Is it Monday already?? This weekend just flew by! I feel like summer is going to be over before we know it and yesterday is one of the first hot days we’ve really had! At any rate, here’s what I was up to this weekend.
{friday}
After work I met two of my friends, Callie and Josselyn, for happy hour at Cantina Laredo. They have half off appetizers from 4-7 PM Monday through Friday which is an awesome happy hour special! We split a steak flatbread and guacamole. The guacamole is made table side so you can specify what you would like in it and how spicy you like it.
After happy hour, I met up with Kevin and his parents for some more Mexican food goodness at Maya del Sol in Oak Park. You may remember that last weekend Kevin and I had brunch here which made us realize we hadn’t been for dinner in a while so we decided to come back. We sat outside on the patio and definitely enjoyed our meals. One of the highlights for me was an appetizer we ordered – chicken tinga arepas. So tasty! Check back tomorrow for a full review of Maya del Sol.
{saturday}
It rained all day on Saturday which ended up being ok with us because we literally had no plans! It was the perfect day to stay inside and do nothing. Kevin has a final this week so he was studying all day long. I did brave the rain for a coffee run in the morning and did manage to stop by the Farmer’s Market during a brief reprieve from the rain. I picked up some zucchini, squash, tomatoes, blueberries, and some gorgeous zinnias!
The rest of the day was spent cleaning the condo, watching a Freaks and Geeks marathon, and Lifetime movies. I also worked on a recipe creation for a project with Beso del Sol Sangria. Check back on Wednesday for the recipe!
{sunday}
We started out Sunday morning by entertaining 17 three and four year olds! It was our Sunday to volunteer in one of the kids’ classrooms at church and although 17 kids sounds like a lot, they were all so well behaved and it was actually a really easy morning. We normally are in the two year old classroom and it’s amazing the difference a year in age makes!
After church, we headed over the Taste of Chicago. Sunday was the last day for Taste and the weather was actually so bad on Saturday that they cancelled the event for the entire day due to all the flooding. The Taste is a free event, but you have to purchase tickets to sample food from the different vendors. There were about 40 different restaurants that participated all five days and about five different pop-up restaurants that rotated each day.
I was given complimentary tickets as part of a giveaway from the lovely Sam over at Clark and Schiller. The team at Humana kindly donated the tickets as part of their promotion for the Healthier Choices Guide they created. Just look for the green apples next to the menu items at each tent to help you make healthier food choices.
At the Taste you can order full size or “taste” portions of the food items. I decided to check out some of the taste options denoted as healthy choices by Humana. I tried the Grilled Shrimp Po’Boy from The Savoy and a Rainbow Cone taste for dessert.
Kevin opted for the cocktail shrimp from Lawrence Fisheries and the mustard fried catfish from BJ’s Market and Bakery.
For a not so healthy option, we also tried the poutine burger from Spritz Burger.
I really appreciate that Humana put together the healthier choices guide for the Taste this year and loved getting to sample some of those options! Thanks to Sam and Humana for the awesome ticket giveaway!
We had another open house at our condo yesteday afternoon so couldn’t go home. Kevin headed to his office to get some more studying done and I set up shop in Starbucks to work on the blog.
Later that evening we met my sister at the Windy City Smokeout, a BBQ and Country Music Fest in Chicago. This year was the 2nd year for the festival. We went last year and had so much fun we bought tickets again this year.
Last year we saw David Nail perform and this year was the Eli Young Band. We ate tons of delicious BBQ from different vendors. Already looking forward to next year!
Hope you all had a great weekend!
Caitlin says
Seems like you had a great weekend! I loved Taste of Chicago! What did you think of the Rainbow Cone? I was eyeing everyone’s but was ridiculous and didn’t get one myself.
Paige says
I love rainbow cones! I only got the “taste” portion which basically is a small scoop in a cup. Unfortunately, I only got 3 of the flavors – cherry, orange, and chocolate. Pistachio is actually my favorite too, ha! Oh well you win some, you lose some! Thanks for stopping by!
xo Paige
natasha @ twenty-something blog says
Yum! Nothing beats fresh guacamole! Visiting from Weekending linkup!
xo, tasha
twenty-something blog
Paige says
Guacamole is the best! Hope you had a good weekend! Thanks for stopping by!
xo Paige