The Luck of the Irish

This week I’m heading to my next adventure.  Obviously I’m very nervous about my flight but I’m constantly keeping myself busy.  My nerves were pretty bad last night.  Hence, time to wrap up March’s events!

After that horrible sickness, I started to feel myself again.  I made a haircut appointment on St. Patty’s Day Saturday because I wasn’t sure I was in the mood to join in the festivities.  My friends were letting me know they were going to meet up for the dying of the Chicago River.  I knew there would be a time restriction, and told them I would meet up afterwards.  I was surprised they were still out.  Needless to say, the group had dwindled down.  We stayed at Celeste for a while until my friend grew hungry.  She ran into another friend who was heading to Maple & Ash.  He invited us all along and we jumped into a Lyft ride and headed down there.  I felt so underdressed when we walked in!  It’s definitely a fancy place but we were still wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day.  My friends ordered appetizers and everything was delish.  It was good times despite not celebrating traditionally at a pub.  Lol. 

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.

I WANT ONE MARGARITA

A few weeks ago my mom friends wanted to step out for a margarita.  Since I don’t see them very often, I agreed to tag along.  One of them was driving in from the suburbs, so it gave me a chance to throw something on and run out the door.  I had met up earlier for brunch with our other friend.  I felt bad because I was tired from the night before.  That was the night I saw Kaskade with my brother.  I took it easy the rest of the day.  Now that I was going out for drinks again, I couldn’t help but wonder if people were tired of being stuck inside.  Our Chicago winters drag out until April.  Yesterday alone was in the high 30s!  It makes you want to escape to somewhere warm.

We went to our usual spot Garcia’s by Lawrence.  This Mexican restaurant has been around for over 20 years!  Great food with a lively atmosphere.  Everyone knows about Garcia’s.

I had a nice time catching up with my friends.  The next day, I did manage to go to church.

Kaskade at Tao

One of my favorite djs was coming to Tao and me and my brother decided to purchase tickets.  We were thirsty for some good music and  wanted to come out of hibernation from the long winter months.  For the most part, there were some electronic djs that I didn’t get a chance to see in January and February, but for the most part, some shows were too difficult for me to make it to.  One of them performed on a Sunday night, and I knew I couldn’t miss work the next day for some show.  Another dj was in town but the weather was horrible.  Kaskade always draws a big crowd, and we knew we had to act fast before the tickets were sold out.

Well guess what happened?  I bought my ticket and sent over my proof of purchase to my brother.  He informed me that he was going to get his by lunchtime.  To his surprise, the show had sold out!  Now what?

I tried looking for other sites to see if anyone else was selling tickets for this event.  Nothing.  On Instagram they held a contest 2 days before the show to give away some tickets.  I was getting desperate.  I figured worst case scenario I’ll give my ticket to my brother and he will have to go by himself.  Kaskade is his favorite dj and I didn’t want him to miss his performance. 

I didn’t win the contest, but a promoter of Tao did mention to contact him for tickets and table service the night before the show.  Me and my brother were not interested in table service, but were hoping to score one ticket if possible.  I lucked out with the promoter contacting me right away and asking me how many tickets I wanted.  “Just one,” I replied.  Dead silence.  I decided to continue the conversation on my own hoping I didn’t come off as a pest.  “Is there somewhere I can purchase the ticket?” I asked.  He finally replied an hour later that he was going to put me on his guest list but that I still had to pay.  No problem!

The next day me and my brother decided to head to Tao early in case we were going to run into any issues with this promoter.  The biggest joke in the industry is that there probably isn’t a “guest list” and might be denied at the door.  For all I know, his Instagram account can have a fake name on it!  We walked up to the bouncer and my brother was granted entry with my ticket.  I told them I was on the guest list courtesy of the gentlemen’s name.  I showed him our conversation via Instagram and the bouncer told me to go on in.  After security checked my purse, I was stamped and granted entry as well!  We scored!!  Not only were there no problems, but the guys at the door never charged me at all!  Me and my brother decided to celebrate at the bar.

Since we got there pretty early, it was fun people watching.  The club filled up pretty fast and eventually Kaskade came on and was amazing.  It was the perfect night for us to enjoy some good music!

The Ritz Carlton Chicago

During the last week in February I worked an event for the Firm.  This was held at the Ritz Carlton downtown.  I haven’t been there in years, but the conference center was perfect for our guests.  The crystal ceiling chandeliers added a classy touch.  Everyone enjoyed themselves!  I stayed out as late as I could, but eventually I needed to go home.  I’m glad everything went smoothly!

A Harmonica Hoedown!

Trying to recap my February events since March is already flying by.  I can’t believe it’s the First Day of Spring!  We barely made it to 40 degrees but it’s a start to the right direction.  I’m tired of being cold and I do not want to be sick again.

For the most part, February was low key for me.  For this year’s Valentine’s Day-gift-to-myself I purchased another Valentino pendant to go with my gold necklace.  I lucked out with my first initial!

My friend wanted to meet up with me since we haven’t caught up with one another this year so far.  She wanted to see her co-worker perform in his band at the northside bar called Martyrs’.  His band was an all harmonica ensemble and this was a Harmonica Hoedown!  They were very good and the people loved it!  Afterwards, we caught up with her friend and heard how he got involved with the band.  It was a lovely evening indeed!

Chinatown Brunch

Hello everybody!  I’ve been having a hard time sharing my blog posts to my Google account.  Apparently they are eliminating some feature and I have a feeling it’s the one where I can share on multiple platforms.  Regardless, I’m going to do my best to tweet my posts and hope people follow me on there as well. 

A lot has been going on, but needless to say, it’s been a bumpy road.  My bedroom still has the bad odor coming from my closet wall.  Back in January it slowly faded away, but then came back late February after a bad snow fall.  My landlord was advised and he checked out the strong stench.  

The odor does go away after 2 weeks, but depending on the weather, it came back again for the 3^rdtime.  With Spring showers coming ahead soon, I am worried I will be forced to leave my beloved apartment of close to 10 years.

What made things more frustrating is that I booked another trip before the 2^ndoverwhelming stench episode.  At that time the smell from January had gone away and I thought it was a one-time deal.  I figured maybe it was a dead rodent caught inside my wall.  My mother had warned me though that if the smell returned it was most likely sitting water.  Any who, now that I booked my trip I have to take my landlord’s word and see if he will have a roofer take a look at it.  If things don’t work out I will have to figure out my next move. 

I booked a trip to Paris and then I am going to meet up with my friend and her family in Istanbul.  It was a spur of the moment thing, and I’m very scared/ excited about it.  Lol.  The recent news of plane crashes has not helped with my nerves.

I was doing pretty well laying low this winter.  I got a chance to save some money and pay down the balance of my cards.  That’s when I rewarded myself with my trip.  Traveling is what I rather do anyways, and I felt good about keeping up with my finances. 

Back in February, my friend invited me to join her family to brunch after church.  We all headed down to Chinatown the weekend after the big Chinese New Year celebration.  We were surprised there were still festivities going on.  It felt good catching up with everyone.  This winter was a long one for us!