Tag Archives: Chicago

Eat: McNamara’s Bar and Grill

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Sunday was the last day of playoffs for my all-women’s winter volleyball league. We had our first game at 10 am and then had a gap until our next game which was at 1 pm. That meant that the ladies were starving and on the hunt for food during that couple hour time frame. Five of us piled into my Vivian and headed out in the neighborhood to see if we could find a bar and grill or restaurant. After driving a little ways, we struck out and decided to head down Irving Park Rd to see what else was over there. We spotted a bar and grill tucked in the corner of Lowell and Irving Park Rd., in Chicago’s Old Irving neighborhood. It looked pretty dark, but a small chalkboard sign out in front stated that it served breakfast from 10 am – 2 pm. A bar serving breakfast? We were in!

McNamara’s seemed like a cute little Irish pub with some outdoor seating and a green and yellow color palette – pretty typical. Entering from the bar side, we were quickly greeted by a man with menus in hand who asked if we were interested in sitting the the dining area (apparently in a different room because you walked immediately into a small bar) or the bar area. Because basketball was on the TVs, we opted to sit in the bar area.

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Eat Chicago: Fatpour

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JP and I enjoyed a night out on the town this past weekend, with a triple date with two really great couple-friends we have. It was really good to have them all to ourselves because we most often hang out in large groups. We started the night off with dinner at Fatpour, which is a newer bar in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. They serve mostly bar food and have tappers installed in some of their booths which is pretty neat.

They had an extensive beer list. I’m talking like 50+ different kinds from all different types, regions, flavors, etc. Craaazy. After pondering which beer to start my night off with, I finally chose SKA Brewing Company’s True Blonde. It came in a super cute can, and was a light (hence, blonde) beer with a crisp taste. It was pretty delish. JP picked out Two Brother’s (based in Warrenville, IL near our suburb) Ebel Weiss which had hints of vanilla and banana (even more delish – like banana bread beer).

SKA True Blonde

We then picked out some nachos for the table and they were super good. Gooey nacho cheese, black beans, jalapenos and crunchy chips. Really, really good. For dinner, I picked out a turkey burger which was donned with chipotle lime, lettuce, tomato, onion and pepper aioli. I thought it was a better decision than their other burgers which we monstrous and topped with TONS of goodness – the turkey burger would be a lighter option, right? Well, it was and it was just a-okay. Nothing spectacular and I should have known better about the pepper aioli (I kinda dislike pepper). Next time I’ll hit the Pineapple Express burger.

Fatpour Turkey Burger with french fries and fresh fruit.

After dinner we went to our friend’s condo for some fun Wii games (awesome night in with buds), and ended up catching the end of the Stanford-Oregon thriller. We played tennis, bowling, etc. on Wii but the highlight of the night? Diving through my friend Shelly’s hoards of quarters that she has collected over the years. First the game was to guess how many quarters she had in a container … we all apparently misjudged the container because she had like $400 in quarters stashed in there! Then, we all dove into the quarters to find all 50 states (and 4 US territories) with the option of winning the collection, if your name was drawn out of a bucket.

Digging through the quarter stash!

 

We’re nerds and we’re super competitive. It actually was a really fun night and was great to just spend some time “in” with good friends. My friend Mo also hit up the grocery store and grabbed all of the Hostess treats she could find. Apparently, they were all out of Twinkies. With Hostess crashing and declaring bankruptcy, people are going ga-ga for their favorite treats. Luckily, we had a small stockpile to split.

It’s ok, we have a stash of Hostess!

BlogHer ’13 is Hitting Chicago

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I’ve been contemplating attending next year’s BlogHer conference but am really intimidated as a blogging newbie. And by newbie, I mean I haven’t grown my blog into an all-around brand like Young House Love, Making It Lovely, and Centsational Girl who are all amazing bloggers (or teams of bloggers like John + Sherry) who have built a brand around their blog and are pretty well-known as subject matter experts in the blogging world. But isn’t that the point of the BlogHer conferences? To learn from the best so that when you return home, you can start putting many of their great pointers and experience to work on your own personal blog brand?

Next year’s conference will be hosted in my home town of Chicago. That equals no excuse not to attend because I don’t have to fly anywhere, don’t have to spend the night in a hotel and I can basically have the security blanket of my city to experience this conference all my own. I’m nervous though, to meet and greet and to attend by myself. Is that weird? Any advice from anyone who has attended a BlogHer conference or other blogging conferences before?

Summer Weekends

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We celebrated the Fourth of July this past weekend with (what I felt like was) a ton of activities! Here are some snapshots from JP and I’s weekend!

1. JP, myself and my younger sister at the family’s 4th of July celebration in Indiana  | 2. Much needed Auntie time with the cutest nephew, ever.   | 3. Fans flocking for a glimpse of Colbie Caillat exiting her tour bus.  | 4. & 5. Crazy Chicago summer storms.  | 6. Traveling Chance caught up in a sheet!

Backing up, JP and I hit up Ravinia Festival for the Colbie Caillat + Gavin DeGraw concert on Friday night. Colbie was amazing and as beautiful as ever and she sang all of her best hits! Then on Saturday we drove into NW Indiana to visit with my mom’s side of the family for a 4th of July BBQ. We got to spend some quality time with my nephew, Caiden, who is Mr. Super Cuteness, and a bunch of aunts, uncles + cousins that I do not get the chance to see often. We had a blast! On Sunday, I have softball in the city + above are some snaps from the storm that rolled in Sunday afternoon. We had a severe warning with 90+ hour winds, potential hail + “deadly” lighting (quoting the Weather Channel). The city mostly got slammed with some wind as the storm traveled south, but when we went out the ‘burbs (which is where JP lives) we saw some massive wind damage to her town + were very glad we missed it! And, then of course as we shuffle the pups back + forth from the burbs to the city, it’s always fun when the pups get tied up in the back seat…this time the culprit was a crafy fitted sheet! Poor Chance! How was your weekend? Are you saving up your 4th of July celebrating for this weekend or did you get a chance to relax with friends or family this past weekend?