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.

 

Hello hello!

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Links:

I love these smartwatch stickers. I could not stop laughing when I saw the link.

Refinery29 has some great tips on how to move past common work screw-ups. A lot of these are totally avoidable (never fake a sick day, never snark about coworkers through your work email) but aside from that, these are good tips.

I love these tips from The Kitchn on maximizing your countertop space. Living in a city means countertop space is a precious, precious thing. TL;DR: Use your walls.

I love Liz’s tips to being happier. Know what’s crazy? Short of one quick 10-second Snapchat video, I didn’t take ANY photos of Chicago’s fireworks displays. I was too busy living in the moment. And it made me happy.

I love this idea for making a kite aerial photography kit. I’m hoping to spend more time on Chicago’s beautiful beaches now that it’s finally summer. This would be so fun!

The U.S. Women’s team won a game or something.

This woman has the perfect butt. Which is kind of annoying because most of us don’t… so how are we supposed to get jeans that fit?

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And my week highlights?

• A trip to Cheesie’s Pub and Grub in Lakeview with my coworker for mac and cheese grilled cheese and PBR.
• Italian for dinner at Club Lucky in Wicker Park with a friend.
• Pizza and Oberon at Homeslice in Lincoln Park! I had the Miller White and it was delicious.
• Sangria, tapas and paella de mariscos with my college friend Emily at Café Ba-Ba-Reeba in Lincoln Park! Emily studied abroad in Spain and had been dying for some close-to-authentic cuisine. I’m not sure how authentic it was, but it was pretty damn good!
• Consignment shopping in Lincoln Park.
• Shopping shopping on Mag Mile. H&M had some amazing sales going, so I was able to grab these pants, this shirt in a candy-colored tribal print, these rings and several of my favorite basic tees.
• Doughnut ice cream sandwiches with a coworker from Firecakes Donuts in River North.
• Homemade guacamole! (Recipe here.)
• Nitro coffee from Beatrix in River North. It’s kegged and on tap, so it’s foamy and frothy and has three times the caffeine of regular coffee. It was so good.
• Fireworks against the Chicago skyline! One of my friends has an incredible view from the roof of his place in Wicker Park, so Emily, Mickey and I went to a party to catch 360-degrees of fireworks and paper lanterns with a glass bottle of wine in hand.
• Homemade RumChata French toast! (Mimosas on the side, of course.) Recipe post coming soon.
• The arrival of my new pouf from Etsy! I spent forever searching for an ottoman that I liked, and the tall gray burlap one I picked out from Hello Homebody could not be more perfect!

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

It was such a great Fourth weekend. I had several friends in town, and most of those several friends consented to tequila shots and Cards Against Humanity at an impromptu mini apartment party.

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

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

 

Happy Sunday/ Pride Parade day here in Chicago! I’m so bummed that I had to miss the event due to work, but I had a hand in curating our livestream of the event over here at the Trib, so it was like I was basically there, right? 

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Links:

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT GAY MARRIAGE IS NOW JUST MARRIAGE MARRIAGE AND I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT IT. Equality, guys.

Thrillist ranked Michigan as the No. 1 state in the country, thus making me miss my home even more. Mitten love.

This man spent two weeks eating food marketed toward women and detailed the experience.

My friend Angela has super useful meal planning tips. As someone who forgets to grocery shop, runs out of time to pack lunch and ends up eating Chipotle four times a week and vending machine food the other three… yes.

The Chicago Tribune has a list of ice cream places to check out. This has turned into a personal to do list. God bless my employer you guys.

Cat posted a photo of this blueberry pie with an amaretto crust on Instagram and I almost licked my phone screen.

Cat also has advice on making new friends as an adult, when things like blind roommates and student organizations don’t exist anymore.

If you’re getting underpaid, it’s probably costing you in more ways than just your paycheck.

This has been out there on the Internet for a while, but Lifehacker has tips on being a gracious houseguest. (Yes, this is a not so subtle hint to anyone who plans on crashing at my Chicago apartment.)

The Everygirl has a list of ways to style a headboard. I’ve always made my bed the focal point of my bedroom (after advice from my parents), and my gorgeous DIY headboard is one of the most commented-on items in my home.

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And my week’s highlights included…

• A visit to the Dagne Dover popup shop at theWit Chicago! I love my Dagne (you can read an earlier review of it here) and was so excited to check out some of the other products in person for the first time ever.
• Vegetarian enchiladas and guacamole with a friend at XOCO in Wicker Park, and then a visit to a rooftop to take in the most amazing view of my city ever. Photos really don’t do it justice.
• Homemade guac! (Suck it, overpriced Chipotle.)
• A letter in the mail from my Mount Pleasant roommate Elise, who I love and miss way, way too much.
• Dinner at Nha Hang Viet Nam in Uptown with a coworker. (I had Hu Tieu Tom – rice noodle soup with shrimp and vegetables.)
• A tour of the Chicago Pedway. I figured out how to get from the red line Lake station to Trib Tower and back almost entirely sheltered from the rain, snow and cold. January Randi is already thanking June Randi for her forward thinking.
• Dinner and beer at Handlebar in Humboldt Park with my friend Mickey after helping her move (aka mostly just gossiping and talking about boys and drama).
• A new Illinois driver’s license! So bittersweet.
• An attempted trip to the balcony of Trib Tower to take in the view of the lake… but construction has delayed the opening another few weeks. Bummer.

(You can see all this as it happens and more if you follow me on Instagram or on Snapchat: @RandiMShaffer)

And this coming week? I might try breaking onto Trib Tower’s balcony to see that view! (Totally kidding.) In reality, I’m so incredibly excited for this coming weekend. My college friend Emily is coming to visit for the Fourth of July, and we have an awesome weekend full of fireworks, pizza, beach days and mimosas scheduled. Absolutely cannot wait! What’s on your radar lately? Let me know in the comments!

 

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!