Lollapalooza Weekend is here!!

Chicago is infected with Lollapalooza fever!!  For the next 4 days, people from all over the world will be coming to the Midwest to celebrate the 25 year anniversary of this massive festival.  They are anticipating 400,000 people to attend this momentous occasion.  Lolla holds a special place in my heart.  I've been coming for the past 8 years and figured for this Throwback Thursday, I would reminisce my special moments I've encountered.  Let's begin!
Back in 2008 me and my ex-boyfriend attended a soccer match at Soldier Field.  After the game we took a stroll down Michigan Avenue and that's when we stumbled upon Lollapalooza.  It was nearing 8pm and we decided to see if we could score some last minute tickets.  There are always people around selling tickets at outrageous prices but we decided to stalk patrons leaving the venue.  We figured maybe they were willing to sell their wristbands.  We lucked out on a couple driving back to the burbs.  We offered to pay for their parking and that's when they handed over their wristbands.  They were done for the night so we figured we would give it a shot.  Once we walked in we raced over to the stage where Kanye West was set to perform and the rest was history!  We were hooked!
The following year we lucked out purchasing Friday single day pass tickets for Depeche Mode.  I was super excited to see one of my favorite bands perform.  Lollapalooza was something I looked forward to during the summer.  It became a way of life here in Chicago.  Although we didn't have tickets for Saturday or Sunday shows, we would still make our way downtown and listen to the acts from the outside.  We would have a picnic and stay til the whole show was over.  We loved to people watch and there was always something going on from the outside as well.
2010 we scored the 3 day passes.  You have to understand how difficult it is  purchasing tickets online when they are released.  People from all over the world are trying to obtain tickets at the same time.  The website would crash over and over again.  It's a treat when you get to purchase them.  My ex brought his daughters along too and they had a blast.  My friends also got in on the action and had tickets.  It was fun experiencing Lolla with a bigger group.  We watched Lady Gaga's performance and it was surreal!



Los Amigos Invisibles had beach balls at their stage!



Doing our best monster impersonation for Lady Gaga...

2011 Perry's stage was the place to be.  This time Lolla announced more international djs to entertain the ravers.  The music world was taking notice on EDM and their huge following.  Me and my friends scored single day tickets and I watched both Foster the People and Skrillex for Friday's lineup.  Of course you can't be in Lollapalooza and miss out on some rain.  Every Lolla I've been too, it's always turned into a mudfest.




It never fails, rain is always the forecast for Lollapalooza.

Don't forget your ponchos!

2012 was a difficult Lolla for me.  Me and my ex broke up earlier in the summer, and I knew attending this year without him would be hard for me.  My friend came along and we made the most of our time together there.  I absolutely adore her for coming with me. 

Cheers!  I'm having a glass of white wine instead of beer.  lol

I prefer wearing sneakers instead of sandals for Lolla.  Your feet taking a beating out there!

Me and my friends are addicted to lobster corndogs from Grahamwich!

2013 and I was still going through post breakup drama.  lol.  I can't believe we were still experiencing this together, but it was hard for us to be apart.  We were together for 7 years and we loved going to music festivals together.  We also had mutual friends which was sometimes hard for us to deal with.  On this occasion, a friend of ours had access to the backstage of Perry's stage and we couldn't pass up this opportunity.  We experienced Lolla from a different perspective and we loved it!  I missed dancing with the crowd, but at least backstage you viewed the crowd interacting with the djs.


2013 Lolla!

Made our way backstage at Perry's



Ran into playboy model Crystal McCahill backstage.  She's a babe!

This one is for the books!

2014 me and my friends got 3 day passes again.  It's funny because this is the Lolla I decided I couldn't do all 3 days again.  It's exhausting being out there for 10 hours!  Let's be honest, me and my friends would show up later for the main headliner acts, but still, it takes a toll on you.  I am fine not being able to rage all weekend.  We had a blast but at least we went out with a bang!

Iggy Azalea at Lolla!



Zedd's performance was amazing!





And now last year's Lollapalooza recap.  I did not manage to purchase any tickets.  I knew I was going on my Paris/ Italy trip and figured I'll just skip it that year.  Yeah right.  On Saturday I made my way down there to picnic outside the Bud Light stage.  I wanted to see Sam Smith and lucked out hearing him live from Lake Shore Drive.  What a treat!  He literally stopped traffic altogether.  People flocked to the streets to hear his voice.  The following day, I met up with a friend who was heading down to Lolla.  He had been there the whole weekend and we decided to see if we could score a ticket for me for Sunday's show.  We lucked out!  Once inside we danced the night away at Perry's stage for Nicky Romero and made our way to the Budlight stage for Bassnectar.  I had a blast as always.


Lolla 2015

Nicky Romero at Perry's



This year was a hassle again to purchase tickets online.  I ended up with a Sunday single day pass.  I'm not crazy about the lineup, but I will be definitely streaming Lolla at home to watch the rest of the acts.  I'm thinking of making my way down there to picnic on Saturday to listen to the music.  Watching people head over there was hard for me today since it's officially Day 1 of Lolla.  I guess you can say I'm in love with this festival.  I've had so many memories here that I will cherish forever.  I'm blessed to have had the opportunity to see some really great acts perform.  Like I said, Lollapalooza is a lifestyle!  And I love every minute of it!

Hall & Oates!

Since I'm still technically sick (actually I think it's mostly allergies since I'm dealing with my nose now) I've been laying low.  Last week I slowly started my workouts again but I took it easy at the gym.  I'm a fanatic when it comes to my workouts, but this cough was kicking my butt.  Like I mentioned before, it's not easy being sick in the summer!
I wanted to have a relaxing weekend to myself since last weekend was kind of hectic.  But to my surprise, my brother got me Hall & Oates tickets for us as a belated birthday gift.  Unfortunately, the concert was being held in Tinley Park which is almost the same route as heading back to Indiana!  UGH!!  Not again!  I had to make arrangements at work so I could leave before the Friday rush hour traffic hit.
To make matters worse, that day the temperature reached 91 degrees!  I found out at the last minute before heading out that we had lawn tickets too!  I was a little upset, but I figured the concert would start around 7pm.  The sun shouldn't be beating down on us around that time. 
We got to Tinley a little after 6pm.  We decided to fill up our gas tank since gas is known to be cheaper out in the burbs.  Parking and making our way in took us a minute, but then we had some time to kill.  I knew I wanted to lay out our blankets soon since I didn't want to be placed too far out from the stage.  We lucked out, but once we settled in, we took turns going back and forth to the washroom and getting drinks. 
Finally the show began, and with two opening acts, Hall & Oates made their way to the stage in front of a sold out audience!  Me and my brother had a blast since they're one of our favorite bands from the 80s.  People couldn't help but get up and dance!  I realize now what a wonderful time I had!  I loved my birthday gift...    

Good time with the bro!

I'm practicing using my selfie stick for my upcoming trip...

Lawn seats

Hall and Oates were amazing!

Baby Baptism Bonanza!

This cough of mine is getting on my nerves.  I'm still sick and it's been approximately two weeks.  To make matters worse, my mom ended up getting the same thing this past weekend.  She's feeling a lot better than before, but there's definitely something going around.  Bad cough, wheezing, and slight fever.  The weather has been very humid and in the 90s.  I believe the humidity is what is making this thing stick around.  Luckily this week the temperature finally dropped a bit will not reach 90 degrees. I think that will make this easier to deal with.  Take your vitamin C kids!  These flu symptoms last a while!
Last week on Sunday was my friend's baptism for her baby.  He's barely 4 months old but he's growing so quickly.  She is currently in the process of relocating to Michigan and we're going to miss her dearly.  So much is happening to my friends around me.  I'm cherishing these moments together because who knows when we will all be together again.
I was pretty sick that weekend.  I had my company work party that Friday and I made the mistake of going out later for a birthday party.  I went home and took a power nap which made me feel a little better.  With the suggestion of my mom (who wasn't sick yet) I took an Allegra and started sucking on some Halls cough drops.  She figured I was congested and maybe I needed to clear out my nasal passage.  It sort of did the trick.  I went out to Parliament and then Shay to end the evening.  I had a good time.

Birthday party at Parliament.  This dress is over 10 years old!  I can't believe I went out feeling sick.  I probably won't do that again anytime soon...

The next day I decided to take it easy.  I met up with some friends at Montrose Beach and felt I needed to "pretend" I wasn't sick so I could get over this thing quicker.  It's hard being sick in the summer!  The weather that day in particular was barely 80 degrees so I wore jeans and a T-shirt.  I watched my friends play volleyball and went home afterwards.  I went to bed in good time since I knew we had to be up early for the baptism.  Everyone started to send out group textes on who was driving.  It looks like a plan!
Well of course things didn't work out the way we wanted to.  Our designated driver woke up late.  Not to mention it was getting dark.  Storms were coming in but we didn't have time to worry about that.  We had to get ready!!  Everyone was running behind but it was still ok for the time being.  That is until the storm came in.  That changed our course completely.
My friend had already picked up our other friend.  But she forgot her card for the baptism!  She ran back to her apartment and that's when the monsoon hit.  Thunder, lightening, and strong wind gusts came out of no where.  My friend ended up waiting out the storm before she returned to the car with the card.  My friend in the car called me to let me know what was happening.  We were 20 minutes behind schedule and we ended up being 20 minutes late.
We felt terrible.  Driving to Indiana is not easy.  There's construction going on and eventually it goes down to one lane for a while.  We were backed up in traffic.  Once we exited we were right there at the University of Notre Dame, but the campus is big and it took us a minute to find the right building.  We all walked in together while the baptism was taking place.  We felt terrible and we could tell our friend seemed upset.  So much for that.
Our other friends arrived SUPER LATE so that didn't make matters better.  They ended up leaving later and got the bumper to bumper traffic in downtown Chicago.  We did our best to take as many pictures as we could and after the ceremony we happily posed along.  It was an overwhelming experience and by now it has passed.  On to the luncheon!

We made it!

He's adorable!!!

Lunch was held at the Morris building on campus.  We made our way over to help out with the decorations.  Eventually our other friends arrived.  We loosened up a bit and caught up with everyone.  So many people drove out for this baptism.  The baby is well loved.  Everything was beautiful.  I'm so proud of them.
I wore a dress I won off ebay.  I wanted a longer dress but sleeveless since I knew it was going to be hot that day.  People liked it.  I always have a hard time finding dresses for occasions like this because I feel I'm not dressed up enough.  I wish I had some dressy wedges but I don't.  I wore my black fancy Gucci heels that make me look 10 feet tall.  I figured since the dress was midi length I needed high heels to pull it together.

Dress is BCBG with accordion pleats.  I loved how it flowed!

I have to accompany my mom to a wedding in 2 weeks.  It's being held at their house in Evanston.  I've been on ebay constantly looking for something to wear to that.  Since it's at their house I figured I didn't have to dress up as much.  Last night I won a dress so hopefully it will arrive soon in time for this wedding.  All I could do is wait until I receive it to see if it will work out.  I won it at a steal so I'm not worried about it so much if it doesn't work out.  I could still wear it for my vacation.  We'll see.  Until next time!   

Plan B

I'm still finalizing my trip.  lol.  I know I'm making this a big deal but I had to figure out the details on what I am doing out there.  It's hard to plan something like this out on a whim.  I don't have a lot of cash to be throwing away and make hasty decisions.  I need to know what I am planning to do with my time in Greece and in Italy.  It's frustrating because sometimes I wish money was no object.  Then the world would be my oyster!!  But I live in the real world where I have to take care of myself, my responsibilities, and my well being.  I have printed up my maps; looked into my hotel and the area around it; printed out transportation information; and discussed my stay with my friend out in Italy.  I am extremely nervous.  I wish I wasn't such a wuss.  I pray I will begin to get excited.  Mid life nerves have won me over again.
There was a time when I wasn't so nervous about things.  I was pretty sure I knew what was "the plan".  Now, not so much.  Everything got shifted when me and my ex broke up.  We were working on getting our finances together so we could buy a place.  Around the time we ended things, he had worked out his bankruptcy.  Nice.  Time for the next move. 
Then boom.  Everything ended and I was left to figure out what to do next on my own.  I hadn't saved any money.  My best friend whom I've known since I was 16 years old had just gotten married to a woman who advised him not to speak to me anymore.  And my other friend met a man and had moved to Italy.  Just like that.  I lost not only my boyfriend of 7 years but my two closest friends in the whole wide world.  I was in so much emotional pain, I couldn't comprehend what was happening.  How did I miss this?
Maybe fate brought me here.  A lot of my friends ended up meeting their significant others as time moved on.  Of course they would pair up now, I was in a relationship for so long and they were single.  Now that tables have turned I had to figure out what to do with myself without them around as much.  Over the past 4 years I've been single, I've made new friends; dated, and have accustomed to doing things on my own for enjoyment.  I am trying to learn Italian so I could blend well with my girlfriend's friends out in Italy.  I go to concerts/ shows that I enjoy on my own without any interruption.  And once I week if I could, I practice new recipes on my own (I'm a terrible cook although my ex did eat at his own risk).  Traveling came out of no where because my friend pushed me to come out and visit her.  I would have never done it on my own if it wasn't for her. 
I came to the realization that maybe what I wanted for so long is just not in the stars for me.  If that's the case, then how do I fill up a life without my plan A?  What path should I head to now?  Where do I go from here?
For the time being, I will follow my passions.  The things I love to do.  Around my birthday I grew very sad, but then felt hopeful when I purchased my plane ticket to Greece.  It was short lived because some days I battled feelings of depression.  I finished the book "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind" and it helped me learn how to tap into my imagination.  With the use of meditation and prayer, it makes you focus on your wants and desires from your subconscious mind.  It takes a lot of work but it does make me feel better.  Painting a pleasurable picture in your head daily works wonders for your mind.
My job had our annual summer party downstairs outside at the lawn area last Friday.  This year we kept it low key.  The weather had dipped back into the 70s so I wore my jeans and an bright orange top for a pop of color.  Nothing major.  I truly enjoy where I work at and figured I could hangout for a bit even though my cough was acting up that day.  They handed out Garrett's popcorn which was a big hit.  It was bbq themed.  We had some good times playing around with pokemon go.  That helped liven it up a bit.  lol.  Until next time! 

Great turnout!

They had bags!



Good times....

I found a pokemon! 

SAVED BY THE MAX!

Last week me and my friends made reservations to go to Saved by the Max, the pop up restaurant inspired by the show Saved by the Bell.  I remember the show vaguely airing on Saturday mornings, but was too busy sleeping in late to pay attention to any of the characters.  Imagine my surprise when we first walked in!  I have to say, they did a pretty good job decorating the place!  I felt I stepped into a time warp.  lol
We made our way to our table and started looking over the menu.  We decided to order a bunch of stuff so we could all try a bite.  It was fun catching up with my friends.  I love to laugh and all we do is crack each other up.  I've toned down going out to dinner but I think I might have to do this more often.  Sometimes the weekend is not enough and it's a great stress reliever to laugh with your friends.
Unfortunately, that night I got sick!  I went home to a hot apartment and left the ac on all night while I slept.  I woke up with a cold but I knew this was different.  I'm still battling this cold/ cough but hopefully I'll be back to normal by the end of the week.  It's hard being sick in the summer!






I had my usual margarita...

Wings, sliders and mac and cheese!

I ordered the club sandwich...

Check out that double cheeseburger!



Suburban birthday party!

Last Sunday I attended my friend's son's birthday party out in Skokie.  They had him baptized a month earlier.  I know it was pretty stressful for my friend to plan two parties so close together, but what can you do?  It's fun to enjoy some of our summer, and as usual, me and my friends had a good time catching up with one another.  I made sure I brought along my appetite!  They hired a taco stand with cooks preparing our customized tacos!  Yummy!!


Despite yesterday's terrorism attack in Nice France, I've grown to realize the importance of spending quality time with my friends.  I care for them so deeply.  I've always said they are my 2nd family.  My friend in Italy was pretty upset.  I promised her I was going to give her as well as my friends and family here in the States all the information I had on my upcoming trip; from hotel reservations to transportation information.  I will even print out my itinerary.  I refuse to live in fear and have to trust my gut that things will be ok.  Our world is changing around us and we need to adjust to our surroundings. 
What precautions have you taken since our frequent terrorism attacks?  Have you changed the way you do things?  View things?

He seemed to enjoy his personalized birthday cake!

Mickey Mouse themed!



A polaroid photo for keepsake!  Loved the idea...

Dirty South Saturday...

Earlier last week I saw that one of my favorite djs was going to be at The Mid.  I bought a ticket right away.  I haven't been out to hear some good dance music in months.  Lollapalooza is coming up, but I wanted to hear some familiar sounds.  I was surprised one of my friends called me up to see what I was doing.  She agreed to come with me (which was nice).  A lot of my friends have settled down with boyfriends/ husbands or  kids/families.  I am the last one of the bunch, but to clarify, I was the one who had the longest relationship out of all of them.  My ex boyfriend had two beautiful girls from a previous marriage, and for a while, we were all a happy family.  But things changed...


I was relieved to see what Jennifer Aniston wrote in the Huffington Post.  I DO feel bad for her because she has had a lot of press about her relationships in the past.  I cannot imagine being the most recognizable woman in the world and everyone knowing all of the details of your marriage/ divorce/ health/ family affairs, etc.  I know I do sometimes post personal stuff about my life, but for the most part, I'm pretty vague about what goes on behind closed doors.  The reason I started this blog was because I wanted to share my story on starting over and Life in general.  You get to a certain point when you realize it's not what you thought it would be, and that can play tricks with your head.  I appreciate her sharing her story on being fed up about the constant scrutiny and I feel that happens in my life as well.  For the record, Life has unexpected twists and turns.  I am coming to terms with my recent birthday passing that I may not end up like the rest of my friends, but that's ok.  I am constantly reminded by my faith to trust my journey.  For the most part, I can see the looks I get from peers, family members, and even strangers that I'm not freaking out about not being married with kids.  I have my good days and bad days on the issue, but I know first hand from experience how much work is involved trying to co-habit in a living situation, especially when children are involved.  It's not for everyone.  That is the reason why I believe the divorce rate is high.  People check out.


In the meantime, I know what works for me now in my life.  Sometimes it's going to an art show at the Art Institute, or checking out one of my favorite singers at a concert.  Or traveling to an unknown city and discovering it's beauty.  Last Saturday, it was dancing in a club to a good looking dj!  We had a good time catching up at the Dawson and then later on at the Mid.  We were having such a good time, guys wouldn't leave us alone!  It's nice to know I still got it....

Cocktails at The Dawson

I had the Willis Tower cocktail 

Bathroom selfie at The Mid...

 As close as I can get to Dirty South