7/20 – Farmer’s Fridge and Furious Spoon
Today one of my favorite past freelance clients came to visit Social Media Beast. Farmer’s Fridge brought up some yummy salads – some I haven’t tried yet. The Southwest Salad was phenomenal. If you follow them on Facebook and Twitter, they tend to give coupons and freebies on the regular.
For dinner, I took the Chicago Cheap Ass bloggers to Furious Spoon. A few weeks ago, I won dinner for myself and five friends, so I coordinated it to work with everyone for tonight. I was a little disappointed when they weren’t ready for us (I’d be communicating with what I assume to be a member of their marketing team prior), but in the end it didn’t get in the way of us eating some delicious Furious Ramen. We all got the same thing because it looked so good. The broth was the best I’ve had in Chicago, and the noodles had an interesting consistency that was different from others I’ve tried. I’m looking forward to my next visit there.
7/21 – No More Zipcar
Today was an interesting day. For the past 10 months or so, I’ve been working for Zipcar as a Brand Ambassador. It was fun for awhile, not to mention a good source of income while I was building up commission at my current job, but it just wasn’t worth my weekends, anymore. So I quit and gave up my employee discount, but gained more freedom for other freelance activities and to focus more on Chicago Cheap Ass! I’ll miss the awesome people I worked with, but it’s time to move on.
7/22 – Hibachi Lunch and Drinks with an Old Friend
Today we went out to visit a new client in Vernon Hills. We were there early enough to stop at a Hibachi place called Tsukasa for lunch. I freaking love Hibachi. I used to live next to Sakura Teppanyaki when I was still in Lakeview, which was a daily temptress for me. Anyways, lunch tends not to be as exciting as dinner, but give me fried rice and steak and I’m more than good.
Shortly after getting back, I met up with my old Groupon friend Eric. He took me out for drinks at one of my old favorite spots, Kinzie Chophouse. Now that Illinois changed the happy hour law (for the better!), they had some awesome drink specials on Sangria. So we got a carafe (ok maybe two), and some beer cheese dip and caught up.
7/23 – New Laptop!
I FINALLY got my new laptop. And by got it, I mean it got delivered yesterday. Like after I already left work. BOO. You guys have to understand – this was a long process. First I made the conscious decision to buy a new one. Then I took on extra freelance projects to be able to afford it. Then I applied for the Chase United card so I could make those points work for me. Then the card took a month and a half to physically be in my hands. Then I ordered the laptop and it took a few days to be delivered (late). So needless to say, it was a long process but I’m a very happy girl now 🙂 I needed a new one because I’ve had my old one since the early college years. It’s super slow and it gets in the way of my productivity.
An important note to add is that I got an almost brand new laptop completely tricked out with the best storage, processing power, etc – about $300-400 less than it would’ve been new. How? Apple’s Refurbished section! It comes with a year warning and Apple Care for any issues you could potentially run into, which is a lot better guarantee than buying off Craigslist.
So I basically spent the night playing with my new laptop and setting it up right. Nothing too exciting to report!
7/24 – Fitness Video? and Commons Allies Concert
So late afternoon, I headed to the Lacuna Artist Lofts to participate in a fitness video shoot. I recently joined the Windy City Bloggers Collective (WCBC), and this opportunity presented itself. I had my makeup done and met another blogger, who runs Big City Blonde. The Lacuna Artist Lofts were really cool. So many interesting artsy things… all the businesses there seem to be popups or by appointment only. Unfortunately, the shoot went long so we didn’t get to be involved in the initial project (though there are opportunities for the future). I am glad to have met Mischaela, though! She’s a great girl and I’m always happy to make Chicago blogger connections.
My boyfriend came over shortly after and we had a high-carb dinner, since we had a race to run the next day. Then we headed to North Bar to watch my cousins’ band Common Allies. They put on a great show – they always do.
7/25 – Big Ten 10k and a Trip to the Suburbs
We woke up (too) early to go to Soldier Field for the Big Ten 10k. It was awesome to see all the Big Ten schools represented. I ended up doing the 5k since my knees have been acting up when running lately. After the race, we enjoyed some Goose Island beer, Amylu sausages (the chicken apple and gouda one was amazing), and got some swag from our universities.
After the race, I cleaned up and caught the Metra back to the suburbs. One of my best friends from high school was in town and we got our group together for dinner. It was nice to see them all since it’s rare that we’re all in the same place at the same time. I also took the opportunity to spend a Barnes and Noble gift card that was burning a hole in my pocket. It’s rare to find a book that’s cost-effective at Barnes and Noble, but I had my eye on “Psycho”, which had no good discounts on Amazon. So I got that and “Brain Rules” and called it a day.
7/26 – Lagunitas Brewery Tour and Reggie’s Rock Bus
No sleep was a common theme for this weekend, but I’ve got to say – I had a lot of fun. We met my boyfriend’s friends and family (and some other cool people) at Kincade’s for a drink. Then we got on Reggie’s Rock Bus and had some bus beers on the way to Lagunitas Brewery. We got to the brewery and were immediately impressed by the dark, neon walkup. I don’t want to go into too much detail about the tour right now (it will be a future post), but guys – this tour is FREE. You will get drunk as a skunk and have a blast. I’ve been on a bunch of brewery tours and this one knocked them all out of the water.
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