Entries Tagged as 'christina'

The Terrace at Trump

September 3rd, 2011 · No Comments


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Yesterday most everyone I knew got out of work early. Jess and I both got off at 3 p.m. so we decided to do something different and get drinks at The Terrace at Trump. What a treat! The drinks are pretty expensive, but the view is unmatched. You have to calculate that view into the drink price! The views remind you what a beautiful city you live in.

I stuck to just one glass of Sauvignon Blanc, but Jess and her two coworkers who came with us had some fancy cocktails. Also, I’m glad we came on a day we were off work early. We only had to wait about 10 minutes to get a seat outside, but by the time we left, at about 5 p.m., the inside was packed with people waiting to go out.

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Muchas Felicidades

August 11th, 2010 · No Comments

Christina and Geoff got married in Mexico. We wanted to go, but it was the day before Danny and Caroline’s wedding, so we couldn’t make both. I knew we were going to gift them money, but still wanted to do something a little special since we were going to miss the wedding. I thought it would be super easy to buy them a wedding card with a Mexican theme or one that was in Spanish. Especially since I live in a historically Puerto Rican and Mexican neighborhood. And there are so many people who speak Spanish in Chicago.

I looked around my neighborhood a bit. I looked while I was at Target. They had Spanish cards there, but nothing that really caught my eye. I looked at Walgreens and CVS. Nada. On a side note, Walgreens had a whole section of cards geared towards African Americans, which I’ve never seen before. I Googled online a ton and looked on Etsy. Nothing was coming up that was really what I wanted. Then, for some reason I can’t remember, I went on Hallmark’s website. Bingo!

Not only do they have a whole line of Spanish cards, but you can customize them with photos and edit the text however you want. I added a photo of Christina and Geoff that I took at their wedding shower.

I also added a photo of Dallas and I and some text on the back of the card.

So, if you’re ever in a bind, try Hallmark.com. Customization couldn’t be easier and the pricing is only slightly more than what you pay in a retail store. I paid less than $4, including shipping.

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Christina & Geoff’s Wedding Shower

May 18th, 2010 · No Comments

Last week was Christina & Geoff’s wedding shower. Christina’s Aunt Chris and Uncle Bob hosted the party up in Northfield, a suburb of Chicago. The plan was for about 15 of us to meet at Union Station at 5:30 p.m. and take the train up to Northfield. Unfortunately, someone decided to commit suicide by getting hit by a train on our train line so it delayed everything. What should have been a 36-minute train ride ended up taking a couple hours.

Luckily Geoff had planned ahead and bought about a case of beer.

We’d been out the night before and Dallas was pretty tired so he spent the Metra delay and ride resting. And holding our gift.

Good thing Dallas had that nap, because then he perked right up when we got to the party and was good to go!

When we finally arrived at the station, Christina’s brother and Uncle Bob picked us up in cars and took us to the house.

It was a big surprise for Geoff & Christina that Christina’s mom and brother flew in from Florida and California for the party. It was nice to meet Christina’s family – aunt, uncle, cousin, mom, brother – after having known her for so many years. Dallas knows Christina from back when they both used to live in Boston and worked for the same company. Christina’s maid of honor is Caitlyn, another friend from Boston, and she and her sister Sarah flew in to Chicago from Boston so it was good to see them too.

Out on the back patio, Christina’s Uncle Bob and Aunt Chris had a bar set up. Some people might have done some shots of Patron tequila. Not us! Christina and Geoff are getting married in Mexico in June so the party had a Mexican theme. Bob’s bar had Mexican beer, sangria, tequila and margaritas. I stuck with the margaritas.

Others? More shots!

Christina’s Aunt Chris had a bunch of appetizers that she was walking around. We had beef skewers with a pesto (?) sauce, goat cheese quesadillas with a mango relish, and ceviche. So delicious.

For dinner we had a citrus cabbage salad, enchiladas, chiles rellenos, and Mexican rice. Wow, the dinner was so good. The enchiladas were as good as in any restaurant. And the chiles rellenos were outstanding. Dallas always orders chiles rellenos when we go out and he thought they were fantastic.. he even got seconds on them.

After dinner we hung out around a bon fire. By then it was at least 10 p.m. and everyone had a lot of drinks in them.

Uncle Bob had a bunch of cigars and some people partook in smoking them.

I’d noticed earlier that there were sombreros hanging around the house and yard and I just thought they were decorations. Well, of course by now we were all wearing them.

I had to take a few breaks and drink water. I swear I only had 3 margaritas, but they must have been SO strong. They didn’t taste like tequila though.. just like delicoiusness. I don’t know what was in there, but it was good. Here’s a photo of me with my two best friends that night:

(sombrero and margarita)

Oh, and my third best friend, bon fire:

At about 11:30 or 12:00, I don’t even know any more, a bus came to the house and picked us up to go back to the city. There was more drinking on the bus, but Dallas and I were DONE. Some were still going strong, some were passing out on the bus. I think people may have gone out more when we got to Chicago, but I’m not sure because we got off the bus, said our goodbyes and grabbed a cab home.

What a fun party. Thanks to Christina and Geoff for inviting us and to Uncle Bob and Aunt Chris for hosting everyone. We’re disappointed because we’re not going to be able to go to Mexico for the wedding, but it was fun to at least spend the night with Christina and Geoff and their family and friends. If it weren’t for a conflicting family wedding here in Chicago we’d totally be in Mexico!

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Dining Room: Before & After

March 9th, 2009 · 6 Comments

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The little IKEA table that I bought when I moved to Chicago 5 years ago has served me well at my last two apartments. In each of those places I only had a small space for a dining area so my small table with 4 chairs was perfect. In our new condo we have much more space for a dining set. Since we want to be able to have everyone sit for dinner parties and host more poker parties, a new table and chairs were high on our priority list.

Both Kristin and Christina recommended World Market dining room sets to us. They said that they were stylish, well constructed, and reasonably priced. When we were looking at couches in Naperville we went to World Market and looked at dining room sets at World Market, but didn’t buy anything.

A week or two later Kristin offered to drive us out to Oak Brook to look at furniture. We went to Dania, West Elm, and then back to World Market. World Market definitely had the closest to what we were looking for in size and style. It was also the sturdiest and the most in our price range. We selected what we wanted and it was kind of a cluster running to a few different stores to get everything, but in the end we got 8 chairs for half off. We couldn’t transport the table so I ordered it online. World Market was having free shipping, so that wasn’t an issue, but because the table is so big and heavy they were charging $70 extra. I found a coupon code online for a percentage off and ended up knocking $85 off the price, so the $70 was not an issue any more.

When we got the table we put the leaf in it and had all 8 chairs around it, but it was a bit much for everyday. We took the leaf out and put 2 chairs to the side and I think that’s how we’ll keep it unless we have people over.

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dining_room_side_after

If you are looking for a small table and 4 chairs and would like to buy my table in the “before” photo, email me. rachelle at rachelleb dot com. We’ll probably be putting it on Craigslist soon.

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In Good Company

March 1st, 2009 · 3 Comments

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About a month ago I noticed I was getting referrals to my site from Glenn’s Diner. Glenn’s is a restaurant I really enjoy, but I didn’t know why I’d be getting hits from their site. Futher investigation revealled that I’m listed on their brag page, along with Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Check, Please! and Chicago Magazine, to name a few. Flattering… now I need to figure out how to work this into a comp meal! :) Kidding!

If you haven’t been to Glenn’s, you should go. It’s a great casual seafood restaurant located at the Montrose Brown Line station. Every day they have 16 different kinds of seafood that are flown in fresh daily and they are always priced under $20. Dallas and I have recommended Glenn’s to everyone we know and have been there several times. Here are a few of our visits:

- When Cinnamon and Erin and I went for all-you-can-eat king crab legs (Tuesdays for $33.95)
- With Dallas, Jill, Brian and Kristin
- When Rob was in town to do the sailing Race to Mackinac with Killian we went along with Dallas, Liz and Christina

Dallas and I just watched the clip from when Glenn’s Diner was featured on Diners Drive-Ins, & Dives. Guy spent a lot of time with Executive Chef David Najman in the clip. When I met Cinnamon and Erin for dinner at Glenn’s I was really early so I sat at the bar and had a glass of wine. It was a bit of a wait to place my drink order because the restaurant was slammed. The guy that ended up serving me was Chef Najman. We chatted for quite some time. When Cinnamon and Erin arrived he got each of them a glass of wine as well. In the end we had to wait a little bit, not too long, for a table, and so Chef Najman didn’t charge us for our drinks. Totally unnecessary, but it was a nice touch. He also stopped by our table a couple times to make sure everything was good later on. So, as you can see, not only does Glenn’s have great food, but great service from the top down as well.

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