Why Do I Drool Over Bathtubs?

I swear, even when I had a pretty decent bathtub I didn't take that many baths...But something just makes me think that if I just had a really luxurious bathtub, life would be perfect.



Seriously.

This is GORGEOUS.  It looks like the most spectacular way to relax and wash away all your troubles.  Oh, Bath In Wood people, I can almost guarantee that I can't afford the luxury you offer, but if I win the lottery, you're on my short list.

Wardrobe Daydreaming

Damn you JCrew and your adorable things I want to wear right this second.

Grapes vs. Cucumbers

Not only is this (another) interesting lecture from the TED series, but it's also really funny.  Personally, I like cucumbers. But I certainly don't blame the cucumber monkey for his reaction.

BK Your Way, On The Way

Burger King has decided to introduce delivery to a number of Chicago locations.  My first thought is that this is totally ridiculous and unnecessary.  And then I remember that I've long been requesting that Dairy Queen and Taco Bell get together and start a delivery service.

So I guess what I'm saying is- Burger delivery BAD. Taco delivery GOOD. Blizzard delivery also GOOD.

Do These Dungarees...

Friday needs these moves

Breath Of Fresh Australian Air

I was NOT expecting to like this book.  It's not that I was expecting to DISLIKE this book, just that  I was expecting a slightly better than average book.  And I'm still not 100% sure why I loved this book as much as I did (there isn't anything specific that would generally draw me?) but I think it's because I never could quite tell what was going to happen.  Tom and Isabel are the only inhabitants of an island that is the home to a lighthouse off the coast of Australia.  They have had many heartbreaking problems having a baby of their own so they are shocked (for more than one reason) when a lifeboat washes up on their shores carrying a dead man and a small, very much alive, baby.  Isabel convinces Tom that the baby must be an orphan and instead of reporting the incident, they should simply give the baby a loving home.  Tom reluctantly agrees.  This choice has very serious repercussions that ultimately threaten everything that they've built together.

The moral dilemmas are plentiful and the ability to see both sides of the argument makes for a compelling story.  With even as few as 20 pages left, I could see multiple different outcomes and wasn't sure which one I was rooting for.  I think the fact that my feelings for each character were never cut and dry made this book really interesting to me.  I enjoy multidimensional characters and feeling like things are more gray than black and white.

This would be a great book for a book discussion and I'll recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and a unique setting.  I loved this book.

Game Of Thrones Watcher For Adoption

Who's letting me come over on Sunday to watch Game of Thrones with them?  I promise I'll try to not ask too many questions, I'll bring a bottle of wine, and I'll devote 100% of my attention to the show instead of also playing with my iPad.  I might even bring snacks.  Pretty please??

Just Tryin'

Even when my legs are tired, I'm stuck at work on a Tuesday night, I forgot to hold Andy to his plans for Game Night with wine on Sunday, and all I want is to be next to a pool with a margarita....



Sometimes you just gotta put it out into the world when life isn't glittering in your face...

So Amazingly True

*image from an awesome blog: Flourish In Progress

Foodie Mind Blown

Little Goat. Stephanie Izard. Go there RIGHT NOW.

Andy and I went this weekend for lunch and had a fantastic time from start to finish.  I started things off with a kick ass Bloody Mary at their bar while we waited for our seats.  Which of course gave us plenty of time to peruse all of their merchandise featuring the cute goat image.  Spoiler: We definitely left with 2 coffee mugs, a travel mug, and a couple bags of coffee.  I could have easily purchased a couple shirts too.  After a little bit of a wait, we were seated at the luncheon-type counter facing the kitchen.  We drooled over every single item coming out of there until I suddenly realized that Stephanie Izard herself was cooking directly in front of us!

I don't know how many of you are Top Chef fans, but I am.  I LOVE Top Chef and Stephanie sits firmly in my top 5 chefs from the show.  Probably only being beaten out by Richard Blais.  But it's close. Real close. Like, she may have scooped him after this meal close.

Anyway, while trying not to stare too blatantly, we enjoyed fried pickle and onion rings (with a RIDICULOUSLY good curry mayo dipping sauce), a grilled cheese filled with tomatoes/smoked gouda/bacon/spinach amazingness, and a Spanish omelet that I can't even begin to remember what it entailed besides more awesome stuff.

Side note- the manager of this place is also really fantastic.  As it was the Saturday before St. Patty's, we were having a couple cocktails with our lunch.  Andy asked if they had Red Bull and the manager said "Nope. But I'm pretty sure I can make some appear." At which point, he literally sent someone to the store to buy a can of Red Bull.  He also stopped back to chat with us later about the music (which was a mix of hip hop and 80's) and also gave us his card if we wanted him to hold a table for us at any point in the future.  I don't know if he thought we warranted some sort of special treatment or if he just has a way of making everyone feel like they're ballers, but whatever the reason, I was impressed.

The cherry on top of this lunch was that we actually got to meet and have a conversation with Ms. Izard before we left.  Our waitress knew I was interested in just saying "hi' and she brought her over to talk to us.  Stephanie was really cool and talked to us for about 5 minutes.  My only regret is that I didn't think to ask her what she thought about this last Top Chef finale!

Seriously, if given the chance to pick a new place downtown to try out, go to Little Goat.  I'd go back tomorrow if I could.

Little Goat Menu

Little Goat

Mental Vacation

In my head, I'm in Bora Bora right now...

Stop The Excuses

I've heard a lot of people lately saying "I had a job/kids/life. I didn't have time to read!" or "I don't know who has time to read?!"

I call bullshit.

Turn off the television.

I'm not saying you need to turn off the tv from 7-10 p.m. That's just ridiculous.  I'm saying you should spend 15 minutes reading a book before you go to bed.  Or for 5 minutes when you get up in the morning while having your cup of coffee.  Or maybe during your lunch break instead of cruising Pintrest for the 900th appetizer recipe you think you'll need sometime.


I'm not saying it has to be a TON of time.  I'm just saying that I'm really sick of hearing "I don't have time"

Yes you do, you just choose not to use it to read.

p.s. Just because I do find time to read, doesn't mean I have a less important life than you, don't watch television (I watch a LOT of television), don't get errands done, don't have a social life, and must have massive amounts of free time.

p.p.s. I also make dinner most nights and go to the gym. Oh, and I sleep 8-9 hours a night.  Knock off the excuses.

DO IT DEXTER!

I'll Take Scandalous Stories for $100, Alex

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

If you're a Pretty Little Liars fan, you should probably pick up this book. If you're looking for a fairly juicy thriller, go ahead and put your name on the hold list. If you're looking for the next award winning title, eh, this might not be it. But let's be real, sometimes you just want something entertaining. This was right up my alley when I finally hit my window of getting to pick my own reading material for the month. I wanted something fairly quick, a bit salacious, and new. Reconstructing Amelia won't be published until April 2, 2014 so I'm a bit ahead on this one. I got an advance copy at the library and thought I should actually try and read it before it came out! I'm glad I did because I think this will be a fairly easy book to recommend to patrons.

 This "Mean Girls"-type thriller is definitely an older teen crossover. Kate gets a phone call saying her daughter, Amelia, has been suspended only to get to the school and find that she's supposedly jumped off the roof and killed herself. None of this makes sense for the straight A student but Kate accepts it until she receives a cryptic text saying "She didn't jump". So starts the chase to figure out what actually caused Amelia's death. What made this book more interesting to me was the format of the story. It goes back and forth between Kate's current day chase to find out what happened and the months leading up to the event from Amelia's point of view. Turns out, there is much about Amelia that Kate was unaware of and it isn't pretty. I explain this as a "Mean Girls type thriller" due to the fact that a large part of the storyline is based on a secret high school club with some brutal hazing plans...I enjoyed Amelia's voice a bit more than Kate's, as Kate comes across a bit too unhinged at times. I never really felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen but I had a good time making my different guesses as I read!

 I'd recommend this to women looking for a thriller and older teens who are fans of the Pretty Little Liars series. Due to the sexual nature of some scenes, I would set a minimum age of 16 for this one...chapters are a little longer so it's not super speedy but it's definitely an engaging, fun read!

My New Workout Routine

I cannot tell you how many times I've said pushing a cart full of books around is a good core workout.

One Thing I'd Like To Be

Pharon and I had a Skype/Facetime date last night that lasted approximately 3 hours.  There was wedding talk (Yeah! to us being engaged at the same time!), shopping talk (it's totally fine to return something you've worn if it's defective, but NOT if it smells like you sleep in an ashtray), and rehashing of conversations we've had 12 other times...pretty much the best 3 hours EVER.

One part of our conversation was the discussion of Kate Spade and telling Pharon that Ms. Spade has an awesome coffee table book out right now.  Which made me wish that #1- I had just sent her the book as a gift without telling her and #2- I had the ability to keep that sort of surprise secret from her.  

I also told Pharon that some day when I'm rich, I'm probably going to be the sort of friend who buys her (and presumably my other favorite girlfriends) fun random gifts.  I once had a conversation along these lines with my super fun friend, Courtney.  We talked about what we would do if we won the lottery and she told me that not only would she spend her money going on trips and buying fun stuff, but she would also take me with her.  She also told me she'd do nice things like paying off my student loans.  Granted, if she actually wins millions of dollars, I don't know if she'd actually do this (nor would I do something like sue her if she didn't) but it made me think "I've got great friends!" 

And then I saw this on YoungHouseLove today

You should probably just follow that blog and read the story yourself (and every single other post they do) but the short version of the story is that Sherry and John (of YHL fame) went to visit their friends Katie and Jeremy Bower (of also fun BowerPower fame) for a fun weekend that coincided with a book tour stop for their great new book (which I definitely purchased immediately upon it's publication).  As a nice surprise, Katie left Sherry this box of treats outside their guest room door to celebrate their great year.  

I immediately looked at this and thought of the conversation that I had with Pharon last night and went "I want to be THIS sort of person!" I want to be the person who sends random fun gifts to people out of the blue.  I want to be the person who puts together thoughtful welcome packages for visitors.  I want to be the person who tells people when they're thinking of them.  

In general I'm not that person.  I do buy gifts for people but then I usually hang on to them until I see them next which means I'll have them for like a year or I'll forget them for the next 10 times I see that person.  *which reminds me that I have a Christmas gift for someone I've seen on almost a weekly basis that I should probably give them* I need to just send those gifts in the mail.  STOP BEING LAZY GIFT GIVER, MADELINE! And I do try and buy welcome gifts for people but usually it ends up just being a bottle of wine so it doesn't look so gifty when I'm opening it up myself when they get there...or in the case of my mother, it's a dress that doesn't fit me anymore and a bottle of patchouli shaving cream that I hate with a passion.  Way to keep it classy, Solien.

Anyway, watch out folks, this is my new personal goal.  Don't expect me to start sending out massive amounts of trinkets but you just might get a heartfelt card someday...and maybe a cute coffee mug next to your bed...or something like that.

Just Call Me "Captain"

That title has literally nothing to do with anything.  But when I was thinking of titles for this post, that was the first thing that came to mind. Sometimes I think my brain has a short in the wires somewhere *no comments from the peanut gallery, m'kay?*

Anyway, I don't know if you guys know this or anything but

I GOT ENGAGED THIS WEEKEND!!!!!

*hold on while I scream in excitement for the millionth time*

So of course, now that I have absolutely nothing planned and no idea what we're going to do, I'm filling my time looking at pretty married lady things like these earrings from Kate Spade



Granted, I'm also then looking at things like this bangle that Kate Spade probably made with me specifically in mind



But whatever, I still just want to go run around being giddy.  I'm probably going to.  And I very well might take all of you down with me so be prepared.

No Way No Neva'

There was a lot of awesome stuff to come out of my weekend with the girls...Mostly things like hangovers, meat comas, and bargains from the mall....

This might be one of my favorite things from this weekend.  This is a cartoon version of a guy sitting in his closet while tripping on acid.

Trust me.  It's HILARIOUS.

Big Girls Weekend

I get to spend this weekend with these ladies....Pharon and Kelly...2 of my best friends in the whole world...I'm so excited to see their pretty faces I can hardly stand it

Start Your Valentine's Day Practicing