Konrad’s 2nd Birthday Pool Party

FullSizeRender-3 Konrad’s special cake!

img_6555.jpgKonrad loves sharks!

img_6573.jpgMakai loved these balloons!

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The pool, from the terrace. 

FullSizeRender-5Meghan, Kevin, Liz, Stephen, Chelsea, Isla, Tanya, Konrad, Kelly, Todd, Derek, Jessica, Adam, Christine, Vanessa, Makai, Dallas, Davin, Damian, Brian, Sara. (Not pictured: Josh, Dylan, Matt, Charlie, Mike, Jill, Kristin, Ryan, Olivia, Ezra, Kevin, Michele)

FullSizeRender-4Konrad ALMOST got the courage to jump. Last time Makai was the one who chickened out.

FullSizeRender-6 We picked up chicken from Brasa Roja and went to Josh and Liz’s house. 

img_6579.jpgTodd’s custom shirt for the party!  

On Saturday we celebrated Konrad’s 2nd birthday at Ridgemoor Country Club. The party was on the terrance, but most people hung out at the pool. Makai and all the kids had a great time swimming! Konrad is obsessed with sharks, so the party had a shark theme. I knew this ahead of time, so I also got him a shark-themed gift. After the party we spent the evening at Josh and Liz’s house.

Seven Lions

Recently, we had a team dinner at Seven Lions, Alpana Singh’s newest restaurant. It’s not too far from the office, so we just walked over after work. There were twelve of us and we had to be seated at two tables, which was kind of a bummer, but luckily my table ordered a a ton of food and I got to sample many things.

Frank’s wife works nearby and has been to Seven Lions several times. She recommended the brussels sprout and burrata toast appetizer, which exceeded my expectations and goes down as one of my favorite things of the night. The scallops entree was good. I also really liked the fritto misto and the au graten potatoes. And who can resist a fun dessert that has both candied bacon and cotton candy!??! Actually all of the desserts we ordered were fantastic (s’mores bread pudding!!! and a milkshake with peanut butter mousse!!!), so props to the pastry chef.

We pretty much closed the place down as we hung around after dinner and tried many of the fine cocktails. I ordered several from the signature cocktail list. A few of my coworkers ordered many, many Old Fashioneds and said they were very good, if you’re into that sort of thing. I liked the decor of the space too. Very nice. I had a lot of photos of fancy chandeliers on my phone as the night (and drinking) progressed!

Looking forward to my next visit to Seven Lions! You got a winner, Alpana!

Geek Trivia at Geek Bar Beta

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Last week I met up with Chris, Amanda, Becky and Charlie and we went to Geek Bar on North Ave. This is a super geeky bar, and not just in name. All of the cocktails and food had super geeky names. My District 12 cocktail came on fire. The fried goat cheese was called Gold Coins, etc. Also, tons of board and console games to play. And best of all, we were there for Geek Trivia night. Which was so geeky, I think we came in 3rd to last place, and that was with Chris on our team! Can you believe it? I was kind of disappointed in the nerds at our table.

Geek Bar Beta is a kind of “pop up” bar while the permanent Geek Bar is being set up in Lakeview. The Wicker Park/Bucktown location was so jammed, though. I think they should just keep it up!

Photo via Geek Bar:
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Isobar* Summer Event

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This is not Oak Street Beach! After our annual meeting this year, we were supposed to head to the beach. The weather was so bad on Thursday and was predicted to be the same on Friday, so Plan B (roof top – with retractable roof at American Junkie) was activated. Of course, that means that Friday was a beautiful, sunny day. It was so humid, though, after so much rain on Thursday, I was glad to be inside.

As always, it was nice to hang out with all my work friends, not in the work setting. I came home early (before 8 p.m.!) because Makai was sick, but it was probably for the best, the way everyone was doing shots of fireball and tequila like it was going out of style! Great night though. Fun day.

*Also note that we are officially Isobar, not Roundarch and not Roundarch Isobar!

Past Roundarch/Roundarch Isobar/Isobar Summer Events:

2013: The Rooftop at Market
2011: Millennium Park (daytime photos, nighttime photos)
2011: Paris Club
2010: Shedd Aquarium (Also celebrating Roundarch’s 10 year anniversary)
2009: Party at the River East Arts Center
2008: Wendella Architectural Boat Tour and dinner/drinks at the Adler Planetarium

My Dad’s First Visit to Wrigley Field

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A while back a guy in my office emailled everyone in Chicago about some almost free Cubs tickets that were available. Many people in our office travel and have a Starwood Preferred Guest account and they were having a promo offering Cubs-Braves bleacher tickets for a prime “platinum” weekend game this past weekend. The face value of each ticket was $67 but if you used a few of your SPG points, you could get these tickets for about $1 each!. I jumped on it and got the max 4 tickets that I could get. I thought it would be fun to take my dad, since he’d never been to Wrigley Field, and maybe my brother and Amanda or one of the kids. My brother has been to the park twice (first time, second time), but the others haven’t. Anyway, my brother and his family were camping, so Paul and Kate came, but my dad was free so he got to go to Wrigley Field for the first time.

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The bleachers were not too rowdy, like they can sometimes be, which was good. I also saw and visited with some other friends from work who hopped on the deal like I did – Chris, Charlie, Waleed. I heard Geoff was there too, but I didn’t see him. We drank a few Shock Top beers, ate a bunch of peanuts, had some hot dogs. The game had a lot of runs and was exciting, even though the Cubs lost. Still a great time!

Chicago Q

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One night some coworkers and I went to Maison for happy hour. Afterwards, I went to dinner at Chicago Q with some of my old iOS team, Charlie, Ty and Chris. And Josh! It was kind of fancy inside, but then again it was downtown. I thought the food was pretty good. I got the pulled meat – chicken and pork – with coleslaw. The coleslaw serving was kind of overwhelming, like a half of the whole plate, but otherwise I liked my meal a lot.