Busy day full of fun so I didn’t really have time for a guilty pleasure. One thing did make me giggle like a school girl, however, and that was sliding around on our hardwood floor in my socked feet. It happened accidentally. I hugged my husband and kind of started to slide. He caught me and I got the idea that he should push me down the hall. So I leaned all my weight on him and off we went much to my delight. These super fuzzy and super cute socks from my Secret Santa definitely helped!
If you like wine, parties and cool people and you don’t know Vinejoy, you are sorely missing out on some of the best independently made wines and super fun parties ever. I mean it. Ever. Not only do these two dudes bring the best craft wines of California’s Central Coast to Chicago’s independent wine shops (like In Fine Spirits, City Provisions, A. Vision Chicago, Que Syrah, etc.), but they also do special events, weddings, and tastings throughout the city.
Probably the most fun event they spearhead is their monthly potluck held in various spaces throughout Chicago. I’ve been to a few different ones-in a bakery, an artist’s loft, and the Vinejoy Offices. Each potluck features a food item (goat cheese, leeks, bacon, vegetables, etc.). Every person attending contributes $20 and a dish containing the featured item. (The money goes towards the basically unlimited amount of wine Vinejoy supplies these parties with). Everyone votes (in a creative way-I won’t spoil it) for their favorite food item and that person wins a bottle of wine. If that wasn’t enough, I always meet the most interesting people at these parties. Its like these guys are magnets for talented, cool, smart, groovy people.
Tonight I went to a special potluck for frequent attendees where the food was not a specific item but your “signature dish.” I made pumpkin bars, of course, and the hubs brought mini tuna melts that WON the favorite dish! Other highlights included mini chicken pot pies and mac and cheese. Aside from the good food, fun people and tv playing a VHS of The NeverEnding Story, they also had a photobooth curtesy of Emily Alt Photography. (Hopefully someday I’ll be able to have a whole blog post dedicated to a photobooth). Needless to say, we had a great time.
If any of this sounds fun to you, or you just want to know more about them, sign up for their mailing list here. Maybe I’ll see you at their next fun event?
Much earlier this year, I designed a holiday card and tonight the hubs and I addressed and signed them. I found this activity quite fun while the hubs viewed it more as a chore. (Though I think even he will admit that, ultimately, he had fun).
Addressing things and writing by hand too much can cause me to cramp up or get sore, so we made it in to an assembly line of sorts. I wrote the name of the addressee, a little greeting and my signature while he did his signature, the return stamp and the actual addresses. Doing it this way allowed us to actually do it together and it also means that they really are from both of us!
Our hope is that our holiday card will help spread some of the joy that we’ve been lucky enough to experience in the last year and that I am trying to create every day.
When the hubs and I got serious, I moved in to his condo which was essentially a home of brown square things. A lovely condo, just full of the same color of brown. Since my arrival, we’ve ventured in to the world of color via bedding, shower curtains, art, decorative storage boxes and more! Recently though, we’ve moved to larger commitment items, aka furniture. We purchased a cream chair with multi color buttons (so successful, a second one is on the way) and a rustic coffee table. Admittedly, it is a brown square, but it is a different color brown with a more realistic/rustic vibe than the previous coffee table. Tonight, after a quick dinner date, we came home and put the coffee table together as a team. Very fun. More fun for me because I just interpret the directions, while the hubs does all the dirty work. Check out the before and after pictures below.
New chair from World Market. New coffee table from West Elm.
Today I’m sick. Ugh. It’s hard to avoid when you work with a lot of people and interact with the general public most evenings. Luckily I don’t have a high fever. That’s when the threat of infection is higher and I have to call the doctor, stop medications and worry. This is the kind of thing where I just generally feel lousy and sneeze loudly. So, I’ve spent all day on the couch. (I’m even writing this on my phone from the couch with Home Alone on in the background). I find it hard to think of and do fun things when I’m laid up like this (that don’t involve tv, food or the Internet). Probably the best I’ve felt all day was when Elphie hopped up on the couch to cuddle with me. She started at my feet but before long, she was stretched out longways on her back on top of me. It was the best.
year of fun 