My Trip to Eataly Chicago

Tags

boyfriend, Chicago, eataly, food, lunch, pasta, pesto, pizza, restaurant

Hi everyone 🙂

It’s so nice to finally be on winter break – my classes were really challenging this quarter, and I’m happy that I’m finished. 

My boyfriend and I celebrated the end of the quarter by spending a day in Chicago yesterday.  We went to Eataly, which is a new restaurant/gourmet food store owned by Mario Batali.  It was amazing!  Eataly literally has every type of Italian food you could imagine: from fresh bread to produce to chocolate.  Here are some photos I took of some of the food displays.

 

 

The first floor has several small cafes, and the second floor has sit-down restaurants.  Eataly has several restaurants, and each one serves a different type of food.  There are restaurants for meat, fish, vegetables, and pizza and pasta.  This wasn’t a problem for my boyfriend and I, who were in the mood for pizza and pasta, but it might be tough if you’re with a big group of people who all want different types of food.  When we sat down, we were greeted with delicious fresh bread and olive oil.  We were seated right in front of the pizza ovens: it was so cool to watch the pizzas being made! 

My boyfriend ordered a Margherita pizza, which came with tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella, and extra virgin olive oil.  He said it was tasty, but he wished there was more basil on it.  There was only one basil leaf!

I ordered linguine with pesto trapanese.  The sauce was made with tomatoes, basil, almonds, garlic, chili flakes, and Pecorino cheese.  It. Was. Incredible.  Seriously one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.  The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the sauce was so fresh and flavorful.  I absolutely loved it!

We had such a great time eating and exploring Eataly: it’s huge, and we didn’t even look at everything!  If you’re in Chicago, I highly recommend stopping by Eataly.  It is such a cool place full of great food, and I can’t wait to go again!

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End of Summer Photos

Tags

boyfriend, brownie, collage, daisy, dog, life, mini golf, pet, photos, wordless

I’m back at school!  While I will miss having so much time to relax (and let’s be honest: watch trashy reality TV), I’m excited to get back to campus.

Here’s a final summer photo collage!

Clockwise from right:

// Chocolate chunk caramel peanut butter brownies!  Divine and such a treat 🙂

// Daisy and I!  She was especially sweet a few days ago, and I had to snap this photo.

// My boyfriend and I went mini-golfing last weekend, and we had so much fun!  The course had hills and waterfalls… for a mini golf course, it was beautiful!

// Daisy’s little face!  Sorry I’m not sorry I post so many photos of her.  If you don’t like her, you probably don’t like anything.

// The boyfriend and I at mini golf again!  I like selfies.  He lets me take them with him.  What a guy. 😛

 

What was the best part of your summer?  Tell me in the comments!

August Photos

Tags

august, boyfriend, cookie, daisy, dog, frozen yogurt, good life, influenster, ottoman, photos, swirlcup, Target, voxbox

August is almost over, which means it’s time for a collage of photos that didn’t make it into other posts, but were just too good to skip posting.

Clockwise from top right:

1 // The boyfriend and I!

2 // Daisy’s guilty face!  Reminds me of this video.

3 // Shameless work selfie!  Pretending to look all official.

4 // We ordered a cupcake for a co-worker who was leaving for college, but we needed to order more from the bakery so they would deliver it to our office.  Oh, it was such a problem! 😉 I ordered this grumpy cookie!

5 // A new storage ottoman from Target – I love that it’s round instead of square, and the pattern is adorable.  I can’t wait to move back in to my room at school, especially when it feels like EVERY other college has started already.

6 // My Influenster Good Life VoxBox arrived a few days ago!  Check back for a review of the items in it soon.

7 // Frozen yogurt with the boyfriend!  We went to SwirlCup and it was delicious, but I wish they had a wider selection of yogurt flavors.  In a perfect world, every fro-yo place would have every yogurt flavor and topping at all times.  A girl can dream!  He got plain yogurt with fruit, while I got peanut butter, cake batter, and chocolate yogurt with every chocolate topping they had.  Typical.

What was your favorite part of August?

MIMM: Photos from the Week

Tags

boyfriend, caramel, chocolate chip, collage, cookies, daisy, dog, frappuccino, longchamp, mimm, outlet mall, photos, starbucks, week

Clockwise from top right:

1 // Chocolate chip cookies!  I’ll post the recipe someday. 😉

2 // A wall full of Longchamp bags at the new outlet store at Fashion Outlets of Chicago.  My mom, sister, and I went on opening day and it was crazy!  I snagged a new bag and skirt (mentioned in my last post), as well as some Bath and Body Works shower gels.

3 // Daisy and I after work.  Yes, this is a mirror selfie. 😛

4 // Venti Caramel Frappuccino Light… caffeine helps me focus, which is strange.  This is my favorite Starbucks drink!

5 // The boyfriend and I.  He looks good, but I look exhausted.

6 // Daisy the diva.  I love this photo of her!

What’s Making Me Happy

Tags

antique, art, boyfriend, caramel, chocolate, football, friends, hair, popcorn, toulouse-lautrec, vintage

Boy Scouts are selling popcorn.  Which means they’re selling chocolate-covered caramel popcorn.  Which means this is my reaction.

I got to see one of my lovely BFFs Jaime yesterday.  She is from Pennsylvania so I haven’t seen her all Summer, but now we’re reunited!  Jaime Instagrammed this photo.

We went to a football game along with my boyfriend Sebastian.  I can’t wait to see all my friends on Friday when I move back to college!  As for the game, I’m excited to say that the Northwestern Wildcats are currently 3-0!!  YAY!!

By this point in the afternoon I was tired of my hair being in my face, so I put it up in a ponytail.  I have extremely thick hair, so my hairstyle options are “up” and “down.”  If anyone has any styling tips for thick hair, please share!

 

Today I went to the gym, then stopped by my local library’s charity book sale with my parents.  I found this giant coffee table book for only $5.  It’s full of big,  full-color images of Toulouse-Lautrec’s fascinating paintings.

That made me happy, but this made me even happier.  I was flipping through the book when this pamphlet fell out.  It’s from a 1979 exhibit at The Art Institute of Chicago!  It’s in perfect condition and I plan to frame it.  I love old stuff, and this was a great find!!  I also think it’s funny that this particular image was chosen for the cover of the pamphlet.  It’s called Yvette Gilbert Taking a Curtain Call (1894) and I adore the sweet yet almost-smug look on Yvette’s face.

Who is your favorite artist?

Any thick-haired ladies have hairstyling tips?  Please help me out!

Target Fun

Tags

aquarium, ballet flats, beauty, boyfriend, Chicago, fish, lip liner, makeup, photography, puppy chow, recipe, sonia kashuk, Target, top, whale

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I went to downtown Chicago to go to the Shedd aquarium.  It turned out that yesterday was one of the aquarium’s Discount Days, so we didn’t have to pay admission.  Score!

After visiting all the fishies, we walked along the lakefront path.  It was a beautiful day!

Today was a little more laid-back, so I browsed around Target for a while.  I shop at Target often, and I love the great deals and fun finds there.  Today I picked up some ingredients for puppy chow.  Here’s the recipe.  It’s delicious!

I also bought a basic black top for $7.  How hard could it be to find a soft long-sleeve fitted V-neck top?  Apparently very hard, because I have been looking for a shirt like this for a while!

I also snagged these ballet flats for $19.99.  I like that they’re simple enough to wear with a bold outfit, but they’re not too basic.  Target makes surprisingly great ballet flats that won’t give you blisters.  They may not last as long as more expensive flats, but you never need to break them in.

As well as a Sonia Kashuk lip liner for $6.  I’ve been using my mom’s lip liner whenever I wear lipstick, but I figured it’s time to be a grown-up and get my own.  This one is a neutral pink shade.

It’s been a great past few days, but I am TOO READY for school to start!

Marvelous in My Monday #5

Tags

antique, aquarium, boyfriend, brussels griffon, cute, dog, fish, healthy diva eats, marvelous, milk glass, monday, vintage

Happy Monday!  I haven’t written a Marvelous Monday post in a few weeks, but I’m back on the bandwagon now.  Thanks Healthy Diva Eats for hosting!

Several of you have asked about the dog I’ve featured in some of my posts.  His name is William and he’s a Brussels Griffon.  He belongs to the people I work for and he is feisty but also very sweet.  Surprisingly, he doesn’t mind being dressed up.

 

I love little dogs, and spending time with William has made me fall in love with this breed.  They’re so funny-looking that they’re cute!  One day I’d like to get one of my own.

 

Another thing I love?  Antique fairs.  There was one in my town this weekend so of course I had to check it out.  I came home with this beautiful vintage milk glass creamer.  It only cost $5!

This weekend was exciting because I got my Zumba® Instructor license!!  Now I’m working on getting my music together and choreographing routines.  Hopefully I’ll have a class ready soon.  I’m determined to make it a really good workout!

 

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing plenty of photos because my boyfriend and I are spending the day at the aquarium!  I love whales and fish and all things aquarium-y, so I’m very excited!

This is and always will be one of my favorite photos of us!

 

Much love,

Marvelous in My Monday #4

Tags

boyfriend, college, cookies, eyeliner, fashion, fiber one, forever 21, game show, H&M, marvelous monday, polyvore, sephora, shopping, someecards, weekend, whammy

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had lovely weekends.  Mine was spent hanging out with my boyfriend Sebastian.  We went to my sister’s high school football game, the pool, the gym, out to dinner, and the mall.  He’s from downtown Chicago, so I always feel like he gets bored here in the suburbs!

My Facebook news feed is full of “OMG BACK AT COLLEGE YAY!” statuses, and it’s frustrating because I don’t go back until September 21st.  I miss all my friends!

 

Whatevs.  Here are several marvelous things!  Thanks to Healthy Diva Eats for hosting this every week!

• the 36-pack of Fiber One bars that you can only get at Costco and on the internet

• watching old game shows – does anyone remember Whammy?

• Sebastian and I baked a batch of cookies.  He’s into photography (he just got a new DSLR camera!) so I let him be my photographer. 😛  Photos and a recipe coming soon!

• I bought a dress from Forever 21, so I made a Polyvore collage based on it to give me some styling ideas.  If only I actually had everything in this collage!

• someecards in general

• feeling like I just won the lottery when I manage to find things for extremely low prices.  This weekend I bought a fancy eyeliner from Sephora for $3.  Three dollars!!  I’m pretty sure the cashier had absolutely no motivation to give me good service, because she was pretty sassy.  I’m sorry I bought the $3 eyeliner before you got a chance to.  Wait, no I’m not.

 

You can get one, too!  I’m sort of obsessed with this color.  It looks great on every skin tone and adds just enough color to your look.  Pair it with black or brown mascara and nude lips.  I do nude lips by first applying a coat of regular lip balm, then dabbing on concealer using my index finger.

Sephora Collection Day to Night Wear Eyeliner in Sunburst, $3.00

That’s all for now!  I hope your Mondays are marvelous!

 

What is your favorite kind of cookie?

Any someecards you love that I should check out?

 

Banana Phone?

Tags

alpha chi omega, axo, boyfriend, bravo, chemistry, fun, Italian, m&ms, noodles, pasta, reese's cups, roses, school, sorority, valentines

Ring, ring, Valentine’s day!

I needed an excuse to put this photo into a post; it is just too funny!

My Valentine’s day was lovely because for the first time in EVER I actually had a valentine!  I bought him chocolate and made him a card… and he one-upped me like he does every day in school and height and metabolism. 

A tangent: Sebastian has the metabolism of a god.  A very skinny god.  It’s my mission to fatten him up by cooking for him making him eat ice cream sundaes at every meal.

Look, he got me a dozen roses!

As well as peanut butter M&M’s and mini Reese’s cups.  Not the regular-sized ones, the mini ones.  They have a better peanut butter : chocolate ratio.

At night, Sebastian took me out to a fancy dinner at Bravo!  We were classy as always…

Sebastian ordered a chicken dish, and I ordered rigatoni with spinach, grilled chicken, basil, and pesto cream sauce.  Topped with lots of parmesan, of course!  I’m the girl who eats bowls of grated parmesan with a spoon.  Don’t judge.

Anyway, it was delicious.  Bravo! never fails me.

The waitress serving us seemed to think we were just stupid teenagers who didn’t know how to tip.  Oh but NO… we’re stupid teenagers who worked in the food service business.  Yay for defying stereotypes!

After dinner, Sebastian and I roamed around World Market looking at random stuff we don’t really need.  I oogled over all their bird stuff.  I will totally be one of those old ladies with a house full of bird-themed needlepoint samplers and wallpaper.

This morning, I had a job interview!  AGHHHH!  I think it went well but obviously I don’t know for sure.  After the interview I changed into my new AXO shirt…

The white board behind me is Sebastian’s word of the day board.  He actually writes a new one every day.  Today’s is “vena cava.”  We are such nerds.

I then went to my classes, history and chemistry, and then to the gym.  30 minutes on the elliptical + Cosmo = de-stressing at its finest!

It’s Pledge Mom Week for my sorority, so an older sister is buying me gifts all week and sending them anonymously!  Today’s gift was a lovely song by some amazing guy singers, Noodles & Company mac n’ cheese, Diet Coke, a brownie, and lots of AXO stuff!  This week is literally like Christmas if Christmas lasted a week and was full of sorority surprises.  I love it!

I have about a gazillion and one things to do this week but hopefully I’ll get them all done without going crazy!  Chemistry is the worst… the teacher lectures and says “when you’re doing your homework, do this blahblahblah…” but doesn’t assign homework based on the stuff we learned.  So we are just expected to know it without ever actually practicing it.  Grrrrreat.

That’s all for now, sorry I’ve been MIA from reading/commenting on all your lovely blogs   I promise I’ll be back soon!

 

-Courtney

A Random Saturday

Tags

almonds, amy's, boyfriend, carob, chemistry, college, homework, hummus, nail polish, pita, revlon, salad, school, stuffed shells, thinkthin, whole foods

Hello, lovelies This is the first Saturday in a long time when I’m not traveling/rushing/doing something extremely time-consuming!  Yay!

Lunch!  A big salad full of cucumbers, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, tofu, and balsalmic vinegar.  My friends make fun of me for eating salads without lettuce in them.  That’s mainly because the lettuce in the dining hall looks like it has been there for 6 months.

My boyfriend and I trekked through the snow (literally) to get to town.  We had nothing better to do and he was adament that I don’t do homework.

We went to Whole Paycheck Foods!  I picked up some carob-covered almonds and Thinkthin bars.  I’ve never tried carob-covered almonds before, but they were actually pretty tasty!  Chocolate ones are better, though.  Carob tastes nothing like chocolate, in my opinion.

I also picked up this journal at Barnes & Noble, which was the cheapest one they sold and thus my favorite one.  I’m going to use it as a recipe book, because recipe books just sort of make me happy.

You know what doesn’t make me happy?  Chem homework.  Despite my best efforts to make it colorful and somewhat interesting, it still just isn’t fun.

I took a break from homework to paint my nails!  This is a Revlon polish called Plum Seduction and it is lovely!

Please excuse the fact that my fingers look weird.  This polish is beautiful!

Then I did some more chemistry and took a break for dinner…

Amy’s Bowls are my favorite!  They are great for college students (aka they’re cheap and fast), they’re healthier than pretty much every other frozen meal, and they taste delicious!  This is totally something I would make at home if I had a full kitchen and a lot of motivation, so it is nice to have a stock of these in my fridge when I’m craving good Italian food.  And I promise, Amy’s Bowls are good.  Check out the nutrition info, if you don’t believe me!

Ingredients : Organic broccoli, ricotta cheese, organic pasta shells (organic semolina flour, water), organic tomato puree, organic lowfat milk, organic spinach, organic onions, filtered water, Parmesan cheese, organic extra virgin olive oil, organic basil, grade AA butter, organic sweet rice flour, organic garlic, sea salt, Monterey Jack cheese, spices. Contains wheat and milk.

Nutritional Facts

Calories: 310
Calories from Fat: 120

Total Fat: 13g

Saturated Fat: 7g

Trans Fat: 0g

Cholesterol: 30mg

Sodium: 740mg

Carbohydrates: 30g

Fiber: 5g

Sugars: 7g

Protein: 19g

Organic: 73%

Vitamin A: 40% • Vitamin C: 40%

Calcium: 40% • Iron: 15%

 

Dinner also involved some wheat pita and hummus with my boyfriend…

Actually it was just me eating the pita and hummus while he watched.  I did not want to go back to chemistry homework!

I’m now off to do some more homework (art history, seminar paper, and chemistry of course!) then relax for a bit, if I can stay awake that long!

Happy weekend!

 

What is your favorite flavor hummus? I like the boring, plain kind!

What is/was your favorite school subject?  I like science, but not chemistry because it involves so much math!