Monday, March 30, 2015

Frames From the Weekend: 3/26/15 - 3/29/15

I had quite the whirlwind of a weekend! Once again I'm linking up with Irina and Tara to share my recap.

Normally I recap starting with Friday, but this week I'm going to go back a little further and begin with Thursday. That night, Rose and I attended the Chicago Blues and Jazz Tour. Here are some snapshots from the festivities:

Upper Right: Rose and I at the historic and legendary Green Mill Jazz Club.
Lower Right: We had a fabulous soul food dinner at Pearl's Place Restaurant. I absolutely love local neighborhood joints like Pearl's, so this was quite a discovery for me! I left feeling even more stuffed than after a Thanksgiving Dinner.
Lower Left: Blues/jazz recording artist Fruteland Jackson gave us a harmonica lesson!
Upper Left: We finished the night off by taking in some great music at Andy's Jazz Club.

I'll be starting quarter-end close this week in the office, which is extremely busy. Therefore, I took Friday off from work to try to catch up on things before the craziness hits. The first thing I did was get a much-needed haircut. Check out my before and after:


Here are some other pictures from the rest of Friday:

Right: After my haircut, I checked out a local neighborhood taco joint called Taqueria El Asadero. Another great "hole-in-the-wall" type of place! Had a great lunch.
Upper Left: I spent the afternoon reading 4:09:43 - Boston 2013 Through The Eyes of the Runners by Hal Higdon. Holy cow! I had tears in my eyes within just the first few pages. I'll be writing up a book review in the coming weeks.
Lower Left: Book club night! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures from the actual festivities (hence another picture of this month's book selection). But, the night was filled with lots of great discussions, laughs, and eats! Thanks to Amy B. for hosting this month.

Moving on to Saturday! In the morning, I met up with Xaarlin and Luis, and we perused the Shamrock Shuffle expo. (Check out my full Shamrock Shuffle race recap here.) Since I have already shared lots of Shamrock photos, here's just one more race expo photo:


Saturday night, Adam and I went out for dinner, then we went to a Preservation Hall Jazz Band concert. HUGE thanks again to Maggie for sharing that they would be in town! The concert was AMAZING. Those musicians are unbelievably talented.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band working their musical magic!!!
Source

Within the first seconds of their show, my jaw was already on the ground, where it would remain throughout the duration of the entire night. It was nonstop energy the entire time, both from the band members as well as the audience. I was completely captivated. Now I want to go back to New Orleans and listen to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band play in their home venue!

During the intermission, Adam and I met up with Maggie and her husband Robert. Here's a picture of Maggie and me:

Doesn't Maggie look fabulous? Love the burgundy tights she is wearing.

Sunday morning was the running of the 36th Annual Shamrock Shuffle! Again, since I already included a ton of pictures in my race recap, here is an action shot:

Obligatory race photo body spasm

Whew! My weekends are not normally this action packed, to say the least. I spent the rest of Sunday desperately trying to regroup from all of the activity, and preparing for the busy week ahead. Sunday night, Adam and I watched two different hockey games on our two TVs (the Penguins game for him, the Blackhawks game for me). We are still a two-hockey-team household!

Your turn! How was your weekend? Tell me what's going on with you!

10 comments:

  1. As a pianist, I enjoy all kinds of music! Hearing the different jazz bands would be fun. Wow you had a busy weekend! Sometimes I need to go back to work on Mondays so I can rest! But, it sounds like you are going to be busy at work too! OH NO.

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    1. HoHo - I didn't know that you were a pianist!!! I took piano lessons from age 6 through college, and I LOVE the piano. It's such an amazingly diverse instrument. What are your favorite types of music to play?

      Yes to sometimes feeling like going back to work is a rest! It is nice to be able to just sit at the computer all day, LOL. I hope you are having a great start to the week!

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  2. Missed you at brunch but it sure sounds like you needed some downtime on the couch!

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    1. I was bummed about not getting to catch up with all of you guys at Kaiser Tiger - but next time, for sure! And YES on having a nice date with the couch the rest of Sunday. I know you totally understand how much of a luxury the couch can be these days!!!

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  3. Sounds like a great weekend!! Love the race photo!!

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    1. Thanks, Sharon! I like trying to have fun with race photos. It gives me something else to look forward to on these courses. =)

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  4. Wow, you had a fun and busy weekend! My weekend pales in comparison, but then again I just came back from a huge trip, so it felt kind of good to lounge around the house in my jammies until after noon on Saturday.

    Interestingly enough, I'm due for a haircut as well... although I'm considering something a bit more drastic than yours (from the current past my shoulders length possibly up to a long bob... I'm wavering, hence why it's not done yet).

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    1. Well hey... you had an amazing VACATION IN EUROPE!!! I read your recap on Amsterdam but haven't read through Paris yet. I know that feeling of needing to recover from vacation! Especially since these vacations involve so much walking, right?

      Ooooh, a long bob would look amazing on you! DO IT!!!! I am a huge fan of the bob style in general. Every summer I either move forward with or get tempted to cut my hair into a bob, too. It's such a classic do!!!

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  5. What a great weekend, Emily! I love, love, love your food pictures; that dinner at Pearl's looks amazing! Did you enjoy One Day? I really liked that one, and I need to read 4:09:43, as well. Thanks so much for linking up with the blog; hope your week is going well!

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    1. Thanks so much, Tara, and as always thank you for hosting the Weekend Update linkup! I thought One Day was amazing - although admittedly I wasn't thrilled with the ending. =( 4:09:43 was very emotional to read - as a runner, the details really hit close to home. I look forward to hearing what you think about it once you do get a chance to read it yourself! I hope your week is going great, too!

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