My Spring Has Sprung

feel like a little chat? perfect…i'm feeling extra chatty today…so hold on to your hats. this may get a little wordy. sorry in advance

every morning i see these two at my bus stop and they say "hello gorgeous!"
no gonna lie…i'm totally okay with it! Gold Coast Gentlemen's Club. ;)

quite possibly the coolest store front i have ever seen. good job all saints

this fella had the most amazing voice…talk about undiscovered talent.
HELLO SIMON COWELL. 

this weekend was pretty amazeballs. the cool thing about it is that i didn't actually do anything that was over the top eventful. what made it so amazing was that i actually felt for the first time that spring is here. actually here. really here.

so here…that i actually wore a skirt on friday with no leggings.
my legs were out…free free tight free legs people!

outside my apartment are these amazing trees that when in full bloom make me think i'm an extra in "you've got mail" or "when harry met sally." well those trees my friend are starting to get tiny little bloom buds on them and this girl is super happy. this may sound crazy but i actually think spring in chicago may be one of the most magical things i have ever witnessed. (i'm pretty sure that everyone feels this way about the city they live in. so just entertain me for a minute and let me believe you agree 100% with me.) there is something about that first sighting of people sitting outside…eating…drinking and just being happy. just today…i was walking home and came up on these adorable little old ladies that were just sitting on a bench gossiping. they had their cute sunglasses on and were just chatting away…something about rhonda and how she's moving and they don't know why.  i don't know you but...WHERE ARE YOU GOING RHONDA!?

ahhh spring!!

another great thing about this kind of  weather is that i get to start my "exploring" walks again. LOVE. i'm having a lot of those "bridget jones's" moments when she's walking across the bridge after realizing she's got her groove back! yep. that's me people. the groove is grooving over here. with those walks…comes the perfect opportunity for new playlists which of course i have to share with all of you. (disclaimer: i'm no dj…but man o man this may be a sure fire "make you happy" playlist!)

Groove I 2013
1. Emeli Sandé - Wonder
2. Justin Timberlake - Pusher Love Girl
3. Bruno Mars - Natalie
4. Sara Bareilles - Brave
5. Gin Wigmore - Black Sheep
6. Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen
7. Paramore - Still Into You
8. Emeli Sandé - Next To Me
9. Quadron - Hey Love
10: Beyone - Schoolin' Life
11. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
12. Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love
13. Icona Pop - I Love It
14. Robyn - Dancing On My Own
15. David Guetta & Sia - Titanium



well now that i have talked you into a stupor…


happy monday my loves…
here's to having a fabulous week.

Throwback Thursday

no this is not a mistake. 

i know what day and month it is. 

this is the result of slacker blogging and using throwback thursday as an excuse to post some of my fav st. patty's day pix. (for those of you who don't know…the urban dictionary defines throwback thursday as 

"when you put a picture from a "while" ago on social media sites"

gosh i love the urban dictionary. it must always be true…right?

adult green eggs and ham

My version of a hipster…why are they so sad 

yep…we look like leprechaun vampires in this take 

this past st. patty's day was my first official as a chicago resident. woo hoo.
my friend becky is somewhat of a martha stewart in her own right and finds any excuse to have a party any chance she gets and i would say this was a reason to party. we all gathered at case de manifesto and partied our little hearts out. naturally i wanted to be the ultimate tourist and see the river being dyed. i have to say…it may be one of the coolest things i have ever seen. chicago is for sure one city that takes its st. patty's day serious. (i mean come on….how much do you think that dying set the city back?)
we then proceeded to act like we were 21 again and decided to do a little west loop bar crawl…no words…I AM NOT 21 ANYMORE!!! eck

oh and for those of you who don't drink "green" beer (me! me! me!)…

i have the perfect recipe for you…

Irish Lady
1oz Midori Melon Liqueur
3oz Champagne
1oz Orange Juice
i could lie and say we measured things exactly but…ain't nobody got time for that. ;)


well happy throwback thursday #tbt everyone…

(i make a pretty cute leprechaun if i don't say so myself.)

Girls Who Eat 1.7

694 Wine & Spirits 

www.694wineandspirits.com

do you love bacon? 

i do. 

for those of you who don't…don't you worry…i'm eating enough for all of us. 

(don't worry. i'm eating turkey bacon as well. gotta have some balance right)

a few weeks ago…on a random tuesday night i met a couple of my gal pals at 694 wine bar. 

i thought it was going to be just another simple tuesday night relaxing with my friends and having a few glasses of wine.  

NOPE. 

this happened to be BACON TUESDAY! 

say what? yep. i said it. 

who knew…there are places that actually dedicate an entire day to bacon. it's about freaking time is all i have to say. i mean my friend nikki and i have been celebrating bacon since college. 

now to what we ate… since it was bacon tuesday we naturally had bacon. duh.

we ordered the Kick-Ass Blt. (yes mom…that is the name. i'm not swearing just to be swearing)

it was hands down the best blt i have ever had in my entire life. i couldn't tell you why but when you get to thinking about it…does it really matter? it's bacon. 

we also had the Butter & Salt: bread with three amazing butters & sea salts from different regions.

lastly, after a couple more glasses of wine (which by the way their wine list is amazing!) we decided to end the night with a side of bacon. now this isn't just any side. nope.  this is a side of bacon with honey and black truffle salt. OMG. I JUST DIED THINKING ABOUT IT AGAIN. 

so there you have it. another adventure for the girl who eats. 

oh and one more thing. 

they have the best menu cover ever. 

pretty darn funny. to me at least. 

happy monday loves

That One Time I Said I Was Going To Blog And Didn't...

who hasn't been blogging? this girl. 

remember when you were a kid and you would pray and pray that time would speed up? 

umm yea. note to self. time is officially speeding by. i mean really…

it's freaking already the middle of april. 

SO NOT COOL MR. TIME! 

so here's my excuse for not blogging. 

it's a good one. 

you ready? 

I SUCK. 

yep. that's my excuse. besides working my tail off the last couple of months and traveling like a hobo for work; i have no excuse. this past week i was in St. Paul, MN. have you ever been? well let me tell you what you are missing. BLIZZARDS IN APRIL! gah! 

i found it quite funny that the local newspaper actually had the balls to advertise for flip flops. 

what a tease jcp!!!

i literally left chicago (a place where winter isn't a season…it's a state of mind) for more snow. who does that? this girl is who. so naturally i did what i know best. found the nearest place to purchase wine and hunkered down with my paper cup and ate chipotle three out of five days i was there. heaven.

oh and check this out. the clean remote. 

am i the last to know this exists? 

it's about time…on behalf of all germaphobes….we thank you!

My Family Tree

so it's officially been 53 days since my last post.

 geesh...how time flies when you are having fun. and fun is exactly what i have been having. but we will talk more about that later.

(go ahead and start preparing yourself for instagram overload)

 

 

now for a short insight into my tree...

 

so i'm sure you guys remember me mentioning from time to time that i'm an only child. well i'm also the only child of divorced parents. not that that's really that important but i feel like it's a good segue to this story. haha.

 my mom and dad split when i was a kid and they decided that it would be better for my mom to have full custody of me. (my dad always says..."a girl should be taught how to be a lady by a lady." good thinking pops...i can't imagine you teaching me how to put on mascara or the importance of matching bra and undies. but i still love you)

so naturally i grew up being much closer to my mama's side of the family which meant i wasn't as close to my dad's side of the family. anywho...now that you have the background deets i can continue. last week i was watching tv and a trailer for the new Jackie Robinson movie '42' came on and i was just speechless about how good it looked. i got to thinking about my last name... Robinson. strange i know but how often do you really think about your last name and what it means or the people who share it. my dad is really into our family tree but i have to admit...i haven't been the most interested. i think the only thing i have ever asked is "why did you and mom only have one kid? i mean come on..you come from a family of 9 kids and mom comes from one of 6 kids. you couldn't give me one dagnab sibling?"  i'm kind of a bad Robinson over here i guess.

i digress 

so immediately after seeing the trailer i texted my dad and started picking his brain. "are we related to Jackie Robinson?" "who else are we related to?" "did you ever meet Jackie?" "why don't i like baseball?" ....and so on and so forth.  

from the time i was a kid he always told me we had some "well known" people in our family but i never really took interest.

(we can blame and insert the stereotypical rebellious "daddy issues" excuse here)

my dad proceeds to tell me that we are related to Jackie Robinson and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. now don't take this the wrong way...but is it weird that i'm more stoked about Bill? I'm a huge Shirley Temple fan and he actually starred with her in a movie. eck.

(i may or may not own every movie she ever did...nerd alert here!)

 

and that's that. i just had to share....

now go see '42' IN THEATRES NOW.

and then come home and catch up on some tap with Shirley and Bill.

 

 

 

 

(videos via youtube)

 

 

 

 

 

 

so here's to knowing who you are and where you come from

and to the man who passed on Robinson to me. xoxo dad