TGIF, Windy City Bloggers! I don’t know about you, but this has been QUITE the week and I’m so happy it is Friday. In addition to writing book reviews for Hasty Book List, I’m also an instructor in the School of Art and Design at Indiana University and next week is our last week of classes – so students are wrapping up their final projects, studying for their exams, and we are all counting down the days to summer break.
But my students aren’t the only ones working hard – you’ve all been working hard, too! It was tough to choose which 5 posts to feature this Friday with all that great content you’ve been producing. But, I chose to feature 5 of my favorite things: books, dogs, restaurants, museums, and fashion. These are the things I tend to post about on Instagram, so if you like these things too, let’s be friends!
- Books – I love to read! I’m a member of 4 book clubs and I even have a student reading group for my students who love to read, too. My favorite genre is historical fiction (fun fact: I have a PhD in fashion history! So obviously I love history.) You know who else loves to read? Amy from The Trendy Reader.
This week she posted about Better in the Morning by Fern Ronay which Amy compared to both Legally Blonde and Sex in the City. Who wouldn’t love that combination? I haven’t read this book, yet. But with the 4/5 stars Amy gave it, it is certainly to be one I read soon!
- Dogs – I’ve never seen a dog I didn’t instantly fall in love with. But my favorite dog of all is Huxley Hasty, named after Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World (I really love to read.) Tabitha of A Hundred Tiny Wishes described herself as an animal lover on twitter so I was pretty excited when I saw a recent post featured her dog.
Tabitha posted about her adorable dog, Ellie, an Akita, Husky, Pit Bull mix. Well apparently Ellie destroys all of her toys (which sounds pretty familiar, we stopped getting Huxley plush toys because he would pull on the threads and leave stuffing all over the house.) So if you have a dog that is anything like Ellie and Huxley, then you’ll be interested in Tabitha’s post about Bulletproof Pet Products. You might also want to hop over to her blog just to see cute pics of her dog.
- Restaurants – One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is the seemingly endless supply of absolutely phenomenal restaurants. My husband and I love to eat out. My favorite dining experience of all time was Alinea (how could it not be?!) I went for my 30th birthday and it was truly an experience I’ll never forget. Some of my everyday favorites include Chicago Q, Maple and Ash, and Boka. There are LOTS of great food bloggers in Chicago, but one of my faves is Starr of Chicago Foodie Girl. Did you know that Starr is also a voracious reader and self-proclaimed bibliophile? So obviously I’m a fan.
This week Starr wrote about a few of her recent foodie finds, none of which I had been to before. So now I have at least 9 new restaurants on my list of places to visit. At the top is Benchmark Bar – with this amazing build-your-own Bloody Mary Bar.
- Museums – Personally, one of my favorite activities in Chicago is visiting a museum. I am currently a member of 4: The Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Chicago History Museum, and the Chicago Architecture Foundation (okay, this last one isn’t a traditional museum, but I count it!) So when Sheena from Sheena and the City posted about her Chicago Spring Bucket List and included the Museum of Contemporary Art AND the Chicago Architecture Foundation – I was super excited. Side note: there is a huge lack of blogging about museums! Can we band together and change this?!
Although I was particularly excited about seeing two museums I am a member of – Sheena’s list is full of Chicago gems. Also included in Sheena’s post was Afternoon Tea at The Drake Hotel, The 606, and a Self- Guided Donut Crawl. So you can drink tea and eat donuts and then walk it all off on the 606. Sounds like a fabulous weekend to me.
- Fashion – I studied fashion marketing and management at Stephens College and fashion history at the University of Missouri. Plus, I teach apparel merchandising classes at Indiana University so obviously I need to include a fashion post. Jennie from Sincerely Jennie was one of the first bloggers to post about HastyBookList.Com and I am still so grateful for her continued support of this new endeavor. She also has a great section on her blog dedicated to books and book reviews: Sincerely Reading.
This week Jennie wrote a great fashion post with options for what to wear to a spring wedding. But I could see a lot of her choices being great for a Sunday brunch with the girls, too. Personally I’m lusting over the Floral Faux Wrap Dress by Tahari. That flame color is GORGEOUS!
Thanks for sharing your Friday with me! I hope you enjoyed these 5 posts while also learning a bit more about me. I’m still relatively new to Chicago (I’ve lived here less than a year) and blogging (I’ve only been blogging for 2 months) so I’m eager to meet more Windy City Bloggers! You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Have a great weekend, everyone!