ANOTHER SNOW STORM!!

It's the first day of March and we're right back where we started.  Another snow storm is heading our way.  Luckily we missed the other one that passed last week.  It did dump several inches in MI and IN, but we only got a dusting off it.  WHEW!  Let's see how lucky we get this time around.  It was suppose to have snowed during our morning commute but nothing happened.
Regardless, I had a pretty chilled weekend.  My friend came into town from Virginia.  I got a chance to hangout with her Friday night.  I had dinner at her family's house where I was served mulukhiyah.  It was delish!  To get a better understanding of this dish, I took the definition off of Wikipedia. 

Jordanian/Palestinian cuisine

The Jordanians and Palestinians have a tradition of cooking a more elaborate version of the dish. A whole chicken is cut open, the intestines removed, and the innards stuffed with herbs, spices and raw rice then sewn shut with thick thread. The chicken is then boiled to create the broth for the Molokhia soup which, after preparation, is served as five separate components: The molokhia soup, Arabic flat bread, the chicken (stuffed with flavoured rice), additional plain rice and a small bowl with a mixture of lemon juice and sliced chilli. The soup is mixed with rice and lemon juice according to taste, while the chicken is eaten on a separate plate.

I had the soup version with pita bread.  Very tasty! 

Afterwards we headed to the Fashion Outlets Mall in Rosemont.  It was pretty frigid that Friday night, so it was nice to walk around an indoor mall.  Since opening in 2013, it quickly became a favorite of local Chicagoans.  They provide a free shuttle bus off the Blue Line as well as free parking in their multi level garage.  With high end stores such as Gucci, Prada, Armani and Burberry all under one roof, it's no wonder why people love it here!  You can do some serious damage all in one visit.  My friend found a cute Tory Burch wallet as a souvenir of her visit.  I need to visit her soon... 

Gucci guccissima scarves!  Some as low as $159!

Manic Monday

Well I survived another Lollapalooza weekend.  I sometimes think I'm too old to attend these festivals, but once I'm there, I can't help but have fun!  lol.  Again, my dual personalities has an issue with this, mostly because they're pretty draining.  Physically, you're sometimes on your feet all day and of course, the alcohol consumption does not help.  Back on July 4th weekend I attended the Riverwest Music Festival along Elston avenue.  I decided to wet my feet into the scene with a one day pass.  Chicago gets pretty quiet around the holidays when people head home to visit family.  Not to mention, a majority of people who work in the downtown area come from the suburbs.  That's why it's mostly slow around here except for the true tourists that visit our city.  Since our summer has been mostly wet and cloudy, this day in particular was no different.  It barely reached 79 degrees which is a pretty cool July 4th.  I decided to wear my Fryes (since music festivals are ALWAYS gritty) and ran off to see some cool acts.  I'm glad I brought along my new infinity scarf I picked up at Express from one of their clearance sales.  It warmed me up once the sun went down.  It did rain for a bit, but luckily it was a nice drizzle.  I liked this festival because some of the djs were house and techno, with very little EDM.  The crowd wasn't so young so I didn't feel out of place.  Maybe I'll check it out again next year?  We'll see.  Sometimes a festival gets "too big" and then things get out of hand because of word of mouth or over promoting a venue.

Riverwest Music Festival

Flashback Friday

Can you believe it's already August??? We have one more month of summer before it's all over. It makes me sad because I've had some great times so far and I don't want it to end. Last winter was brutal for pretty much all of the U.S (except CA and FL). One of the highlights for me was the World Cup. I missed out on a couple of good games due to work, but here I managed to watch the Mexico vs Holland game. Guess who I was rooting for? Even though Mexico lost, me and my friends had a good time getting up early and heading out to a popular restaurant to grab a table. It was exciting down to the last 2 teams standing. Congrats on Germany for a fantastic win! I think the World Cup surprised a lot of people on how things turned out, but at least you can say it kept you on your toes! Here I wore my Old Navy denim shorts I picked up last summer. I got them when they were on sale along with a couple of other colors. This summer I must say I didn't get a chance to grab some deals. After the game, we all went our separate ways and I ended up at a roof top birthday party with some friends. That day was pretty hot, but don't let the clouds mislead you. We didn't get rain for once. So far this summer, we rarely hit 90 degrees, and when we did, storms usually followed. But this day in particular was nice because there was so much going on. I'm going to miss this soon...

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