Day 2: Grooveshark

I have loved Grooveshark for a while now, but today I was exceptionally grateful for the site. A lot of days we have the radio on at work (yesterday was 80's day), but today it was off & I was seriously tired & in need of a good pick me up. Enter the great/random playlist I made for work last week. The upbeat jams at the beginning were exactly what I needed to recharge and the foreign music that follow helped me focus.

Another funny side note about listening to music...I often listen to music when checking numbers on spreadsheets & graphs at work, and I've noticed that when I'm listening to French music, I say the numbers in my head in French, but when I switch to Italian music, I say them in Italian. I always laugh a bit when I notice it happen :)

Here we go again...Day 1

I have been having such an amazing time in Chicago this summer and am so thankful for everything in my life, but with so much to do, I'm having a hard time slowing down and soaking it up sometimes. Natalie is taking my 30 day thankfulness challenge right now (check it out), and I would like to challenge myself to another month of daily posts. So here goes day 1...take two.

My first Taste of Chicago!

I have been to the much smaller, low key Taste of Champaign, but today was my first Taste of Chicago. There were so many more vendors than I expected, but the deals were also a lot better than I expected! You get 12 tickets for $8, and most of the taste dishes are four tickets. I got three different taste dishes all for $8...that's cheaper than dinner out & I got just as much food! I tried spinach stuffed pizza from Bacino's, curry vegetable stir fry from an Indian restaurant & an Oreo parfait from a French dessert shop.

The food was great & the atmosphere exciting, but the best part was getting to see my friend Jane for the first time since graduation & my other friend Nancy. It was so great to share a new experience with two good friends.

Father's Day From Afar

In the spirit of Father's Day, today I am especially thankful for my dad :) I may look exactly like my mom, but I'll also admit to being a daddy's girl.

Dad's Day senior year :)

Sadly, I haven't been able to celebrate with him for the past two year, but here are some of my favorite memories with my dad.

- Eating lunch together once a week during my freshmen year of college.
- Driving just the two of us to the suburbs really early one morning for a volleyball tournament in high school.
- Making bets with him about how many serves I could make in during volleyball games & getting a new CD if I won.
- Back crackers...even if my mom hates when we do them.
- When he got a foot cramp at the Lake of the Ozarks and just sat in a chair laughing instead of trying to get rid of the cramp.
- Taking him to football block at Joe's for Dad's Day sophomore year.
- When he took me to the Art Institute for the opening of the Modern Exhibit because I'd been wanting to go for years.
- Adventuring to Chicago to get my Italian visa for study abroad.
- His obsession with Danny Quinn while in Martha's Vineyard & playing Irish music on Sunday mornings when I make breakfast so I can think of him.
- Going to the gym together a few times while I was home at the beginning of the summer.
- Roaming around campus taking graduation pictures for hours.

I'm sure I'll think of a million more memories right after I post this, but these are definitely some of my favorites from the past few years.

Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

Simple New Products

My friend introduced me to Pretzel M&Ms last summer, and so began my new food love affair. What a wonderfully simple & delicious idea! They were named "Most Innovative Product" in the Candy & Snack Category, and I cannot agree more. (article) These morsels are truly the perfect mix of salty and sweet goodness, and were a great addition to my picnic with friends in Millennium Park this evening. I was supposed to bring fruit but couldn't find any on my way there from the office, so instead I turned to my favorite sweet & salty treat. Yay for delicious new products to enjoy & share with friends!

I love the packaging too. Clever idea with the x-ray
showing the pretzel in the M&M.

Yum!

Free concert in Millennium Park. I truly love this city <3

Homemade Larabars

I discovered and fell in love with Larabars almost exactly a year ago while in Denver, Colorado, but they're so expensive (around $1.30 each!) that they are more of a treat rather than a go-to-snack. Their only ingredients are dried fruit and nuts, so they're super healthy and filling. I found recipes online a while ago to make them yourself and save a bit of cash while still enjoying a favorite snack, but a food processor is the key to the recipe. Since I didn't have a food processor, I was unable to make them.

Cut to me moving in with my Aunt in Chicago & her having a brand new food processor! Needless to say, I couldn't wait to try out making my own Larabars. My favorite flavor is Apple Pie, but I chose to start with the Banana Bread flavor because they seemed easiest to make. The only needed ingredients are dates, bananas & almonds!

I tried to buy dates at Trader Joe's after work on Wednesday, but was sad to find out that they didn't have any. Thankfully, not only do I now live close to Trader Joe's but also to Whole Foods (I still can't get over the fact that I can walk to Whole Foods!), so I was able to run there for some dates. There were 2 types to choose from, so I chose the cheaper one hoping it wouldn't matter. I ate one when I got home to try them out and became a bit worried because it tasted much different than I thought it would and a lot less juicy. I decided to put my nerves about the dates aside, however, and jump in to the recipe yesterday.

Oh She Glows is one of my favorite food blogs to read, and her recipes always look delicious, so I decided to use her Homemade Larabar recipe. It was obvious that it couldn't be too difficult considering there was a total of 3 ingredients involved. The hardest part was trying to figure out how to use the food processor since I had never used one before. I decided tested it out in the morning by chopping some almonds. After a few minutes of flops thanks to a safety feature I didn't realize where you have to have all parts of the processor perfectly in place in order for it to work, I finally figured it out. I happy to finally get it to work but was shocked at how loud it was! I literally jumped and screamed a bit...thankfully I was by myself so no one witnessed my freakout.

After mastering the food processor, I think making these bars literally took about 20 minutes. It probably would have taken even less time if I wasn't such a perfectionist about forming them in to perfect little rectangles. 

Here's a brief overview of the recipe, but check out the recipe link for ingredient proportions & more details!

1. Dehydrate the bananas in the oven 

2. Process the dates

3. Process the almonds & add to the dates

4. Form bars & refrigerate

I made them smaller than original Larabars because I wanted to be able to eat them before yoga or other workouts without being weighed down. This morning, I ate one before yoga (my first real class at the studio I joined!), and it was both the perfect pre-workout snack and sooooo delicious! It tasted exactly like the original but for a fraction of the cost! I'm so thankful for this recipe and excited to be able to have this favorite snack more often :) 

Yum!

My First Morning Commute

I was really excited to start my internship today, and had a randomly fun morning commute to start the day off right. Most people probably wouldn't find it very exciting, but honestly, sometimes it really is about the little things.

Yes, I took a picture of myself
before my first day :)

The blast of heat upon leaving the apartment wasn't preferable, but at least I remembered to wear my Toms so I knew my feet would comfortable on my walk even if the rest of me was burning up. When I got to the school around the corner there was a school yard full of laughing, playing children being dropped off by their parents. Seeing children was one of the things I always missed when I lived on campus. At the corner a crossing guard helped me cross the street which made me strangely happy. I can't remember the last time I crossed a street with a crossing guard (minus when the police stop traffic on football game days, but that's a whole other experience), and I felt really special that she stopped traffic for me.

People always look at me funny when I tell them I love public transportation.

I brought my book, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco, to read on my way there, but I decided to watch the buildings go by and people watch instead. I didn't know this until lunch today, but I guess a lot of people in the fashion industry ride the L to Merchandise Mart in the mornings too. Two older men who recently graduated from fashion school sat by me on the train who I chatted with. The one next to me was knitting a dress, which I was really intrigued by, and the man sitting across from me told me I had beautiful, sparkling eyes and beautiful, long eyelashes. Compliments from strangers are always a good way to start the day.

Since I arrived a little early, I took the time to rest at Merchandise Mart & enjoy my book a bit before walking to work. I was already excited and feeling confident, but then I saw a sculpture in the shape of the Pi symbol which made me think of my mom and smile. It was the perfect last confidence boost before my first day.

Hopefully, every day's morning commute is this enjoyable :)

Si j'avais plus de temps...

I completed this sentence many times with all the things I would do if I had more time while studying Subjunctive in French. I always tried to honestly answer what I would do if I had more time and looked forward to the 3 weeks of summer I would have after graduation before moving & starting my internship in Chicago. Things usually included blogging, reading, and running. Although I'm not sure I did as much as I wanted to (i.e. I only blogged once during those 3 weeks!), I did enjoy the past 3 weeks of down time and relaxation. 

Below are some things I did do with my time:

- Took walks, went for delish lemon custard & hung out with Kati

- Went to the gym 3 times a week & did workouts at home on the other days

- Read 3 books! Run Like a Girl, Born to Run, and French Women Don't Get Fat

- Celebrated my dad's 30 year anniversary at work by going to the new "gastrobrewery" in Downtown Champaign, Destihl

- Watched the whole, only season of What About Brian on Netflix. Am I seriously the only one who loved that show?

- Fully celebrated the return of my Netflix account by watching tons of great foreign & American movies

- Found my summer anthem, Super Bass by Nicki Minaj. I can't help my smile & dance whenever it comes on! It was a girl's ring tone on the L today & had to force myself not to break out dancing.

- Moved in with my aunt in Chicago & explored the city all weekend. It was fun to adventure around as a summer resident rather than just a tourist :)

I'm so thankful for all of the different things I was able to do with my free time, but it seems I may actually be better at blogging when I'm busy, so hopefully a more normal posting schedule will ensue shortly....