Arts'n'Spirits

In August, a LivingSocial deal came out for a 1/2 priced art class at Arts'n'Spirits in Bucktown. Jenna and I quickly snagged it up, and it took us 3 months to actually get there.

But, thankfully, it was worth of the wait. 

How cute is this studio?

Last night Jenna and I met, with a bottle of wine in hand (because Arts'n'Sprits is BYOB main reason I went) and prepared to get our craft on.

The studio is right on Damen and is so bright, and friendly - it was the perfect girl's date.  They got us all set up with paint, a smock, and an easel and we poured ourselves a glass of wine and jammed out to some great music. 

Each class is a different theme so you will want to check out their website before you register. Our classes theme was "Peacock" and the teacher makes it very easy for you to recreate their work.

They break it down for you step by step, and before you know it, you have a full blown painting on your hands

 

And if you are a good class, at the end, the teacher (ours was the cool, 'V') will pull 2 free classes (classes typically run about $45), and guess who won?

Miss Jenna Wouters!

We had such a great time and we can't wait to come back! 

a little pick me up

Is it just me or is it a constant battle to stay upbeat, positive, happy, and light, all the time?


Lately it seems as though I struggle to feel content. Struggle to feel as though I’m doing what I should be doing. Or what I was meant to do.

Basically I spend one week down in the dumps, upset and depressed about this lack of fulfillment and then the next week I spend every waking minute working hard to stay positive. I keep things that make me happy in my day to day life (exercise, wine, baths), and find mantra’s that keep me smiling. Then…I get exhausted of all that work and fall back into the down in the dumps version of Tess, and just go through the motions to get through the day.

I guess the toughest part of it all is that I don’t know what to do about it, or exactly what would make me happier.

I’m on the journey to figure that out I guess, I just hate wasting days feeling like a spoiled, selfish brat – because you know what? My life is really pretty good. I have my health, I have my family, I have someone I love, I have a nice home to come back to everyday, enough money to get sushi and martini’s on Wednesday….so why is this not enough for me?

Don’t worry....I’ll be just fine….I just think that your twenties are a tough time….an inbetween time where you test things out to find out what works and what doesn’t work for you. So, I guess that’s just where I’m at.

Luckily for you, I’m in one of those weeks where I’m trying to keep things light, positive, and colorful.

WILW

 I am loving that next weekend is Thanksgiving - and I love that this is the time of year that you really take stock in what you are thankful for.

I am loving the reciepes I found for some Thanksgiving treats. And again, I love you Pintrest.

I am loving this creamer. It makes me feel like I'm that woman in a Foldger's commercial.

 I am loving that next week is a short week and I get to be reunited with my sisters.

I am loving that I'm taking a day trip up to Madison, WI. on Saturday to visit on of my best friends and celebrate her birthday with dinner and a comedy show!
 that 

I am loving that I'm officially signed up for 2 Turkey Trot's next week. One on Thanksgiving which I did last year - the Turkey Trot 10k - and one at work. The work trot is a little more complicated (and difficult) but I think will be tons of fun. I'm on a team of 5 and each one of us have 2 hours to run as many miles as we can. I've committed to 10 miles and I'm really hoping I can deliver on my promise!

I am loving bow-tie tops even though I haven't found one for myself. They are the perfect work yet party shirt. No?

I am loving that tomorrow I'm going to Arts'n'Spirits in Bucktown. My friend Jenna and I bought the Groupon for it back in August and we are finally getting to go. It's bascailly a BYOB art class. I'll have a review on here next week for sure. The theme for our class is "martini's' which is clearly up my alley!

'tis the season

With a small city apartment going overboard on holiday decorations can make you feel like you are trapped in aisle 14 of target. And obviously, I want to "Christmas-fy" my home for the holidays, so it turns into a bit of a design dilemma.

Enter: Pintrest

Since I try to enjoy every holiday to its fullest, I refuse to let myself get too immersed with Christmas until after Thanksgiving....but it doesn't hurt to have a little inspiration right?

Here are a few inspiration images I've collected that I've decided I will use bring the holiday spirit into my house this season.

Maybe all else I'll need is the new Biebs Christmas cd...

Book Review

Are you in need of a good book?

Do you have 2 days to spend constantly reading?

If you answered yes to both of those questions, I have the perfect book for you.

The First Husband by Laura Dave.

Before I start, this cover means nothing to me about the book. Have you read this book? If you have, can you explain why they used this cover? It doesn't make any sense to me.

But, moving on.....the book's main character is Annie Adams who is a travel writer living in California with her boyfriend Nick. Nick turns into a loser - for lack of a better word - and moves out of their apartment leaving Annie searching for her home. She bumps into a chef Griffin who turns her world upside down. But then, as all love stories go, Nick shows back up in Annie's life and you find yourself become physically angry with Annie and some of the choices she seems to make.

This is the perfect book to read if it's starting to snow in your town and you can think of nothing more you would like to do than cozy up with a good book.




My favorite place this book and I traveled to together was the bar in the Peninsula Hotel. I got off work early and was supposed to meet friends there at 6, so instead of shopping around Michigan Ave, my Nook and I found a cozy spot in the bar, by the fire place, ordered a martini, and devoured each and every page for 2 hours straight. It was bliss.

TGIF

Another week under our belts!

It was a pretty good week for me overall. I feel relaxed and ready to go into this weekend. Of course, it’s another jam packed weekend.

Tonight is my best friend’s (since 2nd grade!) birthday. We are taking her out to The Peninsula hotel for drinks in their hotel bar to start her 24th year on the best foot possible!

Then it's off to dinner at Scoozi! in River North.

Tomorrow I’ve got 4 miles between me and a fun afternoon, so as soon as I accomplish that I will head over to my cousins house and meet up with all of my aunts and parents to hang out with their new baby twins. After we all get our baby fix we are heading out to an early dinner at Dinotto in Old Town before going to a comedy show at Zanies.

We are seeing Kyle

Sunday is a day jammed full of cleaning, laundry, and a visit to the grocery store. It’s Claire’s actual day of birth so we are going to cook her a yummy dinner and open up some champagne! I’m on the hunt for a good dessert recipe so let me know if you have any good ideas for me.

And, here is what I was wearing this past week.

This is what I'm wearing today! Anthropolie dress, American Apparel leggings, Steve Madden boots

Juicy couture top, Target skirt, ATL tights, TB wedges

ATL cords, Paylesss boots, Ella Moss top



Gap pants, BCBG shoes, AT top



Have an amazing weekend dolls!

Mid-Week Update

You know what's great about this post, is that it's actually a little after mid-week....it's Thursday!

• Yesterday I had an aggressive taste for a French martini, and since I couldn't convince Joel to come on a martini date with me, I did the next best thing - I stopped at the liqour store. A mini-bottle of chomboard later, I was all set to play bartender in my own kitchen. 

2 1/2 ounces of Pinapple Juice

2 ounces of vodka

1/2 ounce of chomboard

My 1st martini was a little on the pinapple-y side, so I may play around with the recipes in the day to come.

• I've been trying to step up my workouts. Even though I'm not working out today (see bullet below) I have been trying to get 5 workouts in a week. On Tuesday's I'm taking a workout class called Expresso which includes lots of circut and stregth training, and every other day I focus on 30-45 minutes of cardio. I wish exercise is what my body needed to lose weight, but unfortantley - for my body, it's 95% the food I put in my body.

• I'm trying out a new restaurant today at lunch with my co-workers. We are going to Cantina Laredo which is in River North and has gotten great reviews. Too bad we can't have margarita's..

• It is 35 degrees right now in Chicago.

• I'm still not used to the time change, I hate that it's pitch black by the time I get home from work at 5:30.

• The month of November is packed so full - but with only fun things, so I'm not complaining at all.

• I feel like in the blink of an eye this year is going to be over. After Thanksgiving, I have 2 sick days I need to take off of work, plus a long vacation to Mexico - so I'll be working only a total of 13 days that month - which again....I'm not complaining.

•  This was a useful post, no? dont answer that.

Christmas Cards

No, don't worry, you won't be getting a Christmas card from me.

Even though, I would really, reallllly like to send on out - I think its a little ____fill in the blank____ for me to send one out of my boyfriend and I. 

I may send out a few holiday cards to my girlfriends, but I won't be including a cute, cozy, family friendly picture showing off my honky-dory life. 

But if I did....(and was married and with child or at least a dog) I would pick one of these goregous prints.

I have always had great success with TinyPrints.com and I find their selection and price to be the best of all the online sites. 

 

If you are one of the lucky ones that gets to send out your own prints, check out that website....and let me know which one you choose! 

p.s. can you believe we are talking about holiday cards?!

weekend wrap up

That extra hour yesterday felt like it added a whole extra day onto my weekend.

 On Friday night Joel and I anticipated going out for 1 drink and 1 appetizer, and of course, that turned into 3 drinks (each) and a blown out meal. We went to Socca, which like I told you, has the perfect balance of fancy and comfort. We started out with a escargot which was sub-par. I felt like it tasted like coffee, and it really didn’t do it for me. The best escargot I’ve had in the city is at Paris Club. If you go, you have to promise me you will try their escargot. For dinner I had their scallops which were perfectly cooked and just the right portion size – and a French martini, which was made very well. Joel went with the Rabbit Risotto, which too, was really good.

We walked home after another round of drinks, and I fell asleep on the couch quickly after that.

On Saturday we both woke up and went for runs (9 miles for Joel, and 3 for me)…..and then ran around the city running errands. We needed silly things like the following from Crate & Barrell.

On Saturday night, we had friends over for pizza and beer, and then went to a bar down the street from us to watch the LSU v. Bama game…no comments there.

Sunday we woke up and went to visit Joel’s nephew, Luke. He’s getting so big and is at a really fun age and was so good for us all morning.


When we got home we ordered a movie off the TV and went with Crazy, Stupid, Love...which, if you haven’t seen it, you now have plans for this evening.

I made pasta last night, we had a few glasses of wine, and now it’s back to reality.

I don’t have any plans after work this week and I’m keeping it that way. I want to try and save some $, eat like a normal person and keep the alcohol at bay. I say this every Monday, don’t I?

Hope you all had a great, extra long, weekend.

Here’s to a new week!