Weekly Sundown Rundown

Happy Sunday and first day of summer! I’m still getting used to my Sunday through Thursday paper here at the Trib, so my Sundays always feel like relaxed Mondays. I don’t hate it though, since it makes the rest of the week go by super quickly.

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Links:

Reading can make you happier. You heard it.

Stylecaster has a guide to wearing neon. I’m absolutely drooling over that green midi skirt.

Everyone knows you have to protect your shoes from water, salt, dirt and cold in the winter. But did you know you should protect them in the summer as well, from sand and sweat?

Here’s a useful guide for building outfits with monochromatic elements.

Here’s a neat quiz that will let you know which presidential candidates you side with on important issues.

Your breakup will be good for you. I promise. These are all lessons I’ve learned over the past many, many years, and are applicable time and time again. I’m coaching a great friend through a rough break up right now and these are so good to remember. (And if you ever need anyone to talk to about breakups, dear reader, please shoot me an email.)

As someone who obsessively hoards books, I love the idea of decorating with them.

Considering I now live out of a purse (yay city life!) I love these ideas for travel snacks from The Kitchn.

I’ve always read warnings about Toxic Shock Syndrome on tampon boxes, but this is the first real life account of it I’ve read.

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And me this week? It was fairly productive and included a trip back to Michigan, which was great! Highlights include:

• Breakfast with my college roommate Kendall at Tweet in Uptown before her Monday afternoon departure.
• Time with my parents! My mom is a vendor at a Thursday farmers’ market, so a Friday visit meant I got to lay claim to her leftovers. Hello cheddar onion rye bread!
• A finished kitchen/ dining room table. I had to make some modifications to my Ikea Norberg wall-mounted table, since it was built to Swedish design configurations and my apartment is, yunno, American. It took a while (turns out drilling through metal is not easy) but I managed to get the thing installed.
• A visit to Ann Arbor to hit up both Arbor Brewing Company and HopCat (crack fries) with a friend.
• Sangria and tapas at Wicker Park’s Black Bull with a friend.
• TOUCHING THE STANLEY CUP. As part of my job doing social media over at the Chicago Tribune, I had to chase the Stanley Cup around town on two different occasions to Periscope the atmosphere for our followers.
• Grabbing a front row seat at the Chicago Blackhawks Championship Rally! Disclaimer: This would have been 6,000 times cooler if it was my amazing Detroit Red Wings that were hoisting this glorious trophy, but it was still such a cool experience to stand front row with the media at Thursday’s event!

(You can keep up with this stuff as it happens if you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat: @RandiMShaffer.)

How was your week? Let me know in the comments!