My Chicago Birthday

This week my 33rd birthday coincided with my second time in Chicago! My first time in Chicago was two years ago. During a snow storm.

It was the first time I was in falling snow for an entire day. I  was like a toddler in it.  I didn't have any idea how to walk or talk or shop. F!

It was right before Christmas and people were getting their shopping done like it wasn't the dawning of the next Ice Age. Little kids would hustle past me, living their lives and giving me dirty looks for being so crippled by cold. I vowed then and there to NEVER complain about holiday shopping in L.A. again.

There's only one man and one event that could make me brave Chicago in December.  The man is named Peaches Baritone and the event was Phantom of the Opera's 15th Holiday Party.

He wore a purple tie and I wore BCBG.  And we had the most drinks/fun EVER.  Two tell tale signs that we partied a bit too hard.  See Peaches becoming increasingly disheveled?  And my open mouth IN EVERY PICTURE!

This week I was in Chi town for an entirely non-drunk-mouth reason: work. I was blogging, tweeting and producing a video.  The topic?  An insider event focused on a study about women and the Interwebs. Can you beeeelieve this is my JOB now??? Amaze!

I brought all the fashionista AND foodie reading essentials for the plane.

If you have not read Kitchen Confidential and are a pig like me, YOU MUST!

I stayed at The James hotel which was modern chic perfection.

I packed five pairs of shoes and three bags.  For an overnighter.

Because I like to be prepared for anything. Because I am a fashion MacGwyver.

I also brought three potential outfits for the big event. But settled on this one: BCBG dress and Stuart Weitzman sandals.  Mostly because purple is my company's color, I was going to be running around like a crazy woman and it was 110 percent humidity (vow never to complain about dry heat again!)

After we rocked the event, my boss took me out for a birthday lunch at new Chicago hotspot Mercadito. Ceviche, tacos, margaritas and flan. Each plate better than the next.  My 33 year-old tummy was muy happy.  

I would dare say the meal was on par with the brunch Peach and I had at Frontera Grill two years ago.

Though after we were done with that meal, Peaches didn't encourage me to head to Forever 21 and decompress.  But yesterday, that's exactly what my boss did.  Love, right????