In My Feelings

Sorry I have been MIA.  My feelings are getting the best of me.  My birthday is next week and I am in a funk.  Actually, it started back in mid-May.  I hate that I get this way.  I’m beginning to dread my birthday and there’s nothing I can do about it.

I think I figured out why that is.  I think it’s a combination of getting older among other things.  There also was an incident in my past that has led me to believe I will never truly celebrate my birthday again.

My breakup started around my birthday.  To make matters worse, it lasted all that summer.  Sometimes I get flashbacks from summer festivities which remind me where I was 7 years ago.  I can’t believe it’s been that long and it still hurts.  It’s not only the fact that I thought things were fine with us.  It’s how everything slowly unraveled and I couldn’t do anything about it.  I was completely helpless.

I realize now how much I sacrificed to make him “happy”.  This is something that gets me upset from time to time.  I finally learned that was the wrong thing to do in a relationship.  It does not serve anything except bring insecurities to the surface.  We should have dealt with it back then when the issue arose.   

Ever since our breakup I slowly dived into traveling because that was one of the things I didn’t do when I was with him.  Now I can’t stop planning my next trip.  I love browsing through sites to get travel inspiration.  As of now, I am planning a weekend getaway next week to see an art exhibit in Detroit.  I can’t wait.

Back when I returned from Turkey, my best friend from Italy was coming into Chicago two days later.  I went to work that Wednesday and met up with my friend for dinner the next day.  They stayed at a hotel in Streeterville and ended up having dinner reservations 2 blocks away.  I went home from work, showered up, and then hopped in an uber.  We ended up at Gyu-Kaku Japanese bbq.  My friend’s husband grilled the meat.  It was delish.  I wish my friend stayed in town longer, but I understand they had to leave soon.  I miss the times we use to share when we were younger!  We would take weekend getaways to New York, Miami or Vegas.  I miss our girl time together…

The Age Of Aquarius

I’m not going to lie.  January was a long month, and winter is not giving up anytime soon.  I’m having travel withdrawals.  I basically stayed in the living for a couple of weeks while my bedroom aired out.  At first I didn’t mind because my room doesn’t warm up as much as the rest of the apartment.  Chicago had some frigid temperatures.  I was fine sleeping on the couch as long as I was cozy.  But I DID miss my bed.  

I have also been determined to build my savings.  I did some overtime for work, and that felt good as well.  I just want to save some money before I book something.  I’m getting the travel itch BIG TIME.

Towards the end of January, our friend from Michigan was in town to celebrate her birthday.  It was going to snow a lot that day, and luckily me and my friend  got to the suburbs in good time.  We were one of the first ones there.  Other people showed up little by little and our party grew bigger.  There are so many changes coming up for everyone.  I’m curious where this year will take us…

Holiday Party 2018

Hello everyone and happy new year!  So far this 2019 has been a bit sad for me.  I went to my first funeral of the year on Saturday and it was awful.  I’m pretty sensitive already so I knew this was going to bother me a bit.  I kept it low key on Friday, went to the funeral on Saturday, and on Sunday saw my friends for Three Kings Day.  That part was nice.  Sometimes moments like this makes you want to reach out to your loved ones.  I hate the fact that this happened right after the holidays.  This family is hurting so badly…

I’m finally on December events and I want to get that going so I won’t fall back behind like I usually do.  I’m trying to work on this I promise!  Our holiday work party was being held at Buddy Guy’s Legends and we were excited!  This blues bar has been a Chicago staple for many years.  I knew we were going to have a blast when we got there.  Our usual trolley ride lead us down Jackson avenue, but then we noticed some police activity on State Street.  Someone onboard decided to look into and found out there was a shooting on the Blue Line tunnel underneath.  Me and a coworker were distraught because that’s our line to go home.  This put a damper on our evening.  We couldn’t help wonder what had happened.  When something like that occurs in the city, they shut down the transit line so the police could investigate.  Me and my coworker knew we had no choice but to enjoy our time out at the party until the city decides to open the transit line again.

The music was putting everyone in a good mood.  Me and my coworkers enjoyed our buffet and they even had prizes raffled off.  At one point my co-worker checked into the Blue Line and the line had opened up.  It was now 8pm.  Pretty early for me, but since it spooked us both, we decided to ride home together.  So much for staying longer at the holiday party…

Tao Birthday Party

I’m back from my weekend in New York.  Of course I still had to settle in, but traveling to me is exhausting.  I know it has to do with my nerves more than anything, and like most of my trips, it was all over the place.  Regardless, I learned so much and can’t wait to share my experience!

Back to recapping October events.  My friend had her second baby recently, and we were surprised she wanted to do something for her birthday.  She wanted a night out with the girls.  That was fine by us!  We wanted to do something different and made reservations for Tao Chicago.  Ever since its grand opening, this restaurant has been hot in the scene.  We settled on a Sunday night since it was hard to accommodate everyone’s time and schedule.  I got a chance to wear my kimono dress I bought months ago for my birthday.  For a brief moment I thought I should wear it for my birthday but then changed my mind.  Oh well what can you do?

We met at the restaurant in groups.  Our friend in Michigan happened to be in town that weekend and we knew this would be a special surprise for her.  It was nice catching up with them in the meantime.  We goofed around taking pictures.

Once the 2^nd group showed up, we hid our Michigan friend at the back bar and were seated at our table.  The birthday girl had no clue.  She cried when she saw her pop out!  What a moment!

We decided to order a tasting menu which suited everyone since we wanted to know how the food tasted.  Everything was DELISH!  I would definitely be coming back to Tao in the near future.

Happy Hour Birthday Party

I’m still trying to catch up on my posts!  Let’s get to it!

Back in September one of my friends wanted to meet up for drinks during happy hour for her birthday.  It fell on a Monday and she wanted to see if she could pull this off at the last minute.  I had already made plans with my other friends and cancelled on them at the last minute.  Luckily they were understanding.  I wanted to catch up with the birthday girl since I haven’t seen her in a while.  I feel bad when I can’t remember when we last spoke.

The good news is she has re-located and had changed jobs as well.  I’m so proud of her and at the direction her life is going.  She’s a wonderful person and deserves all the success she’s worked hard for!  

The birthday girl wanted to go to the new Hampton Social in Streeterville.  This new location just opened up that day, and we were expecting a huge turnout.  We waited at the bar until a few more friends showed up and then got a table.  On this night in particular they had a singer playing the guitar for entertainment.  He was really good!

We started ordering away appetizers since it was dinnertime.  I ordered some avocado toast.  We were enjoying our night when our server introduced us to the manager.  He brought over a large punch bowl for the birthday girl to share with others.  Now that’s hospitality!

University Club of Chicago

I’m back to recapping September events!  I need to catch up since it’s already November!  Yikes! After that long holiday weekend, I worked an event at the University Club of Chicago.  We helped check guests in with their badges and greeted them as well.  It turned out to be a great turn out for us and we even got a chance to sample their appetizers.  I’ve never been there before so it was a treat to step inside this private social club that has lasted over a 100 years.  I was impressed by the history and enjoyed working that evening.

Friday Night at The Aviary

Because of my upcoming trip, I was not sleeping very well.  Regardless of me being exhausted from going out Wednesday night, I met up with the same friends again that Friday.  I skipped out on dinner because I had to run more errands.  I took an uber to Ronero where they were finishing up.  My friend was hosting some guests from out of town and ran into some other friends who were also visiting from out of state.  Small world.  Now that our group got bigger, she made reservations at The Aviary which is part of The Alinea Group.  I have never been but I’m glad I went in the end.  This was truly an experience.  They had some out-of-this-world cocktails that were delish!  Everything was so over the top that we couldn’t help but snap away on our phones.  We ended our night there, but despite me being tired, I’m grateful I didn’t miss out on this opportunity. 

Rubber Ducky Drinks at The Bassment

It was a beautiful summer evening here in Chicago.  My friends wanted to meet up for dinner and drinks, but with my upcoming trip, I needed to run some errands first.  I decided to meet up for drinks instead, but the night was starting out pretty late for me.  Like I said, I rarely get a chance to go out during the middle of the week.  And this time, it was a Wednesday night, not our usual Thursdays.  I have to say, this will probably be my last Wednesday night outing.  I was hurting the rest of the week!  I didn’t get a chance to catch up with my sleep and couldn’t wait for the weekend to come. 

Regardless, we met up at The Bassment that night and enjoyed the band very much.  I like speakeasys.  It gave us a chance to see how everyone was doing and listen to some good jams.

Hump Day July 4th

This year, July 4^th fell on a Wednesday.  It was an odd day for many reasons.  Namely, most workplaces acknowledged the holiday on Wednesday only.  It was a nightmare leaving work on Tuesday with so much traffic.  I normally take the Blue Line to commute home, which also takes you to O’Hare airport.  The trains were packed of travelers heading out of town.  I laid low the rest of the evening since it took so long to get home.  I was invited by my friend who lives not far from me for a barbeque the following day.  I haven’t caught up with her in a while and I wanted to see how she was doing.  I couldn’t eat too much because my mom invited me and my brothers over for dinner.   What a feast!  I did my best to low carb it, but how can you not take advantage of classic July 4^th barbeque?

My mom also gave me a be-lated birthday gift since I did not want to celebrate my birthday this year.  I’m telling you, I was not in the mood for it this year.  I have to say, it was sweet of her to do this.  I need to stop being a grouch about this…

Families Belong Together

Bonjour tout le monde!  I’m still working out the details on my upcoming trip.  I can’t believe I fly out next week!  And just like clockwork, my nerves have been getting the best of me.  I’ve been having vivid dreams as well.  Nothing bad, thank god.  But it shows you how much stress I’m bringing on myself with my non-stop anxiety.  Unfortunately, I have come to realize that this will always be the process with me whenever I travel.  I thought by now it would get easier, but it hasn’t.  The only positive thing I can say is that my nerves have started to bother me as the dates get closer to fly out.

Back to recapping my summer!  My friend asked me if I would be interested in the Families Belong Together March back in June.  I was very bothered with what was going on and felt the only way to let out my frustration was to be surrounded by like-minded individuals who were just as upset as I was.  By this time, not much was happening since there was denial coming from our president, so people took it out to the streets by protesting varies cities.  Me and my friends drove downtown and met at a building nearby so we could have a good group going.  It was a very hot day, and we all wore white to show our solidarity for immigrants. 

I have to say some people got very creative with their posters!  It was nice to voice my freedom of speech and march along with my friends.  Afterwards, we grew very hungry and headed to Big Star for some tacos.  Lol.  I headed home because I was exhausted, but later met up with some friends in Wrigelyville.  That’s what happens in a summer day in Chicago.  You can end up all over the place…