Mother /Daughter Day

Since my mom retired in mid October, I told myself I wanted to do something with her OUTSIDE of the house at least once a month.  My mom has been in mourning since her husband passed away, and for the most part has continued working until her retirement.  She rarely steps out of the house unless it's for running her errands.  I felt it was important for her to continue to live her life during this transition which meant I needed her to look forward to something.  Sometimes her depression gets the best of her and she would cancel on me at the last minute due to bad weather conditions, feeling tired, or whatever excuse she would make up.  I knew on my end I didn't want to push her into doing something she wasn't ready to do.  I had a scheduled day off from work on the last Friday of December.  When I spoke to her the night before, I had suggested we do something concerning the holidays before all the festivities would be taken down.  I cannot go over her place too long due to her dog, so she has to work with me whether she likes it or not.  I wanted to checkout the Museum of Science and Industry to look at the Christmas trees around the world exhibit.  Automatically she brought up how cold it might be, and of course, I debated back that we are in winter after all and that's expected.  She didn't seem to budge so I dropped it.
In the morning I enjoyed watching the news and wanted to finish up my last book I was reading for the year, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"; a self-help book I got off of Amazon.  I figured it would be a great way to for me to prepare for 2017, and I was down to the last chapter.  Sure enough, around 11am she called me out the blue.  "You know, I took Lucky out for a walk and it didn't seem that cold out".  It looks like my mom wanted to step out after all.  Unfortunately we went back and forth on the phone, and concluded that heading to Hyde Park to the Museum of Science and Industry was not going to work for us.  We still had to get ready and meet up somewhere since we both don't have a car.  If we wanted to head there, we should have left much earlier.  I had a back up plan.  I told her we could head down to Millennium Park to watch the ice skating rink and she agreed. 
We got downtown around 2pm and made our way there.  But since we were passing State Street, we realized we did not get a chance to see the Christmas display at Macy's.  We walked around the building to see the window displays and took pictures.  We figured we could checkout what they had inside.  It was nice looking around with my mom.  She's worked in downtown all her life and loves the glitz and glamour of nice things.  Even though she couldn't afford such stuff, it never stopped her from appreciating the finer things in life.  We made our way to the Walnut room to checkout their tree, but the line was too long for us to be seated for lunch.  We kept on going.
We made it to Millennium Park and watched the people ice skate for some time.  My mom wasn't aware of the skating rink there, so that's why I took her so she could become familiar with it.  She was having a good time.  The line to have lunch at the Park Grill was short, so we decided to have lunch there. 
I realized we were doing good with time and thought maybe we could catch a movie.  During Christmas Eve, my mom had mentioned how she wanted to see Lion with Dev Patel.  I was surprised she even knew about such a film, but she claimed she saw something on tv about it.  My mom is not the artsy film type.  When her husband was alive, he was mostly into blockbuster movies and that's what they would see.  To have her tell me she wanted to see this type of movie surprised me.  But I wanted to make her happy, so I looked up the movie times and found one for 5:30pm at the AMC at Streeterville.  She seemed glad we were going.
Off we went to the show.  It was an amazing film, and it haunted me for days afterwards.  There is an Oscar buzz and I hope they get the nominations in.  Lion is based off a true story about a little boy that got lost from his older brother in India at a train station.  My mom claims when she was a little girl back in Guatemala, her and her younger brother would sometimes roam the streets at such a young age.  I often wonder how she randomly remember such times now that she's older.
I cried a lot during the movie and so did she.  I felt that it brought us closer.  At one point as we were having lunch, my mom said to me out of the blue "Thank you nena."  It was nice...

I can't believe Tom Brady is going to the Super Bowl again!

Pretty tree at the Walnut Room

Goofing off at Macy's

We got a chance to see people ice skate at Millennium Park...

I always order crab cakes whenever it's on a menu!

My wooden Santas are watching me.  lol

Wore an old winter white flannel blazer that helped keep me warm that day.  Perfect alternative to a thick sweater.

Mommy Birthday!

Since I landed that Sunday during Labor Day weekend, my jet lag was starting to catch up to me.  Even though I broke night and caught my flight at 11am, I still had to fly to Dublin before I landed in Chicago.  I got home around 7:30pm.  I was exhausted.  I wanted to take a shower so I could freshen up in time for me, but I found myself on my bed, butt naked, waking up to a phone call.  Apparently I must have gotten undressed and was going through my luggage to grab my toiletries and I somehow landed in bed.  I do not remember how I got there.  My friend wanted to check up on me, but I could hardly talk to her because I was lethargic.  We got off the phone right away, but I called my mom to let her know I landed and then crashed hard. 
I tried getting up at a decent hour and stayed awake on Labor Day Monday.  I wanted to adjust to Chicago time so I could be ready the next day to resume my work schedule.  I would definitely advise anyone who travels overseas to make sure you set aside some time to rest up before going back to your regular routine.  If you do not travel often, it can mess up your body clock.  Not to mention, I broke night 3 times during my vacation so I never had enough sleep to begin with. 
The week went by quickly.  That Thursday the girls wanted to get together for our friend's birthday.  We decided Hot Woks sushi on Pulaski would be the best place to go to because it was nearby for everyone.  Plus they offered us the room upstairs to ourselves so everyone could bring their kids.  My friend's babies range from 6 months to one year and a half, and because some of them have different needs than others, it's hard finding a place where we can have some space.  The fact that a restaurant could accommodate us for our party was very sweet of them.   
Birthday sushi is definitely a favorite for us.  I love the fact that we have similar tastes and that helps a lot.  My other friend had went to Serbia earlier than me and another friend is going to England and Ireland in a few days.  We all exchanged stories on our adventures.  It's interesting to hear the contrasts between each country we've visited along with our experiences.  I missed my friends!  We had a good time catching up with one another... 

YUMMY!!!

Birthday cupcakes from Sprinkles!

My friend brought rakija from Serbia as souvenirs...

A Belgrade wine topper!

Posing for pictures with kids can result in taking multiple shots...

The winner!  With filter of course!  hahaha

It's playtime!

Last weekend I was surrounded by babies, kids, and more babies!  It wasn't planned that way originally.  I had received a birthday invitation for Sunday about a week ago, so I knew about that one first.  The rest came up last minute.  I was invited to a party to celebrate a holy communion on Saturday, and then my friend out of no where asked me to come by and hangout with her and her newborn on Friday.  Funny how that all came about!
First up, my visit to see my friend and her baby.  I felt bad because I originally mentioned that I was going to check up on them every week to see if they needed anything.  Not what happened at all!  In my defense, the weather was sometimes crappy on Fridays, so I would go straight home after work.  We had a lot of rain, but it looks like things are finally looking up.  Memorial weekend is right around the corner and I think we're rain-free for the next couple of days.  YAY!
I loved interacting with my friend and the baby.  It makes me see how precious these moments are when they are still little and sleeping a lot.  He's 2 1/2 months old now and is getting so big!  He's very aware of his surroundings and his mother and loves to smile.  She's in love! 
The next day I made my way over to my other friend's house to celebrate her daughter's holy communion.  Here we had a variety of kids, ranging from 1-8 years old.  It was a house party filled with family and friends.  Since it was last minute invitation, I got her a gift card.  I had no idea what to give her!  If anyone is open to suggestions on what to get an 8 year old girl celebrating a milestone like this, please comment!!  I was stuck and felt bad getting her something so impersonal.  I hope she makes use of it regardless, but I know I could have made it more thoughtful.  Oh well.
Then on Sunday I went to my OTHER friend's party.  Her twin babies were celebrating their 1st birthday and that was held at her sister's house.  It was a Hello Kitty theme and it was big!  There were so many kids at that party.  Because of that they had to think of ways to keep them busy.  We played Hello Kitty games, ate Hello Kitty ice cream cake, and even had a Hello Kitty giveaway bucket full of goodies!  It was fun for everyone!  I enjoyed catching up with my friends who are moms.  Their kids keep them busy but at least with parties like these, we can still hangout with one another and see how we're holding up.  As much as it was a surprise that my weekend was filled with kid activities, I had a blast!

During my visit he was sleeping most of the time.  Luckily I got a chance to hold him when he woke up...

The next day celebrating her Holy communion...

What an awesome cake!



I've known these sisters for 15 years!

Wore a simple cardigan and matched up my boots and wristlet.  It was cold that day...



Time for the Hello Kitty birthday bash!!

Personalized water bottles

Check out that dessert table! 

Red velvet cupcakes...

Gathering up the kids to play games...

Time to play pin the bow on Hello Kitty!

The kids put together a puzzle...

Yes there was a Hello Kitty piñata!  lol



Hello Kitty ice cream cake for the twins!  Of course they had to get two for the both of them...

Time to sing Happy Birthday!

They loved it!

Let's play ping pong!!

Happy Hump Day!!!  Not much happening with me.  Since that nice Sunday I ran by the lake, the weather took a turn for the worse.  We dipped back into the 30s last week.  People are getting sick.  I did my best to stay low key.  I figured Spring is right around the corner anyways. 
My friend had her baby one week ago today!!  I ended up visiting the happy family both Thursday and Friday.  I'm so happy for them!!  He is truly adorable!  I learned so much for her experience.  Most of my friends are becoming 1st time moms.  Everyone of them have had a different experiences in the delivery room.  It's good to be informed on what happens behind closed doors because I'm pretty new to this.  I really haven't been around children; let alone babies. 
I did meet up with a friend later on that Friday evening.  She was with some friends at Beef and Brandy restaurant on State Street.  Believe it or not, I would pass by the place and thought nothing of it.  It was my first time there and it was pretty busy.  Mostly business corporate crowd, but that was fine by me.  I was dressed down for casual Friday, so I felt comfortable.  lol
It was my first time out in weeks since I gave up staying out late for Lent.  I was home by 10pm, right in time before the snow fell.  I stayed in the rest of the weekend and caught up on my reading.  I'm re-reading Make Money Not Excuses by Jean Chatzky.  I read it a few years ago and figured I could go back and learn some more tips since I'm trying my hardest to save this year.  I'm hoping I can develop good saving habits so I could move past my small term goals to my long term goals.  Bottom line:  I need to get to my end zone so I can prove to myself that I can handle my responsibilities.  Not finishing a goal is conditioning you to fail, and I don't want to do that to myself anymore.  It's not healthy for my mind. 
Since I've been staying low key, last night I ended up meeting my friends for some after work cocktails.  It was 69 degrees outside!!  Unbelievable!!  I love Chicago when it gets warm.  Everyone was out walking around.  I DID miss that feeling of not wearing heavy coats and layers.  It felt great! 
I walked over to Marina Towers at the Tortoise Club where my friends were indulging in $1 oysters.  Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of oysters, but that's a pretty good deal.  They were closing out the tab and wanted to checkout Spin Chicago next door. 
We walked inside and got the details.  Yes, it's Susan Sarandon's ping pong club.  She has 5 locations and from the looks of it, this might be the next hot spot for the upcoming months.  We made our way downstairs to the bar area and enjoyed the action.  Me and my friends couldn't help but get excited about planning a gathering there.  It looks like a lot of fun!!
Regardless, I made it home by 10:30pm.  Not bad on a school night.  lol.  For it being nice outside, I really didn't miss the scene that much.  I think trying to stay in more will make me appreciate the nightlife again when this is over for me.

I LOVE checking out new spots...

They have 30 min and one hour rates...



After work cocktails...