This Guilty Pleasure Monday was another busy one. I developed a pretty bad headache part way through the day. By the time I left work, the last thing I wanted was to listen to the weird dance mix radio DJs in Chicago put together for the 5pm drive home. So I decided to drive with the radio off, something I never do, and it was oddly serene. I relaxed, felt less rushed and my headache even went away. A little.
year of fun
HAVE FUN. EVERY DAY. SIMPLE BUT DAUNTING.
Author Archives: yearoffunsarah
Day 139: A Baby Gift from the Pottery Bayou
A trip to the suburbs originally intended for snowshoeing at the Morton Arboretum ended up being a trip to the Pottery Bayou in Naperville. A friend lives in near-by Lisle and because it was rainy and gross all day, we had to cancel our plan to try snowshoeing and instead chose to try our hands at painting pottery.
There was a child’s birthday party happening at the Pottery Bayou when we arrived, but we didn’t let all the screaming stop us from choosing our figures/dishes to paint. I couldn’t decide if the hubs and I needed a cookie jar, a chips/dip tray or a vase when I spotted a cute little teddy bear figure among the dragons and t-rexs. I immediately thought of a present for the baby. — When I say “the baby,” I am referring to my recently announced niece or nephew. That’s right, my sister is pregnant! I’ve known for some time now and she finally started telling people, so I decided it would be ok to have a fun thing (and a blog post) about making something for Little Baby J.
My sister likes yellow and grey together, so I decided to go with a grey bear with yellow accents and a green bow. It took me so long to paint three coats of glaze on this bear. For some reason, the detail was really difficult. I think it was just hard for me to get my hands in the right position to do the awkward spots like under his arms and around his face. My friend painted a whole chips/dip tray in the time it took me to do this little bear. But I did it with love and I’m so overjoyed to share this news. They still have to fire it, so the bear won’t be ready for ten days. (Maybe then we can go snowshoeing before picking it up).
Oh and on the bottom, I got to write “Love, Aunt Sarah.” The. Best. Heart = Full.
Itinerary Update
After my post yesterday, my aunt sent me an email about Tripit, an amazing app that creates an itinerary for you. All you have to do it forward your confirmations (of flights, trains, hotels, tours, etc) to the app and it makes the itinerary. And you can access it even when you are not on network or wifi. It literally changed my life today. And its a free app. Amazing.
Day 138: Itinerary
As you may know by now, I like to be very organized. Making lists and planning bring me great joy. So it should come as no surprise that I spent a long time today putting together an itinerary for the hubs’ and my anniversary trip (that begins at the end of next month!).
The itinerary is broken down by day. Each travel day has the departure and arrival cities, times, flight/train and confirmation numbers, directions from train stations to hotels, etc. I also made a separate document that has lists of potential activities in each city. The top choices will ultimately make their way on to the itinerary as “suggested activities,” giving us room to change things up last minute if we want to.
In Chicago (or anywhere in the U.S.), if I had to go anywhere I wasn’t familiar with, I would just plug it in to my iPhone and be on my way. And I’ve grown very accustomed to that. Realizing that we would not have this luxury on our trip (because we are not paying to use our phones internationally) prompted me to worry a little bit about getting from place to place. Hence the detailed itinerary with what I consider a very fun name, Me Hubs European Anniversary Getaway Adventure Itinerary.
Day 137: Chalkboard
The hubs and I love Chalkboard, a restaurant in Lincoln Square. No menus. Just a chalkboard with the day’s selections in an elegant atmosphere.
Tonight they had a special. Choose the tasting menu and get the Chalkboard Salad, an appetizer and an entree in smaller, tasting portions at a reduced rate. We took advantage.
I had the Crab Croquettes and the vegetable (mushroom, cherry tomato, kale and brie) risotto. The hubs had the scallops and their famous fried chicken. Equal parts crunchy and spicy, the fried chicken is the hubs’ favorite item on their menu.
It’s our go to place for impromptu date-nights (like tonight) and impressing out-of-towners. The food is part French inspired, part southern comfort and totally delicious.
year of fun 
