Wise Words

I enjoy these motivational posters because they make me smile especially on a bad day. I hope they bring joy to you too!

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We're going to Michigan for the weekend!

Source: etsy.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

We're going to be near Cyrstal Lake for the next four days!

Source: google.com via Abbie Phillips on Pinterest

I can't wait to walk to Point Betsie!

Source: flickr.com via Diane on Pinterest

For all you Harry Potter & Ceelo fans...

I thought this was pretty special:

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I can't wait to read: Life, on the Line

Review from npr.com:

Life, On The Line: A Chef's Story Of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, And Redefining The Way We Eat

by Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas

Hardcover, 390 pages, Penguin Group USA, 27.50, published March 3 2011
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Life, on the Line A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas Amazon » Independent Booksellers » Your purchase helps support NPR Programming. How? Conversely, as its title suggests, Life, On the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat, is a memoir of undiluted ambition. By age 16, Grant Achatz already dreamed of owning "a great restaurant, a famous one." With fanatical dedication, he trained in the most celebrated kitchens in the world: Charlie Trotter's, The French Laundry and ElBulli. At 29, he won the James Beard Rising Star Chef Award. Two years later, he opened avant-garde Alinea in Chicago. Gourmet magazine named it the Best Restaurant in America. And then, Achatz was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer. To have any chance of surviving at all, this top chef would literally have to have his tongue cut out.




Written by both Achatz and his partner, Nick Kokona, Life, On the Line, has the fundamental ingredients of a modern-day Greek drama. And, like any good culinary memoir, there's plenty of behind-the-scenes dish, too.

 

High Fidelity

Last night we ran to Logan Square for dinner at Revolution Brewery. While running along Milwaukee Ave, we went right by Reckless Records. It's right next to where they filmed "High Fidelity"! 

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Nick Hornby’s novel is transposed with surprising success from London to the trendy Wicker Park district of Chicago.

‘Championship Vinyl’, the record store of pop geek and serial rejectee Rob Gordon (John Cusack) was an empty store at 1500 North Milwaukee Avenue and North Honore Street (the interior was a studio set). In September 2008, the store was still vacant and boarded-up. Don’t be disappointed – you can pick up secondhand vinyl only a few doors away, at Reckless Records, 1532 North Milwaukee.

Roger Ebert once wrote, "High Fidelity" is based on a 1995 novel by Nick Hornby, a London-based writer, and is directed by Stephen Frears, also British. Frears and his screenwriters (D.V. Devincentis, Steve Pink, Cusack and Scott Rosenberg) have transplanted the story to Chicago so successfully that it feels like it grew organically out of the funky soil of Lincoln Avenue and North Halsted, Old Town and New Town, Rogers Park and Hyde Park, and Wicker Park, where it was shot--those neighborhoods where the workers in the alternative-lifestyle industry live, love and labor.

This is one of my favorite scenes: 

Source: tumblr.com via Eva on Pinterest

I love that this movie is about making the best mixed tape. [Because I love making mixed tapes/cds.] I can't way to watch this movie again and hear the amazing soundtrack. 


Chicago magazine rated High Fidelity #1 in a list of the top 40 movies ever filmed in Chicago.


P.S If you ever go to Revolution Brewery, we love the Rosa beer. It's a summer beer with hibiscus and orange!

Beautiful messy hair and updos

I love messy, curly, wavy, bedhead hair. Fortunately, my hair loves to be messy, although frizzy is my forte. I saw this phrase on Pinterest and had to blog about beautiful hair.

Source: ffffound.com via Emily on Pinterest

With the heat and humidity this summer in Chicago, my curls are more hydrated but I love having my hair up instead. This is what it typically looks like at the end of the day.

Source: polyvore.com via Lynne on Pinterest

I'd like to make it more like this...

Source: None via Breanna on Pinterest

My hair is not that straight, so it ends up looking slightly more like this....

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Sometimes I wear my glasses...

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I'd like to try more intricate updos like this........

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When it's cooler, I'd like to have more hair down more like this...

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After work maybe my hair can look more like this...

Source: smadirty.tumblr.com via I luv you Jen-nay on Pinterest

I like this messy undo hair for evening too.

Source: piccsy.com via Susie on Pinterest

In an ideal world, I would love to have Shakira-like curls. 

Source: None via cate on Pinterest

Recently, my hair has been up in a ponytail exclusively, unless I'm inside an air-conditioned building!

Our walk around the Near North Side of Chicago

Mr. F and I walked about 10 miles today around the near North Side. We started in River North, walked along the North side of the Chicago River from State to Lake Shore, up Michigan Ave to Lincoln Park. 

We saw the new 26 foot Marilyn Monroe statue in Pioneer's Square on Magnificent Mile. She's pretty cool but, the tourists standing underneath taking pictures were quite disgusting. 

 Mr. F was not amused by the tourists, so we only stopped briefly for a few pictures. 

We continued along Lake Shore to Fullerton Parkway, where the beach walk curves toward Lincoln Park. While walking home through Lincoln Park, we came across the Green City Market! We had fried cheese from Brunkow Cheese of Wisconsin. 

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We had amazing apple cider doughnuts from Zullo's. 

There were gorgeous flowers all over the Green City Market. We also saw pretty black-eyed susans and daisies throughout the park!

What did you do today?

Giuliana & Bill

I have become addicted to the reality tv show, Giuliana & Bill. 

 I started watching it because it's filmed frequently in Chicago. 

They are so endearing and funny.

Have you seen it? 

Where I'd like to travel next...

In the last year, Mr. F and I have travelled to three countries and moved from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest. We love planning vacations, especially to another country. While we're really enjoying the summer in Chicago, the travel bug is itching to start planning another European adventure.

 Last September we travelled to Prague with the in-laws. We loved the food and beer. It would be amazing to return to this fairy tale town. 

This last spring we were invited to Cabo San Lucas to stay with friends from college.

We had so much fun with our friends, particularly in the infinity pool. 

Last month, we went to Barcelona for a conference for my work! 

Here are some of the places we'd like to travel to next:

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Provence and the Loire Valley

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The Amalfi Coast

Where would you go, if you could go anywhere?