‘music’ Category

18 July 2010

Weekend recap: Friend dates, movies, music and food

By: Jessica B.

Happy Sunday everyone! It’s still hot and humid here. I hate it. Moving on.

I had a busy weekend but the best kind, filled with friend dates, aka “freights.” Friend dates are the best because you get to go out, do date-like things, such as dinner or drinks, but it’s with your friends. No pressure, just fun. I love them.

I also paid off my Napa trip so I was ready for a glass of wine and friend dates so I can get back out there and be social.

Here’s a summary of my fun friend dates:

Friday – movie/dinner:

After a long week, I was ready for a movie/dinner date with my friend Robin. We went to see Inception (see full review here) on Friday at a pimped out theater downtown. Seriously, this theater had a bar, VIP seating, where you can bring food and liquor into the theater, extended concession stand with tart yogurt and sandwiches. And the best part? You can reserve your seats before you arrive so you can arrive just before showtime and know you have seats.

And the food you can get there is very good too. We got a prosciutto panini, martini with champagne (which made me buzzed after one drink) and BACON POPCORN. Yes, you heard me right. Check it out.

Hmm, bacon

The mix of bacon, popcorn and butter was delish. I’m a fan.

After the movie, we super sized our friend date by going to Chinatown for dinner. Robin took me to an authentic Chinatown restaurant that makes awesome bubble tea and dishes. Our waiter gave me weird looks when I ordered salted fish and pork in a hot bowl but it was tasty, even if it doesn’t look appetizing. I hope he gave me that look because I didn’t just order fried rice. Maybe.

I know, it looks gross, but mixed up, it’s very good

All in all, I saw a great movie, caught up with a good friend and tried new things. Win, win, win.

Saturday – Brunch/shopping and sushi:

That’s right, despite the downtown Transformers craziness, TC and I hit up Xoco for brunch and indulged in our mutual love of Rick Bayless’ churros and even sampled the new Mexican soft serve. Yeah, I was so hungry, I didn’t take pictures, even of the suckling pig torta. But here is a past picture of the Churros, which I could eat an entire plate of. I have no idea why they’re so good, but I want them all.the.time.

Then, with my shopping list in tact, we hit the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I behaved, but TC learned how bad my enabling ways can be. My bad.

After burning calories shopping, Mega and I met up for a sushi dinner in Bucktown where I had the best soft shell crab roll ever. I also meant to only have one drink and somehow had a total of five by the end of the night. Oops. Does that happen to anyone else?

Sunday – Sweating it out at Pitchfork:

Yes, I hate the current heat wave here, but that didn’t stop me from going to the Pitchfork Music Festival with Nic. I got to girl talk, craft shop, listen to some great music and drink 24 ounces of water, promptly sweating it all out. I was disappointed that my only ice cream option was dairy-free, but the pulled pork tacos were tasty.

How was everyone else’s weekend? Do you go on friend dates?

20 June 2010

Weekend recap: Concerts, cleaning and random acts of online dating

By: Jessica B.

Happy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and got to celebrate with your special guys.

The official countdown to San Fran/Napa has begun for me but before I start freaking out about the trip, I had a busy/productive weekend so that distracted me.

Incentive to clean

Seriously, visitors coming to town is the best incentive to clean. It makes me actually do it and be efficient, rather than dawdle and think I’ll do it another weekend. No! I have to do it then and it has to be spotless! I even spot clean the next morning after making breakfast. Who am I? Well, this weekend I had a visitor coming into town for Father’s Day and my bathroom, kitchen and living room were nightmares.

So I dedicated Friday (post storms) to cleaning…up after the storms and my apartment. Yes, it took time and yes, some of the dirt and amount of hair collected was scary, but it looks GORGEOUS after. The sight of a clean apartment is one of my favorite things.

Of course, if company had not been coming into town, the apartment would likely still be a pigsty :)

The Eagles, Keith Urban, Dixie Chicks!

Saturday my visitor and I also went to check out a concert marathon at Solider Field, including of Keith Urban, Dixie Chicks and The Eagles. I’ve never been to Soldier Field before, so me and my camera were ready!

I was felt horribly underdressed because I wasn’t sporting sunburn (Saturday was amazing weather in Chicago) and cowboy boots. Now I want a pair! But thousands of people turned out to hit the Miller/Bud Light and dance.

Keith Urban was good and even sang in the crowd! It’s also a fact that women love Keith Urban. Thousand were going CRAZY for him. I’m surprised he survived that crowd with his shirt.

I was pretty excited to see the Dixie Chicks and they didn’t disappoint. They even played Train’s Hey Soul Sister, which got me dancing around.

I’m not too familiar with The Eagles either but I recognized a ton of songs, thanks to growing up with their music. I remembered a lot more than I thought I would.

All and all, it was a gorgeous night to see outside and enjoy some music!

Random acts of online dating

Post concert, I decided to do some pre-vacation laundry, which meant that I was still awake but tired at 1 a.m. with my laundry done and a restless mind. So I started wandering around online and when I woke up this morning, I was a member of OkCupid.

No joke, I signed up for internet dating while tired and barely remembered doing it! I filled out the profile and everything! I’m still planning on going back to Match but this is free and probably a good way to ease back into it. So far, it’s…interesting.

How was everyone else’s weekend? Do you always clean before company comes over? Or are you seeing any concerts this summer?

26 May 2010

Glee live in Chicago!

By: Jessica B.

It’s official, I’ve seen the scariest fans ever. No, they aren’t Twi-hards or Trekkies, they’re teenage Glee fans.

And they’re taller than me too. FAIL.

Tonight was the first of two Glee concerts in Chicago (part of a four-city tour) and ever since I heard it was coming to Chicago, I was determined to go. And after some drama, negotiating and tears, I scored two floor seats. YES!

TC and I sacrificed watching the Lady Gaga episode live to see the show and it was TOTALLY WORTH IT.

The show was AH-MAZING.

Really, the staging, singing and costumes were awesome. We even got to see Bad Romance live (thanks Perez for the tip) and it was insane. Everyone was on their feet but no one was really dancing….except TC and me, who literally sang, screamed and danced the entire time. People must have thought we were insane but we shut it down. Fo sho.

Here are some photos! Note: So that I don’t ruin everything for the New York fans, you can see more photos on my Flickr page.

After the show, TC and I were going to the car when we saw people gathering at the stage door, so we joined for a little bit, hoping to catch a glimpse of the cast. And then the screaming and pushing started because my man, Cory Monteith (Finn) was like, right there, and I thought I was going to be trampled to death. No joke, having girls pushing, pulling at your clothes and body to get closer, was kind of scary. But I emerged safe and in one piece…and with an autograph :)

TC and I even went back into the mess for her man, Mark Salling (Puck) and boom, there was another autograph on the program.

It was pretty f*cking exciting :) And yes, Cory is smoking hot in person (OMG HOT) and Mark was pretty cute too. So awesome.

The entire night was worth every penny, tear, pleading email and hours spent researching to get us there. I’ll be on this high for a few days.

Also, big thanks to Chicago’s I-90/94 express lane for getting us to the show quickly in rush hour traffic!

What about you, did you get to see Glee on Tour? Or what is your favorite Glee song?

09 May 2010

New Orleans recap: food, music and lots of photos

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Food, music, travel

Happy Sunday everyone. I am BACK from my first solo vacation to New Orleans…and am totally worn out. Thank goodness I took today to recover before going back to work. I needed it.

Before I left, I was a little nervous but excited. And then I arrived and got really excited!

Seriously, is planning and going on vacation is that easy? I used to think it was so taxing and time consuming but it’s really not and it’s so worth it. And going by myself, while nervewracking, was awesome. I don’t know what I was so scared of.

And having a break from email, computer, TV and Blackberry (mostly) was awesome.

Normally, I’m a planner but I went to Nola with ideas and a list of things to do but with nothing nailed down. I was trying to be…somewhat spontaneous, which I rarely am. And I got to do some cool stuff.

Touristy stuff:

I mentioned Thursday that I loved wandering the French Quarter and that was my favorite part of the trip. I spent a lot of time doing that, taking photos of the architecture and streets. You can see a lot of crazy stuff there that it was fun to just take in the history walking around.

I also took a cemetery and Katrina tour. The former was really interesting. And despite it being 90, sunny and humid, it was amazing to wander through the above ground graves, seeing how gorgeous and ornate they are.

The Katrina tour was tough, as expected. I felt awful sitting in a van, driving through areas still devastated and not rebuilt five years later, but it was important to see. I saw the coverage originally from my computer, shocked by the images, but seeing it in person was still tough. We saw homes missing from neighborhoods, the levee that broke and the areas being rebuilt by Brad Pitt and Project Home Again.

Food:

No lie, I was really excited about the food. I am trying to be more adventurous with food and Nola is the perfect place to step out of my comfort zone.

And I did!

Here are some of my food faves:

Fried green tomatoes (with crawfish)

Very tasty and light and slightly sweet

Blackened alligator

REALLY tasty and spicy. Tastes like calamari, not chicken :)

Charbroiled oysters

I love regular oysters but this was taking it to a new level. Really tasty and delicious

Bananas Foster

I’ve grown to love banana desserts and with a tip from EP and tableside preparation, this tasted like heaven on the cloud

Muffuletta

This is one HUGE sandwich. I only got a quarter size and it was huge. The mix of ham, pastrami, salami and housemade olive salad was delish!

Strawberry Balsamic gelato (thanks Renee for the tip!)

I could talk about the food porn for days but seriously, it was amazing food. I could not get enough!

Entertainment:

Street entertainment is awesome in Nola. There are always people dancing, singing, playing music or posing as art in the streets. And the music there was incredible. So rich and fun. I was blown away by the talent.

I also got to check out Preservation Hall for some old school jazz and despite it being 90 and no AC, the sound was incredible. What a great setting.

Now tomorrow starts a new week back at work and the countdown to Vegas continues! I still need to get used to traveling alone but I’m really proud of myself for tackling a two of my fears: traveling and dining alone. Big pat on the back for me.

How was your weekend?

Review blog update: No movies this week but I did find a great SPF lotion from CVS I loved and used on my trip!

06 May 2010

Hello from New Orleans!

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Food, music, travel

Hi everyone and greetings from New Orleans!

Yes, I am still on vacation but I wanted to drop in, say hi and share a few photos from yesterday and today. Tonight, I uploaded 188 photos so far. And that’s with my camera. I have about 20 or so on the SLR Allie let me borrow too! Crazy.

Anyhow, everything is going well and it is HOT in NOLA. It’s around 90 degrees and sunny and wow it is hot in the sun. But it feels awesome. Sitting in the sun with a beer and sweating, not so gross (until my hair sticks to my neck).

I’ve been covering a lot of ground and seeing a ton of cool stuff. And let me just say, I love wandering the French Quarter. I always find something to look at or want to photograph. But I have tripped over myself a few times (oops!) I need to watch where I walk.

So here are some photos before I do a full recap on Sunday.

Cafe Du Monde beignets (amazing!)

Streetcar to the Garden District

Awesome street music

St. Louis Cathedral

Historic Bourbon Street sign (the only thing not sex- or alcohol-related)

New Orleans combo platter (Jambalaya, red beans and rice, Andouille sausage). Yes I know what this also looks like

I’m currently wrestling over where I should eat for dinner tonight and what I want to do tomorrow. Seriously, there are so many amazing things to see, I don’t think I’ll be able to fit everything in :(

Also, thank you to everyone for the sweet tweets, apologies about not being able to reply to everyone! And I will be caught up on blogs again soon too.

What about you? Big weekend plans?