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Links:

Facebook has overtaken Google as the top source for news links. Awesome.

The Everygirl did an interview of Caitlin Crosby, who founded the Giving Keys. I saw Caitlin talk at an Invisible Children conference a few years ago and she was so nice.

Life isn’t all about marriage. Here are some things you can do instead.

I’m obsessed with this corgi video.

Popsugar has a list of the best things to buy at Target.

Two-ingredient Nutella brownies. RIP your waistline.

So, uh. The Ashley Madison site was hacked.

…Josh Duggar was one of those outed in the hack.

Fortune has advice on what to do (and what not to do) following a job interview.

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And my week highlights include…

• My first ever Wrigley Field experience! I watched my Tigers beat the Chicago Cubs 15-8 with my friend Mickey. Not a bad first Cubs experience!
• Brunch at Toast in Lincoln Park followed by window shopping with one of my old coworkers from Mongolian Barbeque. I had the apple, pear and brie crepe, and we stopped in at several shops such as Warby Parker and Paper Source, as well as a few antique and resale shops.
• Homemade breakfast omelettes — spinach, tomato and feta.
• Drinks at Cheesie’s in Lakeview with my cousin, Ben.
• Movie night at a friend’s place to watch Back to the Future. I’d never seen it before, I know. I’m behind on my pop culture.
• Starting — and finishing — Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects. Slow-moving, but well-written with a solid plot. My only gripe? The main character was a terrible journalist.
• A work meeting at Ghirardelli for some espresso chip ice cream.
• The usual 40-ish caffeine-fueled hours at the Trib.

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

What’s on your radar lately? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Sunday!

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Links:

CoverGirl and Star Wars are partnering for a makeup collection so goodbye to my bank account.

China has totally knocked off of Chicago’s bean, and the Windy City is furious.

One of our columnists — the amazing Heidi Stevens — wrote a piece detailing scenarios where a girl might go home with a guy and then sex might not happen.

Bic published an ad encouraging women to “think like a man,” successfully pissing off many women, myself included.

Here’s how to get an 86-percent bigger Chipotle burrito for free.

I love this video demonstrating 100 years of fashion in two minutes.

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And my week highlights include:

• Reading The Girl on the Train. I recently picked up the habit of reading on my L train commutes, and as it turns out, you can plow your way through quite a few books this way!
• Renewing my hometown library card. I’ve had this card since 2004, and I renew it every year. I check out digital books for my Kindle with it for the aforementioned commutes.
• Painting my bar cart.
• Checking out the Birchbox popup right outside Tribune Tower.
• Catching the tail-end (pun intended) of the Chicago Air & Water show from a friend’s roof in Wicker Park.
• Dinner and drinks with an old coworker! Paul — a sports reporter from the Morning Sun — stopped by in Chicago, and the two of us headed to Wilde in Lakeview.
• Finally meeting the lovely Denise from Fashion Love Letters for Saturday morning brunch up in Winnetka! I had corn tamale flapjacks with sour cream and salsa at the Original Green Bay Cafe. Delicious. We also did a little bit of sightseeing, and checked out the Baha’i Temple, some beaches and the house from Home Alone.

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

I’m looking forward to a few things this week! I’m starting to get back into running (to combat my love of this city’s food), so I have a few fitness goals I’m hoping to attain.

And, I’m going to my first Cubs game at Wrigley Field. Of course, the Cubs are playing my beloved Tigers, so I’m hoping the Cubs lose.

What’s been on your radar lately? Let me know in the comments!

 

Hello hello!

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Links:

This girl took her senior pictures in a Taco Bell. I love the idea! My senior pictures were way too serious, and it’s not like I ever look at them now.

This woman bled freely through a marathon to bring awareness to women without access to safe menstruation products. Awesome for her.

I love this Tribune piece about what the future of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood could look like.

One of my old coworkers, Sarah, wrote about why she moved from Grand Blanc to Flint. I used to work at the Flint Journal with Sarah, and I lived in Grand Blanc during that time, so I love this and it makes me wish I had lived in Flint.

This piece about American slums (ie: Detroit) making a comeback is a good read.

This is a piece of fantastic hard-hitting political journalism coming out of Michigan. Kudos to another Chippewa – Chad Livengood – for uncovering this.

As a lazy person, I love this piece on hairstyles for wet hair.

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And my week highlights?

• Drinks at Sheffield’s in Lakeview with Ariel Cheung – a super awesome DNAinfo reporter. (Our drinks of choice were Lagunita’s Citrusinensis)
• Trib family drinks at DryHop Brewers in Lakeview. (I alternated between Shark Meets Hipster and Eat a Peach.)
• Dinner at Pasta Bowl in Wicker Park with a friend.
• A beach day at Uptown’s Montrose Beach with a coworker. Fun: Flipping through Vogue and drinking mimosas. Not fun: This terrible sunburn I’m currently rocking.
• A day-time shopping and lunch trip with my friend Mickey on State Street.
• A tour of the Tribune’s printing facilities at the Freedom Center! (Post coming soon, promise.)
• Wine and apps at Rootstock in Humboldt Park with some friends before subsequent trips to Boiler Room and Emporium, both in Logan Square.
• Thai (From Penny’s Noodle Shop in Wicker Park) and watching the new Wet Hot American Summer First Day of Camp with a friend.
• A typical 40-ish hours of social media work at the Tribune.

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

What’s on your radar lately? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Sunday! Right now I’m standing somewhere in Grant Park listening to so many amazing musical acts. I can’t wait to fill you all in with a Lollapalooza post once this weekend is over!

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Links:

I love this story about a blind man that paints by touch.

Refinery29 has hacks for a healthier week.

I usually try not to get too heavily opinionated on my blog (much different from real life), but I loved this Nicholas Kristof piece for the NY Times about the future of Title X.

Some retailers think Cosmo is racy and needs to be covered up.

I love these tips on how to make your bedroom an oasis. My room is the last piece of my apartment I focus on, so it’s a good reminder that your bedroom needs some attention, too!

Ice cube tricks. (Sounds weird, but it makes sense!)

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And my week highlights include:

• Lollapalooza! I have a few friends staying with me, and we’ve been frolicking through Grant Park all weekend. Stay tuned.
• Dinner at my friend Mickey’s apartment. She has a gorgeous backyard in Humboldt Park, so a few of us girls had Asian noodles and peanut sauce — accompanied by wine, of course.
• Dinner at Wicker Park’s XOCO with a friend. We dined on the patio so we could bring his golden retriever along, and she stole all of the attention. (She’s adorable though, so it’s to be expected.)
• Rooftop Train Wreck Ale! Train Wreck was my favorite beer from Mountain Town Brewing Company, so when a friend brought a six-pack to Chicago for me, I was elated.
• Brunch at Wicker Park’s Bongo Room! I was sorely tempted by the mountains of chocolate-covered pancakes (chocolate is my love language) but settled for a vegetable croissant for pre-Lolla energy. (There were salted caramel white chocolate pretzel pancakes though so I’m not totally disappointed.)
• A trip to Cheesie’s in Lakeview for “the Mac” and cheap cans of PBR. (PBR is also my love language.)

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

This week should be pretty laid back. I don’t have any visitors scheduled this coming weekend which sounds so, so nice. What are you up to lately? Let me know in the comments!

 

Hey ya’ll!

To be honest, I’m not sure why I have a blog anymore. I have definitely fallen off the blogging train since I moved to Chicago (life is way busier here than in mid-Michigan, surprise), but I’m still doing weekly updates to appease friends/ family members back home that ask for life updates! So that’s where I’m at currently. Hopefully once I’m a little more into a routine here (I’ve had friends tell me it will take months), I’ll start regularly contributing to my posts here.

But, until then, bear with my sporadic posts and mandatory weekly updates.

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Links:

19 signs that you literally give zero fucks now that you’re in your mid-twenties, via Thought Catalog. I’m almost ashamed to admit how many of these ring true.

I love this Levo League piece on a woman’s AirBNB resume. So often, job searching gets so tiring that applicants submit the same cookie cutter application to each and every organization. Stop that. Get creative and stand out. (Here’s my resume as an example.)

It’s sweet corn season! The farm town girl in me loves corn on the cob, so I love these tips for preparing corn from The Kitchn, and this recipe for corn panna cotta with a raspberry puree.

The Atlantic looked at how student loan debt affects couples. As someone with a significant amount of student loan debt, I found this interesting/ another reason to be glad I’m single.

Fashionista tested a slew of brow products. I look like a meth addict without filling in my brows, so this was useful.

This is an interesting piece on how spending money on experiences isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Since I moved to Chicago, I started prioritizing experiences over things. I would rather buy dinner than a new pair of shoes — which is the opposite of my mid-Michigan prioritization.

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And my week highlights include:

• Bar hopping on National Tequila Day (Friday) with a coworker! We hit up Celeste and Graffiti on Hubbard Street in River North, and then Room Seven in Gold Coast.
• A trip to the Randolph Street Market Festival in West Loop with my high school friend Mickey. I didn’t buy anything, but there was a ton to look at, and I enjoyed a tamale from Dia De Los Tamales and a massive salted caramel smore from 240sweet.
• A social media team meeting at Ghirardelli Chocolate in the Wrigley Building for ice cream. (Thanks boss!)
• A trip to the roof deck of Tribune Tower.
• Drinks at Revolution Brewing in Logan Square with Mickey- I had the Rosa Hibiscus Ale and I loved it.
• Getting a chitribfood Snapchat account set up for our food department at the Trib! (Follow us!)
• Tacos and patio drinks at Big Star in Wicker Park with my Mount Pleasant roommate Elise, who stopped by town on her way to Milwaukee this past week!
• Brunch at Uncommon Ground in Lakeview with Elise.
• Tapas at Vera in West Loop with Mickey.
• A breakfast date at Nookie’s Tree in Lakeview with some of my favorite old colleagues from the student newspaper — CM Life — that I worked at during undergrad.
• Homemade Snickers dip. Addicting.

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

This coming week is going to be crazy! More weekend visitors and a trip to Lollapalooza! What’s going on in your lives lately, Internet? Let me know in the comments!

Happy Sunday! I think I’m finally into my Sunday through Thursday shift routine. Fridays are starting to feel like Saturdays and Saturdays definitely feel like Sundays. Then I get so confused Sunday night when I just want to prepare for the work week and everyone on social media is posting bar selfies.

So, I think even though I’m used to my work schedule, that’s just something else to get used to.

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Links:

Smithsonian published a list of the best small towns to visit in America. I’m so glad Traverse City, Mich. made the list at No. 4! I loved heading up there every summer when I lived in Michigan to go wine tasting.

The ultimate summer wine cooler. Now that summer appears to have finally made it to Chicago (at least for the week), I might have to try this.

The Everygirl has a list of ways to stay up-to-date with current events. Luckily, I work in the media industry and it’s pretty much impossible for me to not be up-to-date, but I know a lot of people aren’t that lucky. (I would personally suggest heading to www.chicagotribune.com for updates but I might be biased.)

Women’s Wear Daily says black onyx is the new jewelry trend. Thoughts?

My boss — Scott Kleinberg — wrote a column on social media best practices and I absolutely love it. Ever since I added “social media at @chicagotribune” to my Twitter bio, I’ve been inundated with a slew of “social media professional consultant guru expert marketers” following me in hopes of a follow-back, and then unfollowing me three days later. This drives me insane. I only follow accounts with content I actually want to see in my feed, so I could go on a long rant about this pet peeve of mine.

Thought Catalog has a piece about why people “ghost” — ie: just flat out stop communicating with the person they’re talking to.

The Selena MAC collection is happening.

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And my week highlights?

• I had a visit from my college friend Emily and her sister Olivia! This obviously resulted in many fun things, including…
• A Mag Mile shopping trip. I picked up this dress from Ann Taylor, this skirt from Ann Taylor, this cotton/silk popover from Ann Taylor in “Cool Pool,” these floral pumps from Aldo (I’m drooling), this black and white dress from Banana Republic (sold out, so I linked to a similar skirt in the widget below), this shirt from H&M both in a light blue stripe and a royal blue stripe and this Longchamp tote in black and cognac.
• I started reading What Alice Forgot. So far, so good.
• Dinner at Antique Taco in Wicker Park. Corn off the cob salad + creamed elote + chips and guac + seasonal margaritas = food. coma.
• A new houseplant! I had an empty corner in my apartment I had been struggling to fill for a few weeks, so I finally made the trip over to Gethsemane to pick up a new Philodendron plant. It brightens my apartment up so much.
• Dinner at DMK Burger Bar in Lakeview. I had sweet potato fries with lemon tabasco aioli and a chorizo burger — but with no chorizo and a veggie patty. 10/10 do recommend.
• A gorgeous double rainbow.
• Dinner at Pizzeria Aroma in Edgewater. So much food for so cheap. Holy cow.

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

Shop my purchases (a little easier):

Whew. That’s it. This coming weekend should be super relaxing. I don’t have any overnight guests coming, so I’m looking forward to checking off a ton of stuff on my to do list, including some apartment projects I’ve been meaning to do as well as some digital clean-up. You should see my Photos app… it’s a nightmare.

I’m also going to finish What Alice Forgot, which is super, super good so far! Has anyone read it?

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.

Happy Sunday! It’s absolutely gorgeous here in Chicago – sunny and 80. We’re back to rain for the rest of the week according to my iPhone (gross) so I’m enjoying this uplifting sunshine while it’s here!

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Links:

The best kitchen hacks from Refinery29.

J.K. Rowling put the heat on a body shamer after a tweet about Serena Williams’ body.

And while we’re on the topic of body shaming, Oprah Magazine told readers that crop tops are only for flat stomachs. The Internet did not take too kindly to this advice.

I’ve been talking forever about getting a basil plant for my kitchen’s windowsill, so I love this guide to growing basil from The Kitchn.

Drooling over this list of dessert dips a friend sent to me. I need to make all of them stat.

CUTE PUPPIES.

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And, my week highlights included…

• Dinner at Fat Cat in Uptown.
• Hitting up Taste of Chicago with a coworker. I tried a pepper and goat cheese tamale with red-pepper crema from Dia De Los Tamales, ricotta-filled toasted ravioli with sweet tomato sauce from Tuscany and a sea salt caramel gelato and Nutella brioche sandwich from Franco’s Ristorante. Yum.
• Making a visitor packet for apartment guests. Here’s the DIY post if you happened to miss it!
• A new shower curtain! I finally got rid of my stained grubby zebra print rag from my college dorm and upgraded to this lovely curtain.
• A visit from my college friend Vandy and his wonderful girlfriend Breanna. The two were in town for a music festival and snagged me an extra wristband. If all goes according to plan, I’m at Oakwood Beach right now catching Passion Pit live.
• Rosati’s veggie pizza at 1 a.m.
• Lollapalooza wristband delivery! Can’t wait for July 31.
• Getting my bike mounted! Vandy and Breanna brought my Giant from the mitten to Chi, and now it has a home on my bedroom wall.
• Lunch at Burger Bar in Lincoln Park.
• Homemade Nutella French toast.
• A fixed couch! One of my friends came over with mending plates (and wine!) to reconnect the back beam of my couch that had apparently snapped sometime around my move from Mount Pleasant to Chicago.

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

I have a pretty chill week planned this coming week. Aside from weekend visitors and errands, I don’t have too much planned. What’s going on in your life lately? Let me know in the comments!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my disclosure policy.