Last fall I went to Duck Duck Goat for dim sum with my sister and her friends. Duck Duck Goat, if you don't know, is Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard's Asian-inspired restaurant in Chicago. It was also the one restaurant on my list of 12 restaurants to go to in 2019 that I actually went to...
At the beginning of 2019 I made a list of 12 restaurants that I really wanted to go to, one for each month of the year. I have this tendency to go to the same handful of places over and over again. To never leave my neighborhood. To sacrifice quality for convenience. To say, "I really want to go there," to a new opening or a recommendation or a best-of list selection and then never actually go. So, I thought, I'm going to make this list and try one new place every month. And then, in the entirety of 2019, I made...
Yesterday I turned 39 years old, which means I only have one year until I turn forty, which means I only have one year to get my life together. Because that's how that works, right? You're supposed to have your life together by 40? At least I feel like that should be the case. Please god tell me that's the case. I'm 39 and still feel like my life is a pretty big mess most days. Right now, my apartment is in a state of turmoil because I have been in the middle of a massive reorganization project that I've been slowly...
OK so this post is literally just 513 photos of my cats and is 100% guaranteed to crash your browser, but really I just wanted all the photos of my cats from 2019 in one place. So deal. This month marks two years since I officially adopted these little furry monsters and, even though Rooney ate a piece of towel last year and cost me over $2,500 I guess they are still my everything. So enjoy 513 photos of my cats, Rooney and Ford...
The Page of Wands comes up a lot for me in tarot. It makes sense. That card, after all, represents someone brimming with creativity and way too many ideas, but who doesn't necessarily know where to begin, where to channel that energy, or what to focus on. And, let's face it, that's me. It's why I own 20 domain names with nothing attached, five blogs that sit dormant, countless social media accounts I've barely touched, and stacks full of books I've never read. Because I get an idea and my mind races and I get so excited that I have to drop...
Earlier this year my friend recommended a book called Pivot to me. I went to the library to find this book and, even though the Chicago Public Library's website said that it was on the shelf, it wasn't where it should have been. So I picked up this other book called Pivot instead, because I did find that where it was supposed to be. Same same, right? I mean, I'm sure both books covered basically the same ideas, just probably with different audiences in mind. Both were focused on reinventing your life and your career. Both were focused on switching gears. Anyways, I...
For Christmas this year I decided to buy matching pajamas as cat gifts for me and my cats. I was determined to get an adorable Christmas card photo with my whole furry family together. I set up a tripod with my mirrorless camera, installed the wireless remote app on my phone, did my makeup, got dressed, and waited until I had the perfect combination of sleepy kitties and window sunlight. Yeah, that went about as well as expected...
Vanilla pudding shots are as basic as you can get. They are the building block for all other pudding shot recipes so, once you master these, you can keep on going to discover all the possibilities in flavors. Here's the basic pudding shot recipe: whisk together a package of instant pudding (in this case, vanilla) with one cup of milk and one cup of alcohol of your choice (I like Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream, or RumChata). Whisk for about two minutes until thicker and thoroughly combined. Are they looking a little thin? Alcohol doesn't have the same viscosity as milk so it...
This chocolate pudding shots recipe is perfect sweet treat with a kick to serve at parties as an alternative to those Jello shots we all know and love. I've been making pudding shots for nearly ten years and love to experiment with different flavor combinations. I've made just about every variety you can think of from strawberry cheesecake to eggnog to oreo to peppermint mocha. But sometimes, you just need to go back to the basics. This chocolate pudding shots recipe is the base recipe to use any time you want to make these sweet alcoholic treats. All you need to do...
Do you have lists of things you want to do and that would be easy to do but you just never do? I do. I'm not talking about the big, monumental things. I'm not talking about walking the Camino in Spain or riding a motorbike across Vietnam or learning to ride a motorbike so you could drive it across Vietnam. I'm talking about the little things. The things that would take an hour or two. An afternoon. The things in your own city or even your own house. The things that could be accomplished with minimal effort. There are always restaurants I want...