Thursday Volunteering.

I am in the best mood today, because, well firstly, I have today off, but more importantly, because I spent it volunteering at PAWS (Pets Are Worth Saving) here in Chicago. They are a great great organization that helps alleviate pet homelessness. Not only do they run a No Kill shelter, meaning no animal is euthanized, but they also provide services like spaying and neutering at their clinic, and community outreach programs that educate people about the importance of spaying and neutering. You can meet all the guys up for adoption on their website, some of whom I got to hang out with today. Probably because I knew I was going to play with dogs today, I had a dream last night about the late, the great, Bella K., née Bartok. So here is a tribute to her, in her element, the Mississippi River. AND, just cause they're awesome, here are some hipster puppies hahaha....

{source: Hipster Puppies}

Mellow Yellow.

I had to re-blog this when I saw it- someone else is as obsessed with yellow as me! These pictures make me so happy. I too would love to paint everything I own yellow.

{via: Love made me do it}

Just Sayin....

I guess it's living in the Midwest that has done it to me, but I have noticed that NOT living in the South has turned me into a Southerner on steroids. When I lived in New Orleans, my favorite restaurants were a Lebanese and a sushi restaurant. Now, all I want to eat is seafood. If it has the word 'cajun' in it on a menu, I'll order it, even though all that means in Chicago is that it is somewhat on the spicy side, and usually involves a buffalo-wings-esque sauce. For example, a chicken breast coated in buffalo wings sauce on any kind of bun is a cajun chicken sandwich! I am always on the hunt for Chicago spots that serve anything looking like....

{Source: 1. Defend New Orleans, 2. Flickr, 3. Incredifood, 4. Spoonyandnatas, 5. Nails}

Annnnd even though I usually always wore jeans and t-shirts in New Orleans, now I would love to have a wardrobe exclusively of seersucker haha!

{Click on pics for links}

Just a wishful Wednesday. Happy hump day!

Wisdom.

{Source: Weheartit}

Le Weekend.

This weekend, my follower and I cooked this lemony salmon with whole wheat penne, dills, and peas. It was so incredibly easy, plus it's delicious, and pretty! My follower is borderline obsessed with salmon so he rrrrreally enjoyed it. Then, we went to our friend Carrie's birthday party, which was Canadian tuxedo themed. Everyone dressed in head to toe denim- my follower even had a denim tie :-) Theme parties are my favorite. Shout out to my follower! Thanks for following!

Before I Die...

I keep seeing pictures of this around the interweb. I think it's such a cool idea and I wish I was in New Orleans to stop by and see it...

Public installation artist Candy Chang transformed this abandoned house on the corner of Marigny and Burgundy into a work of art where people can use chalk to fill in the blanks with their life goals and dreams. Apparently, they hose it down every time the board fills up and start again, but each response is documented by photograph and will ultimately be part of a book. 

Before I die I want to dance break as much as possible.

Have a fun weekend :-)

{source: Candy Chang}

Where's Waldo : San Francisco Edition.

While I'm thinking of Clara, I thought I would post this silly picture. On my recent trip to San fran we saw this guy, dressed as Waldo, on Fisherman's Warf. Naturally, we crossed the street and stalked him for a few blocks so we could get this perfect snapshot. It cracks me up because it looks just like a real life recreation of one of the pages from a Waldo book haha.

Coffee Heaven.

Haha this cartoon perfectly describes my life, as well as Clara's. This makes me think of you, Clara. Even though we are 2,137 miles apart, I am sure that you are somewhere right now, probably drinking coffee. And probably not for the first time today. Actually, maybe you are the author of this amazing tumblr I found fuckyeahcoffee.tumblr.com. Such yummy pictures...

 Happy Thursday!

Where is Spring!?

I know the first official day of Spring was this week, but it has still been dark and gloomy in Chicago, with rain and thunderstorms on and off, and even a rumor of snow last night. Thankfully that one didn't come true! I guess this really isn't too unusual, because Spring in Chicago is always practically nonexistent- if you plan a vacation for the wrong week you might literally miss it and come home to Summer. So the good news is Summer might come at any moment now, but the bad news is I am ready for Chicago to stop looking like this:

And start looking more like this :-)).......

Ahhhhhhh wouldn't that be nice? For now I will just daydream, and enjoy the last month (I hope) of drinking hot coffee and chocolate before switching to iced. 

{source: 1. Picture Ninja, 2,3,5,&6. Photokenesis, and 4. Flickr}

Polka Dots.

I saw this picture of Kate Winslet looking gorgeous at a premiere for HBO's Mildred Pierce, and now I want a perfectly form fitting little black dress with polka dot accents for a retro feel (that I could probably wear with some bright red lipstick yesssss).

Crescent City Connection.

A beautiful glittering night-time view of the Crescent City Connection bridges in New Orleans. This makes me very happy after a very very rough day. 

{source: Gail des Jardin, via defendneworleans.tumblr.com}

A Little Perspective.

This map of the Chicago land area puts the Japanese tsunami into perspective for some us- the area shaded red is the area that would be destroyed if Chicago were hit by a tsunami of the same scope, 6 miles inland, and the tiny by comparison blue area is the area that was effected by the legendary Great Chicago Fire in 1871.

{source: fuckkyeahchicago.tumblr.com}

Le Weekend.

Oh bonjour! I had a delicious weekend and I hope everyone else did too :-) I was really determined to eat a croque monsieur and I made my partner in crime Tommy hike to a certain brunch spot where I  enjoyed one about 2 years ago. It was delicious and everything I had been dreaming of, but now I found this recipe online that is made with brie instead of the usual Swiss cheese and I would love to attempt to make this. It seems basic enough that even I could accomplish this- it is just a fancy pants grilled cheese sandwich after all. And this picture makes my mouth water.

{source: framed-mylifeonepictureatatime.blogspot.com}

My First Post!!!

Okay, so these pictures are of neither Chicago or New Orleans, but my recent trip to San Francisco to visit my little sister Clara! My blog just looked so empty! Even though the days in Chicago are getting warmer and sunnier and you can feeeeel summer coming, I'm still missing San Fran. It was so beautiful and a bonus- they have street cars that look JUST like New Orleans street cars, and AMAZING prawns that satisfied my fried seafood cravings (I have dreams about po-boys).