I Didn’t Listen To Any Podcasts For A Week

This is such a random post, but I was sitting on the train listening to MUSIC when I decided to write this. Listening to music isn’t too crazy of an idea, but I really only listen to podcasts now. I didn’t listen to a single episode last week so I could save some for the plane ride to Denver (post coming soon!!) and here are my thoughts.

I would say the podcasts I listen to are one of the reasons I pop out of bed in the morning and get my commute going (maybe the idea of coffee or a matcha too). I always listen on the day they come out first thing in the morning. They inspire me, make me laugh, entertain me, educate me, and get me thinking.

I was talking about podcasts the other day at work and my manager said something about podcasts that she heard. It was along the lines of “people who listen to podcasts (not sure what kind) are some percentage (20-40%) happier with their career.” I found this vague fact and piece of knowledge interesting.

I think it’s true. I am newer to the workplace and really didn’t know what to expect with my job. I really believe the podcasts I listen to have inspired me to put everything I can into my job. But they have also kept me creative and pursuing my passions outside of work.

So to sum all of this up, I missed my podcasts. I still had a great week without them, but I definitely love life with them. I’m happy there are so many smart, funny, and creative individuals out there putting out content for everyone to enjoy. Leave your favorite podcasts in the comments!

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Positivity Tips

Hey everyone! I have been living a really nice life lately and I think it’s because of my attitude. Here are some tips that I keep in mind everyday.

1. Start the day with a grateful heart. What are you thankful for, what is going well, what you are excited for, etc.

2. Find something to look forward to each day. Schedules tend to look the same each day, so finding little moments to get excited for makes it fun.

3. Write down the things that make you happy.

4. Smile and show excitement for life. Greet everyone you see with a smile and a hello. It puts me in the best mood each morning (shout out to the nice lady who is at my train stop).

5. Spread the positive attitude by turning the negative comments/feelings into positive ones.

6. Compliment others.

7. Don’t dread hard work, embrace it. We really can do anything. Sometimes it might take a minute to get the hang of something, or finish a big project, but hard work and a smile can be really powerful!

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of the week. What do you do to have a positive attitude?

Favorite Spots in Logan Square

It’s Sunday and I think this is the first blog that I have been “on schedule” for in a LONG time. Per usual, I am writing about Chicago. Who’s surprised?! This was the first weekend where Connor and I were actually in Chicago for an entire weekend. It was actually really nice on Friday, but Saturday it snowed. The snow didn’t last long because I am sitting by a window at a coffee shop (Sawada Coffee in West Loop) enjoying the sunshine while writing this.

Anyway, the point of this blog is to share some fun spots in Logan Square. I love Logan Square. It is off the Blue Line (the California and Logan Square stops), maybe 20 minutes from the actual city. I love going there for food, coffee, drinks, and just to walk around. In the summertime, it has the BEST farmer’s market. I am so excited to enjoy it more this summer, since it will be our first full summer here in Chicago. Here are some my favorite places in Logan Square…

Revolution Brewing: Yummy beer and food! I love the veggie burger here. It was my favorite veggie burger until recently, but you’ll see why it’s my second favorite now soon! You can find it right off the California Blue Line stop.

Pretty Cool Ice Cream: I have brought this up before awhile back! Pretty Cool opened a week after I moved to Chicago, and it has a been a favorite since. It has so many popsicles and ice cream treats. Plus, it’s adorable. It is also right down the road from the California Blue Line stop.

The Chicago Diner: A vegan restaurant needed to make the list! This one is super popular! There are a couple locations, but I have only ever been to the one off the California stop (clearly lots of good spots at this stop). It has so many options for meals (tacos, country fried “steak”, burgers, and more), appetizers, and desserts. I also love the neon sign there.

Todos Santos: If you like mezcal, you will love Todos Santos. There is a restaurant upstairs (I have never been) and then Todos Santos is downstairs. The bar has quite a few signature, mezcal drinks. They all come in adorable cups, each being different to identify the type of drink. I have tried a few of them, and they were amazing! This is a 5-10 minute walk from the California stop.

Mini Mott: I LOVE Mini Mott. When I am craving a burger (veggie burger of course) and fries, this is what I picture. Mini Mott puts a twist on traditional burgers, sandwiches, fries, and ice cream. The veggie burger is the best veggie burger I have ever had. It is made with jack fruit and I think anyone would love it. You can find Mini Mott by walking a few minutes down Milwaukee from the Logan Square stop.

Young American: This is a newer bar off the Logan Square stop. It has a good vibe to it– neon signs, bar seating, and an area in the corner with more seating. They serve food, but I have only been for drinks. They have some signature cocktails and other drinks made without alcohol (I think a lot of them would taste good as cocktails as well!)

That sums up my Logan Square post! It’s a fun area to check out and fun way to get away from the city! Which place would you want to try the most?

Seattle Trip Recap: Days 2 & 3

Happy Thursday! The long awaited day 2 and day 3 post is finally here (just kidding. I doubt anyone was waiting impatiently for this haha). But nonetheless, it’s here!

Day 2 started out with coffee and bagels at Kaladi Brothers Coffee. We woke up pretty early and decided we should grab a bite to eat before our hike at Mount Rainier (more details on the “hike” later). The coffee was great and the coffee shop was really nice. There were tons of tables to sit at and dogs so it was great!

We grabbed our rental car at Enterprise and hit the road. Mount Rainier is about 2 hours from Seattle. It doesn’t look like it would take that long, but driving up the winding mountain takes a bit. We had no intentions of doing a serious hike. We didn’t even have any hiking gear or a winter coat with us. We just wanted to do something outdoorsy, and we have gone to a National Park for our anniversary every year, so we couldn’t stop on this trip!

Anyway, we drove up the mountain and eventually made it to the classic National Park sign. We figured that there would be a visitors area or something like that, so we kept going. We drove about 3 minutes further and it was snowing much more. We were surprised that the car was clearing the snow piled up in the center of the lane, and just as we said that, we got stuck. We tried reversing. We tried digging the snow out under car. We weren’t exactly sure what to do.

Luckily, a truck pulled up behind us (our heroes)! Two people walked out (shout out to Peter and Destiny! She also took a lovely picture of Connor and I) and said Peter saw us going up and wondered if we were going to get stuck. Obviously, we looked like silly tourists. He wasn’t able to tow us out, but he knew that there were some “Jeepers” down the mountain a bit who could. We then went down the road a bit to talk to them. It was perfect because they had been towing people out that morning, so they weren’t shocked. They were kind enough to tow us out. It took a few minutes of digging to attach the tow strap (shout out to Connor for that– I just cheered him on and took pictures of him haha), but eventually they were able to tow us back a little. And by a little, I mean a few feet. We were barely stuck. Then they guided us down a bit and we were on our way!

We were so lucky to meet such kind people who were willing to help. It seems like they were used to these types of situations which was nice. They also let us know that the touristy area that we were looking for was in a totally different place. Basically, the moral of the story is that we are going to do more research on where exactly to drive to, and we are going to visit in the summer to avoid snow!

After our adventure at Mount Rainier, we drove back to Capitol Hill. We went straight to dinner since we hadn’t eaten since the bagels. We decided on HoneyHole Sandwiches. It was a sandwich place right next to our Airbnb. The host recommended it. We got a drink (much deserved) and some yummy sandwiches. They really hit the spot. Then we decided ice cream was necessary too, so we went to Molly Moon’s. I really don’t remember what flavor we got, but I don’t think you could go wrong with any of them. Plus you can try them too!

We planned to go out for drinks, or at least to explore more, but fell right asleep once we got back to our Airbnb.

The next morning we got up super early. We packed up our stuff and got ready to leave our Airbnb. We got an Uber to Moore Coffee. I just had to go again. Plus, I wanted to try the original location. We got lattes and they were even more adorable that the matcha I got before. Connor’s has a cute octopus on it, and mine had a bear. I was so happy because I really wanted a bear. You can’t really request the animal (I tried of course) because it depends on the consistency of the coffee/milk.

After coffee, we wandered to Pike Place Market. We needed to kill some time before meeting up with our friends, Chris and Erica. We walked around a bit and then met up with them. Prior to meeting up, I met an adorable corgi named Bella. She was so cute and had spots like a cow.

We caught up with our friends and then got breakfast at Both Ways Cafe. It was a bit of a drive, but it was worth it. They all got biscuits and gravy, and I got an omelet. We all loved our food! After breakfast, they dropped us off near the light rail. Connor and I grabbed a last minute treat as if we weren’t already stuffed, and then hopped on the train to the airport.

I will spare you all the details from our travel back to Chicago because our trip wasn’t quite as fun at the end. Basically, we ended up sleeping in the Minneapolis airport because there wasn’t room to land in Chicago. It wasn’t the best night of sleep (literally didn’t sleep) but it was sort of fun in a way! I will definitely remember it forever.

Overall, We had the BEST time in Seattle and we can’t wait to go back. We are planning to go back when it’s warmer so we can hit all 3 National Parks near Seattle. I really want to go to Olympic, so hopefully we can go there!

Thinking About Doing A Little Experiment

Happy Monday! It was a really nice day. First of all, the weather was so beautiful. Luckily, I got to enjoy it a bit. I headed to the gym at my office and immediately turned around. I decided an outdoor run was exactly what I needed!

Also, it was a Monday that I was excited for. I’m such a weekend person because I love adventures and exploring, but I have to be a weekday person too, so I have been working on getting more excited for the week!

Something I was thinking about today was all of the ads I hear on the podcasts I listen to. I listen to about 5-6 a week regularly. There are others I mix in occasionally, but for the most part the same 5-6 each week. I hear a lot of the same ads during these podcasts– ads for Hello Fresh, Third Love, Lola, Daily Harvest, Skill Share, Outdoor Voices, etc. I was thinking it would be fun to experiment with these different products over the next few months.

I just wonder about how great these services/products are since I hear about them almost daily! I can vouch for Outdoor Voices. I have a couple pairs of leggings from there and they are great. I would definitely recommend, so I want to see if any of these products are worth all the hype. I’d like to think that the influencers I listen to actually promoting products they like, but who knows?

I think I want to look more into Daily Harvest and Hello Fresh (first box just arrived) for sure, since those are meal-related and would be pretty helpful. Not sure on the other potential options yet. I want to make sure it is something that I would actually use a lot! Do you pay attention to the advertisements you hear on podcasts? Do you notice any similar ads among the podcasts you listen to? Have you ever tried any of the products/services?

Seattle Trip Recap: Day 1

As promised, I am sitting on the train to work writing this post. I think I will split it up into 2 or 3 posts so it’s not super long!

As some of you know, Connor and I went to Seattle, Washington this past weekend. We flew out Friday morning (way too early haha), explored Seattle for 3 days, and flew back late Sunday night (ended up being Monday morning)!

After reaching Seattle on Friday morning, we hopped on the sound rail which goes downtown from the airport. The ticket for a one-way ride is 3 dollars, which isn’t too bad! It took about 30 minutes to get downtown, so I’d say it’s the best way to get there, and a great way to avoid traffic.

We decided to get off at the “West Lake” stop. This stop put us right by Pike Place Market, which was definitely on the list of things we wanted to do. We decided to head to the market, since we couldn’t check into our Airbnb until 3pm. We figured we would do most of our exploring for the day in our backpacks anyway!

Pike Place was super crowded and only got more crowded as the day went on until it closed. We walked through to get an idea of the food options and different vendors. We were really hungry, so we got some little donuts to hold us over from Daily Dozen Doughnuts. They were really yummy. We got a few different flavors to share/try. We also visited the Gum Wall. It was cool to see in real life, but also a little gross as you could imagine haha.

After our “pre-breakfast” we went to Pike Place Chowder. The line for this place was winding down the road. I felt like we were waiting to get into an exclusive event, when we were really just waiting for chowder. Connor got a sampler of a few different chowders and I got the vegan option (coconut & lime). It was so yummy!

I grabbed a matcha latte at the most adorable coffee shop called Moore Coffee. I wish they had one in Chicago because it was amazing. They do latte art in the shape of animals and my matcha had a perfect cat on it! I was really impressed.

We decided to walk everywhere because it was SO nice out. I was shocked that it was so sunny. We really lucked out with the weather. We walked along the water and through the Olympic Sculpture Park. Then we headed toward the Space Needle which was a highlight of the trip. Tickets were about 32 dollars each, but they were so worth it! The line wasn’t too long and the elevator ride up was super fast. Once we were at the top, we walked around, took some photos, and enjoyed the view. I loved that there wasn’t a time limit at the top. We could have stayed up there until 10pm if we wanted, so that’s really cool!

We considered a couple museums by the Space Needle, but we weren’t sure if we really wanted to go to them. We may go next time. I have heard good things about them, so if you are ever in Seattle, they may be worth checking out (The Chihuly Glass Museum and MoPOP). I think you can buy a whole package for all three (including the Space Needle) at a discount too!

We walked around a bunch after the Space Needle. We ended up at “The Sphere” which is part of the Amazon headquarters. Basically they are giant glass domes filled with plants, meeting space, etc. They looked really cool and I would have loved to go in. I am pretty sure there are tours, but we were really worn out, so we were excited to get to our Airbnb to rest up for a bit.

Before checking into our Airbnb, we did stop by MooBar which is a bubble tea shop I follow on Instagram. I initially found them because they had corgi cups for the bubble tea, but those were gone well before we even got to Seattle. The shop was super cute and I love that they had reusable cups for the bubble tea!

We got an Uber to Capitol Hill where we were staying. Our Airbnb was in a perfect location by a bunch of restaurants, shops, and bars. We got settled and then went to the Great Wheel! It was a nice, clear night so I wanted to go on it while we had the chance. It was 14 dollars per person which is a bit pricey. I think 5-10 dollars would be a better price. We did get to go around 4 times instead of 3 which was nice. The view was really nice though, so I’d recommend at least going on it if it’s your first time in Seattle.

We were super hungry by the time we got off the Great Wheel. We grabbed a mac & cheese from Beecher’s Cheese. It was so yummy and I’m glad we ended up trying it. We ended the night with moscow mules at Rachel’s Ginger Beer. I heard a lot of good things about this place, so I really wanted to go. Plus, I love moscow mules. We both got “make your own mules.” I chose vodka with guava ginger beer and Connor went with tequila and pineapple ginger beer!

By the end of the day we were exhausted. We woke up super early that morning, so we figured we could call it a night! I will share more later this week on the rest of our trip!

A Few Favs

Happy Tuesday! I love Tuesdays because there are new episodes of my favorite podcast, “What We Said.” I thought I’d share a few of my latest favorites with y’all.

1. Glowrecipe Watermelon Sleeping Mask: I love this mask for many reasons. First, it makes my skin feel so soft. It is super low maintenance. I put it on after I shower, sleep with it on, and then wash my face in the morning. Finally, it’s adorable and smells great. The watermelon scent is so fresh, and isn’t too strong where it’s annoying.

2. Fresh orange juice: This might be a favorite because I was sick over the weekend and had SO much orange juice, but it’s so yummy. We don’t make our juice (probably should start), but we grab the fresh squeezed bottles from the produce section at the grocery store. It is way better than the stuff we were getting on the juice aisle.

3. Blackout podcast: I heard ads for this podcast while listening to another podcast. It’s not my typical podcast choice, but I like that is a bit more exciting and tells a story. Also, the audio is really nice. I feel like I’m part of the story. Today when I was listening, I heard people laughing and I thought it was a group down the street. It was actually the podcast haha.

4. Overnight oats: I have been having these for breakfast for a couple months now. I use rolled oats, cinnamon, frozen blueberries, and almond milk in a container over night. In the morning, I heat them up and then add a spoonful of peanut butter! So tasty and so filling! The more blueberries the better in my opinion.

5. Gossip Girl: I started this when I was sick over the weekend. I did absolutely nothing all weekend, so started Gossip Girl. I am almost to season 3 already (that is concerning haha), but the drama in the show is just too funny to me that I can’t stop watching. I think Jenny is my favorite character as of right now.

What are some of your favorites right now? Let me know in the comments, I am always looking for new foods, podcasts, shows, books, activities, etc. to try out!