Battle of the Sexes: The 80s sweater

I found some old photos of my parents in the early 80s and was amazed by how much women's style has changed as compared to men's.

My mom's sweater could be picked up at Goodwill and worn ironically to an ugly sweater party, but my dad's LL Bean Norwegian looks so timeless. If it weren't for his friends 'stache, this picture could have been taken today. I actually saved that sweater from the Goodwill pile (It doesn't fit my dad anymore!), and wear it with my wellies on snowy days.

Also, that baby my mom is holding is not me, but this one is:

(Also no longer in style: My mom's glasses!!)

Hot Toddy!

The other night, I met up with two of my closest friends from high school for a dinner & cocktail party.

Allie's puppy, Apollo was also in attendance.

After dinner we made Hot Toddies. This is one of my favorite cocktails because it's so simple to make, isn't full of sugar (besides the honey!), and is warm & perfect for a winter day!

There are a lot of versions, but for these we used:

• 1 part whiskey (Okay, so we didn't measure exactly XD)
• 2 parts hot water
• A lot of honey :)
• 2-3 lemon slices and some extra lemon juice!
• A cinnamon stick

P.S. Hot Toddies are supposed to be really good for getting over a cold. That was my grandmother's favorite cure!

Raw Talent

In honor of Blue Ivy (Ivy Blue?), here's a video of Beyonce singing 1+1 in her dressing room. Raw talent. I would change my name to Blue Ivy if it meant getting some of those genes.

60 degrees in January? Yes Please.

My dad, brother and I took advantage of the unseasonal weather here in Virginia to hike the Billy Goat Trail, with beautiful views of the Great Falls and the Potomac River. Maybe it will stay like this all winter?

Chicago Trip IV: Snapshots from my iPhone

1) Dinner of steak and scallops with Manhattan sauce (made with sweet vermouth!) 2) Sharing Spanish wine 3) Breakfast in bed 4) Dressed up for New Years Eve 5) Andrew's new slippers 6) Recovery latte at the Bourgeois Pig 7) "Skating in the Sky" at the top of the John Hancock Observatory 8) A View of Chicago

Chicago Trip Part 3: Chagall Windows

My favorite part of the Art Institute of Chicago is the stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. Each panel represents a different art form.

Aren't they breathtaking? I could sit there and stare at them for hours.

Chicago Trip Part II: Adventures in Modern Art

I love to poke fun at modern art (a blank canvas is such an easy target!), but I actually appreciate how whimsical and subjective it is. For example, the artist who installed the beaded entranceway had another piece that was just a huge pile of brightly wrapped candy. Andrew and I passed over it with quizzical looks, but on our way out we saw a little boy run up to it, and he was entirely in awe. Part of the thrill of the work was that visitors were allowed to take a piece of candy with them. That boy was the happiest museum-goer I have ever seen, and I was totally humbled.

P.S. This is why I am "sad" standing by the Jackson Pollock. (Andrew and I watched an absurd number of Woody Allen films while we were recovering from our New Year's Eve hangovers.)

Chicago Trip Part I: Favorite Spots

I just got back from a week in Chicago visiting my boyfriend, Andrew. He moved to Chicago in June, and while it is sad that he is so far away, the fun we have in the city makes up for it. He lives in the quaint(er) neighborhood of Lincoln Park in a charming ivy-covered one-bedroom apartment with wooden floors, stained glass windows and a cozy fireplace. Lincoln Park is a rather yuppy neighborhood, full of graduate students and moms pushing their Swedish strollers to the farmer's market, but it is not without character. Every time I visit, we discover something new and exciting together.

This time it was meerkats.

Seriously, we could not get enough of the meerkats at the Lincoln Park Zoo. We even went back and visited them a second time on a later day. They are just too funny! Especially when the are standing! Plus, the Meerkats are housed indoors so we could visit them without freezing to death. Plus Andrew kind of looks like a Meerkcat, no?

The Lincoln Park Zoo is also great because it's 100% free. We also visited the monkeys, the pigmy hippo, and the birds (all indoors!).

Also free and right next to the Lincoln Park Zoo is the Lincoln Park Conservatory, another perfect spot to visit in winter because it's warm, humid, and filled with green plants! It's like a little escape to a tropical island! They also did a special exhibit for Christmas, complete with toy trains and poinsettias of every color.

We actually brought our laptops and camped out on a bench so I could work on job applications. It's hard to stress about life after graduation when surrounded by the calming plants, especially after reading that some of the ferns in the Conservatory are over 200 million years old! The conservatory made me feel very reverent and Zen.

Lincoln Park is great!