Aquarius Season

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody!!!  I hope everyone gets to enjoy the lovey-dovey experience today.  I love Valentine’s Day even if I’m single.  I told someone they are my Valentine’s this year and he seemed ok with it, so who knows???  Hahahahaha  A girl can only wish…

Around the middle of January I booked a train ticket to Detroit to visit my friend who moved out there a while back.  Her birthday weekend was coming up and I knew she’s been missing her friends here in Chicago.  Unfortunately when I brought up the idea to visit, everyone was busy that weekend.  I decided to go regardless, and she was excited I was coming down.

I don’t remember the last time I took an Amtrak train.  Since I work downtown, I took a half a day off from work and ran over to Union Station.  I arrived to Detroit 30 minutes later than anticipated.  I still don’t understand how that happened.

My friend and her family were excited to see me.  The best part was another friend of hers fly into Detroit from Baltimore.  He was going to arrive around 9pm.

We decided to head downtown and have a birthday cocktail in the meantime.  Detroit has definitely changed since my last visit over a year ago.  More new restaurants and bars have opened up.  I am excited to see what will be next for this city that has so much potential.

We picked up her friend at the airport and headed back to the burbs where my friend lives.  Luckily they picked a wonderful restaurant that was opened late.  We were having a great time catching up. 

That night we stayed up drinking champagne and munching on Sprinkles cupcakes.  One of the girls had picked some up for her birthday, and I brought them along on my trip.  They were delish!

Happy Galentine’s Day

I’m still recapping the month of January.  Despite its frigid weather, I had to step out for my step brother’s birthday.  My mom wanted to have dinner at her place to celebrate.  That same day my friends wanted to get together to catch up.  They needed some girl time.  I told them I would head over once dinner was over.

In lieu of Galentine’s Day, I wanted to mention how incredibly important my friends are to me.  I can honestly say I have been blessed with an amazing support group.  These girls have seen me at my worse and still wanted to stick around.  I love them very much.  I don’t know what I would do if they weren’t in my life.  Even my friends who live afar are my secret treasures.  I don’t think distance can tear apart the bond and memories we have shared over the years.  I am a lucky woman.

With that in mind, I am also very protective of them, and who I include in my circle.  It’s not easy to share your deepest secrets.  As I have gotten older I pride myself with the girls that I have.  I absolutely HATE drama of any kind, and unfortunately, in an age of self-absorbed personalities, it’s easy to mistaken a foe as a friend.  Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made the wrong assumptions on people.  It’s all a part of growing into your true self.  Honesty is the best policy, and knowing when to spot the fakes is a process itself.  Just like any other relationship, some friendships grow apart.

My mom made an amazing dinner.  I know she loves her husband’s son very much.  Me and my brothers were goofing off as usual.  It felt like we were little kids again.

Once dinner was over, my brother dropped me off at my friend’s place, and we stayed up all night talking about everything.  Girl time was a blast…    

Clueless vibes 

Le table

Banana bread birthday cake 

Happy Hour at Sunda

In January we had temperatures go up and down.  One particular Thursday the temps touched 60 degrees but then fell back into the 30s the next day.  My friends wanted to take advantage of this warm weather to ge together for happy hour.  A friend of theirs was in town and wanted to meet up.  I brought a pair of jeans to change into after work and made my down to Sunda.  I was in the mood for sushi, but everyone else ordered a bit of everything.  It felt weird being out and about.  I cannot remember the last time I hung out with this set of friends.  I usually hibernate in the winter because I loathe the cold weather but this was a nice break from the norm.  Of course now that I’m recapping this day, Chicago is experiencing a blizzard.  It will snow for 12 hours straight!  I guess winter isn’t done with us yet!

I can’t believe I wore a simple tee and jeans in January!

Cocktails 

And sushi 

Dia De Los Reyes

The first week in January was FRIGID!!  It was dangerously cold and a lot of people called off from work.  When the temperatures drop down to 0 degrees there’s usually problems with the trains coming into the city.  It's the switchesthat direct the cars between tracks that freeze, and when a switch fails, it can compromise an entire line.  Hence, people are unable to get to work, let alone wait outside in the cold.  You are unable to do much but stay inside.  

For me, I just laid low.  The first weekend, my dad wanted to celebrate Dia de Los Reyes.  His wife made us dinner again, and me and my brothers came over that Saturday.  It was nice to get out of the house.  His wife even brought the Rosca De Reyes cake for dessert.  This traditional cake has a baby miniature Jesus inside.  Whoever gets Baby Jesus will be very lucky for the remaining of the year.  I had never celebrated this before so I wasn’t sure what to do.  We were supposed to take turns cutting a slice of the cake.  Well I went first and got Baby Jesus on the first try!!  Who knows??  Maybe 2018 will be my year!  Lol

Old boyfriend hoodie to use for layers in this frigid weather.

New Year’s Day Dinner

One of my resolutions this year is to try to balance my time with my family and friends.  In the end, they are the people who matter to me the most.  Sometimes we get caught up on what’s new on the social scene, that we push the ones we love aside in order to meet new people and been “seen”.  I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that pretentious people don’t matter at all.  They sometimes make you feel important, but in the end, you’re just another player added to their games.  It gets tiring after a while.  With my dad soon retiring himself, I want to make sure he transitions into this next phase much more smoothly than my mom.  He’s five years older than her and I worry that he pushes himself too hard.

His wife invited us over to have a New Year’s Day dinner.  Even though my parents divorced back when I was a kid, my dad became involved in our lives as we were adults.  I am beginning to enjoy our moments together and getting to know him more.  He’s very talkative, except when it comes to himself.  All I could do is observe and learn.

We had a nice dinner and a few laughs.  It’s nice hanging out with the men in my life.

As usual it was FREEZING on New Year’s Day.

Tamales!

New Year’s Eve 2017

I can’t believe it’s already February but I’m barely recapping NYE.  Lol.  I am looking forward to resting up at my apartment this weekend.  I miss being home since I was away.  Not to mention, Super Bowl Sunday is happening and I’m very excited about watching Justin Timeberlake perform!  He’s one of my favs.

Believe it or not, I was not in the mood to celebrate NYE.  The year ended roughly for me and I just wanted the holidays to be over.  I DID cherish my time with my friends, but at night, I felt bad about other losses I encountered.  Sometimes Life throws you curve balls that you were not expecting.  It knocks us off of our feet.  But I was very fortunate to be around my friends and family.  They kept an eye on me.  I think this is what sometimes made me feel guilty.  Knowing that people were hurting while I was in a better mood.  I felt privileged but it made me question everything.  Having a support system is crucial, but I know that there are people who do not have this.  The only thing I can conclude is to reach out and make friends and try to open up to people in order to build relationships.  Life is meant to be enjoyed.  It all starts with YOU!

Luckily a friend of mine reached out and invited me to Booze Box.  I was invited to my family’s as well as another family gathering, but I did not want to be at an intimate setting.  I knew people would bring up the past year and recap but I needed the noise to distract me.  Booze Box was perfect, plus it gave me a chance to catch up with my friend since we last spoke.  I needed the attention on him.

In the end, the music helped out a lot, as well as laughing with random strangers.  I survived 2017…

Sangria and Spa Night

The last weekend of 2017 I got a chance to spend it with old friends.  I’ve known these girls for almost 20 years and it was fun catching up.  One of them moved to Florida, but was in town visiting family and friends during the holidays.  She decided to throw a spa night at her mom’s place to introduce us to a new skincare line.  She’s currently working with them and is very impressed with their results.  Who are we to turn down beauty secrets?  She made it more appealing by having sangria and tapas as well!  I love low key Saturday nights.  I’ve grown to appreciate a more intimate setting nowadays.  Regardless, I was very fortunate to see my old friends during the holidays, and as a result, will try to make it a habit to visit them once in a while wherever they reside now.  I can’t wait to tell you about my recent road trip to Detroit!  Until next time…

Simple button down to hangout with friends...