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...

In September...Part 2

The rest of September was pretty hectic.  Considering I was in Italy a few weeks earlier, there was always something coming up.  I was beginning to have house music withdrawals and was in dire need to dance my butt off.  In Italy (or I'm assuming, pretty much everywhere in Europe) dance music is very popular.  With the rise of EDM hitting the American scene, the music in Italy was phenomenal.  It was in heavy rotation wherever you went.  But back here in the States, with the exception of a few dance tracks being thrown in between pop, hip hop and country, it wasn't enough for me.  Luckily, I saw that one of my favorite djs was going to be in town, so I quickly bought my ticket and off I went to Paris Nightclub on Hubbard.  I had a blast! 

 CHICAGO LOVES YOU ERICK!!  PLEASE COME BACK SOON!

Erick Morillo playing New York house music.  The crowd went crazy!!

 

Later in the month one of my dearest friends celebrated her birthday at a Bears tailgate!  We thought it was a great idea considering the Bears were playing the Packers that Sunday.  One of our friends hooked it up with a mobile bar so we definitely had all eyes on our setup!  lol.  Even though we lost the game we had a great time.  The weather was pretty warm that day too.  Best tailgate I've been to in a long time...

Moving the grill to our next stop in the parking lot.

Time to mark those red cups to avoid any confusion!

Yes we even had a hammock...

The view up top...

Make a wish!!!

PEACE OUT!

 



In September...

Coming back from Italy was not easy.  Luckily the weather was still warm here in Chicago.  It was a pretty crazy month last September.  I jumped into the swing of things with our annual taco crawl!  My friend likes to coordinate this crawl every year and this time we headed down to Maxwell Street for an afternoon of fun.  I have to admit, I DID miss having some good tacos while I was gone! 

Following up in September we were entering Virgo/ Libra season.  Some of my closet friends were celebrating one after another.  First up, a night out at Analogue in Logan Square for some cocktails and light bites and then next door to finish up at The Owl.  The weather was still pretty warm around this time.  My friends took advantage of the warm weather and wore their summer dresses before it gets too nippy.

The following weekend we celebrated at The Dawson restaurant where we munched on appetizers and drank martinis!  We ended up back at n for some dancing and more cocktails. 

I also got a chance to squeeze in one last festival for the year!  The Riot Fest!  This year the Cure were performing and I've had them in my bucket list FOREVER!  I was SUPER EXCITED I scored a ticket to go.  Me and my friend had a blast!  I still can't believe how perfect they were. 

The Festival was held in Humbolt Park..

Robert Smith was AMAZING!!!  LOVE THE CURE!!

My Last Day in Paradise...

On my last day we got up early to sneak in some time to visit Manfredonia.  It's a port town 30 minutes away.  I had to catch a 7pm train back to Rome so I can catch my flight.  We figured we'll go and pick up some seafood for a finite pranzo.  Of course there was another castle there, so I had to check that out.  I will say it's not something you see in the States, so I did want to take advantage of it.  They are amazing in architecture and massive to be around.  You do get morphed into another era.  We headed to the seafood market and picked up some goodies for our lunch.  Once we headed back into town, we decided to visit the town's winery for a quick tour.  Can you believe at this point, I never checked out their wineries in Italy???  So little time for everything!  Unfortunately, due to the rain, their harvest had not yet begun.  Too much rain damages the grapes.  At this point they were ready to begin the harvest but were waiting for things to clear up with the weather.  There had been some flooding throughout Italy as well, with some towns being evacuated because of the dangerous conditions.  That was the unfortunate part of my visit there, so next time I know to head there sooner in the summer than later. 
Back at home, I had my last risotto dish and it was yummy!  I also tried squid for the first time (I liked it!) and afterwards had a quick siesta before I was dropped off at the station.  I cried as I was boarding.  I knew what was waiting for me personally back home and it was not easy for me to realize my life was going to have some changes.  I think all vacations DO make you prioritize your life a little.  How can it not when there's so much to see?

5 months ago...

YES!  Can you believe it??  It's been 5 months since I last blogged.  I'm kind of disappointed in myself.  Regardless, so much has happened within my family.  The other day, someone mentioned how they couldn't wait for summer.  I could, I murmured.  Sometimes Life moves too fast for you to follow.  You end up feeling left behind on some emotions.  That's not good.  I've read enough self help books to know you should appreciate each day, whether good or bad.
BUT ON THAT LAST NOTE....
I feel I owe it to myself to finish my blog on my trip to Italy.  It had a profound effect on me and I cannot wait to visit again.  I am trying to learn Italian too!  I'm hoping to make new friends when I go out there.  Since I was in southern Italy, I didn't encounter too many people who knew English, yet alone Spanish.  Mainly in Rome and other northern tourist cities you will have a blend of people from all over.  I figured why not try something new.  I will say this though, Italian is indeed a Latin language, but I did have a hard time trying to understand them as they did with me.  The dialect and their pronunciation is what got me. 
So back to Italy in September 2014.  I left off from our wonderful dinner party with friends.  The next day was our last official full day so we had to make the most of our time.  We had decided to go to a nearby town where a friend of my girlfriend had offered to meet us for lunch.  She wanted to be our tour guide to her town.  I thought that was generous of her considering I have never met her before.  We ended up in Lucera where we wandered off to yet another castle (lol).     This castle was built by Frederick II of Swabia in 1233.  We spent the early part of the day there and met up with our friend at a restaurant.  She is studying English so we helped her out with some curse words.  Hey!  Isn't that the first thing you would want to know too??  We walked over to a nearby park overlooking a cliff and enjoyed the view.  I love how people appreciate the beauty that surrounds them.  Sometimes, back at home, we hustle and bustle and forget to look around and see the seasons changing.  It's a sad way to live, but I do feel that you need to TAKE the time to do this.
Afterwards we visited a real estate office where our friend's sister worked.  Apparently, Italy is the place to be to buy property, but in town like Lucera, you have to consider wear you are moving to.  It's very quiet and small and not much going on there.  Most people work in other towns, so you need to think about your commute as well.  Every town,/city I had visited were no less than 30 minutes away, (on average at least an hour away from each other).  It's a lot of driving and the gas is 65% MORE than you would pay here in the States.  Ouch!
We headed back home to take a siesta and again began our ritual of getting ready for a dinner out.  This restaurant was absolutely delicious!  Because of my lack of clothing on this trip, I wore my dressy black shorts with a brand new lace top I won off ebay.  For my trip I wore my espadrille wedges instead of heels since I knew how difficult it is to walk on the cobblestone.  I have yet mastered the art of walking in Europe.  Our Swedish friends made me feel welcomed with some light-hearted Italian jokes.  We had a lovely time.  I will miss this for now...   

 My new friend from Lucera!

 Yes the clouds followed us here too... UGH!!!

 Christmas decorations!  lol

I miss this so much!!

 Bathroom selfie.  Until next time...

A Night to Remember...

In the morning we got up early to checkout.  Since the weather has been all over the place, we were constantly checking our phones for the forecast to see if any rain was heading our way.  We were surprised by last night's showers and that pretty much ruined our chances for stepping out.  Since we had a 3 hour drive back home, we figured we can still have a chance to see what Lecce was all about. We had our morning espresso and a mini pound cake treat for breakfast and wandered around for some souvenirs.  I really wanted some leather goods, but unfortunately it was not in season in Lecce. So much for that.  We walked around some more and ran into a leather shop.  A man was busy putting together a bag but stopped to help us find what we were looking for.  He made everything by hand, and the leather fabrics in his showroom were gorgeous.  If we had enough time he would have made me a brand new bag to my liking, but I was pleased with the one I found in his shop. He was a true gentleman and I've been wearing my new purse ever since.

We decided to head back to town, but first my friend asked me if I would like to see a castle.  It was in the town called Andria and nearby her hometown.  I figured why not since we could knock out another distinctive castle out the way.  This one was HUGE!!  The Castel Del Monte was built near Bari in the 13th century by the Emperor Frederick II.  His policy in Italy, unlike that in Germany, where he encouraged the feudal system, was that of an absolute monarch. For this reason, and also for defensive purposes, he built a number of strong castles in his lands of Apulia, Calabria and Sicily, the largest and most influential of which was Castel del Monte.  ("Castel Del Monte". unesco.org.)  I was blown away by the size and of it's octogon shape.  We drove up to a parking lot to park our car and then hopped on a bus which took us to the hillside of the castle.  I noticed the storm clouds reeling in, and because of it's low altitude, we decided to skip the inside tour and just take pictures outside.  It started to get gusty up there so we made our way back to the bus which took us back to our car. 
During that time we were checking out the castle, my friend recieved a phone call from her boyfriend.  He wanted to hold a wine tasting for his friends who brought bottles from nothern Italy.  They decided to hold the tasting back at the house instead of going to a restaurant, and that's when panic struck.  She would have to cook a feast for 10 and we still were an hour away from home.  Not to mention, we would be arriving into town around 2:30pm which meant we were cutting it close if we wanted to stop by the market to grab some items for dinner.  Siesta usually hits around 3-5pm, and my friend wanted to start the preparation for dinner at that time. 
Nontheless, we picked up whatever we could for dinner and made our way back home.  The guests were to arrive at 9pm, and my friend still had to clean up the place as well as prepare the food and get ready.  I helped out in the kitchen by doing the dishes.  Because of the limited dishware, I washed while she reused the pots and pans to continue to cook the meals.  It became a stressful ordeal to beat the clock.  Around 8:15pm is when her boyfriend arrived home from work and started to help out in the kitchen while we got ready.  What threw us off is the first early arrival guest showing up at 8:45pm on the dot!  Yikes!  He entertained while we finished up and the next thing you know, the rest of the guests arrived right on time at 9pm.  Time to get this party started!
What is hard for me as an American, and as a LIGHT DRINKER is the tasting of the wines on an empty stomache.  I'm used to having wine with my meal, but here in Italy, you sip and savor and then eat a huge feast to balance out the fuzziness.  Well for me, I'm almost at full drunk mode, but then making I make it more ackward by trying to contain myself at the table.  It's something I definitely have to work on, but since this was my 3rd wine tasting while on vacation, I hope I didn't make a fool of myself this time around. 
My girlfriend threw an amazing feast and we savored every bite.  I even learned a recipe to take back home.  I love dinner parties!   

Sight seeing in Lecce!

Check out those luxe leather fabrics!

Castel Del Monte in Andria!

Gorgeous castle!

Massive!

More fig dishes!

Check out that table!

Good times with good friends!

A night to remember!