Gearing up for the New Year!

I am currently reading "A Technique for Producing Ideas" by James Webb Young.  It was based off the recommendation of the last book I read, "It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to be."  I've been reading self-help/ motivational books to help me stimulate my mind.  Sometimes you get into the funk of a routine, and get lost in trying to achieve the goals you want for yourself.  I feel it jolts my mind to be more creative, thus awakening my potential to try new things.  Since it's an easy read and a very short book, I feel it will help me start off the New Year in the right direction.
I grew into a funk with my life when me and my ex broke up 3 years ago.  It took some time for me to reflect on what happened.  I never worked so hard in trying to something I treasured so much.  But despite my efforts, our relationship ended, and I've been trying to figure out where to begin building my life again.
Everything seemed to slowly move to a new direction of singleton.  I was finally beginning to feel myself again when my mom's husband got diagnosed with a terminal disease.  This time around, I felt the urge to take care of my mom, but as the months went on, I started to get depressed.  Seeing him suffer and watching my mom cry was wearing me down.  I felt I was sinking again.  Yet since I'm on my own now, I had my friends who tried their best to comfort me, and the rest I had to figure out on my own. 
Blogging has been a source of output for me whenever I feel things are bottling up inside.  It gives me the chance to vent, and get things off my chest.  I never imagine how rewarding it could be.  I will try my best to improve the content of my blog, but for now, it's sole purpose is to express my feelings on life.  My life.  I know I lack depth in my writing, and I promise I will try to improve on my skills to tell stories.  But know that my freedom of expression is my right to come here and spill my guts.  And to tell you that everything is going to be alright.  I promise.  There were times I felt so alone, but everyone at some point or another has felt the same way I did.  I'm here to tell you that it will pass, and you will see your worth in a whole new light.  Life is a blessing and it's important you learn to appreciate it's valuable existence.
Back to finishing up October events.  Since we're coming up New Year's eve, I'm going to mention Halloween!  I was super excited to dress up this year.  It's funny looking back on it because I bought my costume when I returned from my trip to Paris and Italy.  I wanted to get a head start.  This year I was a French Maid!  lol.  Last year I was a Roman Empress, so it's only suiting to continue my travel theme.  That Halloween weekend started pretty weak, since not many people were dressed up on Friday.  I assumed because it fell on a Saturday this year, there would have been more people dressed in costumes.  About 20% of the crowd were dressed up that night.  I started out at National 27 for some cocktails then made my way to the Wit to join up with some friends who were visiting from out of town.  We hung out there for a bit before we decided to go to Hub 51.  Although we were disappointed in the low turn out for costumes, we knew Saturday was the day to go all out.
We started out at a house party around 9:30pm.  We figured we could show off our costumes and take some pics.  After a while we grew restless and wanted to head out and get into the action.  There were so many people out!  Lines were forming and it was barely 11pm.  We decided to go to Mercer 113 since it seemed easier to get our group in.  I had so much fun inside!  We danced and joked around so much.  I was having a blast!  Some of our friends started to head home, so our group got smaller.  We made our way to Ybar and it was insane in there!  By this point it was already 1:30am.  We danced some more.  We walked over to Soundbar and that's where I said my goodbyes.  I stayed there for a bit, but since that day was daylight savings time, clocks went back an hour at 2am.  Once it was 3am, technically it just turned 2am.  My feet couldn't handle it.
I loved seeing the goofy costumes that night, and I had so much fun with my friends, too.  It was probably one of the most memorable nights this year.  I'm glad nothing bad happened, (since Halloween can be a crazy night).  I cannot wait to see what the new year has planned for me and my friends.  Let the good times roll!

I'm a French maid!

Having fun at The Wit

I also made my way to Cuvee on Friday night, but again, not many people were in costumes.

Saturday Night for Halloween!  Our first stop at a house party. 

Ran into the Left Shark at Mercer 113...

The incredible Hulk was at y bar...

Who doesn't like a box of wine?  lol

Monday Motivation!

Well here it is.  The last week of 2015.  Hope everyone had a great holiday!  I was off the past couple of days, so it's nice to go back to my regular routine.  A winter storm has arrived for us Chicagoans.  I'm glad I got a chance to spend my time off running errands before the slush came in.  It makes my world a lot easier since I don't own a car.  Regardless, I'm almost done recapping October events, but I am hopeful I will be up-to-date with my blogging by mid January.  Not a bad resolution to start off 2016!
Back in late October, my friend had some friends visiting in town from Rockford Illinois.  We decided to show them a night out in town by hitting a couple of spots.  It was fun because seeing their faces get excited about our nightlife is magnetic.  You start to appreciate the city even more on what it has to offer.
Up first, The Drop in Lincoln Park.  A friend was throwing a party there and we stopped by for a few.  I loved it because it felt like a nightclub in downtown.  If you want to go dancing in the Lincoln Park area, I highly recommend it.  They played top 40/ pop/ dance so everyone was up and moving.  It definitely got us geeked up for our evening.
Next stop, The Godfrey Hotel for some cocktails and people watching.  We got a chance to talk too since The Drop was jamming.  We lucked out on a beautiful night.  The rooftop was opened and we enjoyed the city view.
We walked over to the Lite nightclub and stayed there for a bit before heading across the street to Shay nightclub.  We heard Nelly was performing there so we were pretty excited.  It was a bit chaotic to get in, but luckily we made it in on time before the show started.  It was a packed house in there!  Nelly had the crowd going CRAZY!  That was pretty amazing for us to be a part of. 
Our friends really wanted to dance to some edm/house music after that, so we walked over to Spybar since it was right down the alley.  I loved the fact we got a chance to show our friends different venues in Chicago.  Too bad we didn't have more time to show them Hubbard Street as well. 
The following day was Sunday, so we all met up again in Wicker Park for some Sunday funday.  We hopped around some bars and had some quick bites before we ended up in The Southern for cocktails.  I think her friends had a good time because I sure did! 

Bathroom selfie at The Drop.  Since I didn't know what our plans were, I wore black and white to be safe.

Check out that view from the Godfrey Hotel's rooftop! 

Good times at The Godfrey!

Nelly taking a sip before his show!

Can you find us?  We're in here somewhere!  lol

Sunday Funday at the Southern.  We had some friends watching the Black Hawks there and we crashed their party.  lol

The calm before the storm part 3...

One of the cool things I did in October was to check out some djs at Navy Pier.  First of all, I'm very impressed with the layout there.  I never imagined going to an indoor dance party with the similarity of an outdoor music festival!  It's a great way to get your music fix without having to wait til next summer.  I've been wanting to see Disclosure for some time, so when they announced they were coming to Chicago, I bought my ticket right away!  I loved it!!  I'm glad I got a chance to see them especially since now they are nominated for a Grammy for best dance album for Caracal. 
That show fell on a Thursday, and the following Friday I chilled out.  I was invited to go back to Navy Pier to see another dj for Saturday's show: Kaskade.  I grew excited once I got there again.  I know it seems silly, but even though I was in the same venue, I knew this dj was going to bring a completely different vibe.  While Disclosure was a live set with band played by the Lawrence brothers themselves, Kaskade had more of a electronic sound to it.  I danced away for both shows and had a blast, but for now, I'm going to hold off a bit for these shows.  First of all, they are pricey, but secondly, they're exhausting as well!  It's non-stop action as soon as you step in there.  I need a break in between months...lol.
 

Just two brothers throwing an amazing show!  I'm impressed how well they performed.

Peace!  Ran into some friends there and hungout with them.  It's always fun when you go with people who appreciate good music...

Selfie time!

Two days later for Kaskade!

Kaskade had a great crowd going!  Good times as always!

What I wore this to see Kaskade.  We headed to The Mid to see him perform at the after party.  I knew I was going to be on my feet all night so I wore my Frye boots, and skinny jeans.  Since the weather wasn't too cold yet, I wore a light jacket to both events.

The calm before the storm...part 2

After that crazy long Friday night, I relaxed a bit on Saturday.  Towards the evening my friends were meeting up in Wicker Park to watch the Cubs game again.  I made my way down there later on, since I'm not a crazy sports fan anyway.  Regardless, I knew I was going to have a chilled out night because I had a baptism to attend to in the morning.  We lost the game, which was a bummer for our city, but we still were in the running to head to the World Series.  Gotta love Chicagoans!  We're hopeful even when the odds are against us. 
Some of my friends headed home after the game, but I stuck around a bit longer.  Our next stop was Northside Bar & Grill where things got a little silly between us.  Since some of our friends ARE sports fanatics, I can understand people drowning their sorrows due to the loss.  I headed home after midnight since I knew I had a long day ahead of me.
Sunday morning I rode with my friend to the service.  I was glad we were a few minutes late, but my other friends by the way....tsk tsk.  I understand stuff happens but there should have been no reason more than one of us being SUPER late.  It just looks bad on ALL of us.  Regardless, everyone had an excuse.  Luckily it wasn't such a big deal in the end.  That's another resolution I will be incorporating for the upcoming year.  Not to be tardy!!
We headed downstairs for some light bites.  Our friend decorated the area beautifully!  I loved the soft shades of lavender she used.  So pretty!  Her daughter was adorable, too!  We took a zillion pictures with her.  I love that we got a chance to share this moment with one another.  A baptism truly is a special occasion and the fact that we were there together for this melts my heart.  I cherish my friends dearly.  Watching us move forward towards different stages in our lives means so much to me.  They are my rock...

Pretty dessert table!!



Everyone got a card which contained seeds to plant in your yard! 



The girl of the moment!  Zoe!!  She looked adorable in her white dress with lavender accessories!  Most of my friends wore dresses, but I showed up in pants and a cami.  I wore a cardi warp to cover up my arms.  I need more day dresses in my life.  Regardless, I love this pic!

The calm before the storm...

Back in September, I spent the first part in Italy, and the rest of the month attending birthday parties.  Lol.  Once October came around, things had slowed down a bit.  I'm glad it did.  Sometimes you want to be able to stop and smell the roses.  I got a chance to finish a new self-help book, as well as focus on trying to get my apartment ready for the winter (if it ever shows up).  It took forever, but I finally found a picture I could hang over my couch in the living room.  After countless hours spent surfing the net, I narrowed it down to one.  I'm glad how it turned out too.  I knew I wanted something abstract.  From that point it was just a matter of finding the one I liked to go with my décor.  It was an interesting process, because it's so time consuming.  I didn't want to settle for any old picture!  And that's how it should be!  The last thing I wanted to do was to have something hang on my wall for the sake of covering up my wall.  It's easy to get "stuck" with things, but you should have some passion behind the madness.
Regardless, the first weekend in October was pretty chilled out.  Me and my friends from time to time like to have mass group textes to see how we're doing.  Since so many events are happening in everyone's lives, it's a nice way to catch up to one another.  Our friend from the bridal shower at the Drake hotel invited us to come over and check out her new apartment.  She moved back in the city at the end of the summer and is also in the process of planning a wedding.  We drove down to Downer's Grove for a light dinner party.  She cooked with one of her presents from the shower:  a brand new Williams Sonoma iron skillet!  We had a good time catching up.  It was nice not to do anything too crazy. 

I love my birthday scarf!  I wore it for the dinner party.

I wore it with my cotton twill moto jacket.  The weather was changing around this time.  We had light rain/ mist and crisp weather.  Wasn't "cold" yet.

One of her bridal shower gifts.  She bought some cheese and crackers for appetizers. 

Magiano's has a nice spread!

Good times hanging out with the ladies!

The following weekend things DID get a little crazy (but that's my life, you know?).  The funny thing about those nights, they're unexpected.  You can never plan for those, but remember, anything is possible in this city.  I saw on Facebook that one of my favorite spots in the city was closing down.  Japonais!  Definitely one of the best restaurants in Chicago for sushi.  But over the years, with it's massive space, was getting harder and harder to fill up.  There are always new places opening up in the city.  And with Chicago's fickle crowd, you can never tell which ones will bring the patrons back.  Japonais was around for over 10 years, which is a huge accomplishment!  The fact that it lasted so long is impressive in my eyes.  Plus, with it's dock area patio, boats would sail up and park for a quick bite to eat.

I headed down to Public House and met up with some friends who were watching the Cubs game.  At this point, there was hope we could make it to the world series.  But my friends were done for the evening.  That's when I decided to head down to Japonais for their closing party by myself to see who I would run into.  Since I use to go there regularly 10 years ago, I figured I'll run into some familiar faces.  Did I ever!!  I was glad I saw my old friends I use to party with back in the day.  We had some good times.  We decided to go out and make a night of it since we haven't hungout with one another in sooooooooooo long.  We jumped around to Parliament, then ended the night in Cuvee.  I had a blast!  For a spilt second I felt I traveled back into time.  I miss that feeling... 

Missed these guys!!

At Japonais for their closing party.

Headed over to Parliament and met up with some more friends...

Getting silly at Cuvée

What a loooooong night!!  Peace out!

Lollapalooza 2015!

In the real world, October is almost over.  But in my blogging world, I'm finally entering the month of August.  This was a pretty eventful month for me; probably the most of the whole year.  It's hard to put into words what I have learned in 2015 so far.  So many things have changed in my life yet  somehow nothing really happened to me.  I feel different inside.  But let's get this blogging-party started with Lollapalooza! 
Lollapalooza for me is by far the best music festival in Chicago.  I love the fact they have different music for different genres.  I did not get tickets this year because I knew I wanted to save up for my upcoming trip.  I ended up watching the live streaming online for TheWeeknd and Kaskade on Friday.  It gave me the itch to go down there Saturday and find a spot outside the venue.  I heard Sam Smith's sweet voice, and danced to Alesso and Tove Lov.  The energy from the outside is just as magnifying as being inside!  People have picnics and listen to the music.  There's a lot of people watching, and sometimes it gets pretty entertaining.  I always get a kick out of seeing folks try to weasel their way in. 
I had a friend who purchased the 3 day pass, and he wanted me to go with him on Sunday.  But with no tickets, that was going to be difficult.  We checked online for stub hub and they were still pretty high.  Eventually, as the day went on, the prices started to drop.  We gathered up enough cash and headed our way down there.  In the end, we ran into someone selling their wristband.  Yes it was risky, but for me, it's a risk worth taking to be a part of this party!  We ran inside and danced the night away at Perry's stage.  I had a blast, and although I only had a few hours to experience it, I had so much fun!  Until next year Lolla!

In my happy place!!

Lol.  This did not last long!

Perry's Stage was insane!



This picture sums it up!  I had a blast again at Lollapalooza!

The Hunt for a Calm October Part 3

I CANNOT forget about the best part of October, which is, of course, HALLOWEEN!  I thought long and hard what my costume would be, and without a doubt, I chose a Roman Empress!  I was super excited too!  I ordered it off Amazon and sure enough, it arrived in time for the festivities.  The problem was, the weather was horrible!  Rainy and cold.  I was pretty close to not doing anything, not to mention, I had a sore throat that would not go away.  But in the end, I called up a friend, and headed down to her place where her roommates were throwing a little party.  I loved my accessories, too!  I bought a headpiece from Claire's and won a gold coin bracelet off ebay that went perfectly with my outfit.  I also wore my gold gladiator wedges since my gown was long.  We had a good time, and even headed out to another loft party where we partied it up some more.  They had a costume contest, and there were some pretty clever ones!  I like when people get creative.  The winners were two girls who were dressed as wine boxes (with actual wine coming out of the nozzle).  Pretty impressive ladies!  We had an hour to kill so we headed down the Underground nightclub and danced to Thriller.  lol  Goodtimes...

This devil scared us!  YIKES!

The Hunt for a Calm October...

October brought in some unexpected surprises.  Namely the Pitbull and Enrique Inglesias concert.  I've NEVER bought tickets at the box office on the day of, but my friend insisted that we give it a shot.  Being a pessimistic Gemini, I had my doubts especially since I couldn't find tickets online.  But we ended up at Rosemont praying that we had a chance.  We did, but of course, for floor seats.  I was prepared for the damage, and I'm glad I did.  The seats were amazing!  We couldn't stop dancing throughout the whole show!  I honestly was blown away by both their talents.  Not that I wouldn't have expected anything less.  But the entire show was high energy non-stop.  This was a birthday gift to my friend and I'm happy she enjoyed it...