Yet Another FAB Chicago Trip

My fabulous fiancé, Scott, suggested that we attend the Frank Lloyd Wright house walk this year. Though I have done house walks before, I had not heard of the FLW house walk. As the name implies, you walk through restored turn of the century homes. What they might not tell you is that there’s a lot of standing, too.

Perhaps they sold too many tickets this year but, every home that we tried to enter had a huge line. I just tried to think of it this way: what else am I going to do on a beautiful Saturday? But, after a while, I got sick of standing and wondered if I had enough culture for the day.

My advice is to wear the most comfortable shoes and clothes that you can and stop for lunch. (Seriously, wear the Nike’s and forgo the cute wedges; you’ll thank me later.) Scott and I stopped at the café recommended in the FLW brochure. Though the café was crowded, there was no wait for a table.

If you feel like helping out the local economy, don’t forget to stop by the FLW home and studio. There are several vendors with the product out. You can buy stained glass kits or even art deco inspired jewelry.

The People
The people who attend such an event should not be classified as normal people. You will not be standing with the unwashed masses of the society, like you do at the DMV. Rather, you will meet the most interesting people at events such as these. They’re educated, they’re into architecture, and they have something to say.

Now, I don’t have any issues with chatting with new people. (As a matter of fact I even passed on kissing the blarney stone in Ireland, as I already possess the gift of gab.) But, for those of you who are shy, feel free to start up a conversation with the people in line next to you. They’re probably very nice and quite interesting.

The Weather
As I’m learning, the weather in the Midwest can be quite variable. We were extremely lucky to have a breezy 75 degree day for the house walk. As we finished up at the last house, dark ominous clouds rolled in. The weather man mentioned that there was a slight chance of rain that day, but I honestly wasn’t expecting it. According to the weather people there’s always a chance of rain, right?

We continued our 10 minute walk to the car and headed back to the hotel before changing for dinner. About a minute after we got to the car it was a torrential downpour. Being from Southern California, I’m not used the variability in the weather. In So Cal it's 75 degrees and sunny all year round. And if it does rain, you’ll see “Storm watch 2008” splattered across the TV screen, even for just 4 inches of rain.

Apparently, heavy rain isn’t abnormal weather for the Midwest (yet another thing I’ll have to get used to). I just keep telling myself that it’s a good thing and dealing with erratic changes in the weather teaches me to be flexible (and keep an umbrella in the car).

Food
As I have previously mentioned, you can get a really good meal in Chicago. There are just a million amazing places there. Scott chose the Chophouse for our first night’s dinner.

The Chophouse is located in the River North neighborhood in a quaint restored Victorian Brownstone. It’s the kind of place where you’d order scotch neat with your steak. There’s a piano bar downstairs where you can enjoy your Cosmo in the dimly lit and terribly busy restaurant. It’s perfect for people watching.

The steak was beyond amazing, however it they are massive. We ordered the creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. Each steak is about a million ounces… well, maybe not, but they’re big. The smallest steak is the 10 ounce fillet. With all of the sides it’s impossible to finish it. My suggestion is to share with a friend or take it home for a little midnight snack.

As usual, I brought the camera so that the waitress could take our picture, because I do love impromptu pictures. The people at the table next to us asked if it were a special occasion. One large, burly man said “What? Are you two getting married or something?”

Although we hadn’t told many people about or engagement (as my ring was still being made), I enthusiastically responded “yes, we are getting married”. It was champagne all around and the nice gentlemen next to us treated us to champagne and a toast.

For more info on the chophouse visit their web site: http://www.chicagochophouse.com/

It was another fabulous weekend in Chicago. Scott and I plan to attend the house walk again next year. Maybe we’ll see you there.

New Restaurant In Orange County (AKA: the OC)

First of all, I’d like to mention that I hate saying “the OC”. I’m not 16 and need to shorten it to think it’s cool. It’s just where I live. One thing that I truly hate about Orange County is that it’s become overrun with chain restaurants and mediocre high priced food. Where there were once charming neighborhood restaurants, yet another California Pizza Kitchen stands. With all of the same food, what’s a foodie to do?

Luckily, a new restaurant has opened in Newport Beach on PCH called Cucina Alessa. This gem of a restaurant features incredible Italian food. Alessandro, the restaurant’s proprietor, will charm you with his Italian accent and love of cuisine. And, you won’t believe this, they actually make their own noodles there – oh, so good. For those of you who have only had the dried, manufactured noodles, I’m sorry. You need to experience the fresh noodles.

I will warn you that parking is treacherous. Try parking on PCH – their parking lot only holds about 5 cars. It’s worth the trouble, though.

Check it out! http://www.cucinaalessa.com/

Happy Eating!

How to plan a wedding without loosing your mind (or hurting anyone)

You know how the story goes… Boy meets Girl. They fall in love. They get married. Blah, Blah, Blah…Well, for me it was more like girl gets fed up with dating losers and wasting good makeup on emotionally screwed up men. Girl gets dog and they are all set to live happily ever after. Then, … BOOM… like being hit by a Mack truck, Girl finds the guy that she never thought would she find.

And that’s where this episode of “who the hell knew I’d get married” begins. Honestly, I’ve been surprised at how much planning I haven’t done pre-boyfriend, pre-proposal, pre-fiancé. Many of the wedding vendors they ask what I’ve imagined my dream wedding to be. My response of “uhhh…. I don’t know.”, always shocks them. Apparently, I’m supposed to be sleeping with a Modern Bride magazine under my pillow. To be honest, I had no idea of what I wanted with my wedding. After over a decade of dating the wrong guy and dumping them as if I were playing “hot potato”, it hadn’t occurred to me that I’d get married.

So, right off the bat here I've felt like I’m behind in my planning. The good news is that I can plan a party in my sleep. Food, music, drinks, etc…. Piece of cake (no pun intended). When I started planning the wedding I thought it would be the same scenario as planning a party. It sounds simple, right? WRONG. First of all, I have to say that the whole bridal industry is a scam. You but put bridal next to flowers, music, whatever… and it’s double the price. It’s also complicated. It makes planning for a simple, classy, AFFORDABLE wedding near impossible. But, it’s totally doable.

With the help of my wonderful fiancé, I planed the whole thing in a month. Now I’m happily resting upon my laurels and awaiting the big day. (What the hell is laurel anyway? Is that an old fashioned way of saying ass? I digress….) I’ve decided to share my wedding planning wisdom with all of you (yes, I know, I’m very generous).

Rules for Sanity
1) Recommendations
Without recommendations I would be dead in the water and slightly crazy right now. No joke. I’d be mumbling something about DJ, cake, photog, right now and rocking in my chair with crazy hair.

Start with people who had an awesome wedding. Let’s face it, once you reached a certain age you’ve been to more weddings then you’d like to admit. If you loved their pictures, or cake or whatever, ask them who they used and if they would recommend them to you. Most people are more than happy to make a recommendation and many times you’ll get a referral discount from your DJ, florist or whomever.

2) For the love God, make a list
I’m a planner and, as such, I love lists. I would be lost without making a list of everything I have to do with my day. From the grocery store to miscellaneous items like calling the bank about that weird $10 charge, it’s on the list. I love checking things off with a fervent sense of accomplishment. Now you may not be list-crazy like me, but trust me on this one. Make a list. Wedding web sites likes the www.weddingchannel.com and www.theknot.com have lists already made for you (how easy is that?), and you can personalize them to your needs so you don’t forget a thing.

3) Set a budget and then haggle
Everyone has a budget. Even if you’re having a $100,000 wedding (and yes, I’d like an invite) you have a budget. Know what you magic number is for each item (food, music, etc…) and then haggle (yes, it’s ok to haggle). To establish a budget, you can start with http://www.weddingchannel.com/ or http://www.theknot.com/ and use theirs, or you can make up your own.

The main elements are: location (wedding/reception), dress, food, booze, cake, music, photog/video, flowers, and officiant. Generally when you nail down the location they have a recommended vendors list that you can use (once again, using recommendations).

I’ve been pretty honest with people in terms of my budget. For example, I told the florist that I had a $1500 budget and asked what could we do with that. It ended up being more like $1800 but, she was able to work with me and with my price range.

If someone quaff’s or won’t work with your budget, leave immediately. I’ve heard horror stories about women being mistreated at dress boutiques. How horrible is that? Getting married and joining families is stressful enough. We don’t need to be mistreated. They obviously don’t need our hard earned money, do they?

4) Ask for what you want
People aren’t mind readers. If you want doves released, ask for it. Your event planner will figure out how’s it’s all going to work. If you don’t ask for exactly what you’d like, people will never be able to help you or live up to your expectations. And there’s nothing worse then not enjoying your own party.

5) Remember, those crazy women on Bridezillahs aren’t cute.
I’ve known one too many brides that starts screaming “this is MY day” or “you have to do what I want”. Come on, people! We are here to celebrate you and your new life, but that doesn’t mean that you have to behave like a brat. Planning and coordinating a wedding is stressful, but you are a big girl and you can handle yourself with grace. And let’s remember, all of that frowning just means more wrinkles in the long run. And I don’t know about you, but the thought of Botox (and that needle coming out at me) is pretty scary.


So, those are my words of wisdom for today. I hope this was helpful. It’s not easy to plan a wedding but it can be done in a sort period of time, and without medication. Happy planning!