Laura Takes On LA

LA. City of Angels. La La Land. No matter the name you use to refer to Los Angeles, the city and surrounding area is absolutely amazing. Let’s backtrack a bit – I have traveled. I have traveled a lot domestically …

European Adventure

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” ~Henry David Thoreau

You know that feeling of checking something off your bucket list and having a life long dream come true?
Yah, it is pretty magical!

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Europe.  A friend of mine already had plans to go, and well, YOLO*.  What began as a half-hearted ‘Let me look into it’ turned into a dream come true.  All my life, I always dreamed of being spontaneous, booking a flight to Europe, wandering around, just because.

“Not all those who wander are lost.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien

Check.

I flew into Dublin and had a 12 hour layover (Dublin was SUPER cheap to fly into). Having only 12 hours to enjoy, I stopped at a nearby pub, made friends with the locals where I learned that Garth Brooks is still popular and taught my newly made friends what an Irish Car bomb is and what *YOLO means.

Then the next day, hopped a flight to Prague to meet up with my friend.

Prague, you win.

It is like a fairy-tale.  Very clean, preserved. It’s like walking back in time.  I had heard it is a beautiful city.  Words don’t do it justice.  It’s like walking through a real-like Hansel and Gretel. Although it isn’t a very touristy city (as in comparing to Rome with so many things to see and do) it is a nice, relaxing, walkable city that transport you into a dream.  Here are some pics to make you jealous:

  

Plus the most magical souvenir of all (because I love puns!)

After 2 days (and I do say, 2 days was just enough to dabble in the gloriousness of the city, although 1 more day would have been perfect), it was back on a plane to head to Amsterdam.

This was just as I had imagined.  Canals lined with buildings. Bikes galore. Coffeeshops.  A tad disappointed upon our late arrival, hardly ANY restaurants were open past 10pm.  Why not eat some pizza then…after devouring pizza that would put any pizzeria in Italy to shame, back to the hotel to rest up for the next 2 days of touristy stuff!

From walking throughout the city to shopping to apple pie* to canal cruises to I Amsterdam to Heineken – I’ll be sure to make a trip back (I didn’t do the museums – I know SHAME!).  Maybe you’ll understand why – look at this!

        

*this, THIS apple pie, looking all sweet and innocent.  UNTIL I take a bite and boom, raisins.  Lets just say, you all probably know how that ended up.  Thank you @Chicagoista for rescuing me.

Exactly.

Next up – back to Dublin.

Sorry to report – Dublin is somewhat a dud.  I even tried to make a fun pun at customs in Amsterdam…

Border Patrol: Where are you headed to?

Me: You can find me in the ‘Dub (you know, a play off of 50 Cent’s ‘You Can Find Me in the Club’ – note, puns do NOT translate well).

One positive aspect – Guinness.

Here’s a few photos to document our day in the Dub:

 

Notice a trend…beer in Prague. Heineken in Amsterdam. Guinness in Dublin.  My kind of souvenirs.

And that, my dear friends, is a recap of my whirl-wind 1-week-Euro-adventure-to-check-off-my-bucket-list.  Until my next trip…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~Mark Twain

Wedding Crasher

First – I apologize for my major delays in blog posts.  Hard to believe that I am actually busy these days!

Let me back-track to the weekend of September 27th.  I hopped a flight on American Airlines to Minneapolis.  Instead of going directly to the hotel in the ‘burbs (the remainder of my immediate family were driving) I met up with a dear college friend/sorority sister Sara.  Some drinks and food downtown.

A lesson in regional drinking delicacies….

I ordered a Bloody Mary.  As the waiter brings it out to me, there’s this small side glass with what looks like beer.  Strange – that doesn’t happen in Chicago!  I thought, “oh THAT’S awesome, a free lil sidekick drink here”.  Annnnndd I was wrong.  I ended up pouring it directly into the BM, because I am all about efficiency folks.  Sara then informs me it is a typical thing, called a ‘snit’ (insert mental image of me whipping out my iPhone to google that).  Go figure, those Minnesoooootans serve this ‘snit’ along side with a BM.

Laura in Minneapolis – 1

Laura in Chicago – 0

And a few hours later – I get picked up from my family.  Drive to the hotel in the ‘burbs and proceeded to the hotel bar (obviously).  Arriving at 9:20 and supposedly being told the bar closes at 10, I made great use of those 40 minutes.  I walked to the bar with determination, ordered my Whiskey Sour and I don’t think the bartender knew how to handle me.  Didn’t get carded, didn’t ask any questions.  After downing the first and returning for the 2nd within 19 minutes, he remembered my drinks. Finally after 3 quick refills, the bartender asked me why I was so determined and quick.  I said it closes at 10!

He said it does not.  Thus…we became friends.

I closed out my tab – and thought it was about 1/3 of what it should be but hey, I’m not complaining.

Time for beauty sleep and prepare for my cousin Michelle’s wedding.

It was supposed to be an outside wedding, but inclement weather moved it inside.  It was a beautiful ceremony and wish Michelle and her new hubby Eric a lifetime of happiness.

Eating, drinking, dancing, mingling with my relatives = a good time!

After the wedding, I proceeded to the hotel bar to meet up with my bartender friend the who makes me my whiskey sours. I was THAT girl at the bar – making friends, drinking drinks.

I close out that tab andddd $5 mixed drinks.

New plan: wedding crash to go to hotel bars for cheap drinks.

Thank you Michelle and Eric for an excellent weekend.   Until the next nuptials…

Playing tourist/tour guide in Chicago!

I make friends easily. Quick backstory on this post, last year I volunteered for an episode of Restaurant Impossible (RI) on Food Network. It. Was. Amazing.  Needless to say, I became friends with 2 of the crew guys (Gabe and Angelo – they are brothers).  Awesome dudes. 

Here is a photo of me with the talented, fabulous, hilarious, nice, etc…dudes from the shoot last year:

That’s Gabe on the left, me in the middle and Angelo on the right.

Flash-forward over a year later and RI is shooting just over an hour away in Indiana.  Unfortunately, I was unable to volunteer again.  The next shoot was scheduled in Wisconsin just a few days after.  The guys then planned on driving through the great city of Chicago.  Over the course of a few Facebook messages and texts…what I thought was going to be a quick dinner on Friday turned into a 24 hour adventure!

First up: Dinner at Rockit Bar and Grill.  If you haven’t been there, I’m telling you to go now.  And get the truffle tots.  Trust me.  You can also follow Amanda on Twitter.  She’s the executive chef/partner/Truffle tot master.  My friend (made on the set – she was another volunteer!) Lisa and her sister Bernadette met up with us for dinner – before they head off to the theater. 

While Lisa and Bernadette were at the theater, I took the boys to Sears (yes, it will ALWAYS bee Sears tower.  None of this Willis stuff).  Granted I am a life-long native of Illinois and have been to Chicago plenty of times whether for fun, visiting friends or family or other.  This, this was only my second time going up the tower.  Please take a moment and enjoy the views…

After that, we met back up with Lisa and Bernadette, hit up a few bars in River North and returned to my condo for an exhilarating night of games.  That’s right, I’m talking Jenga, Operation, Taboo.  Drinks, food, games…welcome to a Friday night with me!

Everyone left then and had decided to meet up for brunch.  Apparently the boys couldn’t handle it, so that 10am brunch turned into a 12pm lunch/brunch at Grand Lux Cafe.

Next up: a river tour!  The Chicago Architecture Foundation tour was all booked up so we took the Wendella River Architecture Tour.  It was awesome! 75 minutes of some Chicago history mixed with architecture, a trip out onto Lake Michigan and some of the cheapest drinks 🙂  Highly recommend it.  Enjoy the photos below (yes, yes Chicago is an amazing city!)

After the boat tour, we stopped by Chuck’s Manufacturing bar attached to the Hard Rock Hotel.  Enjoyed a few drinks there and then…

…headed off to the bean!  Or formally known as the Cloud Gate.  Perfect weather for some photo ops

We then walked to Navy Pier to finish out the night.  Had to ride the Ferris Wheel.  And riding it right after sunset…awesome.

 

And that’s all folks!  Until next time

Traveling Tales

I recently took a trip to Las Vegas for one of my friend’s bachelorette party. As per usual, my traveling adventures are never a dull moment.

Let’s consider this post, the ‘departure’ post:

I arrive at the airport (driving) – was going just fine, hardly any traffic, many parking spots to choose from. As I put my terrible parking skills to use, I find a spot close to the elevators (hey, I’m not about to walk far with my suitcase AND carry on, pft! That’s a workout!). I park, adjust, park again. Pull out my suitcase, grab my bag, lock my SUV and proceed to the elevator.

There happens to be two airport workers, standing there, on their smoke break. And we ALL know how happy and helpful airport workers are. Well…out of the blue, one of the workers (between puffs and gossiping) yells to me and we have this following conversation:
airport worker:”hey ma’am…you need to move your vehicle”
me: “um, what?!”
aiport worker: “they’ll charge you $75 a day to park there”
me: “um, what?!”
airport worker: “you just parked your vehicle in a non-SUV space, which will charge you $75 a day…”
me: “um, what?! How, why”
airport worker: “yah, that big red sign on the post in front of the space you just parked in says it.”
me: “ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh well shows how much I pay attention! Thank you very much.”
airport worker: “no problem, just figured you wouldn’t enjoy paying extra money”
me: “damn straight, THANK YOU!”
*me, walks back to SUV, loads up, moves car 6 spaces away

Now, as I check my phone, ALERT ALERT…’your flight has been delayed by 1 hour’
Oh, crap-o-la.
This means I’m in a bad mood.

I check in my bag, walk solemnly to security….where the lady behind me is a professional gum popper/smacker. And you all know how I feel about that.

Finally, close to going through security, with an obvious look of disdain on my face. The security worker says to me (out of ALL of the crazies standing in line on a Thursday evening) and have the following convo:
security guard: “hey, why the sad look on your face?”
me: “hey, flight was delayed an hour”
security guard: “oh, well that’s not too bad, at least you are going on a trip! Where are you headed?”
me: “yah, an hour late to Las Vegas for a bachelorette party”
security guard: “oh…are you getting hitched?”
me: “yah….NO.”
**proceeds through scanner while rolling my eyes

Next up, I need a drink! Surprise, surprise. So I stop at a bar near my gate. I order a beer. The bartender tells me “oh girl, I love your nails” (PS…nails are black with gold crosses…DIY!). Me (silently in my head…give me my beer)…oh thanks, on to Vegas, flight delayed, need a beer, keep tab open. Other bartender…”that a girl!”

Ok, one beer in and I need food. I go to order a deelish (sarcasm) chicken sandwich. The cashier says “oh that’s such a pretty necklace! I’ve been looking for one of those and finally bought one just like it.” Me, at this point annoyed with everyone wanting to chat with me, “oh, thanks. I’d like a #10 with fries”

I sit down, drink my 2nd beer, eat my chicken sandwich and some lady next to me starts chatting. Of course. Yes, I’m going to Vegas for a bachelorette party, not mine. I have on 2 spray tans, and a flight delayed an hour. She left 10 minutes later.

Finally, boarding time! I choose my seat, after my 2 beers and good thing I only had 2 because I was included in the ‘you are sitting in/near an exit row and do you feel competent to meet the requirements should your assistance be needed in an emergency evacuation’….

The older gentlemen tells me he likes my outfit, and my nails, and excited for me to go to Vegas for a party.

Me – time to take a nap on the plane.

Until Part 2 of my Vegas Vacation…

#travelingtales