New Music I Love: The Head and The Heart

I thought I would try something new today,and share a little music with you. I can't stop listening to this band, The Head and the Heart. They opened for the Decemberists last week, and I am in love. We actually got to the show late, and only saw their last song, but that was enough to have us intrigued. We bought the album as soon as we got home, and it's been playing nonstop since then!  So here's one of their videos...



The whole album is fantastic! If they are back in Chicago again, I will go out of my way to see their show. And the Decemberists were amazing, as always. We hadn't seen them in years, so it was fun to see them playing some of our old favorites, and also newer songs from the last couple albums. Officially a better than average Thursday night!

Who are you listening to lately? I lean towards more indie and alternative music, but am always open to suggestions!

Extended Weekend Adventures

This weekend felt like the real kickoff to summer! I only had to work on Sunday morning, and had all day Friday, Saturday, and Monday off. This meant lots of relaxing time, plus hours of outdoor entertainment! There was a beach picnic, some kickball, outdoor drinks, a park picnic, an escape to an air-conditioned movie theatre, and other very summer like activities. Basically, it was a kick-ass weekend! I got to bond with some Whole Foods people while playing kickball, and even caught a pop fly (if that's what you would call it in kickball!). We explored a really nice beach in Wilmette, a fancy suburb just north of Chicago, and reveled in the soft sand and seemingly cleaner water. There were drinks in front of open bar windows, and out on our back porch. And last night we heard a free Iron & Wine concert at Millennium Park, although it was too crowded to actually see the show. A near-perfect summer weekend! 

What's that you say? You want photo evidence of such fun activities?  I suppose I could indulge you....

Beers at The Hopleaf, plus amazing frites for dinner!

Practicing his new hobby

My tomato plant is growing like crazy!



White sangria with peaches and grapes.
Quite tasty, but also leads to a terrible hangover if you're not careful!

 

Monday night picnic at Millennium Park, with Iron and Wine concert sounds from across the street.

I had fun beach pictures, but they're on Joe's phone. Maybe if you're lucky, I'll save them for a post dedicated to a lovely beach picnic ;)  Hope you're enjoying some summer fun of your own!

Birthday Celebrations!

Last Tuesday I turned the big 2-7. As Joe has pointed out numerous times, this means I'm in my late 20's... and this kind of freaks me out! 30 is around the corner, which is crazy to me. So I guess I better live it up for the next couple years, because life ends when you turn 30, right?!

Ok, I'm really not that freaked out about getting older. I do like to use my birthday as a good excuse for a totally fun day with no work and lots of playing, and this year I did an exceptionally good job making it a fun celebration. The day started with my good friend Cathy, who is my favorite buddy to hang out with mid-week, since we both have jobs with random hours. We went to Kuma's Corner for some amazing heavy metal burgers, which were fantastic. Then we switched to girly mode, and went to a nearby salon for some mani/pedi pampering. It was such a treat, and a perfect way to spoil myself on my birthday!

Cathy and I have decided to use our weekday lunchtimes to explore popular Chicago restaurants that are usually packed. We've done Hot Dougs and now Kumas, and I have a feeling we'll continue this tradition.

I got the Megadeath burger, and it was to die for. The Kuma's burgers are hard to beat!

BLT Salad for dinner, with pretty painted toes on the side :)

I made dinner for Joe and I using some of the fresh produce from our CSA share, then we headed down to Lincoln Park to see one of our favorite bands, Mates of State. They aren't from Chicago, but happened to be playing a Lincoln Hall on my birthday. It was a great show, and Joe and I had so much fun! Officially a great birthday celebration!

We officially celebrated on Saturday night, too, with a party at our house. We used it as an excuse to share our home brewed beer, which our friends seemed to really like. There was plenty of beer to go around, and we celebrated our youth with a rowdy game of flip cup (which my team won!). We enjoyed the nice weather out back until a neighbor shushed us around 2:30, and slept in pretty late the next morning in an effort to recover. I had so much fun hanging out with all of our friends, and have to say this was the best birthday I've had in recent memory!

Catching up...

The month of March has flown by! We've had visitors, hosted a dinner party, brewed some great beer, and just enjoyed some downtime when I'm not working. Last week was spring break, and I used it as an opportunity to pick up some extra hours at work. Not a lot of time to relax, but before I know it this semester will be over and I can breath a little easier. I'm doing some extra studying for the mathematics content knowledge test I have to take in order to gain my certification, and I've been trying really hard to stick to a dedicated study schedule. So this hasn't been the most exciting month, but Joe and I have tried to squeeze in some fun times whenever we've had the chance!

One of my coworkers recently got a great new job, so we went to help celebrate at a going away party. My friend Michelle was the host, and she has an excellent party house. Her landlord is obsessed with the fact that Earnest Hemingway lived in the house at one point, and he has a museum honoring Hemingway in the basement. It was pretty crazy! No Chopping Block party is complete without a little flip cup, so we had to play a few rounds before heading out. It was fun to hang out with some of my coworkers in a purely social setting!

The weekend before St. Patrick's Day, my mom and sister came to visit. The main point of their trip was for us to go to the Flogging Molly concert with Colleen. We had so much fun hanging out with them during the weekend! Having visitors is a great excuse to enjoy our city, and we took advantage of our Chicago History Museum membership after Mom and Colleen took a cooking class on Sunday morning. We also went out for Ethopian food, which is always a fun treat. It was so fun to catch up and just relax together!

We also had friends over for a dinner party on a rare Friday night that I wasn't scheduled to work. We ate way too much, and Haley brought over some amazing cupcakes from Bleeding Heart Bakery. The day after the party I ate a leftover Salted Caramel cupcake, and it was freaking awesome! No other way to describe it :)

Let the blog begin!

New year, new blog. That works, right? I'm going to start this one off slowly, because I still want to focus my effort on Cooking and Eating in the Windy City for the time being. But this blog is something I hope will evolve, into a food, beer, and life blog for Joe and I to share. So I'll be doing some posts that show up on both blogs, and also sharing a little more about what we're just up to in our everyday life here in Chicago. If you made your way here, I hope you enjoy & stop back again!


This New Year's Eve was one to remember. We did an impromptu Spanish tapas dinner with our friends Nasser and Christie. We had tortilla, goat cheese in spicy tomato sauce, a caramelized onion and mushroom tart with chorizo, and some (slightly Italian) white bean and rosemary dip. It was a delicious spread, and we had a great time hanging out at home before the night got a bit crazier!


Next on the agenda was Girl Talk, a DJ show at the Congress Theater. We had a group of about 15 people all meeting up there, and we rocked out and danced like fools. It was a blast! We had so much fun dancing, laughing, and catching up with friend who were in from out of town. Being on the older side of the crowd, we decided to stay towards the back, and we had a great view of the whole floor. Such a fun time!


We ended the night at a friend of a friend's house, with more dancing and catching up. As we walked through our door around 4:00 am, we decided it had been a successful night. We also agreed that we're getting to old for this, and next year we'll be hosting a small house party or dinner or sorts :) It was a NYE that I'll remember for a long time, though! Thanks friends for making it a great night!