A quiet table in the sun at Starbucks on a day that’s warm enough to get a cold drink instead of a hot one. Google Reader on my phone and excellent 4G service. Motown playing in the background. The smell of fresh coffee. Also, I was having a good hair day.
Ahhhhh…
Guys, I’m not in my twenties anymore.
So instead of doing shots at 9 am, bar hopping and contributing to the general debauchery on St. Patrick’s Day (I once saw a girl pee. In a garbage can. In the middle of a bar.), we decided to celebrate like the classy old people we have now become.
In the afternoon, we had some friends over to drink mimosas in our back courtyard, then went to a Second City show (hilarious!), and had a nice meal under the stars at Orso’s italian restaurant.
But even though we did not partake in Irish car bombs or keg stands or beer bongs, we definitely heard all of this going on around us. Since it was such a nice day, our neighborhood was basically host to a huge block party – there were slutty, green, drunk people running around everywhere!
And of course, we managed to get a pitcher of green beer at Second City. Because it’s just not St. Patrick’s Day if your teeth don’t turn green.
I’m short on things to post about right now, so how about some more sunny photos from the past couple days?
I took the first one on my walk home from work yesterday. The lakefront was full of warm-weather revelers. People were wearing bikinis. And swimming. In the lake!
The rest are from lunch today. I decided to go sit by the river and catch up on some blog reading on my phone.
Like my new watch? After waffling back and forth between these two, completely changing my mind, and then spending half an hour in front of the full-length mirror at Nordstrom debating the pros and cons of gold vs. silver with two sales women, I finally decided which one to get.
Fact: I am indecisive and lack spontaneity.
More important fact: I love my new watch.
So whatever!
You spent Friday night sitting on your Crate & Barrel couch with your husband on the near north side of Chicago in yoga pants drinking a glass of red wine while watching Portlandia and snuggling with your tiny lap dog who is wearing a gingham bow tie.
Other yuppie-ish activities planned for this weekend include attending a baby shower, meeting friends for brunch and walking our tiny dog in the park.
How are you spending your weekend? 
Thanks to a fortunate turn of events, I’ve managed to combine yesterday’s topic (something you ate) with today’s topic (money), resulting in one glorious photo.
The ten dollar bill you see here is the money I saved by being the lucky recipient of a free lunch at Chipotle today!
This particular location (Grand & State) is always crazy-busy, and apparently the nice people who work there like to challenge themselves (or maybe they’re just bored). Anyway, they randomly picked me at the end of the line and said that if I made it to the counter in less than 7 minutes, my food would be free. It was like winning the lottery!
Unfortunately, it took 8 minutes for me to get to the counter. But… they gave me a free lunch anyway! Love those guys!
By the way, I know my burrito bowl looks all green and gross in the picture, but I assure you – it was delicious. I just love me some guac.
Last Friday, we met up with some friends at Old Town Social after work because we had not one, not two, but THREE reasons to celebrate:
1. My 30th birthday!! Reason enough, I’d say. But also…
2. Our friend Emily got a new job!!
3. Will got a new job!!
And what’s a celebration without sparkling wine? (Answer: Not a celebration.)
We even ended the night playing giant Jenga at River Shannon. Perfection!
I was having so much fun that I kind of forgot to take pictures for this blog post. So these three are all you get.
Side note: It looks kind of weird in the pictures, but that brooch I’m wearing with my necklace actually belonged to my grandma way back when. I found it at my parents’ house a couple months ago. Vintage costume jewelry score! (Thanks, Grandma!)
Once again, I’m playing catch-up with this photo challenge. Lucky for you (or not), both photos I’m posting today take place in my bathroom!
Yesterday’s photo: Inside your bathroom cabinet
Ok fine, this is not my bathroom cabinet. I thought I would spare you because my bathroom cabinet is gross. And it’s not the stuff in it that’s gross, it the actual cabinet. I think it’s from around 1972. Let’s just say that with this apartment, we’re paying for the location (which is great!).
Today’s photo: Green
Bathroom towels! Pretty self-explanatory.
I’d like to thank Chicago Restaurant Week and Sable for this amazing lunchtime experience today. Three courses for $22 – can’t beat it!
Pictured: Sable’s dark chocolate souffle cake with peanut butter sauce and salted caramel ice cream. Oh yes – it was just as good as it looks.
This is a view of the agency where I work from inside my office.
One of the perks of working at an ad agency is that people roll in pretty much whenever they want in the morning. The place was still a ghost town at 10 am.
Check out these other ad agency perks. Jealous?
P.S. This was actually supposed to be yesterday’s photo. Today’s photo is “my shoes,” but since we’re supposed to get rain/snow today, I wore my Hunter boots, which I’ve already proudly displayed for you here and here. Wouldn’t want you to get sick of them!
Since birthdays often don’t often involve the gathering of friends and family like Christmas or Thanksgiving (because who has time for that??), the best thing about them is the presents. And the Facebook messages are nice too.
Yesterday, I turned 30. (Insert sands of time in an hour glass metaphor here.) I celebrated with Will last night, and boy did I clean up!
Will was smart enough to stop by my favorite store and got me some Jonathan Adler bottle stoppers and a cool “wine breather” that decants wine – instantly!
Both gifts were very thoughtful because I have been known to enjoy a glass of wine every day now and then. Also, I was just complaining a few weeks ago that we didn’t have any good bottle stoppers (look at Will taking mental notes!), and I like to “decant” my wine before drinking it (basically I just pour it in a glass and let it sit for awhile) because two-buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s actually does taste better that way.
We continued the celebration of my awesome life by drinking sparkling wine (natch) and going out to dinner at Riccardo Trattoria, which was delicious (just ask Gwyneth)!
I even tried curling my hair for the occasion and was marginally successful.
All in all, a great 30th birthday! Thanks to everyone who made me feel special!
