Floating

Do you ever feel like you’re “floating” through time?  Right now, my concept of time is off balance due to recent events.  I had someone ask me if I’m excited next week is Thanksgiving.  I answered that Halloween passed by too quickly.  Regardless, I’m emotionally pooped.

My friend lost her aunt unexpectedly.  In a matter of 2 weeks I’ve been to 2 funerals.  In hindsight, in the past 2 months I’ve known 4 people in total who have lost their lives.  Every single situation was truly heart breaking.  With the devastation in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria, and the domestic terrorism incident in Las Vegas, I never imagined in a million years some of the events I have witnessed.  My heart aches for my friends who have suffered the unimaginable. 

In the meantime, I wake up in the middle of the night and cry myself back to sleep.  I am constantly sad.  I try to fight off my thoughts and try to be optimistic but sometimes life can be unfair.  I can’t find the silver lining, or lesson learned, or any meaning except that shit happens.  I pray all the time for my friends and family’s safety.  I wish I could find a way to make things better.

At the funeral for my friend’s aunt, the rabbi mentioned to focus on what SHE would have wanted for her loved ones:  to move on.  Even if we are hurting with her gone, she would have wanted everyone to move past this and live their lives to the fullest.  I completely agreed with him.  He’s right.  That is what she would have wanted.  The least we could do is grant her that wish.

I felt anxious when I came home and napped it out since I’ve been barely sleeping.  Once I woke up I decided to go to a birthday party that I was invited to at the last minute.  I just didn’t want to be at home alone with my thoughts.  I made my way to Parlor off Randolph and met up with some friends.  It felt good not to think for a bit.  Luckily, since it was a birthday celebration, everyone was in good spirits.  We ended up at The Mid and danced around.  For this short moment, I saw happy faces, and it was worth it…

After party at The Mid!

Good times...

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

Time Flies When You're Having Fun...

Happy Friday world!!  I took a trip down memory lane yesterday by looking at some photo albums off my Facebook page.  Boy does time fly!  I was quickly saddened by all the changes that occurred in such a short amount of time, especially from 2011-2012.  I saw pictures of me and my ex, my other friend with her husband.  We all looked very happy together.  Obviously me and my ex broke up not long after and my friend and her husband are currently separated.  I found a group picture of a woman who passed away last year.  She is one year older than me.  The weird thing is we are still  going through the motions from those years.  You don't have enough time to adjust before something else happens.  It's the sad reality of life.  It DOES move fast, and sometimes staying afloat is all you can do.  I left work bummed out, only to receive a silly video text from someone currently on vacation.  He is truly living it up out there!  It made me feel warm inside knowing he's enjoying his time off.  Embrace it, I thought to myself.  You never know what's around the corner that can change your whole life.
Last week was a short work week due to Martin Luther King Jr.  I took down all of my Christmas decorations.  I am pretty satisfied with the my holiday décor and am looking forward to what retail shops will be offering up next winter.  It's a joyous season, but now that we're in January, my focus is mostly shifted to my resolutions:  what I would like to get out of the upcoming year.  Since I'm aware of the changes that have happened in my life in the past, I really want to manage my money better and build up my savings.  For what?  Who knows.  But at least I can get a head start with the financial aspect of it.
I did some damage control over the weekend.  I'm not proud of it either.  It is a reminder to me to not get too carried away for it to become a habit or else I'll really be in big trouble.  What started out as a simple dinner plan grew into a full blown night out on the town.  I wasn't prepared for staying out so late, especially since I already had plans the next night for a birthday party.  UGH!!!  Regardless, who can resist Union Sushi and some cocktails?  Yes I am guilty of such, but I DO want to tone down the nightlife scene.  We made our way to Concord Music Hall to check out Morgan Page and Borgeous only to end up at The Mid later on to catch the same show!  LMAO! 

 The Skinny Geisha Cocktail!

I'm not a fan of oysters, but I DO love how they garnish these at Union!

We ordered a lobster and had this dish FIRST! 

The lobster bisque came SECOND!  This was DELISH!!

Finishing up the last of the lobster via rolls...

HUGE turnout for Morgan Page and Borgeous...

These guys were a fun crowd...

I can't believe we went out after this show.  No pictures of The Mid because my phone died out.  We didn't stay long...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

It's officially the first week back to work for everyone!  The funny thing is, yesterday was pretty quiet.  I'm wondering if  people weren't ready to come back from the holidays.  lol.  That's ok.  I caught up with my work, and believe it or not, I'm feeling pretty good about this week.  It's something about getting things done that can make someone feel productive.  Plus, me and my friends are trying to help one another with our new years resolution on saving money!  I think it's more helpful than doing it alone.
I hope everyone's holidays were filled with love and joy!  Me and my family celebrated Christmas Eve together and the next day I celebrated with my dad and his wife.  For New Year's Eve I kept it low key this year and went to a friend's house in the suburbs.  Over the years, the craziness of New Year's has wore me down.  I like to be surrounded with friends, not drunken strangers.  Regardless, I'm trying my best to finish recapping my 2015 year, and hopefully by the end of this month, I'll be up to date.  My main concern with trying to keep current is to improve on my writing and context of my blog.  Sometimes I feel rushed and worry that I'm not expressing myself.  Let's start with November events!
Back in the first weekend in November, I had dinner at Nia Restaurant back at Randolph street.  We had such a good time in that neighborhood 2 weeks earlier, we figured we'll try it again.  Nia is a Mediterranean tapas restaurant, with an intimate atmosphere.  I loved the fact that I was able to carry a conversation and not feel interrupted.  Some restaurants in River North feel more like a nightclub, but that was not the case here.  It was nice to catch up for a change!
Afterwards some friends notified us that they were going to be at The Mid down the street off Halsted.  We decided to join them to see Crookers play their set.  I miss dancing to good music!  Don't get me wrong, I like top 40 and pop music, but sometimes you want something grittier.  I had fun that night.

Bathroom selfie at Nia...

Wore a black silk top with some flare jeans and leopard pumps.  I'm glad flares are back!

Had a blast at The Mid for Crookers...

Girls Night Out...

Since today is Happy Hump Day Wednesday, I thought it would be fun to mention my girls night out back in November.  Don't get me wrong.  There are times where me and my friends like to get together for some drinks to catch up with one another.   But that month in particular, everyone needed to go all out for some much needed fun!  One night in particular, our friend invited us out for a sushi night at Butterfly Sushi.  She had just settled in her new apartment and has been out of the loop for a bit.  Since I hurried on home from work, I switched into jeans and wore my Halloween headpiece AGAIN to spice up my look. lol.This was a nice time to catch up since the upcoming holidays were going to be hectic for everyone.  I wasn't in the mood so much to hangout because my throat was hurting.  The winter of 2014 was definitely not my healthiest.  I was sick 3 times before I finally gave in and went to the doctor.  I tried to ride it out with lots of green tea but it was kicking my butt.  Regardless, I went along and had a good time.  We ended up down the street at The Dawson for some cocktails afterwards. 

 I LOVE my friend's fur vest from Argentina!



Once Thanksgiving was over, Black Friday was the talk of the town.  I opted NOT to join in the madness and do some online shopping instead.  I usually find pretty good deals.  Regardless, in the nightlife scene, this weekend is a difficult one because a lot of people are either out of town or spending time with family.  What did we do?  We decided to paint the town red!  lol  We figured we could hop around and get a chance to enjoy new venues.  We first started off at the rooftop at The Godfrey Hotel for some drinks and conversation.  Our group of  3 quickly escalated to about 10 in a matter of time.  I had fun running around and meeting new people.  We took a little field trip down to Parliament nightclub and danced the night away!  I also had my first drink of Dom Perignon and I must say, I was impressed!  I'm not a fan of champagne but that was good.. 

We were photo bombed by the bartenders!  Too funny!

Our group is slowly growing...

At Parliament getting silly...

 

The next day our girlfriend was going to entertain her co-workers to a night out.  I was pretty beat from the night before, so I knew I was going to take it easy.  My other friends joined in the festivities, and I was happy to see them.  It's hard to get everyone together in one place.  I told myself that this was the last night of the remaining year that I will wear my Halloween headpiece.  It was time to retire this trendy accessory and save it for another occasion.  But in the meantime, I matched it up with my gold leather pencil skirt and off I went.  We headed to Bevy nightclub for some hip hop and ended up at The Mid for some major EDM.  Cassette was djing, so the place was packed!  Overall, both nights were long and crazy, but I loved every minute of it!  Sometimes the unexpected moments are the most memorable ones...