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At the end of April I headed West to Chicago for a little family shin-dig, we were surprising my grandpa. Sidenote, I was born in Chicago and my dad is from there, but I had never been there as an adult to visit. Gosh, I loved the city so so much. Plus, in all honesty there are few things better than a Chicago style hot dog.

After 4 days in the Chicago ‘burbs with the , the flew in from the Rockies for 3 days of fun. We stayed in a great little AirBnb near Logan Square, and roaming the different neighborhoods was a real treat. I like how spread out Chicago is, I like the two-story buildings, the wide streets, the street art and all-around industrial feel. We saw the main sites: Millennium Park and the Bean, the Loop…. We had an insane dinner date at Frontera Grill (THE GUAC BTW…) followed by cocktails at Three Dots and A Dash. We had coffee and savory breakfast biscuits and tacos and beer and ice cream and it was all just fantastic. It was three days of grub and catch up, and I honestly can’t wait to go back to Chi-town.

Bang Bang // Breakfast spot, biscuits & pie
Barrelhouse Flat // Cocktail lounge
Big Star Tacos // Taquería
Billy Goat Tavern // Iconic restaurant
Frontera Grill // Mexican Restaurant (reservations needed!)
Goose Island Brewing Co. // Brewry & Tap room
Half Acre Beer Company // Brewery & Tap room
Hopeleaf // Restaurant with extensive beer list
Lula Café // Breakfast spot, Café & Restaurant
Map Room // Pub
Piece // Pizzeria & Brewery
Three Dots & A Dash // Tiki bar


I know, I know… too many pictures in this post: Honestly I couldn’t cut it down any further, there were just so many I liked! ‘Twas another weekend getaway with some lovely ladies… this time northeast across the French and Belgian borders to Holland to find some tulip fields. Low and behold, we also found beautiful fields of daffodils and hyacinths. But before that— we passed [far too] quickly through a lovely town called Rotterdam. I had been wanting to go to Rotterdam quite some time, especially after drooling over Kit & Nancy’s blog and . The modernity of the city and tasteful design had me dreaming a bit.

We got into town and the rain had us a bit down, but with a little vintage shopping fix, Cube House selfies, stroopwafel stop and recharge we were able to have a chatty and boozy evening at Aloha. Aloha was awesome, but don’t let those Dutch smiles fool you, they rarely take another card besides Maestro (who has a Maestro?!). Definitely plan to have cash on your on your trip, to avoid unnecessary stress. Aloha is a once pool now awesomely tropic bar and restaurant. In the summertime I bet their terrace is pretty rad. I’ll need to head back to Rotterdam sometime, because to be honest when we woke up to blue skies that Sunday we booked it north to find flower fields. Geeks!

The mini road trip started by heading towards Leiden, which I had heard of cos a good friend of mine went to Law School there. Anyways, she had told me to just drive around there, and that is exactly what we did! Before we knew it we were off the main streets near Noordwijk and pulling over to go hang out in random local fields. I honestly am not sure I know what to call someone who grows flowers professionally…? It was beautiful and had me questioning life and my career, ha. Our third field was the most rad of them all: various color palettes and flowers. Luckily Ylenia needed to use the restroom so we wandered around the greenhouse next to the fields, and found the most MAGICAL PLACE THAT COULD EVER EXIST ON THE PLANET. When I say that I am not exaggerating. It’s called Kwekerij en theedrinkerij Noordwijk Buiten, and it’s incredible. There’s even a bus pulled in the side, vintage knick-knacks and fresh flowers all over the place, delicious snacks and teas, wooden and iron tables out in the lawn with a view of the fields, wooden suspended chairs…

And then there were more flower fields.

Aloha // Restaurant & Bar (rezo recommended)
Markhal // Market hall with restaurants, shops & bars
Noordwijk Buiten // Greenhouse café and event space
Tony’s Garage Sale // Vintage shop
// Waffle Shop