My Mexican Fiesta

I'm off for Cabo San Lucas tomorrow morning so regretfully I will not be posting until next week, somehow I will suffer through it by laying poolside with a margarita.
I promise a full review of all that I see and do in Cabo next week. In the meantime enjoy this quasi-spring weather in Chicago and cheer for Florida in the tournament (my pick to win it all!).

What's Our "Vegas Baby, Vegas!" ?

So I got to thinking this past weekend when most of the males that I know were out in Vegas for their annual March Madness trip, that there is no truly equivalent weekend trip that exists for the ladies, and this, is quite the problem.
When I got thinking about this guy's weekend (which I need to qualify before I go any further, that I think is a fine and fun tradition for the male species to take part in) I thought about what this weekend was all about for them, and it really boiled down to one word for me "excess", whether that be in the form of gambling, drinking, watching sports, it is basically an over the top experience of all things that males love to do but feel a bit restrained in doing to their pleasure during their regularly scheduled lives (gentlemen, if I'm wrong here please do correct me).
So knowing how much fun guys have on their Vegas trips, I started to think about what might qualify as an equivalent trip for me and my girlfriends to take on such a weekend and it was here that I drew a complete blank. Oh of course I can come up with fun "girls weekend" activities, trip to NYC, spa weekend, laying by the pool with mojitos and trashy novels but what I was really trying to think of was what would I love to do in excess that I normally feel like I cannot do unless on a special vacation with friends. And besides eating carbs and ice cream at will there really isn't much that comes to mind (and I pretty much already do that anyways - Atkins will never be for me). The fact that there wasn't anything that I wanted to do with such abandon started to make me wonder, is this a gender question or just a more personal one ? So I ask you all - is there really a ladies version of the weekend in Vegas ? And before you weigh in, I'll say a girls weekend in Vegas will never equate to the male experience of excess there, so don't even bother with that response (for that same reason, along with many others, there is no female version of the movie Swingers). I am readily awaiting any suggestions as I would love to try out this trip or even better, if you'd like to sponsor me and my friends on such a trip I'd be happy to report back on our findings : )
And I am quite convinced that if I do stumble upon the answer to the questions "what is the equivalent female Vegas trip?" that I will have found my entrepreneurial jackpot and plan to start marketing such trip/experience immediately!

It's All in the Details

Change is everywhere that I look lately. I myself am going through a job/career change, friends are experiencing all kinds of change as well, moving, relationships, marriage, babies, the list goes on and on. And while this is all taking place, I've found it interesting to take in how one deals and adapts, myself especially.
I think it's fundamental human nature to be adverse to change, even though we may spout otherwise and state how "good and healthy" it may be, it is our basic, primitive desire that things should remain the same. This desire is not necessarily for the best of reasons, familiarity, comfort, laziness, but it tends to be the force or non-force that keep us in our holding patterns for as long as it does.
Take myself as a prime example, I have long been wanting a career change, more responsibility, more challenge and now that the opportunity has finally presented itself what do I find myself dwelling on as this change approaches? The little mundane, comfort factors - my new office isn't as visually appealing, will it be easy to take the afternoon off to go to the doctor, what's the policy on open-toed sandals in the summer (okay that one IS important)? My point is this, I've not yet focused on the truly larger issues of my change - will I be successful in the new role, will I build relationships successfully ? because instead, I am focused on the comfort factors and this I have discovered is my coping mechanism. If I focus on all these smaller details it keeps me from having a complete meltdown dwelling on the larger issues at hand, and for this I am deeply thankful to my psyche - I just need to make sure not to analyze my train of thought here for too long or that full meltdown will undoubtedley occur!
Alright, enough contemplating for one evening, see what two glasses of wine will produce! I promise back to trivial lifestyle commentary in the next post.

Nice Little Chicago Weekend

Spring was making it's first attempt to come out and play in Chicago this weekend, and while all us Chicagoans know that true, nice weather won't really be here until May, everyone was nonetheless out and about enjoying the fleeting fifty degree weather myself included. It was such a good little weekend I thought I'd share a few highlights should you ever find yourself looking for a few places to go to on the weekend.
The weekend kicked off with a Friday night gathering at Pops for Champagne, a long-time Chicago champagne bar that recently relocated from the Lakeview neighborhood to downtown's River North. I was sorry to see Pops make the move out of my neighborhood to make way for yet another sports bar (yes, we need more!) but I must admit downtown is where it belongs. Along with the new location Pops got a makeover and the result it a fun spot to sip some champagne for an hour or two in tinkling, modern decor, while you may have to eventually shout to be heard it is a nice change of pace from grabbing the standard beer or glass of wine post-work.
The lovely weather continued into Saturday and after an afternoon watching the Big Ten tourney (can we just acknowledge that the Big Ten cannot score more than a high school girl's team) I headed out with some friends for some sushi at Tank in the Lincoln Square hood. Tank's not my favorite sushi place in the city but the food is quality and the place is a welcome addition to the former German beer hall centric Lincoln Square. If you like your sushi hot and spicy this is the place for you (order the Latin Heat but beware), however, bring some patience as you sip you sake and wait even with a reservation the diva at the front of the house will still make you wait.
Sunday rolled around and (can you see a theme developing here-more eating) I met a friend in Wicker Park for some brunch, when the line at the Bongo Room was too daunting we headed down to Division's Milk & Honey cafe. With a relatively simple but delicious menu, the cafe is a great spot to sit and have a tasty breakfast, brunch or lunch with a slight din in the background, swing back by the counter on your way out for some old-school treats, rice krispie bars, big, bodacious brownies or the dessert that refuses to die, the cupcake.
So that was my lovely weekend, just a little sharing should you ever been in need of some dining suggestions, and here's to hoping that 50-60 degree weather is here to stay!

On an unrelated note, I received a request from one of my faithful readers (the few, the proud, the bored: ) to comment on my thoughts about the resurgence of the leggings trend. So here it is, while I am the first to admit that if I find a fashion trend to be cute or interesting I will be the first to jump on it (hello I'm 5"3 and own a pair of skinny jeans, I have no shame) however, I do tend to follow the school of "if you were around the first time the trend came through then you shouldn't be wearing it the second time", that being said, I do think in some instances the leggings can look cute when paired with season's draped t-shirts top/dresses, but those that can pull it off successfully are few and far between. Unfortunately I fear that I fall into the camp that cannot pull this off so it also tends to influence my desire to say "it's a terrible trend nobody should wear them" but that's just my inner fashion wannabe raising it's ugly, jealous head.
So bottom line on the leggings: if you have to ponder weather or not they are cute or for you, they probably aren't.

One Girl, One Bag..........never was there a greater love story

So this week I had the pleasure of experiencing one of those moments that all women dream of, I got a new bag. And while a rapturous event, it was also
a vital necessity as I had 1) almost broken off the strap of my current bag 2) my eyeing this new bag online for weeks and 3) I got a new job and felt the need to treat myself (something I am firm proponent of).
However, with the purchase of this new bag I have discovered something a bit disturbing about myself and I am sure that eventually this bag or another like it will be my downfall. While I love the smell of new leather and all the shiny buckles, bells and whistles of my latest purchase, what I really love the most is it's cavernous depths and my ability to shove nearly anything and everything into it. For those who know me, it's no new news that I love giant handbags (giant handbags, giant sunglasses, I realize that I will someday look like that lady from the Old Navy commercials and I'm fine with that) but I think that I really need to emphasize how great it is to be able to cram pretty much anything into a bag and cart it around with you all day. For example I current have the following in my bag, wallet, make-up bag, umbrella, book, guinea pig, pair of shoes, sea monkeys, book, my lunch, water bottle, three cinder blocks and four tubes of lip gloss - and most importantly all those goodies are crammed into a something that looks cute and matches most any outfit. Try to find a back pack that does that, I guarantee you won't!
But let's get to the disturbing part, I keep adding things to the bag, I can't stop, I feel compelled to see how much I can actually drag around with me on any given day and this practice will inevitably lead to two things 1) I will become a hunchback (I can already feel this process underway) 2) I will become the modern day version of that women from New Hampshire who is found trapped in her home with junk stacked to the ceiling unable to move (although there will be no cats involved in this story - I hate cats.). So this is my enlightening piece of social commentary for the day, while big bags are known as status symbols,fashion statements, etc., they are also the fast track to modern day crazy lady pack rat syndrome.
So while I will not be trading in this bag for some small, sensible, clutch, maybe I will try to hold back on the cramming in order to avoid the onset of my hunchback and pack-ratness, although I am now wondering if I'm going to be able to fit my laptop in there too.................................

Your Goal For This Week

I love language and specifically vocabulary, I have the weird habit of reading an often unused word in a book and then some out having it fly out of my mouth at some unplanned point in time the most recent example of this was the word 'happenstance' , I mean come on who uses that on a regular basis and more importantly, why did I ? Putting that mystery aside for the moment, I think people should try to bring a little more flavor to the vocabulary they use on a regular basis because when you think about it we really tend to use the same words over and over, and miss out on using all the really great ones. One that recently came to my attention in a Bill Simmons article (more on him at a later date- great sports writer I love) was the word "mustachioed" an adjective for a man with a mustache. This word is great for a number of reasons #1 I firmly believe the mustache is making a comeback and I think I'm going to stand behind that movement, #2 it is so much fun to say, try it right now m-u-s-t-a-c-h-i-o-e-d, it really just rolls of the tongue in such a fun way. Once I get my act together and figure out how to set up some other formats on the this blog I'm going to feature a word of the week, all part of my plan to improve our vocabulary (who's says I'm not a giver!) but in the meantime the featured word is mustachioed and my charge to you is to use it in a sentence this week, just try it out, see how fun it is and let me know how it went and if you have any favorites to share with me I'd love to hear them. In the meantime I am going to turn on the tv in search of one of my most favorite mustachioed men of all time, Mr. Tom Selleck!

Man Jewelry - A Definitive Stance

While I have a number of pet peeves there is one that remains a constant and that is my position on man jewelry. Man jewelry of course being defined as jewelry that is worn by a man, shockingly self-explanatory, but rather than risk any confusion I wanted to spell it out. Now it is a firm belief of mine that the ONLY exception to this firmly held policy is a watch and a wedding ring. Those are two items a man can wear and not cause my stomach to turn. To be fair, I can't quite explain exactly what it is that I find so unacceptable about man jewelry aside from the fact that it generally looks ridiculous (gold chain with some chest hair, anyone?) but it just seems as though the people that you spot wearing it are those that most definitely should not be drawing attention to those areas of their persons.
For example the only time I see those awful diamond crusted pinky rings are on the biggest sausage fingers you have ever seen, now how does that happen? Are men pulled aside by the fat-finger Mafia and told they must don the ring - these are questions that I seriously have. On the other end of the man jewelry spectrum you'll find the sensitive male, complete with some sort of hemp-like necklace or funky ring, I understand what they're trying to go for here, self-expression, the onset of metrosexualness which has made every man more aware of fashion, etc., but the end result still comes off tacky and no matter what their age makes them seem instantly younger (and not in a good way).
Finally, there are the pro-sports stars with their gigantic bling, and I'll be honest I'm mainly jealous of them (have you seen the size of those diamond studs they wear!!!) but also, how practical is it to play football wearing three carat diamond earrings or throw a 100 mph fastball with a giant gold chain on. I am somewhat the girlie girl and I never wore a necklace while playing softball, fellas if I can it off you need to too. So men, if any of you are even reading this, or the women of men who wear jewelry, stop, put that bracelet and necklace down and leave the accessories to us, we look cuter in them anyways.