Tuesday, January 31, 2017

I'm In MIAMI b*tch!

After going back and forth with my friend, I was slowly realizing we might jump on a plane in a few hours.  I started to get anxious.  NOT GOOD.  All of the sudden, I had so much to do in such a short amount of time.  As soon as I received the confirmation text, I knew we were set to go.  She had a lot to do as well and we ended our conversation.  She will be at my place at 4:15am.  HOLY MOLY!  What do I pack?  I didn't want to check in any bags so I brought out my weekend bag.  I figured I'll pack lightly since we'll be staying with a friend of hers.  There was talk that others might be staying at his apartment, too, so I didn't want to have too much stuff with me.
I started to clean up frantically.  Over the years I would have my New Year's Eve ritual of having a clean apartment, a stocked fridge, a packed suitcase by the door, as well as having my red underwear on underneath my clothes.  I quickly grabbed my red undies so I wouldn't forget.  I threw in a wrap dress I won on ebay months ago and checked the weather.  It was barely 80 degrees, but I forgot how that felt like.  lol.  I packed in a pair of skinny black pants and a top if we went out the next day.  I threw in two bikinis and my swim coverup and had some nude flip flops that I would use as my walking sandals.  I decided to wear some blue skinny jeans on the plane, so I packed 2 casual tops in case we walked around.  I also packed my gym clothes that I was going to use as my pajamas.  Again, not sure how the living situation was going to be for the next two days, so I played it safe by sleeping in my gym clothes.  lol
I finished cleaning up my apartment and then took a quick body shower and followed up with a self mani and pedi.  I was too excited to go to sleep so I finished reading the end of my book and felt good about it.  I knew it would be impossible to read out there and wanted to end that chapter of 2016.
I probably knocked out around 2:30am only to wake up to my alarm going off an hour later.  I knew I wanted to sleep on the plane anyway so I didn't have a problem with this at all.  I texted my friend to see if she was awake and jumped in the shower again to wash my hair.  Everything was happening so fast.  By the time I was getting dressed, she texted me that she was going to be at my place in 15 minutes.  YIKES!
I had everything ready when she called me to let me know that she was downstairs.  I rushed to meet her with my bags, but she had a present for me for Christmas.  I ran back up to my place to drop the gift off and grabbed hers.  She ordered the lyft and the next thing you know, he was waiting for us.  My anxiety was getting the best of me.  I just wanted to be on the plane so I could knock out and not feel this way.  I could tell my friend was super excited but I warned her that I wasn't feeling so great.  I needed her to understand how terrified I was getting on the plane. She could tell by my expression how worried I was and seemed to understand. 
Hiding behind sunglasses.  She was pretty excited.  I wanted to sleep it off.

Everything at the airport was a blur.  I remembered feeling a bit overwhelmed while we waited to board on.  I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I just wanted us to be there already.  I did manage to knockout on the plane and woke up right before we landed.  I did it!  We're on ground and we're safe!
We waited a while before her friend arrived.  He was running behind schedule.  I was slowly feeling my normal self but my friend never slept on the flight.  She was still super excited we were in Miami for New Year's Eve.  I was out of it, but since I was nervous about keeping food down, skipped on eating and now I was starved.  Once he arrived, we agreed to go get breakfast.
We were in East Miami which was indeed, 20 minutes away from South Beach.  The last time I was in Miami was almost 10 years ago with my ex.  We had came down for the Winter Music Conference.  Those were some crazy times, but because I came at the last minute, I had no idea what was going down tonight.  It DID feel good to be away from Chicago.  A change of scenery works wonders.
We went to a sportsbar called Batch which was around the corner from his place.  I needed some coffee BAD but her friend had other things in mind!  lol.  It was way too early for me to drink but it dawned on me that our mini getaway was going to be insane!  We were in MIAMI!!

Breakfast at Batch.  I cleaned off my plate!

After a couple of hours at the bar, me and my friend realized that he was not going to move from his spot.  We wanted to walk around and find the nearby mall he mentioned earlier.  We took matters on our own hands and told him we would come back for him later.  He was enjoying his time at the bar and we didn't want to interrupt him.
The mall was semi outdoor so it was cool to walk around.  My friend desperately wanted to lay out.  She figured we could kill two birds with one stone and nap in the process.  We headed back to get our friend but he still wasn't ready to leave Batch.  We wasted some more time there before we finally dragged him back to his place to drop off our stuff.  He had a pool at his building and we wanted to lay out before the sun went away.  It was cloudy in Miami but luckily no overcast.  We changed into our bikinis and headed up.  It was relaxing laying out.  We took advantage of the time and dozed off. 
As you can tell, cloudy day but not even sun to get any color.  BOO!

We managed to get in 30 minutes of sleep, but whenever a big cloud would roll in, it covered the sun and we would get nippy.  We stayed out about an hour before realizing it was 5pm now.  He mentioned to us that he had some friends coming in around 6pm and we wanted to get a head start getting ready.  My friend wanted to get a professional mani and pedi and luckily there was a salon across the street from his apartment.  We walked back down to throw some clothes on, but our friend had never laid down to rest himself.  He was still drinking.  I was surprised he wasn't tired but he told us before we walked out that he was going to try to lay down a bit.  We knew we had a long night ahead of us.
A lot of my friends found out through social media that we were in Miami.  It was funny because my friends know how I am.  I am hardly the spontaneous type.  Not to mention, I didn't accept two invitations for other weekend getaways.  I had some explaining to do!  I texted back friends while my friend got her nails done.  The salon owner came out and gave customers a glass of champagne.  How sweet!
After about an hour at the salon we went back up to the apartment to check on our friend.  Just like we thought so, he was completely knocked out.  We took our time getting ready.  My friend noticed that his phone was buzzing off the hook.  He had his phone on silent but people were calling him like crazy.  My friend had a back up plan on meeting other Chicagoans that were in Miami if this wasn't going to pan out.  We were more worried about looking our best, so we continued getting ready. 
Of course, like clockwork, our friend woke up.  He knew his friends made it in and were waiting on him back at Batch.  They did not know where else to go.  He quickly got ready and we all walked over to find them.
Luckily his friends were in a good mood.  They had been waiting for over an hour but ate in the meantime.  We all introduced each other and didn't realize our friend had parked himself at the bar again.  Me and my girl looked at each other and realized we might have a situation in our hands.
We were waiting on a 3rd friend to come by.  We still had no clue were we were going to spend New Year's Eve at.  Once the 3rd guy arrived we started to brainstorm.  South Beach was out of the question.  Our new friends insisted it would be too hard to get in anywhere this late in the evening.  By now it was 10pm and we still had no idea where to go.
One of the guys closed out our friend's tab at the bar.  At least he was proactive!  lol.  We gathered around and by the 3rd guy's suggestion, settled on going to Sugar, a hotel rooftop nearby.  We took a walk over and got there in no time flat!
We made it inside and that's when we all started to get excited.  WE FOUND A PLACE AND WE HAD TIME TO SPARE BEFORE MIDNIGHT!  Once we got up to the rooftop, we ordered drinks right away.  I was feeling good and our new friends were fun!  Everything was perfect!  Me and my girl hugged and kissed each other at the stroke of midnight.  We made some amazing friends.  We stayed there past 2am when our crowd was dwindling down.  It was just me and my friend with the 2 guys waiting at Batch earlier.  Since they drove down here, they were going to stay with us at our friend's place.  We wanted to see what else was going on and they suggested a cigar lounge.  We took a cab over there and made our way in.  I was getting exhausted by now, but my girl was still going strong.  Around 3am I couldn't take it anymore.  My eyes were closing in on me and I had to go.  My friend stayed out longer.  I was impressed but as for me, it's lights out!   
On our way up to Sugar!  Cool elevator...


Our crazy friend!  I'm glad he woke up on time!  lol


3rd guy saved the day!  We loved this place!!

NYE was a blast with this hottie!

Won this BCBG dress off ebay and I think it worked great for this evening..

City view of East Miami...

At the cigar shop.


Thursday, January 26, 2017

Mommy Dearest...

The craziest thing I did for 2016 was the way I ended it.  Looking back on it now, it was pretty irresponsible of me.  I am definitely paying the price for it, lol, but luckily I'll be back on track with my budgeting for this new year.  I had no plans for New Year's Eve and didn't feel the need to celebrate it either.  The aftermath of the holidays was almost over and I was slowly feeling back to my normal self.  I spent the whole day with my mom and was looking forward to watching a special on tv about Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher.  Both of them passed within a day of each other and it was all over the news.  What a tragic turn of events that shook the world.  I felt a sense of closeness with my mom after spending the day with her, but knew moments like this were bitter sweet for us.  There was a time when me and my mom did not speak.  It took a long time for us to get to where we are at.
I hurried home and was starting to watch the special that Friday night when my friend started to text me out the blue.  She wanted to know if I had to work that Monday January 2nd.  Since New Year's Day landed on Sunday this year, the holiday was being observed that following Monday.  I was indeed off and replied yes while I was washing up to get ready for bed.  The texts didn't stop.  "If I buy your plane ticket and cover hotel, wanna go someplace warm with me leaving tomorrow and returning the 2nd?".
"What the??"  This girl is really something.  She had just gotten back from Florida two weeks ago for her birthday.  I knew she was spontaneous but this is too much.  We went back and forth but I was dead set against it.  I confessed that I wish I was in a better place financially and that I could not have her pay for my plane ticket.  I wasn't putting much thought into until she told me how cheap the flights were.  Don't get me wrong.  Flying to Miami was low considering what time we had to head out in morning.  Since I'm not a travel junkie and have still yet to learn the process of finding good flights, my friend had been frantically looking for deals all day.  She travels all the time.  I was skeptical but it was starting to make me think.  What if we could pull this off?  She had a friend in Miami who lived 20 minutes away from South Beach and was insisting that we stay with him.  Things were starting to look more promising for me money wise.  I did not want my friend to pay my way down there but now I could manage the rest.  I was still hesitant until I realized I had just dropped off my mom 40 minutes ago!  If we booked this flight we had to head out in a couple of hours.  I called her up immediately. 
My other aunt was hosting a small party at her house for New Year's Eve and I had a feeling my mom was under the impression I was going.  Over the years I would have had other plans, but because this year I didn't follow through with anything, I told her I might stop by after all.  I was nervous she might think I was holding something back from her but I had to set the record straight.  I told her how my friend found a good deal on a flight flying into Miami but we had to leave in a few hours.  I also told her I was hesitant about it because I knew I hadn't budgeted for such a trip so soon.  I was rambling on and on until I realized how nervous I was getting.  My anxiety was starting to act up.
"Well, why don't you tell her next time?  That you cannot go right now and that next time you can travel with her?".  I stood silent.  I didn't realize my mom was under the impression that I was asking her advice, but in actuality I was just letting her know what was going through my mind.  I stood my ground and said, "Well actually mom, I WAS thinking about going."  Now she stood quiet, but I continued on that if I had the chance to go to Miami for New Year's Eve, I would take it.  It was just a matter of seeing if this would pan out.  "If we do book this, I would only be gone for 2 days and I don't see what the damage would be.  We would be staying with a friend and we should be ok.  But if you ask me where would I rather spend New Year's Eve at, of course I would answer anywhere but here!"  She seemed shocked and answered, "Oh ok."  I reassured her what I was planning but was doubtful since anything can happen once you try to purchase tickets.  You never know about last-minute-flights.  I told her I would let her know what we decided and we said goodnight to one another.  It was now 10pm...



Monday, January 23, 2017

Mother /Daughter Day

Since my mom retired in mid October, I told myself I wanted to do something with her OUTSIDE of the house at least once a month.  My mom has been in mourning since her husband passed away, and for the most part has continued working until her retirement.  She rarely steps out of the house unless it's for running her errands.  I felt it was important for her to continue to live her life during this transition which meant I needed her to look forward to something.  Sometimes her depression gets the best of her and she would cancel on me at the last minute due to bad weather conditions, feeling tired, or whatever excuse she would make up.  I knew on my end I didn't want to push her into doing something she wasn't ready to do.  I had a scheduled day off from work on the last Friday of December.  When I spoke to her the night before, I had suggested we do something concerning the holidays before all the festivities would be taken down.  I cannot go over her place too long due to her dog, so she has to work with me whether she likes it or not.  I wanted to checkout the Museum of Science and Industry to look at the Christmas trees around the world exhibit.  Automatically she brought up how cold it might be, and of course, I debated back that we are in winter after all and that's expected.  She didn't seem to budge so I dropped it.
In the morning I enjoyed watching the news and wanted to finish up my last book I was reading for the year, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"; a self-help book I got off of Amazon.  I figured it would be a great way to for me to prepare for 2017, and I was down to the last chapter.  Sure enough, around 11am she called me out the blue.  "You know, I took Lucky out for a walk and it didn't seem that cold out".  It looks like my mom wanted to step out after all.  Unfortunately we went back and forth on the phone, and concluded that heading to Hyde Park to the Museum of Science and Industry was not going to work for us.  We still had to get ready and meet up somewhere since we both don't have a car.  If we wanted to head there, we should have left much earlier.  I had a back up plan.  I told her we could head down to Millennium Park to watch the ice skating rink and she agreed. 
We got downtown around 2pm and made our way there.  But since we were passing State Street, we realized we did not get a chance to see the Christmas display at Macy's.  We walked around the building to see the window displays and took pictures.  We figured we could checkout what they had inside.  It was nice looking around with my mom.  She's worked in downtown all her life and loves the glitz and glamour of nice things.  Even though she couldn't afford such stuff, it never stopped her from appreciating the finer things in life.  We made our way to the Walnut room to checkout their tree, but the line was too long for us to be seated for lunch.  We kept on going.
We made it to Millennium Park and watched the people ice skate for some time.  My mom wasn't aware of the skating rink there, so that's why I took her so she could become familiar with it.  She was having a good time.  The line to have lunch at the Park Grill was short, so we decided to have lunch there. 
I realized we were doing good with time and thought maybe we could catch a movie.  During Christmas Eve, my mom had mentioned how she wanted to see Lion with Dev Patel.  I was surprised she even knew about such a film, but she claimed she saw something on tv about it.  My mom is not the artsy film type.  When her husband was alive, he was mostly into blockbuster movies and that's what they would see.  To have her tell me she wanted to see this type of movie surprised me.  But I wanted to make her happy, so I looked up the movie times and found one for 5:30pm at the AMC at Streeterville.  She seemed glad we were going.
Off we went to the show.  It was an amazing film, and it haunted me for days afterwards.  There is an Oscar buzz and I hope they get the nominations in.  Lion is based off a true story about a little boy that got lost from his older brother in India at a train station.  My mom claims when she was a little girl back in Guatemala, her and her younger brother would sometimes roam the streets at such a young age.  I often wonder how she randomly remember such times now that she's older.
I cried a lot during the movie and so did she.  I felt that it brought us closer.  At one point as we were having lunch, my mom said to me out of the blue "Thank you nena."  It was nice...
I can't believe Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl again!
Pretty tree at the Walnut Room
Goofing off at Macy's
We got a chance to see people ice skate at Millennium Park...
I always order crab cakes whenever it's on a menu!
My wooden Santas are watching me.  lol
Wore an old winter white flannel blazer that helped keep me warm that day.  Perfect alternative to a thick sweater.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Holidays are OVER! part 5

Well today is the day I have been dreading for weeks.  We have a new president in office; one whom I did not vote for.  Over the weeks, I have witnessed his supporters come out of the wood works.  They voice their reasoning on why they chose to put him in office.  I have observed that they usually dislike him, or pick out ONE legitimate stance that they agreed upon.  And that's about it.  I am still pretty confused on how someone can vote like that, but there you have it.
During the holidays, I was aware that the upcoming year was going to have changes.  My mom had entered retirement.  My job had some talk going around.  And now we have a new presidency.  The future seemed unsure.  I tried to enjoy the moments I had with my family and friends but with the holiday burn out I was experiencing, the tension was back firing.  On Christmas Eve stress left me with tension on my shoulders.  I was pooped out.  I didn't realize that I was spreading myself thin.  On top of that, I had rejected two birthday parties and two weekend getaways during the holiday season.  There was simply no way I could do it all but I felt bad rejecting my friends.  I look back now and realize I made the right decision.  In the end, you HAVE to take care of yourself.  What good would it do to be a complete mess for your family and friends?
My dad was hosting a Christmas Day dinner for me and my brothers.  I knew I couldn't miss this.  This was a nice tradition that had started some years ago on the part of my dad.  If you remember, he was not a part of my life for some time, and we reconnected in my mid 20s. 
Some things had lingered from the night before at my aunt's that had me question my dad.  He wasn't around for part of our lives, but I knew he could give me some insight on my family.  During dinner I asked a lot of personal questions this time, mostly to mend the loops I've heard from my mom's side of the family.  I feel I received some clarity, although the next day I ended up telling my mom some of my conversation with my dad.  I guess I thought I could continue this conversation about my family, but instead it got her irritated.  I forgot how much my mom suffered without my dad being around for us, and those feelings were deeply rooted.  Here I was poking my head in someone's business that was not intended for me and my brothers to know.  But I still felt I had a right to ask.
I want to know why things were the way they were.  I want to know about relatives that I've shared brief encounters with.  I wanted to know how things came to light and how people handled the changes throughout their lives.  It was interesting to me, plus it made me learn about my mom and her family more.  Parents seem to think they can place certain information to you, and that they  would be our truths, when in actuality it's not.  It's biased.  It's one-sided.  It's half of the story.
For some years me and my mother had our issues and sometimes wouldn't speak to one another.  I wanted to know why we chose to deal things liked that.  Now that we have a reoccurring relationship, how can I preserve that?  How do I handle her anger and frustrations if she doesn't agree with me?  A daughter needs to know.
In the end, I am grateful I had the opportunity to talk to my dad about other issues besides Chicago politics and sports.  I think me and my brothers learned a lot from him that night and I choose not to feel bad about what I did.  The last thing I want my mom to think is that I'm siding with him when I'm just trying to learn about our family's history. 
What do you think?  Was I out of line?
Best x-mas gift I got this year! 



Me and my younger brother...
Me and my dad talking about family stuff.  I'm not sure if he has selective memory, but it was interesting hearing him out.
His wife made pozole for us.  Perfect for a wintery day!
The green sauce is always the spicier sauce!
The rest of my family at the dinner table.  We had a good time chatting away...

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Holidays are OVER part 4!

It's been almost a month since the holidays are over yet it feels much longer.  One thing that freaks me out as I get older is how fast time flies.  Moments become instant memories in an instant.  You don't have time to process anything.  It's already slipped your fingers.  I've had people come in and out of my life who've affected me deeply yet we only came in contact for a brief time.  I'm saddened by some recent events, and wonder if I can ever truly get use to people being out of my life.  Their imprint has branded a place in my heart deeply...
On Christmas Eve Saturday, I was out at the stores.  A friend of mine had texted me at 1am that Friday night when I had just gotten home from the birthday party.  She wanted to see me at one point so we could exchange gifts.  I panicked.  I was hoping she wouldn't do such a thing, since I normally don't exchange gifts with friends, but we have spent a lot of time together this past year.  I have not known her as long as my close friends, but she's an amazing person and was flattered she got me something.  Since it was late after all, I let her know that my family celebrates Christmas Eve and we would have to touch base sometime this weekend, but I knew I was in a jam.  Since everything would be closed on Sunday for Christmas Day, I had to get her something beforehand.
I was completely tensed up when I got up that day.  My shoulders hurt so much.  I felt too stiff and did not have much sleep because of it.  I got a lucky break when my friend texted me if I wanted to workout.  He was going to head to a department store first to finish up some shopping himself and asked if I wanted to tag along.  I jumped at the opportunity.
We headed down Elston and there was traffic brewing already.  The store was in mayhem, but we managed to find stuff in the hour we were there.  I was pretty satisfied with my gifts, but it didn't stop my shoulders from hurting.  I was on the verge of tears from all of the stress leading up to tonight.  At the gym I used low weights because of how much my body ached.  I figured my body needed to move so I could loosen up.  My friend was great at hearing me out.  I am lucky he was around.  I just needed someone to vent at. 
Once we got back from the gym, I slowly got ready.  My little brother was working that evening and was going to pick me up once he got off from work.  I finished wrapping up my gifts and was ready to get this day over with.  I wasn't enjoy any of this so far.
We arrived to my aunt's place at the same time my other brother and my mom got there.  I could tell my mom seemed sad, but with so much commotion going on in the house, I couldn't check up on her like I wanted to.  I was glad my step brother was already there waiting for us.  He seemed fine to be there, but he ended up leaving after dinner.  He said he wasn't feeling that well when he got there but I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth.  For my mom and him, I knew my step dad was on their mind this day. 
Dinner was the best part of the night.  Me and my brothers always joke around.  We tried to keep the mood light hearted.  Once the conversation headed towards politics and religion, things tensed up again.  I concluded that most families probably can't help but bring up such issues during the holidays.
Finally the moment we've been waiting for all night had arrived and we all hugged and wished each other Merry Christmas.  With the news surrounding the deaths of much loved celebrities, I was grateful that my family was safe and healthy.
How did you spend the holidays?  Was it stressful like mine?  lol.  My moment of clarity was seeing my brothers receive the gifts that I gave them.  I bought them the Chicago Cubs Championship winter hats which were sold out everywhere.  I lucked out finding them but seeing the smiles on my brothers faces was all worth it!
Made it to my aunt's!




My brothers and step brother...

Christmas sweets!



Family pic.  I'm glad we are all safe and healthy.  They mean the world to me.





Friday, January 13, 2017

Spreading myself thin...

Every year, I tell myself I will finish my Christmas shopping early, and every year I end up frantically looking for stuff to get on the 24th.  Talk about procrastination!  I really want to work on this because I loathe shopping at the last minute for people.  Not to mention, I sometimes feel I settle for something that might not be appropriate for them, but at least they got a gift from me.  NOT GOOD!  I want to be thoughtful on my gift giving and those things take time.  I fell in that trap again this year and I was miserable. 
I have a friend whose birthday lands on Christmas Eve, and since this time it landed on a Saturday, I had a feeling she might be celebrating on Friday instead.  I have not caught up with her since her birthday last year and felt terrible about that already.  We use to hangout years ago, but then our little group changed due to the breakups of our boyfriends.  I sometimes miss those days, but looking back, so much has happened after that.  Things changed.  I reached out to her via text and she told me she was going to be out for a birthday dinner but afterwards might step out elsewhere.  We played it by ear and I felt good about it.
Until I decided to do some more Christmas shopping.  Since now my aunt was hosting, and we found out a few days beforehand, I wanted to pick some gifts up for my cousins.  Because I was trying to rush to the stores to find something, I ended up slipping on ice and hurting myself.  That's what happens when you're mind is all over the place.  Besides bruising my ego, I got back up and ran off to 6 corners. 
I was on a roll looking for things when I received a text from the birthday girl.  Two friends had backed out of the dinner and she asked me if I could make it out by 8pm in place of them.  I was stuck.  There was no way I could get to Lincoln Park in 45 minutes.  I still had to go home and get ready and make my way there.  Plus I needed more time to finish up my shopping.  I told her I couldn't make it but to count me in after dinner if they go out.  She seemed fine with it, and I continued shopping for my cousins.
I made my way back home flustered, but satisfied.  I wanted to relax a bit, so I took my time getting ready.  I knew something was up when my phone was blowing up.  There was a group text with my friends going back and forth.  Our friend from Detroit was in town for the holidays.  She was at a nearby suburbs doing some shopping herself.  We were trying to set up a time and place to meet up, but it wasn't working out.  I continued getting ready and right when I was figuring out what to wear, I got a call from my Detroit friend:
"Get ready, we're coming to pick you up."
"Wait!  What?"
"We'll be there in 7.  We're going to Café Iberico."
YIKES!  I was stuck.  I thought about my friend in Lincoln Park.  Her dinner was at 8pm and now it's 9:15pm.  I was thinking about meeting them up after 10pm.  But since my other friend wanted to eat something at Café Iberico, we would be downtown.  I figured I'll take advantage of the free car ride and then excuse myself at one point to go join the other party.  I was spreading myself thin, but at the time it seemed like a good idea.
She arrived approximately in 7 minutes, just like she stated.  Off we went.  I miss her little baby.  We all caught up with one another and were enjoying ourselves.  I kept looking at my phone but did not hear from the birthday girl.  She texted me that she was still at the restaurant around 10:15pm.  I replied that I was making my way downtown, but I was trying to kill some more time.  I continued my evening with my friends and then she texted back after 11pm to come to the restaurant.
Over the years, she would normally paint the town red.  I was hoping she was going to do the same and go out so I could join her somewhere but she was still at the restaurant.  By this time. she had been at the restaurant for over 3 hours.  I panicked.  I told my friends I had to make this party and left.  I cabbed it over to Lincoln Park and made it in 10 minutes flat.  The party made it's way next door to a pub.  I joined them, but I knew something was up.  They were pretty drunk by now, but the party was much smaller.  Some people left after dinner.  As we caught up, there were so many changes in the works.  I felt bad missing out so much of her life.  To make matters worse, she was pretty hurt those 2 friends who did not show up to her party.  I felt incredibly guilty for showing up late.
I did not know what to do.  I felt I had let everyone down.  And I still wasn't done with my Christmas shopping.  I found out at the last minute that my step brother was going to join us for Christmas Eve dinner.  Another one I had to find a gift for.
I rode with my friend in a cab to make sure she got home ok.  It was the least I could do.  I just hope I didn't blow it with her.     
How could I leave him so soon?? 

I had to make more time for him!!  He lives so far away...

His Ralph Lauren sweater is on point!

Made it to see this babe!

I need to make it up to her somehow...

COLDEST DAY OF THE YEAR!

December was an fickle month.  Every 4 days I had a party of some sort to attend, and it started to take it's toll on me.  My shoulders were tensed, and I felt I didn't have enough time to do my regular routine since things were always popping up here and there.  Not to mention, my mom was acting differently which made me wonder if depression was slowly creeping its way back.  I wanted to be there for her, but I also had to live my life.  Unfortunately, I knew I was spreading myself thin due to overbooking my time with everyone, and by mid month, was feeling anxious myself.
A fond farewell party took place at my firm with one of our beloved employees deciding to pursue a new chapter in his life.  AGAIN, just like the birthday brunch earlier in the month, and the ugly Christmas sweater party out in the burbs, this one lasted longer than I anticipated.  I joined in on the festivities 2 hours late into the evening and the party was still going strong.  One thing led to another, and off we went to Quartino to have dinner.  We were having a good time with one another, I didn't notice the time passing by.  We eventually left and went for cocktails afterwards.  I think our friend was very appreciative about the whole night in general.


First up, a toast goodbye...

Loved this olive oil from Quartino...
Yummy pizza!

During this time the weather in Chicago was getting frigid.  My friend asked if I would be interested in attending a daytime party at the Godfrey Hotel.  A friend of ours was having her birthday party there.  I always thought she was sweet, so I agreed to go.  I still had to do some Christmas shopping, but figured I could pull this off on the same day.  Little did I know how cold it was going to get.  The temperatures were dropping into the negatives, but the party must go on!
The daytime party was starting at 2pm.  I knew I would not be there that early, so I notified my friend that I was anticipating on arriving around 4pm.  I had to pick something up at Crate & Barrel and since we were celebrating in a hotel, figured I could leave my package at the coat check and attend the party without worrying.  Luckily, everything worked out, but time was crucial since the following weekend was Christmas. 
I arrived at the party after 4pm and the party had not shown up yet.  I waited at the bar in the meantime.  I figured people were late due to the frigid temperatures.  By this time it had dropped to -5, but as the evening went on, it was not going to stop.  The birthday girl and guests arrived after 5pm to -9 degree temperature.  I was impressed she had a good turn out of friends.  She is an awesome girl and everyone came to support her, despite how cold it was.
I wore a tunic sweater with a leather harness over it.  I had seen something similar on a fashion blogger and forgot I had one.  Due to the slush, I wore my pebble leather boots, but I wished I had the opportunity to wear my suede over the knee boots.  Dressing in the winter time can be a challenge!         
Might as well enjoy this margarita cocktail before everyone shows up...
Birthday girl in winter white.

All black for this frigid weather...

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Holidays are OVER! Part 3

One of my favorite new traditions for the holiday season is definitely an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.  At first, I thought it was a hilarious idea to get people together to make fun of each other.  But as the popularity grew, I now look forward to seeing my friends--PERIOD.  It's hard to see them during the holidays when everyone has so many commitments.  This is a perfect guarantee that we could touch base and see how we are doing.
The holidays are stressful for some.  It's the end of the year.  People reflect back.  We sometimes check in on our current situations to see if we're heading towards the right direction.  And sometimes we just know what's not working for us anymore. 
I noticed my mom was growing very irritated by the holidays.  I couldn't put my finger on it at first, mostly because she was complaining about how crowded the stores are, etc.  But then she started mentioning how she's not fond of certain people in our circle, and that's when I knew something was brewing.  Despite in the past, whether or not certain people were difficult to be around, we still as a family managed to get together during the holidays.  This time my mom was voicing her opinion, but for me and my brothers, we weren't having it.  I wasn't sure if she was trying to deter us from spending the holidays with others and keeping me and my brothers to herself,  Luckily my older brother took over the communication process and my younger aunt decided to host Christmas Eve at her house.  I know it seems a bit conniving, but me and my brothers all agreed that we didn't want to separate our family because of my mom feeling uncomfortable.  Sometimes I think she's embarrassed or ashamed of being a widow(?)  I wouldn't know how to explain her feelings because they are her thoughts, but I'm beginning to learn a lot from her and my family.
This year one of our friends wanted to throw an Ugly Christmas Sweater party at her new house out in the suburbs.  It's 45 minutes away from the city, so that alone was a hike.  Not to mention, she chose to throw it on a Sunday where no Metra trains run to her town.  Being car less sometimes has it's challenges.  Luckily my friend was coming also, so we met up in downtown to head south to Oarland Park.  To make matters worse, there was a snow storm heading our way.  I was hoping it would start later, but sure enough, the snow was hitting us hard during our commute there.  My friend has a truck so she was breezing through, but this type of weather could be difficult for smaller vehicles.
Once we got there, the party was just starting.  The group turned out to be smaller than intended due to the weather conditions.  Yet my friend seemed pretty happy people showed up.  She gave us a tour of her new home and we finally met her little son!  We had a good time catching up with one another and stayed put for the rest of the day.  I was surprised we left so late in the evening but knew it would be safer for us since the roads would be plowed by then.  As for the funniest sweater; we had a winner!!    



Found this sweater at Forever 21.  Not your typical Ugly Christmas sweater, but it does have reindeers on them...
Check out that spread!
FINALLY met the baby!!  He's adorable!
My friend with the baby and her Hanukkah sweater...
Our little party in the burbs.  The snow wouldn't stop!
What a great idea!  Collecting ornaments from all over to put on the tree.  My friend's made it's way to the top!
The winner of the Ugly Christmas Sweater!