Make It A Blockbuster Day

Free stuff is awesome. Especially free stuff like movies.

Check out what The Regal Entertainment Group is giving away this summer. (Ok- so I am a little late, but I just found out about this.)

Grab the kids, Smuggle some snacks and drinks in a backpack (throw some Pop Secret in the microwave before you leave the house, along with a soda or bottle of water) and hit the theatre on a rainy day. What's not to love about a fun day and not having to spend a penny?

There's free stuff out there all over the place. You just have to poke around a little to find it...

I'm The Poster Child For A Diet

Yeah. Not so much.

To stay on the Chicago theme just a little longer...

These pix are our table and my plate last week at the always de-lish and totally slam-packed famous Giordano's. Admittedly, it's tourist haven (I try to avoid  tourist only crowds in my travels) and yes it is hard to get locals (like one friend of mine I was with) to go there. Yes, you have to fight the crowds at almost midnight on a Thursday night when there's still an hour wait, but it is so worth it. If you are a pizza lover and have never had Chicago-style? Run- don't walk when you have the chance, to one of these spots if you want to feel fat and happy. This pizza was so good it was smack-yo-mamma twice good and I would've waited 3 hours for it. I don't think I need to say much more. The pix tell you all you need to know with all those layers of goodness.

I'd like to think that at some point I am going to stop eating so much or that I'll shut up about food but I am starting to think that might never happen. 

Rachel Ray's tasty travels? Ha! How about mine!

Dear M & B

So much to say, but I will keep it short and sweet.

I Can't believe it's been 15 years today since we were belting out the tunes on the radio and mooning those cars after soccer practice. Thanks for continuing to inspire me to find all the adventure and joy life has to offer. I know it would make you smile to know I still find plenty of ways to laugh too loud and act like a fool like we always did together. Oh the fun times. Hope I'm making you proud.

Love you, miss you. 

Strong Mojo!

I Love Nice Strangers

I went to a green music festival yesterday with a posse and we met Tim, the President of Tattooed Tees. These guys have some super-fly and cool shirts. Not surprising considering Tim was super-fly and cool himself. 

A friend from our group has recently started a company and is in the process of printing some tees for it. (Researching companies who are easy to work with, pricing, fabrics, etc.) When this friend and I started chatting up Mr. Tim, he was more than happy to share some industry secrets and info. What a great guy and good way to get people like me to buy stuff from him and write about his company. Check it out the website when you have a minute. Next time you're in the market for a new shirt to add to your collection, consider buying from a company and someone like Tim. 

It was great to meet someone "making it" in his business who hasn't forgotten how hard he has worked, where he came from and that it's nice to share helpful info. with strangers.

You're awesome Tim! Thanks for the chat!

Airing Dirty Laundry & Keeping It Real

Despite me bugging someone I have known a few months now to check my blog out- he still hadn't until now. I was very excited to get this in part of the long email he wrote me after finally reading:

"You and I have had a lot in common this year..." and "That is what I love about you, you are so GD real, so don't go changing." 

I know I've written before that sometimes during regular days when I am running the rat race to do all the life "stuff"/make ends meet/work-whatever- I get frustrated and wonder why the heck I've spent countless hours here and what it will ever amount to. The above part of this email I just got is so much of the reason why I spend those countless hours on Blue Lollipop Road. It has been therapeutic for me to have a place such as this to babble my thoughts, hopes, dreams, heartaches and adventures. I am no different than anyone else, I am just choosing to try and be brave to put it all out there. 

The kind of feedback I've gotten from the most random of people thanking me and telling me they relate has been incredible. My countless hours here are worth it a million times over because I'm constantly reminded we all go through the same crap in life and there are people like me everywhere. I love that words about my ordinary life can be relatable and make someone feel human and normal. I love what happens when you take a deep breath, break it all down and get real. I'm just trying to be brave and put it all out there now after a lot of years of being a total chicken. Its not easy to write what I do sometimes. When I have days and feedback like this, it's worth every ounce of fighting through my insecurity to continue to air my "dirty laundry" and give people something to relate to.

I will close with a quote this nice gent put in his email to me just now:

"Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art." 
— Maya Angelou

Thanks for finally reading S.L. I will keep writing for sure and promise to always keep it real.

I Want Nookie!

This would be my crunchy french toast at Nookie's Too this weekend. I hadn't had this stuff for 8 years, but still couldn't get it out of my mind so that's where I went for brunch on my bday. Can you say happy birthday to me? The food at this spot is killer. This french toast is rolled in corn flakes to make it crunchy, my friend got an omelette that was the size of a football and the fresh squeezed OJ was to die for. The size of a football omelette is not an exaggeration in the least by the way. It was EEE-NOUR-MOUS. (I am totally bummed I deleted the photo I had of it by accident.)  The OJ went perfectly with the bottle of champagne we picked up at a little dive liquor store down Halstead to make our own mimosas. I had forgotten there are a ton of spots in Chicago that are BYOB. How much do you love that? Even the Nookies Too staff was fabulous and a hoot to chat with.

After an indulgent 5 day run here in Chi-town, I am broke, my clothes are tight and can't help but leave wondering if it'd even be possible to eat and drink at all the great spots around this city in one lifetime. I won't even get in to the bday dinner feast family-style we had at Ostaria Via Stato. Oy vey. They had to roll me out of that place. Can you say carb and garlic fest? Yummy.

Thanks for keeping me fat and happy Chicago!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I have never been so excited for a birthday as I am for this one, today- 31. It has been quite a 30th year.

Happy birthday today to my cutie gal pal Bethany too!

Here's to really understanding and appreciating what it means to close one year and chapter in life and start another. YIPPEE!

TTAA in Chicago

People. Shopping. Food (Garrett's Popcorn, Chicago style pizza, tiny little crepe cafe's, Ann Sather's cinnamon rolls, Omg- the restaurants...) The lake. The skyline. Starbucks that are open 24 hours a day. Dive bars called things like The Lodge. Fancy rooftop hotel bars. Cars and cabbies honking horns. Michigan Ave., The river. The theatre. The zoo, The Cubs and Wrigley Field. The train. Patio dining. Fashion. All the funky neighborhoods. The whole vibe in general. Even the homeless guy barfing on the street about 10 feet away from me as I type this. 

Oh the laundry list of goodness about this city I could make....

I love you Chicago. If you didn't get cold and snowy- I might never leave. 

Whistling Mallory

Last night after dinner when I got to the car, I looked down and there was a $20 bill on the ground. That's the first time I've ever found money like that. I thought it was perfect because I'm on my way to the Windy City to celebrate my birthday and I figured it could buy me a couple of cocktails. 

Until I got to the airport in Charlotte and I met Mallory the bathroom attendant. 

She was welcoming all the travelers and directing them to free stalls. She was wiping and tidying and whistling and singing. Yes, while she was cleaning bathrooms. (Her voice actually sounded exactly like Queen Latifah. Pretty cool.) As I was in my stall listening to this woman whistle and humm and bop around cleaning I thought; YES! I can give her the $20 I found! She's working her butt off and cleaning bathrooms and actually happy and whistling for god's sakes!- How many people would actually do that? I can pay it forward and forget a couple of extra cocktails for me, this will be so much better.

So I did just that.

Before I walked out of that bathroom I asked her name, handed her the perfectly folded $20 bill I had found the night before, thanked her, told her to have a great day and I appreciated her help. It was friggin fabulous. It honestly felt like one of the greatest things I have ever done and totally made my day. It's amazing how much more you really do get out of giving that receiving.

Dear Mallory,

I know it wasn't much, but I hope you used that tiny little tip and got something nice for yourself. You sure deserve it. People like you make me appreciate my life even more than I already do. Thank you thank you thank you for making my day!

Livin' On The Edge

That's all I could think of giggling when I saw this bumper sticker in front of me this morning.

Don't just sit there...Needlepoint!

Wow. 

Gettin' crazy. 

Love it.

Hilarious

A couple of things I saw today I thought were a riot:

1.) Chris Rock quote; "We were so poor my daddy unplugged the clocks when we went to bed."

2.) This tshirt. (Offensive, sure- but try not to laugh.)

The Motorhome Diaries

This is a couple weeks overdue as I was in contact with these gents a couple weeks ago and told them I'd post about them. (Sorry Jason and Pete!) I have to admit without even knowing one piece of information about who these guys were or what they were doing, I cursed them. I spotted their enormous yellow home on wheels rolling down the street and wanted it to be my enormous home on wheels. I knew they must be doing something cool. I was jealous. 

I emailed them and got a response immediately. When you see a giant funky painted motor home rolling down a small town street with a bunch of stuff painted on the side- there's bound to be something interesting going on or at least some interesting people inside. Sure enough I found there was. These guys happen to be on the search for freedom in America. I travel because I simply love to explore the endless amounts of incredible stuff and interesting people around every corner. Either way we had a connection by wanderlust and I was thrilled to hear back from them.

Poke around their site and check out what they are up to. Whether you agree with what these two young guys are trekking for or not- you've got to admire people who take action for what they believe in. They've figured out ways to finance their journey and keep their gas tank full by doing what they love. Sweet. Good for you guys. Thanks for the offer to meet up and exchange stories. I hope it happens sometime and oh would we ever have some stuff to talk about. I hope as the miles fly by- you are loving every minute of it. 

Here's to the open road and wandering the country!

TTAA (Things that are awesome)

*Blackberry's; You can work from the beach, the car, the golf course, the mall, your bed, your hammock, your porch...(modern technology rules.)

*Meeting new people that are friggin awesome; See above about Blackberry's and being glad you have one because when you hang out with new friggin awesome people too much and have a case of the "Sh*t! I didn't get anything done this weekend"- You can use your Blackberry to catch up on all the work you were supposed to do over that weekend.

*Doing work you love; Let's face it, doing work you hate sucks. Sucking at what you do doesn't get you anywhere and that sucks. When you start doing work you love and focusing on what you are good at, it feels pretty great. Then you wonder why you hadn't done the non-sucky stuff sooner. (it's Ok. God knows we have all had our share of crap jobs. It's like a rite of passage or something so you can finally get to the good stuff.)

*Pizza at midnight on a Sunday night with friends (topped off with a few bites from a Ben & Jerry's pint) chowing happily, exhausted and sun-kissed from the beach and recapping the weekends festivities; This needs no more explanation.

It's Gotta Be Da Shoes Action

Check out the note I just got from a follower that took some action after I posted this back in June. Love it:

ps: I bought the red shoes 
;)

Can't say it enough- you just can't beat a pair of red shoes. Especially heels. Here are some sassy ones I think every girl should own. Oh yeah.

Open-minded Ice Cream

Saw this ad in a magazine a couple months ago. Gotta love it.

Don't worry, it's legal in Vermont.

Hee hee...

Ben and Jerry, you're always colorful, fun and delicious. Most importantly though...you're not afraid. We think that is very sweet.