The day I wanted a peanut butter cookie.

Yesterday all I wanted was a peanut butter cookie.  Not just your average, run-of-the-mill peanut butter cookie - I had a very specific cookie in mind.  The cookie, my friends, is quite easily the best cookie I've ever tasted and, upon discovery, it often crosses my mind.  It is sold near my work, which is both a curse and a blessing, so I am forced to limit myself, since let's be honest, peanut butter cookies are not calorically free or monetarily free.  This cookie is flourless, very dense as it was made with real peanut butter (and a lot of it!), and would crumble as you ate it.  It is incredible and quite life changing.  


Yesterday was a particularly long, stressful day at work, so around 4pm, I thought, you know what? I deserve that peanut butter cookie.  Today is the day!  It had been weeks since I'd gotten it and I could practically taste it as I recruited friends to go on the field trip with me.  I'd like to note that yesterday was about 96°, with a real feel of 106°... so making the trip in the sticky, hot Chicago air was even more epic and deserving of a tasty peanut butter cookie reward.  


We get to the old Water Tower, where the Water Works Visitor Center is, walk in, and turn to where the First Slice Cafe has always been... only to find that it is GONE, with a museum-type display set up in its place.  WHAT?!  How can this be?!  I think, surely this is a temporary display and perhaps the cafe will be back.  We then talk to the dear lady working at the tourist information counter, and she breaks the news to us - the cafe is gone for good.  They apparently, as of July 1, are now funded under the Chicago Tourism Bureau.  We thought this might be a positive change, but this lady said it made her go from full-time to part-time.  That plus the fact that they got rid of my cafe make me not a fan!  She said they also got rid of the cafe in the Chicago Cultural Center, which I was disappointed to hear.    I thought that was a neat spot, too.  I asked the lady (who I'm sorry I didn't catch her name) if she'd ever had the magical peanut butter cookie.  She hadn't, but she was just as torn up over not being able to get her chocolate mousse pie.  I'm glad that I'm at least not alone in my devastation!  (Yes, a truly first world problem :) 


The speculation is that the Tourism Bureau will eventually open up their own cafes in these spaces.  This saddens me deeply, since the First Slice Cafe was a charity cafe that was self-funded and "provided access to wholesome food for those living in poverty."  According to their website (http://www.firstslice.org/), they have (and still have) a community-supported kitchen where they serve hot, high-quality three-course meals to about 100 men, women, and children.  They were successful, as there were always a lot of people there, enjoying the healthy and organic sandwiches, desserts, salads, and hot beverages, and they've even been able to open up more than one cafe (read: I can still potentially find the cookie somewhere!)  Their saying is, "Enjoy a guilty pleasure... with a side of good deed." 


Anyway, it saddens me that Chicago Tourism is creating a monopoly in their tourist spaces and are kicking out small, independent businesses to replace them with their own one big company, hoarding all the money revenue back into the city.  I like to support these unique, small businesses, which in my opinion Chicago doesn't have enough of down near the Mag Mile.  Plus, considering Mayor Rahm Emanuel said just today that Chicago is now trying to become known as a leading city for start-ups and small businesses, it seems a little inconsistent.  And most importantly, I can't get my peanut butter cookie anymore! 


The other lesson I learned from this experience is that you can never take things for granted.  All the times that I restrained from getting a cookie, assuming I would get it another time, now are just missed opportunities.  Yes, perhaps positive missed opportunities (back to the caloric and monetary points...), but now the option isn't there.  You can never be sure that something (or someone) will be there in a week or month or year, so it is crucial to absorb and embrace every day that they are.  Enjoy the small things in life.  Eat those peanut butter cookies and live each day to the fullest, because you never know, on your next walk in the hot, sticky air, if your destination will be waiting for you.  And then be thankful for the peanut butter cookies you did get to enjoy! 


All this because of an afternoon craving for a delicious peanut butter cookie.... and just as an FYI, Freshii's peanut butter cookie did NOT compare in the least.  Now, go out and eat a cookie! :) 

carpe diem, hakuna matata, no day but today... redhead OUT. 

An Afternoon of Painting

Today my work day included painting, wine, mini dessert hotdogs, fun photos, and sunny bicycling... can't beat that for a Friday afternoon!  One of our dear coworkers is moving to Boston, having worked with our group for almost five years, so we wanted to send her off right.  The ladies in charge of planning the farewell party did a fabulous job of planning and made the perfect day for her (and us).  

We started with lunch and a slideshow of photos of her and our group over the years.  Our boss even found some funny old emails from her, which was amusing.  Makes me think twice about what I write him!  Someone also made these PRECIOUS little dessert hot dogs... they were so clever! You take a circus peanut, cut it in half (the hot dog bun), then you place a skinny caramel down the middle (hot dog), and then red and yellow frosting down the middle (ketchup and mustard), and finally little green gummies (relish).  They were tasty and perfect for people who like hot dogs! You can also place them on top of cupcakes. The recipe can be found here: http://thedomesticrebel.com/2011/06/06/bbq-cupcake-toppers/

After lunch, we all went to a unique place called Arts n Spirits in Bucktown, where you get to paint!   You can do group painting sessions, both guided and not, and we had the place pretty much to ourselves.  You get a smock, canvas, and lots of paintings on the wall to use as inspiration (which I really needed!  It has been years since I painted...).  It's also BYOB, which was, of course, fun.  We all set to work and ended up with absolutely beautiful paintings!  I was definitely pleasantly surprised with our masterpieces :) Below are a few of the paintings and us hard at work. 

Our final results! 

This is mine! I love it :) 

The final thing we did was each contribute a square of the photo below to complete a painting of our logo for our departing friend to take with her.  One of our talented artists drew it and then we each painted our own square.  What a lovely idea and neat gift for her to take with her!  It turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.  We will miss her dearly and are sad to see her leave us, but are excited for her new adventures to come!     

Finally, topped off the evening with my first beach volleyball session of the summer.  It was great to be back on the beach and playing again!  The weather and company were perfect, making a lovely end to a lovely day, and a swell kickoff to the weekend.  Happy weekend to you and hope you had an equally fun day today!

carpe diem, hakuna matata, no day but today... redhead OUT. 

SELF Magazine Workout in the Park - Chicago

Two of my friends and I got tickets through Gilt City to go to this Workout in the Park, hosted by SELF Magazine.  The event was four hours on a beautiful Saturday in Grant Park in the heart of Chicago.  We signed up for all the goodies that came with, but really had little idea what to expect from the event. Boy, were we pleasantly surprised!

We got there around 10:45am to already find a huge line had formed.  We waited with hundreds of other people (I think almost, if not all, women) to go in, still not really knowing what was going to happen, but excited to be out on a sunny day, participating in a unique event!   

We're ready! 

Our view from our line

The entrance

Turns out they only have this Workout in the Park in NYC, San Fran, and Chicago... pretty neat!  This is the schedule for the day; there were three stages - the main stage, which had everything from 'sexy stretch' to a West African dance, a CrossFit stage, and a yoga area.  All the sessions were 15-25 minutes long, so you could go back and forth between the stages, participating in however many/whatever classes you wished.  

This was the schedule of the day 

We started by signing up for a CrossFit class at noon, then participated in the sexy stretch... it was so neat to be doing the same movement as a thousand other people! They were funky and funny moves, so we were giggling as we thrusted those hips :) We then went to the CrossFit class, which completely kicked my butt.  We did 5 minutes of 'just' 5 squats, 5 pushups, then 5 airjumps... I thought I was going to die.  The lead guy was kind enough to let us know that, "Good news! You're halfway done!" ... as I'm dying, thinking we're almost done.  Jeesh!  I felt that the next day.  

Group workout! With SUCH a beautiful backdrop! 

We didn't really do his workout, but the trainer from the Biggest Loser, Dolvett Quince was there and led a few workouts.  He was riiiiiiipped and gorgeous and quite intense! He also loved Chicago and asked us if it could be his second city :) Any time! 

This was our absolute favorite exercise of the day - it was called "Masala Bhangra" and was a mix of dance moves of bhangra and Bollywood dances, Indian style! It was soooo much fun to do and the girl who led it absolutely rocked.  She said that she does it for her father, who she sadly lost to cardiac arrest when he was 47 : (  Her dance, though, was high energy and had moves like, 'kick the drum', 'twist the lightbulb', and lots of 'bobbling the head'! It was great.

 

All of our swag! We made out pretty well! 

The rest of our time was spent wandering from booth to booth, checking out what they all had to offer. The event brought the magazine to life, featuring everything from beauty and health to nutrition and fitness.  We got screened for skin cancer, completed a quiz where we got a nice bottle of sunscreen, looked at lucy clothing and Reebok shoes, won a Garnier umbrella, and got lots of free samples.  My favorites were the Calvin Klein 'euphoria' perfume (it smells incredible!), Laughing Cow cheese (tasty!), and the peanut butter cookie and peppermint stick Luna Bars.  The cookie dough one was questionable. 

Our gorgeous city

We then sat for awhile in the sunshine, flipping through our complimentary SELF Magazine.  It's a nice magazine, featuring lots of good recipes, tips, and fun articles.  It was overall a completely successful day and a neat way to participate in a Chicago event.  The event was incredibly well organized and managed and I think it was a great way to get people in the community to try new exercises!  There were people of all ages and all fitness levels, which worked well, because with so many people, no one was really watching anyone else.  The activities were also set up in a way that you could do however little or much as you wanted, and could take breaks as needed.  Everyone was in high spirits and enjoyed being there together, which was refreshing.  It was an inspiring and lovely day!

We then wandered Buckingham Fountain, which was gorgeous.  

Carpe Diem, Hakuna Matata, no day but today... redhead OUT. 

Fashionistas!

Thanks to Suave hair products, a stylist team, and DailyCandy, my friends and I got to attend this fabulous event at the Palomar Hotel and be treated like stars!  We first had our hair done (see above), which took the stylist about 4 minutes to do - impressive! She had lived for years in Paris and NYC doing hair and makeup, styling for Vogue and Marie Claire, to name a few. Pretty fascinating to imagine that life and her working runways and shoots with the top models in the world, frantically finishing model after model, sending them out.  This is, of course, how I imagine her career, which sadly might not have been as glamorous as I'm envisioning. Or maybe it was. I do know that I loved my hair and she did it so swiftly!

This event had light food provided, probably meant as a snack, which I made into dinner by filling my plate with about 6 kinds of cheese, bread, crackers, and fruit. There was a lady doing fashion drawings of people and my friend got an incredible one of herself. There were free gift bags full of Suave products (I love products! And free things! :) and some nice people. There were also two contestants that are currently on the show Fashion Star there... and we even got our photo with the cute guy! (Nzimiro Oputa and Orly Shani).

The event concluded with us all sitting, sporting our lovely new hairdos, and watching Fashion Star with the two contestants. During the commercials, they would tell us some behind-the-scenes stories, including how they got on the show, the process, and some of the gossip/back story that ended up cut from the show. I will just share a few things I thought was interesting. 

     •     I asked how they got on the show, and they both said a friend had emailed about the open call, and after realizing it was a real thing, were interested.  What I think is crazy is that Orly missed the open call, so emailed about it ... and they called her! Out of all the thousands of people that I'm guessing were at the open call, they a) noticed her email and b) instead of knocking her for missing the open call, they instead decided they wanted her to continue the audition process. To me this just shows how crazy life is, that she was meant to be on that show, that luck was on her side, and she got picked. Or her friend was an A- list star :) Nzimiro had a more traditional audition process. 

     •     Orly said that, unlike Project Runway, this show provided contestants with a pattern maker and a sewer. She said she could never do Project Runway, because she can't sew without a pattern, whereas Nzimiro apparently can make something out of anything. Just thought that was interesting - the contestants do the design, then can watch other people make it.

     •     They said that once they made it through the first round, they were flown to LA, where they had about 6 more interviews.  They said they would be escorted in and out of their hotel room, to and from interviews, because the producers didn't want them to accidentally run into another potential contestant.  Out of about 40, they were 2 of 16 chosen.  

     •     Orly is still a bartender in NYC. I'm not sure how either one of them ended up doing on the show... so we'll have to keep watching to find out! 

It was a lovely evening, and a great glimpse into an entirely different industry - an intriguing one of reality shows and fashion, and I felt glamorous to be amongst such stylish fashionistas! 

Waitressing

Waitressing is a funny thing, when you get to thinking about it. Shift after shift, a waitress walks up to and meets many different strangers, forms these mini-relationships, then says, “Have a great night” and will never see most of them again. With each new table, luckily, comes a new performance, and a fresh chance to charm her new friends – so when she just spilled rice in a lady’s hair and has to pick each, sticky piece out, she gets to go and start anew with another table. This is also another chance to mess up, so the confidence this new waitress may have just built up at the last table, can easily be taken away.

A waitress’s job really doesn’t have to be that complex, yet in that hour or so that that table is there, each can have an impact on each other’s lives. Different situations can make the waitress ponder life, morals, humanity, and definitely spark an interest to study human behavior, as we certainly are fascinating creatures.

Besides the rice in the hair lady, she hopes that she has helped these customers have a better night due to their dining experience, yet really has no idea what walk of life they are experiencing. She doesn’t know under what circumstances they have chosen to dine out on this particular night, or with these particular people. She doesn’t know that the lady with her friend has just come from a round of chemo, until the end of their short time together, when the lady asks for ‘to go’ boxes because she feels sick and needs to go home. She doesn’t know that the beaming man has just proposed to his girlfriend or that a tired father and daughter just need a quiet dinner because mom’s out of town and they don’t want to cook. She doesn’t know that this is the young lady’s first time out with friends since she had her baby, and this flirty woman may not be this man’s wife, though they sit close and he wears a ring.

An encounter with mean or rude people can leave a waitress feeling down on humanity or just plain angry, whether it be a horrible tip or old ladies stealing all of her pens (yes, there is still resentment there). Some tables can be completely awkward or painfully quiet, though one never knows – these diners may be going through a divorce or just attended a funeral. A table of businessmen, who clearly don’t want to acknowledge her, can make a waitress analyze their day-to-day life mentalities, and ponder what kind of person she herself wants to be.

The majority of customers, however, are pleasant and interesting. There are certainly very nice people out there - those who leave 40 percent as a reward for that connection made, or the solo diners who just want to chat. There’s the lady who forgives the waitress for putting rice in her hair or the diners who compliment her curly red hair. There are the young, nervous teens on their first date, and the elderly couple who don’t need to converse, since they know each other better than the back of their hand. There’s the patient, yet literal little girl who starts counting the seconds, after being told her pizza will be out in two minutes. There are people who are interested to learn and try new things, and who make waitressing a lot more fun. These customers seem to brighten the air with their warm smiles and leave a lasting and refreshing impression of kindness.

All of these observations are true of life outside the restaurant. People encounter human interaction daily and a lot of influence can ride on one small gesture. So please, do not be too quick to pass judgment - we are all human and deserve the benefit of the doubt. Take the time to smile and slow down to notice the people around you, and think for a moment about them. Open doors for others. Smile. Make eye contact. Wish them a great night, though you may never see them again. You never know how the affect you are making.