At the beginning of June, one of the biggest outdoor parties of the year, took place: Maifest.

I turned 30 a little more than halfway through June and celebrated with a special request - dirt cake. I love to indulge my inner 8 year old.

I celebrated on my actual birthday with a trip to Willis Tower and to the Ledge (my knees went weak).

With two of my favorite people on Earth - who were not scared at all.

My inner adult rang in 30 with a luau at my apartment at the end of June, wearing my grandmother's Hawaiian dress from the 60s, and surrounded by my beloved friends. A friend came with a saber for a ceremonious sabrage, my first, and created a memory I won't soon forget.

The luau was complete with photo booth.

In July, I volunteered at Pitchfork Music Festival.

And met some other awesome volunteers from the organization I work with - Open Books.

My wonderful friends all convened on a Saturday in July for an all day picnic in Logan Square's Palmer Square Park.

I added this burger to my top 5 burger list (Little Goat kimchi burger).

Drank some beer.

And some more beer.

And a ginger hibiscus margarita from Rodan.

And introduced one of my best friends from London to the mint julep (and old fashioned) at The Southern.

At the end of July I went to Door County.

Enjoyed a beautiful view of the bay (and a glass of wine).

Did a wine tour and tasting of Stone's Throw Winery at 10:30 in the morning (though, according to this clock, it is always 5:00).

I looked yonder at Ellison Bay Bluff.

I imbibed in a signature vacation cocktail: the brandy old fashioned, Wisconsin's favorite drink.

I went on the first ghost tour of my life and loved every minute of it.

In mid-August my girlfriends and I went camping and were miserable - I got more than 30 insect bites all over my body.

 

I made my obligatory Superdawg trip at the end of August.

 

At the beginning of September, I went to Glazed and Infused for a maple bacon long john, which ruined me for all other donuts.

And then went thrift shopping all over creation with one of my gal pals.

  There was a LOT of this.

And I got to spend ridiculous amounts of time with the most awesome people on Earth. 

See you soon, dear readers!

Pitchfork Music Festival 2012

On Saturday, Alana and I went to Pitchfork in Union Park. I went to Pitchfork in 2006, its first year, and in 2009. As much as I love it for the music, I love it equally for the food and the merchandise. It features local restaurants with fantastic food and a merchandise tent with local artisans selling their stuff. We arrived around 2 after a hot but fantastic brunch at Cafe Selmarie and it immediately started raining. The place was a swamp and I had to resign myself to the fact that I was just going to be dirty and sweaty all day. Drinking helped this. 

When we arrived this is what the sky looked like.

Luckily, we made it to the beer tent just in time - Heineken (of all the beers) was sponsoring the festival and had a giant dome tent set up with a/c. It was very green inside. This is Alana flashin' a peace sign.

A projector was casting images of the crowd and the current act on the ceiling. It was even a little too cool for me.

I stopped by the Curbside Splendor Publishing booth and they were the nicest bunch of people. I met one of their editors, Lauren, and we had a long conversation about the company, a book she recently edited (that I bought, by Amber Sparks), and Franki Elliot, the author of a recently published chapbook, Piano Rats (which was free with purchase), whose blog, Typewriter Stories, I also follow. We also talked about books and she told me to get in touch with her if I ever wanted to publish any of my writing. I couldn't help but think about wanting to work with them as an editor. What a dream job.

There were lots of food options. Except, no cevapcici, which was a major bummer, since they are always at all the festivals and have been here in years past. I had fish tacos from Big Delicious Planet (a catering company) and they left a little to be desired - they were room temperature.

We grabbed our beers and chatted up this guy for a while.

This is at Hot Chip, the only band playing that I really cared to see. This guy was a dancing maniac.

Black Dog Gelato had a booth there for the first time featuring blood orange sorbet, goat cheese cashew caramel, and blueberry french toast gelato. I had never had their gelato but have been dying to try it.

I got the blueberry french toast. It was amaze-balls. So was the sugar cone.

After the fest we went up to Longman & Eagle, which has this incredible outdoor bar that I am seriously enjoying this summer. Inside, Ryan Phillippe was dining! That was fun. He has pretty eyes. After a while we decided we were hungry and didn't feel like waiting for a table at L&E so we skedaddled to El Cid 2 (best tacos al pastor evah) and stuffed our faces. Now Juliette is flashing the peace sign and that's her new friend on the right.

A slice of Pitchfork

Alana and I went to Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday. More on that to come... 

Yes, I wear the same outfit every day. Actually, this is like the most comfortable thing I own that looks halfway decent and stylish. It just so happens that the handful of times I've worn this dress are the same times I've taken pictures of what I am doing and posted them on here. Wa wa wa.