Firepot Grill...or the Splice Kitchen...

A few weeks ago, Ryan and Ziena (coworker of mine and his wife) were out of town, so we offered to take care of Georgia the cat. We both have an appreciation for Flat Top Grill, and they wanted to take us out to dinner in thanks. We both subscribe to Time Out Chicago and had seen something for Firepot Grill, a sort-of close restaurant that was in the style of Flat Top, and we finally found time to do it - so we went for an early dinner on Saturday night. It was...interesting, to say the least. We got there and the name had changed from Firepot Grill to Splice Kitchen and...a lot of other things were different, as well.

Yes, it is in the style of Flat Top Grill as in you can customize your own stir-fry. However, it's not as "custom" as any of us were expecting. We did get to draw on the menu's with Dry-Erase markers. While we waited for our food we got to sit there with a young boy watching Cartoon Network and playing on a laptop, or watch the food channel's discussion on edible ornaments.

The food came out and was, again, not quite what we were expecting. Brandon and I did the customizable stir-fry with noodles bowls, and the noodles were very very tiny. I got about 6 pounds of noodles (I'm still working on finishing my leftovers today.) Ryan had a rice bowl and Ziena opted for the customizable taco's.

Ziena also got a desert that was described as ice cream with the texture of a Marshmallow. Again, not quite what we had expected...This is sort of what it looked like:

Overall, it was an interesting meal. Not sure if Brandon and I would go back, but it was a nice night out with some great friends!

It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas!

As I had mentioned, we have been pretty busy and have not had the opportunity to do as much around Chicago as we had hoped. We are pretty sure we made up for that today. We hit ALL the major spots of the holidays for Chicago, showed a LOT of self-restraint, and were in awe at the beauty that is this wonderful city that we live.

We woke up, at 6 a.m., to the most beautiful site imaginable. I love the snow and have been waiting so long for it to show up in Chicago! We didn't let the snow ruin our plans. We did amend our brunch plans (more to come!), and headed straight to our first destination. The CTA didn't help us get there very fast, but eventually we made it (after a detour to my favorite place, The Disney Store)...

To Daley Plaza! We walked around the Christkindl Market, showing MUCH restraint, since we saw many magnificent items and did not purchase anything. In the future, however, I think these pillows may need to come into my possession...

We then headed back to State Street and did even more window shopping, stopping in at Macy's long enough to see the beautiful holiday decorations. 

We went from State Street shopping to walking the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave. shopping!) and we still ended up not spending any money...at least not on gifts. We stopped into the Hershey store, against our better judgement, and got amazing Mint Hot Chocolate. It allowed us a few minutes of peace as we sipped our delicious hot beverage, enjoyed the lights, and were able to look at MORE decorations!

We concluded our trip to "shopping" by getting lost and taking our first adventure on a BUS. It was a fine adventure, and got us to...

Zoo lights. By far the greatest Zoo Lights I have ever been to, and so worth the long day. We got some hot spiced wine and enjoyed the following:

We loved our visit to the Zoo, and encourage EVERYONE to go. A free zoo is a great idea, and it's even BETTER when there are lights!

Overall, we have had a spectacular weekend and cannot wait to use yet ANOTHER GROUPON tomorrow morning for Brunch!!

Relaxation

Work definitely has been keeping me busy. Brandon and I haven't had a chance to do much. We did participate in a few recent Groupon!'s. We bought our Christmas cards, thanks to one, and will see this week how they turned out!

I also bought a few yoga lessons ata local yoga studio, Imagine! and will soon get to try that out. I've kept up on the reading, but I now have a co-worker who rides the red line almost as long as I do, keeping me entertained at LEAST on the ride home. Our office is fully staffed (missing our co-worker Tanya, but knowing that her move to DePaul University was a great choice for her) and I'm getting ready for vacation.

Luckily, Brandon and I both had our Friday evening off, so we spent a little time together...

...played ridiculous games, admiring our beautiful Christmas tree...

...and allowed Ellie to be cute, as always, and spoiled by laying on the couch while we sat on the floor.

Overall, we had a great Friday night, which lead to a spectacular Saturday, and what we know will be a great Sunday! Pictures to come of EVERYTHING!

Never again.

Christina and Ryan, plus Christina's parents and her cousin, were going to the cottage (Alden/Bellaire, MI) for Labor Day Weekend. Brandon's parents were going to be there, too, and they encouraged us to come. We thought "Oh, hey, why not?" I will tell you why not.

TRAFFIC ON LABOR DAY IS A MESS. Other than that, it was a blast. We love spending time with the family, and even though everyone acted like it had been awhile since we'd all been together, it was about the same amount of time as every other "gap" in seeing everyone. It was pretty cool to meet Christina's family - we'd always heard tons about them, but only met the cousin (Eddie) who recently moved to WI from Germany. We had met him the last time we visited Ryan and Christina in WI, but it was nice to get to hang out with everyone.

The weather was horrid. It poured and was windy and kept on raining and kept on raining. We did get the chance to go out on the boat, which is always a treat for people who are not from MI. Torch Lake is by far one of the most gorgeous places ever. The water is beautiful and clear, and the houses on the lake are magnificent. It's rumored that people such as Madonna, Kid Rock and Eminem have houses on the Lake, and it would not surprise me with the places that are there. 

We did get to go into town, and I got some Christmas shopping done! Gifts for two of the cousins and Christina were taken care of (which was a feat, considering Christina was with us) so Brandon and I are one step closer to my end of October holiday shopping deadline.

Now I'm off to what is supposed to be a 4-day work week...except I work on Saturday...and Sunday...

Coleslaw...on a hot dog...?

Groupon is the greatest thing EVER. It makes it so that a) Brandon and I can explore Chicago restaurants at a discount and b) that I can have dinner plans without having to think ahead. One day last week was a pretty long day at work and the last thing I wanted to do was go make dinner. Brandon and I had free cupcakes to pick up, so I told him to grab the Groupon that I had purchased earlier in the week and meet me for dinner and desert.

* For those of you not familiar with Groupon: it's a daily e-coupon for businesses in your area (so Chicago) based on your zip code. Find it, use it, love it. I LIVE for it (except on days like today when its White Sox discount tickets.)

The Groupon we had used was for America's Dog. They specialize in "city dogs," so you order the city dog you want and it comes with fries and drink. I had an Atlanta Dog because I was feeling daring. It was a great choice! Chili, coleslaw, ketchup and mustard - it was GLORIOUS. We highly recommend and we will absolutely be returning there to try more hot dogs!

Silly Bandz

I do NOT understand Silly Bandz. My students are obsessed. They trade them, share them, talk about them ALL the time. They now are thinking about ordering school colored Silly Bandz as give aways.

I sat here trying to come up with something that we had when we were younger that was an equivalent. But this is ridiculous.

Want more information?
Rap song - http://www.momlogic.com/2010/08/silly_bandz_rap_song.php
BBC article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11038449

Someone care to enlighten me? I just don't get it...

MORE

It's move in week. This means that all of our students move in this week, primarily tomorrow. Today was a "light" day. While I was insanely busy, Brandon met me after work and we took the red line to the Chicago stop.  We got off and walked a few blocks to this cupcake shop, MORE.

More is a unique cupcake store. They make typical cupcakes, such as red velvet, and then they make unique cupcakes, like BLT cupcakes. They are very social media active. During the week, they post one picture of a cupcake and the first 50 tags get free cupcakes. I had tagged both Brandon and I, so today we went in. Walked in, told them our names, and got a FREE cupcake (one for each of us). The one we had tagged ourselves in was a Salty Caramel Cupcake and it was so good. It was topped with some lava black salt and was...amazing.

You can buy cupcakes in mass amounts, one at a time, but regardless, they are delicious. You can find them on facebook, twitter and online, but it is worth finding them and trying out their cupcakes. Our next visit will be on a day when they are sampling new flavors - I'm hoping to try a MANGO cupcake soon!