Baptise and Bottle

I am so far behind on my posts.  As you know by now, I’ve been back from my trip to New York.  As usual, I’m exhausted by all of the running around I’ve been doing these past few weeks.  I’m not in the holiday spirit whatsoever and feel really down.  I hate that I still suffer from time to time the “holiday blues”.  I did the best I could in gifting (especially myself lol) and hope people enjoy what I got for them.  Sometimes you think you’re doing more harm than good in getting gifts to the people you care about, and then it backfires on you.  It happens.

I sent a gift to my friend in Paris for his birthday and he still hasn’t received it.  It was slated to arrive on the 4^th, but it seems someone else signed for it and it’s gone missing.  Because I opened a case with the store, they warned me it will take 14 business days to investigate.  Now it’s Christmas weekend and I’m sure I won’t be able to get any answers from them anytime soon because they will be swamped from the holiday.  This case will have to be resolved at a later time.  What can you do?

Back to recapping my NOVEMBER events, lol.  The following weekend from my trip I met up with my friend at the Apple store on Michigan Avenue.  They had already put up the tree!  It felt too soon for me, but now looking back, I haven’t felt the Christmas spirit yet and it’s almost here.  I reserved an appointment with one of their tech guys to look at my phone.  I was having problems keeping a charge when I was in New York and was advised to get a new battery, but like everything else, they needed to see it first.  Luckily it did not take too long, and I got my battery in time to get out of there. I was overwhelmed with how many people were there.

My friend heard of Baptise and Bottle and we decided to check it out.  Their drinks were phenomenal!  We loved our cocktails so much.  I ordered some brussel sprouts which were delish and she ordered some small plates herself.  It was a bit pricey in the end but I’m a sucker for a good cocktail.

I hope everyone out there have a great holiday!  I hate being a party pooper but for me, I want this to pass very quickly.  It’s hard being sociable when you just want to hibernate.  I’m so tired.

House Party at the Bean!

I'm still recapping Memorial Weekend!  lol.  Hope everyone's enjoying their summer so far.  This month there's a lot of stuff going on, from baby showers to baptisms.  I love every minute of it because it shows me how much me and my friends still manage to keep in touch.  Sharing these milestones with one another creates a lifetime of memories!  I love looking back and seeing how much we've grown. 
That Memorial Weekend Saturday, I got a chance to see my friend from Italy before she flew back home.  We had a quick brunch before we said our goodbyes.  I am currently trying to plan something with her, but we'll see if it pans out.  It's hard when you get older and have more priorities to consider.  Oh well.
I got home and did my usual Saturday workout routine.  For those who don't know, I try to workout at least 4x a week.  I've been following a healthy lifestyle for some time now.  It's basically become a natural thing for me to do at this point in my life.  It was something I started with back in my 20s when I got a gym membership for me and my first boyfriend (that I lived with).  I was never involved in any sports growing up, besides the usual Physical Ed we had in grammar and high school.  Once I graduated I gained the freshman 15 and was very unhappy with my new physique.  I was discouraged and my boyfriend at the time would buy me workout tapes so I could do at home.  Eventually, we figured I needed more motivation and we got a membership together.  I've been hooked ever since.  Saturdays for me are usually Leg Day.  If I have too much going on, I'll skip the gym and workout the following Sunday after church.  It's a no brainer at this point.
Once I was done working out, I rushed home and quickly got ready to meet up with my friend.  We wanted to checkout the House Party going on at Millenium Park.  This was a free event being held at the Bean.  I didn't know what to expect.  Because of that, we were not very prepared.  We didn't bring anything to set up a picnic with, but luckily we saw some friends and stayed with them at their spot.  They had a range of live performances with a couple of Djs to get everyone grooving.  Me and my friend had a blast.  We even made our way to Mariano's to grab some more wine and snacks to share with everyone.  I met up with my brother and his girlfriend and they came and joined us.  After the show, I went with them and we checked out Bar Louie before we called it a night.  I was too pooped to go out.  All of that dancing finally caught up with me!

Good times with this girl...

 So many people checking out the live house music!

Hopefully got some vitamin D.  I feel I'm always at work whenever the sun's out.

My brother and his girl...

Spicy margarita at Bar Louie!