Treat Yo’ Self

I had the best time Friday night.  Even though I was by myself!  I was working the One of A Kind show on Saturday for the Chopping Block at the Merchandise Mart, which is about 4 blocks from my office.  I thought – why go all the way home (50 miles NW of Chicago!) only to have to get up at the crack of dawn to drive 90 minutes to get there?

So I went on hotels.com  and get the Chicago Hotel for $89.  Done.

I had never been to this hotel before, I’ve passed by it before, it’s right next to the the House of Blues.  I got a King bed at the very end of a hallway (I thank one of my old bosses for always requesting a room the farthest away from the ice machines and elevator!) and it was really nice!

It had a giant t.v. with Dish network – I watched Food TV and HGTV while I relaxed before dinner – and realized I haven’t missed it all that much, because even after going to basic cable almost a year ago, I still saw shows I had already seen.

Look at all the complimentary snacks!  Ha, just kidding.  Those Dean and Deluca nuts were $10 a jar and that bottle of water was $5.  Tony was the one who taught me to bring your own snacks, especially water.  He also taught me that even when I wasn’t in the room to leave the t.v. on and put the do not disturb sign on to make it seem as if someone is in the room.

My $9 snacks – $1 bottle of water, $6 bottle of wine and $2 bag of poppables – which are really good by the way.

Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf has been on my bucket list for a while.  And even though I couldn’t find anyone to have dinner with, I didn’t let that stop me from going.

After relaxing in the hotel for about an hour, I walked the few blocks over to Bavette’s – it was about 6:30 and the bar was already packed.  I didn’t want to get a table by myself, so I played the waiting game to get a seat at the bar.

I always love an open kitchen – fascinating to watch, but I know how hard that work is.

As I was still waiting for a seat, I noticed people coming up from a basement, and found that they have like this cavernous dining area with this super cool bar.  Which was equally packed, but I totally want to take Jacob here for his birthday.  Can you see what’s on that table?  It’s a seafood tower – which I think started at $150!

I have to admit, I did feel a bit creepers just walking up and down behind people giving them the stink eye to get them to leave, and after about 25 minutes, I finally got a seat at the bar.  Yes!

This is definitely a pricey place – some of their dry aged beef was $69!  I settled on the 10 oz. ribeye with frites.

There was an empty seat next to me, and a guy who was a regular sat next to me, and told me that I should get the bread basket even after I declined it.  Holy shit – probably the best sourdough bread I’ve ever eaten.

Dinner is served!   It was heaven on a plate.  Just the right amount of fat on the steak and the regular next to me told me to order the fries “well done” and they were super crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside.  I ate just over half of the beef and about 1/3 of the fries.  And switched to pinot noir. 😀

When my sister and I went to the One of a Kind Show on our lunch break last Friday, I picked up this bath salt because I knew I was going to take a bath at the hotel.  I can’t remember the last time I took a bath!

I soaked for 30 minutes while listening to music on my phone.  It was glorious.

l was so sleepy after the bath, I went to bed and got a great nights sleep. What is it about hotel mattresses and pillows that are so amazing?!

The One of a Kind Show is just that – all kinds of stuff – so eclectic!  From furniture, to candles, to these oven mitts . . .

to artwork like this. .  .

It was great to see everyone – I miss working at The Chopping Block – just some of the most genuine nice people I’ve ever worked with.  I gave and got lots of hugs!

I was starving by the time I made it to the train.  I forgot how hard it was to be on my feet for 8 hours – my legs were so sore.  There was no express train, so the train ride was going to be an hour and twenty minutes, so Popeyes for 16  points was dinner.

My app hadn’t been working Friday and Saturday, but finally Saturday night it kicked in on the train ride home – which is how I learned my dinner was 16 points – after I ate it 😀

Sunday morning I was up at 6:45, wide awake and ready to learn all about the new Weight Watchers program.  I missed my Saturday meeting since I was downtown, so I won’t get all the materials until next Saturday, but my app flipped over to the new program, so I have the jist of it to start.

Tomorrow’s post will be about my thoughts about the new program, and my “Oh shit, this just got real” moment over the weekend.

Happy Monday- make it a great day!