Brunch for an Aries

Last weekend I attended a birthday brunch in River North for a friend of ours.  It was held at Troquet.  I have never been there before.  The weather was beautiful that day!  Unfortunately that also meant the traffic was awful.  I was 20 minutes late and felt terrible about it.  Oh well.

Regardless I wasn’t the only one who was late.  Lol.  Needless to say, once everyone arrived we ordered away.  It was nice catching up to everyone.  The birthday girl had just returned from the Philipines and her stories were amazing.  We finished up and decided to go down the street to Rocks bar.  There we had the bar to ourselves.  We played a couple of games of skee ball.  I think the birthday girl enjoyed her day.  She had to leave early to pack for a work trip. 

Someone in our group suggested going to a bbq she was invited to, and we happily agreed to go with her.  Even the traffic back that way was bad enough.  We picked up a few items and headed over to the address.  Luckily, these guys were cool enough for us to crash their bbq.  They ended up cooking some awesome tacos.  It felt nice being outside on the porch.

Today is my trip!  Needless to say I am very nervous.  First stop Paris and then I’m off to Istanbul.  I will report back when I return!  Until next time…

WhirlyBall Birthday Party

Back in March I attended a surprise birthday party.  She had no idea her friends and family were planning this.  I wasn’t sure at first if I could make it.  I knew I had some errands to run.  Once I realized the party was not until later than expected, I knew I was good to go.  I’m just glad I didn’t walk in on the actual unveiling of the surprise.  Lol

I did not want to participate in whirlyball but had to since the teams were outnumbered.  I am TERRIBLE at sports.  Of any kind.  In this case, not many were having the best luck with their carts.  It’s hard to navigate if you can’t control your cart.  I was going backwards for some time!

We had cupcakes and cocktails and then we decided to bar hop towards Courtland’s Garage.  Our friend was enjoying her birthday and we didn’t want to stop the celebration just yet.

Since that weekend was Daylight Savings weekend, I ended up not feeling well on Monday and didn’t go to work.  I don’t know what I had, but I made my way to work Tuesday, only to call in sick Wednesday.  I was out of it the remaining of the week.  I have not been that sick in years.

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…

Santa Baby Bar

I can’t believe I’m recapping a Santa themed bar but here you go.  My friend wanted to celebrate her birthday earlier than later this year.  This Christmas-themed pop up bar was located in  Wrigleyville.  Our friend wanted us to dress in appropriate Christmas gear, so I brought along my goofy Gingerbread sweater to work to switch out afterwards.  I was the first one there, but right away I noticed a group of CHILDREN running around on the 2^nd floor.  I almost spilled my glass of wine over one!  I think if I were to give them feedback, I would suggest having families show up earlier than later to the bar.  We ARE in Wrigleyville after all, and there are a string of back to back bars along the strip.  I wouldn’t consider it family oriented, but possibly provide hours of service earlier when there’s not too many people out for happy hour.  

The specialty cocktails were filled with whip cream and milk shakes.  I was worried about triggering my migraine, so I stuck to wine.  At one point, it switched to an open mic karaoke session and the singing was terrible!  Mostly because the participants were drunk out of their minds.  Lol.  I felt out of place here, but I think the birthday girl enjoyed herself.  She even wore a mini elf dress costume to her party which impressed everyone.

Birthday girl showed up!

After that night when the birthday girl slept in her own party, she texted me apologizing for what had happened.  She was feeling better from her cold and wanted to celebrate her birthday that Saturday.  Her friends were going to have a table at Tao Nightclub and invited her and her friends to join.  She extended the invitation to me and I told her I might consider it if I got back at a reasonable hour from a Simbang Gabi celebration at my church.  They were hosting a filipino Christmas and my friends were going to be there.

I did manage to get back on time in order to meet up with the rest of the girls.  We were told to get there specifically around 10pm so we could walk in and not wait in line.  I didn’t realize the entrance to the club was at the side of the building.  The nightclub was HUGE.  Much bigger than I anticipated, but then again, the layout was more spacious than they had it before when it was Excalibur.  We enjoyed ordering cocktails at the lounge near the women’s restroom.  We walked around to look for her friends who had the table.  After a while, the girls weren’t feeling the place.  They were disappointed in the music and asked if we could go somewhere else.  They decided on Underground nightclub.

They found their friends at the table and said goodbye.  I was indifferent.  I felt the music was going to get better as the night went on, but it wasn’t my call.  We took an uber to Underground, and luckily there was no line to get in.  Once inside, we found a spot to hang out and ordered more drinks.  This time the girls were enjoying themselves more.  I was happy that they were happy.

    

Danny’s Bar

A few Fridays ago, a friend had sent out a facebook invite to her birthday weekend bonanza.  She listed all the things she would be doing from Friday-Sunday.  She noted, if anyone wanted to join in the festivities to contact her.  I wasn’t 100 percent sure what my plans were yet, and as the day went on, I called up one of our friends to see if she was going.  She told me her and her boyfriend would be heading out soon to the party, and asked if I needed a ride there.  I told her I would uber it since I was not ready yet.  In the end, I got there before my friends, but I did not see the birthday girl.  She chose to celebrate at Danny’s Bar in Wicker Park.  It was my first time there, and the place was packed.  I saw my friends walk in and we found a spot towards the back.  Her boyfriend went to the bar, and me and my friend took pictures to kill some time.  After about 20 minutes, we texted the birthday girl to see what time was she coming.  We waited and enjoyed our cocktails.  5 minutes later, she texted us back that she had fallen asleep on her couch.  She was trying to get rid of a cold and was not coming out.  Me and my friend decided to go back home.   We were both tired from work earlier and were not up to hang out at the bar.  It was funny if you think about it…

A Disco Birthday Party

I had a dentist appointment on a Friday so I took the day off from work since I had to travel to the suburbs.  I finished my workouts earlier in the week and had nothing to do when I got back.  My friend who works at Disco in River North invited me to her birthday party.  I haven’t seen her in a while and wondered how she’s been doing.  I made up my mind that I was going to meet her downtown.

Luckily the weather was in the high 50s.  I opted to wear my fleece bomber with my new graphic t-shirt since I could get away from not wearing a coat.  I made my way to see her but she warned me to get there a bit later since it was still empty inside.  I have not been out in a while and it was interesting to watch people walk around in the area.  Once inside I made my way upstairs and found her table.  She looked beautiful in her sequined two piece.  Her other friends arrived and I recognized one of them from our trip to Las Vegas years ago.  We were goofing around and had a blast that night.  I miss dancing…

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!