Friday, October 30, 2009

grinch of halloween...

that's what my bf called me today. because i'm WAY annoyed that everyone is incredibly hyper and dressed up in my office and i'm trying to get some work done! i'm totally anti-halloween. the only thing i really like about it is the scary stuff. i loveee haunted houses and scary movies. but the dressing up - i could do without. and the high cover charges for bars on halloween - also could do without. most of my friends LOVE halloween as much as i love thanksgiving so i try to be a trooper and get into it for my friends. the past couple of years i've done the absolute bare minimum as far as costumes. this year i decided to do a repeat - a few years ago i found some gross temporary scab tattoos and bought some fake blood and decided to do some gross face makeup. it was easy, cheap and very halloweenie. this year i took it to another level and also purchased bruise tattoos. i'm going to add a lot more blood and just be full blown disgusting. i can't wait. my friends are going as adorable things like tinkerbell and rainbow brite. i wil really stand out so i'm a bit nervous but still looking forward to being uber gross instead of the typical slutty something or other for halloween.

later this afternoon my office is doing a little halloween party and lots of the employees are bringing their kids in to trick or treat in our offices and decorate little pumpkins. i'm super excited to see the little ones. my boss has the cutiest kids ever. i promise not to be grinch-like for the sake of the kids!

despite my anti-halloweenness, it should be a good weekend. tonight the bf and i are going to a party and then possibly seeing where the wild things are. saturday i'll be checking out the boystown halloween parade then be out on the town with tinkerbell & friends. then sunday i'm heading to the burbs to celebrate my mama's birthday and seeing the bf's sister & her husband who are in town from california. i'm really excited!


last post: thanks for the comments girlies! if i had a choice in moving i wouldn't be going anywhere! but i don't have a choice in the matter. the university decided to open a new alumni center on that campus and half of us are going and the other half are staying in the loop. i'm a bit more ok with it now and i'll have to report back at the end of next week to let you know how it's going!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

the pros & cons of change

so a week from today i will be leaving my loop office to move into a new alumni center located on our lincoln park campus. i never in a million years thought i would be working anywhere but the loop. i have a lot of mixed emotions - i'm trying to stay positive but it's tough. i'm finding with every pro there is a con.

Pro - It will be wonderful for my job. I will have the opportunity to connect better with students and create an alumni presence on the Lincoln Park campus. Con - While it's good for executing my job responsibilities - my work environment is being turned upside down. I'm leaving half of my coworkers to work with only 3 other people and I'm used to being in an office of over 100.

Pro - I will be closer to a lot of my favorite places from when i was a student there. Like the Chicago Bagel Authority, Pita Pit, the zoo, the pottery place. Con - I will be far away from all my new favorite loop things - Harold Washington Library, the Art Institute, MCA, the Cultural Center, lots and lots of shopping. Oh and not to mention all my doctors & dentist are in the loop.

Pro - I will be getting a membership to the super fancy gym on campus which will help me get into better shape. Con - I currently use a free gym on the loop campus and now I have to spend $ on a membership.

Pro - The commute will only be like 15 minutes!!! Con - I currently use the 40 minute commute for reading all my crazy schoolwork or for a power nap.

basically it comes down to the fact that i suck at change. i know that this change will bring a lot of positives but i was happy how things were and now i'm kind of devastated. i'm trying to put on a happy face and embrace change but i just can't seem to do it. any suggestions???



On yesterday's post - thanks for the comments ladies! In regards to the hip hop class - I take my class at Intrigue Dance Studio in the South Loop. (www.intriguedance.com) I got a great groupon awhile back but normally it's $65 for 4 classes a month or $15 per class. It's very beginner and a good work out. I love the teacher on Saturdays from 1-2. Another friend has gone to Joffrey which is way too advanced for me but she loved it!

Monday, October 26, 2009

weekend wrap

the best parts of my weekend:

sleeping for 11 hours from friday to saturday :)

hip hop dance class!

spending all of saturday night with my bff!

walking around in a t-shirt and flip flops in 62 degree weather on sunday

trying out paciugo - the new gelato place in my hood. YUM!


i seriously had a wonderful weekend and i needed it after working all of last weekend. i'm glad it's over though because the bf comes home from california tonight! he did a mini tour with the hymns & daniel johnston all of last week. having so much time to myself last night made me miss him so much. we usually get to hang out all day on sundays so it was sad to be sitting solo on my couch. maybe cohabitation is more of an option than i like to think....

Friday, October 23, 2009

wednesday was the best day this week!

not that there was anything wrong with any other days this week but wednesday was particularly good. first of all, the forecast called for warm weather so i threw on a skirt with no tights for probably the last time until may. then i got an urgent email from my boss asking me to meet her at the new office where i will be working soon. our university has 2 campuses - one in the loop and one on the northside. i currently reside in the loop but a new alumni center was recently build on the northside so half our team will be working there starting in november. i had seen the space from the outside but my boss had me meet her there to walk through it. it was exciting to see what a normal morning commute will soon be like - 15 minutes total. SWEET! as opposed to my normal 45 minute commute. it was great to see the inside of the space - it is going to be so different but very good. it's got a completely different feel, i'll be able to escape some of the more annoying personalities in our office and i'll be able to connect more with students which makes my job so much easier! then later in the day we had a staff lunch to celebrate a successful reunion weekend which is a big weekend for our office. we got burrito beach and i ate like a cow and it was magnificent. our department assistant is a fabulous baker and she made oreo balls for us - love them - and we also had treats from corner bakery. basically i was in a food coma the remainder of the day and it felt so good. after work i had a killer work out before heading to wicker park to get a tattoo touched up. ive been wanting to get my leaf tattoo on the inside of my ankle touched up for years because it never healed right. i finally had a breaking point on monday and did some research and off of a recommendation and awesome yelp reviews - i decided to go with insight tattoos. my friend agreed to meet me there but they told me there would be a wait so we went to a bar next door to catch up. it had been too long since i had seen her so it was great to gab (and she brought me delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!). i finally got a call to go over to get the tattoo fixed up and it hurt like crazy but my friend kept me distracted by telling me fun stories. it was over quick and i absolutely LOVE it. it looks a million times better than it did before. i'm so glad to have finally gotten it taken care of. it was just a great day and night. now i'm looking forward to the weekend!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

yes, we celebrate sweetest day...

on friday after a busy work day the bf brought me a single red rose and a bag of rollos. heck yes! that's definitely the way to my heart! because i had to work all day on saturday we celebrated sweetest day (and the bf's promotion) with a delicious dinner at chilam ballam. his treat! it's a new restaurant just down the street from me that's getting rave reviews so we had to try it out. we decided to get 4 of their small plates to save room for dessert. we devoured:

* Corn masa memelas topped with smokey black bean puree, goat cheese, arbol chile salsa and dressed greens
* Grilled pork ribs basted with Oaxacan pasilla glaze, radishes, and sweet plantains with crema
* Crispy flautas stuffed with chicken and rajas; chipotle-mezcal sauce, pickled cabbage, fresh cheese and crema
* Grilled hanger steak in guajillo sauce, roasted potatoes, crispy onion and cilantro

my favs were the corn masa memelas and the crispy flautas. the bf liked the flautas the best. but the absolute best was dessert:

* Sweet empanada stuffed with crunchy peanut butter; black fig, Oaxacan chocolate dipping sauces

that could have been the only thing ont he menu and i still would have been thrilled. seriously so delicious.

the food was great but more importantly the company was wonderful. the bf and i laughed a lot and just had a great time spending time together. he's leaving today for a week to do some shows on the west coast. sigh. miss him already!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

why my weekend rocked...

i hate tuesdays so it's the perfect day to recap why i had a wonderful weekend. it started on friday with a girls night planned by my bff. we all met at the movie theatre to see couples retreat which wasn't too amazing but amusing. then we walked across the street to the webster wine bar where the bff knows the manager so she got us seats pretty fast - the best seats in the house next to a fireplace on big comfy furniture. i got to catch up with a good friend over yummie wine. it was a great night!

saturday was even better! i went to my hip hop dance class and had a blast as usual. then i met the same bff at the art institute because she had some free passes she generously shared with me. we cruised through the new modern wing and caught up. later on i got to see my new friend & her fiancees new apartment which is HUGE and so nice! she got me and the bf free tickets to my favorite comedian, brian regan that night. sooo grateful. the show was at a big venue in a casino in hammond, indiana. the show was awesome - literally tears streaming from my face from laughing so hard. afterwards we did some people watching and a little bit of gambling. it was our first casino experience and we felt totally out of place! after that we went to a nearby haunted house. it was actually haunted woods and they sent just the 2 of us in. it was filled with creepy characters that followed me way too closely and jumped out at all the right places. i was screaming and running like a crazy girl! loved it! we seriously had such a great night.

sunday i got to sleep in and then spend the day working on my application for a staff trip to paris for vincentian heritage and researching hotels for the upcoming trip to prague. i also got sucked into true life and watched like 5 episodes in a row on drug addicts which was totally addicting. then the bf and i went out for my first indian meal. they accidentally gave me his hotter dish which literally had me sweating and then we realized they messed up. i really enjoyed it when i actually got the right medium dish!

it was just a great weekend with the right amount of relaxation, friends, bf and fun.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

mental health day.

i have had a tough couple of weeks with work, all of my extra activities and side jobs, school and all sorts of other stuff. yesterday when i found out my debit card had some fraudulent charges yesterday i reached my breaking point. so i chatted with my boss about taking the day off tomorrow and she of course, being the wonderful boss that she is, said go for it! i'm glad my boss is cool with me taking a vacation day with one day's notice.

i've been so busy during my normal free time i haven't been able to do the nice weekend or weeknight things that i normally enough so much. i literally dreamt about what i was going to do on my day off last night. i woke up and thought it already had happened. that's how much i need it!

so tomorrow i will be sleeping in until an absurd hour then rolling out of bed for a spa manicure and pedicure. i go to a salon right around the corner that plays sex and the city non stop and has great deals. then i'm planning on strolling through the lincoln park zoo if it's not raining and then ending up at glazed expressions for some pottery painting. it is the most therapeutic, quiet, wonderful activity i could do. i can't freaking wait.

i can't wait to de-stress and do some of my favorite things (on a weekday even!). what would be your ideal day off?


ps. for the inquiry on the mac & cheese pizza. it's from ians pizza in wrigley and it rocked. they used 4 different types of cheese and put the cooked noodles on top. yum!