EASTER WEEKEND 2017

Did you celebrate Easter this weekend? Joe and I stayed in Chicago and didn't go to Church, but Easter weekend was really fun this year.

On Saturday, I went to Nike Run Club and it was so warm out. Blah. When I got home I was starving so quickly showered and Joe and I went to Einstein's to grab bagels (and a San Pellegrino for me) to take to the lakefront. Even when I wasn't running it still felt so warm out. Maybe as hot as 85 degrees in the full sun.


The rest of the afternoon was pretty lazy. We ended up hanging out at home and eating dinner in, but after dinner we went to Eataly for gelato! I hadn't been to Eataly in over a year and one bite of my salted caramel/tiramisu cup made me realize how much I've missed it. We took it to go and ate it as we walked around Streeterville.

On Easter Sunday, my day started out with an early run in the morning. I was proud that I dragged myself out the door at 7:20 am and got in my run before it got too hot and too crowded along the lake. On my way home, I went to Walgreen's to pick up Easter candy. In the past they've always had holiday candy out for days after the holiday, but this time, they literally only had a few rejects left - black jellybeans and Reese's Cups filled with Reese's Pieces. I got the Reese's Pieces Reese's Cups, although I'll admit that I still don't get the concept. They weren't bad, but I'd definitely prefer an original Reese's without crunch bits inside. 

When I got home, I hid some Reese's eggs for Joe to find (/for my amusement ;p). He found the first 4 really quickly, but the last two took him awhile and it was fun to have him look for them. While he continued to look for them and took care of the laundry, I made us brunch. I took out my crepe pan for the first time since moving and made a little stack. We filled them with cherry apple compote + nutella (obvi) and they were so good! Considering how easy they are, I really need to make them more.








Later on in the afternoon, we headed to our friend's Max and Anna's apartment for an Easter get together. Joe was a good sport and got dressed up with me even though we weren't going anywhere fancy and he claimed no one else would get dressed up. For Easter dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, and candy too! Max and Anna insisted they had all the food covered, so Joe and I brought Lindemans Framboise, which is delicious if you've never had it before! While we were at Max and Anna's, everyone played way too much Just Dance and we all talked about getting earrings and tattoos for most of dinner haha. 

GREEN RIVER

Posting a few pics from Saturday morning when the Chicago River was dyed green for an early Saint Patrick's Day celebration!

I left my apartment at the same time I usually do on Saturdays for running club, but decided to bow out. Instead, I ran straight through the crowds and to the river. It was early and freezing cold, but there were so many people out! Trying to keep warm until the dyeing, I jogged up and down the river until the dye boats were in sight. The wait felt longer since it was so cold, but it was incredible to see how quickly the river transformed from murky gray to emerald green. Apparently the secret to the color change is 25 pounds of non-toxic orange vegetable dye, which turns green when combined with water. 

The color lasted through Sunday morning, but the water was back to its usual gray yesterday as I made my way into work. 

THE SIXTH ANNUAL TOUR DE BROOKLYN!

Time for a New Year's Eve post. Finally. 

And this year Le Tour de Brooklyn happened again! 

It was the sixth annual Tour and my fourth time along for the ride. 

In case you've forgotten, Le Tour de Brooklyn is the event my college friend Lee and his four best friends from high school put on every New Year's Eve. We make stops at each of their Brooklyn dwellings from mid-afternoon 'til midnight drinking different drinks at each.

(See 2014, 2015.)

Now onto December 31st, 2016... 

 This New Year's Eve Day started out with a quick run on my part.

 When I got back we all did the NYC everything bagel thing for a second day in a row and then got ready to go out.

We started out at Lee's friend Ted's house in the mid-afternoon for Dark n' Stormies. All of Lee's friends bring their college friends on Le Tour too so the first stop is always filled with lots of semi-awkward sober introductions and reintroductions.

One of the funniest things about the first stop was that the gingerbeer Ted used made everyone cough like crazy. As far as ice breakers go, a room full of 20 people coughing and unable to drink their drink until tons of ice is put in is a good one.

 Stop 2 this year was at Adam's house. There were tropical daiquiris!

Stop 3 was Jacob's house. There were delicious apricot bellinis (forgot to take a pic of them... oops), which I'm dying to recreate, gorgeous mallomars (which I couldn't eat because of gelatin), and Mike fell asleep. ;p

After, we went to the Promenade for our annual pics. The crazy part is that's not even the whole group! Some people joined late or were setting up for Stop 4...

Good old stop 4. Bad beer and fun drinking games. Of all the stops, this one is usually my favorite. There's also Charlotte the Corgi too who I always take an annual selfie with. :D

Looking back I didn't take any pics of the short-lived Stop 5, but here's Stop 6 - our midnight ball-drop destination. After the ball dropped, we went out on the roof for awhile before going home to get at least a little sleep before departing the city in the morning.

THE CHRISTKINDLMARKET!

After passing Chicago's Christkindlmarket on my commute the other week, I thought it would be fun to go with Joe that weekend. After peeking at the weather we opted for Saturday when the high was 25 degrees instead of Sunday when the high was 7 degrees... oof. 

As it turns out, the festive market was even more festive at night, decked out in bright Christmas lights! We walked (and ate) our way through the market admiring all the German-handiwork and tasting potato pancakes, spiced nuts, chocolate samples, as well as a delicious dried fruit and marzipan-filled bread called "stollen".

Once we got cold, we spent some time inside listening to German music and drinking some gluhwein (and watching those who had drunk way more gluhwein than we had ;p) before heading home.

Chicago, even though you've been cold as anything the past few weeks, you sure do the holidays right!