High Tea at the Drake

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

It's been a while since I've caught up with a few close co-workers, so I was quite delighted when one of them decided to arrange an afternoon of high tea at the Drake.

Fancy, right?!?! I'd heard about high tea at the Drake before but, quite frankly, it's never been something that I have really given a second thought to. I don't really know why, because it totally sounds like it would be right up my alley... a total cozy, cultural experience, if you will.

I love going to the Drake hotel. Have you ever been? It's one of Chicago's historical landmarks... one of the grandest, most majestic hotels I've ever seen. In short, it's a (highly recommended) experience. High tea at the Drake? Also a (highly recommended) experience. I couldn't believe how packed it was when the four of us headed in on Saturday, late afternoon.

I seriously could NOT stop taking it all in as we were guided to our little table- everything was just so tastefully elegant and SO not what is standard in my life, let's be honest here. I mean, how often do YOU do activities/events that involve a harpist, of all things?


Once we got settled at our table, we got right down to business. Gossip and tea. In that order. (Well, what? The waiter coming to get our tea orders was a little slow... we had to fill the time with some good old-fashioned gossip!) All of us decided to really go outside our comfort zone and order... the Bombay chai tea. It was actually quite entertaining- what else can you expect from three Indian girls and our token white friend? :)

But MAN, that TEA!


So DELICIOUS!! I was highly impressed, actually. But the tea was just the start of it... soon after our cups were filled, our waiter graced us with... well, this:


Tier after tier of, well, just plain deliciousness. Such a fine balance of savory with sweet... and all of it was just so darn tasty. From scones to tartlets to mini-sandwiches... let's just say that the four of us were Happy (yes, with a capital H).


The four of us couldn't even finish this entire thing- there was just too darn much food and, quite frankly, we were quickly getting full from the limitless tea they were offering us (I can't believe how frequently they would refill each of our little teapots with hot water)!

Overall, I would rate this experience as one big, fat A+. Thanks for organizing this, ladies! As always, a delightful reunion. Can't wait for the next one!

Another Twitter Success Story... c/o the Mayor of Ithaca

Oh, Twitter, it's so good to be back.

The past couple of months have been so crazy, that I've had little to no time (especially during the week) for some of my favorite things in life... yes, including Twitter. That's right, Twitter's totally made it onto the shortlist of "some of my favorite things in life". I mean, you have to admit, Twitter's been pretty good to me in the past.

As per usual, I was traveling for work this week. Typically, while on the road, our team doesn't get back to our hotel rooms until about 9 or 10 PM (since most of the time, there's some sort of a team event going on after work). This past Wednesday just happened to be slightly anomalous in nature- there was a freak snowstorm going through Connecticut, so most people in the office were leaving earlier than normal in order to minimize the risk of the quickly worsening road conditions. In any event... sweet success! I actually made it back to my hotel room at a reasonable hour and was able to catch up on some good old-fashioned television-watching... and discover Rock Center on NBC.

Have you seen this show?? I mean, I've heard of the show before, but I've never actually sat down to watch it... a little surprising considering how much I love all those "news magazine-y" types of shows (i.e. 20/20, Dateline, Nightline, etc.). In any event, I was so pleased with how Rock Center was panning out... I mean, you can't really go wrong with Brian Williams (and I just realized, Meredith Vieira is a special correspondent?!?!? Yep- you've just 100% won me over!).

Anyway, one of the stories on Rock Center this week involved a profile of Ithaca's newest mayor... who just happens to be the ripe old age of 24. Isn't that crazy?!?! I was immediately intrigued. And rightly so- Mayor Svante Myrick's story is incredible. From growing up homeless to graduating from Cornell to, oh yeah, becoming Ithaca's mayor at the age of 24... it's clear that this guy has a very bright future ahead of him. But that's really not what struck me the most... sure, he sounds good on paper, but so do like 75% of the other Ivy League politicians out there.

Nope- what really sticks out about Svante is how GENUINE and humble he is. Of all the things that he interviewed about, the one thing that has stuck with me is the amount of respect and credit that he gives his mom and grandparents in raising him (during a very difficult childhood). Let's be honest here... heartstring-tugger.

Anyway, I was so pleased with my first viewing of Rock Center (in no small part thanks to stories like this), that I decided to take it upon myself to get right on Twitter and let those Rock Center folks know that they just won over a new fan... gotta spread that sunshine and happiness at any and all life's turns, right? Right.

And would you look at that? Shortly after tweeting them, Rock Center totally FAVORITED my Tweet!! (I don't really know what that means, but I got that notification in my Inbox and, quite frankly, was on cloud NINE!) Not only that, but a supervising producer of NBC primetime news totally mentioned me on Twitter as well!! You'd think that would be the end of it, right?

Well, it wasn't. Because, that's right, the next day... Mayor Svante Myrick replied to my Tweet!!! As if that weren't enough... umm, that's right. He started FOLLOWING me on Twitter as well!!!! lkjlkjlkfajdlkfajdslkjfdslkj!!!! Not gonna lie, it was a little hard to concentrate at work that day as I was seeing those notifications coming through my Inbox... I mean, YOU try maintaining neutral expression as you read (and re-read... and re-read) your Gmail notification that the mayor of Ithaca is now following you on Twitter. alkjfdslksajflkjdslkfj!!!! Come on!! I know I have NO poker face whatsoever, but even people with the BEST poker faces would have trouble containing their excitement with such monumental news, right?! RIGHT?! Right.

(Watch Svante Myrick actually read this post and proceed to unfollow me. I guess I should be a bit more concerned at the prospect of potentially being unfollowed, but, quite frankly, as this thought just crossed my mind, I got a little more distracted by the thought that... oh. my. Lord. What if he actually DID read this BLOG POST?!?!?!?!? Dare I DREAM!)

Sigh... chalk it up to yet ANOTHER Twitter success story. #happiness doesn't even begin to describe it. All I can say is... lesson LEARNED- never again will Twitter fall to the wayside, no matter how crazy life gets. Priorities and all that.

Australia!!! The Dream Continues to Evolve...

I swear, this trip is becoming the most haphazard thing ever. It dawned on me last weekend that I really ought to start nailing down some of the finer details of my quickly approaching trip to Australia in the middle of March. I mean, all I'd done was book my flight there... and quite frankly, that wasn't enough. I still had to book my flights from Melbourne to Cairns, from Cairns to Sydney... not to mention my lodging in all of these places.

This is not my fault. I simply haven't had time to plan appropriately. Even this weekend, I tried to buckle down and really cement my plans but GOD... it all seems like it's done in such a chaotic, frenzied fashion because I have too many other things to do, that this is the least of my immediate priorities. Thankfully, my Australia guidebook is like my new little happy place. Seriously, as I start sifting through what could be a slightly overwhelmingly thick guidebook (after all, Australia is one HUGE country!), I don't get as overwhelmed as I originally brace myself to be... rather, I just get more and more excited!! I mean, seriously, I know it's not going to be summertime when I go down there, but I still can FEEL the sunshine and warmth emanating from its pages!!!

I keep joking with people about this, but I can't help but wonder how much truth lies in the fact that I very well may just park it in Australia, rather than returning to the United States. I just have this FEELING that I'm. Going. To LOVE IT THEREKLjflkdsjfalkdsj!!!!

Thankfully, today was a little more productive. I finally bit it and booked my flights from Melbourne to Cairns and Cairns back to Sydney. I don't know what has happened to me! I used to be the most frugal traveller EVER (think: my European summer where I literally was starving myself during my unpaid internship so I could have enough money to travel... with trains and hostels, mind you). Now? Well, now, I guess I just don't feel like I have the TIME or PATIENCE to be a frugal traveller. I guess that explains why I paid a whole boatload more for these damn flights than was likely necessary... but what? Virgin Australia looks so sleek! And I've had great experiences on Virgin AMERICA flights... how different can Virgin Australia really be? Let's be honest here. As far as lodging is concerned... I stopped myself short of just booking hotels in Melbourne and Cairns, just because they came "highly recommended" by my travel book. I mean, I felt a little faint when I started adding up those hotel costs plus the local Australian flights I'd just booked. I clearly need to be doing the bookings in staggered fashions, to eliminate one ginormous hit to my darn credit card... and my personal heart health.

Weeellkajfljdsflkj! I'm getting so excited!!! I'm already starting to brainstorm ideas of how I can use my blog as a platform when I'm in the land down under. Maybe I could start interviewing locals about their thoughts on Americans? Lord, maybe not... don't want to be responsible for opening up a whole can of worms... I mean, it's a potentially dangerous topic! And, quite frankly, as much as I gripe about America from time to time, I do love this country. Sigh. God bless it. Hahaha. President Christie, that's me...

Anyway, obvi I'll have to keep brainstorming... the aforementioned idea isn't exactly a reflection of the creative genius needed to become an Internet viral sensation (always the ultimate goal, in my mind).

Speaking of viral Internet sensations... time to go practice some Nicki Minaj to appropriately prep for my work team's karaoke team event this upcoming week... klasjflajdsflkj!!! I. CANNOT. WAIT. I am SO. GOOD. AT RAP KARAOKE!!!!! And Nicki Minaj? Please- signed, sealed and delivered. Just you wait.