Things I’m Looking Forward to in Chicago this Month

It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared a personal life and links update. With the dark cloud of my mom’s cancer treatment hovering over my head for more than half of 2017, it’s been really nice to have only things to look forward to in 2018.  At only two weeks in, Chicago has had bitter cold  followed by a nearly 50ºF day.  For those of you who are willing to brave a Chicago winter, there are lots of fun activities to look forward to in Chicago while your luckier friends head to Mexico.

This Week…Wedding Registry Event!

In a post I’ll detail later, Eddie and I are behind on everything wedding related. A bright spot is where our budget fell when looking at the 2017 average cost of a wedding, as detailed by Discover©. We haven’t sent out invitations, we have rushed a ton of the planning, and shocker, we just started putting our registry together in the past two weeks.  I’m so excited to see additional offerings at some of the private registry events that I’m attending this month.

French Wine I’m Looking Forward to in Chicago

photo c/o Erika Beach

I guess I should be making more sacrifices with my diet as we come up on our big day.  I have not adhered to a “Dry January,” but rather, a “mostly dry” January.   That will all go out the window when I attend the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux tasting event with one of my friends next week.  The more interested in wine I become, the more I want to learn.  My favorite wine to date is  from Bordeaux so I am looking forward to trying a bunch out and possibly purchasing some cases for myself. What I am not looking forward to is a hangover, so I am going to have to be very mindful and moderate in my tasting.

Some of the spread at Enoversity. Marcona almonds, bleu cheese, parmesan, and capicola.

I’m also looking forward to the bucket list tasting event at Enoversity on January 21st.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the bucket list event includes some of the most revered wines in the world.  At $120 for the class, it is double the price of a normal Enoversity class, but will include some heavy hitters. Some of the wines will include 20 year aged barolos and extra brut champagnes.

 

Traveling Around the World

A view of Montréal from the top of Mont Royal.

While my travel schedule is a bit limited this year because of planning for the future, I can’t wait to attend the 2018 Travel and Adventure Show.  It is at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center over February 10-11, 2018. I had so much fun at this event last year, and it’s the reason I planned a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This year will be the first year with an area specifically for wellness travel. Much like adventure travel, solo travel, and quiet travel, wellness travel is a popular designation in the travel sphere.  Detox retreats, surfing retreats, hiking…it’s all going to be there.  The show is exposes to you to styles of travel and destinations that you would never consider.  For example, I really fell for South Dakota last year. I was working really hard to arrange a press trip out there, but the timing didn’t work out.  I also learned about private catamaran rentals in the Caribbean that weren’t particularly expensive.  Talk about a bucket list goal!

 

Annual Kohler Weekend

I’m also getting excited for my annual trip to Kohler, Wisconsin.  This year is going to be particularly special.  I can’t go into details quite yet, but I can’t wait to share it with you.

 

What About You?

Those are my fun things planned this month.  Staying in Chicago during the winter is sometimes challenging, but with so many things to look forward to, I’m pumped.  What about you?  Do you have anything you are looking forward to this month? If so, leave a message in my comments.