Valentine's Day Recap

I had an amazing Valentine's Day in Chicago last night!! The day started with a coworker lunch at Uncle Bub's BBQ in Westmont where they were giving out carnations to the ladies...



followed by a work place delivery of Garrett's Popcorn (Chicago Mix - cheese + caramel).

After a horrible bout with traffic, my guy ordered an Uber, who's amazing driver Mark presented me with a beautiful rose and a note from Uber.

The highlight of the day was the amazing pre-fixe dinner at Bar Pastoral - a cheese and wine bistro in the Lakeview neighborhood. The menu is below, followed by the amazing dishes that were served...

We started with the spiked cupid cocktails and mini pancakes with creme fresh and strawberry jam.

The hand pulled mozzarella was my fav dish, by far! It was amazing...

Proscuitto and cheese curds with arugula...

Beef cheeks and celery root puree...

... everything was topped off with cake pops...

...and they sent us home with some salted chocolate chip cookies for a cab-ride snack!

All in all, it was a great night and I can't wait to go back!!

We also celebrated this weekend at the Polar Beer Fest at Rock Bottom Brewery in the Loop. While I'm not a cold weather person, I layered on the Nike Pro Hyperwarm and Under Armour Cold Gear to keep me warm. I'm also not a beer drinker so it was more about the friends and festivities for me.

End of the World Suvival Kit - designerstyle

The best part of the holiday season at work is the amazing and tasty gifts our partners send us. There are cookies, sausages, popcorn, chocolates, cheese varieties, etc... and now, an end of the world survival kit!

While the useful and tasty items included are cool, the real start here are the slogans and comments. This must have been a truly exciting project for everyone involved! I took a few photos for your entertainment...

The box came in a very strong black bag with a warning label "Open in case of Armageddon" and below it "Radiation dampening and RF-shielded bag. In case of emergency, bag may be inflated and used as a floatation device."

The box was labeled for the "Apocalypse" and sealed extra tight...

The dramatic dark colors, "scientific" fonts and extra features such as the aluminum panel all gave us second thoughts as to whether we might actually need this in a few days!!

A close-up of the contents... whisky (with a note to remember that the bottle is "portable"), rope (not to be used too close to the whiskey), duct tape with a "not edible" warning label, soap - to keep it clean, anti-rad pills (i.e. tic tacs), a glow stick which can also be used for light during surgical procedures, a chocolate bar that provides an aphrodisiac if needed, and a box of matches to burn the chocolate wrapper and prevent any zombies from following the smell. I can't forget the coffee labeled "Stay awake, stay alive!" and lastly, the white flag to wave, in the event you need to surrender!



In the event you aren't sure of what qualifies as "Armageddon", there is a graphic-list of possible scenarios...

Hands down the BEST and most creative I've seen so far! Kudos to the amazing designers of Hexanine!

*bonus for all of you marketing and brand geeks - Check out their book Damn Good: Top Designers Discuss Their All-Time Favorite Projects

2011 Christmas Wish List

This year has been such a rough year, my Christmas spirit has been less than “cheery”. My parents have been asking for my list for weeks and I just couldn’t seem to come up with anything good. Recently, I looked through the Nordstrom Holiday catalogs and came across the awesome items listed below. Most of them won’t fit in my parent’s ideal shopping budget for me (LOL) but they’re fun items to dream about…

Yves Saint Laurent Large Satchel

Prada 'Baroque' Round Sunglasses

Valentino 'Rockstud' Open Toe Pump

MICHELE 'Cloette Fleur' Diamond & Mother-of-Pearl Watch Case

Michael Kors 'Gia' Ostrich Embossed Clutch

Vera Wang Lavender 'Sammy' Peep Toe Pump

Lagos Diamond & Caviar™ Station Bracelet

MARC JACOBS Zip Clutch Wallet

MARC BY MARC JACOBS 'Petal to the Metal' Zip Clutch Wallet

Echo 'Touch' Tech Gloves

Burberry Brit Trench Coat

UGG® Australia 'Ansley' Slipper (Women)

…and last but not least…. this Gilt/Jetsetter week long cooking excursion in Italy would totally make my year!

That’s about all I can come up with… It’s a sad day when a fashionista isn’t moved by shiny dresses and sparkly heels. I gotta get outta this funk soon! But enough about me… So what’s on your designer Christmas wish list???

New Year’s Eve–Family Style

My New Year’s Eve celebration have ranged from wild hotel parties to late night church services to being boo’ed up on the couch with a movie. But in my (not so) many years as an adult, I’ve never had a New Year’s Eve celebration that involved little kids. Enter 2010.

I decided to use the plethora of flight vouchers I had earned during the year and spend the holidays with my family. For Christmas, I headed east to Detroit and for the New Year I headed west to Minneapolis where my sistercousin Gabbi, her husband and their two WONDERFUL kids (ages 2 and 5) were finishing their holiday vacation with lots of fun and tons of love. It was definitely different, but it really reminded me not only how wonderful my family is, but also how much fun kids can really be.

The 2 year old is truly a SUPER model. This chick has “diva” written ALL OVER HER. I don’t have a clue where it comes from, but she loves to walk in heels, carry big purses, sing/perform and go outside. In Minnesota. In January. And I think its just because she likes to dress up in her cute winter coat and hat. She also likes to take pictures. Of herself. I don’t even know how she figured it out but there were about 25 self-taken photos of her face in my Blackberry by the time I left. The last pic is a drama queen moment… which she is known for. Its actually quite entertaining. She’s like a little Mariah Carey in the making. Oh,and she made me a Fresh Beat Band fan too. LOL

I did a little shopping and found her this cute Calvin Klein Jeans girls' outfit on clearance at Macy’s (much cheaper than shown here). It was adorable on her!

The 5 year old is a kid GENIUS and sports analyst/fanatic. I’ve never seen a kid WANT to watch so much ESPN – all day long if he could! He absolutely loves all sports and can tell you the score/time/coach/top players/bracket for pretty much every game coming on – both college and pro (see pic below where he is cheering on Wisconsin). He was a champ and made it all the way to midnight, although he did get a nap in… but we won’t count it against him. I like to cuddle with him and I always stock up on hugs and kisses since I don’t get to see him as often as I did when I lived in Minnesota and was his “nanny”. I love the 3rd pic where you can see our freckles :-)

It was such a fun, peaceful, relaxing weekend, I didn’t want to leave... and I’m already looking forward to going back! I miss them a lot *sad face*

Oh,and you might notice that I CUT MY HAIR! I went with bangs, which I hadn’t had since I was about…. oh, 10 or 12, maybe? When I cut them in Sharon’s bathroom with her safety scissors and got yelled at by my parents and made up some lie about my hair falling out. LOL…. oh to be young again! So my item of the day, almost exactly 3 years after the last time I posted this item of the day – A HAIRCUT!!! And once again, the beautiful work was done by none other than Mr Brian Graham himself. Check him out at Brian Graham Salon or check out their Facebook page… if you’re going to be in Minnesota, save up some money, pay him a visit and post a pic for us to see!

 

Watching the little cousins dance…

Christmas Wish List 2010

Yes people, its that time again… all the things I want but won’t get this Christmas. You know the drill and if not, you can check years 2006 and 2008. So here goes….

For this years Work Holiday Party, it would be great to show up in something as un-engineer-like as possible… you know, really cater to my inner fashionista. The Sunbird silk-gazar dress by ROKSANDA ILINCIC is something I would never get up the courage to buy, but can easily imagine myself walking into a crowded room draped in it. The fluorescent yellow is very unexpected. I love it.

For the vacationing girls’ night out, we usually tend to relive our college days through our attire, and this Jenny stretch-cotton mini dress dress by Preen Line is the perfect balance of the “young me” and the classy grown up me. My girls would love it.

This year I because a fan of TOUS jewelry, especially the teddy bears pendants. While I like many of the options available, I definitely have to include the black diamond Bubble Bear pendant on my wish list!

After my canopy zip-line experience in Mexico, I’m ready to take it a step further and hit the rainforest in Coast Rica. The Rincon de La Vieja Adventure  is right up my alley… of course, that includes getting to Costa Rica, which is a minor major obstacle.

 

In one of the recent episodes of Giuliana and Bill (one of my fav reality couples) Bill went to Martin Katz to buy Giuliana a nice band… it was gorgeous and inspired me to check out the website. Turns out they have a huge collection of stackable diamond microbands. I’d love a few of these in various colors…. and maybe a couple in the black diamond to match my TOUS bubble bear!

My current HP laptop is holding out very well, but like any gadget geek, I am always ready to upgrade. The new HP ENVY 15 laptop is right up my alley! The HP store only shows the 14 inch (too small) and the 17 inch (a little on the heavy side) so I’m not even sure if the 15” is still an option… but for the right features (i.e. Beats by Dr Dre limited edition 14” or the 3D enhanced 17") I’d be willing to settle in either direction.

 

For years I’ve said I would love to take cooking classes. Ideally I’d like to take a few months worth of classes in Italy, Spain and/or Mexico!!!!! But until then, the good ol Chicago Metro Area will work just fine. Rest assured, I will still keep my eye open for the specials that occasionally pop up on Jetsetter.com…. and hopefully I’ll no longer be scared of turkeys (see pic below from Thanksgiving 2008). The Chopping Block

Flav’our Cooking School

Chez Madelaine

Cooking Fools

For about 5 years now I have been obsessed with this gold Roberto Cavalli snake watch. It has seemingly NEVER gone on sale (yes, I check a few times each year) but someday I may have to just go for it. I can already picture it on my wrist….

…and while we’re talking watches, the new Movado Bold watches are a great fun take on the classic style! I love the black and white styles equally!

While in Nassau recently, I caught a glimpse of the “Mad Summer” yacht, docked near the cruise ships. I don’t really need a yacht of my own, but I’d love a year, or even a week, on this one – with my family along, of course! See it in all its glory here: http://www.moranyachts.com/Article/?ID=69

Saving the best wish for last…

…my greatest wish would be the health and safety of all of my loved ones as we go into 2011!