‘travel’ Category

24 January 2012

Sundance!

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Movies, travel

Fair warning, there is a little bit of cheese in this post so bring crackers.

If you know me, you know that I love movies. L-O-V-E. I’ve loved them since I was a kid and saw E.T. in the theaters.

And I took a little bit of a blog break last week because I was fulfilling one of my movie-lover bucket list items: going to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

One of my clients was there and I got to be on the ground for five days working and hanging out in Park City, seeing screenings, etc. Yes, I was working, trust me, it was not all play.

It was a stressful, exhausting and taxing time, but also, just…amazing.

Park City is gorgeous, I was fortunate enough to visit it last summer for a conference, but the best part was going to the screenings. My colleague and I saw a total of 8 movies over four days and I loved EVERYTHING I saw, minus one movie. Most of the movies we saw were heavy too, including the documentaries, but I really hope these get wider release because you guys should check them out.

Here is the cheesy part: during one screening, when the reality of where I was sitting hit, I started to tear up because being there has been a dream for so long, that I couldn’t believe it was happening. CHEESE.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

More photos are on Facebook and Flickr (here). Yikes, just looking at it makes me tired. Time to rest up!

How was your weekend? Anything new with all of you?

21 November 2011

Scenes from New York

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: Friends, travel

Happy Monday! And Happy Turkey Week!

Before I succumb to the craziness and cooking in a few days, I decided to get out of Chicago for a weekend and visit Arielle and Lacey in New York. I love New York (almost as much as Chicago) and being back, but this time in fall, was just what I needed.

Sure, there was a lot of walking, drinking and eating (A LOT) but the best part was catching up with good friends and laughing (a lot). That may sound cheesey, but it’s true.

So to best sum up my three days in NYC, here is a little photo sampling of my trip.

Yep, lots of eating and drinking. But everything was amazing and I was on vacation so…calories don’t count :)

How was your weekend? What’s your favorite thing to do on a weekend away?

30 August 2011

Taking a travel break

By: Jessica B.
Tagged: travel

Sometimes, my motto is “go big or go home.” When I want something, I go after it and tend to make sure I get everything out of it to ensure I got the full experience.

I’m strictly talking about travel here.

In the last year, I’ve been fortunate to take a lot of amazing trips, visiting gorgeous spots for work and personal plans. I’m grateful for those experiences and wouldn’t trade them but when I was preparing to leave Seattle/Vancouver (recap is coming!), I had a realization.

I need to take a travel break.

I love traveling, exploring and seeing new places but I haven’t been around Chicago much this summer or around my friends and I want to change that. I need to.

After my recent trips, I realized I had not seen many of my friends in more than a month. I miss them, miss talking to them and going out with them. Text messages do not have the same effect, even if it’s better than nothing.

So I’ve put my plans for a week-long fall trip on hold so I can just BE in Chicago. I’m still doing a weekend in LA and NY (not in the same month) and then I’m staying local. And I’m excited. Sure, there may be a month where I’m screaming to get out, but for now, being lazy around Chicago with friends and my house sounds perfect.

Right now, I need to find more balance in my personal life with friends, work, etc. And if I’m serious about trying to date, I need to be here for that too. Unless Prince Charming is in another city, well, but that hasn’t been the case yet.

What about you? Do you like to be on the go a lot or prefer to hang around home?

08 August 2011

Stay classy San Diego

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

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a great weekend!

This summer, I’m spending a lot of time on the West Coast. First, it was Los Angeles, then Salt Lake City, then San Diego, my most recent travel adventure. I was there for the BlogHer conference and not only was reunited with some of my blogging loves, but also, had some damn good food and fun.

So while I’m recovering from a few days in the whale’s vagina (see Anchorman reference), I’m also preparing for Seattle coming up! Time to put away the carry-on suitcase and prepare for the one I always bag-check. Crazy, but I’m excited.

Below are some pictures from the weekend. Sadly, I didn’t take a ton of food porn photos (bad, I know), but I think you’ll see the right amount of fun with the debauchery stories kept to those that were present :)

How was your weekend?

Movie Review: Friends with Benefits, which does include gratuitous JT ab shots and music.

01 August 2011

Goodbye July, hello August!

By: Jessica B.

Happy Monday and August 1st everyone! Holy cow, it’s August. It is almost the tail end of summer. I know this because it’s almost state fair season, that is the official sign summer is over, at least in the Midwest.

Anyhow, this weekend, I closed out July by doing not a lot, which is good because August is going to be BUSY for me, so I’ll take my rest where I can.

It started off with drinks near Marilyn Monroe from Some Like it Hot (no I’m not making that up) and ended at Wrigley Field for the Paul McCartney concert! Yes, it was hotter than sin in that stadium (like, no air circulation) but it was worth it. Let’s take a look.

View from our seats!

Pre-concert photo montage

Paul McCartney rocking out!

The concert in a word: AWESOME. As a raging Beatles fan, it was heaven, hearing songs I listen to on my iPod and on record live was just amazing. And sitting with the person I went with, both of us singing “Yesterday” is a moment I won’t ever forget. Really, it brings a tear to my eye thinking about it.

I also got a little pre-concert gift from my guest too. Yeah, he gets me.

But as amazing as last night was, it’s on to August! I don’t know about you but this month is cray cray for me and there is lots to look forward to, such as:

  • BlogHer in San Diego! I must brush up on Anchorman lingo
  • Seattle and Vancouver – time to hike, drink wine and stuff my face (sexy!)
  • Birthday – Yeah I’ll work on getting more excited for this
  • Next! Yes, that’s right, I’m going back for Thai cuisine. Very excited

Yeah, that’s all that’s coming up for me, not much at all :)

Do you have any big August plans? How was your weekend?